[This piece updated with new content in 2024]
LINK to companion piece –
Bobby Smith’s King Productions 1966-1973
Ruppli‘s King Labels discography is a 2-volume reference set that can be hard to make sense of initially, given all the subsidiary labels and various quirks in its numbering systems, among other things.
Volume 1 features information pertaining to all the releases on the King label from 1943 to 1973, with a great many of these recordings laid down at King‘s Cincinnati studios. It can be great fun to browse chronologically in order to determine whether any recording took place on the birthdate of someone you know, such as family members and friends. At first I was disappointed to find out that no King artists were laying down any new sounds on the day I was born — at least, in Cincinnati.
Page 470 concludes the post-Syd Nathan Starday-King era, with a listing for a Nashville session that took place on September 23, 1973 by a group called The B.K.‘s [Bob Kames + company], with only one song recorded “Choo Choo Choo” (the B-side of King 6426 — a 45 that appears never to have been issued). However, pages 471-476 list a King 16000 master series of recordings that took place in Los Angeles between the years 1961-1963 (sessions with Johnny Otis and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, et al., including “Gangster of Love“).
But the real kicker is this announcement near the bottom of page 476:
“Note: Series discontinued and resumed later in Macon, Ga.”
Volume 1, thus, ends with four pages of King recording sessions between the years 1963-1965 that took place in Macon, Georgia at Bobby Smith Studios (and therefore serve as the “missing link” to all the later work* highlighted in last October’s celebration, “Bobby Smith’s King Productions“). So, today I decided to browse these pages with a certain date in mind, and wouldn’t you know it: The Fabulous Denos recorded two songs with Bobby Smith at the helm [“Once I Had a Love” & “Bad Girl“] on the day of my birth!
“Bad Girl“
The Fabulous Denos (1964)
“Bad Girl” – the featured song in this King history piece – served as the B-side of a single released in June, 1964.
Tip of the hat (again) to 45Cat contributor davie gordon for this snippet from Billboard‘s August 22, 1964 edition that shows “Bad Girl” to be a ‘R&B Regional Breakout’ for the urban centers of Atlanta and Cleveland, the city where my dad would relocate by decade’s end — foreshadowing?
*
Thomas Goodwin very helpfully clarifies [in this companion piece] that “there were two Bobby Smith studios in Macon — the first in downtown Macon, and the second in the East Macon suburb on Millerfield Rd.” The Macon Telegraph‘s December 27, 1964 edition reports that the Macon Recording Studio “is a branch of King Recording Company.”
Bobby Smith – Macon Recording Studio
The Macon Telegraph
Sep. 20, 1964
This second Millerfield Road location, as Goodwin can tell you from professional experience, enjoyed the services of the following musical and production staff:
Thomas Goodwin – keyboards/brass
Calvin Arline – bass/flute
Emil Handke – drums
Stanley Kimball – guitar
Julian Spark(e)s – brass/arranger
Guy McCloskey – engineer/partner
Bobby Smith – producer/partner/principal
These names can all be found listed, Goodwin notes, in the musician credits for David Anderson‘s 1971 King LP, Children Of The Mist.
Bobby Smith had a special publishing arrangement with King Records, as evidenced by the tag “Boblo” that appears as the publishing name on the majority of Smith’s productions for King during this early-to-mid 60s period. Boblo, furthermore, is the same name given Smith’s own Macon-based record label that was extant in the 1960s and 70s.
“A Bobby Smith Production“
‘Contemporary disc about a boy going to war’
Macon Telegraph – Mar. 19, 1967
*
Bobby Smith’s King Productions = 1963-1965
Info from Michel Ruppli’s The King Labels: A Discography
<click on song titles below for streaming audio (where available)>
Bobby Lee Smith (recorded c. Dec. 1963)
I’m Gonna Put You Down
Have You Any Love
Searching For Your Love [unissued]
Summer Love [unissued]
Sides “leased” to King, says Ruppli
[Also issued on Macon-based indie, Deck]
Note: Bobby Lee is a cousin of Bobby Smith, per Thomas Goodwin
Bobby Cash (recorded c. Dec. 1963)
“Boblo”
Only Make Believe [King 5864]
Run, Fool, Run [King 5864]
Bobby Leeds (recorded c. Dec. 1963)
Suicide (penned by Ray Whitely) [King 5841]
Twirl Away Tena [King 5841]
Both sides “leased” to King, says Ruppli
Richie Kall (rec. Jan. 11, 1964)
She’s Found Somebody New [King 5857]
King Lover [King 5888]
