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Gray Billy - Nowhere To Go (But Out Of My Mind) (CD)
€20,00Quick ViewYksi vuoden kovimmista julkaisuista. Suurin osa on alkuperäisensti julkaistu vain promonoina.
Previously unavailable on vinyl for more than 50 years, this rare collection of tracks presents a wealth of hits that helped define country music in the ‘60s – and beyond!
If you don’t remember Western Swing in its heyday, or the first generation of Texas Honky Tonk, you may not know Billy Gray. Aside from a select group of music aficionados and musicologists, Billy Gray’s name and significant contributions to country music and western swing have simply gone unrecognized for far too long.
Musically, there were many shades of Billy Gray. Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Performer, Arranger, Bandleader. Whether on stage or in the studio, Billy Gray personified what this music was – and still is – all about.
Billy played behind some of Country Music’s biggest names – Hank Thompson, Ray Price and Willie Nelson – served as Thompson’s and Price’s bandleader – and built quite a following in his own right with his own bands, The Western Okies, The Nuggets and The Cowtowners.
Billy Gray, together with the legendary Hank Thompson created a wealth of hits that helped to define the country music of an era, and beyond, helped launch the career of future rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, and greatly influenced the future sound of country music.
— Joe Hopkins
Rarely heard tracks from the personification of country, western swing, and Texas honky-tonk!
Reissued on CD for the first time!
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Various - Rhythm & Western Vol. 10 – Nine Pound Hammer (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewJATKOA! To this day black artists in C&W are still considered pretty much a novelty or an exception. The term Country Music was coined in the 1940s because the earlier term Hillbilly Music was deemed to be degrading. Many tracks here are classic C&W songs, a lot are great numbers that were released as R&B.
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Various - On The Honky Tonk Highway With Augie Meyers & The Texas Re-Cord Co. (CD)
€18,00Quick View1-CD (Digipak) with 36-page booklet, 26 tracks. Total playing time pprox.. 79 min.
For this CD, Bear Family Records® delves into the 1970s, when Texas country music, blues and redneck rock collided with West Coast hippie culture.
One of the essential protagonists: Augie Meyers from near San Antonio, Texas – musician, cult figure and label operator, who spiced the releases of his Texas Re-Cord Company (1975-’80) additionally with Tex-Mex Dance Hall Music and Western Swing Polkas.
More than 15 tracks for the first time on CD!
In total, Augie Meyers released some 30 singles and seven albums, and British music historian Martin Hawkins has selected 26 tracks of them.
This is the first time that a proper tribute to the achievements of Augie Meyers and the bands and musicians on his TRC label has been released.
Carefully transferred from the best possible sources and remastered for your listening pleasure, plus an extensive booklet with many illustrations and photos: a great little piece of Texas music history.In the 1970s era of country rock, the Texas Re-Cord Company stood out from the crowd. It was a time when country music and blues and redneck rock all collided with west-coast hippie-ness.
But the TRC was based in Bulverde near San Antonio, where Augie Meyers’ Western Head Band added a good dose of Tex-Mex dance hall music and western-swing polka to the mix. Meyers was, and is, a lanky, bearded, laid-back character with a waist-length pigtail and a reputation in San Antone music that’s longer even than that.
Meyers’ Texas Re-Cord label issued some thirty singles and seven albums between 1975 and 1980, and much of the music has not been reissued since. This 26 track CD puts that right. The Texas Re-Cord Co. is ‘finally in lights,’ to quote one of their LP titles.
Of the 26 tracks here, 17 are from rare 45 rpm singles and 9 are from albums. The tracks include:
*12 by Augie Meyers himself, honoring the country traditions of the Texas honky-tonks and the early western-swing bands but with added Mexican and polka influences. Augie’s featured here on vocals and variously on guitar, piano, accordion, and his Vox organ which defined the sound of hits like She’s About A Mover and Mendocino in the ’60s.
*3 from another Texas legend, Doug Sahm, the man who formed the very successful Sir Douglas Quintet with Augie before the Re-Cord Co. days, and then in the 1990s formed the Grammy-award winning Tex-Mex supergroup, the Texas Tornados, with Augie, Freddy Fender, and Flaco Jimenez.
