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CP-015 Notes:
I believe the Canadian Bluebird B-4900 series was issued in reverse order, starting with B-4999 and counting down. In the 1970s Warner Bros. Records used a similar scheme for singles.
04 note the verse about Al Jolson
07 written by an amateur songwriter, this was the artist's biggest postwar hit
08 This novelty song became a standard for Alaska-based country singers. This is the earliest recording I know of
14 This rendition likely inspired the one on Bob Dylan's first LP
23-24 Origin Jazz Library is preparing a CD of Chappelear's 1930s band, Leon's Lone Star Cowboys
26-29 I'm told this band was a colorful presence on the L.A. scene in the mid-1940s. The records have appealingly crude-looking red labels.

 


CP-016 Notes
01-09 Children made relatively few records but was a big name on radio from the 1930s to the 1950s, as a comedian as well as a singer
12 This colorful song also recorded, a year or so later, by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers
13 The lyrics sound like something from a magazine...there must have been a few more verses, but the recording ran out of time.
16 Victor wasn't consistent on the spelling of Raney's surname. Recorded in Atlanta, 2-17-27.
18-26 These early recordings made at the same San Antonio sessions that produced half of Robert Johnson's legacy. Note that 23-26 are secular songs -- for the rest of its long and very successful career this group sang "sacred" songs only. Co 54029-s is a "Hall of Fame" series pressing from the mid-1950s...one of the last pressings from pre-WWII metal parts made by any major label.

CP-017 Notes
06 "Art Coffee" is probably a pseudonym
10-11 Buck Owens plays lead guitar on these 1954 sides, a couple of years before beginning his own stellar recording career
15-16 Songs like this about crimes and disasters were big sellers for a couple of years in the mid-1920s, usually recorded by more legit singers like Vernon Dalhart. They almost always had the same sort of leaden dum-strum-strum-strum guitar accompaniment you hear on these two. Conner, whoever he was, has a more rural vocal style than usual for this subgenre. On #16 he valiantly tries to sing an ancient modal melody over the very non-modal "citybilly" backing.
17 Included mainly for its oddly tuned guitar accompaniment
18-24 Cooley's Columbia recordings, which immediately preceded these, are well represented on CD
29 This dubbed master appeared on Columbia's very briefly revived Perfect label in the mid-1950s, backed by a Carter Family item

 

CP-018 Notes:
02-06 These are all from the original session - later pressings often contain remakes under the same matrix numbers
12 Lyrics from the School of Absurdity
18 Issued in the Personality Series rather than the country series, evidently intended for the folk-revival crowd
23 Reverse of this, not included here, is a Jimmie Rodgers cover


CP-019 notes
01 An almost word-for-word cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "One Dime Blues"
11 "Just an old time radio crooner goin' wrong"
13-14 "Hee-haw hallelujah"
20 aka "The Intoxicated Rat"
25 A similar performance by this artist is in the Harry Smith Anthology
27 May be a pseudonym


CP-020 notes
01-02 May be a pseudonym
03-09 A very versatile family! 08-09 was an early release on Specialty Records' short-lived (and hitless) country-western series.
10 "Barn Dance On The Mountain - Part 1" was a reissue of Victor V-40020B. The true title is either "My Wife Died On Friday Night" or "Job In Gettin' There" - I'm not sure which. "Barn Dance On The Mountain-Part 2" is by a totally unrelated group (Mellie Dunham). These three sides were from the first group of sessions ever held in Nashville (11-5-28).
18 Simon Crum was the comedy alter-ego of Ferlin Husky. I have many other Simon Crum tracks on 45 and LP, but have this one on 78 only, so here it is.
23 The original record of this song, revived in the 1950s by Les Paul & Mary Ford and others. Note the different lyrics toward the end of the chorus (I'd say the later version was an improvement).

 

CP-021 notes
01 Original hit version of this Ray Charles favorite
04... Here beginneth a small sampling of the voluminous works of V. Dalhart. 04 is typical of the conventional pop records he made for five years or so before Victor 19427 changed his life forever.
05-06: A year or so after Fiddlin' John Carson first demonstrated the appeal of rural music to rural record buyers, the mammoth sales of this disc (around 7 million) showed that ersatz rural music could sell even more platters. It was mainly the B side that sold the record, and Dalhart went on to record dozens of pieces in similar heart-on-sleeve style, most with that same deadly doom-strum-strum-strum guitar accompaniment. Yes, that is a viola behind him...most followups opted for a more conventional violin. This is the acoustic original -- most reissues of these two sides understandably use the electric remake of ca. 1926. (Sorry for the noisy copy, damaged when my roof leaked in the early 1980s. I don't seem to have a better one right now. As late as the 1960s, Vi 19427 was in every junkshop pile).
08, 12, 21, 25 - Dalhart also recorded quite a few comic songs. #21 is a foretaste of the faux-hillbilly humor that became the rage in the late 1940s (Dorothy Shay). (See also "The Martins and the Coys" - Ted Weems).
09, 11, 15-19, 22 Topical ballads like these were very popular. They open a window to an aspect of 1920s culture that is largely forgotten today. #16 in particular is a classic.
10, 20 - Dalhart revelled in these three-hanky tearjerkers.
(More Dalhart coming on CP-022).

 

CP-022 notes
01 Based on a real-life L.A. murder-kidnaping that sold lots of newspapers in 1927
02 This rare St. Paul-based record label used Gennett masters made in NYC.
Dalhart's regular accompanists included Carson Robison-guitar (he's present as early as Vi 19427), Adelyne Hood-vn, John Cali-bj and Dalhart himself on harmonica. Around early 1929 Dalhart and Robison parted ways, and Robison began his successful collaboration with Frank Luther.
16-17 These 1934 nostalgic nuggets are the latest VD recordings I know of
18-19 Label based in Santa Ana, CA
22-23 This record sold very well in 1928. Though Darby & Tarlton's music would have sounded archaic to country audiences by the early 1930s, "Columbus Stockade" was often covered through the 1930s and 40s. Tarlton could play superb slide guitar blues when he wanted to, c.f. #25.


CP-023 notes
07-08 Dave McCarn & Howard Long. #08 is one of several songs recorded by McCarn about life in the cotton mills, much treasured by students of labor history. (This is the only one I have in my collection, unfortunately. Lovely E+ copy, though). #07 appeals to more basic instincts.
11-27 This selection from the abundant discography of Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis concentrates on his blues rather than his sentimental hits ("You Are My Sunshine", "Nobody's Darling But Mine," "It Makes No Difference Now"). #11 sold well and was the apparent prototype for many of the others. 13-17 transf. from Bear Family LP BFX15125. Guitarists: 13-Snoozer Quinn & Dizzy Head; 14-16-Oscar Woods & Ed Schafer; 17-Leon Chappelear.
Somewhere in the Governor's unruffled, almost stately approach to the blues (risqué lyrics and all) may lie the secret of long life; he lived to be 101.

CP-024 notes
01-03 a little out of sequence
09-10 Probably a pseudonym. Could be McGhee of Welling & McGhee, who mostly recorded sacred songs. #10 is politically incorrect
15-16 Jimmie is not the "Big Bad John" singer. Eddie Dean (the one with the higher voice) did record quite a bit on his own in the 1940s and 50s, though
17 This is the "Big Bad John" dude
18 Recorded December 6, 1933, three days after Rabon's 17th birthday (Alton was eight years older), this side sold well throughout the 1930s. Rabon plays most of the guitar leads on the Bluebirds and Deccas
22 A truly shameless tear-jerker

 

CP-025 notes
05 Jim Scott = Alton Delmore
08 From this point the Delmores' records often feature Wayne Raney's harmonica (sometimes joined by Lonnie Glosson, as on #17) and various guest lead guitarists. "Freight Train Boogie" hit #3 on the country charts in 1946 and "Blues Stay Away From Me" #1 in 1949. The hits stopped coming in 1951 after Rabon became ill with lung cancer; he died in 1952 at age 36.
23 Clarence Albert Poindexter, from East Texas oil country, is of course best remembered for the WWII-era crossover smash "Pistol Packin' Mama." Dexter's earliest efforts are a little weak, especially #25. On another side from this period, though, Dexter was supposedly the first ever to use the phrase "honky tonk" on record. He may also have been the first to sing about car hops (#24). The songwriting and picking improve considerably as we go along.


CP-026 notes
02-10 1939-41 - Dexter's best period, in my opinion
11-14 This session seems oddly subdued..."Alimony Blues" is in an awkward key for Al's voice. But these sides are still nice enough, with fine fiddling.
18-19 "Wine, Women And Song" was a much bigger hit the second time around. "Pistol Packin' Mama" was not.
21-26 Here are the complete 78 rpm recordings of the amazing DeZurik Sisters. (Some radio airchecks and transcriptions also exist). These copies aren't the cleanest, unfortunately, but the DeZuriks' trick vocal effects must be heard to be believed.
28-29 Petrillo specials -- recorded during the first musicians' union strike. These topical tunes might be more appropriately filed in my pop stacks, but here they are anyway.


