WORKING WITH JIM REEVES
1963 (June 10-15)
"Jon Derek is one of Britain's most promising and outstanding country music singers" JIM REEVES
In June 1963, Jon Derek's band at the time JOHNNY and THE HAYRIDERS (featuring Gordon Huntley on pedal steel guitar) supported JIM REEVES and the BLUE BOYS on a short tour they made to the UK. One of the venues they performed at was 'Brize Norton Air Force Base' on June 10, 1963.
JOHNNY and THE HAYRIDERS
RAF Brize Norton - Oxfordshire
JIM REEVES and the BLUE BOYS
RAF Brize Norton - Oxfordshire
Ticket from the RAF Brize Norton show
Opening the show for Jim, he praised their style and was quoted to have said, “Johnny and The Hayriders are the nearest thing to the Nashville sound that I have heard whilst in Britain.” He also gave them permission to include one of his numbers in their repertoire – a song called ‘Most Of The Time’.
Other known venues on the tour included; RAF Lakenheath, RAF High Wycombe and USAF club 'Douglas House' in London.
Jon Derek's Jim Reeves autograph
About a week after the tour ended, Jim wrote an article about his trip to the UK for an American newspaper in which he referred to Jon Derek as ‘one of Britain’s most promising and outstanding country music singers’.
Tony Byworth
In 1974, Jon was interviewed by top journalist of the time, Tony Byworth about this particular tour and his recollections of working with the late, great Jim Reeves.
Click on the following link to read Tony Byworth's Interview
Ironically, both Tony Byworth and Jon Derek were inducted into the British Country Music Hall of Fame the same year - 2012, along with BBC TV and Radio personality Bob Harris.
Author Larry Jordan spent 13 years writing a book 'Jim Reeves - His Untold Story' based on hundreds of interviews with the people who worked with Jim and those who knew him best. Jon Derek's account of working with Jim Reeves is told in this riveting 672-page biography which is available from Amazon and all good book shops.
JIM REEVES - HIS UNTOLD STORY
(Larry Jordan)
Velvet-voiced Jim Reeves was not only one of the world's most popular and enduring recording stars, he was one of the most fascinating. Now, in this truly intimate and scrupulously well-researched biography, author Larry Jordan sets the record straight, dispelling rumours and misinformation that have swirled around Reeves for decades.
Dave Bussey introduces Jon Derek
Backed by musicians Jamie Gunn and Gerry Hogan
The 3rd Jim Reeves Fan Club Convention
London (January 1975)
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