*3 fine vocals by Carol Meyer, who ran the label with Augie from their farm and helped co-ordinate their tour bus trips on the honky tonk highways out of San Antone.
*Other artists in this CD include the magnificently chaotic Mexican rockers El Molino with singer Joe Carrasco, ‘Wild Man’ Ray Liberto (Johnny Cash’s brother-in-law), the Mex-accordion star Domingo Saldivar, western-swing piano legend Al Stricklin, Augie’s longtime friend Publio Casillas, and singer Denny Ezba who first employed Augie in The Goldens.
*Among the company’s successes were Augie’s single High Texas Rider and his album ‘Live at the Longneck,’ a relaxed session in front of a very lively crowd at the San Antonio music venue part-owned by Augie.
*Standout songs here include Deed To Texas, Dynamite Woman, Baby Baby, Mezcal Road, Just Because, Meet Me In Seguin, and Down In Mexico.
*The rarest disc here is the first single made by the legendary Buckboard Boogie Boys – Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Tomorrow Will Do It Again.
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Nelson Willie - Both Sides Now (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewCountry music fans, get ready for a treat with the first-time release of Willie Nelson’s ”Both Sides Now” on CD. This classic album, originally released in 1970, features timeless hits such as ”Both Sides Now” and ”I’m A Memory.” The album showcases Willie Nelson’s unique blend of country, folk, and pop, and his iconic, soulful voice. The album has been remastered for optimal listening pleasure and is a must-have for any Willie Nelson fan. The CD release also includes never-before-seen photographs and liner notes from the artist. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to own a piece of music history.
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Various - Rhythm & Western Vol. 9 – You Are My Sunshine (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewJATKOA! To this day black artists in C&W are still considered pretty much a novelty or an exception. The term Country Music was coined in the 1940s because the earlier term Hillbilly Music was deemed to be degrading. Many tracks here are classic C&W songs, a lot are great numbers that were released as R&B.
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Nelson Willie - Words Don’t Fit the Picture (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewUntil 2023 never released on CD, ‘The Words Don’t Fit The Picture’ is something of a forgotten item in the Willie Nelson catalog. This is a divorce record (personally and from RCA after 14 albums), with Willie sounding dark and alone, pressing to stay above bitterness, singing about heart break and how much women hate him. It has elements of the Nashville sound, but also plenty of moments that foreshadow the ways Willie Nelson would breakthrough to superstardom. He wrote or co-wrote everything here. Among guest appearances are James Burton on guitar and the fabulous blues harmonica player Charlie McCoy. The album is most notable for containing Nelson’s first solo recording of ”Good Hearted Woman”, a song he composed with his friend Waylon Jennings.
First Time On CD Worldwide!
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Various - A Way To Make Living – The Dolly Parton Songbook (CD)
€20,00Quick ViewName any recording that you immediately associate with Country music legend Dolly Parton and there’s a better than average chance that she not only sang it, she wrote it too. Dolly has been recording regularly since the mid-60s and almost every major hit she has ever had (and quite a few minor ones too) she wrote or co-wrote.
Somehow this important component of her overall musical skillset is all too frequently overlooked by the public at large, who know Dolly for her luminous public image and gregarious personality without necessarily realising that she is also a brilliant songwriter.
Dolly Parton wrote hit songs for other artists before she really had any hit records of her own. The ink in her pen has never gone dry and although she’s not as prolific as she once was, she still writes songs – these days mostly for herself – that other artists are happy to record. A generous sampling of her best work from more than half a century of song-writing is collected here in Ace’s latest instalment of our long-running and highly-regarded ‘Songwriter Series’.
It would have been easy to fill this compilation with covers of her songs by Dolly’s country peers but, as can be seen from the track listing, her work has been embraced by a variety of artists – from Percy Sledge to Nana Mouskouri to Tina Turner to the Incredible String Band – and across a variety of genres. The versions used here have been selected to demonstrate the breadth of Dolly’s catalogue and to show how comfortably her songs fit any artist who chooses to cut them.