CP-027 notes
02 The first-ever songwriting hit for Boudleaux & Felice Bryant
10-12 NYC studio group, unknown personnel. Quite different from the New Dixie Demons who recorded a little later for Decca in Chicago
13 Charlotte, 8-2-37. Most of this band's records are more jazz than country
14-15 These seem to refer to a real-life event...can anyone enlighten?
16-24 The Dixon Brothers were inspired by Darby & Tarlton (CP-022/3). They were textile workers in East Rockingham, NC (singing vividly about their workplace on "Weave Room Blues.") Though they never became full-time entertainers, they cut more than 60 sides for Bluebird. One of them became the inspiration for Roy Acuff's "Wreck On The Highway"; Dorsey Dixon belatedly got composer credit for that song. Document has released four Dixon Brothers CD's.
26 Reissues of this 1951 hit generally edit out the fiddle and steel guitar solos (to make it less country, presumably). The song was originally recorded by the more rustic-sounding Arkie Shibley. The well-known "Hot Rod Lincoln" was a sequel to this.


CP-028 notes
02-05 Hank Williams' backing band cut these instrumentals after Williams' death
08-09 Tommy Duncan, Bob Wills' vocalist in the 1930s and early 1940s, cut these sides for an Aladdin Records subsidiary ca. 1953
10 The reverse of this, by Dunford only, is on the Bristol Sessions CD compilation
11-22 This band, led by Milton Brown's steel guitar player, shared personnel with Cliff Bruner's bands (CP-007/8). 11-20 all recorded Houston, 2 March 1939. Most of the songs are by black composers, and the easy swinging treatments are not unlike the sound of many Decca "race" records of the same period. (As with those, there are fine solos, and solos that lose their way). The female vocalist on 21 could have easily fit into mainstream pop-swing bands of the period. (She also cut "Basin Street Blues" at this session -- I'll have to watch for that one).
25-26 Mahaffey also recorded with Dock Boggs


CP-029 notes
01-08 This small-town semi-pro band was a link between ragtime and Western Swing. The bowed bass or smaller three string "sello" is a unique and charming feature of their music. "Acorn Stomp" uses the same melody as "Darkie's Dream" which was a late scratch from the Cakewalks, Rags & Blues disc. They were also famous for their waltzes which they played with more enthusiasm than most (even the rather somber "Del Rio Waltz").
09-10 Label based in Houston. #10 has a bit of an "O Brother" feel to it.
13-14 Camden, 5 Feb. 1932. Bob Mitchell, organist
17-18 Ervin went on to sing with the rockabilly unit Sid King and the Five Strings
19-26 This comedienne is arguably more pop than country. #19-20 is ca. late 1947; #21-22 is earlier, ca. late 1944. "Slap 'Er Down Again" (best known in Arthur Godfrey's rendition) belongs in the Feminist Hall of Shame. "Smokey" may be the earliest commercial recording of this song.
28 A WWII rouser by this late edition of the Hillbillies (see CP-004). Label based in El Monte, Calif.


CP-030 notes
01-03 Hugh Farr (fiddle) and Karl Farr (guitar) spent most of their careers backing the Sons of the Pioneers, playing on nearly all SOTP records through the mid-1950s. They made four instrumental sides for RCA; included here are two of these plus a splendid turn from a 1945 Roy Rogers radio show.
04-09 Terry Fell is best known for "X" X-0010. The original A-side, "Don't Drop It", reached #4 on the country charts in 1954 (Fell's only charter) and a cover became the first hit for R&B singer Wilbert Harrison. Latter-day roots-music enthusiasts have discovered and recirculated the flipside, "Truck Driving Man." In the 1940s Fell recorded for several indie labels including Courtney, based at 1424 E. 78th St. in deepest South Central L.A. (which still had a substantial blue-collar white population in the 1940s). Courtney labels bore the inviting slogan "Music You Feel." In the early 1980s he recorded comedy songs under the name Brother George Underbrush. One of these, "Green Garden Hose - Part 2," is a long-time Dr Demento Show favorite.
10-20 Flatt & Scruggs are well circulated on CD but I have included a few early favorites. #18 was their first chart entry.
21-28 Reece Fleming (guitar) and Respers Townsend (harmonica) made one great record, "She's Just That Kind," a smash hit by 1930 standards. "Gonna Quit Drinkin'" was also fairly popular. Other tracks among the 46 they recorded for Victor reveal uninspired songwriting but decent singing and some nice harp by Respers.

 

CP-031 notes
01-04 Fletcher's Decca records were all made in New York City. That's about all I know about him.
05-18 here are some early efforts by the well known Red Foley. #05-06 date from 1933. 13-18 all recorded in Chicago 4 March 1941. Violinist Harry Sims (Simovitz) plays some uptown fiddle on #17 and others.
21 This crossed over to become a #1 pop hit (for 8 weeks in Billboard) in early 1950. It helped blaze the trail for rock 'n roll...but the most wonderful thing about it may well be the acoustic guitar sound, emulated in Nashville for decades.
23 A Christmas 1950 release...the "guy named Joe" in the lyrics is presumably Josef Stalin
24-27 Henry Ford was convinced that if all Americans had the chance to dance to music like this, all that evil jazz music and all the loose living that went with it would fade away. And so he maintained this quaint little band for the entertainment of workers at his Dearborn, MI factory. They made decent music in the old New England style. The Columbia sides (24-25) chronologically belong after the Victors, since they were apparently recorded a few months later. According to the Victor Master Book, 26-27 were cut on 2 Dec. '25 at "an experimental laboratory" in Dearborn. Mr. Ford lived just long enough to see the very beginning of the late-1940s national square dance boom, based on very similar music. (Incidentally, #25 was the theme for my second college radio show, "Folk Music Unlimited," 1960-61).

 

CP-032 notes
02-03 Full name of the label is "Early American Dances As Revived By Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford." In small print: "Recorded At Ford Engineering Laboratory, Dearborn, Mich." Looks like a mid-1940s pressing. This is included partly for personal nostalgia; square dancing was a major feature of P.E. at the grade school I went to and this record was in heavy rotation.
04 fits very neatly after Henry Ford's dance band! #05 is also interesting with lyrical references to Jiggs and Maggie, and the K.K.K. Sounds like Riley Puckett-gtr.
06-11 A few early tracks by Tennessee Ernie Ford, who's well represented on a Rhino best-of CD among others. (His surname wasn't added to his artist credit until 1955). Note the composer of #10; Freberg and Ford were both protegés of bandleader Cliffie Stone. #11 - compare with Buddy Morrow's big-band cover of the same R&B hit
16-17 Fowler is best remembered as founder of the Oak Ridge Quartet, the gospel group that evolved into the Oak Ridge Boys. Chet Atkins plays guitar.
24-28 Guitarist Porky Freeman was a worthy 1940s rival to the somewhat better known Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. He plays boogie licks that were often recycled by 1950s rockabilly guitarists, and displays Djangoid leanings on #28. More Porky on the next disc.


CP-033 notes
03, 05, 06 4Star ET-16 is a promotional 10" 33rpm transcription with six tracks. It also contains #01, 04 and 07 but in these cases the 78s sound better.
06 is very similar to #24 on CP-032. There is an accidental 15-second silence at the end of this track.
11-21 Hank Garland was one of the top Nashville studio guitarists of the 1950s, appearing anonymously on hundreds of records. His recording career began with Paul Howard when Garland was just 16. "Sugarfoot Rag" with Red Foley (#20 on CP-031), recorded the day before his 20th birthday, made his reputation. In 1960 he expanded his horizons with the much-admired LP "Jazz Winds From A New Direction." In 1961 he suffered severe head injuries in an auto crash. Though he painstakingly re-learned guitar, he has never returned to the studios.
12-13 On these tracks there is no lead guitar. Instead we hear Hank do a vocal Ernest Tubb imitation that verges on parody. (Why? Decca had the real Ernest Tubb under contract). He sings more felicitously on #14, 15 and 19.
22-23 originally Gold Star 1318 (Gold Star - the Houston label that featured Lightnin' Hopkins and Cajun legend Harry Choates)
28-29 Label based in Portales, NM


CP-034 notes
05-16 This string band was alternately led by Bill Chitwood (5-6, 15-16) and his old Brunswick duet partner Bud Landress (7-14). 5-6 rec. Atlanta 2-18-27; 7-12 Charlotte 8-9-27, 13-14 Atlanta 10-18-28.
22-26 Country music's first successful female close-harmony duo, the Good sisters came from Mt. Carmel, Illinois. They became stars on WLS-Chicago in its 1930s heyday as country music's epicenter, later relocating to WLW-Cincinnati. 22-23 and 26 rec. 1933, 24-25 rec. 1934.


