Bulletin - December 2008
Country, Bluegrass & Old Timey
Johnny Bond
->
Hank Williams + Book, DVDS
THE SELLING SOUND: The Rise Of The Country Music Industry
by Diane Pecknold |
● BOOK $22.95 |
Paper, 294 pages, counts as four CDs for shipping
Few expressions of popular culture have been shaped as profoundly by the
relationship between commercialism and authenticity as country music has.
While its apparent realism, sincerity, and frank depictions of everyday
life are country's most obvious stylistic hallmarks, Diane Pecknold - a
Postdoctoral Teaching Scholar in the Commonwealth Center for Humanities
and Society at the University of Louisville - demonstrates that
commercialism has been just as powerful a cultural narrative in its
development. In the "The Selling Sound," Pecknold explores how country
music's commercialism, widely acknowledged but largely unexamined, has
affected the way it is produced, received by fans and critics, and valued
within the American cultural hierarchy.
|
NOTE: Unless otherwise noted all
DVDs offered are in NTSC format which means that they will not play on a
European DVD players unless you have a multiple format player. |
MERLE HAGGARD |
New West 8060 |
Live From Austin, TX |
● DVD $15.98 |
Live from Austin City Limits in January, 1978. Hag in his
prime with a great line up of the Strangers including Roy Nichols on
guitar, Norm Hamlet on pedal steel and Bonnie Ownes on vocal backup. Songs
include Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today/ Ramblin' Fever/ Singe Me
Back Home/ Old Fashioned LOve/ Cherokee Maiden/ Misery/ Brain Cloudy Blues,
etc.
|
WAYLON JENNINGS |
New West 8061 |
Live From Austin, TX |
● DVD $15.98 |
New West's second volume of Waylon live on Austin City
Limits. The first (New West 8019 - $15.98) featured a show from 1989, this
one is from August 1984 and is even better. Waylon sings and picks with
his band The Waylors on 14 songs including Are You Ready For Country/ I
Can Get Off On You/ It's Not Supposed To be That Way/ You Asked Me To/
Good Hearted Woman/ Let's Turn Back The Years/ I've Always Been Crazy
and more.
|
JOHNNY BOND |
B.A.C.M. 248 |
The Clouds Will Soon Roll By |
● CD $14.98 |
26 tracks, recommended
Fine collection of tracks by this
popular and much loved performer whose career stretched back to the 30's,
including long stints with Jimmy Wakely and Gene Autry. He also appeared
in over 50 horse operas. The recordings here date from 1941 through 1956
and includes commercial recordings, unissued sides, demos and radio
transcriptions. It includes his version of Jenny Lou Carson's religious
flavored song Let Me Go Devil which became better known when
rewritten as the pop song Let Me Go Lover. Johnny was a most
engaging singer and arrangements range from a couple of guitars to small
western groups to small orchestras. Includes Won't You RIde In My
Little Red Wagon/ Down On The Old Plantation/ Darling What More Can I Do/
Remember The Alamo/ Jim Johnny & Jonas/ I Can't Hide The Tears/ Six Of One
And Half A Dozen Of The Other/ Father Along/ Man From Texas, etc.
Johnny was a fine songwriter and half a dozen of the songs here were
written or co-written by him. (FS)
|
COWBOY COPAS |
Starday NA 2053 |
Filipino Baby |
● CD $5.98 |
10 tracks, 26 mins, recommended
Oh, what to do when you
have an artist whose biggest hit is totally in bad taste now. If you are
Nashville/Gusto records I guess you just ignore that fact and put out a
simple cheap compilation with that track and a few other well-known cuts
by the artist and let it be. My Autobiography/ Louisian/ Don't Let Your
Deal Go Down/ Signed, Sealed, Then Forgotten, and a handful more
comprise this modest collection for a Grand Ole Opry great that died
tragically, alongside Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. (JM)
|
KENNETH HOUCHINS |
B.A.C.M. 247 |
The Yodeling Drifter |
● CD $14.98 |
23 tracks, recommended
Fine collection of songs recorded
between 1932 and 1934 by singer/ guitarist/ yodeler Houchins from
Champaign, Illinois. He performs a selection of cowboy, sentimental and
blues songs basing his style on that of Jimmie Rodgers and Gene Autry with
pleasing vocals and some nice yodeling. Most tracks are just vocal and
guitar but on two titles he is joined by fiddler Slim Cox. His songs are a
mix of originals and covers of other artists songs. It includes That
Yodeling Gal Of Mine/ The Prisoner's Child/ Little Sweetheart Pal Of Mine/
Back To Old Smokey Mountain/ Homesick For Heaven/ My Silver Haired Mom/
The Gangster's Brothers/ When Jimmie Rodgers Said Goodbye, etc. Decent
sound and good notes from Tony Russell. (FS)
|
LAURIE
