Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. (May 19, 1940 – September 29, 2002)[2] was an American singer-songwriter and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Based on his phenomenal success as a writer, Newbury scored a solo deal with RCA and recorded Harlequin Melodies.
In contrast to the subtle expressiveness of Newbury's prime work, Harlequin Melodies is overproduced and packed with often distracting instrumental touches, shifting tempos, and strange production effects.
Owing to a verbal agreement with Steve Sholes, Newbury was able to get out of his five-year contract with RCA and sign with Mercury, where he could work with his good friends Jerry Kennedy and Bob Beckham.
Just about every aspect of his next recording, Looks Like Rain, was unconventional by Nashville's standards at the time, beginning with Newbury's choice of studio.
Cinderella Sound was located in a residential area of Madison and was run by guitarist Wayne Moss, who had converted his two-car garage into a recording studio.
One significant aspect of their production is the inclusion of sound effects to link the songs, which gave the LPs a conceptual feel and would become a Newbury trademark.
In 1972, Elvis Presley's version reached #66 and peaked at #31 on the Easy Listening chart, but it became the grandiose highlight of his live shows.
Throughout the '70s, Newbury continued producing albums such as Live at Montezuma Hall (1973), Heaven Help the Child (1973), and I Came to Hear the Music (1974), which were critically acclaimed for their unique, mysterious atmosphere and poetic songs.
Although cited by Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, David Allan Coe, and several other country stars as a primary influence on their songwriting and albums, Newbury had little interest in cashing in on the outlaw country movement, telling Peter O'Brien of the Omaha Rainbow in 1977, "It's just categorising again, making a new pigeonhole to stick somebody into.
Despite featuring some of the best musicians in Nashville (as well as film scorer Alan Moore), the recordings failed to find an audience, although his work remained highly regarded by critics and fellow artists.
[8] He toured Australia in 1984 and sang "Sweet Memories" during a "guitar pull" as part of the TV special The Door Is Always Open hosted by Waylon Jennings.
"[9] In 1988, Airborne Records planned a release in which Newbury demos were treated with synthesizers and other then-contemporary production effects.
These demos stemmed from sessions with producer Larry Butler in Nashville in March 1983 and featured new-age synthesizer sounds, which Newbury came to loathe.
[2][13] Ralph Emery referred to Newbury as the first "hippie-cowboy," and along with Johnny Cash and Roger Miller, he was one of the first to rebel against the conventions of the Nashville music society.
Newbury is also responsible for getting Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark to move to Nashville and pursue careers as songwriters.
His work would be recorded by singers and songwriters such as Johnny Cash, Vampire Weekend, Bob Luman, Roy Orbison, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bill Monroe, Johnny Rodriguez, Hank Snow, Ray Charles, Tony Rice, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tammy Wynette, Ray Price, Don Gibson, Ronnie Milsap, Brenda Lee, Charlie Rich, Lynn Anderson, David Allan Coe, Sammi Smith, Joan Baez, Tom Jones, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Steve Von Till, B.B.
Looks Like Rain: The Songwriting Legacy of Mickey Newbury by author Brian T. Atkinson was published by Texas A&M University Press in 2021.
Newbury, who battled depression in his life, later reflected, "How many people have listened to my songs and thought, 'He must have a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a pistol in the other.'