CP-035 notes
01-05 01 rec. 12-5-33, 02-05 Nov. 1935
06-13 Chicago, 1938
14 The original recording of this crossover hit, successfully covered by Rex Allen, The Orioles, June Valli, Ella Fitzgerald and (later) Elvis Presley, among others.
16-26 Lonnie Glosson, born 1908 in Judsonia, AR, was a featured player on WLS-Chicago in the 1930s. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he often worked with fellow harpist Wayne Raney and the Delmore Brothers. Raney is the second harpist on many of these sides. Glosson returned the favor on many of Raney's King recordings and is also heard on many Delmores sides. 23-24 are covers of Delmores hits and it's interesting to hear basically the same people recording here with different studios and producers. Glosson, like Raney, sold harmonicas and instruction books by mail, and the DSL disc (16-17) was evidently sold similarly; the labels inform us that one could acquire the record by sending 50¢ to an address in Hollywood.
18 The reverse of my copy of this disc is titled "Talk Of Peace" but plays matrix 1295, "West Bound Rocket," same as #6074. This is a fine piece but I'm curious what "Talk Of Peace" is about.
26 Del Rio, Texas was the location of a radio station with a high-wattage Mexican transmitter that broadcast country music to most of Middle America for many years (the Carter Family was based there for awhile) and later gave us Wolfman Jack.


CP-036
01-02 The future TV comedian was a 12-year-old singing star on WLS-Chicago when he recorded these cowboy airs in 1933.
03-04 When the future Dr Demento was 12 years old and singing in his church choir, these two were in heavy rotation on his bedroom record player, for better or worse.
08-09 Track #08 has the start of the spoken intro; the rest of the record, from a cleaner copy with a rim bite, is on track #09.
11-17 Henry Whitter was one of the first "country" artists to make records (we'll hear him again if I ever get to the W's!) Whitter was generally not a terribly good musician, but he achieved greatness in the company of G. B. Grayson, a magnificent fiddler and an excellent traditional singer as well (often simultaneously with his fiddling). Grayson died in 1930 when he hitched a ride on the running board of a car and lost his grip. He is heard solo on the Smithsonian-Folkways "Harry Smith Anthology" singing "Ommie Wise," recorded at the same session as 11-14. Victor 21189 sold about 50,000 copies, a hit by mountain music standards. (Deservedly, I might add). 11-14 rec. Atlanta 10-18-27, 15 NYC 7-31-28, 16-17 NYC 8-1-28.
18-19 An enthusiastic and idiomatic (if undermanned) imitation of the many musical skits recorded by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers for Columbia. I don't know who the artists were but they presumably recorded for Paramount's very rare 3000 hillbilly series.
20 Some of the nicest blues picking the Caucasian race managed to come up with in the 1920s.
22 The missing link between Emmett Miller and Hank Williams, recorded 12-39.
24-27 Recorded in Memphis -- #24 on 5-30-30, the others on 11-26-30.

 

CP-037 notes
03 Obviously inspired by the B-side of Elvis Presley's Sun debut. I believe this was the first cover of any Presley record, a couple of months ahead of Marty Robbins' bigger-selling cover of the A-side, "That's All Right."
07 A first cousin to Woody Guthrie, Jack died of tuberculosis in 1948 at age 32. "Oklahoma Hills" was #1 on the country charts for six weeks in 1945.
15-22 Singer-guitarist Hall, from North Carolina, first recorded as one of the Hall Brothers (q.v.) His own band featured fiddler Tommy Magness. He died at 36 in a 1943 car smash.
23-26 This singer-pianist was not related to the Roy Hall heard on 15-22. He's best remembered as the co-writer of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."
27-28 Just thought I'd add this recent thrift-shop find.

 

CP-038
01-21 Kansas-born vaudevillian Wendell Hall (1886-1969) had one foot in the country and the other in Tin Pan Alley. This selection concentrates on his self-composed humorous songs, including the million-selling #02/03/05 plus its numerous sequels. I have about another disc's worth of his Tin Pan Alley interpretations, if desired.
18-21 From Hall's last recording session, Chicago, 13 Dec. 1933. Though he sang occasionally on radio after that, he made his living as a director of network radio shows and as an advertising executive.
22-27 Roy Hall (CP-037 #15-22) was one of the Hall Brothers.


CP-039 notes
1-20 From Kellyville, TX, Stuart Hamblen began his career in Dallas as radio singer "Cowboy Joe." He moved to Southern California about 1930 and stayed until his death in 1989. "My Mary" (covered by Jimmie Davis) and "My Brown Eyed Texas Rose" were his first hits. In the 1930s and 40s he sang cowboy songs on L.A. radio and was cast in numerous Western movies (usually as a bad guy). "Texas Plains" was his best known song from that period. He is probably the singer on the very explicit ca. 1935 party record "Columbo" (have I sent you a copy of this?) His career perked up in the late 1940s when he had Top 5 country hits with "But I'll Go Chasin' Women" and "Remember Me (I'm The One Who Loves You)" (not here since my copies are not 78's). He was known as a heavy drinker and a brawler, but around 1950 he was converted by Billy Graham and soon after wrote his two most famous songs, "It Is No Secret" and "This Ole House." (Another 1950s sacred hit was "Open Up Your Heart," written by Stuart and recorded by some of his offspring under the name Cowboy Church Sunday School). In 1952 he ran for President on the Prohibition Party ticket.
08-13 His name is spelled "Hamblin" on all his 1930s Deccas, "Hamblen" on all other releases in my collection.
21-22 Paul Hamblin (thus spelt) recorded four sides at a session (Culver City, 3-21-30) where Stuart Hamblen also recorded. I do not know for sure if they were related.

 

CP-040 notes
08-09 Varsity masters (numbers obliterated in the runoff), probably from Crown, Gennett or Paramount, ca. 1930-31. The name is probably a pseudonym; I rather doubt these performers actually worked in the coal mines at Harlan, KY.
10-11 Harmonica Frank Floyd also recorded for Sun. His lone Chess release appeared in their regular (mainly R&B) series; the labels even bear the word "Blues". (This was well before Chess launched its not-too-successful country series)
16-17 Slightly out of sequence. #16 and #14 are different versions of the same traditional song -- oral tradition at work. It is best known today in the Carter Family's rendition, of which A'nt Idy's is a cover.
18-26 Kelly Harrell (1889-1942), a Virginia textile worker, first recorded acoustically for Victor and OKeh in 1925 (18-19 are remakes of acoustic sides). He did not play an instrument. He was accompanied by NYC studio musicians on 18-21, and by the Virginia String Band (including noted fiddler Posey Rorer, who also worked with Charlie Poole) on 22-26. (The V.S.B. gets label billing on 23-26). Harrell is best known today for two songs included on the Harry Smith anthology: "Charles Giteau" (reverse of #23) and "My Name Is John Johanna" (reverse of #24). Henry Norton was a member of Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers, who recorded at the same sessions that produced #25-26 (Charlotte, 8-12-27).

 

CP-041 notes
02-04 Some early efforts by an artist whose career peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
05-14 This band has long been cherished by horny record collectors who have created their own imaginary pinup photos of the vocalist.
BB B-6481 was a big seller. I have four of these five discs on 78s but after comparing sound quality have chosen to transfer all ten sides from Rambler LP #104. All but B-6656 recorded Charlotte, 6-22-36. (To play them back in matrix number order, program as follows: 8-10-5-12-11-9-6-14).
15-16 Another big seller. Recorded in the same studio, same day as the celebrated territory band item "Doc'oligy" by Tom Crowley and his orchestra. (Atlanta, 4 Aug. '35).
17-22 Roy Harvey and the North Carolina Ramblers were best known as Charlie Poole's band. Harvey has been called the finest country guitarist of the 1920s. These sides present him as a capable singer of tragic ballads and sentimental pieces.
23-27 Probably best known for dying in the same 1963 plane crash as Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas, Hawkins had a reasonably successful15-year recording career. King Records was known early on for having its C&W singers cover the label's R&B hits and vice versa; #25 is an example.
28 Probably a pseudonym. The reverse side, also credited to Uncle Jim Hawkins, sounds like an altogether different (more cornball) group.

 

CP-042 notes
02 Presumably the original recording of this song, which subsequently made Porter Wagoner famous.
03 Three versions of this song hit the country charts in 1954, this being the first. Perk Williams is the vocalist. Original American issue: Capitol 2518.
04-05 Label based in Portland, OR. When I lived there, this record turned up frequently in local thrift shops.
08-09 Anyone interested in the early history of American radio should hear this item, custom-pressed for Mr. Henderson by OKeh. Blind Andy (Andrew Jenkins) will be heard from again when we get to the J's but I thought it best to include this item here.
12 Late 1938 - this predates the better known Bob Atcher sobbing version of this song by about a year.
16 For the reverse of this item see Art Coffee, CP-017. See also Otto Gray, CP-036.
17-18 Chicago, 3 Nov. 1934. The Bluebirds were made north of the border ca. 1936. Interesting examples of Country-and-Northern music, with tuba.
23 Herman The Hermit appeared frequently on the1940s-early 1950s radio and TV shows of his son, Cliffie Stone (aka Cliffie Stonehead). See Cliffie Stone for the reverse of this record.
24-25 Probably Merle Travis, guitar.
26-27 Slightly out of sequence.