LEWIS & THE RIGHT HANDS |
Spruce & Maple 2004 |
Live |
● CD $14.98 |
19 tracks, 79 min, highly recommended
Wherever the perfect
combination of country and bluegrass is, Lewis and company managed to live
there on their recent studio album. This new release, recorded live in in
Oregon and Washington during three March days in 2007, isn't quite up to
previous standards, but it's still full of razor sharp performances. Lewis
again allows her Right Hands to one by one take center stage and offer up
a song that suits them best. And yet the band is tight, as each right hand
apparently knows what the other is doing. The song selection on Live is
not as uniformly strong as on the studio album, but the finest moments
(Lewis' own Love Chooses You and Sarah Elizabeth Campbell's
Geraldine And Ruthie Mae, chief among them) are every bit the equal of
the best studio sides. Other standouts include Si Kahn's Just A Lie,
the traditional Worried Man Blues, the a cappella beauty The
Rope, and Who Will Watch The Home Place. Not sure if their
almost bluegrass reading of the Irving Berlin paean of sophistication (and
probable double entendre) Without My Walking Stick works
completely, but it's an interesting ride. Impressive. (JC)
|
SKEETS MCDONALD |
Bear Family BCD 16986 |
Heart Breakin' Mama - Gonna Shake This
Shack Tonight |
● CD $21.98 |
33 tracks, 79 mins, very highly recommended
A superb
collection of sides recorded between 1950 and 1961 by this outstanding
honky tonk singer whose comparitive lack of success is puzzling - he was
superb singer, excellent songwriter and was accompanied by top West Coast
musicians like Joe Maphis, Jimmy Bryant, Tommy Jackson, Speedy West, Buck
Owens, Ralph Mooney and others. His only hit in the 50s was his great
cover of Slim Willet's Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes which
is featured here along with lots of other great songs with an emphasis on
bluesy, uptempo titles. The titles are presented approximately in
chronological order opening with two of his earliest sides recorded for
Detroit's Fortune Records label including the risque The Tattooed Lady.
It also includes his stab at rockabilly - the great You Oughta See
Grandma Rock and Heart Breakin' mama which shows he could have
easily had a career as a rocker. Other tracks include Scoot, Git And Be
Gone/ Hi Diddle Dee (My Way)/ Baby, I'm Countin'/ Your Love Is Like A
Faucet/ I Got A New Field To Plow/ You Gotta Be May Baby/ Keep her Off
Your Mind, etc. Superb sound and set comes with 32 page booklet with
extensive notes, rare photos and full discographical info. (FS)
|
HAL LONE PINE
& BETTY CODY |
Bear Family BCD 16787 |
On The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine |
● CD $21.98 |
30 tracks, 78 min, recommended
Not a new release but not
reviewed before. This husband and wife team (the parents of guitar hero
Lenny Breau, no less) found more fame in Canada than in the States, with
the notable exception of Maine, where they were chart busters. Hal
apparently considered himself the star of the act, though Betty seems the
more talented of the two. At any rate, before their marriage and their act
fell apart, they cut plenty of sides for RCA Bluebird and RCA Victor
between 1950-54, many produces by Steve Sholes, who would a few years
later produce some important sides for a kid named Elvis. The Hal Lone
Pine sides are quite good (especially the very fine No Heart At All),
but the duets with Betty (such as Yes I Do, No I Don't) are the
real reason to pick this up--those and the Betty leads, especially
Jealous Love. (On the Betty solo Tom-Tom Yodel she sounds a lot
like Yma Sumac, minus some of the dog whistle notes.) This collection of
"western songs and ballads" is a bit on the tame side, it's true, but
that's actually part of the charm here. Great sound and informative
booklet notes, as one might expect. (JC)
|
THE TEXAS TROUBADOURS |
Bear Family BCD 15946 |
Almost To Tulsa - The Instrumentals |
● CD $21.98 |
Between 1959 and 1968 Ernest Tubb's great backup band The
Texas Troubadours recorded a number of all instrumental sessions. This
collection brings together all those recordings which were previously only
available on vinyl or on the big Ernest Tubb box sets on Bear Family. The
emphasis is on steel guitar solos or steel guitar/ electric guitar duets
featuring the lead guitar of Leon Rhodes or Steve Chapman and the steel
guitar of Buddy Emmons or Buddy Charleton. The material ranges from the
sentimental sounds of Danny Boy to the jazzy Almost To Tulsa
where the group updates the hot sounds of Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant
from an earlier era.
