Hey Cat !

Hey Cat !

Tuesday 15 December 2020

Selective Records !



Red Pleasant and the Southern Serenaders 
Selective Records # S-3X - 1950
Side A - Jesus Hits Lile The Atom Bomb (vocals by Milton Beasley & Miller Louther)
Side B - Mississippi Boogie (vocals by Milton Beasley)

Red pleasant and the Southern Serenaders were one helluva hillbilly swing outfit back in the day but both these tunes are elevated due to top vocals by Milton & Miller on the Atom Bomb side and also some tasty red hot boogie guitar. America was in a state of panic over the Atomic Bomb around this time so by tapping into their fear and then telling them that the lord will come when the bomb hits was pure marketing genius!!!
The Mississippi Boogie side is also hot, hot, hot .......like boogie Red hot! that guitar and steel is just marvelous and at times near perfect! again great vocals by Milton Beasley. This is a record that ticks every box........every time you spin it!





Saturday 24 October 2020

Blue Ribbon Records (Illinois)

 Blue Ribbon Records (Illinois) 


Jimmy Cox - Blue Ribbon Records # 1912 -1952

With Don Mason playing Electric Guitar.

Side A - I Had To Love You.

Side B - Blue Ribbon Waltz

Jimmy Cox along with Don Mason really turn it up to eleven on this scorcher on the Blue Ribbon label out of Illinois!

What you get here on the A side is pretty much what you'd expect from this label and year, top quality country where everything is in its place and it just sounds like perfection to me! sublime Guitar by Mr Mason , lovely smooth vovals by Jimmy and some weepy steel and boy it just sounds so purty!





Tuesday 13 October 2020

Morgan Records!


 Dave Stogner and his Hayride Gang - 1951

Morgan Records # 102 

Side A - Tulsa Baby

Side B - Feather Pillow Rag.

Dave couldn't go wrong with this doozy! Western Swing Country boogie was in good hands with Dave and the Hayride Gang in 1951, Tulsa Baby is one of those toe tapping records that just swings with class from the first groove to the very last, top Fresno musicians and a tune that stays in your head for hours, this my friends is a right lil' belter!




Thursday 8 October 2020

Fortune Records!


Johnnie White and his Rhythm Rangers (featuring Skeets McDonald on vocals)

Fortune Records # 145 - 1950

Side A - Mean and Evil Blues

Side B - The Tattooed Lady 

Skeets McDonald and Johnnie White and his band really hit the ground running with this superb Western Swing/Hillbilly two sider. A masterpiece in writing and musicianship. For 1950 this is where Country swing & hillbilly combine to show some rockin' roots and a move towards what we today call Rockabilly, Skeets, as usual sounds quality and both songs and they both roll and swing with ease ........complete and mighty sweet!







Friday 11 September 2020

Confederate Records !

 


Lonely Jeff Latham and the Tune Busters.

Confederate Records # W 200 - 1950

Side A - If I Can't Have You (I Don't Want No One)

Side B - Walkin' Round In Circles 

Lonely Jeff Latham would go onto release various Country/Rockabilly records as Jimmie Dawson on labels such as Rustic, Playboy & Bonanza! (even re recording of 'Walkin' Round In Circles' on Rustic Records.

What we get here is Jeff/Jimmie just starting out on his recording career and you can tell he's finding his way. Both sides are straight Country and the A side is your typical, well played, competent Country slow/mid tempo tune. The more uptempo side is the B side! Jeff/Jimmie sings just fine, decent fiddle but the Steel player does get lost a few times and hits a few sharps now and then which is kinda scary at times!



Tuesday 11 August 2020

Talent Records !



Leroy Jenkins and his Band

Talent Records # T-1001 - Dallas, TX - 1949

Side A - You Two Timed Me Three Timed Me (BB 164)

Side B - Forever And Ever (BB 165)

Leroy Jenkins cut quite a few side for various labels around the late 40's early 50's (Columbia, Flair & Dude) . This release on 'Talent' was his first release and was like many others he recorded were done in Dallas at  Jim Beck's studio in Dallas.

At just six months old Leroy went blind and from the age of 7 was schooled in Austin Texas for the school for the blind. He was born July 28th 1921 and died Dec 18th 1990.

