Bulletin - March/ April
2009
Country, Bluegrass & Old Timey
The Carter Sisters
->
The Wilburn Brothers
GEORGE JONES |
Raven 292 |
Step Right, 1970-1979: A Critical
Anthology |
● CD $18.98 |
28 tracks, essential
What an amazing man George Jones is. With a career extending more than 50
years his recordings rarely find him giving vocally less than 100 percent
in spite of a life full of personal turmoil, or maybe because of it. The
raw, stripped down honky tonk of the 1950s gave way to a countrypolitan
sound with strings and choruses in the 1960s. By 1970 George was 39 years
old and his voice had gotten deeper and richer and had become even more
expressive, if such a thing was possible. The recordings on this fabulous
collection feature some of his very best recordings from the 70s starting
with some of his last recordings for Musicor but mostly featuring sides
recorded for Epic under the improbable guidance of Billy Sherrill whose
lush arrangements might seem at odds with George's style but actually work
to accentuate it. The 70s were a particularly traumatic time for George
including his divorce from Tammy Wynette after a tumultuous relationship
and battles with alcohol and drugs that almost ended his life and quite a
few of the songs here seem to reflect that turmoil. Many of the songs here
were hits - A Good Year For The Roses/ We Can Make It/ A Picture Of Me
(Without You)/ The Grand Tour/ The Door/ These Days (I Barely Get By)/
Bartender's Blues and other but it also includes some prime album cuts
like Image Of Me/ She Loves Me (Right Out Of My Mind)/ I Just Don't
Give A Damn, the autobiographical Wean Me and A Drunk Can't
Be A Man and others. Great sound and booklet with perceptive notes by
John Dowler. (FS)
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GEORGE JONES |
Time Life 19330 |
40 Years Of Duets |
● CD $18.98 |
20 tracks, 59 mins, highly recommended
George Jones has had quite a long career at this point, and throughout it
all, pretty much since the start, Jones has had a lot of success
performing duets. Sure you are gonna know his famous duets with Tammy
Wynette like Golden Ring/ Were Gonna Hold On, and Two Story
House, but have you heard him with James Taylor doing Bartender's
Blues, or with Gene Pitney on I've Got Five Dollars And It's
Saturday Night? This career spanning set show how wide reaching Jones'
appeal and talents are and will be a real delight for fans of George
Jones, or of great Country music in general. You get early cuts like
Yearning from 1957 with Jeanette Hicks, Milwaukee Here I Come
with Brenda Carter, plus fine duets with Melba Montgomery, Johnny
Paycheck, Randy Travis and many more. Probably my favorite is Jones and
Merle Haggard's version of Willie Nelson's Yesterday's Wine, from a
duet LP with Haggard of the same name that is worth hunting down.
Fittingly this Duets collection ends with the last duet Jones did with his
soul mate Tammy Wynette on their 1995 hit, One. (JM)
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CHARLIE LOUVIN |
Hux 099 |
Less And Less I Don't Love You Anymore/
Lonesome Is Me |
● CD $17.98 |
24 tracks, 65 mins, highly recommended
By himself, Charlie Louvin doesn't have that fantastic, other-worldly
quality that his records with his brother Ira did, but they have plenty of
merit on their own. This CD gathers up Charlie's albums from 1964 & 1966
respectively. "Less and Less and I Don't Love You Anymore" features such
fine Country tear-jerkers as the title track and I'll Have Made it To
The Bridge/ See The Big Man Cry, and Once A Day, plus a great
take on Buck Owens' Tall Dark Stranger. "Lonesome is Me" follows in
the same vein with Making Plans/ Queen Unfaithful/ All the Lies Are
True/ Two Minus One, etc. Truly, these are two fine Country albums
that are wonderful to rediscover again in 2009. Quality job done by the
label, with fantastic sound, all artwork reproduced, liner notes, and
lyrics. (JM)
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J.E. MAINER |
JSP JSPCD 77118 |
1935-1939 The Early Recordings Of One Of
The Most Influential Country Music Pioneers |
● CD $28.98 |
Four CD set with 100 tracks featuring recordings made
between 1935 and 1939 by country music pioneers J.E. Mainer and his
brother Wade along with associated artists Daddy John LOve, The Dixie
Reelers and The Morris Brothers. This is the first of two projected
volumes featuring these important country musicians. Although J.E. is
prominently featured on the cover there are an equal number of songs by
his brother Wade with singer/ guitarist Zeke Morris. J.E.' group, Mainer's
Mountaineers line up using fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar and string bass
were an important precursor to the bluegrass style and many of the songs
J.E. and Wade popularized have become bluegrass staples. More details next
time.