BUDDY EMMONS: Blue Wind/ Four Wheel Drive/ Highland
Swing/ THE TEXAS TROUBADOURS: 12th Street Rag/ Almost to Tulsa/ Big
Beaver/ Buddie's Boogie/ C-Jam Blues/ Cain's Corner/ Cocoanut Grove/ Cool
It/ Danny Boy/ E.T. Blues/ Gardenia Waltz/ Honey Fingers/ Jamming with C
and C/ Leon's Guitar Boogie/ Leon's Guitar Boogie/ Leon's Guitar Boogie/
Lover's Waltz/ Nashville Shuffle/ Panhandle Rag/ Red Top/ Redskin Rag/
Rhodes-Bug Boogie/ Ridgetop Stomp/ Rose City Chimes/ Steel Guitar Rag/
Take That/ Texas Troubadour Stomp/ The Waltz You Saved for Me/ This Ain't
The Blues/ Tuxedo Junction/ Twilight Over Texas/ Walking the Floor Over
You
|
ERNEST TUBB |
B.A.C.M. 249 |
Just Rollin' On |
● CD $14.98 |
22 track collection of sides from the King of Texas honky
tonk recorded in 1944 for American Music World Transcriptions with his
Texas Troubadour which, at the time consisted of Jimmie Short/ lead
electric guitar, Melvin Short/ rhythm guitar, Johnny Sapp/ fiddle and
Butterball Paige/ bass. The songs are all ones he recorded commercially
for Decca but includes some of his more obscure songs and there are three
fine instrumentals from the Troubadours. Includes I Lost My Ace Of
Heats/ You May have Your Picture/ Sundown And Sorrow/ These Simple Things
Are Worth A Million Now/ We Live In Two Different Worlds/ I'm Glad I met
You After All/ You'll Love Me Too Late, etc.
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family BCD 16950 |
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music,
1945 |
● CD $24.98 |
27 tracks, essential
First in another great new series
from Bear Family featuring some of country music's greatest recordings on
a year by year basis starting with 1945. Most of the tracks were chart
hits but in a few cases the compilers have chosen the original version of
a country favorite which may have become a hit for someone else. So in
this first volume we have writer Jenny Lou Carson's original version of
Jealous Heart which subsequently was a hit for Tex Ritter and others
and Lulu Belle & Scotty's original of Have I Told You Lately That I
Love You. This set also includes Smoke On the Water by Bob
Wills & His Texas Playboys, Shame On You by Spade Cooley & His
Orch., Sioux City Sue by Dick Thomas, There's A New Moon Over My
Shoulder by Jimmie Davis plus tracks by Ted Daffan, Gene Autry, Al
Dexter, red Foley, Merle Travis, Ernest Tubb and others. There are similar
collections out there but nobody does it like Bear Family. Each track has
been carefully remastered for maximum listening pleasure and the CD is
enclosed in a 5 1/2 x 5" hardbound book with 72 pages of notes by Colin
Escott with loads of photos and full discographical information. (FS)
ROY ACUFF: We Live In Two Different Worlds/ EDDY ARNOLD:
Cattle Call, The/ GENE AUTRY: At Mail Call Today/ Don't Fence Me In/ JENNY
LOU CARSON: Jealous Heart/ SPADE COOLEY: Shame On You/ TED DAFFAN: Headin'
Down the Wrong Highway/ JIMMIE DAVIS: There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder/
AL DEXTER: I'm Losing Mind Over You/ RED FOLEY: Hang Your Head In Shame/
PORKY FREEMAN: Boogie Woogie Boy/ JACK GUTHRIE: Oklahoma Hills/ PHIL
HARRIS: That's What I Like About the South/ JERRY IRBY: Nails In My
Coffin/ LULU BELLE & SCOTTY: Have I Told You Lately, That I Love You/ THE
RAMBLER TRIO - FEATURING ARTHUR SMITH: Guitar Boogie/ TEX RITTER: You Two
Timed Me One Time Too Often/ HANK SNOW: Blue Ranger/ DICK THOMAS: Sioux
City Sue/ FLOYD TILLMAN: Each Night At Nine/ MERLE TRAVIS: That's All/
ERNEST TUBB: It's Been So Long Darling/ Tomorrow Never Comes/ WESLEY
TUTTLE: With Tears In My Eyes/ JIMMY WALKER: Detour/ BOB WILLS: Smoke On
the Water/ Stars and Stripes On Iwo Jima
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family BCD 16951 |
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music,
1946 |
● CD $24.98 |
28 more country classics - this time from 1946 including
chart toppers like You Will have To Pay by Tex Ritter, New
Spanish Two Step by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and Wine Women
& Song by Al Dexter plus other gems like Atomic Poer by The
Buchanan Brothers, Filipino Baby by Cowboy Copas, Someday by
Elton Britt plus tracks by Roy Acuff, Gene Autry, The Delmore Brothers,
Bill Monroe and more.
