I’ve mentioned several times that quite a few hits were written under unusual circumstances or recorded from unusual situations.
David Houston’s 1966 #1 “Almost Persuaded” was one of those tunes.
As the story goes, Houston traveled from his home in Shreveport, Louisiana to Nashville, Tennessee for his planned recording session with record producer Billy Sherrill. He was supposed to record a song called “We Got Love” but didn’t have a song to record for the other side. So his songwriter and producer Sherrill called another writer, Glenn Sutton, and the pair worked overnight to come up with a song for Houston’s recording session the next day.
Sherrill and Sutton finished “Almost Persuaded” just in time for Houston to record along with “We Got Love” at his 8 a.m. recording session.
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The record was sent to radio stations with “We Got Love” clearly marked as the “A” side, but disc jockeys followed Atlanta, Georgia, WPLO Radio DJ Mac Curtis, who started flipping it and playing “Almost Persuaded.”
The Epic Records single entered the country music chart on June 25, 1966, peaking at number one and staying there for nine weeks. It was his 9th charting song and stayed on the chart for 28 weeks. The Epic Records single also peaked at number 24 on the pop charts.
Between 1963 and 1989, David Houston placed 61 songs on the country charts – including seven No. 1s.
Seven of his 61 country chart singles also made the pop charts.
His 61 charting country recordings included duets with Tammy Wynette and Barbara Mandrell.
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David Houston joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1972.
He died in 1993.
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David Houston (photo courtesy of Doug Davis)
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