How did an Oklahoma impresario take country music to the former USSR?

By Rachel Hopkin

Published May 29, 2023 at 11:17 PM CDT

How Curious is dedicated to stories from around Oklahoma and I’m its host and producer, Rachel Hopkin. This How Curious story starts in Oklahoma but travels over five thousand miles away to the former Soviet Union. At its center is a man named Jim Halsey. Jim Halsey is – according to The Encyclopedia of Country Music – one of country music’s most influential business figures.

I cannot describe Jim’s career in a nutshell because it’s just too big a nut, not least because he started working when he was in his late teens and is now 92 and still professionally active. This is as succinct as I can make it: Jim is an all-round music impresario – a talent manager, booking agent, creator of events, and much more. Among the stars he’s represented during his career are Roy Clark, Merle Haggard, The Judds, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbinson, Tammy Wynette, and Dwight Yoakum. And he’s done all this from his base in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Publicity still photo of Roy Clark in Nudie suit with guitar — Roy Clark

There’s an exhibition dedicated to his work currently showing [as of May 2023] at the Historical Center of the nearby city of Wagoner. It’s full of memorabilia from events that Jim’s organised and stars that he’s worked with across the decades. However, for this episode, I focused on just one part of of his career. Mark Furnas – who works with Jim - took me to see the area of the exhibit that I was interested in. (By the way, Mark is himself an Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame guitarist/songwriter.). Mark pointed out one particular photo to me. It featured Jim with country music legend Roy Clark (with whom Halsey worked for decades) and four Russian Cossacks, all of whom were all over one hundred years old. When I commented on how well the Cossacks looked given their age, Jim said say he’d asked them what their secret was. Their response was “Drink vodka every day. Keep your mouth shut”.

Jim Halsey with Roy Clark and Russian Cossacks

The picture was taken in Soviet-era Moscow during one of the country music tours of the former USSR that Jim Halsey put together in the 70s and 80. It was the era of the Cold War, though things were beginning to thaw somewhat.

The thought of taking country music to the USSR sounded to me like a hugely ambitious venture fraught with challenges. But over and again, Jim has proved to be one of those people who can just get things done, no matter how daunting. He said the idea for it began when he was with Roy Clark at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas where was Roy was playing a series of shows. During some down time, the pair were watching the news.

A group of Soviet dignitaries got off a plane in Seattle and were being interviewed. They said “you’re enjoying your trip to American. Is there any place that you’re not going, that you’d hoped to go?”. And the leader of the group said “well, yes. We’d have loved to gone to Las Vegas but we couldn’t get the arrangements made”. So Roy Clark and I looked at each other and both of us almost said at the same time: “Let’s invite them to Las Vegas and see our show”.

Imagine the red tape! But Jim quickly cut through it. He contacted with the US State Department and plans were soon in place. Two days later the Soviet delegation arrived in Las Vegas. The costs of their trip were covered by Howard Hughes, owner The Frontier Hotel, and included some surprise gifts, as Jim recalled:

The Howard Hughes people gave each one a sack of 25 cent pieces. Well, dignitaries were there to meet them, the mayor, and all that stuff. All of a sudden they’ve got that sack of quarters – they disperse over that casino. I thought “oh my gosh, we’ll never see them again”. They had the best time. They came to the show that night and afterwards Roy invited them all back to his dressing room. So Roy’s got his guitar out and they’re playing and everybody’s singing and having a good time. And when it’s over, the head of the Russian delegation said “Roy, we’d like to invite you to come and perform in the Soviet Union”. The only thing you could do, you were so honored, is say “yes”. We started our negotiations with the Russians in 1974.

The arrangements certainly weren’t straightforward. Russian officials made numerous trips to ensure that the concerts would go smoothly. They asked that any songs referencing subjects which they deemed to be controversial - for example, Jesus or God - be cut. The whole thing was part of the US State Department’s Cultural Exchange Program. Joining Jim and Roy Clark on the tour were the Oak Ridge Boys.

After a two day journey, they arrived at Moscow’s airport where they had to walk hundreds of feet from the plane to the terminal.

It was 28 degrees below zero. You couldn’t even take pictures, your cameras froze up. And lined on either side of us, there must have been 3 or 4 hundred soldiers with Kalashnikovs. All of them had their finger on the trigger. And Roy looked over to me: “Halsey, what have you gotten us into”?

The first concert had been due to take place in Moscow the following evening. However, at the last minute the location had been switched to Riga, Latvia and the Americans learned they’d have to travel by train for a further 12 hours.

By that time it must have been about 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. There really were no compartments. They had a compartment for Roy and I and the rest of the band and that. The rest of it was like a cattle cart - no benches or anything. And they’re drinking vodka and eating salami and baloney, smelled like garlic in there. And one of those Russians had a guitar and started singing “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, an old Hank Williams song. Our guys got their guitars out. It was a whole night of singing because the Russians knew a lot of those old Hank Williams, Ernest Tubbs songs. By the time we arrived in Riga, Latvia, we were right at home.

Their first concert took that same evening. Everyone was exhausted.

But you know how it gets when you get playing music. So Roy goes out. That audience was as cold as inside as out. They were sitting there with their arms folded and thinking “Okay, you Americans that are planning on bombing us any minute, entertain us”. Well, that’s what Roy did. Halfway through the first song, you could just see and feel that first audience relaxing into their chairs. This was one of the one of the most magical moments of my life. To see that there and watch that absolutely transform from an atmosphere of hate and distrust into a loving peaceful – well, the world does have some hope.

Roy Clark during the encore of the Riga concert

It wasn’t just the audience present who got to hear Roy and the Oak Ridge Boys. That concert was also broadcast via satellite to all the Soviet Bloc countries. So were all of the other 19 shows they performed during their trip. In all, the tour was deemed a huge success both in the USSR and back home in the USA. For this Jim paid tribute to the performers involved.

Roy Clark really was sensational. He also happened to be a big friendly guy with a big smile that when he shook your hand or hugged you or something, it was sincere. It was the same with The Oak Ridge Boys, they made so many friends; and their vocal harmonies – people loved those. [Overall, the tour] gave them trust and respect for who we were and what we were trying to do. It changed the attitudes towards the Americans. Not just among the 3000 people that were in the audience each night. We’re talking about a couple of hundred million that were watching on TV. Roy Clark and the Oak Ridge Boys were given credit for softening the atmosphere between the Soviets and the Americans. When we got home, we got a letter from every single senator in the US that indicated a good job that they had done.

I recorded the material for this episode in spring 2023, over a year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There was a sad irony to hearing Jim talk about the role music had played in softening Cold War relations while this actual war continues. When I asked Jim to share his thoughts regarding the current situation, he preferred not to speak directly about it, but instead said this:

I’m a person of universal feelings and philosophies. So there are a lot of things that go on that I don’t like everywhere, and a lot of things that I do. And eventually it boils to the human being. I like what human beings do when they are operating from their highest point and that’s what music does.

How Curious is a production of KGOU Public Radio. It’s produced and hosted by Rachel Hopkin. The editor is Logan Layden and David Graey composed the theme music. In addition to the contributors featured in this episode, we’d like to thank Duane Allen, Betsy Brumley, Larry O’Dell, and Pixabay Sound Effects.

If you have an Oklahoma-related question or subject that you’d like How Curious to cover, please email us at curious@kgou.org.