ROY ACUFF: No One Will Ever Know/ EDDY ARNOLD: That's
How Much I Love You/ GENE AUTRY: I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine/ THE
BAILES BROTHERS: As Long As I Live/ OWEN BRADLEY: Zeb's Mountain Boogie/
ELTON BRITT: Someday/ THE BUCHANAN BROTHERS: Atomic Power/ HARRY CHOATES:
Jole Blon (Pretty Blond)/ SPADE COOLEY: Three Way Boogie/ COWBOY COPAS:
Flilipino Baby/ Tragic Romance/ COUSIN EMMY: Ruby/ THE DELMORE BROTHERS:
Hillbilly Boogie/ Midnite Special/ AL DEXTER: Wine, Women, and Song/
GRANDPA JONES: Eight More Miles To Louisville/ BILL MONROE: Kentucky
Waltz/ Rocky Road Blues/ THE MORRIS BROTHERS: Salty Dog Blues/ HANK PENNY:
Steel Guitar Stomp/ TEX RITTER: You Will Have To Play/ FLOYD TILLMAN: Some
Other World/ MERLE TRAVIS: Dark As a Dungeon/ No Vacancy/ ERNEST TUBB:
Rainbow At Midnight/ T. TEXAS TYLER: Black Jack David/ BOB WILLS: New
Spanish Two Step/ Stay a Little Longer
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family BCD 16952 |
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music,
1947 |
● CD $24.98 |
27 more great titles starting with Tex Williams and
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) that topped both the country and
pop charts and including the first appearance by Hank Williams with his
Move It On Over. It also includes another chart topper from Bob Wills
with Sugar Moon plus Milk Cow Blues by the Maddox Brothers &
Rose, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain by Roy Acuff, Signed, Sealed
& Delivered by Cowboy Copas plus tracks by Red Foley, Jack Guthrie,
Bill Carlisle, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Bill Monroe and others.
ROY ACUFF: Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain/ EDDY ARNOLD:
I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms)/ It's A Sin/
CHET ATKINS: Canned Heat/ THE BAILES BROTHERS: Dust On The Bible/ BILL
CARLISLE: Rockin' Chair Money/ COWBOY COPAS: Signed, Sealed And Delivered/
THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAIN FOLKS (WITH MOLLY O': The Tramp On The Street/ THE
DELMORE BROTHERS: Freight Train Boogie/ RED FOLEY: Never Trust A Woman/
JACK GUTHRIE: Oakie Boogie/ HAWKSHAW HAWKINS: Sunny Side Of The Mountain/
FAIRLEY HOLDEN: Keep Them Cold Icey Fingers Off Of Me/ BILLY HUGHES:
Cocaine Blues/ THE MADDOX BROTHERS & ROSE: Milk Cow Blues/ BILL MONROE:
Blue Moon Of Kentucky/ CHARLIE MONROE: Bringin' In The Georgia Mail/ CLYDE
MOODY: Shenandoah Waltz/ MOON MULLICAN: Foggy River/ New Pretty Blonde
(New Jole Blon)/ THE SONS OF THE PIONEERS: Cigarettes, Whusky, And Wild,
Wild Women/ CARL STORY: I've Found A Hiding Place/ MERLE TRAVIS: So Round,
So Firm, So Fully Packed/ ERNEST TUBB: I'll Step Aside/ HANK WILLIAMS:
Move It On Over/ TEX WILLIAMS: Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)/ BOB
WILLS: Sugar Moon
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family BCD 16953 |
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music,
1948 |
● CD $24.98 |
1948 was really Eddy Arnold's year as five of the six
songs to top the country charts were by him. This set includes two of his
most famous Anytime and Bouquest Of Roses as well as the
other # from that year One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart).
Other titles that were hits but didn't reach such lofty heights include
Tennessee Saturday Night by Red Foley, Waltz Of The Wind by Roy
Acuff, Lost John Boogie by Wayne Raney and Carson Robison's
whimsical Life Gets Tee-jus, Don't It. It also includes the
original Lost Highway by Leon Payne and Wedding Bells by
Bill Carlisle - both of which became hits the following year for Hank
Williams plus lots more goodies.
