Joe Carson born 21 November 1936

Joe Carson (21 November 1936 - 28 February 1964) was an American country music performer, active from the early 1950s to early 1960s. 

Little Joe Carson was born Joe Franklin Carson to Henry Monroe and Jo Carson in Holliday, Texas, a small town near Wichita Falls in northwest Texas. He was the last of nine children, the sixth son, seven years younger that his closest sibling, J. M. His parents split up when he was young and he was reared by his mother in nearby Brownwood; his father (known by his middle name Monroe) moved into Wichita Falls, where several older brothers also moved. 

The Carson family was a musical one, “We all sang,” says brother J.M. although none besides Joe would pursue music as a profession (J. M. would give a music career a half-hearted stab after his younger brother's death). Both parents, in particular, loved music and sang, but it was probably his mother Jo who really passed on the talent -- and love -- for music to her son. Whatever the case, Joe became seriously interested in music while quite young and by his early teens was making guest appearances with area bands. In 1951, he travelled to Dallas to enter a talent contest at the new Bob Wills Ranch House. He came in second, winning a $50 bond. 

                                   

Carson may not have won a recording contract, but the experience did serve to push him closer to turning pro. He continued to gig around Brownwood and among the bands he undoubtedly sat in with were Hamilton's Texas Wranglers. A decade later, he would cut a song by the band's fiddler, Bobby Swinson, Three Little Words Too Late. By early 1953, now 16, he was appearing daily on KCNC in Fort Worth with the Bayou Valley Folks and Jimmy Blanton. At sixteen he joined The Southernaires, who were the house band for the Southern Club in Lawton, Oklahoma, which was a major venue for many of the top country performers of the day, like Hank Williams, Tex Ritter, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Lefty Frizzell. Another member of the Southernaires was a young guitar player named Tommy Allsup, who would later become famous for playing lead guitar for Buddy Holly on that last, fateful tour of early 1959. 

In 1954, Carson signed his first record deal with Mercury Records, releasing four singles which went nowhere. But Carson was a popular live act (appearing around this time on the Big D Jamboree out of Dallas, TX), and had no problem securing a deal with Capitol in late 1956 after the Mercury contract ended. Though the Capitol files say that Ken Nelson produced the sessions, pretty much everyone agrees that Joe Carson's old friend Tommy Allsup was really in charge. Unfortunately, the two Capitol singles Carson recorded were not successful, and after making one more failed single for the D label in 1959, Joe Carson went back on the road, still searching for that one hit record that would put him over the top. 

In 1954, Carson signed his first record deal with Mercury Records, releasing four singles which went nowhere. But Carson was a popular live act (appearing around this time on the Big D Jamboree out of Dallas, TX), and had no problem securing a deal with Capitol in late 1956 after the Mercury contract ended. Though the Capitol files say that Ken Nelson produced the sessions, pretty much everyone agrees that Joe Carson's old friend Tommy Allsup was really in charge. Unfortunately, the two Capitol singles Carson recorded died a quick death, and after making one more failed single for the D label in 1959, Joe Carson went back on the road, still searching for that one hit record that would put him over the top. 

Carson's live act continued to impress, mainly because he was one of the greatest honky-tonk singers to ever step behind a microphone, right up there with Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, George Jones and Johnny Paycheck. He managed to secure a contract with Liberty Records in 1962, and after one flop single, "Shoot The Buffalo", that elusive first hit showed up - in the form of Willie Nelson. Nelson was a big fan of Carson's, having seen him a number of times in Texas, and wrote a song for Joe called "I Gotta Get Drunk (And I Shore Do Dread It)". Joe recorded it on January 9, 1963, under the eye of his good friend Tommy Allsup, and it became a smash Top Ten hit on the country charts upon its release in May of 1963. The follow-up, "Helpless" (featuring a young Glen Campbell on guitar and backing vocals), also became a Top 20 country hit in August. 

After one more single, "Double Life", in January, 1964, Carson went back on the road. After a concert in Wichita Falls, TX on February 28th (in which, reportedly, the last song Carson sang was "The Last Song"), Carson packed his gear and got in his car. Unfortunately, he never made it home. He died in an auto accident at the age of 27, on 28 February 1964. He was 27 years old, leaving a wife, a young son, and the prospects of one of the greatest careers in country music history. 

(Edited from Bear Family notes & On The Record blog)