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KEN MAYNARD |
Bear Family BCD 16861 |
Sings The Lone Star Trail |
● CD $24.98 |
Ken Maynard was the first singing cowboy to appear on the
screen and one of the first to record cutting eight sides for Columbia in
1930. Only one 78 was issued - one side of which The Lone Star Trail
achieved immortality when it was included the legendary Harry Smith
collection as an example of authentic cowboy singing. Since then one more
side has appeared on an LP but all eight tracks are featured on this CD
for the first time featuring Maynard's plaintive nasal voice and basic
guitar accompaniment on songs like Fannie Moore/ The Cowboy's Lament/ A
Prisoner For Life/ Jesse James, etc. The set includes a 78 page
booklet with the full story of Maynard's remarkable life and career (he
was a champion horse rider and appeared in more than 90 cowboy movies
between 1925 and 1970), rare photos, film posters and other memorabilia
and transcriptions and discussions of each song.
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CHARLIE MOORE
& BILL NAPIER |
King 0248-2 |
Long White Line |
● CD $7.98 |
10 tracks, 24 mins, highly recommended
Moore & Napier are among the unheralded giants of 1960s bluegrass. With
the gorgeous rich baritone lead of Charlie Moore and Bill Napier providing
superb harmonies as well as playing banjo, guitar and mandolin they
recorded more than 100 titles for King in the 60s but this is only the
second CD reissue of any of their recordings. This is a short but sweet
collection of truck driving songs done bluegrass style including their
local hit Truck Driver's Queen plus Long White Line/ Hot Rod
Kids And Women Drivers/ Pinball Blues/ A Truck Driver's Romance/ Truck
Driver's Woman, etc. Until someone gets around to doing and in depth
reissue of these exceptional artists this and Gusto 0636 - "Bluegrass
Gospel And Sacred Song" ($6.98) are indispensible. (FS)
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
B.A.C.M. 261 |
Southeastern Swing Bands |
● CD $14.98 |
29 tracks, highly recommended
Exciting collection of swinging jazzy string band music featuring the
complete recordings of three groups from the Southeast recorded in 1937
and 1938. As Kevin Coffey points out in his fascinating notes there has
been a tendency to associate the more jazzy string band style to bands
from the Southwest but the Southeast had it's share of groups with their
own individual style. The Swing Billies from North Carolina featured the
vocals of Charlie Poole's son James Clay Poole on a selection of mostly
jazz and pop standards (St. Louis Blues/ I Can't Give You Anything But
Love/ Melancholy baby, etc) along with some country songs accompanied
by fiddle, guitars and banjo. The Hi Neighbor Boys from South Carolina
featured a more bluesy sound on mostly original songs and included on
guitar Eddy Grishaw - or as would later be known Zeb Turner. Zeb also
takes several of the vocals as does guitarist/ vocalist Woodrow "Sagebrush
Slim" Wofford and the group also features fiddle and accordion. The group
was the first to record You Took My Sunshine - a song that was
subsequently reworked as You Are My SUnshine. In addition to seven
vocals there are two hot instrumentals featuring the dynamic guitar work
of Turner. Herald Goodman and His Tennessee Valley Boys were a smoother,
