Fee Bee Records!

 Fee Bee Records.

Dave "Diddlie" Day with Tony Ray Combo - Fee Bee Records # 212 

April 1957.

Side A - Blue Moon Baby

Side B - Suzanne My Love 

A tough one to find on 78 and just has tough on the Fee Bee 45! a very late 78 rpm press for 1957! 

This as anyone knows is a tale of two sides! 'Suzanne My Love' is the kind of record that will never be played, remembered or for that fact even liked! turgid slow love song with no heart or for that matter love!

But then as we know you flip to the A side and you get monster rockabilly minor chord wonderment! 'Blue Moon Baby' ! a truly marvellous tune with shuddering guitar and rhythmic moody shuffle! a true! great record!

   

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!

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!

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Cowboy Joe Bisko with Bud Williams & His Smiling Buddies.

Blue Ribbon Records # 1918 - April 1954

Side A - Miles Of Sorrow

Side B - My Weeping Heart

Another hit from Chaw-Mank and recorded in Staunton, Illonois. 

Joe and his smiling buddies really shine on this tip top country record. both sides are just glorious, not wild or fast just two lovely country tunes, brilliant steel and fiddle and topped off with Joe's simple vocal tone.

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!

Fortune Records!

York Bros. - Fortune Records # 120 - 1949.

Side A - Hamtrack Mama.

Side B - Highland Park Girl.

I have been after this record for a few years now and finally got one for a great price.

These are two great tunes, in the old days you would have called this a double A side and it is, a proper great record.

Hamtramck Mama is pure Hillbilly bop and you get all the great harmony vocals you would expect from George & Leslie York, plus the fantastic acoustic pickin' guitar that hits you right where it should, genius on all levels.

Then you flip the monster over and you get the tale of infidelity with a strange girl from Highland Park who eventually lets in her husband to give him a good hiding.

Two fantastic songs, way before their time of 1949, it sounds more like 51/52 to my ears. Perfect!

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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!

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!

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.