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COUNTRY,
BLUEGRASS & OLD-TIMEY
The Cooke Duet
-> Dick Curless
| THE COOKE DUET |
Freeland 641 |
The Best Of The Cooke Duet |
● CD $15.98 |
12 tracks, 34 mins, highly recommended This is the real
thing! Wonderful white country gospel singing with high intense harmonies
and basic country accompaniments (guitars, steel guitar, bass &
piano). The Cookes have been performing together for nearly 35 years -
first as duo and later with their children as the Cooke Family. They have
had something like 40 cassettes issued by a small company in Kentucky with
very limited distribution, This is their first appearance on CD and is
drawn from cassettes issued between 1969 and 1971 and is a terrific
collection of gospel favorites highlighted by the rousing rendition of Swing
Down That Chariot and the stunningly beautiful One Day I Will.
(FS)
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| THE COOKE DUET |
Freeland 647 |
Early Cooke Duet |
● CD $14.98 |
12 tracks, 30 mins, highly recommended This features some of
the earliest recordings from 1964-66 by this incredible gospel duo
featuring just their own strumming guitar accompaniment. The Cookes are up
there among the best - Jeanette is a spine chilling and ferociously
intense singer, a little like Molly O'Day. Husband Hubert is a bit more
restrained providing a beautiful counterpoint to Jeanette's powerhouse
voice. The songs are mostly gospel favorites like The Lord Will Make A
Way/ What A Time In Heaven / Got Sweet Heaven In My View and a
sensational rendering of Ain't No Grave. There are also several
fine originals - I'm Longing For Home/ I'm So Happy/ There Must A Power.
Truly magnificent stuff - it's a shame the sound isn't better. Some of
this couldn't be corrected since Jeanette's vocals often overloaded the
microphones but the harsh edge to the sound in general makes for tiring
listening. Still, it is really great music! (FS)
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| SPADE COOLEY |
Bloodshot BS 802 |
Shame On You : The Western Swing Dance Gang |
● CD $13.98 |
25 previously unissued radio transcriptions from 1944 and
'45 with vocals by Tex Williams.
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| SPADE COOLEY |
Country Routes 18 |
Spade Cooley |
● CD $16.98 |
22 previously unissued cuts from 1945 radio broadcasts
- with
Cactus Soldi & Rex Call/fiddles, Joaquin Murphey/ steel, Johnny Weis
or Dean Eckert/lead electric guitar and various vocalists
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| SPADE COOLEY |
Country Routes 23 |
1941-47 |
● CD $16.98 |
34 track collection drawn from rare transcription discs.
Three different sets of recordings are featured - 12 from 1941 issued as
by Tex Williams & Spade Cooley with Cal Shrum & His Rhythm
featuring five vocals by Williams and one by Shrum. The remaining cuts are
instrumental featuring Cooley and/or the hot guitar of Gene Hass. There
are 10 cuts from late 1945 or early 46 as by Spade Cooley: The King Of
Western Swing & His Dance Gang features a large group often doing
versions of Spade's Columbia recordings with vocals by Tex Williams and
steel work from the legendary Joaquin Murphy. The remaining 12 tracks are
from 1947 featuring various vocalists and including Jimmy Wyble on lead
guitar and noel Boggs on steel. Excellent sound and usual high quality
notes by Kevin Koffey.
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| SPADE COOLEY |
Harlequin 144 |
Spade Cooley Big Band, 1950-1952 |
● CD $16.98 |
| 33 tracks from radio transcriptions
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| SPADE COOLEY
& TEX WILLIAMS |
Bronco Buster 9029 |
Western Swing Jamboree |
$19.98 |
12 tracks by Cooley and 6 by Williams from rare singles and
transcriptions from the mid/late 40s.
SPADE COOLEY: Call Me Darlin', Do/ Fickle Woman/ Four Fiddle Polka
(Inst.)/ It's Dark Outside/ Lord Nottingham's War Dance/ Minuet in Swing/
Ny Chickashay Girl/ Texas Steel Guitar (Inst.)/ There Is No Sunshine Take
My Back to Tulsa/ Three Fiddle Rag (Inst.)/ Topeka Polka (Inst.)/ Tuesday
Two-step (Inst.)/ Whistle Bait/ TEX WILLIAMS: Don't Telephone, Don't
Telegraph-Tell a Woman/ I'm Big Bad Bill from the Badlands/ I'm My Own
Grandpa/ Talkin' Boogie/ That's What I like about the West/ Yuk-a-puk.