 

CP-043 notes
01-04 Bennie Hess merits five pages in Nolan Porterfield's definitive bio of Jimmie Rodgers, whom Hess may have known fairly well in his youth (it's all a bit hazy). Bennie's slow songs here (01 & 03) exemplify much of what people scorn about traditional country music, and his fast songs aren't a whole lot better, but hey, it's history. Somebody did like #04 enough to put it in a jukebox. The Opera label was based in Houston. Hess moved to Nashville and continued to put out records on his own small labels into the 1970s.
05-30 This Texas/Oklahoma dance band was born in 1929 and reached its peak 1937-1941. Elmer Scarborough played tenor guitar and led the band. Players included fiddler Darrell "Kirk" Kirkpatrick, pianist Landon Beaver, steel guitarist Billy Briggs (#05-19), his successor Andy Schroder, lead guitarist Sheldon Bennett (#22-30) and singer-rhythm guitarist Buster Ferguson (#20-30). Some tracks transferred from Texas Rose LP TXR-2705. More on CP-044. All sides recorded in Dallas. Dates: 05-10 June 13, 1937; 11-15 June 18, 1937; 16-19 Dec. 6, 1938; 20-21 ??; 22-29 April 22, 1940; 30-March 10, 1941.

 

 CP-044
01 "Mable Ain't Able" is repeated here because the ending of this track on CP-043 is slightly clipped.
13 This song is "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy" knockoff number #99 but note the modernistic instrumental break.
14 Features imitations of the top C&W guitarists of the era
16 A Korean War souvenir, about "brainwashing" which was much in the news at the time. More Eddie Hill on CP-045 including a sequel to #14.
17 Somebody thought "Let's do one of those Steve Allen 'bop fables' country style" and this is the result.
18-27 The Hill Billies were probably the inspiration for the common use of the word "hillbilly" for a musical genre. From 1926 onward they were also billed as Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters. I have seen 1920s posters that use both names as if they were two bands, but they were one and the same. Leader Al Hopkins was born near Boone, NC but grew up in Washington, DC and that became the band's home base. The band was formed in Galax, VA in 1924 by Hopkins, banjoist John Rector, guitarist Joe Hopkins (Al's brother) and fiddler Alonzo Elvis (Tony) Alderman. This is the personnel on the OKeh session. Rector died soon afterward. A dozen or so other musicians, all from rural Appalachia, passed into and out of the band over the next few years. Fiddler Charlie Bowman is prominent on many of their records from 1925 onward. The band offered a wide variety of music from square dances (with calls) to quartet singing. The band appeared often on Washington radio and played for President Calvin Coolidge. They broke up after Al Hopkins died in a 1932 auto accident.
25 Elvis Alderman gets label credit -- the first Elvis on a record label.

 

CP-045
01 A very popular release, partly or mostly due to the reverse, "Golden Slippers" by the Kanawha Singers, a Vernon Dalhart group.
03-04 The same Apollo label that's much better known for its jazz, gospel and R&B releases.
05 Sounds like an old minstrel number
06 Sequel to "The Hot Guitar" (see CP-044).
07 British group, no relation to the Al Hopkins band
10-13 This oddball artist also recorded for Edison. Have found no personal info on him. The Victor here was made 7 May '28 in Camden. 12-13, also rec. 1928, was in the catalog at least until ca. 1935 when this copy was pressed.
14-25 Adolph Hofner (1916-2000) started his own band in 1939 after singing on records by Jimmie Revard and others. It was a versatile group that spotlighted Hofner's vocals (which verged on crooning at times) but also provided snappy hot dance tunes in the current Texas style, along with some that reflected Hofner's German-Czech heritage (see CP-046). BB B-8416 (especially "Maria Elena") was his best seller.

 

CP-046 notes
06-07 "Hillbilly Vocal Adolph Hofner" say the labels. The vocals are, I believe, in Czech. "Julida" (comp. Walter Solek) was played by many polka bands of that era. The English lyrics are about the singer's none-too-faithful girlfriend.
12-13 Probably a pseudonym. "The Baldheaded End of the Broom" was nicely covered by Grandpa Jones, whom we'll get to fairly soon.
14-17 Chicago, December 1936.
19-28 Roy Hogsed (1919-1978), Arkansas-born, was based in San Diego. He had a national hit with his 1947 cover of "Cocaine Blues." It originally came out on the Coast label (mx# 351, coupled with #18) before Capitol picked up the master. Bear Family has a CD of his work.

 

CP-047 notes
08-11 Floyd "Salty" Holmes (1909-70) was a member of The Prairie Ramblers in the 1930s. Noted guitar whiz Joe Maphis makes one of his earlier recorded appearances on #10-11.
12 Covered by Pat Boone a decade later as "AWonderful Time Up There." A later pressing of the recording heard here calls it "Hallelujah Rhythm." Some folks obviously had a problem with the original title. Nonetheless, the bass singing was widely imitated.
14-28 Country music's all time favorite comedy duo, guitarist Henry "Homer" Haynes (1920-1971) and mandolinist Kenneth "Jethro" Burns (1920-1989) were also superb pickers who often showed up anonymously on other people's records. They first worked together at age 12 on radio in Knoxville. Their growing radio success was interrupted by WWII but after the war they joined WLW in Cincinnati and signed with King Records. In 1949 they moved to RCA and recorded voluminously for Nipper until Homer's death. After that, Jethro launched a distinguished second career as an instrumentalist, and also toured with Steve Goodman. Many of the duo's best RCA sides have been reissued recently (so I won't be including many RCA sides here) but their King work has not yet shown up on CD, as far as I know. #15 finds them having great fun with a piece of material one would hardly expect to hear on King's hillbilly series. Unfortunately King's pressings were often dreadful in the 1940s (they improved dramatically ca. 1951) but I did my best, and will also include some tracks from King LP's (on CP-048).

 

CP-048
01 Homer and Jethro were 32 and 26 respectively when they recorded this number.
09 Sounds like they sped up the original master and added some overdubs.
10-18 For semi-completeness I added these King tracks I don't have on 78s. The early 1960s LP transfers are awful, unfortunately. Listening to later 78 issues (#04, #05 for instance) makes one realize the original 78 masters weren't that bad (notwithstanding the earlier 78 pressings).

 

CP-049
03 Out of sequence.
06-09 Adelyne Hood was best known as violinist and duet partner with Vernon Dalhart, q.v.
10-11 The Hoosier Hot Shots were Gabe Ward (clarinet), Paul "Hezzie" Treitsch (slide whistle) and brother Ken Trietsch (guitar). All three doubled frequently on other instruments. All three previously played with Ezra Buzzington's Rustic Revelers (who made a few sides for Gennett). On their ARC recordings the core trio is joined by Frank Kettering (bass) and/or a couple of others.
For no good reason this selection of the Indiana cornmeisters begins with the most recent 78 release of theirs I have, from ca. 1952. (They made several LP's after that).
12-18 This 12" 33 rpm shellac transcription has no printed tune titles or artist credit, but obviously it's the Hot Shots as a trio, sometime between their radio debut in 1932 and their earliest ARC session in 1934. The final track is transferred twice with two different styli. The disc has a nasty scuff that is very evident in the first pass, less so in the second (though a certain loss of clarity is a trade-off).
19-27 I have a big stack Hot Shots' 78s, probably not too far from a complete run of their ARC's/purple OKehs. If anyone's truly interested, let me know. In the meantime I'll transfer two discs or so worth of favorites, concentrating on their earlier work, their instrumentals and their more overtly humorous titles (the majority of their sides are more or less straightforward covers of pop songs old and then-new, in their zany but formularized fashion). (I am omitting tracks included on the Sony Music Hot Shots CD Rural Rhythm.) Here's the first ARC session, with an alternate take.
22 The singer twice misreads the lyric, singing "laden" where "leaden" was obviously intended. Either way, it's a bit of a mouthful at this tempo.

 

CP-050
9-10 Uncle Ezra (Pat Barrett) was a Chicago radio personality who essentially launched the Hot Shots' radio career. He was apparently not the same person as Ezra Buzzington.
17-18 The Hot Shots tended to play most everything with the same rhythmic feel, reportedly as directed by producer "Uncle Art" Satherly. Notice the difference between the pre-ARC recordings on CP-049 and the ARC versions of the same titles. The latter do have a nice bounce for dancing that is not present on the earlier versions, but the sameness gets to you after awhile. These two are welcome exceptions to the rule. The Hot Shots were clearly capable of more variety than their records display.
19 The Hot Shots salute labelmate Cab Calloway.

 

CP-051 notes
11-21 After almost a decade with ARC the Hot Shots moved to Decca during WWII. Decca recorded them in more varied settings, pairing them with other artists and even having them do a few ballads. 18 was (I think) Baker's record debut; he went on to a long career with Mercury as the label's house novelty singer, often covering other labels' novelty hits like "Civilization" and "The Thing."
22-23 Doctor Hopkins (his real name) was a popular singer on WLS and other radio stations in the 1930s and 1940s. The late Shel Silverstein told me Doc was a great early inspiration for him. Hopkins made few commercial records but a large number of transcriptions.
24-28 Though some of his records appeared in the Columbia 15000-D series (thus his presence in my country stacks) Hornsby was more of a trafficker in what was then pop nostalgia than what we'd today call a "country" singer. (Before the terms "hillbilly" or "country" caught on as names for the genre, such series were often called "old familiar tunes" or something such, which takes in people like Hornsby as well as the yodelers and fiddlers). #25 adds some new (and politically incorrect) verses to the Foster standard.


