Updates

• Added info on Jimmy Ford, thanks to Volker Houghton. • Extended and corrected the post on Happy Harold Thaxton (long overdue), thanks to everyone who sent in memories and information! • Added information to the Jim Murray post, provided by Mike Doyle, Dennis Rogers, and Marty Scarbrough. • Expanded the information on Charlie Dial found in the Little Shoe post.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Gene Wester acetate

Gene Wester & the Goodtime Band - Borrowed Angel / A Thing Called Sadness (acetate)

When I bought this disc around 2014, I had no information on neither Gene Wester & the Goodtime Band nor on Echols Recording. It came from Los Angeles to me and I guessed it was a Bakersfield related disc. But that was not the case. In 2016, Wester's son gave us a little insight. Wester was a local Fort Worth, Texas, country music singer and performed around the city's honky tonks and joints. He recorded this disc in 1975 or 1976 in a garage in Fort Worth.

If there is more info out there, feel free to pass it along.

"Borrowed Angel" was a #7 country hit for Mel Street on the Royal American record label. Written by Street, he recorded it originally in 1970 for the small Tandem label and after some good airplay, Royal American picked it up and released it nationwide in 1972. Street had several more top ten hits in the following years but committed suicide in 1978. He had been fighting depression and alcohol problems for some time then.
 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gene Wester was my father, he recorded that song in 1975/1976 in a garage in fort worth texas.
He played in a band at local honky tonks all around fort worth. all the members of the band have passed except one. I have the orginal copy of this recording. I hope someone is enjoying the song, it has a lot of meaning to his family , and my personal favorite is a thing called sadness. if you have any questions you can contact me at westerjerry@att.net