Sherwin Linton show in town

To benefit Music

Hall of Fame

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- County-Western artist Sherwin Linton brings his annual Christmas show to Turner Hall today as a benefit for the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

The benefit concert starts at 4 p.m.

And it won't be your typical holiday show as the selection of songs for the Christmas segment and the tribute to Johnny Cash that follows set it apart from the usual holiday-show fare, his wife of 16 years and stand-in publicist, Pam Linton, said in a phone interview Saturday.

"He's been performing his Christmas shows for over 20 years. This will be the first time that we have brought the show to New Ulm," Linton said.

Her story of how this tradition began helps explains why this is not a typical Christmas show.

"In 1986, he recorded a song called, 'Santa Got A DWI.' He had written this and recorded it, and the song became a hit. He sold over a million records, and Rhino Records has released it on an album compilation called, "A Bummed-Out Christmas," so he's in company with the Everly Brothers and George Jones on that project. Ever since the hit, he has toured heavily with a choreographed Christmas production each year."

However, Linton emphasizes the show is a family show through and through, complete with a visit from Santa Claus, courtesy of the Music Hall of Fame. During the intermission following the Christmas segment, Santa will be visiting with all the "good, little boys and girls," she said.

Sisters Alexandra and Amber Samson of Becker will be performing during the Christmas segment. Alexandra who is 12 has been performing with the Linton band since she was five years old, Linton said.

Linton describes her husband as being a people-type entertainer, patiently fulfilling autograph requests as long as there are people seeking them. Linton, 65, who has been in the music business for 48 years and lived in Minnesota much of that time, was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

He got his start right out of high school in Watertown, S.D., obtaining a job at the local radio station and playing with a local band, Pam Linton explained.

His first "Top Ten" hit was "Cotton King" in 1967 which was followed by another Top-Ten entry, "When She Cries," in 1975. Later, he scored again with a tribute to the late Country Legend Waylon Jennings, titled "Jessie, I Wanted That Award."

On the flip-side, Linton passed on a song titled, "Gentle On My Mind," which became a large hit for Glenn Campbell.

However, it was only when his adoration of Johnny Cash as an entertainer turned into patterning the larger-than-life entertainer that Linton drew the greatest amount of attention.

When Sherwin comes back to do his tribute to Johnny Cash, he will do a few of his own hits but will be doing a very extensive tribute to Cash.

"In 1971, he recorded a live album at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls, S.D., titled, 'Hello, I'm Not Johnny Cash.' He had started doing a live segment in his show simply because he was such a huge Johnny Cash fan when the then governor of South Dakota came to him in 1971 and he said you need to record this, this is really, really good, but you need to do it in a penal institution just as Cash has done," she recalled.

The governor made it possible, and in August 1971 Linton and his band recorded about a two and one-half to three-hour show.

"This was condensed down into a long-playing 33 rpm album that sold heavily. It's been bootlegged in Europe, it was an unbelievable success and in 1974, Johnny Cash had Sherwin on his show. Cash wrote him a letter after that saying that it was nicest tribute anyone had ever paid to him in a recording," Linton said.

Later, at the South Dakota State Fair, Cash invited Linton up on the stage where Cash took off his boots and told Linton to put them on.

"Sherwin told him, 'John, I could never fill your shoes,' and he said, 'Oh, yes, I think you could.' We have them here in our home to this day," Linton said. (Linton was right about not being able to wear Cash's boots as they're about a half-size to a full size too large.)

"He's definitely looking forward to (being in New Ulm). New Ulm is definitely a little Christmas town, an ideal town to live in," Linton said.