He was born Robert Joseph Bare in Ironton,
Ohio.He was signed up by Capitol Records
in the 1950s after failing several times beforehand.He then got drafted into the Army
and before he went he did a demo for his friend, Bill Parson to learn and
record.Fraternity Records
released Bobby Bare's original version by accident and credited it to
Bill Parson, and it hit No. 2 on the Top 100.Chet
Atkins signed him to the RCA
label.His first single for him
sold nearly a million copies and his second,
"DetroitCity"
won him a Grammy for the best song of the year.He has recorded albums with Skeeter
Davis and Lacy J. Dalton.He
later produced his own records at RCA and then moved to CBS.He helped Roseanne Cash's
career by singing with her.He
recorded "Singing in The Kitchen" with his family and it was
nominated for a best group category Grammy, but Bobby declined it as his 15-year-old
daughter had recently died.His band was called Pulleybone
and he
was room mate with Willie Nelson in the 1960s.He did a western with
Troy Donahue called A Distant Trumpet,
appeared in a few episodes of the TV series No Time for Sergeants, and had a TV series of his own called Bobby Bare & Friends, A Song Writer
Showcase.In 1998 he formed the band Old
Dogs with Jerry
Reed
, Mel Tillis and Waylon Jennings.He is also credited as introducing
Waylon Jennings to RCA.His new
album recorded after over 20 years was produced by his son, Bobby Bare
Jr.His daughter is the singer
Cari Bare.Hisson Shannon Atkins Bare was named
after Chet
Atkins
.While touring with Dolly
Parton
and Porter Wagoner, Dolly wrote, within two hours, the song
"Jeannie Is Afraid of the Dark" about his wife, Jeannie Bare.Bill Clinton has cited his song
"Dropkick Me Jesus (Through the Goalposts of Life)" as being
one of his favourite songs.Billy Graham called him the "Springsteen of Country
Music".