The A side about a wrong doing woman is mighty mighty fine and you can see why Jim Beck & Don Law got him back to record and get releases on Columbia. It's just a great record, super Steel and just perfect vocals from Mr Jenkins. The flip is good decent weepie country, played with style and competence.

Both Matrix numbers appear to be connected to the Blue Bonnet Label as BB 164/165.





Sunday 26 July 2020

Rich-R-Tone !


Frank Hunter and his Black Mountain Boys.
Rich-R-Tone Records # 1049 - 1952
Side A - Tennessee Boy.
Side B - Long Time No See.

Here is a real heavy shellac killer bluegrass offering from Frank Hunter on the highly prized Rich-R-Tone label which was founded in 1946 in Johnson City, Tennessee before moving to Nashville.
Tennessee boy is real nice but for me it's the flip that moves,moves,moves! just brilliant bluegrass that jumps into your very being and lifts you up up up! Long Time No See is pure magic!!



That this early bluegrass artist hailed from the tropical panhandle state is somewhat unusual for the early bluegrass crowd of the '50s, most of whom came from musical families who had lived for generations scattered around various Appalachian strongholds. This is the same area where Hunter eventually drifted to, by the early '50s, establishing the Black Mountain Boys with fiddler and vocal partner Gene Christian, a former member of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. There was some serious talent lurking in the band membership that cut sides for the Rich R Tone label in the early '50s. Banjoist Pee Wee Buttrey was a wonderful player; while Junior Husky had a brilliant career as a country sessionman, thinking in big and little terms as both a bassist and a mandolinist. Other members of the group have passed into total obscurity, not even identifiable by name anymore due to the casual nature of recording session documentation.

Rich R Tone itself was a helpful connection for Hunter and his partners, even if it was just one guy with a car. As the mountain folk had known all their lives, one fellow with wheels can distribute a great deal of merchandise, whether it is the traditional white-lightning home-brewed liquor, or a newfangled gimmick called bluegrass records. Meanwhile, the Black Mountain Boys had secured a regular radio spot on WKSR out of Pulaski, TN, coming on at 5:45 a.m., with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs waiting in the wings for the 6:00 a.m. slot. The group worked together for several years following their Rich R Tone single release, "Long Time No See," appearing on the Louisiana Hayride, in a program that included country crooner Slim Whitman and old-timers Johnny and Jack but nothing even remotely resembling bluegrass. The music form was still relatively new, being created whole cloth, chord by chord, by pioneers such as Hunter. When the Black Mountain Boys called it quits, he headed back to Florida, basing himself out of Tampa, where he played some local jobs. At one point, he recorded an obscure LP entitled The Return of Frank Hunter, although it was hard to say where he had been or what he was returning to, other than further obscurity. When Rounder assembled its ambitious History of Bluegrass series, Hunter and his buddies were one of the only historic bluegrass acts the archivists were unable to supply a photograph of.

Thursday 11 June 2020

Bullet Records !



Ramblin' Tommy Scott 
Bullet Records # 624 - 1947
Side A - Sweet Woman Blues.
Side B - My Little Moonbeam

September 1946 WSM Radio Station Studio, 116 5th Ave. North, Nashville, TN - Ramblin' Tommy Scott (Tommy Scott [vcl/rh gt], Jimmy Vance [mandolin], ? [steel], Joel “Horsefly” Price [bass])

For 1947 this song is way ahead of it's time!!!
This is a pseudo Rockabilly track for sure, a truly brilliant rural hick song, Elvis must have heard this on the radio (along with his 1951 song 'Rockin and Rollin' on the Federal label) and thought "I can do that".
Hank was doing his thing and Tommy was doing his and my god this cooks.




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York Bros. - Bullet Records # 641 - 1947
Side A - Mother's Not Dead, She's Only Sleeping.
Side B - Got Blues On My Mind

This little beauty was pressed in 1947!! but sounds like it should be around 1951 to my ears! way ahead of its time! 2 splendid tunes by the York Bros. and is easy to see why these cats were popular with the country music buying public! 

This Bullet release has two songs that are simply amazing! 

The A side is a classy little ditty! slow but moving with sweet harmony vocals by George & Leslie!

'Got Blues On My Mind' has that rural country vocal harmonising & some farmyard lead guitar all kept together with that beautiful squeezebox and fiddle just bubbling under the surface! wonderful!





