Music
He Made It Ted Jarrett (center) in 1955 with Ernie Young of Excello Records (right) and Ted Adams, store manager of Ernie’s Record Mart.
It’s fair to say that no one featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s “Night Train to Nashville” exhibit has played as important, or as varied, a role in the city’s R&B scene as Ted Jarrett. As a songwriter, he penned hits for singers Earl Gaines and Gene Allison, and had his material covered by Webb Pierce, Ruth Brown and The Rolling Stones. Since the 1950s, he’s also worked as a producer, record label owner, artist manager, DJ and musician—and recorded a few songs of his own. More than all of this, though, a genuine sense of heart comes through in the music he wrote, played and recorded. You can hear it not just in the lyrics of songs like Allison’s “You Can Make It if You Try,” but also in the warm, open performances that he elicited from his singers.
Jarrett also worked some verve and good-spirited fun into the grooves of songs like Larry Birdsong’s “Every Night in the Week” and Earl Gaines’ “It’s Love Baby (24 Hours a Day).” There’s bound to be a good bit of that energy at the Country Music Hall of Fame this Saturday, when Levert Allison (brother of Gene), gospel group the Dynamic Dixie Travelers, Bobby Hebb, Frank Howard, guitar ace Johnny Jones, Tracy Nelson, Charles “Wigg” Walker and others take the stage of the Ford Theater to pay Jarrett tribute. The final celebration in the museum’s long-running “Night Train to Nashville” exhibit, which closes on Dec. 31, this 2 p.m. show also marks the release of Jarrett’s autobiography (co-authored with Ruth White), the fittingly titled You Can Make It if You Try. Given his vigorous creativity and his moving personal story, there’s little doubt that it’ll make for an engrossing read. At 4 p.m., Jarrett and White will sign copies of the book in the Museum Store.