Born on the 8th of June 1941, Benton County, Rogers, Arkansas, USA, Vernon Oxford comes from a musical, church-going family, and his father passed his fiddle-playing talent on to his son. He was given a guitar when he was 13 years old and has been singing country and country/gospel ever since.

In 1964 he moved to Nashville with his wife, Loretta, and, after being turned down by several companies, RCA Records signed him, releasing a single and an album, both called “Woman, Let Me Sing You A Song” His recordings are a throwback to the rural honky-tonk sound of Hank Williams, with a voice to match, but he claims, “I am being me. I sing a lot of Hank’s songs but I never set out intentionally to imitate him. I guess we’re both country boys and we both sing from the heart.”

RCA dropped Vernon when his records did not sell, but a contingent of British fans lobbied RCA so hard that they reversed the decision. RCA released a UK double album in its Famous Country Music Makers series, although Oxford was anything but famous at the time. Vernon won more British fans with UK appearances, particularly at Wembley Country Music Festivals. He made the US country charts with “Shadows Of My Mind” and then, in 1976, with his controversial “Redneck! (The Redneck National Anthem),” written by Mitchell Torok, and in the same vein, “Redneck Roots” and “A Good Old Fashioned Saturday Night Honky Tonk Barroom Brawl.” He also recorded a humorous duet with Jim Ed Brown called “Mowing The Lawn.” He claims he just dreamed the words and music of his own songs, “She’s Always There” and “Better Way Of Life.”

Since 1977, Oxford has not had chart success in the USA, but that is not one of his objectives. He says, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, and, in 1978, I was born again, even though I was a Baptist already.” However, Oxford, the subject of a BBC Television documentary, says, “I do cheating songs but now I do them to represent what sin is: I use them to make a point about Jesus Christ. ‘Redneck!’ shows what I used to be before I was saved. I sing gospel songs at the end of every show and tell them about the Truth. Sometimes I combine singing with preaching. When I called a girl out of the audience once, the power of God knocked her down and she slithered like a snake across the floor. I have found peace and happiness and I would like to help others to find it too.”

Official Vernon Oxford Website