|
COUNTRY,
BLUEGRASS & OLD-TIMEY
Foy
Willing -> Tammy Wynette
| FOY
WILLING & THE RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE |
Cattle 215 |
Trail Herdin' Cowboy |
● CD $18.98 |
20 tracks from late 40s radio transcriptions.
FOY WILLING & RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE: Among My Souvenirs/ Avalon
(instrumental)/ Blue Shadows On The Trail/ Brush Those Tears From Your
Eyes/ California/ Divorce Me C.o.d./ Goin‘ Down The Road Feelin‘ Bad/
Holiday For The Blues/ I Cried Myself To Sleep Over You/ Missouri Waltz
(hush-a-bye Ma Baby)/ Oregon/ Red River Valley/ Ridin‘ Down That Old
Texas Trail/ Song Of The Sierras/ Texas Blues/ Trail Herdin‘ Cowboy/
Wait‘ll I Get My Sunshine In The Moonlight/ Where The Cool Clear Water
Spills./ Where The Mountains Meet The Sky/ You Can‘t Be True Dear
|
| FOY
WILLING & THE RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE |
Cattle 216 |
The Timber Trail |
● CD $18.98 |
|
FOY WILLING & RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE: Ages And Ages Ago/ Anytime/
At The Rainbow‘s End/ Everything‘s Goin‘ My Way/ Have I Told You
Lately (that I Love You)/ Home On The Range/ I Still Do/ I Wonder Where
You Are Tonight/ I‘ll Have Somebody Else/ I‘ll Hold You In My Heart/
Lay Your Little Head On My Shoulder/ Managua, Nicaragua/ Midnight
Masquerade/ Moonlight On The Prairie/ My Adobe Hacienda/ Nellie Bly/ On
The Old Spanish Trail/ The Timber Trail/ Trail To Mexico/ When The White
Roses Bloom (in Red River Valley)
|
| KELLY WILLIS |
MCA 10141 |
Bang Bang |
● CD $9.98 |
Incredible followup to her 1990 debut, "Well-Traveled
Love", which featured her band, Radio Ranch. This one's done with
Nashville pickers (though good ones) and on most tracks, her drummer, Mas
Palermo, who's also a promising songwriter. The results, because of good
material and Willis's voice (sexy even when it roars) are stunning. She
takes on Steve Earle's "Too Late to Turn Back Now" and Joe Ely's
"Settle For Love" with ease. She even takes the title track, the
1958 Janis Martin rock anthem, and does a version that, for my money, has
a lot of the true rockabilly spontanaiety Martin's lacked. "Standing
By the River" combines a swing beat, Willis's ripsaw delivery and
fantastic work from the album's other star Rodney Crowell's guitar player
Steuart Smith, whose work throughout the album is awe-inspiring. With only
one loser, the pretentious and overlong "Not Afraid of The
Dark," the result is a triumph and then some, largely because Willis
has a quirkness that's endearing, exciting and innovative. (RK)
|
| THE WILLIS BROTHERS |
Deluxe 7809 |
24 Great Truck Driving Songs |
● CD $8.98 |
24 trucking songs from the mid/late 60s by this fine and
long lived family group (they backed Hank Williams on his first
recordings). Includes their hit Give Me Forty Acres (To Turn This Rig
Around) plus The Old Sleeper Cab/ It's The Miles/ Rye Whiskey/
Drivin's In My Blood/ Ode To Big Joe/ Long Haul Weekend/ The Only Shoulder
(A Trucker Can Cry On)/ Moonlight Ride In A Diesel, etc.
|
| BILLY JACK WILLS |
Joaquin 2503 |
Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing
Band |
● CD $14.98 |
19 tracks, 46 min. essential It's been 14 years since this
groundbreaking set appeared on the defunct Western label created a stir.
This wasn't Bob Wills's swing, but a next- generation style that took into
account such postwar phenomena as bebop and urban jump blues. The band,
based at Bob Wills's Wills Point Ballroom in Sacramento, owned the town
before Bob snatched it away in 1954. They recorded for 4-Star, but nothing
there matched this material, recorded to fill in on the band's daily KFBK
radio show when they were out of town. With Billy Jack and Tiny Moore
vocalising (Tiny doing the lion's share here), and Tiny using the
arranging skills he'd learned in the Texas Playboys, they created synergy
with steel guitar kid whiz Vance Terry that drove the band as hard as
Billy Jack's drumming. The numbers here have an unrelenting energy, from Lonesome
Hearted Blues and an instrumental version of the old big-band fave Dipsy
Doodle that sounds even better here though George Morrow's capable
remastering than it did on the first album. Tiny does Willie Mabon's I
Don't Know proud and such big band chestnuts as Tuxedo Junction,
Summit Ridge Drive and C Jam Blues let the band stretch out.
