Christmas post

Hello folks! This will be the last post before Christmas and possibly the last this year. I have compiled some great Christmas tracks for. As you may know Jazz/swing fits in my opinion perfectly to Christmas, that's why I included tracks by Bing Crosby and Dean Martin.
I hope you have great holidays and a happy new year. I'd like to thank everyone who has visited this blog and especially those who have left comments and contributed a lot to the write-ups. Have a Merry Christmas everybody!

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track list:
1. Billy Thomas - Here Comes Santa Claus
2. Bing Crosby - Round and Round the Christmas Tree
3. Bing Crosby - Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
4. Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. Dean Martin - Let It Snow
6. Gene Autry - Frosty the Snowman
7. Gene Autry - Silver Bells

The Jim Dandy label

The Jim Dandy record label was based in  Newberry, South Carolina, although also Charlotte, North Carolina, appeared as an adress. Jim Dandy Records is a very obscure label and only few releases are known.

In 1953, a child music 45rpm by Ray Heatherton called "Allagazam the Magic Man" b/w "Popo the Playful Pop" appeared on a Jim Dandy label. I doubt that this is the same label because the label design is completely different and it seems improbable that over a stretch of almost ten years no other recordings appeared on the label. So we forget about this single and begin the Jim Dandy record label story in 1961.

1961 saw probably the first release of a South Carolina Jim Dandy record. A rock'n'roll band called the Saxons appeared on the label with "You Are the One" b/w "The Power of Love" in October 1961. Another single by Fred Thompson turned up on the label, which differed from the label's standard numerical catalog. A Billboard article from December 11, 1961, indicates that the label searched for new talents and sent out promo copies to radio stations. Jimmy Price was called a "label executive."

Jim Dandy 1007 was by a duo called "Buck & Tommy." Buck Jones and Tommy Hagen were from Wilson, North Carolina. Hagen joined up with Charlie Louvin about eight months after the Louvin Brothers split in 1963. He played mandolin and sang the high harmony parts that Ira used to provide. Buck Jones remained in the Wilson area, recording some more 45s for small local labels as well as working in the radio, television, nightclub business.

In 1962, Bill Haney and the Dixie Buddies had at least two releases on Jim Dandy. While "Oh! How I Cry" (Jim Dandy JD-1012) was a bluegrass song, his version of the "Crawdad Song" on Jim Dandy JD-1013 is a country outing with rock'n'roll elements. About Haney is not much known. He was born in Haywood County, North Carolina and in 1957, Haney was part of Curtis Lee and the Dixie Buddies, with whom he appeared on the WRVA New Dominion Barn Dance out of Richmond, Virginia. His first record was made for the Atlanta based Super label. He toured the east coast in the 1950s and 1960s, playing country, bluegrass, and rock'n'roll, and also recorded for Dee-Dee and JFI. There was a Bill Haney reportedly from Blytheville, Arkansas, who led a band called the Flares around Memphis. He toured as an Elvis impersonator from the 1960s on and still performs. His website doesn't mention the Jim Dandy recordings nor the Super / Dee-Dee singles, so I doubt this is the same Bill Haney. There was also another Bill Haney from Atlanta, Georgia, who was a Soul music singer.

Bill Haney (seated) and the Flares, circa 1959. This group played in the Memphis area during the late 1950s. Haney later performed as an Elvis impersonator. It's not known if he is the same Bill Haney who recorded for Jim Dandy Records.

Jim Dandy had also releases by Melvin Morris, Jim Stocks, and the Castaways. The Castaways were formed in 1961 and became a garage rock band later, having a massive hit with "Liar, Liar" on the Soma label. After 1963, the label's trail grows cold. Any information is appreciated.

Discography
Singles
JD4501: Fred Thompson - Please Be Fair / Destiny and Desire (1961)
JD-1000:
JD-1001:
JD-1002: Saxons - You Are the One / The Power of Love (1961)
JD-1002: Judy Wright with Musical Accp. - Stop / The City of Despair
JD-1003:
JD-1004: Melvin Morris - Charlie's Got a Horn / Remember You're Mine (1961)
JD-1005: Jim Stocks - Knock on Another Door / Shadows (1961)
JD-1006: Jim Hardin - It's a Shame / Blue Eyes
JD-1007: Buck & Tommy - A Lost Love / Never Love Again
JD-1008:
JD-1009: Eddy Kirkley - ? / Ole' Blues (1962)
JD-1010:
JD-1011:
JD-1012: Bill Haney - Oh! How I Cry / ?
JD-1013: Bill Haney & the Dixie Buddies - Crawdad Song / Lookout, I See a Heartbreak (1962)
JD-1014: Castaways - Caravan / Carol's Theme
JD-1015: Ideals Combo - Lift-Off / Double Shot
JD-45-962: Bill Trader and the Castaways - Cherokee Call / Bitter Harvest

Note: The number JD-1002 was apparently used twice.