CP-052 notes
03-04 Acoustic Gennett masters
05 Another version of this colorful song is on CP-053
06-07 Sixties-Seventies star David Houston was about 17 when he cut this pair -- apparently under the spell of Slim Whitman, Imperial's top country artist of the 1950s. Young David's pipes put on quite a show toward the end of #06.
09-13 No info on Mr. Howard (or Mr. Cauley). #10 covers the Allen Brothers, and #12 the Carter Family (an obvious influence on Howard's guitar playing).
19 Despite the composer credits, this is the turn-of-the-century minstrel tune, essentially unchanged except for being cleansed of the n-word.
28 This predates Roy Hogsed's very similar (but not identical) recording of the same title by a year or so. (Hogsed's was a bigger hit by far). When we get to the N's (W. A. Nichol) we'll hear yet another version, perhaps the first of all.
29-30 This is almost certainly Bradley Kincaid, the pioneer radio star. More by him when we get to the K's.


CP-053 notes
03-05 Prince Albert Hunt, from Terrell, TX, is credited as a pioneer of the new Texas dance music that evolved into Western Swing.
He died young, shot by a jealous husband outside a Dallas bar in 1931. These are reel tape dubs made before I sold these records in the 1960s for then-badly-needed cash. (They're now worth at least 10 times what I sold them for, and about a thousand times what I paid for them). #03 is on a recent Yazoo compilation, and another track by Hunt is on the Harry Smith anthology.
06-13 Don't have any info about this group, whose music reminds one of the Delmore Brothers and (on #12) the Farr Brothers (Sons of the Pioneers).
14 Probably a pseudonym.
15-27 #15 was, I think, the first decent blues recorded by a rural white singer-guitarist. Hutchison was from West Virginia. He enhanced his shows in small West Virginia towns by showing movies on a projector he brought along. "Coney Isle" (most likely inspired by an amusement park by that name near Cincinnati, not by its NYC namesake) was adapted ca. 1939 by the Delmore Brothers as "Alabam" and a cover of that became the biggest hit of Cowboy Copas' career, in 1960. The vocal version of "Stackalee" from the reverse side of OK 45106 is on the Harry Smith anthology. I have filled out this section with some tracks from a 1970s LP on Rounder, and a few more are on CP-054. There is a Document CD available.

 

CP-054 notes
07-08 OKeh, like other labels, made records like this to showcase its stable of artists. Hutchison doesn't appear till near the end of part 2, but Emmett Miller gets considerable exposure early on that side. The condition is "E" - for execrable - but some of us may still find it enjoyable, except for the end of part 1 which has a huge dig I've been unable to repair, thus the early fade. Bud Blue=Seger Ellis??
09 Those who can't abide abused records should skip this one too. Someone laid a strip of sticky and corrosive tape across its surface many long years ago. (#10 is OK). Frank Ifield was about 19 and a rising country star in Australia when he cut these very old-fashioned sides ca. 1956. He later went on to success in England and the USA, where "I Remember You" hit #5 on the pop singles chart in 1962.
11-12 Sterling is best known for Hank Williams' earliest releases (one of which is #208). Fred Rose, who produced those, probably had something to do with these efforts as well. For a little more Innis see Charlie Gore (CP-036).
17-22 There's a Jerry Irby CD on Collectors Records.
26-27 Terry Fell also recorded solo for Courtney ("Music You Feel"). See CP-030.
28 Shot Jackson is best remembered as a sideman (dobro and steel guitar) for various 1950s artists, including Roy Acuff, Patsy Cline and Johnnie & Jack (hear him with J&J on CP-055). He was also the co-developer of the Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar. Among his few sides as a vocalist were a couple for Specialty's ill-fated country series. This demo (and a few others) found in a closet at Specialty while I was working there in 1968-71.


CP-055 notes
01 An update/parody of "Wreck of the Old 97". The "Tanner 'n Texas" label was based in San Antonio.
09-10 This is the earliest version of "Yellow Rose of Texas" I've heard, and hearing the lyrics Gene Autry and Mitch Miller didn't use makes me think this must have been a minstrel song originally, and that the Yellow Rose was a light-skinned African-American.
11-12 Though he doesn't get to strut much stuff on these waltzes, Dick Justice was one of the best-regarded guitarists of the 1920s.
13-16 #14 is the tragic ballad of a young man who was trapped while exploring a cave in 1925. This song was covered with great success by Vernon Dalhart (CP-021). A Google search will reveal several Collins-related pages. Likewise, http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/marian.html will provide background on the sensational 1927 kidnap-murder of 11-year-old Marian Parker, the subject of 15-16. "The Fate Of Edward Hickman" (the kidnapper) recycles not only the tune but a lyric line or two from the Floyd Collins song. (See CP-042 for another song by Jenkins).
17 Johnny is Johnny Mathis, not the suave balladeer but the country singer who later became known for obvious reasons as Country Johnny Mathis. Chess' country series was about as successful as Specialty's. Chess' country 78 rpm labels had the standard design, but on a hot pink background. (The 45s had the same color scheme as the label's familiar R&B issues).
18-23 Johnnie Wright (1914-) is Kitty Wells' husband. Jack Anglin (1916-63) was one of the Anglin Brothers who recorded in the late 1930s. J&J first recorded for Apollo. "Poison Love" was their breakthrough hit in 1951 and they remained a popular act until Jack died in an auto accident on the way to Patsy Cline's funeral.
25 A forgettable piece of music, but the lyrics are interesting for those interested in the history of the word "hillbilly" and country music in general.
26-27 This Cajun item is a little out of sequence. #26 is a version of the centuries-old folksong scholars refer to as "Our Goodman."


CP-056 notes
05-10 "She runs a weenie stand away down in No Man's Land..." There are two Document CD's by this band.
11-12 This obscure but hot flatpicker was recorded at Rock Hill, SC, 2-2-39.
14-22 Ann Jones, from Kansas via Enid, OK, was called "the country Kate Smith". She was popular on the West Coast in the late 1940s and early 1950s but #15 was her only national hit.
23-28 Virtually forgotten today, Buddy Jones was a successful Decca artist in the half decade leading up to WWII, specializing in mildly risqué honky-tonk tunes. His style is somewhere between Jimmie Davis and Cliff Carlisle. For a duet with Davis (predating his solo career) see CP-023. 23-26 rec. Dallas, Feb. 1937; 27-28 San Antonio 9-21-38.

 

CP-057 notes
Reportedly, Buddy was a Shreveport police officer by trade, and died in 1950. Buster Jones was his brother. Buster plays steel guitar on 01-03 and 17-26; Bob Dunn (formerly with Milton Brown) does the honors on 04-16.
Recording data: 01-03 San Antonio 9-21-38; 04-10 Houston 3-39; 11-16 Houston 8-30-39 (this one-day session produced 16 masters); 17-20 Houston 4-40; 21-26 Dallas 4-41; 27-28 NYC 9-17-41.
Moon Mullican, piano 11 thru 26.
27-28 feature Vaughn Horton-steel guitar; Cliff Bruner-fiddle; Joe Moresco-piano.

 

CP-058 notes
Best remembered today as a regular on Hee-Haw, Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones (1913-1998) sang with Bradley Kincaid on radio in the late 1930s. He was still in his twenties when Kincaid dubbed him "Grandpa," reportedly due to his sour disposition when asked to play 6 A.M. broadcasts. Jones next joined WLW-Cincinnati where he performed with Merle Travis and the Delmore Brothers. His first session on King (01-02, ca.1944) and several later sessions feature Travis on guitar.
His early records are standard mid-1940s country. I've included some of the better songs and the ones where Travis is prominent.
In 1947 he picked up his 5-string banjo and covered Bascom Lamar Lunsford's 1927 "Mountain Dew." It became his biggest seller and from that point on Jones specialized in old-timey (pre-bluegrass) banjo tunes, which he continued to perform through his Hee-Haw days. For many years he was virtually the only nationally known performer keeping this repertoire alive for country audiences (as opposed to urban folkies).
15 The featured mandolinist is probably Jethro Burns.

 

CP-059 notes
08 I'm not normally including 45's in this project but couldn't resist this souvenir of the McCarthy era. A couple of other renditions will appear on future CP discs.
09-14 Jones signed with RCA in 1952. Recording with Chet Atkins in Nashville, he sang self-consciously "old-timey" new songs instead of real traditional songs, but the picking is nice. Atkins fills the Merle Travis role on a couple of these sides. Jethro Burns, then also with RCA, is heard here and there.
09 note the composers - Moe Jaffe is the same man who co-wrote "Collegiate" and other 1920s hits; he and Latham wrote the 1947 country hit "I'm My Own Grandpa" which was covered by several pop singers. "Bread and Gravy" was less successful.
16 Sort of an answer to "Too Old To Cut The Mustard" (CP-013).
17 Kind of a Blue Yodel waltz.
19-22 Early recordings by the group best known for its work with Elvis Presley. #20 and #22 are essentially covers of (black) gospel hits by Brother Joe May and the Swan Silvertones respectively. #21 is a precise imitation of the Golden Gate Quartet.
23-24 Justice has a song on the Harry Smith anthology.
25-29 Though named for a county in West Virginia, these gents sound very much like NYC studio musicians and singers. One Internet source identifies them as the Ritz Quartet. Vernon Dalhart 's presence is obvious on #25 (the group's big seller) but not on the others. That same Internet source also mentions Carson Robison (g), Sam Raitz (vn) and John Cali (bj) as appearing on #25. The Kanawhas were apparently intended to appeal to the same folks who bought Harry C. Browne records a decade earlier, though they also waxed ordinary quartet renditions of "Back Home Again In Indiana" and "On The Banks Of The Wabash" (Br 255). Reverse of #25 by The Hill Billies; see CP-045, track 1.