The album has one track from the second BJ Wills Western LP (Steel Guitar
Stomp) and two unheard gems. Billy Jack's Get Along Home Cindy
takes another old Playboy favorite in different directions and Caravan,
propelled by Dick McComb's hot trumpet, are worthy additions. Rich
Kienzle's original liner notes have been expanded and updated.
Now, all Joaquin, home of Ray Condo and one of the hottest new labels on
the West Coast for a long time, has to do is give us an expanded version
of "Crazy, Man, Crazy!" the second Billy Jack LP, and all will
be well. (AK)
BILLY JACK WILLS: Air Mail Special/ Basin Street Blues/ Blue Guitar Stomp/
C Jam Blues/ Caravan/ Dipsy Doodle/ Get Along Home Cindy/ I Don't Know/
Johnson Rag/ Lonesome Hearted Blues/ Mr. Cotton Picker/ Roch City Boogie/
St. Louis Blues/ Steel Guitar Stomp/ Summit Ridge Drive/ Teardrops From My
Eyes/ Tuxedo Junction/ Twin Guitar Special/ Woodchopper's Ball
|
| BILLY JACK WILLS |
Joaquin 2505 |
Crazy Man Crazy |
● CD $14.98 |
Long awaited second collection from Joaquin. Originally
issued on Western in 1983 this CD has two additional cuts and has been
newly remastered. It features early 50s radio transcriptions with Wills/
vocals, Tiny Moore/ vocals, electric mandolin and fiddle, Vance Terry/
steel guitar and others. Some exciting performances, leaning more to
rockers. Their version of Crazy, Man Crazy equals Bill Haley's,
with much more sophisticated musicianship.
|
| BOB WILLS
& HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS |
ASV CDAJA 5250 |
The King Of Western Swing |
● CD $11.98 |
25 tracks covering the period 1935 to 1945.
BOB WILLS & THE TEXAS PLAYBOYS: Big Beaver/ Bob Wills Special/
Corrine, Corrina/ Dusty Skies/ Fan It/ Goodbye, Liza Jane/ Home In San
Antone/ I'm Feelin Bad/ Lone Star Rag/ Never No More Hard Times Blues/ New
San Antonio Rose/ New Spanish Two Step/ Osage Stomp/ Right Or Wrong/ Roly
Poly/ Stay A Little Longer/ Steel Guitar Rag/ Sugar Blues/ Take Me Back To
Tulsa/ Texas Playboy Rag/ That's What I Like About The South/ Time Changes
Everything/ We Might As Well Forget It/ Whoa Baby/ You're From Texas
|
| BOB WILLS |
Bear Family BCD 15689 |
The Longhorn Recordings |
● CD $21.98 |
23 tracks, 60 min., good. Bob Wills recorded 23 songs for
the Longhorn label in 1964, all of which are included here. The best songs
here are 12 traditional fiddle tunes, with Bob on fiddle, Luke Wills on
bass, Marvin Montgomery on banjo, and C.G. "Sleepy" Johnson on
guitar. It sounds like Bob sittin' on his porch playing with his buddies,
quite a radical departure from the big band style of the Texas Playboys.
This recording also includes all the studio chatter, which is actually
pretty interesting. The remainder of the disc consists of fairly typical
Wills' material with Joe Andrews handling the vocals. Some of these 23
tunes were originally issued as singles, and all of them (except for You'll
Never Walk Out On My Heart) were re-issued on Longhorn LPs in the
early eighties. This material is far from Wills' best, but it is
worthwhile. (PG)
|
| BOB WILLS |
Bear Family BCD 15933 |
San Antonio Rose |
● CD $299.98 |
Bear Family has finally issued it's long awaited comprehensive reissue of
Bob Wills Columbia recordings. It's one of Bear Family's best boxes yet featuring 11 CDs, a DVD (yes a
DVD!), an enormous hard bound book with extensive notes, discography, rare
photos and other memorabilia. There are 305 tracks in all which includes
Bob's first recordings for Bluebird with Milton Brown and others as The
Forth Worth Doughboys, all his Vocalion, Okeh and Columbia recordings, two
CDs worth of unissued tunes and alternate takes and five rare radio
airshots from 1944/45. The DVD features the movie "Take Me Back To
Oklahoma" and other goodies. According to sources who have heard the
set the sound quality is absolutely breathtaking with a clarity to the
instrumental work that sheds new light on the recordings. The book with
extensive notes by Wills expert Rich Kienzle has lots of new information,
rare photos and other memorabilia and newly researched discography by Bob
Pinson.
