ELEANOR, W.Va. -- Country music veteran and Grand Ole Opry star Mel McDaniel will be the headliner tonight at the Putnam County Fair. The concert, which will close out the fair for the 2008 season, will start at 8:30 p.m., and tickets are $7 for the whole day.
McDaniel has seen the ups and downs of the music world during his career. After honing his skills as a singer and songwriter in his home state of Oklahoma, he made a try at stardom with his first trip to Nashville. After that early attempt failed, McDaniel moved all the way to Alaska where a few of his family members had relocated. There, he built up a following in the clubs that enabled him to move to Nashville for a second time in the 1970s when he found success writing songs for stars such as Kenny Rogers, Hoyt Axton and Conway Twitty.
"I love the people of Alaska," said McDaniel. "They gave me enough encouragement to go back to Nashville and try her again. I did a six hour single, where I'd sit on a stool by myself and work for six hours. That sounds real easy until you do it for two years. It was a rough deal, I'll tell you for sure. But, it worked out really good, and probably one of the only plans that I ever had that really happened."
After returning to Nashville, McDaniel still had a long row to hoe. Stardom was elusive, but a few years later, he hit pay dirt as a singer with "Louisiana Saturday Night," and then reached the top of the charts in 1984 with his No. 1 song, "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On." Looking back, he still remembers hearing one of his songs on the radio for the first time.
"I was singing demos and pumping gas and whatever I could do to hang in there and pay the bills somehow," said McDaniel. "Hoyt Axton sang my first recorded song, one I wrote while I was in Alaska that fit the situation and the times, 'Roll Your Own.' I actually wrote it for my Dad because he smoked half and half tobacco, and he rolled his own all the time, and I kind of took that and wrote it out, and Teddy Wilburn (of the Wilburn Brothers) got a cut for me on it. That was a weird feeling (hearing it on the radio), 'Oh, please be good. Please let people like it.' Just a heck of a deal there, you know."
In 1996, McDaniel was in a near fatal accident in Louisiana, and it was a long time before he was able to perform again. But he fought his way back, and these days, he tours often and is also a regular on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. While his most requested songs are "Stand Up," "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On" and "Louisiana Saturday Night," he tries to not pick a favorite.
"I enjoy them all," said McDaniel. "I really do. I've tried real hard not to record any of them that I didn't really like when I cut them. As long as the people still enjoy them and like them, that's all I need."
Here are the directions to the Putnam County Fair in Eleanor, W.Va.:
1. Take I-64 East to Exit 39, the Winfield-Teays exit.
2. Turn left at the end of the exit ramp, and follow W.Va. 34 approximately 5 miles until it ends.
3. Turn right at the junction of W.Va. 35 & 34 toward Winfield.
4. Turn right onto the ramp to cross the Winfield Bridge.
5. Turn left at the stop sign across the bridge toward the town of Eleanor.
6. Follow the signs to the Putnam County Fair.
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