 

CP-060 notes
Though not as well known today as some other 1930s singing duos, Karl & Harty were very popular in their time, especially among listeners within the wide range of WLS in Chicago. Karl Victor Davis (lead vocal, mandolin) and Hartford Connecticut Taylor (tenor vocal, guitar), both born in 1905 in Mount Vernon, KY, joined WLS in 1930 as members of John Lair's Cumberland Ridge Runners (Bradley Kincaid got them the job). They soon emerged as a duo. After a few sides for Paramount in 1932 they joined several other WLS artists on the ARC roster in 1934. Along with their biggest hits
"I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail" and "Kentucky" and similar sentimental fare, they celebrated the pleasures of suds with the fairly hilarious "Fifty-One Beers" and the end of WWII with "When The Atom Bomb Fell" (CP-061). After the duo broke up ca. 1950, Karl enjoyed some success as a songwriter.
01-02 Another copy credited to "Taylor and Davis - Acc. by Cumberland Ridge Runners."
06 Linda Parker was a fellow Cumberland Ridge Runner. We'll hear her when we get to the P's.
11 K&H cover the Dixon Brothers original. Roy Acuff would have a hit with it a few years later, retitled "Wreck On The Highway."


CP-061 notes
15 Recorded Bristol, VA/TN, 1927, at the sessions where Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family were first recorded. Three more pieces (two of them very lively) by Karnes and his Gibson harp-guitar (with its three sets of strings) are on the Bristol Sessions CD set.
16-24 Here's a small sampling of Buell Kazee (1900-76), one of the most interesting artists of the 1920s. Born and raised in rural eastern Kentucky, he went to Georgetown (KY) College to train for the ministry. There, along with Greek and Latin and classical vocal technique, he learned about the long history of some of the traditional songs he'd heard as a boy. He began presenting concerts of "folk music" to much local acclaim, and was eventually invited to record for Brunswick. The record company wasn't quite sure what to do with him. His rural credentials were impeccable, but he'd gone through a lot of vocal training and was proud of it. He wound up recording turn-of-the-century pop songs a la Vernon Dalhart (16-17 and 19-20 -- "Sookie Hobbs" sounds a lot like Carson Robison) but is much better remembered nowadays for the songs from his boyhood, flawlessly accompanied on five-string banjo. He complained that Brunswick wanted him to sing "badly" (this is tellingly alluded to on the hokey but very interesting "A Mountain Boy Makes His First Records") but however his art might have been compromised, his renditions of olde ballads like "Lady Gay" are the best one could imagine. (Three of his best are on the Harry Smith Anthology). He could even make a piece of dreck like "The Blind Man" seem like classical tragedy. I've often wished that the intelligentsia of the late 1930s had anointed Kazee as the saviour of Anglo-American balladry instead of the dreadful John Jacob Niles...but by that time The Rev. Buell Kazee was happily serving the faithful of Morehead, KY and had no further interest in the music biz. In the 1960s he performed a few concerts for folk revival audiences, and was persuaded to make a Folkways album and a video of his banjo technique (later released by Yazoo).
16-17 Alternate takes of these were released in Brunswick's pop series (Br 3802). I have that, but it's rougher than this one, and cracked, but if anyone's interested...
25-27 Hank Keene is unlikely to make anyone's Top Ten as an artist, but he sure was nicely recorded (NYC, Oct. 27, 1933).


CP-062 notes
03-08 The Kessinger Brothers were actually uncle (Clark, the fiddler) and nephew (Luches, or Luke, guitarist). Clark is generally considered one of the half-dozen or so best fiddlers of the 1920s. Their records, designed for dancing, are no-frills productions, and rather repetitious. Their complete output has been issued on a pair of Document CD's.
09-24Somewhere between the Hoosier Hot Shots and the Three Suns are the carefree, toe-tapping, happily inconsequential sounds of The Kidoodlers. They recorded in NYC, and I'd have to say they're more pop than country, but Vocalion put them in the same catalog as the string bands and blue yodelers, so here they are. 09-12 rec. 9-13-37; 19 rec. 7-10-38.
25-38 Bradley Kincaid (1895-1989) from Point Level, Kentucky was a Folk Singer, the first performer advertised as such to win a large national following on radio and records. Unlike Forties and Fifties Folk Singers whose initial support came from intellectuals and the Left, Kincaid won his fame singing for the rural/blue collar audience of WLS radio in Chicago. Between 1928 and 1936 he published 13 songbooks of mostly traditional material. From 1944 to 1949 he was a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Semi-retired in the 1950s but made several LP's in the 1960s and early 1970s. Here (and on CP-063) is a small sampling of his ample catalog.

 

CP-063 notes
07 The original ca. 1865 song on which "The Wreck Of The Old '97" and its many descendants were based.
12 A ca. 1953 Hank Williams knockoff by a singer who would have lots of hits in the 1960s.
13-27 Born Julius Frank Kuczynski in Wisconsin's dairy country, Pee Wee was re-named by Gene Autry when he was hired to play accordion in Gene's band at WLS, ca. 1933. He moved to Louisville with Autry in 1934 and stayed there when Gene went off to Hollywood. He started his band in 1936 and joined the Grand Ole Opry shortly afterward. Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Redd Stewart joined in 1937. In 1946, King & Stewart concocted a knockoff of Bill Monroe's "Kentucky Waltz." Released as a B-side in 1947, it became their first national hit and was of course covered with immense success by Patti Page -- the first of several King-Stewart compositions to cross over to pop-land. Others included "You Belong To Me," "Changing Partners" and "Slow Poke." King's original record of the latter (#22) went #1 pop as well as country in spite of numerous pop covers. Pee Wee is remembered as someone who brought a new degree of professionalism and showmanship to country music, helping greatly to broaden its audience or dilute its character (depending on your point of view).


CP-064 notes
01-09 Fred Kirby was born in Charlotte and spent most of his career there. Known as the "Carolina Cowboy," he specialized in Western songs, but may be best remembered today for "Atomic Power" which was covered by several other artists. In the 1960s he launched a cowboy-themed TV show which entertained Charlotte's children until he retired in 1991. 07-08 rec. Charlotte, 6-7-38.
12 Features impressions of several well-known country singers.
17-18 In the spring of 1941, Decca decided to release four sides by this Australian swing violinist in its country series. One can only guess as to the reasons why. 17 rec. London, 11-20-34; 18 rec. London, 2-1-35.
19-22 Lawson progressed from flat-out Ernest Tubb imitation to a style more or less his own. 19 is labeled "A Remembrance Record - Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial". The two copies I've seen are both single-faced. The Western label was based in Hollywood. "Foggy River" was a minor national hit. I have a 45 by Lawson from 1970 - an early novelty song about CB radio.
23-27 Zora Layman was Mrs. Frank Luther and recorded numerous duets with him. 24-25, recorded NYC 1934, were not released until 1943. 26 has non-PC Native American references.

 

CP-065 notes
01-02 The name "Lazy" Larry might have been used for more than one singer. All the records I've seen thus labelled are covers of hits on other labels. [1] was a hit for Carson Robison & Frank Luther, [2] for Hobo Jack Turner (Ernest Hare). Songwriter Benjamin Samberg later became better known as Benny Bell, purveyor of party platters and Yiddish delights.
03-16 The Leake County Revelers were not from Leake County, but from neighboring Scott County, in east central Mississippi between Jackson and Meridian. Columbia Records talent scout H. C. Spier is reputed to have come up with the band name.
03-06 Rec. New Orleans, 4-13-27. Co 15189-D was the #1 best selling country string band record of the 1920s. It was still available on 78 in the early Fifties, the only Twenties country string band record to have that distinction.
17-18 Ernie Lee (1916-1991) was perhaps better known as a concert MC and radio host than as a singer.
19-20 Powder River Jack Lee (d. 1945) was a working cowboy in his youth. Later he performed at rodeos and traveling Wild West shows with his wife Kitty, and wrote books of cowboy yarns and poetry. Rec. Hollywood, Nov. 3, 1930.
23-24 Should actually be filed under "C". For another title by this group see CP-018.