ROY ACUFF: Waltz of the Wind/ EDDY ARNOLD: Anytime/
Bouquet of Roses/ JOHNNY BOND: Bartender's Blues/ BILL CARLISLE: Wedding
Bells/ COWBOY COPAS: Breeze/ RED FOLEY: Tennessee Saturday Night/ HAWKSHAW
HAWKINS: Dog House Boogie/ EDDIE HILL: Someday You'll Call My Name/ PEE
WEE KING: Tennessee Waltz/ LONZO & OSCAR: I'm My Own Grandpa/ THE MADDOX
BROTHERS & ROSE: New Muleskinner Blues/ BILL MONROE: I Hear a Sweet Voice
Calling/ Little Cabin Home On the Hill/ MOON MULLICAN: Sweeter Than the
Flowers/ DOYE O'DELL: Dear Oakie/ LEON PAYNE: Lost Highway/ WAYNE RANEY:
Lost John Boogie/ CARSON ROBISON: Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It ?/ JIMMIE
SKINNER: Doin' My Time/ THE STANLEY BROTHERS: Molly and Tenbrook/ FLOYD
TILLMAN: I Love You So Much It Hurts/ MERLE TRAVIS: Merle's Boogie Woogie/
T. TEXAS TYLER: Deck of Cards/ JIMMY WAKELY: One Has My Name (The Other
Has My Heart)/ HANK WILLIAMS: A Manison On the Hill/ BOB WILLS: Bubbles In
My Beer/ JIMMY WORK: Tennessee Border
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
GVC 2018 |
The Hollywood Hepcats |
● CD $18.98 |
2 CDs, 58 tracks, 129 mins, highly recommended
While the
first CD concentrates on fantastic Up-beat Country and Western Swing acts,
the second is chock full of some of the greatest Rockabillies and Rockers
ever. So this collection is a hellofa one-two punch, with both CDs being
total knockouts. On top of all of that, this compilation was all recorded
in sunny old California, thus bringing us to the theme and purpose of
this, which is to shine a light on how much great music was recorded out
here, all the way back in the classic Country and Western Swing days. All
tracks recorded through the '40s and '50s. Between these two CDs, there
are far too many highlights to name them all in the space provided here,
but to give you an example: CD One has such nuggets as Merle Travis' I
Can't Afford the Coffee (I'm Tired of Drinking Weak Tea Blues,) Skeets
McDonald's Don't Push Me Too Far, Joe Maphis & Larry Collins with
Bye Bye, as well as great tracks by Maddox Bros. & Rose, Billy
Strange & Speedy West With Cliffie Stone & His Orchestra, Sonny James,
Johnny Bond, Eddie Dean, etc. CD Two has such hot tracks as Fools
Paradise by The Cochrane Brothers, Make up Your Mind, Baby by
Bob Luman, Hop Skip & Jump by The Collins Kids, Cool Love by
Wanda Jackson, Lotta Lovin'by Gene Vincent, etc., etc. Plus Dorsey
Burnette, Ricky Nelson, Bobby Lee Trammell, Tommy Sands, Kip Tyler & His
Flips, and so many more greats populate the rest of this fabulous outing.
Great sound throughout makes this one a total winner. (JM)
AL BARKLE: Jumpin' from Six to Six/ BILLY "HILLBILLY"
BARTON: Day Late and a Dollar Short/ JOHNNY BOND: All I Can Do Is Cry/
CUSTER BOTTOMS: Stood Up Blues/ KENNY BROWN & THE ARKANSAS RAMBLERS: Throw
a Little Wood on the Fire/ JIMMY BRYANT: Pushin' the Blues/ DORSEY
BURNETTE: Bertha Lou/ JERRY CAPEHART: Heart of a Fool (Demo Version)/
CASEY CLARK & HIS LAZY RANCH BOYS: Lost John/ THE CLETRO COMBO: Rock &
Roll Cowboy/ EDDIE COCHRAN: Teenage Cutie (Demo Version)/ JACKIE LEE
COCHRAN: Ruby Pearl/ THE COCHRAN BROTHERS: Fool's Paradise/ THE COLBY-WOLF
COMBO: Rock-A-Billy Gal/ SONNY COLE: I Dreamed I Was Elvis/ LARRY COLLINS
& JOE MAPHIS: Bye Bye/ THE COLLINS KIDS: Hop, Skip and Jump/ BO DAVIS:
Drownin' All My Sorrows/ MAXWELL DAVIS & RUSTY MCDONALD: Easy Big Mama/
TIM DINKINS & THE TEXAS CUTUPS: Cattin' Tonight/ TOMMY DUNCAN & BILL
WOODS: Daddy Loves Mommyo/ JOHNNY FAIRE: Til the Law Says Stop/ THE FARMER
BOYS: Cool Down Mame/ TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD: Tennessee Local/ DARRELL
GLENN: Hello Baby (Glad to Have You Home)/ GLEN GLENN: Baby, Let's Play
House (Demo Version)/ THE HOLLY TWINS: I Want Elvis for Christmas/ WANDA
JACKSON: Cool Love/ SONNY JAMES & THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN: Mighty Lovable
Man/ CORKY JONES: Hot Dog/ JOANNIE KING: OK Doll, It's a Deal/ ALIS
LESLEY: He Will Come Back to Me/ BOB LUMAN: Make Up Your Mind, Baby/ THE
MADDOX BROTHERS & ROSE: Let Me Love You/ Stop Whistlin' Wolf!/ SAMMY
MASTERS & HIS ROCKING RHYTHM: Some Like It Hot/ SKEETS MCDONALD: Don't
Push Me Too Far/ Heart-Breaking Mama/ JIMMY MCGRAW & THE MILLER BROTHERS:
Loco Choo Choo/ KENNY MCKENNON AND HIS BLUE CATS: Call Your Daddy, Baby/
BILLY MIZE: Solid Sender/ MERRILL MOORE: Buttermilk Baby/ RICKY NELSON:
Waitin' in School/ DUSTY PAYNE & HIS RHYTHM ROCKERS: I Want You/ RUDY
PRESTON: Nobody But You/ TOMMY SANDS: Ring My Phone/ RAY STANLEY: My
Lovin' Baby/ CLIFFIE STONE ORCHESTRA WITH BILLY STRANGE & SPE: Barracuda/
JIMMY THOMASON: Now Hear This!/ BOBBY LEE TRAMMELL: Shirley Lee/ MERLE
TRAVIS: I Can't Afford the Coffee (I'm Tired of Drinkin' Weak Tea Blues)/
KIP TYLER & THE FLIPS: Vagabond Mama/ GENE VINCENT & HIS BLUE CAPS: Lotta
Lovin'/ LEW WILLIAMS: Centipede/ DON WINTERS: Pretty Moon/ BILL WOODS:
Bop/ Phone Me Baby/ GENE WYATT: Lover Boy
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Jasmine JASCD 469 |
"Rock Me!" Mississippi Hillbilly Boogie,
Bop & Honky To |
● CD $15.98 |
24 tracks, 62 mins, highly recommended
Terrific collection
of mostly up tempo hillbilly recorded for various Mississippi labels
though not all the artists are from the state. It opens with "Lucky" Joe
Almond doing the great Gonna Rock And Roll which isn't exactly rock
'n' roll but certainly rocks. Almond is also featured on a several other
fine sides including a great cover of bluesman Piano Red's Rock Me
which was a regional hit with both a black and white audience. Louisiane
born Lou Millett is featured on several cuts including the great My
Inlaws Made An Outlaw Out Me. Jimmy and Jack are a fine duo who
perform in a style reminiscent of The Louvin Brothers and there are other
fine sides from henry Ford, Luke McDaniel, Al Terry & His Louisiana
Hayriders, Bud Scarborough with The Southern Drifters, Bill Blevins and
others. Sound quality is superb and there are knowledgeable notes by Al
Turner. (FS)
'LUCKY' JOE ALMOND: Every Day Of The Week (i'll Be
Loving You)/ LUCKY JOE ALMOND: Rock Me/ 'LUCKY' JOE ALMOND & HILLBILLY
ROCKERS: Gonna Rock And Roll/ Hickory Nut Boogie/ BILL BLEVINS: An Hour
Late And A Dollar Short/ THE COUNTRY COWBOYS: Mississippi Boogie/ HENRY
FORD: No More Money No More Honey/ ROY HARRIS & HIS HAPPY HILLBILLIES: A
Too Much/ EMMIT HAWKINS & HIS MISS MELODY BOYS: Anything For My Baby/
JIMMY AND JACK: I Don't Want You Anymore/ Love Love Love/ KAY AND SHIRLEY
'THE DIXIE RAMBLERS': Hee Ho/ LUKE MCDANIEL: Whoa Boy/ J. W. MEREDITH: I
Love You So Much/ You're Not The Girl Of My Dreams/ LOU MILLET: Just You
And Me/ My Inlaws Made An Outlaw Of Me/ Whisper Of Doubt/ MAC QUINN AND
HIS 'DUBS': Don't Flirt With Me In Public (i'm A Married Man)/ BUD
SCARBOROUGH WITH THE SOUTHERN DRIFTERS: A Fool/ CHICK SOLEY AND HIS
WESTERNAIRES: Don't Let You Lips Say Yes (and Your Heart Say No)/ JIMMY
SWAN: Lonesome Daddy Blues/ Triflin' On Me/ AL TERRY AND HIS LOUISIANA
HAYRIDERS: Shoot Me A Line
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Point 5001 |
Boston Jamboree, Volume 1 |
● CD $17.98 |
25 tracks, recommended
Country music in Boston? Yes,
indeed and some pretty good stuff too. This is a fine and varied
collection of Boston based artists recorded between the early 1950s and
early 60s - many of whom appeared on the local Boston Jamboree Radio
Program broadcast on WHIL-FM. The only national name here is Kenny Roberts
who is featured on three tracks. Roberts was originally from Tennessee and
Boston was one of many places he called home during his long career. The
rest of the artists are either local artists or transplanted Southerners.
The Chisholm Brothers are featured on six tracks ranging from a down home
cover of Hank Williams' Pan American to the more uptown sound of
Second Place Heart. Johnny White is featured on a fine cover of Johnny
Cash's Folsom Prison Blues and two other fine sides. Other artists
include Teenie Chenault & The Country Rockers, Doug Lavalley, Clyde &
Willie Mae Joy, Bella Lee, Earl White, Lynn Holloway, The Rainbow Valley
Boys (fine bluegrass group with the topical Coal Loadin' Johnny),
Doug Terry and Jerry Devine. Excellent sound and four page booklet with
brief notes and photos. (FS)
|
VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Stampede 5002 |
I'm Ready - Featuring Eddie Cochran |
● CD $22.98 |
32 tracks, 72 min., recommended
Not so much an Eddie
Cochran album as a country various artists collection featuring Cochran
now as vocalist, now as guitarist. Other than the obvious appeal to
Cochran superfans, this compilation (which apparently features some
unissued material, although the notes are unclear) has limited appeal.
