Return To 60’s Main Menu Recording Artists Of The 60s
FARON YOUNG
“HELLO WALLS”
(Willie Nelson)
Capitol 4533
No. 12 May 29, 1961
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Nora Jo Catlett of Clarksville, West Virginia, was six years old that day in September 1972. Nora stood
in front of the stage at the Nathan Goff Armory, waiting for some country-music celebrity to add yet
another autograph to her collection. Faron Young, self proclaimed “Singing Sheriff,” was performing
onstage when he spotted little Nora. Several times did Faron ask her to join him on stage, and several
times did Nora refuse. Faron reportedly muttered a few choice words, walked offstage, grabbed little
Nora, lifted her skirt, and spanked her repeatedly!
There ain’t much old Faron Young ain’t done. As one of the top 10 all-time charting artists in country
music, he’s had dang near 100 singles on Billboard’s C & W charts; 42 have placed in the top 10. With
more than 60 albums to his name, Young has sold roughly 30,000,000 records.
“I’ve been around so long,” Young told Joe Edwards of the Associated Press [in 1988] that when I tell
people I am 56 years old they laugh ‘And say how many more? The best thing is to say you’re 75 and then
they say, ‘You look good for your age.”‘
Faron (b. Feb. 25, 1932, Shreveport, LA) spent most of his early years on a dirt farm outside of Shreveport.
He got his first guitar in grade school and spent hours figuring out how to play it, with a herd of cattle as
his audience. At Fair Park High, he formed his first band to play school dances and local fairs. He
attended Centenary College, until his growing popularity as a singer encouraged the young man to re-
evaluate his career goals.
While Faron was working as a shirt salesman for Sears, Roebuck & Co., some of his songs reached Webb
Pierce. Webb didn’t care much for the tunes, but took Young on the road to perform as a fill-in. Soon
“The Singing Sheriff” was asked to join the “Louisiana Hayride” radio show (1951), to sign with Capitol
Records, and, in 1952, to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. The country hits came almost immediately–a
half-dozen crossed over on to the pop listings. Not one to till but one field, Faron even branched out into
films, music publishing, and recording.
Faron has led a rough-and-tumble outlaw lifestyle. He shot up some light fixtures in a Nashville bar;
been arrested repeatedly for reckless and drunken driving; indecent exposure–his wife divorced him on
the grounds of physical abuse; and on one occasion, he allegedly threatened his wife and 16-year- old
daughter with a loaded pistol, which he repeatedly fired into the kitchen ceiling.
As for that child-spanking episode, Young was arrested while leaving the county, on charges of assault
and battery. The case has long since been settled; Nora’s family received $3,400 in damages. In the
’90s, Faron had retired from touring, suffered from emphysema and just before the end, under gone
surgery for prostate cancer.
Faron Young died December 10, 1996, a day after he shot himself in the head at his home in Nashville. A
suicide note said that he was depressed about his failing health.