38 Years Ago Today, Vern Gosdin Was at No. 1 With a Stone Cold Tribute to a Honky Tonk Hero
On 25 July 1988, Vern Gosdin reached number one on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with “Set ’Em Up Joe”, a tribute to honky-tonk pioneer Ernest Tubb. The song’s success underscored Gosdin’s comeback and connected late-1980s country music to the genre’s earlier honky-tonk traditions.
Written by Gosdin, Buddy Cannon, Hank Cochran and Dean Dillon for the album Chiseled in Stone, the song references Tubb’s “Walking the Floor Over You” as well as Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams Sr. Released in April 1988, it was Gosdin’s second chart-topper, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and followed a run of 19 top-10 solo hits between 1977 and 1990.
- Gosdin topped the country chart with “Set ’Em Up Joe” in 1988.
- The song pays tribute to Ernest Tubb and honky-tonk country.
- It became Gosdin’s second number-one hit.