Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic
King Records’ first year of existence – 1943 – produced exactly one recording session that yielded two singles recorded by Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis using aliases, since they were under contract to WLW. King’s inaugural recording session took place, according to Merle Travis biographer, Deke Dickerson, “in a room
Ernest Tubb is coming into the home stretch as he prepares to let Leon Rhodes and Buddy Charleton loose on a Bob Wills instrumental – “Big Beaver” – from the 1965 live LP, Hittin’ the Road: Big Beaver – The Texas Troubadours [Pssst: Click on the triangle above to hear
Countless country music fans have heard steel guitarist Lloyd Green without realizing it. Green has played with over 500 artists and performed on 115 number one hits, as well as over 100 top ten hits. Between the years 1965 and 1980, Lloyd averaged an astounding 400 recording sessions in Nashville
It is startling and sad the degree to which Jimmie Rivers is not represented in the history of recorded music. Says AllMusic — Despite his obscurity, Jimmie Rivers is one of the great western swing/bop guitarists. His legacy is miniscule, consisting of a disc’s worth of live tracks with his group,
Steel guitar prodigy, Vance Terry, gets co-songwriting credit on “Hoopaw Rag,” an adaptation of a fiddle tune – “Bob Wills Stomp” – that was recorded January 25, 1955 in Los Angeles at the beginning of a three-year association with the Decca label for Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys: “Hoopaw
Interesting to learn that Canned Heat‘s big 1968 hit “Goin’ Up the Country” is basically a re-write of 1929’s “Bull Doze Blues” by Henry Thomas, down to the flute part (listen here). Vocalion (Jan. 1929) The next year, 1969, saw the single release of a spirited cover version by The
Stan Kenton – who released a 10″ Capitol EP Artistry in Rhythm in December 1946 – was a progressive voice in jazz, just as Tex Williams, who answered Kenton in 1948 with “Artistry in Western Swing,” was likewise a forward thinker within the realm of western swing and country music.
Perhaps it’s not fair to single out a backing band in country music, since there are so many outstanding ones — The Texas Playboys, The Cherokee Cowboys, The Drifting Cowboys, The Golden West Cowboys, The Brazos Valley Boys, The Western Caravan, The Buckaroos, The Strangers, The String Dusters/Pleasant Valley Boys
Here’s a great rockin’ arrangement of Leon McAuliffe‘s steel guitar instrumental, “Panhandle Rag” by The Hachey Brothers & Mary Lou: “Panhandle Rag“ The Hachey Brothers & Mary Lou (1958) Thanks to Lonesome Lefty’s Scratchy Attic for the biographical info: Brothers Curly and Bobby Hachey were natives of Atholville, New Brunswick.
Reissue label Razor & Tie did a public service in 1999 when they rescued a wonderful instrumental that had remained unissued for over 30 years – just sitting on a master tape of a 1965 Nashville recording session by country singer, Ferlin Husky. Very little is known about the musicians
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