Carl Belew, A Cherokee Songwriter

Carl Robert Belew (1931–1990)

A cherokee Country singer-songwriter from Salina, Oklahoma. Born April 21, 1931; died of cancer October 31, 1990, in Salina at age 59. An Oklahoma farm boy who worked as a plumber before pursuing music in California, then Shreveport (Louisiana Hayride, 1957–1959), then Nashville. He charted 11 times on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs as a singer, but is best remembered as a songwriter; by his death he had 266 copyrighted songs registered with BMI. Sources: Wikipedia, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Bear Family / “…and more books”, Diane Diekman’s newsletter.

A note on writing credits: Four Star Records owner Bill McCall routinely added his pen name “W.S. Stevenson” to Four Star songs, which is why that name appears beside Belew on so many titles (Diane Diekman, Wikipedia).

Awards and honors

No Grammy or CMA wins are documented for Belew.

Charting singles as a recording artist

All peaks are US Billboard Hot Country Songs unless noted (Wikipedia).

Other released singles, by year

From the detailed label discography at Rocky-52:

• 1956 — “I’m Long Gone” (Sowder); “A-Cryin’ and A-Hurtin'” (Four Star); “Lonely Street” (recorded Nov. 10, 1956, Los Angeles)
• 1957 — “Lie to Me” / “Olds Number Nine”
• 1958 — “I Can’t Forget” / “Stop the World”; “24 Hour Night” (Four Star and Brunswick); “My Baby’s Not Here” / “No Love Tonight”
• 1959 — “Am I That Easy to Forget” / “Such Is Life” (Decca); “Cool Gator Shoes”; “I Wish I’d Never” / “I Know but Tell Me Dear”
• 1960 — “That’s What I Get for Lovin’ You” / “Too Much to Lose”; “My Baby’s Not Here” / “End of Time”
• 1961 — “Another Lonely Night”; “Stop the World (And Let Me Off)” / “I Can’t Take a Chance”; “Do I Have To (Have a Reason)” / “I’m So Lonesome”
• 1962 — “Odd Man Out” / “Second Chance”; “Hello Out There” / “Together We Stand”; “I Don’t Know How I’ll Live” / “Can’t You Hear Me Call Your Name”
• 1963 — “Pretty Brown Eyes” / “Masquerade Party”; “I Can’t Stand to Look” / “My Pride Won’t Let Me”; “Big City Girls” / “Speak to Me”
• 1964 — “(I Always Dress My Very Best) Before I Go to Bed” / “Anna Louise”; “Cheaters Never Prosper” / “In the Middle of a Memory”
• 1965 — “Silent Partner” / “She Reads Me Like a Book”; “Crystal Chandeliers” / “Lonely Hearts Do Foolish Things”; “Boston Jail” / “I Spent a Week There One Day”
• 1966 — “Possum Holler” / “Pick Up My Marbles and Run Home”; “Walking Shadow Talking Memory” / “I’m Lonesome”
• 1967 — “Help Stamp Out Loneliness” / “I Dream Too Big”; “Girl Crazy” / “Turnabout”; “Too Much to Lose” / “Home Away from Home”
• 1968 — “Once” / “Mary’s Little Lamb”
• 1969 — “Get Behind Love (And Shove It)” / “Move Over (When True Love Walks By)” (Columbia)
• 1970 — “Fastest Man Alive” / “Mary”
• 1971 — “I Can Give You What You Want Now” / “Stay Close to Me”; “All I Need Is You” and “Hung Up on Lovin’ You” (both with Betty Jean Robinson); “Bus 22” / “God Is Alive”; “Don’t Let Those Happen to Us” / “When My Baby Sings His Song”
• 1972 — “Happy Harry’s Honky Tonk (And Package Liquor Store)” / “I Won’t Care”; “You’re the One” / “Lucky Ol’ Me” (with Robinson); “Who Are You Saving It For” / “I’m Taking Care of Your Roses”
• 1973 — “Play Our Song Again” / “Gonna Learn to Live Again” (MCA)
• 1974 — “Welcome Back to My World” / “Turn Out Lights and Turn Me On” (MCA)
• 1978 — “Big Flickin’ Baby” / “We Don’t Have to Fall in Love (To Make It Work)”

Albums

Album years and labels per Rocky-52; Wikipedia dates Twelve Shades of Belew to 1968 and lists the same core eight original LPs (Wikipedia).

Songs he wrote, and the singers who made them famous

Primary source: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee record, supplemented where noted.

“Am I That Easy to Forget” (with Shelby Singleton, W.S. Stevenson)

“Lonely Street” (with Kenny Sowder, W.S. Stevenson)

Cover list per Wikipedia and the NSHOF.

“Stop the World (And Let Me Off)” (with W.S. Stevenson)

Details per Wikipedia.

“What’s He Doing in My World” (with Eddie Bush, Billy Joe Moore)

“That’s When I See the Blues (In Your Pretty Brown Eyes)” (with Tommy Blake, W.S. Stevenson)

Other Belew compositions and their hit versions

Hits Belew recorded but did not write

• “Crystal Chandelier(s)” — written by Ted Harris. Belew recorded the original in 1965 (No. 12 country); Charley Pride’s 1967 version on the No. 1 album The Country Way made it a standard, also produced by Chet Atkins (Wikipedia).
• “Hello Out There” — written by Kent Westberry and Wayne Walker; Belew’s No. 8 country hit in 1962, with a competing pop version by Nick Noble (Gene Watson feature / Country Music People).

The singers most associated with his catalog

Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, Andy Williams, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jim Reeves, Waylon Jennings, Johnnie & Jack, Skeeter Davis, Debbie Reynolds, Faron Young, Susan Raye, Stonewall Jackson, Charlie Walker, Billy Walker, Del Reeves, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson.

Sources:

“Carl Belew” — Wikipedia.

“Carl Belew, Inductee 1976” — Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

“Carl Belew Discography” — Rocky-52.

“Diane’s Country Music Newsletter, 11 January 2023” (Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame 1976 profile) — Diane Diekman.

“Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Inducts Six” — BMI Music World, Issue 4, 1976.

“Songwriter’s Hall Inducts Six” — Record World, October 23, 1976.

“Inductees” — Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

“Am I That Easy to Forget” — Wikipedia.

“Lonely Street (Carl Belew song)” — Wikipedia.

“Stop the World (and Let Me Off)” — Wikipedia.

“What’s He Doing in My World” — Wikipedia.

“Crystal Chandelier” — Wikipedia.

“Wine Me Up” — Wikipedia.

“Jim Reeves: ‘That’s When I See the Blues (In Your Pretty Brown Eyes)'” — SA Singles Charts.

“Kent Westberry: ‘Songs to Write'” — Country Music People, March 2021, via Gene Watson Features.

“Carl Belew Discography” — Slipcue Guide to Hick Music.

“Carl Belew, born 21 April 1931” — From the Vaults.