Come On Let’s Sing [King 5888]
Carl Thomas (rec. Jan. 11, 1964)
Off Beat Boogie [unissued]
Just Shuckin’ [unissued]
*
Ba Ba Thomas (rec. Jan. 11, 1964)
In My Heart [King 5858]
(Why Don’t You) Leave It Alone [King 5858]
Miss Shake It [King 5889]
Love Can’t Be Beat [King 5889]
Sam Anderson & the Telstars (c. Jan. 1964)
Standing at the Edge of the Sea [King 5855]
Back on the Block [King 5855]
[Also issued on Macon-based indie, Deck]
Wayne Cochran (c. Jan. 1964)
Last Kiss [King 5856]
I Dreamed, I Gambled, I Lost [King 5856]
The Coo [King 5874]
Cindy Marie [King 5874]
Alice Rozier (rec. Mar. 16, 1964)
My Candy Man [King 5896]
George, BB, and Roy [King 5896]
I Love You a Bushel and a Peck [unissued]
Love Me Like I Love You [unissued]
Eddie Kirk (rec. Mar. 17, 1964)
Let Me Walk With You [King 5895]
Monkey Tonight [King 5895]
I Just Want to Be Loved [unissued]
Mary [unissued]
James Duncan [& The Duncan Trio] (c. Mar. 1964)
Here Comes Charlie [King 5887]
My Pillow Stays Wet [King 5887]
“R&B Novelty“
Everybody Needs Somebody to Love [King 5923]
I’ll Be Gone [King 5923]
Billy Soul (rec. Mar. 19, 1964)
My Darlin’ Honey Baby [King 5929]
Big Balls of Fire [King 5929]
She’s Gone (Pt. 1 & Pt. 2) [King 5904]
So Many People [unissued]
C.V. Williams (rec. Mar. 19, 1964)
I’ve Lost the Only One [unissued]
My Once-a-Week Love [unissued]
*
Bobby Leeds (rec. Mar. 22, 1964)
I’m Through, I’m Gone, I’m Free [King 5903]
Big Brick Wall [King 5903]
Nothing Too Good for You [King 5928]
When I Fell [King 5928]
King Keels (rec. Apr. 4, 1964)
Wondering, Wondering, Wondering [King 5969]
I Hear Love Bells [King 5969]
James Styles (rec. Apr. 4, 1964)
Sweeter Than a Flower [unissued]
I’m on My Way [unissued]
*
Bobby Cash (rec. Apr. 12, 1964)
I Don’t Need Your Love and Kisses [King 5894]
Answer to My Dreams [King 5894]
Dennis Wheeler (rec. Apr. 12, 1964)
Down in Daytona [King 5898]
Rock Bottom [King 5898]
The Fabulous Denos (rec. Apr. 1964)
Once I Had a Love [King 5908]
Oscar Toney Jr. (& The Kayos Band) (rec. Apr. 19, 1964)
You’re Going to Need Me [King 5906]
Can It All Be Love [King 5906]
[Kayos Band personnel (per Michel Ruppli)]
Hal Mitchell (possibly) – trumpet
Sonny Williams – tenor sax
Bobby Robinson – tenor sax
Joe Williams – electric guitar
David Trice – electric bass
Horace Hewley – drums
Bennie Anderson and the Teals (rec. Apr. 28, 1964)
Little School Girl [King 5893]
Sugar Girl [King 5893]
Wayne Cochran (c. Sep. 1964)
Mr. Lonely [King 5950]
Wrong Number, Wrong Gal [King 5950]
Eddie Kirk (rec. Sep. 8, 1964)
Hog Killin’ Time [King 5959]
Treat Me the Way You Want Me [King 5959]
James Duncan (rec. Oct. 11, 1964)
Three Little Pigs [King 5966]
I Can’t Fight the Time [King 5966]
Bobby Skelton (c. Oct. 1964)
It Goes Without Saying [King 5897]
Just Two People in the World [King 5897]
The Fabulous Denos (rec. Nov. 23, 1964)
Hard to Hold Back Tears [King 5971]
I’ve Enjoyed Being Loved by You [King 5971]
Wayne Cochran (rec. Jan. 17, 1965)
Think [King 5994]
You Left the Water Running [King 5994]
Alice Rozier (rec. Feb. 24, 1965)
Lonely Girl [unissued]
Hold on to You [unissued]
*
Oscar Toney Jr. [& The Kayos Band] (rec. Feb. 1965)
I’ve Found a True Love [King 6108]
Keep on Loving Me [King 6108]
[Kayos Band personnel (per Michel Ruppli)]
Hal Mitchell (possibly) – trumpet
Sonny Williams – tenor sax
Bobby Robinson – tenor sax
Joe Williams – electric guitar
David Trice – electric bass
Horace Hewley – drums
James Duncan (rec. Mar. 12, 1965)
Guilty [King 6013]
Mr. Goodtime [King 6013]
All Aboard [unissued]
My Baby Is Back [unissued]
Stanley K.
[unknown title] [unissued]
[unknown title] [unissued]
*
Zero to 180 on Dad’s Lap –
Cincinnati, OH (March, 1966)
*Brian Powers was, indeed, correct in his assertion (back in October, 2018) that Bobby Smith Studios had been up and running prior to 1966. Additionally, Brian Poust provides further validation via this June 2019 comment: “The Bobby Smith / King Studio (Macon) was indeed set up before 1966. This is not likely to be the earliest example but King 45-5908 by The Fabulous Denos (an Atlanta group) was recorded in Macon and produced by Bobby Smith. Note the Boblo publishing credit. When I interviewed members of the Denos, they were already well aware of the studio when they recorded there.”
*
LINK to companion piece –
Bobby Smith’s King Productions 1966-1973
*
*
For Serious King Records Fans Only:
Page 481
Check out these random bits of King recording session info on the very last page of Volume 1 that fall under the catch-all title Additional King Sessions — including a live James Brown & the Famous Flames set at Baltimore’s Royal Theater in 1963.