 

 

CP-066 notes
LEON'S LONE STAR COWBOYS - Leon Chappelear's 1930s Decca band would be here, but Mike Kieffer is finishing up what should be a definitive CD project for Origin, so I'll skip them at least for now.
02-03 This 1947 release couples the future with the past: "Jukebox Cannonball" would be covered about four years later by Bill Haley; "When The Roses..." is a parody from the 1920s.
04-19 Texas Jim Lewis (1909-1990), born in Georgia, formed his band in Detroit in 1934 and soon relocated to NYC. They helped popularize what came to be called Western Swing in the Northeast. Relocating to L.A. in 1940, they began doing more novelty numbers, often featuring Jim's "hootenanny" (a Spike Jonesian contraption built from noisemakers). His Deccas also include covers of other labels' hits, mostly omitted here. Lewis appeared in several movies in the 1940s. In 1950 he moved to Seattle and spent the remainder of his career there, where he was a popular TV personality best known for a children's show (as "Sheriff Tex.") 04-07 rec. 8-23-40. 08-09 9-11-40. "Covered Wagon" had been recorded by Spike Jones a month earlier. Cindy Walker also sang with Spike during this period. 10-11 8-15-41. 12 6-27-42. 13 7-23-42. 14-15 2-11-44. 18 is a cover of one of the Exclusive label's biggest "race record" hits.
24-27 Can anyone tell me if there is a connection between this C. L. "Lummie" Lewis and the Texas sheriff's deputy of the same name who figured in the initial investigation of the JFK assassination? Shelly Lee Alley, who once recorded with Jimmie Rodgers, began recording under his own name shortly after this ca. late '37 session.
28-29 These ballads of lumberjack life with their oddly genteel accompaniment comprise one of the less typical releases in Columbia's 15000-D series. There is a Plover River in Wisconsin, in what would have been logging territory in the early 20th century.


CP-067 notes
With the bands of Bob Wills and Milton Brown, the Light Crust Doughboys comprise the Big Three of the 1930s Southwestern country dance band idiom (later known as Western Swing). (Bill Boyd might make that a Big Four). But while Wills and Brown are well represented on CD, the 1930s Doughboys are not as fortunate, so I've included most of what I have by them. All three bands sprang from the original Fort Worth Doughboys. The story starts in1929, when Wills moved from west Texas to Fort Worth and formed a band. Singer Milton Brown joined in 1930. In 1931 Wills persuaded the Burrus Mills of Fort Worth to sponsor the band on radio, advertising the mill's Light Crust Flour.W. Lee O'Daniel, president of Burrus, became MC for the radio show and manager of the band. Brown and Wills left in the early 1930s, both forming their own highly successful bands. O'Daniel brought in new members and got the band signed to Vocalion. Their earlier Vocalions (the first half of this disc) are fairly conventional, with cowboy songs and old-time dance tunes.
In 1935 O'Daniel was fired by the mill; he too started his own rival band (the Hillbilly Boys). He soon parlayed his radio presence into a political career, and was elected Governor of Texas, then to the U.S. Senate (defeating Lyndon B. Johnson). A character in O Brother, Where Art Thou is based on him.
Meanwhile, the Light Crust Doughboys progressed rapidly. O'Daniel's replacement, Eddie Dunn, recruited musicians who gave the band a more contemporary sound, more comparable to what Wills and Brown were doing. One can hear it evolving through the second half of this disc, with its pop tunes and occasional uptempo workouts.
Alas, some sides here have felt what a friend describes as "the tender caress" of a Texas jukebox.
Hotter sounds await on the next disc, especially with the arrival of pianist John "Knocky" Parker.
19-22 rec. Fort Worth, April 1936. Muryel "Zeke" Campbell-guitar, Bert Dodson-bass; Clifford "Doc" Gross-fiddle, Marvin Montgomery-banjo& vocal; Kenneth Pitts-fiddle; Dick Reinhart-guitar & vocal.

 

CP-068 notes
With this disc, especially from #04 onward, we get into the Light Crust Doughboys' golden age, when the band was heard daily on radio all over the Southwest (on 170 stations, according to one source).
04-13 rec. Dallas, 6-37. 14-24 Dallas, 5-38. Personnel on these: Muryel "Zeke" Campbell-guitar; Ramon De Arman-string bass, kazoo; Buck Buchanan and Kenneth Pitts-fiddles; Marvin Montgomery-banjo; Dick Reinhart-guitar & vocal; John "Knocky" Parker, piano. Knocky Parker (1918-86), joined the Doughboys in 1937. At age 19, he was already the best pianist in the genre, and his arrival kicked the band into high gear. The difference is evident from the first notes of #04. (The benefits of Parker's doubling on accordion are more debatable). After the war Parker became a professor of English at Kentucky Wesleyan and later the University of South Florida, but also found time for a splendid career as a traditionalist jazzman and ragtimer, making dozens of LP's.
14-15 - The band's "mascot", boy soprano Charles Burton, has two tracks on this disc and two on the next. In each case these were the first two sides to be issued from their respective sessions. Boy sopranos were big in the 1930s. Be thankful for the skip button.
25-34 Dallas, Nov. 1938 - Jim Boyd (vocals, guitar) replaces Reinhart.
21-24 from Texas Rose (LP) TXR-2704, The Light Crust Doughboys, 1936-39. This is a nice package with good notes and photos, but the sound quality is only fair.

 

CP-069 notes
01-06 Dallas, Nov. 1938. 07-22 Dallas, June 1939. 23-29 NYC, late 1939. This disc has some of the Doughboys' most progressive music. #02, 11 and 12 could almost be called "chamber Western swing" -- I get the feeling someone has been listening to the New Friends of Rhythm. Knocky Parker has many sparkling piano solos and thankfully leaves his accordion in its case from here on out. Of course there are also sentimental tunes and novelties, including the fairly scandalous "Pussy, Pussy, Pussy." The Charles Burton sides are oddly charming this time around. On the NYC session (23-29) Knocky Parker is noticeably less prominent than before. "Little Rubber Dolly" (where he's heard just barely, if at all) is played in a noticeably simplified but effective arrangement, one of the few in this era with no improvised solos.

 

CP-070 notes
01-22 The Doughboys in 1940-41. Sometime in 1941 bassist-singer Ramon De Arman died in a fire -- not sure which of the later sessions he is on. Knocky Parker's style gets a little more progressive -- he plays more notes and plays around with the rhythm a little more...and perhaps not coincidentally, he's often buried in the mix when he's not soloing. Zeke Campbell's electric guitar is the highlight of many of these sides. Singer-guitarist Joe Ferguson (1914-2001) replaces Jim Boyd starting with the first session on this disc. (Ferguson also sang and played with Bob Wills during his career). Singer-guitarist J. B. Brinkley takes the mike for the last couple of sessions.
23-24 Not sure exactly what the relationship of this postwar group to the prewar Doughboys might have been.
The Doughboys' name was revived in the late 1980s for a band featuring Marvin Montgomery from the original group along with younger musicians (including a horn section). This group has done quite well and has many CD's available.
25-29 Merl Lindsay's band was locally popular in Oklahoma and Texas in the 1940s and 1950s.
26 - "Sleep, my baby coon" -- this 1946 release was one of the very last with that sort of language. The instrumental (#25) was the hit side.

CP 071 - notes
01-03 "Big Bill" Lister is best remembered for #01, a Hank Williams tune he was the first to record.
06 The first #1 hit (1953) for Locklin, who would go on to even greater success in the late 1950s-early 60s with "Geisha Girl," "Please Help Me I'm Falling," etc.
12-13 Frankie More and Freddie Owen were the Log Cabin Boys, who cut these two in Chicago May 6, 1935.
15-16 Pioneer bluegrass band headed by Ezra Kline of Baisden, WV. Formed in 1938, the band began recording in 1950. Moving to Pikeville, KY, in the mid-1950s, the Fiddlers recorded extensively in the early 1960s and occasionally thereafter.
19-20 A Canadian group.
21 Long recorded numerous duets with Gene Autry in the early 1930s.
22-30 Lonzo & Oscar were the Grand Ole Opry's resident musical comedy team from the mid-1940s into the 1970s. "Oscar" was Rollin Sullivan; there were three Lonzos. The first, Lloyd George, is heard on the RCA's. In 1950 George went solo (as "Ken Marvin") and was replaced by Rollin's brother Johnny Sullivan, who we'll hear on CP-072. (David Hooten became Lonzo #3 in 1967).

 

CP-072 notes
01 Contrast the old-fashioned instrumental intro with the sparkling Chet Atkins solo that follows the first vocal.
03-06 Merle Travis appears to fill the Atkins slot on these Capitols. #03 is a pastiche of country song titles. Note the co-composer of #05.
07 At this point (I think) Johnny Sullivan becomes the new Lonzo. (The "Alonzo & Oscar" artist credit may relate to this, or may simply be a mistake -- in any case, it's back to "Lonzo" with the next coupling). The humor on these Deccas, especially the "No. 2" parodies of current C&W hits, is generally underwhelming...but the picking is classy (Hank Garland, Grady Martin, etc.) and the records are nice and clean. #23 is a non-humorous item with splendid duet singing.
27 Some may remember this song as an early hit for The Crew-Cuts.
29-30 These sides were recorded in NYC on 10-18-35, a few weeks after Huey Long's assassination (9-8-35). The band sounds fairly rustic, but whether they were really from Louisiana is unknown.
31 New Orleans, 3-19-36. More from this session on CP-073.

