ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
Bill Mack was only 25 years old when he wrote "Blue."
Which made him 14 years older than LeAnn Rimes was when she first recorded it at age 11. Saturday night, at a mature 14, she'll sing her hit country single and others at the Salem Civic Center when she opens for Martina McBride.
"LeAnn doesn't like for people to refer to her age, but naturally it comes up," said Mack, now 65. When the Texas disc jockey plays Rimes' songs on Fort Worth's WRAP, he refrains from using the word "teen-ager."
"I never mention it on the air. If I do, she'll call or have her daddy call and say, 'Is that really necessary?' But she says it with a smile."
Rimes has a lot to smile about. Mack does, too, of course: "Blue" has been the No. 1 single on the Billboard charts for 16 weeks now and was nominated for the Country Music Association's "Single of the Year."
There's a story that goes with the song, a story Mack has told umpteen times now. "But it's always a pleasure," he said.
The story begins with a young Bill Mack, writing jingles and country songs and recording a little bit, too, for Imperial records.
It was a time when few stations were fully devoted to country music, a time when you didn't have to sell a million albums to have a hit.
"You have to remember, country just wasn't as hot then as it is today," Mack said. "And royalties, you'd be lucky if you made, in a year's time, a couple of hundred dollars."
Mack had written 40 or 50 songs by then, songs that had been recorded by artists like Ferin Husky and the Maddox Brothers and Rose.
Rumor has it that when he wrote "Blue," he had Patsy Cline in mind, and that's almost true.
"A fellow named Roy Druski heard it and he said, 'That sounds like a Patsy Cline song,''' Mack said. "Well, Roger Miller played some for her back stage once and she said, 'Send that damn thing to me.' That's the way it happened."
So Mack sent the song - to Cline's agent and to her home. The singer died in a plane crash before she was able to record it.
And Mack never tried to give the song to anybody else. Until a few years ago, when he heard a tape of LeAnn Rimes singing the "Star Spangled Banner" a cappella during a Dallas Cowboys game.
He was intrigued. "I went out to hear her sing a show in Fort Worth and heard her sing `Crazy' that night. That's when I became sold. I thought of 'Blue' and that's how 'Blue' came to life."
Mack had heard Rimes planned to cut an album, which she did, first for an independent label, and then for MCG Curb. "Blue" is included on both albums; on Curb, it's the title track.
"I had nothing to lose giving her that song and besides, I wanted to hear her sing it," Mack said.
And sing it she does, with a little yodel (Mack calls it a ``soul break'') that people have said reminds them of Cline in her prime.
"When you hear someone record one of your songs, it's like someone cuddling your baby," Mack said. "It's a compliment that they took the time and that they recorded it. LeAnn could've picked up an old Patsy Cline record, but she didn't. That made me feel good."
Mack, who had another hit about four years ago with a song George Strait sang called "Drinkin' Champagne" is thankful for Rimes' success with "Blue." He's done more writing lately, and has another song waiting with her name on it. "It's in the same vein," he said. "One of those tear-jerkers."
Rimes is good at tear-jerkers, good at convincing audiences she's loved and lost. Yes, at 14.
She and Mack have become good friends over the past three years. He can't say enough about her parents, who have devoted their lives to their only daughter's career.
"People ask me, 'Are they backstage parents?' and I say, 'No,''' Mack says. "She's an on-stage daughter."
Rimes has been on stage since age 5, when she sang "Getting to Know You" in a Mississippi talent contest.
Three years later, she appeared on "Star Search." Soon after that, she moved with her parents from Jackson, Miss., to Dallas - it was better for her career, her family said.
And soon after that, LeAnn Rimes had a career.
Last year, she made more than 100 concert appearances. This year, she was nominated to receive the CMA's "Horizon Award," presented to a promising new artist. She lost out to Bryan White, but the Wednesday night television ceremony featured her (and "Blue") as the evening's first performance.
Rimes' set also usually features songs like "Talk to Me," which she co-wrote with Ron Grimes and Jon Rutherford, and "Cattle Call," a song that on her album is a duet with Eddy Arnold.
She says she's right where she wants to be.
As for Mack, Rimes' success with "Blue" has led other musical artists to look him up in the Fort Worth phone book. "When something like this happens, artists you never dreamed would be interested in your material call, or their people call."
Randy Travis, for instance, is giving a Mack song a listen. And Rimes is working on a rendition of "Clinging to a Saving Hand," one of Mack's gospel songs that has been recorded by the likes of Conway Twitty and Bill Monroe.
Meanwhile, Mack continues to do his part to keep "Blue" on the charts by playing it on his own radio show.
"Does a bear live in the woods? I've been known to play it a couple of times during the week," Mack said. "In fact, I played it this morning."
Martina McBride and LeAnn Rimes in concert tonight at the Salem Civic Center. Call 375-3004
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LeAnn Rimes on the cover of "Blue": She's been onby CNBstage since age 5, when she sang "Getting to Know You" in a talent
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