As always, our CD booklet overflows with rare images and a generously-worded track-by-track annotation by our legendary compiler and scribe Tony Rounce.
Dolly remains an iconic artist and her popularity remains undiminished as she edges towards her 80th birthday. It’s to be hoped that Ace’s sincere salute to her words and music will help to ensure that they preserve a formidable musical legacy. -
Lee Dickey - I Saw Linda Yesterday (CD)
€13,00Quick ViewAlthough he would become a big Country star in the 1970s and 80s, singer/songwriter DICKEY LEE started out as a heads-down Rock’n’Roller in the 1950s.
His first release, ’Stay True Baby’, is nowadays a hugely collectable R&R rarity, as are the two 45s he cut for Sun Records in 1957/58, ’Good Lovin” / ’Memories Never Grow Old’ and ’Dreamy Nights’ / ’Fool, Fool, Fool’.
Dickey eventually registered with a controversial death disc, ’Patches’, in 1962, which he followed with the hit album, ’The Tale Of Patches’, the superlative, Dion-inspired, ’I Saw Linda Yesterday’, and the popcorn ’Don’t Wanna Think About Paula’.
This compilation anthologises all his early recordings, between 1957-62, many of which are hard to find on CD.
He would subsequently find his way into Country music via songwriting; included herein as a Bonus track is Dickey’s first major success as a songwriter, George Jones’ effortlessly magnificent ’She Thinks I Still Care’.
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Black Jeanne - He’ll Have to Stay (CD)
€13,00Quick ViewCountry singer JEANNE BLACK registered a massive, million-selling, worldwide hit in 1960 with her first record, ’He’ll Have To Stay’, the answer disc to Jim Reeves ’He’ll Have To Go’.
In a brief career which was eventually curtailed by family commitments, she registered a couple more chart records and cut a critically-acclaimed LP, ’A Little Bit Lonely’.
She also recorded with her younger sister, JANIE BLACK, sometimes billed as JEANNE & JANIE, and occasionally unbilled, as a duettist.
This compilation features Jeanne’s entire recorded output between 1960-62, both solo and as one half of Jeanne & Janie, plus a pair of Janie’s 45’s on which she makes an audible contribution.
This is the first time that this overlooked, vastly underrated body of work has been thus compiled.
It includes many tracks which have never previously been reissued in any format, while more than a half of these sides are making their digital debuts.
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Various - Banjos, Tea Chests, Thimbles and Washboards – The Great UK Skiffle Boom! (2CD) (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewVery nearly seventy years after the event, it’s impossible to convey just how big an impact SKIFFLE had upon the teenaged youth of an austere, sepia-tinted, post-WW2 UK.
It was an almost exclusively British phenomenon, propelled by home-made, DIY simplicity; a cheap, bottom-of-the-range banjo or acoustic guitar; a stand-up tea chest bass; a washboard; a handful of thimbles; and a kazoo, from Woolworths (optional).
It’s no exaggeration to say that Lonnie Donegan’s frantic ’Rock Island Line’, which made the charts in January 1956, changed everything; it threw the ’rule book’ out of the window.
Following Lonnie’s breakthrough, along came The Vipers, Chas McDevitt & Nancy Whiskey, Johnny Duncan, Dickie Bishop, Alexis Korner & Cyril Davies, and dozens more.
This compilation features all the singers, strummers, strokers and scratchers at the forefront of the UK Skiffle Boom – more than 40 different groups/artists are featured – and includes many of the genre’s biggest hits.
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Smith Carl - You Are The One – Biggest Hits 1951-1962 (CD)
€13,00Quick ViewCARL ’Mr. Country’ SMITH (also known as ’The Gentleman Honky-Tonker’) was one of the genre’s most consistent hitmakers of the 1950s, notching up more than thirty Top 10 C&W records.
Although he’d emerged from a Honky-Tonk background, Smith became one of the first Country singers to experiment with a more ’cosmopolitan’ style, which smoothed out a lot of the rougher edges and took him, musically, away from diehard traditional towards the late 50s Nashville Countrypolitan sound.
