Tetra Records (New York)

 

Bill Flagg - Tetra Records # 4445 - Sept 1956

Side A - Go Cat Go 

Side B - A Good Woman's Leavin'

Stripped down rockabilly, with just a couple of acoustic guitars and an upright bass, gives this a rural feel but it still moves along at a right good pace! nice vocals by Bill and he gives it his all. Same goes for the flip, another solid slice of mid paced rockabilly with some sweet pickin' guitar and Bill's real cool vocal.

Epic Records (CBS)

 

Jaycee Hill (Accompanied by Joe Sway)

Epic Records (CBS Records) - 9185 - Sept 1956

Side A - A Love So Fine

Side B - Romp Stompin' Boogie

The song 'Romp Stompin' Boogie' was a song from my teenage years that I played on my CBS Rockabillies LP. Such a great tune and on 78 the tune just jumps from the grooves, Jaycee has a great voice and the whole song is a rockabilly classic, it definitely swings and stomps at the same time, never has a song such as Romp Stompin' Boogie been elevated by teenagers in the late 70's and early 80's as a real classic song. 

Then you realise that it was only the B side and the A also bops along, two great songs on a really Epic record! Easy to find on 45 but pretty rare on a 1956 shellac 78 record.

Ace Records (Colorado)!

 Ace Records (Denver, Colorado) 

Red Allen - Ace Records # 005 - 1949

Side A - Truck Driver Blues 

Side B - Old Rocky Trail

Bluegrass legend Red Allen with a very early outing on Ace Records and damn fine job he did on this cool two sider. 

Truck driver shifts along in a low gear with some nice wailing steel and Mandolin and Red's smooth vocal with a hint of yodel keeps the whole thing from jack knifing off the needle.

But for me it is the much punchier 'Old Rocky Trail' on the flip which pricked my up ears on the first spin! real nice steady mid tempo bounce and typical steel and mandolin interject at just the right times! Red again sounds smooth like a prairie at sunset and the whole thing bounces into life with a superb Steel & Mandolin solo! perfect really!

Blue Bonnet Records!

 Blue Bonnet Records. 

Lone Star Playboys - Blue Bonnet Record # 131 - March 1948

Side A - Kelly Waltz

Side B - Wasted Love.

Just picked this up on my trip around Texas and only cost me $3 and was worth every cent IMO.

The A side 'Kelly Waltz' is a decent instrumental and bobs along nice but for me the flip is the cool tune with smooth vocals from Hamlet Booker. A Texas record found in Texas and it sounds so much like Texas as well. 

Kingsport (Tennessee)!

KINGSPORT RECORDS - Tennessee!

Reece Shipley and the Rainbow Valley Boys.

Kingsport Records # 104 - 1952

Side A - Milk Bucket Boogie.

Side B - Will Good Times Last Forever.

This super boogie record from 1952 just moves! The old alarm clock goes off at the start and it's off milking we go! and Reece and his Rainbow Valley boys get straight to it! (This was re recorded in the same year by Harry Adams on Kentucky Folk Records) . 

Pretty much a typical of the year and time western boogie record but elevated by some tremendous playing and delivery from all! 

Range-Land Records (Arizona)

Range-Land Records - Arizona

Frankie Starr - Range-Land Records # 1914 - March 1955

Side A - I Love You Too Much To Leave You

Side B - I'm Paying The Price

This Range-Land Record company has no connection to the Starday Custom 78 record by Billie & Gordon Hamrick that was released a year earlier!

Frankie Starr during his career put out some sterling work like the popular 45 'Elevator Boogie' on Star- Win records! but here we have a fairly tough to find 78 release!

What you get on this platter is two mighty fine (maybe not stunning) but nevertheless! two fine Country songs! Frankie is in fine voice and his unknown band 'quite simply' keep it simple but they do it very well indeed! This record was catered to the country 'straight down the middle' working class family! pure in every form when toe tapping was the order of the day! in word 'Classy'

Dixie Jamboree Records!

 Dixie Jamboree Records # 515 

Nashville, Tennessee.

Alan Flatt and The Nite Owls - Nov 1950

Side A - Scrapbook Of Dreams

Side B - A Broken Heart and A Glass Of Beer.

For a record cut in late 1950 this really is ahead of the curve! The B side is a great country chugger! full of top playing from all concerned! Yes! it's a typical country theme and tune but you can hear the start of something that would evolve into that country/rockabilly sound that would be here just a few years later! This was the first release for Alan Flatt and he would go on to record many more for Jamboree, Tennessee, Republic and Mercury labels!