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| WILMA LEE &
STONY COOPER |
Federal 6529 |
Best Of The Best |
● CD $9.98 |
10 tracks, 32 mins, highly recommended. Great, but too brief,
collection of country gospel songs from the 60s by this superb duo
accompanied by their group The Clinch Mountain Clan. Wilma Lee is one of
the greatest of all female country singers with a wonderful emotion laden
and expressive voice that is spellbinding. Stoney is also a good singer
and together they produce some fine harmonies. Their sound neatly
straddles the line between bluegrass and honky tonk country using fiddle
and banjo alongside electric and steel guitars. The songs are mostly
country gospel songs which really come to life in Wilma Lee's hands - This
Old House/ Legend Of The Dogwood Tree/ Tramp On The Street/ hello central
Give Me Heaven/ Wildwood Flower and others. (FS)
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| WILMA LEE &
STONEY COOPER |
Hollywood 348 |
Walking My Lord Up Calvary Hill |
● CD $10.98 |
Though their faces on the cover show the passing years, and
there is more quaver in their voices, these familiar numbers from Wilma
and Stoney's forty year old repertoire are still convincingly performed.
There's unmistakable conviction in their performances of country gospel
chestnuts like Tramp On The Street/ Thirty Pieces Of Silver/ The Great
Speckled Bird/ I Dreamed About Mama Last Night. And, from a long-time
fan's point of view, it's both delightful and almost eerie to hear these
familiar numbers in clear stereo sound. Well worth a listen. (DH)
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| WILMA LEE COOPER |
Rebel 1122 |
Classic Country Favorites |
● CD $13.98 |
18 tracks, 54 min; recommended. A member of the famed Singing
Leary Family of West Virginia, who were recorded by The Library Of
Congress in 1937, Wilma Lee Cooper recorded in the 40s, 50s, and 60s with
husband Stoney as Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper and the Clinch Mountain
Clan. Since Stoney died in 1977, Wilma Lee has continued to perform and
record in the inimitable old time country style popularized by the duo. A
contemporary of such greats as Molly O'Day. The material here is from
sessions in 1979 and 1981, and is solidly traditional, very much in the
spirit of the records she and Stoney made in their heyday. Special note
should be made of the wonderful dobro work here throughout from Gene
Wooten, a longtime member of Wilma Lee's band. Songs include Daisy A
Day/ Pretty Polly/ Tying The Leaves/ I Closed My Heart's Door/ I Couldn't
Believe It Was True/ Picking Up The Pieces/ Honey In The Rock/ Rachel's
Guitar/ Anywhere Just Inside Your Arms, and others. (RP)
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| COWBOY COPAS |
King 714 |
Tragic Songs Of Love And Life |
● CD $9.98 |
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| COWBOY COPAS |
Starday SCD 157 |
Opry Star Spotlight |
● CD $9.98 |
Reissue of 1962 album. 12 tracks - Sixteen Fathoms/ Sweet
Lips/ Wings Of A Dove/ The Rebel - Johnny Yuma/ Loose Talk/ The
Twenty-Fourth Hour, etc.
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| COWBOY COPAS |
Starday 175 |
Mister Country Music |
● CD $9.98 |
Reissue of fine album originally issued in 1962 - includes Sal/
Black Eyed Susan/ Louisian/ You Are The One/ There'll Come A Time Someday/
Seven Seas From You, etc.
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| THE COUNTRY ALL STARS |
Bear Family BCD 15728 |
Jazz From The Hills |
● CD $21.98 |
21 songs, approx. 54 min. recommended. This is a CD reissue
of Bear's 1989 LP release of the complete RCA recordings of Nashville
studio aces Chet Atkins, Jerry Byrd, Homer & Jethro, fiddler Dale
Potter (on some tracks) and other sidemen. Though they spent most of their
studio time backing singers, they recorded pop vocals and instrumentals
for RCA on the side, in part as a respite from their country session work.
The records didn't sell, yet the performances were loose and excellent,
revealing their broad musical backgrounds. Homer and Jethro's reputations
as excellent jazz players are well known but Byrd often isn't seen in that
context. Atkins was never a jazz player, but made his fingerstyle
technique fit the songs. The material ranges from vintage pop oldies like Stompin'
At the Savoy and Sweet Georgia Brown to vocals (by Homer or
Jethro) on What's the Reason (I'm Not Pleasing You)
and Do Something.