His chart success continued well into the late 1970s, when he abruptly retired from singing to raise a family and breed horses, on his 500-acre ranch in Franklin, Tennessee.
This compilation, which includes five #1s and more than a dozen further Top 5 records, features all but two of Carl’s Top 10 Country hits between 1951-62 (we had to omit a couple of top tenners, as they simply wouldn’t all fit).
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Sovine Red - Simply Red – The Solo Singles – 1954-1959 Plus! (CD)
€13,00Quick ViewThe general public knows him chiefly for his sentimental, posthumous 1980 UK chart topper ’Teddy Bear’ – but Red Sovine had a long career in country music stretching back to the early 1950s, recording dozens of sides for many labels and scoring more than 30 US country chart hits between 1955 and 1980.
His earliest recordings are about as far away from ’Teddy Bear’ as it’s possible to get – driving, hardcore honky tonk hillbilly classics that are greatly favoured by vintage country and indeed, many rockabilly collectors. Almost all of them are gathered here in this new Jasmine collection that features every one of Red’s solo sides from the 1950s, including classics like ’Juke Joint Johnny’, ’Don’t Drop It’ and ’You Used To Be My Baby’ (the latter featuring its writer Roger Miller on harmony vocals).
These high-quality recordings were made in Nashville with a crack team of ’A’ list studio musicians of the calibre of Chet Atkins, Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Ernie Newton, Floyd Cramer and Buddy Harman. Collectively they epitomise just how great country music sounded in the years before ’The Nashville Sound’ became the norm in Music City – simply great songs, sung with feeling by one of the most underrated artists of their era.
There have been previous Sovine compilations showcasing his work from 1960 onwards, but this is the first time that so many of Red’s trailblazing 50s records, across all the labels he recorded for in that decade, have been presented in the same place and in the same collection.
As with all Jasmine CDs, here’s music of the highest quality, brought to you in the highest quality, mastered from the best possible sources and coming to you with an expertly annotated booklet.
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Grammer Billy - Gotta Travel On – The Singles Collection and More 1958-1962 (CD)
€13,00Quick ViewSinger, guitarist, session picker and (eventually) guitar designer & manufacturer BILLY GRAMMER enjoyed an extraordinary career, which included a lifetime’s, 50+ years’ membership of The Grand Ole Opry.
He is perhaps chiefly remembered by collectors for his million-selling worldwide hit ’Gotta Travel On’, the first release on Fred Foster’s Monument label in 1958.
This compilation is based on his singles releases between 1958-62, complemented by EP and LP tracks, presenting the Very Best of Billy’s output during this period.
Includes further US hits like ’Bonaparte’s Retreat’, ’The Kissing Tree’, ’Willy, Quit Your Playing’, ’Rainbow Round My Shoulder’, ’Have A Drink On Me’ and of course ’I Wanna Go Home’, the template for Bobby Bare and Tom Jones’ later million-seller, ’Detroit City’.
This is the first time this body of work has been thus compiled, and much of this material is difficult to find elsewhere on CD.
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Kershaw Rusty & Doug - The Nashville Sessions – 1955-1962 (CD)
€13,00Quick View36 tracks by the brothers Kershaw – Rusty & Doug, including all five of their country hits between 1955 and 1961.
Contains their complete output for Hickory Records in Nashville, along with the dates of the individual recording sessions and includes recordings with Wiley Barkdull and Carolee.
Includes ’Louisiana Man’, Doug Kershaw’s classic song that made the country Top 10 and has been recorded by artists as diverse as The Hollies, The Seekers, Gene Pitney and Connie Smith.
Country, rock-a-billy and Cajun music all wrapped up in the duo’s music, reflecting their upbringing and the diversity of the country music scene in the fifties.
The CD comes with an informative booklet, telling the story of the duo along with label scans and other visuals.
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Bare Bobby - The Travelin’ Bare / Constant Sorrow / The Streets Of Baltimore (2CD) (CD)
€18,00Quick ViewBobby Bare, and what was to become known as The Nashville Sound, go hand in hand. He was one of the most successful exponents of the sound and it opened up the doorway for his success in Nashville.