Thursday 4 June 2020

Dixie Records (4 Star Custom)


Chuck Harless
Dixie Records # OP-113 - 4 Star Custom - 1951
Side A - Every Time They Have A War.
Side B - I'm Lonely And Blue.

Chuck saw this 4 Star Custom release on Dixie and also the same songs on an official 4 Star release in 1951 (this Custom OP might be a 1950 release).
This is a tidy nice hick style country lament about a young boy wanting his Daddy to return from the war. A decent slice of basic country from Chuck which must have sold well for it to also get a release on 4 Star. Chuck has a pleasant voice and this is a welcome addition to my 78 collection.



Tuesday 21 April 2020

Excellent Records (Ohio)


Hank Drew and his Blue Valley Boys.
Excellent Records # 302 - circa 1956
Side A - You Don't Love Me (Oscar Drew)
Side B - Don't Torture Me (Oscar Drew)

Pretty rare and mighty fine record out of Cincinnati, Ohio circa 1956 by Hank Drew. The A side is the uptempo side and really does bounce along and is just a delightful slice of hillbilly bop. The B side is the more typical country weepie and ticks all the boxes in that department. Hank and his Blue Valley boys are just great and I would go onto say they match their label name!




Tuesday 3 March 2020

Jamboree Records! (West Virginia)


Roy Scott with The Country Harmony Boys 
Jamboree Records # 1154 - 1953
Side A - The Rest Of My Life (Hardrock Gunter)
Side B - Wilted Roses (Brill, Deloy)

Label based in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Superb country styling by WWVA Radio star Roy Scott and the Country Harmony Boys. Both these songs were re-released on the Pennant label a short time after on 78 and 45 rpm.
Two classy numbers from Roy with great country vocals and top backing.




Wednesday 26 February 2020

Gulf Coast Records !


Dan Seal and String Band Acc.
Gulf Coast Records # 1012 - 1954
Side A - Don't Break My Heart
Side B - You Gotta Walk That Line

Dan Seal and his string band really cook up a storm on the B side of this rare little platter out of Biloxi, Mississippi in 1954.
This was the first label set up and owned by Marion Carpenter and Pee Wee Maddux before they set up the 'Fine' label in the same area a short time after with Dan seeing releases on both.
The A side is a real nice slowish country chugger with some real nice vocals by Dan.
'You Gotta Walk That Line' is pretty damn cool little tune and packs a real punch, starts with that typical Hank Williams intro but added with some superb vocals and chugging rhythm guitar, fiddle and Steel and then we get some fine picking on the ol' lead lead guitar ......wow! just a doozy of a record!





Wednesday 29 January 2020

Radio Artist Records !


Turner Bros. (Red & Lige) 
Radio Artist Records # 234 - 1948
Side A - The Fallen Tree Waltz 
Side B - Boog-Boog- Boogie



Mid 1948 E. T. Herzog Recording Studio, 811 Race St., Cincinnati, OH - Turner Brothers (Red & Lige) (Ulysses Red Turner [vcl], Monroe Lige Turner [vcl] + Roy Lanham - Lead Guitar + Unknown Steel & Bass!

If you want Hillbilly Boogie in your life then your search is over folks! what we have here is Hillbilly Boogie perfection with the Turner Bros on dual vocals and rhythm guitar and Roy Lanham on Lead guitar for what can only be described as a "Scorcher"
This could have been recorded in 1952 and you wouldn't argue with it but the fact is it was recorded in mid 1948!!! ....damn fine!!!!.......Roy is hot hot hot on that 6 string for 1948 !!!!!
Radio Artist records always bought your radio friends to records and thank god they did !!!


Wednesday 22 January 2020

Khoury's Records !


Rick Johnson - Khoury's Recordings - KH-644 - 1954
Side A - It Isn't Right.
Side B - Gotta Get Back.

Rick Johnson AKA Gordon Ritter wrote and sung both sides of this top little record on the Khoury label from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Bayou hits was a bold statement but here we have a cool slice of country.
Both sides just ooze quality and Ricks voice is strong and pleasant but it also has an edge which at times sounds really cool. Plenty of steel, Piano and fiddle makes this a lovely B side and "Gotta Get Back" is the tune that swings for sure!