|
| BOB WILLS |
Capitol 28331 |
For The Last Time |
● CD $11.98 |
|
BOB WILLS: A Big Ball in Cowtown/ Baby, That Would Sure Go Good/ Blue
Bonnet Lane/ Bubbles in My Beer/ Comin' Down from Denver/ Crippled Turkey/
Faded Love/ Goin' Away Party/ I Can't Go on This Way/ I Wonder If You Feel
the Way I Do/ Keeper of My Heart/ Milk Cow Blues/ Miss Molly/ My Shoes
Keep Walking Back to You/ Playboy Theme/ San Antonio Rose/ She's Really
Gone/ Silver Lake Blues/ Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)/ That's
What I Like About the South/ Twin Guitar Boogie/ What Makes Bob Holler/
When You Leave Amarillo (Turn off the Lights)/ Yearning (Just for You)
|
| BOB WILLS |
Columbia CK 37468 |
Columbia Historic Edition |
● CD $11.98 |
A diverse selection of 10 sides from 1936 to 1947- two cuts
previously unissued - personnel include Tommy Duncan, Jesse Ashlock, Leon
McAuliffe, Johnny Lee Wills, Al Stricklin, Eldon Shamblin, Millard Kelso,
Billy Jack Wills, Tiny Moore and other great musicians - a must!
BOB WILLS: Away Out There/ Cherokee Maiden/ Cotton Eyed Joe/ Cowboy Stomp/
Dusty Skies/ I Ain't Got Nobody/ Lyla Lou/ My Life's Been a Pleasure/
Please Don't Leave Me/ Right or Wrong
|
| BOB WILLS |
Country Routes 21 |
Harmony Airshots 1953 |
● CD $16.98 |
26 tracks, 73 mins, recommended Expanded version of Country
Routes 9004 this features excerpts from five radio shows brodcast over
KXLA in Pasadena in 1953 plus one track from an unknown radio show in
Fresno in 1946. The musical performances are interesting if not among
Bob's best. By this time, vocalist Tommy Duncan had left the band; here
the vocals are shared by Bob himself, steel player Billy Bowman, fiddler
Bill Choate, bassist Jack Loyd, girl singer Louise Rowe, and Eldon
Shamblin, who also adds his great electric guitar. There are two versions
each of San Antonio Rose/ Yearnin', fiddle tunes like Billy In
The Low Ground/ Draggin' The Bow, covers of hit tunes of the day like Jambalaya/
Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes, a nice In The Mood and
standard Playboys fare like Faded Love/ Dusty Skies/ Silver Bells.
There is a guest appearance by Patsy Montana who sings Texas Plains.
Sound quality is not exceptional but is certainly acceptable. (RP/FS)
|
| BOB WILLS |
Country Routes 24 |
Rare California Airshots |
● CD $16.98 |
|
BOB WILLS: 31st Street Blues/ Basin Street Blues/ Cherokee Maiden/ Crafton
Blues/ Darktown Strutters' Ball/ Darling, Precious Little Sonny Boy/ Don't
Cry Baby/ Honeysuckle Rose/ I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues/ I Betcha My
Heart I Love You/ I'll Walk Alone/ It Makes No Difference Now/ Jessie/
Milk Cow Blues/ Miss Molly/ New San Antonio Rose/G.I. Wish/ No Wonder/
Oklahoma Hills/ Rubber Dolly/ Seven Come Eleven/ Seven Miles Out Of Town/
Take Me Back To Tulsa/ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/ When They Baptiste
Sister Lucy Lee
|
| BOB WILLS |
Curb 77389 |
Greatest Hits |
● CD $10.98 |
| A collection of 11 tracks drawn from MGM, Kapp & Liberty
- Faded Love/ Keeper Of My Heart/ New San Antonio Rose/ Across The
Alley From The Alamo/ Heart To Heart Talk/ Ida Red, etc.
|
| BOB WILLS
& HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS |
Fremeaux & Associates 164 |
Anthology, 1932-1947 |
● CD $29.98 |
Two CD set.
