Conway Twitty: Media Timeline, Part Four

In this fourth installment of the media time-line in Conway Twitty's career I came across a small sampling of a June 1986 article taking pot-shots at the country music theme parks in existence at the time. Opryland, of course, and the brand new theme park, DollyWood, as well as the House of Cash. Obviously, the inclusion of Twitty-City in the discussion is what prompted me to create this blog entry.

"...If you're going to be a theme park in Nashville," says park flack Tom Adkinson, "you'd better be about music." But not just country music: Opryland's 120 acres embrace doo-wop and Duke Ellington in as many as a dozen simultaneous stage shows. Then it's 20 miles northeast to Hendersonville and a stop at Twitty City, the monument Country Star Conway Twitty has built to himself, including a guided tour conducted by a giant mechanical Twitty Bird. (Just down the road is Johnny Cash's House of Cash..."

I highlighted the area that reeks of ignorance on the part of the author of the article. The author apparently doesn't care about the truth or didn't do much research on the subject. Conway never built the theme park for himself...I happen to believe what Conway said back in 1982 and all the years afterward. That Twitty-City was built for the fans. In various interviews throughout the '80s and into the early '90s he always was citing the fans for all of his success and that he had Twitty-City built as a thank you gift for fans to stop by and take in all of the success they helped him achieve. Also, he knew that the fans loved the chance of being up close, or is close proximity, to their favorite singer and that's why he lived there, on the grounds...along with his children and his mother.

Now, obviously, that little article from 1986 didn't do any harm because the park remained in business on into 1994 before it was ordered shut down by the courts during the infamous estate battle. Anyway, I singled out the 23 year old article because it shows how ignorant people are when they write-up country music. The author writes from a slanted view point, filling the commentary with the most cliché driven rubbish imaginable. The commentary goes longer than what I quoted but I wanted to pin-point the Conway reference. The longer commentary is filled with other ignorant opinions.

The by-standers, or, non-country music fans, I feel have no right to deliver their opinion if they don't know what they're talking about. I mean, at least get some facts before writing a story or making accusations.

Because the comment wasn't based on facts and it was based on the writer's opinion, Conway is made out to be a gigantic egomaniac who built a palace devoted to himself for the pure sake of basking in his own success. That's what the author was hinting at even if they didn't come right out and say it...and the truth is, Conway built the complex as a treat for his fans and a place the country music fan in general could go to and learn about his career...but there are other things in the area besides Conway's park.

Just in case anyone out there may wonder "but didn't Conway make a ton of money from this theme park?".

Yeah...but big deal if he turned a profit and sold merchandise to fans in the gift shop?

I sometimes come across blog sites and message boards that make Conway and his people out to be bad guys because they ran a gift shop within the park, like it's some sort of crime. I suppose in a critic's view everything should be free and entertainers should have no capitalistic influence? When you think about it the entire music industry thrives on revenue from music buyers. Record companies want a profit for the money they put into marketing a singer. Advertisers want a profit from radio stations. Songs that "aren't commercial enough" don't become hits. It doesn't mean a song isn't any good...it simply means it lacks the qualifications of turning a profit. I assume a lot of people have heard of this before? It's capitalism.

But to all the belly-aching people out there today: America is a capitalist society and when did "turning a profit" or "making a buck" become such terrible phrases and looked upon with scorn!?

Music Village USA was the umbrella name for the area that featured Conway's place, along with a museum dedicated to Bill Monroe, plus destinations to museum's centering on the life and times of Ferlin Huskey as well as Marty Robbins. All of it was in Hendersonville, Tennessee and was part of the Opryland tour in nearby Nashville. I look back to those days and wish I could have experienced it.

Tennessee being so many miles away from where I live, I never went to Twitty-City in person but I've seen video footage of the place and I've seen pictures that had been taken from the inside and it was an incredible sight...and that's just the opinion of one that never went there in person...I feel I'd have even higher praise had I gone there in person. It seems funny, though, how polarizing Conway tended to be among the critics. One critic could be absolutely savage and blood thirsty while another critic was championing the style of songs Conway preferred to write and sing while writing glowing reviews of Twitty-City and then another critic could write about how puzzled he is that Conway's concerts defy common sense. It was always this back and fourth relationship.

