Hello folks, howdy neighbors! Mellow's Log Cabin is a blog about Country music, Rock'n'Roll and Old-Time. You'll find write-ups of artists, labels, or shows, recent news items, and of course music you can download. If you have requests or additions, please feel free to drop a comment or send me an email!
Finally, I made the decision to use another filehoster in order to post my comps here. Since Megaupload is down I've lost a great amount of my own compilations because I had not all of them on my pc. So if anyone out there has them still (I hope some of them do!), please send them to me, I'd like to have them back for reposts.
Back to the music. This is the second installment of the "Tennessee Rock" series. I'm especially proud to present two very obscure titles here which aren't reissued yet, so grab it while you can. This disc features recordings that were done in Tennessee but not in Nashville or Memphis (apart from one or two exception). I am planning to do also one with Memphis recordings (but no Sun/Meteor/Fernwood/Hi cuts) and Nashville stuff (no major label stuff). The next download will be a special anniversary compilation because Mellow's Log Cabin exists now four years. Stay tuned!
track list:
1. Phil Barclay - Young Long Lohn
2. Johnny Reno - Naughty Mama
3. Dixieland Drifters - Bongos and Uncle John
4. Billy Wayne - Walking and Strolling
5. Lynn Pratt - They're Learning
6. Kenny Parchman - Don't You Know
7. Charlie Waggoner - Oney Eyed Sam
8. Franklin Stewart - That Long Black Train
9. Brownie Johnson - The Sun Would Never Shine
10. Larry Brinkley - Right String, Wrong Yo Yo
11. Nelson Ray - Walkin' Shoes
12. Joe Griffith - Annabelle Lee
13. Jay Earls - Baby I'm Lonesome
14. Lynn Pratt - Come Here Mama
Wayne Walker had started his career in the late 1940s as a sidekick of Tillman Franks with straight country but over a stretch of six or seven years, he developed a style that was much more leaning towards a polished country pop sound with rock'n'roll elements. Although Wayne Walker was so shy that he refused to do live appearances without Franks, he became a member of the Louisiana Hayride in the early 1950s. His first record for Chess, "Now is the Time for Love" b/w "You Got the Best of Me," followed in 1955. Since Tillman Franks had not the time to be on Walker's side on every occasion(he was now the manager of the rising Johnny Horton), he persuaded Walker to team up with singer and guitarist Jimmy Lee Fautheree. Fautheree was also a regular on the Hayride and had just disbanded from his singing partner Johnny Mathis. The duo recorded the now legendary rockabilly number "Love Me", backed by the lighthearted country flip "Lips That Kiss So Sweetly."
Jimmy Lee and Wayne Walker
This record already proofed the change Walker was running through. Although the team of Walker and Fautheree didn't last long, it must have been successful enough to secure Walker a contract with ABC-Paramount. A songwriter contract with Cedarwood publishing and a move to Nashville made the change complete: Walker was in Music City, USA. After his rockabilly classic "All I Can Do Is Cry" (covered by contemporaries Johnny Bond and Otto Bash), Nashville record producers began to use the countrypolitan sound on Walker that was just evolving during this time in the Nashville studios. The product were pop sounding, with background vocals and orchetra backed tracks on such labels as Columbia, Coral, Brunswick, and Everest, among others. One of those records can be heard here. Both songs were cut on August 11, 1958, at the Bradley Film & Recording Studio in Nashville, most likely with musicians from the famed "Nashville A-Team." The harmony vocalist on "Just Before Dawn" was simply listed as "The Redhead" in the session files, so there's no hint who this singer really was.
Most of the songs Walker recorded were written by him with help from Mel Tillis, Webb Pierce, or others. Although he kept on recording, live performances in front of an audience were still a torture to Walker, which may have prevented him from a national career as a singer. Instead, he concentrated on his songwriting talent and established himself as one of Nashville's most prolific composers in the 1950s and 1960s.
Not much details on this Crestview, Florida, based label. It is not to be confused with Apache Records from New York City or another company of the same name from Los Angeles. The label was set up probably in 1960 with headquarter on 106 N. Main Street in Crestview. Billboard featured the company in its June 13, 1960, issue as a new "record manufacturer." There was no mention of an owner or artists. That same year, an ad appeared, advertising Clinton Brooks' record on Apache, which was nationally distributed by Discmaker's Production Company from New York City.
Apache advertising for Clinton Brooks' record in Billboard (November 14, 1960)
Records were RCA custom pressings. These are the only hints I found on this label. Further information is welcome.