He was born Robert Joseph ‘Bobby’ Bare on April, 7th 1935 in Lawrence County, Ohio and raised on a farm. In his early teens he first envisaged himself as an entertainer. That’s when he started listening to the live radio shows and to the records of Hank Williams, Carl Smith, Ernest Tubb and Frankie Laine.
The three albums in this collection “The Travelin’ Bare” (1964), “Constant Sorrow” (1965) and “The Streets of Baltimore” (1966) perfectly fitted RCA’s Folk/Country marketing tag. The recordings covered a diverse music field that moved from Dylan and 60s pop culture to Nashville’s new breed of writers like Harlan Howard, Willie Nelson and Hank Cochran, plus a few of his own originals thrown into the mix.
The albums give an early indication of Bare’s ability as a talented judge of songs, a skill that led Waylon Jennings to later cite him as the best songhound in the world.
He achieved 69 chart singles and 28 chart albums – an illustrious career.
In 2013 he received Country Music’s highest honour – induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
All three albums appear on CD for the first time.
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Jennings Waylon - Just To Satisfy You / Waylon / Country Folk With The Kimberleys (2CD) (CD)
€18,00Quick Viewhree original Waylon Jennings albums from 1969 and 1970 on a 2CD set.
The Kimberlys were a Las Vegas folk four-piece that Waylon encouraged RCA to sign. They comprised two brothers, Carl and Harold, married to two sisters, Vera and Verna.
The album was a #13 chart success and produced a Grammy award-winning hit single for ‘MacArthur Park’, a powerful Jimmy Webb song which had first become an international hit when recorded by actor Richard Harris.
Anita Carter, a great country voice in her own right, joins Waylon on three tracks in this package, two on ‘Just To Satisfy You’ and one on ‘Waylon’, the eponymous 1970 album.
One of the finest country singers of all time, Waylon Jennings ranked No. 7 in Rolling Stone magazine’s poll of 100 Greatest Country Artists. In a 37-year recording career, he achieved 100 country chart singles and 60 chart albums. Along the way, he led the “Outlaw” music movement of the mid-1970s together with Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and died of diabetes on 13th February 2002 aged 64.
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Various - Rhythm & Western Vol. 7 – Jambalaya (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewFriends, you are holding the fifth opus of ”Rhythm & Western” and we got 5 more boss volumes on ice. I must confess Solomon Burke’s classic ”How Many Times” always sounded like a Country song to me, so I’m glad I could include it here, Damita Jo delivers does a fantastic version of Ray Price’s classic C&W hit ”Crazy Arms” also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, and countless others, another Country hit ”You’re The Reason” (originally recorded by Bobby Edwards) is delivered by Arthur Alexander. The great Fats Domino is next with his famous version of ”Jambalaya” (originally written and recorded by Hank Williams), King Curtis gives a splendid rendition of Hank Snow’s ”I’m Movin’ On” also recorded by a buttload of other artists. To my knowledge, Little Richard never recorded a ”bonafide” country song, but some of his Gospel stuff sounds just like it. Just listen to ”Do Lord, Remember Me” if you have any doubt. Sonny Boy Williamson II (a.k.a. Rice Miller) and Peppermint Harris, with ”Wake Up Baby” and ”I Got Loaded” are offering two delightful bronze hillbilly tunes, and ””Solid As A Rock” is probably the closest thing to country music ever recorded by Jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. More fave black C&W of mine by The Twilighters (Hootenanny Stomp), The Sharps (Look At Me), Ruth Brown (Jack O’Diamonds), Magic Sam (Square Dance Rock Part 1), Ted Taylor (Keep Walking On), Pee Wee Crayton (Little Bitty Things) , Bobby Day (Undecided), Fats Domino (Bo Weavil). Smokey Hogg (Late Prowling Girl), Ketty Lester (Love Letters), Ben E. King (My Heart Cries For You), and Rochell & The Candles (When My Baby Is Gone) are all top-notch tracks. Country Music fans probably heard ”Hearts Of Stone” by Red Foley and the song has been recorded by tons of other artists. I picked the cool version recorded by Otis Williams and The Charms over the one by The Jewels for this volume -but they are both great. Johnny Nash is next with another Western classic ”Cigareetes, Whusky & Wild Wild” originally recorded by The Sons Of The Pioneers. R&B diva Dinah Washington had a top 3 R&B hit in 1954 with the Hank Snow’s number ”I Don’t Hurt Anymore” but I heard versions of this song by Eddie Fisher, Faron Young, Johnny Cash, Narvel Felts, Bill Haley, and Janis Martin. Another western tune penned and first recorded by Hank Williams: ”Cold Cold Heart” is sung by Nat King Cole and two gospel songs that sound just like C&W by Sister Rosetta (On My Way) and Professor Johnson and his Gospel Singers (Where Shall I Be) are really worth more than a spin. The closing number is an older classic blues recording from the 1930s the great Casey Bill Weldon which sounds just like Western Swing. Enjoy!