I find it ironic, though, that in June 1986, the very same month and year that the commentary that I quoted was written, that very same month and year, we have a write-up in another publication on a more positive note revealing that Twitty-City drew an estimated 750,000 visitors during the summer of 1985 and that they predicted the tourist attendance would be in that same level for 1986 as well. There was another positive review of the theme park from August of 1986...it came from the Spokesman-Review...and the author of the glowing salute was Bob Garfield. Yes...that is the kind of commentary that is preferred. Plus, you don't get any cynical and anti-Capitalistic vibes while reading it, neither. Bravo write-up! It was in August of 1986 that Conway hit #1 for the 40th and final time on Billboard's country chart...with a song called "Desperado Love". When tallying up the #1 songs from other charts, this was his 51st single to reach a #1 position. His 50th #1 was "Don't Call Him a Cowboy" in the summer of 1985.

Twitty-City

Conway opened up Twitty-City in 1982. The complex had been under construction since 1981. According to Conway, he built the tourist attraction because he felt country music fans were kept too far away from the singers they idolized and were fans of. He opened this complex with the goal to allow his fans the opportunity to tour his property and look at his career through the help of pictures and other souvenirs on display.

His family lived on the complex which included his four children and his mother. He lived in the big house you see behind him in the picture. At the time of the 1982 opening Conway was still one of the biggest country music acts and his singles were reaching #1 with unequaled rivalry from his peers. At the complex there was an area known as the Showcase. This was the place where Conway's Wall of Gold was on display. The records were not officially "gold records" by the RIAA...instead, these gold records were in reference to his number one hits. Each chart-topping single that Conway had in his career was spotlighed under glass in the Wall of Gold...by 1990 the Wall of Gold contained 55 plaques representing each #1 single.

The name of the complex you might think was dreamed up by Conway or one of his associates but in reality the name of the place was un-titled until critics began calling it 'Twitty-City' as a joke. Conway liked the name and so that's what it officially became. It's location was in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Music Village, USA became a tourist attraction and Twitty-City was the main draw in both the summer AND winter months...each winter Conway put on his Christmas At Twitty-City light display. The Opryland Hotel in Nashville did a similar event in the winter months leading up to Christmas where they, too, would put on a dazzling display of Christmas lights. Conway did a TV special in 1982 called Conway On The Mississippi that featured a line-up of singers popping in and out. Tammy Wynette, Loretta, Charley Pride, and Jerry Lee Lewis made appearances as did Barbara Mandrell. She and Conway appeared together in a segment taped/filmed at the Nashville ball-park, footage from a celebrity ball-game. George Lindsay appeared in a stand-up comedy routine and Ralph Emery acted as co-host in a few of the segments. There was a segment on Twitty-City in this special.

In 1983 Conway released a very rare album...his only holiday album...called Merry Twismas and it featured spoken and sung selections as Conway "strolled" through Twitty-City with Twitty Bird, the mascott. He and the bird talk back and fourth and make jokes plus sing a few songs together. After the release of this album, it would be the main soundtrack heard as visitors came to Twitty-City during the holidays.

Twitty-City never really had a down-year. Each summer, specifically, throughout the 1980's as Conway ruled the country charts his fans planned their vacations around the place. In June of each year he hosted a celebrity softball game for charity...often playing against a team headed up by Barbara Mandrell. Also, Fan Fair happened in June...Conway would often put together a concert called 'Country Explosion' which would feature Conway and usually Loretta plus anyone else that Conway could get to appear.

Robin Leach's TV show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous came calling and they did a story on Conway's tourist attraction in 1986. The special also spoke of Conway's media shyness and how his "luxurious mansion" sits smack dab in the middle of the entire complex. It was out of place to see a show like that do a segment on Conway...even though I suspect the publicity didn't hurt. The fifth anniversary of Twitty-City was a local media event in 1987. In 1991 he started allowing fans the ability to tour his own house...where as before they could only see his house from a distance. Twitty-City continued thriving until 1993...Conway's death in June amidst the upcoming Fan Fair festivities sent a shock wave through Nashville...his untimely death at 59 was even more shocking. Fans from all over went to Twitty-City throughout 1993...a dedication show was put together called 'Final Touches'. The complex was shut down in early 1994...and during the infamous auction of Conway's personal property, the Christian company, Trinity Broadcasting, bought the complex and turned it into a religious complex.