Discography
Apache 1788: Clifford King - Want to Jump with You Baby / Chicken Shack Boogie
Apache 1820: Lee Daugherty and Offbeats - My Babe / Please Never
Apache 1828: Clinton Brooks and the B's - If You Go Know / Tom Duley Rock (1960)
Apache 1836: Rex Qual (Guitar, Jr.) - Going Rocking Tonight / Tranquilizer Boogie (1960)
Paul & Roy, the Tennessee River Boys - Spring of Love (Mercury 6374-X45), 1952
I must admit I have found no clue to the identity of Paul and Roy, the Tennessee River Boys. According to our friend Bob (Dead Wax blog), one half of the duo was Roy Pryor. It’s a shame they are not better known since their effort presented here on Mercury is worth listening. This one comes from 1952 and really fits into the bluegrass/country mixture trends that were popular back then, popularized by such acts as Johnnie & Jack.
Paul and Roy had at least three other release on Mercury as well as two singles on the Nashville based independent label Pace Records (credited to “Paul & Roy and the Tennessee River Boys”). The earliest mention of the duo I was able to find dates back to 1951 in Billboard.
Discography
Mercury 6360: Every Dog Must Have His Day / ? (1951)
Mercury 6374-X45: Spring of Love / You’ve Been Cheating on Me, Darling (1952) Mercury 6406: Only Pretending / The Shape My Heart’s In (1952) Mercury 70121: Don’t Ever Tell Me / ? Pace 1003: Meet the Lord Half Way / There Will Be No Disappointments Pace 1004: Free, Twenty-One and Ambitious / I Wish You’d Be a Country Girl
Mercury recordings as by “Paul & Roy, the Tennessee River Boys”
Pace recordings as by “Paul & Roy and the Tennessee River Boys”
Thanks to: Bob
Country music singer Eddie Cletro died February 2, 2012. Cletro was born in 1918 and became a household name in California's 1940s and 1950s country music scene. He appeared on such shows as Town Hall Party and Foreman Phillips' Country Barn Dance as well as recording for various record labels, including Imperial, Sage & Sand, and Lariat. One of his most famous recordings was "Flyin' Saucer Boogie."
Here we have a nice 1960s country’n’western rocker from Louisiana. An original copy of Jim Oertling’s “Old Moss Back” can be sold for 370$ or more and is extremely valuable. "Louisiana Gambler" is less famous but also very rare. Oertling did not know of his song’s popularity until he was rediscovered and inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Oertling’s family originally hailed from Louisiana but moved to Texas eventually, where young Jim was raised. His grandfather bought him a used guitar when he was just ten years old and ever since, music played an important role in his life. The first song he learned was “Streets of Laredo” and Oertling wanted to become a Singing Cowboy.
Jim Oerling (center, with guitar) and the Bayou Boys. This photo seems to be taken in the late 1960s or 1970s.
Although he visited his home state Louisiana every summer, he eventually moved back there and attended Louisiana State University. While studying, he played guitar in a bluegrass band and wrote a song called “Old Moss Back.” With a band, he began to tour the country and played in bars, honky-tonks, and roadhouses from Biloxi, Mississippi, to San Antonio, Texas. According to Oertling, he and the Bayou Boys recorded “Old Moss Back” in 1963 at Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans. They just did the record in order to gain more gigs. Coupled with “A Wild Rose,” the song was released on the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, based Hammond label and got a lot of airplay from radio stations. A second pressing of “Old Moss Back” had the instrumental “Rough Surfin’” by the Tarrytons on the flip side with a different label, showing the design of Exclusive Records. This was apparently a mistake or a test pressing by the pressing plant.
"Louisiana Gambler" was recorded for the beautiful named La Louisianne label out of Lafayette, Louisiana. No release or recording date is reported but this is also certainly from the 1960s. Also in the style of "Old Moss Back," this is another nice rockabilly number which was long out of fashion back then.
Oertling went to the Army in 1965, fighting in Korea and later becoming a military police captain. He later worked in various jobs, for example as a bank vice president, a horse wrangler and a professional bull rider (which caused him several broken bones) but he never gave up music and song writing. Today, Oertling resides with his third wife in Robert, Louisiana.
Apart from “Old Moss Back,” Oertling made some other records. Some of them were issued on collector oriented compilations, some of them are still not commercially available.
Discography
Hammond 267: Old Moss Back / A Wild Rose (1965)
Hammond 267: Old Moss Back / Exclusive 2270: Rough Surfin’ (by the Tarrytons)
Hammond 268: Back Forty / The First One
La Louisianne LL-8118: Louisiana Gambler / In My Own Kind of Way
M-A-N 101: Back Forty Blues / The World of a Woman
M-A-N was a part of “Mossback Enterprises” from Covington, Louisiana, and was based in Pearl River, Louisiana (P.O. Box 146). “Produced by: Bill Roberts & Keith Henderson.” Was this possibly Oertling’s own label?
Note that the record has "Nashville Matrix" stamped in the dead wax
