Post by Busgaljan on Feb 27, 2004 21:03:25 GMT -5
Friday, February 27, 2004
By Ed Masley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A lot of people cover country music. Jerry Sharpe made it his life, arriving at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette each day in cowboy boots, a bolo tie and a big silver and turquoise belt buckle as country as Hank Williams' voice to cover the music he loved, with an eye toward traditional country values, both social and musical.
Mr. Sharpe, of Cranberry, died yesterday at UPMC Passavant. He was 77.
Mr. Sharpe covered country music for 26 years at The Pittsburgh Press. When that paper stopped printing, Mr. Sharpe resumed his duties at the Post-Gazette in 1993. By then a fixture on the local country scene, he took to hosting a popular bus trip to Branson, Mo., for dinner-theater shows by the likes of Glenn Campbell, Mel Tillis, Roy Clark and Mickey Gilley.
Mr. Sharpe, who took great pleasure in sharing his stories from the country-music frontlines with his colleagues at the paper -- from his conversations with Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson to the rowdier things that can happen at Jamboree in the Hills -- was a natural tour guide.
Rich Kienzle, of Greensburg, a respected country music writer and historian, said Mr. Sharpe loved "classic" country music.
"And that informed much of what he wrote about," said Kienzle. "He was not really happy with the direction the music has taken over the past 10 years. He grew up on the old stuff and felt that older music set a standard that everything that came afterward had to live up to."
Records and artists who didn't were frequently written off as "pop" or "cookie-cutter" country.
In his final year-end country roundup for the Post-Gazette, he picked the tradition-heavy soundtrack, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" as his album of the year.
He introduced his list with: "Record companies continued to water down country music by mixing in rock and pop in 2001. But to prove there is no substitute for real (traditional) country music, the soundtrack from the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' shot to the top of the country charts and stayed for weeks."
He viewed it as a triumph for both country music and his views on country music.
Guitarist Slim Bryant has known Mr. Sharpe for so long, he can't quite remember when they met.
"He wrote about me many times," said Bryant from his home in Dormont. "We used to have jam sessions at my house and he would come over sometimes. He really knew a great deal about classic country music."
Mr. Sharpe first met Bob Corbin in the early '80s. Corbin and Dave Hanner, a local writing duo with a string of major country singles to their credit, had just been awarded a recording contract with the Alpha Records label when Mr. Sharpe conducted that interview.
"He had a laid-back, friendly style that put people at ease," said Corbin, who also cited Mr. Sharpe's "intense love for the music."
Mr. Sharpe, a Navy veteran who served in World War II, began his long career in journalism at the North Hills News Record before moving on to the Press. He wrote his final Post-Gazette review in early 2002.
Mr. Sharpe was a religious man, a member of the Dutilh United Methodist Church, where he was a secretary of the church council for 30 years.
Mr. Sharpe's first wife, Ruth, died in 1995.
Lois, his second wife, said her husband was "different" and "unique" but also very thoughtful.
"He was the kind of guy," she said, "who told me five or six times a day 'I love you.' And when he was sick, he would wake up and tell me 'I'm sorry to put you through this.'
"We had such a wonderful 6 1/2 years of marriage together. It was just wonderful being with him."
They met through their previous marriages.
"My husband passed away 10 years ago," she said. "And his Ruth passed away years ago. We used to sit out on my patio and talk and cry, and talk and cry."
Eventually, they fell in love.
"I felt like a teenager again," she said. "I told him that and he said he did, too."
Besides his wife, Mr. Sharpe is survived by a daughter, Charlane V. Bailey, of Ellwood City; a son, Gregory B., of New Sewickley; and three stepchildren, Deborah Zimmerman, of Evans City, Cynthia Woodward, of Harmony, and W. Mark Yeager, of Argentina
By Ed Masley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A lot of people cover country music. Jerry Sharpe made it his life, arriving at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette each day in cowboy boots, a bolo tie and a big silver and turquoise belt buckle as country as Hank Williams' voice to cover the music he loved, with an eye toward traditional country values, both social and musical.
Mr. Sharpe, of Cranberry, died yesterday at UPMC Passavant. He was 77.
Mr. Sharpe covered country music for 26 years at The Pittsburgh Press. When that paper stopped printing, Mr. Sharpe resumed his duties at the Post-Gazette in 1993. By then a fixture on the local country scene, he took to hosting a popular bus trip to Branson, Mo., for dinner-theater shows by the likes of Glenn Campbell, Mel Tillis, Roy Clark and Mickey Gilley.
Mr. Sharpe, who took great pleasure in sharing his stories from the country-music frontlines with his colleagues at the paper -- from his conversations with Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson to the rowdier things that can happen at Jamboree in the Hills -- was a natural tour guide.
Rich Kienzle, of Greensburg, a respected country music writer and historian, said Mr. Sharpe loved "classic" country music.
"And that informed much of what he wrote about," said Kienzle. "He was not really happy with the direction the music has taken over the past 10 years. He grew up on the old stuff and felt that older music set a standard that everything that came afterward had to live up to."
Records and artists who didn't were frequently written off as "pop" or "cookie-cutter" country.
In his final year-end country roundup for the Post-Gazette, he picked the tradition-heavy soundtrack, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" as his album of the year.
He introduced his list with: "Record companies continued to water down country music by mixing in rock and pop in 2001. But to prove there is no substitute for real (traditional) country music, the soundtrack from the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' shot to the top of the country charts and stayed for weeks."
He viewed it as a triumph for both country music and his views on country music.
Guitarist Slim Bryant has known Mr. Sharpe for so long, he can't quite remember when they met.
"He wrote about me many times," said Bryant from his home in Dormont. "We used to have jam sessions at my house and he would come over sometimes. He really knew a great deal about classic country music."
Mr. Sharpe first met Bob Corbin in the early '80s. Corbin and Dave Hanner, a local writing duo with a string of major country singles to their credit, had just been awarded a recording contract with the Alpha Records label when Mr. Sharpe conducted that interview.
"He had a laid-back, friendly style that put people at ease," said Corbin, who also cited Mr. Sharpe's "intense love for the music."
Mr. Sharpe, a Navy veteran who served in World War II, began his long career in journalism at the North Hills News Record before moving on to the Press. He wrote his final Post-Gazette review in early 2002.
Mr. Sharpe was a religious man, a member of the Dutilh United Methodist Church, where he was a secretary of the church council for 30 years.
Mr. Sharpe's first wife, Ruth, died in 1995.
Lois, his second wife, said her husband was "different" and "unique" but also very thoughtful.
"He was the kind of guy," she said, "who told me five or six times a day 'I love you.' And when he was sick, he would wake up and tell me 'I'm sorry to put you through this.'
"We had such a wonderful 6 1/2 years of marriage together. It was just wonderful being with him."
They met through their previous marriages.
"My husband passed away 10 years ago," she said. "And his Ruth passed away years ago. We used to sit out on my patio and talk and cry, and talk and cry."
Eventually, they fell in love.
"I felt like a teenager again," she said. "I told him that and he said he did, too."
Besides his wife, Mr. Sharpe is survived by a daughter, Charlane V. Bailey, of Ellwood City; a son, Gregory B., of New Sewickley; and three stepchildren, Deborah Zimmerman, of Evans City, Cynthia Woodward, of Harmony, and W. Mark Yeager, of Argentina