"Fuzzy" Owen - Arkie's Got Her Shoes On - Beware Of A Stranger

can't keep 'em barefoot and pregnant forever...

"Fuzzy" Owen - Arkie's Got Her Shoes On


edit: added the flip even though it plays pretty beat because a drunken hobo asked for it. sorry about the noise.




"Fuzzy" Owen - Beware Of A Stranger

Cliff Martin And His Cliff Dwellers - Back Street Affair

Some more early country music w/ Cliff Martin And His Cliff Dwellers doing Back Street Affair on the Crest record label. Scant info on this, so again, i have no idea what year but has to be the 50's? Any help DrunkenHobo? This one kind of slinks along with some creepy fiddle and steel guitar and a kooky vocal delivery from Mr. Martin which creates a pretty somber tone. Nice.

edit: Bob The Scared Data Miner said 1953. Thanks Bob!

Cliff Martin And His Cliff Dwellers - Back Street Affair

Jim Edward Brown & Maxine Brown - You Thought I Thought

HONEY! SHUT UP!

Jim Edward Brown & Maxine Brown - You Thought I Thought

Eddy Hill - Fire-Ball Eight - Full Time Job

Switching gears from the funk to a couple of country hillbilly boppers from Eddy Hill. One about love & the other about hot rods. what else do you need? maybe one about drinking....? maybe next time.

Eddy Hill - Fire-Ball Eight

Eddy Hill - Full Time Job

Red River Dave with Sula's Texas Rangers - Why Should I Feel Sorry For You Now - Living A Lie Over You

Saving a few more 78's from the target practice pile. Here is a pretty cool hillbily country 78 from Red River Dave. I don't know what year this is from but late 40's early 50's is a safe bet. anyone know for sure? I know that these scratchy 78's aint everybody's cup of tea, but i'm enjoying digging these out so stay tuned for more. If you aint down, move along little doggy....

Red River Dave McEnery (December 15, 1914 - January 15, 2002 was a musician and writer of topical songs. He was born in San Antonio, Texas. He got the nickname "Red River Dave" because he enjoyed singing "Red River Valley" in high school. He was the leader of The Swift Cowboys.

As a teenager, he appeared regularly on KABC radio. Dave began his career by singing, yodeling, and performing rope tricks at rodeos. In 1936, he broadcast a live singing performance from the Goodyear blimp over CBS AM radio station WQAM in Miami. His career really took off with his song "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", broadcast in a pioneer television broadcast from the 1939 New York World's Fair. Her worked for radio station WOR (AM) in New York City. He was a radio personality in border radio for station XERF.

He worked in several westerns as a singing cowboy, including Swing in the Saddle (1944), Hidden Valley Days (1948) and Echo Ranch (1948).

And sorry for the crappy pictures.... i REALLY need to upgrade my camera.

Red River Dave with Sula's Texas Rangers - Why Should I Feel Sorry For You Now

Red River Dave with Sula's Texas Rangers - Living A Lie Over You

Rita Robbins - Get Away

Some more country here today. This is Rita Robbins w/ Get Away from 1955. Pretty Tame stuff but it has a certain charm. Kinda teeters on pop w/ just a hint of that hillbilly stuff i really dig...

As for Rita, here is the lowdown according to hillbily-music.com.....

Rita Marie Winters came into the world in Claxton (or Dayton? or Daisy?), Georgia back in 1932. Country music fans came to know her has Rita Robbins. Her first stage appearance was at the age of six at a school play. She began her musical journey singing with her family at various U. S. Army camps around Savannah, Georgia during World War II.

As a youngster, she would often enter local talent contests. But one in particular probably stands out in her memories. During one contest, for selling U. S. Bonds, her talents helped sell $50,000 worth of bonds.

When she graduated from high school, she became an airline stewardess with Peninsula Air Transport. Her work would take her to such cities as Chicago, Detroit, New York, Dallas and Tulsa. Her family had moved to Miami, Florida around 1949 or so. This may be where that airline was based. Her first television appearance was over a station in Miami.

