Tess Frizzell, granddaughter of country music legend Dottie West, performed many of the tunes that made Dottie famous during a performance at Osawatomie High School on Saturday evening, including “Here Comes My Baby Back Again” and “Country Sunshine.” (Photo by Gene Morris)
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Country Legacy Comes To Town
Tess Frizzell, Singer With Nashville Bloodlines, Puts On Show Saturday
By Gene Morris, gmorris@miconews.com
Continuing a now third-generation family legacy, Tess Frizzell flew from Nashville to the stage of the Osawatomie High School auditorium this weekend to perform songs that put her family on the country music map decades ago.
Every song Frizzell performed came with a little bit of family history.
Granddaughter of legendary singer Dottie West, Frizzell opened her act Saturday evening with the first song Dottie ever wrote: “Here Comes My Baby Back Again.”
Legend has it that Dottie and husband Bill wrote the song in one day. She recorded it as her first single for RCA, rising to the top 10 country music charts with the song in 1964.
The following year Dottie made country music history with the song, becoming the first female country singer to win a Grammy.
Frizzell performed another standard from West’s collection with “Country Sunshine” as her second selection of the evening.
“She was asked to write a jingle for Coca-Cola and wrote ‘Country Sunshine,’” Frizzell said.
“One of the things she got for writing the song was unlimited Coca-Cola,” she said. “I remember when I went to visit my grandmother, she had Coca-Cola machines with the nice glass bottles, which are the coldest, and I could drink all the Coke I wanted. I thought she was the coolest grandmother there was.”
Tess’ mother, Shelly West, began singing with her mother and took the stage at the age of 17. She married into another country music family, falling in love with Allen Frizzell, the lead guitarist in her mother’s band. He is the younger brother of Lefty and David Frizzell.
West recorded “José Cuervo” in 1983 and took it to the top of the charts.
“Other people inherit good recipes from their moms,” Tess said. “I inherited a good drinking song.”
West recorded several duets with Tess’ uncle David, including “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma,” which also went to No. 1.
“I feel like I have to introduce a new relative with every song,” Tess said. “My uncle Lefty wrote the next song.”
She performed a country standard recorded by the likes of Merle Haggard with her rendition of “That’s the Way Love Goes.”
Frizzell sang “Love’s Gonna to Live Here Again,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and “Today I Started Loving You Again.”
“We got one more song for you,” Tess said. “This one is from my days growing up in church.”
She concluded the two-hour show with “I Saw the Light.”
Osawatomie’s own Debbie Shadden and the Pony Express opened the show with a number of old country hits and a little bluegrass.
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Every song Frizzell performed came with a little bit of family history.
Granddaughter of legendary singer Dottie West, Frizzell opened her act Saturday evening with the first song Dottie ever wrote: “Here Comes My Baby Back Again.”
Legend has it that Dottie and husband Bill wrote the song in one day. She recorded it as her first single for RCA, rising to the top 10 country music charts with the song in 1964.
The following year Dottie made country music history with the song, becoming the first female country singer to win a Grammy.
Frizzell performed another standard from West’s collection with “Country Sunshine” as her second selection of the evening.
“She was asked to write a jingle for Coca-Cola and wrote ‘Country Sunshine,’” Frizzell said.
“One of the things she got for writing the song was unlimited Coca-Cola,” she said. “I remember when I went to visit my grandmother, she had Coca-Cola machines with the nice glass bottles, which are the coldest, and I could drink all the Coke I wanted. I thought she was the coolest grandmother there was.”
Tess’ mother, Shelly West, began singing with her mother and took the stage at the age of 17. She married into another country music family, falling in love with Allen Frizzell, the lead guitarist in her mother’s band. He is the younger brother of Lefty and David Frizzell.
West recorded “José Cuervo” in 1983 and took it to the top of the charts.
“Other people inherit good recipes from their moms,” Tess said. “I inherited a good drinking song.”
West recorded several duets with Tess’ uncle David, including “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma,” which also went to No. 1.
“I feel like I have to introduce a new relative with every song,” Tess said. “My uncle Lefty wrote the next song.”
She performed a country standard recorded by the likes of Merle Haggard with her rendition of “That’s the Way Love Goes.”
Frizzell sang “Love’s Gonna to Live Here Again,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and “Today I Started Loving You Again.”
“We got one more song for you,” Tess said. “This one is from my days growing up in church.”
She concluded the two-hour show with “I Saw the Light.”
Osawatomie’s own Debbie Shadden and the Pony Express opened the show with a number of old country hits and a little bluegrass.