BOB WILLS: Beaumont Rag/ Bring It On Down To My House/ Corrine Corrina/
Cowboy Stomp./ Get With It/ Home In San Antone/ I Wonder If You Feel The
Way I Do/ Ida Red/ Little Liza Jane/ Milk Cow Blues/ My Little Cherokee
Maiden/ Never No More Blues/ Never No More Hard Time Blues/ New Roly Poly/
New San Antonio Rose/ Oozlin' Daddy Blues/ Osage Stomp/ Playboy Stomp/
Pray For The Lights To Go Out/ Sittin' On Top Of The World/ Spanish
Two-step/ Stay A Little Longer/ Steel Guitar Rag/ Steel Guitar Stomp/
Sunbonnet Sue/ Swinging The Blues/ T For Texas (blue Yodel # 1)/ Take Me
Back To Tulsa/ Take The "a" Train/ Texas Playboy Rag/ That's
What I Like About The South/ Time Changes Everything/ Twin Guitar Special/
What's The Matter With The Mill?/ White Heat/ Who Walks In When I Walk
Out?
|
| BOB WILLS |
MCA 5917 |
The Best Of Bob Wills |
● CD $6.98 |
CD issue of MCA 153. Don't be fooled by the title - these
are hardly Bob's best and don't feature the Texas Playboys. These are a
dozen of Bob's best done for Kapp, 1966-69, his last recordings before his
stroke in May '69, done with huge orchestras of Nashville sessionmen.
Sound quality is excellent, performances professional, playing time is
less than a half hour. Good liner notes by Rich Kienzle - San Antonio
Rose/ Deep In The Heart Of Texas/ Big Balls In Cowtown/ Pan Handle Rag
(GM)
|
| BOB WILLS |
MCA 10547 |
Country Music Hall Of Fame Series |
● CD $7.98 |
Available again at a budget price. Wills's career was on a
downhill slide when he signed with Decca in 1956 as Western Swing was
waning in popularity and he found it harder to hire good musicians. Not
surprisingly, MCA's Wills package reflects this ennui throughout in both
the Decca and Kapp selections. Get beyond the straight- ahead honkytonker It's
the Bottle Talkin and the Bill Haleyish So Let's Rock both
included here, were worthwhile. The Playboys were, with a couple
exceptions, incredibly mediocre. Fast forward to the mid-sixties. Bob no
longer led the Playboys when he signed with Kapp but recorded in Nashville
with big bands made up of top studio pickers. The music was good when he
brought a few musicians from Texas, because though many Nashville
musicians were Wills fans, they couldn't play his music right. They often
sounded like a marching band. Of the Kapp sides here, only Big Balls in
Cowtown (originally written and recorded by Texas fiddler-bandleader
Hoyle Nix) sounds at all like Wills. Bob didn't like the Kapp stuff much
himself. He once told his biographer Charles Townsend, that damn bunch in
Nashville just ruins my music. And the few other Kapp recordings of merit
aren't here. There's more Bob Wills material in print now than there ever
was when he was alive, and musically, most of it is head and shoulders
above any of this. (RK)
|
| BOB WILLS |
MCA 170117 |
Best Of - The Millenium Collection |
● CD $11.98 |
|
BOB WILLS: Across from the Alamo/ Bob's Breakdown/ Bubbles in My Beer/
Cadillac in Model 'A'/ Cherokee Maiden/ Faded Love/ Keeper of My Heart/
Lone Star Rag/ Milk Cow Blues/ New San Antonio Rose/ New Spanish Two-Step/
Time Changes Everything
|
| BOB WILLS |
Proper BOX 32 |
Take Me Back To Tulsa |
● CD $25.98 |
Four CD retrospective featuring 109 of the best
recordings made by Wills & The Texas Playboys between 1932 and 1950.
Includes 52 page booklet with extensive notes, discographical info and
rare photos.