That said, some of the more interesting recordings here are the eight Don
Deal tracks recorded circa 1954 at California's Gold Star Recording
Studios. Deal's friend Eddie Cochran is said to be playing rhythm guitar
throughout, which is nice, but the songs stand up on their own merit. Four
tracks listed as by Hank Hammer are identified as by The Cochran Brothers,
which is to say Hank and Eddie Cochran. They're pleasant enough country
sides too, as are the four other Cochran Brothers tracks, which boast
superior sound and superior everything else. Also of interest are a pair
of Cochran instrumentals: I'll See You In My Dreams and
Cannonball Rag. Jess Willard, Jerry Capehart, and the fairly obscure
Tom Forse each have two cuts, all very solid country fare, if nothing
monumental. In short, "I'm Ready" contains enough good mid-1950s country
sides to recommend it, even without the appeal of Eddie Cochran's name.
But as the booklet notes make clear, the intended audience is the diehard
Cochran fans who yearn for any new information and newly discovered
recordings. The "hidden track," which ironically is listed on the tray
card as the "hidden track," is the somewhat scratchy "original from Gold
Star acetate" of Don Deal's Let's Get It Over Right Now, which
actually skips once and appears in polished form as track 10. If that
appeals to you, so will this. (JC)
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Tee-Vee 762 |
30 Radio Gospel Hits |
● CD $11.98 |
Fine budget priced two CD set with 30 tracks of bluegrass
and country gospel drawn from King and associated labels with recordings
ranging from the 1950s to the 1990s. Includes sides by The Masters Family,
Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, Jim & Jesse McReynolds, Wade Mainer, Harla
Howard, Reno & Smiley, Wanda jackson, Archie Campbell, Carl Story, Jean
Shepard, Porter Wagoner, The Stanley Brothers, Wayne Raney, Jimmie Osborne
and more.
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Tee-Vee 7800 |
Road Music |
● CD $9.98 |
23 tracks, 73 mins, recommended
I actually still have the
original vinyl of this from the '70s. I had bought it for the ridiculously
buxom girl on the cover, but inside there were all kinds of great old
trucker songs to make it worth listening to. I pulled out the old vinyl to
compare the two and they have exactly the same track listing, except that
the CD has one less song than the vinyl. For some reason Red Sovine's
The Gearjammer and the Hobo has not been included on the CD; I don't
know, maybe there was a strong protest from the Hobo community that
demanded its exclusion. You do get plenty of Red Sovine here though, with
Giddyup Go/ Phantom 309/ Teddy Bear/ Truck Driver's Prayer/
Freightliner Fever, and Little Joe all included, not to mention
Minnie Pearl's answer record Giddyup Go Answer. Along side the
mighty Sovine, you get a few other trucker legends Dave Dudley with his
Six Days on the Road, and Truck Driving Son of a Gun, Del
Reeves with Girl on the Billboard, and Looking at the World
Through a Windshield, and Jimmy Martin with Truck Drivin' Man,
and Widowmaker. Convoy is here, but by the Tommy Hill Music
Festival instead of C.W. McCall, which is fine. You also get some other
great road nuggets like Truck Drivin' Queen by Moore & Napier,
C.B. Savage by Rod Hart, and Pinball Machine by Lonnie Irving.
The truck driving songs of the '60s and '70s are a continued source of
inspiration to me and I heartily recommend this collection to all. It
would be highly recommended if it had any notes or info at all. (JM)
DAVE DUDLEY: Six Days On The Road/ Truck Driving Son Of
A Gun/ CLAUDE GRAY: How Fast Them Trucks Can Go/ JIMMY GRIGGS: Overloaded
Diesel/ TINY HARRIS: Endless Black Ribbon/ ROD HART: C.B. Savage/ TOMMY
HILL MUSIC FESTIVAL: Convoy/ White Knight/ LONNIE IRVING: Pinball Machine/
JIMMY MARTIN: Truck Drivin' Man/ Widowmaker/ MOORE & NAPIER: Truck Drivin'
Queen/ MINNIE PEARL: Giddyup Go Answer/ DEL REEVES: Girl On The Billboard/
Looking At The World Through A Windshield/ RED SOVINE: Freightliner Fever/
Giddyup Go/ Little Joe/ Phantom 309/ Teddy Bear/ Truck Driver's Prayer/
THE WILLIS BROTHERS: Give Me Forty Acres To Turn This Rig Around/ COLEMAN
WILSON: Passing Zone Blues
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PORTER WAGONER |
Omni 118 |
The Cold Hard Facts Of Life |
● CD $16.98 |
30 tracks, 76 mins, highly recommended
Continuing with
their specialty of re-issuing off-kilter Country classics from the '60s
and '70s, Omni now provides us with a double dose of ol' Porter Wagoner.
