Cindy Walker and her mother came to Nashville on their annual trek during October and they visited the Reeves house where Cindy played Jim some of her songs that she wanted him to record.Taken from the notes accompanying "Jim Reeves - A Legendary Performer" (CPL1-1891).One song, "Distant Drums," Cindy had written specifically for Jim. She played it for him. Reeves fell in love with the song and took it to RCA and played it for Chet Atkins. Chet felt that it wasn't the proper time for recording and releasing this song-and since Jim respected Chet's opinion on his material, he didn't insist on recording it.
Cindy was disappointed since she felt the song was perfect for Jim. A unique writer, Cindy creates songs for individual artists-and if they don't record them, she sometimes does not show them to anyone else. However, she presented "Distant Drums" to Fred Foster for Roy Orbison who recorded it. The song was released in England as Orbison's A-side. The B-side became a hit…and the drama of "Distant Drums" continued.
Cindy asked Jim to make a demonstration record of the song for her because she had written it just for him-and she wanted the demo for her own pleasure. Reeves quickly agreed, and at his next demo session, put the song down on tape and gave Cindy a copy as a present.
Mary was looking for "single" record material and "Distant Drums" came to mind. She and Chet Atkins decided that it was time for it to be released and invited Cindy and Mom to the overdub session, a great thrill for the lady who gave birth to, and believed in, "Distant Drums."
Overdubbed in February 1966, the song was released in March and sold more than a million copies on a worldwide basis. Great Britain has only one chart for all types of music-pop, country, soul, etc.-and "Distant Drums" was the number one record on this chart for six weeks in a row, in competition with the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and other hot acts.
"Distant Drums was the Record of the Year in England for 1966, and Jim Reeves became the first American artist ever to attain that recognition.