more pop oriented group which featured several legendary musicians
including Howard "Howdy" Forrester and Arthur Smith on fiddles and future
Texas Troubadour Billy Byrd on guitar. A fine and varied selection of
music, much of it new to CD, with fine sound Kevin Coffey's excellent
notes. (FS)
HAROLD GOODMAN & HIS TENNESSEE VALLEY BOYS: Banjo Rag/
Dad’s Little Boy/ Is Your Name Written There/ New Lamp Lighting Time in
The Valley/ Tell Me/ Tennessee Swing/ That’ll Do Now, That’ll Do/ The
Great Shining Light/ The Lamplighter’s Dream/ The Old Mountain Man/ THE HI
NEIGHBOR BOYS: Are You Lonesome For Me (Tonight Old Pal)/ Down Among The
Faded Roses/ Guitar Fantasy/ Honky Tonk Mamma/ I’m Through With You Little
Girl/ Keep Truckin’/ On Your Way/ You Took My Sunshine/ Zeb Terney’s
Stomp/ THE SWING BILLIES: Crazy Yodeling Blues/ Every Day Away From You/
From Buffalo To Washington/ I Can’t Give You Anything But Love/ If You’re
Sorry, Say You’re Sorry/ Leavin’ Home/ Melancholy Baby/ Moonshine In The
Carolina Hills/ Somebody Loves You Yet/ St. Louis Blues
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Cactus CAPCD 1 |
Capitol Hillbilly, Vol. 1 |
● CD $15.98 |
34 tracks, 80 mins, highly recommended
Continuing on with the series that started on the Official label we now
have the first in a series of label oriented hillbilly reissues on the
Cactus label. This one features 34 fine sides recorded for Capitol in the
early and mid 50s. Like the Official volumes the emphasis here is on
uptempo country and hillbilly boogie mixing both familiar names and
includes Billy Strange, Red Murrell (the great Talkin' Blues),
Eddie Kirk, Gene O' Quin, Roy Hogsed, Dub Dickerson, Ferlin Husky, Skeets
McDonald, Merle Travis (the hot Merle's Boogie with some very
effective speeded up guitar), Ray Parks, The Louvin Brothers (the rockin'
gospel track River Of Jordan) and more. Sound quality is generally
excellent - packaging is bare bones. (FS)
ROY ACUFF: Lonesome Joe/ DUB DICKERSON: Sweet Bunch of
Bitterweeds/ RAMBLIN' JIMMIE DOLAN: Tool Pusher On A Rotary Rig/ WERLY
FAIRBURN: Baby He's A Wolf/ THE FARMER BOYS: I'm Just Too Lazy/ TENNESSEE
ERNIE FORD: Tennessee Local/ FREDDIE HART: Canada To Tennessee/ ROY HOGSED:
Ain't a Bump in the Road/ Red Wing/ FERLIN HUSKY: Aladdin's Lamp/ SONNY
JAMES: Shortcut/ EDDIE KIRK: Freight Train Breakdown/ Saturday Night Time
Blues/ JIMMY LEE: I'm Diggin' A Hole To Bury My Heart/ BIG BILL LISTER:
What The Heck Is Going On/ THE LOUVIN BROTHERS: River of Jordan/ SKEETS
MCDONALD: Look Who's Crying Now/ ROD MORRIS: Three Empty Bottles/ RED
MURRELL: Talkin' Blues/ GENE O'QUIN: Mobilin' Baby of Mine/ RAY PARKS:
You're Gonna Have to Ball That's All/ LEON PAYNE: I'm A Lone Wolf/ TERRY
PRESTON: Tennesse Central Number 9/ OLE RASSMUSSEN: We're Gonna Go
Fishing)/ JERRY REED: Just A Romeo/ AL ROGERS: All The Time/ JIMMIE
SKINNER: Will You Be Ready/ WYNN STEWART: That Just Kills Me/ BILLY
STRANGE: Diesel Smoke-Dangerous Curves/ Hell Train/ MERLE TRAVIS: Guitar
Rag/ Merle's Boogie/ WESLEY TUTTLE: I Got a Round Trip Ticket/ JESS
WILLARD: Truck Driver's Boogie
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Cattle 338 |
Country Girls Sing 30 Hillbilly & Western
Songs |
● CD $18.98 |
30 tracks, 73 mins, recommended
Fine collection of female country vocalists from the early/ mid 50s - much
