George Kent on Mercury

"Hello, I'm a Jukebox"

This post is to honor George Kent, who recently passed away at the age of 75. "Hello, I'm a Jukebox" was on one of the cheapo-comps I listened early on when I was not so familiar with country and I always liked it. It was a typical country song to me and his recordings of "I Always Did Like Leavenworth" and "Mama Bake a Pie, Daddy Kill a Chicken" also were great.

"Hello, I'm a Jukebox" was written by the legendary Tom T. Hall, whose most famous song was "Harper Valley, PTA", recorded by Jeannie C. Riley. Kent, who had started his career in the 1950s and had recorded since, had his best days at Mercury in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He recorded "Hello, I'm a Jukebox" in 1969 with the wonderful background voice of Diana Duke. Early in 1970, the song charted in Billboard's Hot Country Singles and peaked at #26. It was Kent's most successful single.

George O. Kent was born on June 12, 1935, in Dallas, Texas, to Edna and George Olen Kent. Kent was a member of KRLD's Big D Jamboree out of Dallas, one of the more prominent country shows in the late 1950s. He recorded for Shannon, Rice, Maverick (1959), Roulette (1965-1966), Starday (1966-1967) and Mercury (from 1969 on). Although he also wrote songs for other artists such as Jim Reeves, the big break never came for him. He also performed with such stars as Elvis Presley, Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. In 1980, he bought the Cow Palace with his wife and sold it in 1997 to raise horses. He died in Loveland, Colorado, on August 12, 2010.

Sources: various Billboard issues, Hillbilly-Music.com