BOB WILLS: A good man is hard to find/ A little bit of boogie/ Along the
Navajo trail/ At the woodchoppers' ball/ Baby won't you please come home/
Basin street blues/ Beaumont rag/ Betcha my heart/ Big beaver/ Black
rider/ Blue yodel no. 1/ Blues for dixie/ Bluin' the blues/ Bob Wills
boogie/ Bob Wills special/ Boot heel drag/ Brain cloudy blues/ Bubbles in
my beer/ Can't get enough of Texas/ Carolina in the morning/ Cherokee
maiden/ China town/ Corrine Corrina/ Cotton eyed Joe/ Cotton patch blues/
Cowboy stomp/ Crazy rhythm/ Deep water/ Dinah/ Don't be ashamed of your
age/ Don't let the deal go down/ Dusty skies/ Faded love/ Fan it/ Fat boy
rag/ Frankie Jean/ Get with it/ Goodbye Liza Jane/ Hawaiian war chant/
Home in San Antone/ I ain't got nobody/ I didn't realise/ I knew the
moment I lost you/ I laugh when I think how I cried over you/ I wonder if
you feel the way I do/ I'll be lucky someday/ I'm a ding dong daddy/ I'm
feelin' bad/ Ida Red likes to boogie/ Jolie Blon likes the boogie/ Just a
plain old country boy/ Keeper of my heart/ Liberty/ Little cowboy lament/
Lone star rag/ Maiden's prayer/ Milk cow blues/ Miss Molly/ My confession/
My gal Sal/ My life's been a pleasure/ My window faces south/ Nancy Jane/
Never no more hard time blues/ New San Antonio rose/ New Spanish two step/
No matter how she done it/ Oklahoma rag/ Oozlin' daddy blues/ Osage stomp/
Playboy stomp/ Please don't leave me/ Pray for the lights to go out/
Prosperity special/ Red hot gal of mine/ Red river valley/ Rock-a-bye baby
blues/ Roly poly/ San Antonio rose/ Silver bells/ Smith's reel/ Spanish
two step/ Stay a little longer/ Steel guitar rag/ Sugar blues/ Sugar moon/
Sunbonnet Sue/ Sweet Jennie Lee/ Swing blues no. 1/ Take me back to Tulsa/
Takin' it home/ Texas playboy rag/ That's what I like about the South/ The
end of the line/ The girl I left behind/ The waltz you saved for me/
There's no disappointment in heaven/ Thorn in my heart/ Time changes
everything/ Too busy/ Twin guitar special/ Twinkle twinkle little star/ We
might as well forget it/ Weary of the same ol' stuff/ What's the matter
with the mill/ Who walks in when I walk out/ Whoa baby/ You're from Texas/
You're okay
|
| BOB WILLS
& THE TEXAS PLAYBOYS |
Rhino 70744 |
Anthology, 1935-73 |
● CD $29.98 |
2 CD compilation of the all-time essential Bob Wills
material from Columbia, MGM, Tiffany, Liberty and United Artists. This is
the first time such a collection has been attempted and Rhino has done an
outstanding job. All the original versions of such Wills classics as
"Steel Guitar Rag," "Time Changes Everything,"
"Big Beaver," "Home in San Antone," "Miss
Molly," "Home in San Antone," "Deep Water,"
"Right or Wrong," "My Confession," "Cherokee
Maiden" and others from Columbia. From the Tiffany Transcriptions
come the 1947 "Three Guitar Special," an adaptation of
"Twin Guitar Special" spotlighting guitarist Eldon Shamblin,
steel guitarist Herb Remington and mandolinist Tiny Moore, "Basin
Street Blues," "South" and the original version of
"Fat Boy Rag" featuring Junior Barnard on screaming lead guitar.
From the late forties MGM period come "Bubbles in my Beer,"
"Boot Heel Drag," "St. Louis Blues" and the original
1950 version of "Faded Love." From Liberty comes Bob's last hit
single "Heart to Heart Talk" (with Tommy Duncan) and from the
1973 FOR THE LAST TIME sessions, "Blue Bonnet Lane" and
"What Makes Bob Holler," recorded the day before Bob had the
final stroke. Excellent sound by Bob Fisher, complete discographical data
including recording dates and personnel and fine notes by Rich Kienzle
that cover both Wills's life and the songs equally well. Did you know, for
example, that Wills's first producer Art Satherley rejected "Steel
Guitar Rag" at the first Playboys session in 1935? I didn't. (AK)
BOB WILLS: Basin Street Blues/ Big Beaver/ Blue Bonnet Lane/ Blues For
Dixie/ Boot Heel Drag/ Bubbles In My Beer/ Cadillac In Model
"a"/ Cherokee/ Corrine, Corrina/ Cotton Patch Blues/ Deep Water/
Faded Love/ Fat Boy Rag/ Heart To Heart Talk/ Home In San Antone/ Jobob
Rag/ Maiden/ Maiden's Prayer/ Miss Molly/ My Confession/ My Window Faces
The South/ New San Antonio Rose/ Right Or Wrong/ Roly Poly/ South/ St.