Potter's two instrumental showcases, Fiddle Patch (a reworking of Spade
Cooley's Oklahoma Stomp) and Fiddle Sticks remind everyone what an awesome
fiddler he was in his prime. This collection adds three previously
unissued 1956 performances done in New York featuring Chet, Homer &
Jethro, legendary country-jazz guitarist George Barnes and other session
musicians. No one knows exactly what purpose these three instrumentals
were to serve. The jumping Song of the Wanderer, two takes of a blazing
Royal Garden Blues and an ethereal I'll See You in My Dreams all hold up
exceedingly well. The furious interplay on the first two numbers makes
them worthy additions, while the latter is dreamy and pleasant. The set
comes with revised liner notes by Rich Kienzle. (AK)
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| COUNTRY GAZETTE |
Flying Fish 70112 |
Hello Operator...this Is Country Gazette |
● CD $14.98 |
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| THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN |
Copper Creek 111 |
Nashville Jail - Classic Country Gentlemen |
● CD $16.98 |
This album, originally recorded in 1964 for Mercury Records,
was intended as a follow-up to their first LP, but was never released on
that label. The Gentlemen were at that time one of the most successful and
popular of the folk/ bluegrass bands, partially because they weren't a
traditional band. Their material, and particularly the vocals, were
formulated to attract the folk oriented urban audience, closer in sound to
The Kingston Trio than The Stanley Brothers - how else to explain the
presence of Theme From Exodus?. Most of the lead singing was done
by guitarist Charlie Waller, whose pleasant tenor voice lent itself well
to the folkie numbers, and mandolin man John Duffey, whose voice was more
vinegary and cut through on the traditional selections, especially on Flowers
By My Graveside. Others include Nashville Jail/ Electricity/ Uncle
Joe/ Blue Yodel #3 and more. (RP)
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| THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN |
Hollywood HCD 113 |
Bluegrass At Carnegie Hall |
● CD $8.98 |
14 tracks, 40 min., good. This is a Starday reissue from the
early sixties, recorded in the studio (not live) after an appearance by
The Gentlemen at Carnegie Hall. The band at the time featured the guitar
and vocals of Charlie Waller and the mandolin and vocals of John Duffey,
along with banjoist Eddie Adcock and bassist Tom Grey; there is an unnamed
dobro player of considerable talent. Includes The Gent's versions of folk
and bluegrass standards such as I Know I've Lost You/ Nobody's
Business/ Red Rockin' Chair/ I'll Never Marry/ Two Little Boys and
more. A nice representation of what this highly influential band was doing
during the early days of the folk boom. RP)
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| THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN |
Rebel 1102 |
25 Years |
● CD $13.98 |
CD issue of 2 LP set featuring a retrospective of their
recordings.
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| THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN |
Smithsonian Folkways 40004 |
Country Songs, Old And New |
● CD $14.98 |
16 tracks, 45 min., recommended. Originally released in
1960, produced by Mike Seeger, this is the first album of a band that was
in the vanguard of the folk/ bluegrass revival. This disc reminds us of
just how good they were and why they were so popular, featuring strong
traditional material, innovative arrangements, fine instrumental work,
wonderful three-part harmonies, and the acid tenor voice of mandolinist
John Duffey, along with the more mellow leads of guitarist Charlie Waller.
Eddie Adcock's progressive banjo licks, and the bass and vocals of Jim Cox
rounded out the quartet. Titles include Roving Gambler/ Drifting Too
Far/ Paul And Silas/ Ellen Smith/ The Long Black Veil/ Jesse James/ A Good
Woman's Love/ Double Eagle. (MB)
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| THE COX FAMILY |
Rounder 0297 |
Everybody's Reaching Out For Someone |
● CD $14.98 |
12 tracks, 31 min., recommended. This energetic family
bluegrass band has a lot going for it, not the least of which is Alison
Krauss' admiration and support. Alison produced this album, lent her very
sharp band, and played fiddle and sang harmony on some cuts. Brother
Sidney Cox is a fine writer, his I've Got That Old Feeling was a
hit for Alison, and is included here. Sister Susanne has a beautiful,
winsome vocal delivery, sister Evelyn is a mean rhythm guitarist and fine
lead and harmony singer, and father Willard plays fiddle and sings lead on
Little Whitewashed Chimney. Their version of Standing By The
Bedside Of A Neighbor is a wonderful example of the band's rhythmic
energy; it features the string-popping dobro of Rob Ickes, who plays on
several cuts and is outstanding throughout. RP)