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Various - Destination Jail – 31 Prison Songs From Behind The Bars (CD)
€10,00Quick View1 CD with 20 page booklet, 31 tracks. Total playing time approx. 79 min.
Incarceration is a common theme in American roots music.
Songs tell of gruesome crimes, daring escapes, self-pity, repentant pleas for a second chance in exchange for promises of category XYZ.
Bear Family Records® delivers ’Destination Jail’, a cross-stylistic CD compilation centered around the ubiquitous phenomenon of jail in the USA.
This CD in our midprice series delivers contributions from Marty Robbins, Jimmie Skinner, the Johnny Burnette Trio and more obscure songs from Benny Hess, Helen Grayco and Bill Carter, rock ’n’ roll and country music, a.o.
Song titles such as The Hanging Tree, One Dead Man Ago, Midnight Train, Walking the Last Mile, Lilly’s Lament (Cell 29) and Shot Four Times And Dying describe what this CD album is all about.
Notes and illustrations for each song in the booklet.Incarceration is a frequent theme in American roots music. There is plenty of songs about hideous crimes, boastful escapes, self-pity, and remorseful pleading for a second chance in exchange for XYZ.
Especially in old-time and early country music, we find good examples of the jail theme. One might think the motif may have been derived from pieces from the Anglo-Celtic tradition.
Indeed, songs about murder, theft, and other sinful deeds are frequent in the British songbook, yet, jail, as a metaphor or as a place of self-reflection and transformation, is an American specialty: In the Land of the Free and the Home of the Evangelically Oppressed, incarceration serves as a mirror of the self. Jail is an implicitness, like death, heaven and hell.
With Destination Jail (BCD 17689), Bear Family Records® offers a hodgepodge of hillbilly and rock & roll obscurities and classics dealing with life behind bars. The songs feature all the various elements of the US detention system: prison – county farm, prison, and penitentiary.
Among the better-known highlights, we find The Hanging Tree by Marty Robbins, Ronnie Hawkins’ tragical ballad about the “red light bandit” Caryl Chessman, One Dead Man Ago by honky tonk pioneer Jimmie Skinner, and the passionate Midnight Train by the Johnny Burnette Trio.
Top tunes of the obscure portion of the sampled goodies are Benny Hess’ morbid Walking the Last Mile, Helen Grayco’s haunting Lilly’s Lament (Cell 29), and the amazing Shot Four Times and Dying by Bill Carter.
In between, Bear Family Records® offers many goodies by Skeets McDonald, Stonewall Jackson, Webb Pierce, Bobby Darin, and many more – and no Johnny Cash (yet his spirit is evoked by several tracks on the CD).
Bear Family Records®’ ‘Destination Jail’ is an exciting and wallet-friendly introduction to the gangsta tunes of rockabilly and classic country.
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Parton Dolly - Run, Rose, Run (CD)
€9,90Quick ViewCountry/Bluegrass album, Run, Rose, Run that will be released along with a novel co-written with the famed author, James Patterson, sharing the title Run Rose Run. The 12 songs were inspired by the book storyline and feature Country and Bluegrass artists; Joe Nichols, Rhonda Vincent, The Issacs, and Dailey & Vincent. Dolly & James will be doing book and album promotions together – presenting a unique co-marketing opportunity.
