After the minor local success of 'High Geared Daddy' on Tommy's own TRC (North Carolina) label earlier in the year! Colonial stepped up to release the same two tracks on their Hollywood label towards the end of 1949!
High Geared Daddy has all the ingredients to be considered borderline Rockabilly! not quite! but you can hear the subtle movement in that direction! A true hillbilly record that really moves! The acoustic guitar sweeps around and really rocks! a top top rare 78 record!
The flip side has some great duet vocals Tiny & Cliff with some terrific steel and superb acoustic guitar and mandolin! which makes this tune! way above the standard weepie majority of B sides around this time! this track bops along real fine!
Recorded February 13, 1947 at WSM studios in Nashville, TN.
Classic Hank! on a classic label! this is as pure a country record that you will ever ever hear! Honky Tonkin' even as early as 1947! Hank started to push the country envelope with a chugging beat! sweet fiddle & lush steel heavily layered on top! you get the very early beginnings of Rockabilly (still a way off! but it's starting to raise it's head) . It was very soon after this release that M.G.M came knocking and whisked him away to make his fame and fortune! and he never looked back! until it all came to a sudden end!
Side A - Guest Star In Heaven (A Tribute To Hank Williams)
Side B - I Know I'm Falling In Love.
Earney & The Big 'D' Boys strike up a hearty rhythm and top notch record with the really good 'Guest Star In Heaven & 'I Know I'm Falling In Love' both are just lovely country sides and basically do what they are supposed to do! they get your toes tappin' and your ears caressed!
Picked up on e-bay for a cheap price! But as with most acetates the sound on both side is a bit eggs & bacon! but still sounds pretty good and for historical reasons it needs to be heard!
The A side is a lovely country song about a cheating wife and how he'll be long gone in the morning! Chuck's vocal is superb and with unknown fiddle & Electric guitar (I would imagine Chuck plays the Rhythm Guitar) this is just a really good country tune! played with elegance and has all the makings of really good record! The flip 'Slowly' has a lot more noise and is your typical country slow tune! good but not as good as 'I'm Long Gone'
Lynn Pratt was born on April 9th 1926 in Sugar Tree, Tennessee and died on January 19, 2002, in Lexington at the age of 75. He is buried at the Henderson County Memorial Gardens in Lexington.
In early 1956 after recording at Sun Studios (to no reward) Pratt started up his own label simply called 'Hornet Records' in Lexington, Tennessee. 1st issue on his new label was 'Tom Cat Boogie/At Night Time - The A side is the mover for sure and all band members are going for it ! Recorded in Nashville WSIX Radio studios it really is a tip top Tom Cat tune! fine Rockabilly guitar laced with Piano & Steel(this session probably did not include drummer Henry Hays)
The Flip is a really nice country slow song played with care and has some nice piano with Pratt singing this broken hearted melody with gusto! Nice guitar to start interspersed steel guitar and an unknown fiddle player!
Lynn Pratt & The Tomcats - Hornet Records # 1001 - 195?
A Side - Troubles (Pratt)
B Side - I Don't Need (Pratt)
This 2nd Hornet release by Lynn Pratt (seen now with his named band 'The Tomcats) and they give us 'Troubles'! now! not as good as Tom Cat Boogie! but non the less it's a cracking mid tempo slice of country bop! I would imagine the band from the 1st release would remain but as we are unclear on a actual recording date and year this is just a guess (but it does have a similar feel to # 1000). Two cracking country numbers by Lynn and the boys , plenty of steel and piano and it is basically a verry very good country record! the A side swings with some great guitar pickin' and the B side weeps! just as all good 78 records should! shouldn't they?
A - Side - I'm Sorry I Got In The Way (Vocal by Dale Noe) # F-1016
B - Side - Houn' Dog Boogie # FF-1016
As was the norm around the late 40's & early 50's Sheldon Gibbs was a bar owner, radio personality, restaurant manager and leader of a band! and as would have it Sheldon was a very popular band leader and was the first guy to discover Marty Robins!
The A side is just a real nice country tune with all the usual trimmings but it's when you flip the thing over you get! well you get very close to a Rockabilly tune! Slim Forbes on Fiddle, Bud Croy and Dale Noe on Guitars and they really cook up a storm on this pretty hard to find slice of shellac! the beginnings of Rock 'N' Roll and Rockabilly is nearly here and the Houn' Dog Boogie has a bark! a pretty loud bark!
Side A - We Can Never Love Again (Vocal by Tiny & Cliff)
Side B - High Geared Daddy
I have another Tommy Little 78 record on the 'Ollit' label 'Mean, Mean Woman' which is also a damn fine record! 'High Geared Daddy' was released on his own label in Durham, North Carolina & was also released the same year on the Colonial Records label after they heard this TRC version above!
Classic Country bluegrass, fast moving, banjo pickin' tune about how his woman goes down through his gears! to keep him from moving to fast! typical record of it's time, a little racy! as we know what he's eluding to but is never said! quality in all the ways you want!
At times you can hear the Rockabilly trying to get through but was just a few years to early! just replace the banjo with a hot pickin' guitar and Tommy might have got there first!
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