Jack Barlow

b. Jack Butcher, 1924, Moline, IL, USA. Barlow grew up on a farm and, although learning to play guitar, had no thoughts of a musical career until he became a disc jockey on his local radio station. He later worked on WQUA Moline and WIRE Indianapolis and then, after visits to Nashville, decided to seek a recording career. He became a writer for Tree Publishing and made his first recordings on the Dial label. In 1965, his self-penned ‘I Love Country’ reached number 21 on the Cash Box charts. The same year he played the Grand Ole Opry. In 1966 he relocated to Nashville. In 1968, after two years with Epic, he moved to Dot Records, where his first single, ‘Baby Ain’t That Love’, reached number 40 in the Billboard country charts. In 1971-1972, he achieved a Top 30 hit with his version of Donovan’s ‘Catch The Wind’ and Top 60 success with ‘They Call The Wind Maria’. In all, he only registered eight Billboard country chart hits, the last, ‘The Man On Page 602’ (which refers to a revealing photo in the Sears catalogue), being issued on the Antique label under the name of Zoot Fenster in 1975. His deep and very distinctive voice saw him, in later years, achieve acclaim for his work on commercials and voice-overs. Barlow died in 2011 following a long period battling an undisclosed illness.