of it from previously unissued radio transcriptions. The set opens with 10
tracks recorded for Columbia in 1954 and '55 by California based country
singer Bonnie Sloan. Undeservedly obscure she was an excellent honky tonk
singer accompanied here by the Town Hall Gang (Joe Maphis, Johnny Bond,
Dick Stubbs, Fiddlin' Kate, etc.). The great Wilma Lee Cooper is featured
a spine chilling version of Tramp On The Street from a radio
transcription and June Carter does an excellent version of Merle Travis's
Sweet Temptation. Other artists include a mix of well known and
obscure performers including Jeannie Ackers, The Little Country Girls,
Goldie Hill, Cindy Walker, Judy Hayden, Betty Foley, Dale Evans, Skeeter
Davis and others. Fine sound and booklet has brief notes on all the
artists. (FS)
JEANNIE ACKERS OF THE COLORADO HILLBILLIES: I Lost You/
In My Adobe Hacienda/ THE BEAVER VALLEY SWEETHEARTS: You Get What You Pay
For/ MOLLY BEE: Too Young To Tango/ SALLY BRIGGS: I Couldn't Keep From
Crying/ JUNE CARTER: Sweet Temptation/ THE CARTER SISTERS: Poor Old
Heartsick Me/ WILMA LEE COOPER: Tramp On The Street/ SKEETER DAVIS: Set
Him Free/ DALE EVANS: Cowgirl Polka/ Ragtime Cowboy Joe/ Texas U.s.a./
BETTY FOLEY: Slowly/ JUDY HAYDEN: I'm Going Back To Whur I Come From/
GOLDIE HILL: A Wasted Love Affair/ THE LITTLE COUNTRY GIRLS: Pals Of The
Saddle/ RITA ROBBINS: I'm Walking The Floor Over You/ JEAN SHEPARD: He
Loved Me Once And He'll Love Me Again/ BONNIE SLOAN: After The Wedding/
Alone I Cry/ Don't Call Me A Tramp/ Hog Tied And Branded/ Honky Tonk
World/ Idle Hours/ Nobody But You/ Poor Paper Kite/ Silly Boy/ The Next
Waltz With You/ CINDY WALKER: I Love Everything About You/ Put Your Arms
Around Me
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VARIOUS ARTISTS |
El Toro CH 101 |
Collectors Choice, Volume 1 - Texas Fever |
● CD $16.98 |
First in what promises to be an extensive series of
anthologies of rare up tempo hillbilly from the early/ mid 50s. This first
volume has 20 tracks featuring artists from Texas including Ken Marvin,
Leon Tassin, The Jacoby Brothers, Alden Holloway, Perry Washburn, Jimmie
Walton, Johnny Maxwell, Jack Cardwell, Chuck Ray, Sammie Lee and others.
More than half the tracks are appearing on CD for the first time. Sound
quality is excellent and booklet has notes on all the artists - where
anything is known about them.
STONEY CALHOUN AND THE NIGHT OWLS: Hot 'N' Cold/ JACK
CARDWELL: Walking Away My Blues/ FRED CRAWFORD: I Learned Something From
You/ LUCKY HILL: I'm Checkin' Out/ ALDEN HOLLOWAY AND HIS PRAIRIE RIDERS:
Woodpecker Love/ THE JACOBY BROTHERS: Who Ye Primpin Fer?/ SAMMIE LEE:
Olahoma Blond Headed Gal/ KEN MARVIN: Two Tone Ten Ton/ Uh Uh Honey/
JOHNNY MAXWELL AND THE RHYTHMMASTERS: Ole Satan's Mother-In-Law/ CHUCK RAY
AND HIS GANG: I May Not Be Able But I'm Willing To Try/ WALTER SCOTT: I'm
Walking/ KING STERLING AND HIS BLUE GRASS MELODY BOYS: Too Many Taverns/
HUB SUTTER AND THE HUB CATS: Gone Golsing/ LEON TASSIN WITH CHARLIE
STUCKEY'S WESTERNERS: Get A Move On, Baby/ UNKNOWN ARTIST ACETATE: Texas
Fever/ AL URBAN: Run Away/ EARNEY VANDAGRIFF: Where You Been/ JIMMIE
WALTON: High As A Georgia Pine/ PERRY WASHBURN AND THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN
CANARY B: Pocahontas Baby
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