Ed Bruce
b. William Edwin Bruce, 29 December 1939, Keiser, Arkansas, USA. His family moved to Memphis and Bruce was to spend many years promoting tourism as "the Tennessean". He loved the early Sun Records sides of Carl Perkins and, after graduating in 1957, was given the money to make a demo, and so impressed Sun's engineer, Jack Clement, that he was signed to the label. His singles, "Rock Boppin' Baby" and "Sweet Woman", under the name of Edwin Bruce are collector's items, but they are also included, along with previously unreleased Sun tracks, on the 1986 Bear Family Records collection. He had his first financial success when he wrote "Save Your Kisses", the b-side of Tommy Roe's chart-topping "Sheila". He also wrote "See The Big Man Cry", a solo hit for Charlie Louvin, and "Northeast Arkansas Mississippi County Bootlegger" for Kenny Price. Bruce had a minor country hit with the Monkees' "Last Train To Clarksville" and found himself a country star with "The Last Cowboy Song" and "You're The Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had", his only number 1. Bruce regards himself primarily as a songwriter and "Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys", for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, became the anthem of outlaw country. Nelson added a final chorus to his 1980 version of "The Last Cowboy Song". Other songs include "The Man That Turned My Mama On" (Tanya Tucker), "Workingman's Prayer" (Arthur Prysock, Tex Ritter), "Restless" (Crystal Gayle) and "Too Much Love Between Us" (Kitty Wells). Many songs were co-written with his former wife and manager, Patsy. Bruce starred as Tom Guthrie alongside James Garner in the US television series Maverick and recorded "Theme From Bret Maverick".
Listen to Ed Bruce
at Finetune.
Albums
- (1995) The Best Of Ed Bruce
Top Tracks
- Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
- My First Taste of Texas
- You're the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had
- Girls, Women & Ladies
- The Last Cowboy Song
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