Porter was rather fond of the concept album and did many in his career;
here you get two concept albums, both originally released in 1967. The
first album of the two--"The Cold Hard Facts of Life"--deals with
infidelity and broken marriages/ relationships. Then you get the "Soul of
a Convict" album, dealing with the hard life of a prisoner. Each album
featured great staged shots with Porter in character, starting off with a
rendition of Bill Anderson's most demented song First Mrs. Jones, a
song about a drunken psychopath terrorizing his second wife with tales of
the late, first Mrs. Jones (one of Country music's creepiest hit songs).
From there you get other tales of doomed romance like the title track,
Hundred Dollar Funeral/ Tragic Romance/ I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye/
Shopworn, etc. The better songs are really once you get to the second
LP, with big hits like The Green, Green Grass of Home/ Folsom Prison
Blues, and Snakes Crawl at Night, along with such fine tracks
as Convict And The Rose/ They're All Going Home But One, and I'm
Just Here To Get my Baby Out of Jail. Omni doesn't just leave you
there though, as usual they provide some rare bonus tracks; I Lived so
Fast and Hard/ Your Mothers Eyes, and House of Shame, to name a
few. (JM)
|
HANK WILLIAMS |
Time Life 80031 |
Unreleased Recordings |
● CD $39.98 |
Three CDS, 54 tracks, 168 mins, utterly essential
Now available. Here it is - the Holy Grail of
country music - 54 previously unissued songs from the greatest country
music singer and songwriter of all time including 28 songs he never
recorded anywhere. In 1951 Hank recorded a series of 72 15 minute radio
shows with his Drifting Cowboys sponsored by Mother's Best Flour. These
recordings were almost lost but a couple of sets of the original 16"
acetates used for the shows survived and have been embroiled in legal
entanglements for many years though copies of these shows have circulated
underground among Williams collectors. The legal issues have finally been
sorted out and this is the first of several releases to feature those
recordings along with other previously unreleased material. Although only
one of the never before released songs is a Hank original his performances
of other artists songs redefine that song for all time. In addition to
covers of other artists' hits there are traditional gospel songs and
obscure old songs that indicate the depth of Hank's musical knowledge.
Every performance is a gem so it's impossible to really pick out
highlights but I'll mention a fews titles of particular interest. On
Top Of Old Smokey is familiar to everyone as a jolly campfire song but
Hank sings it as it was originally written as a slow tragic love ballad
and the result is simply spine chilling as is his performance of another
old warhorse Cool Water which features one of his most intense
performances. Backing is, of course, by The Drifting Cowboys featuring
sensitive accompaniments from Jerry Rivers on fiddle, Don Helms on steel,
Sammy Pruett on guitar and Cedric Rainwater on bass and various members of
the group are featured on a gorgeous array of old gospel songs. The sound
quality is absolutely magnificent - often better than on his more familiar
studio recordings and the set is packaged in a 10"x6" book form with 40
pages of notes by Hank's biographer Colin Escott along with great and rare
photos. My only regret is that they only included a few snippets of the
talk between the songs but hopefully future sets will feature more and,
perhaps, one day we will see all the shows reissued in their entirety.
This is the release that Hank Williams fans have been waiting many years
to finally see released and I believe it to be the best and most important
release of this year and quite possibly of the 21st century. (FS)
HANK WILLIAMS: At The First Fall Of Snow/ Blue Eyes
Crying In The Rain/ California Zephyr/ Cherokee Boogie/ Cold, Cold Heart/
Cool Water/ Dear John/ Drifting Too Far From The Shore/ Dust On The Bible/
From Jerusalem to Jericho/ Gathering Flowers For The Master's Bouquet/
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You/ Hey, Good Lookin'/ I Can't Help
It(If I'm Still In Love With You)/ I Can't Tell My Heart That/ I Dreamed
That the Great Judgement Morning/ I Heard My Savior Calling Me/ I'll Fly
Away/ I'll Have A New Life/ I'll Sail My Ship Alone/ I'm Gonna Sing/ I'm
So Lonesome I Could Cry/ I've Got My One Way Ticket To The Sky/ If I
Didn't Love You/ Just When I Needed You/ Lonely Tombs/ Low And Lonely/ May
You Never Be Alone/ Mind Your Own Business/ Next Sunday Darling Is My
Birthday/ On The Banks Of The Pontchartrain/ On Top Of Old Smoky/ Pictures
From Life's Other Side/ Pins And Needles(In My Heart)/ Precious Lord, Take
My Hand/ Seaman's Blues/ Searching For A Soldier's Grave/ Softly And
Tenderly/ Tennessee Border/ The Blind Child's Prayer/ The Old Country
Church/ The Pale Horse And His Rider/ The Prodigal Son/ There's Nothing As
Sweet As My Baby/ Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine/ Wait For The Light To
Shine/ Wedding Bells/ When God Dips His Love In My Heart/ When The Fire
Comes Down/ When The Saints Go Marching In/ Where He Leads Me/ Where The
Soul Never Dies/ Why Should We Try Anymore/ You Blotted My Happy
Schooldays
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