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Various - Rhythm & Western Vol. 6 – I´m Moving On (CD)
€15,00Quick ViewFriends, you are holding the fifth opus of ”Rhythm & Western” and we got 5 more boss volumes on ice. I must confess Solomon Burke’s classic ”How Many Times” always sounded like a Country song to me, so I’m glad I could include it here, Damita Jo delivers does a fantastic version of Ray Price’s classic C&W hit ”Crazy Arms” also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, and countless others, another Country hit ”You’re The Reason” (originally recorded by Bobby Edwards) is delivered by Arthur Alexander. The great Fats Domino is next with his famous version of ”Jambalaya” (originally written and recorded by Hank Williams), King Curtis gives a splendid rendition of Hank Snow’s ”I’m Movin’ On” also recorded by a buttload of other artists. To my knowledge, Little Richard never recorded a ”bonafide” country song, but some of his Gospel stuff sounds just like it. Just listen to ”Do Lord, Remember Me” if you have any doubt. Sonny Boy Williamson II (a.k.a. Rice Miller) and Peppermint Harris, with ”Wake Up Baby” and ”I Got Loaded” are offering two delightful bronze hillbilly tunes, and ””Solid As A Rock” is probably the closest thing to country music ever recorded by Jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. More fave black C&W of mine by The Twilighters (Hootenanny Stomp), The Sharps (Look At Me), Ruth Brown (Jack O’Diamonds), Magic Sam (Square Dance Rock Part 1), Ted Taylor (Keep Walking On), Pee Wee Crayton (Little Bitty Things) , Bobby Day (Undecided), Fats Domino (Bo Weavil). Smokey Hogg (Late Prowling Girl), Ketty Lester (Love Letters), Ben E. King (My Heart Cries For You), and Rochell & The Candles (When My Baby Is Gone) are all top-notch tracks. Country Music fans probably heard ”Hearts Of Stone” by Red Foley and the song has been recorded by tons of other artists. I picked the cool version recorded by Otis Williams and The Charms over the one by The Jewels for this volume -but they are both great. Johnny Nash is next with another Western classic ”Cigareetes, Whusky & Wild Wild” originally recorded by The Sons Of The Pioneers. R&B diva Dinah Washington had a top 3 R&B hit in 1954 with the Hank Snow’s number ”I Don’t Hurt Anymore” but I heard versions of this song by Eddie Fisher, Faron Young, Johnny Cash, Narvel Felts, Bill Haley, and Janis Martin. Another western tune penned and first recorded by Hank Williams: ”Cold Cold Heart” is sung by Nat King Cole and two gospel songs that sound just like C&W by Sister Rosetta (On My Way) and Professor Johnson and his Gospel Singers (Where Shall I Be) are really worth more than a spin. The closing number is an older classic blues recording from the 1930s the great Casey Bill Weldon which sounds just like Western Swing. Enjoy!
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Carter Family - Collection Vol. 2 1935-41 (6CD Box) (CD)
€25,00Quick ViewThe Carter Family are among the most important artists in the entire history of popular music. They were pioneers in writing and recording folk and country music for the commercial market, and their huge output of songs and recordings has become a major influence on music that has come after them in bluegrass, country, gospel, folk, skiffle, pop and rock. Acrobat has recognised their importance by creating two 6-CD sets to present the primary element of their recorded output – those recordings between 1927 and 1941 featuring the original incarnation of the group, A.P. Carter, his wife Sara Carter, and his sister in-law Maybelle Carter. This is the second of those sets, and addresses the years from 1935 to 1941, in a 130-track 6-CD collection comprising just about all their releases from this era on the Conqueror, Decca and Bluebird labels. It features their landmark1935 hit “Can The Circle Be Unbroken”, along with many other classics which have become standards in folk and country repertoire, and provides a substantial and enlightening showcase for their unique talents. These two highly significant releases will give enthusiasts the chance to have a comprehensive collection of the first era Carter Family recordings, complete with Acrobat’s usual substantial booklet with comprehensive discographical information and detailed narrative.
