Sunday, February 17, 2008 – Grand Ole Opry member Bobby Lord died Saturday at 74 after a long illness.
Lord, a singer, songwriter, guitarist and television star, had his own long-running syndicated television show in the 1960s, produced by WSM in Nashville.
His musical career began as teenager in Tampa, Fla. He had his own television show in Tampa while a freshman at the University of Tampa - The Bobby Lord Homefolks Show. He got this show when he was asked to be a guest on a local show, so he did this for two weeks. Then he got a call from the program director and was asked to take over the show - he was told at the time that the star of the show had suddenly 'taken ill' and wouldn't be able to host. They asked Bobby if he could get a show together by the next night. He agreed to find a pickup band for the show. Since he had no backup band of his own, he had to call around and find musicians, which he did - he found an accordion player, a couple of guitar players for the then 30-minute show. They then gave him an hour show for Saturday nights.
His first big break was an appearance on Paul Whiteman's TV show in New York as the result of winning an amateur talent contest. In 1953, songwriter Boudleaux Bryant had a tape Lod cut in Nashville and had it played for Don Law at Columbia records, who then signed Lord to Columbia Records. He recorded several rockabilly hits and several country chart records for Columbia. At the same time, he became a regular on The Ozark Jubilee (an ABC television show hosted by Red Foley based out of Springfield, Mo.), where he stayed for five and a half years.
When The Ozark Jubilee went off the air in 1960, Lord moved to Nashville. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1960, where he was a featured performer through the 1960s into the mid-1970s. In 1961 he began recording for the Hickory label. In 1967, he moved to the Decca label, where had several additional country hits. Lord charted 10 times between his first hit, "Without Your Love," which went to number 10 in 1956 and "Goodbye Jukebox," which barely made the charts in 1971.
He was perhaps best known for The Bobby Lord Show, a nationally syndicated TV show, which was seen in 40 markets in the U.S. and 34 countries around the world.
Lord also had a late afternoon live country TV show on WSM during this same time frame.
In the early 1970s he grew tired of the road, and wanted to spend more time with his family. He semi-retired from music, returned to Florida and developed real estate and insurance businesses.
Well known as an avid outdoorsman, Lord hosted TNN's "Country Sportsman," which was later called "Celebrity Outdoors."
After several years, he retired from the show in 1989 because he was about to have 2 new grandchildren, and he wanted to be home to enjoy them.
A practicing Christian, Lord wrote "Hit The Glory Road," published in 1969 by Broadman Press, on the grassroots gospel behind country music. It includes interviews with Roy Acuff, Bill Anderson, Bobby Bare, Jim Ed Brown, songwriters Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Skeeter Davis, Ralph Emery, Jeanie C. Riley and Tex Ritter among others.
Lord is survived by Mozelle, his wife of more than 40 years, three children and seven grandchildren.