EPs
EP 101: Lulu Belle & Scotty -
Tenderly He Watches Over Me / When They Ring the Golden Bells / Have I Told You Lately That I Love You / Spanish Fandango

Albums
JD-LP-963: Bill Trader & the Castaways - Bill Trader Sings his Songs

Sources: Billboard, RCS, Country & Western blog, eBay, Bill Haney's website, Jerry Kendall, Bob, Kay Bank Custom Pressings, Mr. TeenSwe, Lightnin', The Directory of American 45 RPM Records (by Ken Clee)

Carter Brothers & Son day

I must admit that I don't know too much about the Carter Brothers. The photo on the left circulates widely on the internet entitled "Carter Brothers & Son", showing a rural family. The father is holding a fiddle, one son a guitar and another one probably a different instrument. They came from Mississippi I think and recorded in the 1920s for OKeh and Brunswick. One of their recording was the fiddle tune "Nancy Rowland", which I presented to you a couple of weeks ago.

Here two recordings of the Carter Brothers & Son:
1. Jenny on the Railroad
2. Nancy Rowland

Jimmy Smith on Wonder

"Pinch Me Quick", Wonder 110 (1958)

Jimmy Smith was primarily a country/western swing musician working around the Atlanta area. In late 1958, he tried his hand at the new music called rock'n'roll. He probably thought that an up.tempo western swing song with hep cat lyrics is all you have to throw in to get a good rock'n'roll record - judge yourself if you succeeded.

Smith was born on April 8, 1914, and was influenced by the Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers. Before becoming a musician, Smith worked in the construction business. Around 1937, he decided to start a career and music and eventually became a member of the WSB Barn Dance out of Atlanta, Georgia. On this show, he also sang with his wife.

In the fall of 1953, he founded a new group, billing it "Jimmy Smith and his Texans". Johnny Tyler (of "Oakie Boogie" fame) and Smith's wife were also partially members of this group. Smith played around the Atlanta club scene most of the 1950s, including the Silver Slipper and the Joe Cotton Rhythm Ranch. Smith also appeared on WSB-TV and WGST in Atlanta. John  Elder got him a recording contract with RCA Victor, which issued a couple of country outings by Smith.

Smith's 1958 Wonder recording of "Pinch Me Quick", written by Smith and Atlanta musician Ray Pressley, was his only rock'n'roll record. Wonder Records was owned by Bill Lowery, who was the most powerful man in the Atlanta music business at that time. Lowery also operated the much bigger National Recording Company and the NRC label, which also distributed the Wonder singles. "Pinch Me Quick" has a very catchy western swing feel to it, with a freewheeling piano style and great guitar work. Unfortunately, this outstanding song never became a hit for Smith. Billboard rated it as a one-star single in its December 29 issue:

Routine rock & roll blues is handled nicely here.

Although Smith never rose to national fame, he was nonetheless a popular and important figure on the Atlanta country music scene. He was inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.

Sources: Hillbilly-Music.com, various Billboard issues, Rob Finnis

The Country Rock Sound of...

... Dave Dudley! Here's one I worked on for a very long time. It was very difficult to find Dudley's early recordings and still there are songs I wasn't able to locate, so there might be a second volume. For now, we have his very great sides for King, Starday, and Golden Wing among others. Some  of them aren't real Country & Western Rock, for example the wonderful country ballad "Where Do I Go from Here" but I included them because they are flip sides of C&W rock songs and they are very hard to find. You can read the story of Golden Wing here. I hope you enjoy!

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track list:
1. Rock and Roll Nursery Rhyme
2. Nashville Blues
3. Careless Fool
4. It's Gotta Be That Way
5. Where Do I Go from Here
6. Six Days on the Road
7. I Feel a Cry Coming On
8. Cowboy Boots
9. Taxi-Cab Driver
10. Two Six Packs Away
11. Hillbilly Wolfe
12. Six Days on the Road

Charlie Oaks day

Recently, a Charlie Oaks 78rpm popped up on Allen's Archive of Old and Early Country Music, so I decided to give you some information on Mr. Oaks. Although Charlie Oaks was living in Tennessee most of his life, he was perhaps born in Kentucky. Like his fellow Vocalion buddy George Reneau, Oaks was a minstrel singer, appearing on street corners in Knoxville, Tennessee, with guitar and harmonica. In 1925, he made his first recordings for Vocalion and cut numerous sides for the label. He was one of those performers who specialized in "event" songs about train wrecks, murders, and storms. "The Death of William Jennings Bryan", "The John T. Scopes Trial", "The Death of Floyd Collins", and "Little Maggy Phagan" were such songs recorded by Oaks. The last two songs were extremely popular, for "Floyd Collins" was composed and recorded by Andrew Jenkins while "Little Maggy Phagan" was a Moonshine Kate original. Oaks later also cut some sides for Victor as the "Oaks Family". Eventually, he ended up playing on the streets of Knoxville with his wife. Although he had an extensive recording ouput, he never rose to fame. It's not known to me when he died.