Louis Blues/ Stay A Little Longer/ Steel Guitar Rag/ Take Me Back To
Tulsa/ Texas Playboy Rag/ Three Guitar Special/ Time Changes Everything/
What Makes Bob Holler
|
| BOB WILLS |
Rounder 1145 |
Take Me Back To Tulsa |
● CD $15.98 |
The first of three volumes to feature a small sampling of
some of the best and most popular sides by this great Western Swing
bandleader and his Texas Playboys pioneer recorded for Columbia in the 30s
and 40 including hits, blues, hoedowns, waltzes and pop song all given the
distinctive Wills touch. This volume features songs and tunes like Take
Me Back To Tulsa/ Away Out There/ Osage Stomp/ Blue Bonnet Lane/ Basin
Street Blues/ San Antonio Rose/ Got A Letter From My Kid/ My Window Faces
The South and others. There are vocals from Wills, the great Tommy
Duncan and Leon Huff with stellar instrumental work from the likes of
Louis Tierney, Leon McAuliffe, Alton Stricklin, Johnny Lee Wills, Jesse
Ashlock, Smokey Dacus, Zeb McNally, Eldon Shamblin and others. 20 page
booklet with informative notes by Dick Spottswood.
BOB WILLS: Away Out There/ Basin Street Blues/ Beaumont Rag/ Blue Bonnet
Lane/ Blue Yodel No.1/ Crippled Turkey/ Got A Letter From My Kid/ I'm A
Ding Dong Daddy/ My Life's Been A Pleasure/ My Window Faces The South/
Osage Stomp/ San Antonio Rose/ Spanish Two Step/ Take Me Back To Tulsa/
Ten Years/ William Tell
|
| BOB WILLS |
Rounder 1146 |
Stay A Little Longer |
● CD $15.98 |
The second Rounder collection drawn from recordings made for
Columbia by this great Western Swing group.
BOB WILLS: Home In San Antone/ I Ain't Got Nobody/ I Wonder If You Feel
The Way I Do/ I'll See You In My Dreams/ Mean Mama Blues/ New Worried
Mind/ Silver Bells/ Sittin' On Top Of The World/ Stay A Little Longer/
Steel Guitar Rag/ That Brownskin Gal/ The Waltz You Saved For Me/ There's
Going To Be A Party/ Time Changes Everything/ Trouble In Mind/ Who Walks
In When I Walk Out
|
| JOHNNY LEE WILLS |
Krazy Kat 18 |
The Band's A Rockin' |
● CD $16.98 |
27 tracks, essential It's funny Bear Family never bothered
doing anything with Johnnie Lee Wills aside from his pretty uneven
recordings for RCA Victor. Perhaps recognizing that deficiency, Krazy Kat
has reissued his complete 1941-1951 Decca and Bullet sides, including with
his still-awesome 1941 Milk Cow Blues sung by Cotton Thompson and
Junior Barnard on guitar, as well as Memories of You. The
half-dozen Decca sides he made in 1947, somewhat weaker, with Leon Huff on
vocals, show a band not as good as the earlier group, and certainly
inferior to the 1949-1951 Bullets, the best known being his original song Rag
Mop, that became a big pop hit for the Ames Brothers in 1950. To the
label's credit, they omitted another Wills original, the syrupy kiddie
Easter tune Peter Cottontail, and focused instead on the good stuff
like Boogie Woogie Highball Tom Cat Boogie, Coyote Blues
and Levee Blues. Collector Dave Sax's notes are competent though
sound quality is disappointing. (RK)
|
| MAC WISEMAN |
Bear Family BCD 15694 |
Teenage Hangout |
● CD $21.98 |
30 tracks, 70 min., recommended. Wiseman perfected his craft
in the forties, playing with Molly O'Day, Flatt and Scruggs, and Bill
Monroe. Best known as a bluegrass artist with a clear tenor voice, this
set collects sides cut for Dot between 1955-60, when the label was
"encouraging" its roster to record R&B and rock 'n' roll
tunes--who can forget Pat Boone's Tutti Frutti? The results were
pretty satisfying, as Wiseman somehow always manages to sound good.