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| THE COX FAMILY |
Rounder 0327 |
Beyond The City |
● CD $14.98 |
13 tracks, 45 min., highly recommended. This Louisiana family group - composed of dad, his son, and his two
daughters - is stone cold wonderful. Together they deftly demonstrate the
continuing beauty and power of traditional, gently-performed
country/bluegrass-styled music. This set opens with Lovin' You,
lead vocal by daughter Suzanne, then moves on to Cowboy's Dream
featuring son Sidney on lead, the haunting Another Lonesome Morning
with daughter Evelyn on lead, and Beautiful Bouquet with Willard,
the aforementioned dad, finally getting his turn. And so it goes
throughout the set, lovely music from start to finish. I think that I owe
it my musical education to pick up their two earlier Rounder discs. (DH)
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| FLOYD CRAMER |
RCA 66591 |
The Essential Floyd Cramer |
● CD $14.98 |
20 tracks, 47 min., recommended. The slip-note technique in
piano playing, sliding up to a note from the one immediately below it, was
not invented by Floyd Cramer, but he certainly is the one best remembered
for employing it, both as an RCA session musician and as a successful solo
artist. This disc focuses on those early 60's solo hits, highlighted, of
course, by 1960's Last Date. Other numbers here include I'm So
Lonesome I Could Cry, Flip Flop and Bop, Corrine Corrina,
Drown in My Own Tears, On the Rebound, Lovesick Blues,
Chattanooga Choo Choo, and Java. A fine mix of the bouncy
and the mellow, with the latter often featuring string and chorus
accompaniment. Packaging includes several nice vintage photos, modest
track-by-track discographical information, and appropriately appreciative
notes. (DH)
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| DAN CRARY |
Rounder 0099 |
Lady's Fancy |
● CD $14.98 |
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| DAN CRARY |
Sugar Hill 1135 |
Thunderation |
● CD $14.98 |
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| DAN CRARY |
Sugar Hill 3770 |
Take A Step Over |
● CD $14.98 |
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| DAN CRARY |
Sugar Hill 3806 |
Bluegrass Guitar |
● CD $14.98 |
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| DAN CRARY |
Sugar Hill 3824 |
Jammed If I Do |
● CD $14.98 |
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| SLIM CRITCHLOW |
Arhoolie 479 |
Cowboy Songs - The Crooked Trail To Holbrook |
● CD $12.98 |
Reissue of Arhoolie 5007 with 9 previously unissued cuts.
Authentic cowboy singer doing songs that date mostly from the late 19th
century - The Crooked Trail To Holbrook/ Forty A Month And Found/ Windy
Bill/ I'd Like To Be In Texas/ Driftin' Cowboy/ The Old Cowboy/ Strawberry
Roan/ The Wild BuckarooJohn Garner's Trail herd, etc.
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| J.D. CROWE &
THE NEW SOUTH |
Rounder 0044 |
J.D. Crowe & The New South |
● CD $14.98 |
Their phenomenal Rounder debut from 1975, featuring Skaggs,
Douglas, and Rice. Considered one of [the] most influential LPs of the
decade.
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| DICK CURLESS |
Bear Family BCD 15882 |
A Tombstone Every Mile |
● CD $169.98 |
7 discs, 189 tracks, recommended. Few paid Dick Curless any
mind in the early 90's. He was still working shows around the country, and
in 1994 recorded a new album for Rounder. That album, the acclaimed
"Traveling Through", appeared in the spring of 1995, shortly
after Curless's untimely death from cancer. The new album renewed interest
in Maine's best-known country singer, long stereotyped as a singer of
trucker songs. This set takes care of the first 16 years of Curless's
career, starting with his earliest recordings in 1950. Also included are
half a dozen examples of his live performances as the The Rice Paddy
Ranger over Armed Forces Radio in Korea after he was drafted. By and
large, his mid-to-late fifties Event recordings (with a young Lenny Breau
picking juicy lead guitar) showed Curless's growing talent. Many of these
recordings, originally done for Maine's Event Records a decade before his
1965 trucker hit A Tombstone Every Mile a Dan Fulkerson composition
about a treacherous stretch of Maine highway. Originally issued on the
Maine-based Allagash label, its success landed him a contract with Tower,
a subsidiary label of Capitol. Capitol also bought the Curless Event
material and later released it on Tower LPs. Less consistent were his
later recordings for Tiffany (some also reissued on Tower). Associated for
a time with Buck Owens, Curless recorded a duet LP with obscure singer Kay
Adams and a solo LP including The Baron, (his nickname) and
stunning versions of Merle Haggard's House of Memories and All
of Me Belongs to You. The set, produced with the Curless family's
blessing, features excellent notes by Kevin Coffey. (RK)
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