Here is his recording of "The John T. Scopes Trial"

"Ironto Special" review

I have to admit that I recognized the charme and magic of "Ironto Special" by the Black Twig Pickers not until the second time listening to it. Maybe that's the way old-time music captures today's audience's ear - being unfamiliar to our ears bonded with electronic beats and pitched voices.

The Black Twig Pickers are an old-time band from Ironto, Virginia, founded in 1999. They play traditional mountain music with fiddle, banjo, guitar, and washboard. Every song on their latest album has something special and captures the attention of the listener. What I like the most are the traditional fiddle songs such as "Don't Drink Nothing But Corn", "Lay Ten Dollars Down", "Craig Street Hop", or "Bonaparte's March Into Russia". But also such pieces as "Saro O Saro" with raw vocal style, banjo, harmonica, and jew's harp are great. If you are listening to such songs, you feel like being way out in the mountains on the front porch of a log cabin, watching a bunch of musicians playing in the evening sun.

Probably the most amazing thing about "Ironto Special" is the fact that this is real authentic old-time music. Apart from the sound quality, these songs could easily have been recorded in the 1920s by string bands. You don't get such good music every day, this is really worth listening.


Visit the Black Twig Pickers' myspace site

Nancy Rowland

A fine version of the old fiddle tune "Nancy Rowland" by the Dill Pickle Old Time Orchestra.

CRH catalog and news

As you may know, the Mellow's Log Cabin catalog has grown to - at the moment - fifteen different compilations. Unfortunately, I am not able to realise and post my projects as fast as I wish because it takes a lot of time to compile the tracks, to design the covers, to do the researches for the liner notes, and finally to write them. That's why I posted a lot of "budget" comps with less information on the recordings and the artists during the last months, for example the soundalikes series. Currently, there are 15 discs in the CRH catalog:

CRH-01: Ray Harris - "Greenback Dollar - Complete Sun Recordings"
CRH-02: Sonny Fisher - "Texas Rockabilly"
CRH-03 VA - "20 Rockabilly Classics"
CRH-04: Derrell Felts - "Texas Rock & Roll"
CRH-05: Rhythm Rockets - "Complete Rhythm Rockets"
CRH-06: VA - "Rockabilly Duos"
CRH-07: VA - "Starday & Dixie Rock & Roll Soundalikes"
CRH-08: VA - "Tennessee Rock"
CRH-09: VA - "Gateway Rock & Roll Soundalikes
CRH-10: VA - "Dixieland Blues"
CRH-11: VA - "Tops Rock & Roll Soundalikes"
CRH-12: VA - "Boom Chica Boom"
CRH-13: VA - "Rock-a-Round Hop"
CRH-14: VA - "Dixieland Blues, Volume II"
CRH-15: VA - "Bye, Bye Johnny!"

At the moment, there are several more compilations in process. While I am working on comps dealing with Dave Dudley, Kenny Owens, Bakersfield rockabilly recordings, and a multi-part anthology of old-time music, I am also planning to start a new Dixieland Blues volume, more Tops/Gateway/Dixie soundalike discs, a second volume of "Tennessee Rock" and a compilation about Arkansas rock'n'roll. There are several more ideas flying around in my head... But as I said, this will take a lot of time, especially concerning the anthology, for the liner notes will be very extensive.
If you have any requests for compilations, comments, or additions, please feel free to contact me. I cannot promise to consider every request or comment but I will try to!

Best regards,
mellow

Mike Waggoner & the Bops

"Baby Baby"

"Basher #5"

Mike Waggoner and the Bops werde a regional Minneapolis, Minnesota, rock'n'roll group. The band was led by Mike Waggoner, seen in the front in the image. His first love was rockabilly and during the 1960s, the Bops were pretty successful around the Minneapolis area.

In the early 1960s, Waggoner and the Bops went into the studio to cut their first (and only) single. Dale Hawkins' "Baby Baby" and the instrumental "Basher #5" was released in April 1961 on the local Vee label and was a hit record in the area. There were several other recordings by Waggoner and the Bops, but none of these were issued originally. For example, they recorded a great cover of Chuck Berry's "Bye Bye Johnny" and the rockin' "Coming Up". In 1964, the Bops were the opening act for the Rolling Stones at their first concert in Minneapolis.

Later in the sixties, Waggoner changed his style to pop music, then to rock music in the 1970s and recently returned to rock'n'roll and rockabilly. He plays with a band called "Memphis Trax" in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. Mike Waggoner and the Bops were inducted into the Midwest Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Much of the band's recordings were issued in 1983 on the White Label LP "Minnesota Rock-a-Billy-Rock, Volume 4".

Visit Memphis Trax


Discography
Singles
Vee 7002: Baby Baby / Basher #5 (1961)
unissued tracks:
Blues Stay Away from Me
Bye Bye Johnny
Can I Be Kind
Coming Up
Good Rockin' Tonight
Guitar Man
Hey Mama
Latn' Datn' Da Da
Three Little Pigs
Three Steps to Heaven
Work with Me Annie