Bobby Bare

Ironton, 1955-

Bobby Bare's early life at the bottom of Ohio, Ironton, reads like a country song in the making, so it's no surprise he became a country music legend.

He performed locally in the early-mid 50s, went out to California, and returned to Ohio to join the army. He was still more of a rock and roller at the time, and applied his experiences and influences to write the song "All American Boy". The convoluted story about how this was released under the name of his friend Bill Parsons is told elsewhere on the Internet.

After his army time, he returtned to songwriting and recording, mixing pop-rock and country for a few years until he was signed to RCA records by Chet Atkins. He scored big right out of the gate with "Detroit City" and his career has been going since.

Plenty of good histories on Bobby can be found on the web tubes.