Moe Bandy - Biography
BY J Poet
Hard core honky tonk singer Moe Bandy was one of the top country acts of the 70s and 80s, a singer who ignored the pop charts in favor of down home songs about drinking, cheating and the cowboy life. In his heyday he had had 40 Top 10 hits and ten #1 singles, including “Good Ol’ Boys,” with his singing partner Joe Stampley. When his star faded in Nashville, he opened the Americana Theatre in Branson, Missouri, where he played to sold out houses for a decade. He currently performs regularly at the The Starlite in Branson.
Bandy was born in Meridian, Mississippi, hometown of Jimmie Rodgers, and raised in Texas. His grandfather knew Jimmie Rodgers. The records of Rodgers and Hank Williams were often played his parents. His mother played piano and his father guitar. His father had a country band - the Mission City Playboys. Moe learned to play when he was a boy, but was more interested in be coming a rodeo cowboy. He dropped out of school and tried bronco busting and bull-riding. At 18 he started his first band, Moe and The Mavericks, and played San Antonio clubs nights while working days with his father. He made several singles with his band for small labels for the next decade, with little success.
In 1973 he quit the band and went to Nashville to work with producer Ray Baker. They recorded “I Just Started Hatin’ Cheatin’ Songs Today” on the small Footprint label, and was picked up by Atlanta’s GRC, a big indie country label. With GRC’s help, “I Just Started Hatin’ Cheatin’ Songs Today” hit #17 on the country charts. GRC released three bandy albums I Just Started Hatin' Cheatin' Songs Today (1974 GRC), Bandy, the Rodeo Clown (1975 GRC), the title track was his first Top 10 hit, and It Was Always So Easy (To Find An Unhappy Woman) (1975 GRC).
His hard-core honky tonk style made him a favorite of audiences and Columbia picked him up in 1975. Between 1976 and 1979 he had a string of hit singles and albums including Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life (1976 Columbia), Here I Am Drunk Again (1976 Columbia), I'm Sorry For You, My Friend (1977 Columbia) Soft Lights and Hard Country Music (1978 Columbia) and It’s a Cheating Situation (1979 Columbia). He toured Europe with Joe Stampley and the show was so popular they made an album together Just Good Ol’ Boys (1979 Columbia); the title track went to #1. Bandy and Stampley won the Country Music Association’s Duet of the Year Awards in 1980.
Bandy played almost 300 dates a year in the late 70s and early 80s, and continued making hit singles and albums including One of a Kind (1980 Columbia), with the #1 hit “I Cheated Me Right Out Of You,” Following the Feeling (1981 Columbia), Hey Joe! Hey Moe! (1981 Columbia), another duet outing with Stampley, I Still Love You in the Same Ol' Way (1982 Columbia), She’s Not Really Cheatin’ (She's Just Getting’ Even) (1982 Columbia), Devoted to Your Memory (1980 Columbia), Alive and Well (1984 Columbia) with Stampley, Barroom Roses (1984 Columbia), Keepin’ It Country (1985 Columbia) and Live from Bad Bob's, Memphis (1985 Columbia) a set with Stampley that included the infamous “Where’s the Dress?” In video for the song the duo dresses up like Boy George hoping to cash in on his fame. Boy George sued and they had to pay him for sampling a bit of a Culture Club song for their tune, but the flap got them some mainstream attention and an award for Best Country Video from the America Video Awards.
It was Bandy’s last big hit. He moved to Curb in 1987 for No Regrets (1988 Curb) which included “Americana,” later George W. Bush’s presidential theme song and Many Mansions (1989 Curb), but his pop country material didn’t do well with his fans. . With his star fading in Nashville, he opened the Americana Theatre in Branson, Missouri, and continued making records for smaller labels, often re-recordings of his hits like Picture in a Frame (1995 Intersound).