Besides, he never really gives up his bluegrass intentions; that's why his
cover of the Smiley Lewis hit I Hear You Knockin' features a
fiddle. And the weirdest thing about it is, it sounds like it belongs
there. The unissued title track is Mac doing rock with a bass slap's worth
of billy, and though it's just fine, he sounds happier on Be Good Baby/
Ballad Of Davy Crockett/ Camptown Races. (JC)
|
| MAC WISEMAN |
CMH 9001 |
The Mac Wiseman Story |
● CD $15.98 |
20 tracks, 56 minutes, recommended Possessors of one of the
most clear and mellow tenors in bluegrass, Mac Wiseman has been highly
popular performer and recording artist for decades. He's somewhat unusual
in that he has always avoided the harmonized vocals that are such a part
of this music, preferring to sing alone and keep a separate identity not
associated with a particular group. He's sung with the best of them
however, starting out with Molly O'Day in the 1940's and later Bill
Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and the Osbourne Brothers. These mid 70's
recordings are a career retrospect of sorts. Mac gives his distinctive
touch to old chestnuts like Love Letters in the Sand, The Wreck
of the Old 97, May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister, and Jimmy
Brown the Newsboy. Also included are Wiseman originals like The
Ballad of the Lawson Family, Remembering, and Tis Sweet to
be Remembered. Some of the material comes across as overly sentimental
and cloying at times, as on Being Mary Home but there's no denying
Wiseman's power and his genuine feel for the material. He's accompanied by
Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith who also produced the album and
other members of the Shenandoah Cutups including Clarence "Tator"
Tate on fiddle and Billy Edwards on banjo. (DP)
|
| WOODSTOCK MOUNTAINS |
Rounder 11520 |
Music From Mud Acres |
● CD $14.98 |
Tracks from four Rounder albums are collected on this
CD-only compilation. With Eric Andersen, Rory Block, Paul Butterfield,
Bill Keith, Maria Muldaur, John Sebastian, Happy & Artie Traum and
more. 22 selections.
|
| SHEB WOOLEY |
Bear Family BCD 15899 |
Rawhide/ How The West Was Won |
● CD $21.98 |
Two 60s Western LPs on one CD.
|
| SHEB WOOLEY |
Bear Family BCD 15902 |
That's My Pa |
● CD $99.98 |
4 CD set set of sides from 1945 to 1972.
|
| JIMMY WORK |
Bear Family BCD 15651 |
Making Believe |
● CD $41.98 |
2 CDs. 126 mins, recommended This revised edition of Bear
Family's two Work LPs includes all the material from those two discs,
plus, for the first time on CD, all of his other recorded output for a
variety of small labels like Trophy, Alben, Bullet and London. This gives
a complete overview of Work's career from 1945-1959. The original 1948
Alben release of Tennessee Border is here, as are the excellent,
witty and proudly hillbilly London recordings from 1950-51 like Pickup
Truck, Southern Fried Chicken and the original Let's Live A Little,
written by Jimmy and his wife and later Carl Smith's first hit. Aside from
Work's best known material, Making Believe and That's What Makes
the Jukebox Play, the quality of his records varied. Though a few
numbers like Mr. and Mrs. Cloud were simply stupid, most of the
others like Blind Heart and Digging My Own Grave from Dot
deserved more exposure than they ever got. Rich Kienzle expanded on his
original liner notes for both sets, and the new booklet features much in
the way of photos and old advertisements not included on the LPs. (AK)
|
| TAMMY WYNETTE |
Columbia 66018 |
Stand By Your Man |
● CD $11.98 |
Includes two previously unissued tracks.
|
| TAMMY WYNETTE |
Epic 40625 |
Twenty Years Of Hits |
● CD $11.98 |
This is a fine re-release (originally a two LP set) covering the greatest hits of
Tammy Wynette's career. 20 songs in all, including Stand By Your Man/
D.I.V.O.R.C.E./ I Don't Want To Play House/ Singing My Song and too
many others to list. Also three with George Jones, Two Story House/
We're Gonna Hold On/ Golden Ring. A good selection of songs, crystal
clear sound, an essential country disc. (PG)
|
Back To Country Music Index
|