 

CP-073 notes
01-03 New Orleans, 3-19-36 - continued from CP-072
05-07 The Louvin Bros. (born Ira and Charlie Loudermilk in Section, AL) carried the 1930s brother-harmony tradition into the 1950s and 60s with much success. Starting with "sacred" songs such as these, their career took off when they began recording secular material in 1955. Ira's alcoholism and violent temper brought an end to the team in 1963. He died in a 1965 car smash; Charlie continued his career as a soloist. Songwriter John D. Loudermilk is a first cousin to Ira and Charlie.
07 This DJ copy has the word "NO" printed in bold crayon on the runoff
10-29 Lulu Belle & Scotty were among the top stars on WLS-Chicago in the latter half of the 1930s. Scott Wiseman (1909-81, born Ingalls, NC) had previously recorded as Skyland Scotty for Bluebird. Lulu Belle (Myrtle Eleanor Cooper, b. 1913, Boone, NC) was first teamed with Red Foley on WLS before joining Scotty, whom she married in 1935. They sang on WLS until 1958, and recorded sporadically in the 1960s and 1970s. Scotty wrote or co-wrote some enduring hits, including his adaptation of Bascom Lamar Lunsford's "Mountain Dew" (#17, see CP-074 for Lunsford's original), "Remember Me" (#19), and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" (rec. ca. 1946 for Vogue, don't have that one). Scotty's topical tune "I'm No Communist" (#28, 1952) also made some waves.
22 Label based in Anderson, IN. A very poor quality pressing.
23-24 A Vogue Picture Record. Pic for #23 shows Grandpa ogling a pinup girl and sniffing a tulip, while Grandma gazes primly from a separate image. #24 shows a guy in a sharp suit and carrying a small suitcase waving goodbye, while a glamorous blonde sheds a tear into her hanky. Both sides also have small B&W images of Lulu Belle & Scotty.
29 CD-R has second half of record only -- something corrosive was spilled on the outer part of the surface.

 

CP-074 notes
01-06 Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973), from Mars Hill, NC, was a country lawyer who began collecting folksongs from his neighbors as a hobby. Music soon became the focus of his fruitful life. He began recording in 1924 but was probably best known as the founder (1928) of the annual Asheville (NC) Mountain Dance and Folk Festival (still going strong in 2002). In 1949 he recorded 350 songs for the Library of Congress. He also cut a Riverside LP in 1956.
02 An electrical recording of this song (the reverse of 03) is in the Harry Smith Anthology. This barely playable acoustic disc was transferred at 82 rpm to match the pitch of the electric.
03-04 Rec. Ashland, KY, Feb. 1928.
07-08 These folk dance records are included mainly because I was compelled to dance to them as a youngster.
09... Frank Luther (Francis Luther Crow, 1905-1980) was born in Kansas City and raised in Bakersfield, CA. He arrived in NYC in the late 1920s, just as Vernon Dalhart and Carson Robison were ending their successful partnership. Robison formed a new team with Luther (with the latter's brother Phil Crow joining in at times) and they recorded extensively for the next five years under several names. Recordings where Robison's name is the first or only one in the artist credits will be heard when we get to the R's; the ones where Luther (or his pseudonym Bud Billings) gets top billing show up here.
Like Dalhart, Luther disdained exclusive contracts. We'll start with a 1928-29 batch made for the cheap labels of the Scranton Button Co. (which mutated into ARC), then move on to Victors of 1928-30 and then some Brunswicks from the same period.
12 One of the "bum" songs with which Ben Samberg (aka Benny Bell) made his first mark in the music biz.
13 Luther covers Jimmie Rodgers. Not included here are several other covers of other people's hits.
16-25 Joe Billings = Carson Robison. For reasons unknown, Victor vacillated between using the pseudonym and Robison's own name. Luther, on the other hand, was always called Bud Billings on Victor during this period.

 

CP-075
02 Same song as "Peg-Leg Jack" on CP-076.
11 My copy is mislabelled as #10, so I don't have composer credits.

Throughout this period, Frank Luther sang numerous vocal refrains with dance bands on Victor and Brunswick.
CP-076 notes
03 Same song as "Sailor Jack" on CP-075
08 This happy song was sadly rendered obsolete when the Lindberghs' baby was kidnapped and murdered in 1932. Sensational and horrific crimes involving small children are nothing new, unfortuately.
15 More of Andrew Jenkins' handiwork on CP-021 and CP-055. You can read about the Fleagle gang at http://198.209.8.180/lochist/periodicals/wrv/V7/N1/F79e.htm; the story is eerily reminiscent of the bloody Norfolk, NE bank robbery that took place the day before I burned this CD.
24-25 Nice to hear some different accompanists for a change.


CP-077 notes
09-10 Luther's voice is noticeably below par on this pair -- a cold, perhaps?
11 In late 1932 Luther parted company with Carson Robison (at least on records) and formed a new trio including his wife, Zora Layman, and Leonard Stokes.
15-16 The band may be Victor Young's -- Young definitely led another session under Luther's name around this time.
19-20 This pair was cut just four days after Dillinger was gunned down by police outside a Chicago movie theatre.
21 In 1934 Luther became one of the first artists signed by Decca and was an exclusive Decca artist from that point on. He made over 40 sides for Decca's 5000 series in 1934-35 but after that concentrated on revivals of 19th century pop songs, performed in a more dignified manner and packaged in album sets (such as Songs Of Old New York), and on children's music where he enjoyed great success. (He had previously made some kids' records for Victor ca. 1932, released on 7" discs in a 200 series.)

 

CP-078 notes
05-21 Leon McAuliffe is best remembered as steel guitarist for Bob Wills in the 1930s. Wills' spoken salutation "Take it away, Leon!" at the start of "Steel Guitar Rag" is one of the signature lines of that era.
His own band, started after WWII, was remarkably progressive at times. They obviously listened to contemporary R&B and even a bit of bebop. Only one of the records heard here hit the charts ("Panhandle Rag, summer 1949) but a string of medium-sized hits by McAuliffe in the early 1960s helped kick off a Western Swing revival.
24-26 Dickie McBride left Cliff Bruner's band in 1939 to start his own unit. Judging by these tracks they were also quite progressive for their time. All three rec. Dallas, 5-1-41.
27-28 These tracks also released on Decca's Mexican series as by Moreno y Coro, De 10051, titled as "Los Negritos" and "Mis Recuerdos A Maria." That may well be their true identity. NYC, 3-14-35.

 

CP-079 notes
Harry K. "Haywire" McClintock (1882-1957) is best remembered for "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" (heard by millions recently on the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou) and "Hallelujah, I'm A Bum," both of which he wrote (or at least arranged) in the first decade of the 20th century while singing on the streets of West Coast towns and organizing for the International Workers Of The World (the IWW, known as the "Wobblies"). For years he hoboed and worked odd jobs all over the western U.S. and around the world, collecting songs and stories which he shared with local radio listeners starting in 1925, after he'd settled down in San Francisco. He had a popular children's show there on KFRC. His two signature songs each sold well into six figures for Victor. In later years he acted some bit parts for Hollywood films, wrote a column for Railroad magazine, and made an LP for Folkways. Meanwhile he worked as a brakeman and then for the Los Angeles Harbor Dept. before retiring to San Francisco.
All March 1928 sides cut in Oakland. In recording order: 15-13-14-07-01-02-16-09-03-11-10-05-17-06-12-04-08.
If the Victor Master Book is to be believed, the three 9-28 sides were recorded at the Hollywood Bowl. (The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra did make some Red Seal records for Victor around this time so it's not impossible.) It's somehow appropriate that Haywire Mac would be among the earliest artists to make records outdoors. 4-30-29 session rec. Hollywood, 12-29 sessions rec. Culver City.
21-22 The Victor Master Book shows Vi 22003 as "not issued". My copy of 22003-B is identical to Vi V-40112-B except that the artist credit on each is similar to that on the A-side. Transferred at 78 rpm (not 76.5); Mac's voice still sounds a bit deeper than usual.
24 Politically incorrect lyrics (very).

 

CP-080 notes
3-6 Decca session rec. L.A., 12-14-38.
11 After Hank Williams' death, MGM lost no time in finding people to imitate him.
13-19 These now-forgotten citybillies recorded several dozen sides for Victor, Brunswick and Columbia in the late 1920s and early 1930s. 13-14 - my copy has a sticker indicating it was bought at Gimbel's @ 6/$1.00. 15-16 - Same two tunes, recorded six months later for another label, with a considerably different feel. 17-The lyrics might raise a few eyebrows. 18-19 - rec. 4-2-30, these weren't released until late 1932, 18 issues from the end of the 15000-D series...but the original buyer nonetheless enjoyed this record a lot. The McCravys also recorded as the Mack Bros. for Decca -- we'll hear a pair of those on the next disc or the one after.
20-21 The Trumpet label of Jackson, MS was much better known for its blues.
22-23 Likewise, the Fortune label of Detroit is better remembered for its African-American music, but Fortune enjoyed its first success with honky-tonk jukebox hits like "Tattooed Lady."