Her father was a disc jockey and band leader by the name of George Winters. According to one article, he encouraged her musical career and helped her develop an "...unusual and infectious style of delivery."

At one point she teamed up with Anita Carter and Ruby Wells on a few recordings. She also recorded a tune with her brother, Don Winters.

It should be noted that Rita did not really start to think about a career as a performer until her brother Don did an audition tape for Cameo Records back in 1953. Somebody liked what they heard of her on that recording session and signed Rita to the Cameo label. Her first release for Cameo was said to be "Take A Look At That Moon."

Pee Wee King reported in his column in 1955 that Rita had appeared on his television show.

Country & Western Jamboree spoke favorably of her release on RCA that included the tunes "Don't Take All The Love" b/w "Go Between" and thought it was a toss-up as to which side was the "A" side.

In 1955, Country & Western Jamboree's Disc Jockey poll ranked her Number 4 among "Top New Female Singers" behind Myrna Lorrie, Ginny Wright and Betty Amos. The next year, she was named one of the "Top Female Singers".

Her career appears to have been short-lived as we have found no mention of her after 1958.

http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=14154


Rita Robbins - Get Away

Red Garrett - Popa Joe's Place

More hillbilly Country style tune-age from Red Garrett. Again 1956 is the year. This has a real Hank Williams Jambalaya on the Bayou thing going on.

Below taken from hillbilly-music.com

Red Garrett was born in Barston, Tennessee. He developed a fondness for the music with a country flavor early in his life. Later, he formed a band called the "Tennessee Pioneers". He started his singing career in 1945.

A late 1953 magazine article, Cowboy Songs magazine included him as one of the "Stars On the Horizon". It also indicated he was working broadcasts back in Vincennes and Princeton, Indiana. In 1951, folks from the WSM Grand Ole Opry in Nashville had heard of him and sent for him. By 1953, he was still a member of the Opry. During his time with the Opry, he appeared on the same billing with such stars as Cowboy Copas, Eddy Arnold, Elton Britt, Slim Whitman and Webb Pierce among others. He also gathered a following up in Canada.

Around that same time, he signed a recording contract with RCA Victor. His first release for them was "Blame It On The Moonlight" b/w "Don't Be Ashamed of Your Past".

But, shortly after that it seems, another article mentioned he had disappeared from the music scene, but by about 1955, he had come back to performing.

In 1956, he had a record out on the Decca label entitled, "May You Never Be Alone - and A Bed of Roses". The song was a tribute to Hank Williams - it was said he actually imitated Hank when he sang the tune "May You Never Be Alone" but in the middle of the tune, he does a recitation, "and a Bed of Roses". The article that mentioned this tune also told us that the flip side, "Clear Sailing" was "weak."

It appears he also did some songwriting, too as we found he co-wrote a tune with Boudleaux Bryant called "Moon Tan".

We found a hint as to the type of artist he was for they wrote in the article, "..never refused to play in a town just because it was small and lacked celebrities to take notice of him."

http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=12736

Red Garrett - Popa Joe's Place

Mimi Roman - Wrap It Up And Save It

Staying with the Hillbilly Country style tunes, here is a good bopper from Mimi Roman. The tune is from 1956.

The following taken from Hillbilly-Music.com

This green-eyed female singer was born in Salinas, California. At an early age, she took a liking to riding horses as she grew up near the Salinas Rodeo. When she was fourteen years old, her family moved to New York, where she attended Erasmus High School in Brooklyn.

She always seemed to enjoy singing and her parents encouraged her musical efforts. She started taking piano lessons when she was just eight years old. She later learned the guitar around the age of 18.

After high school graduation, Mimi entered Hofstra College, majoring in art. Her guitar instructor heard her sing one day and was impressed to the point of encouraging her to pursue that avenue.

In March of 1954, she appeared on the famed Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout show. That led to many offers for other personal appearances.

A turning point came in September of 1954 when she was crowned Queen of the Rodeo that was held in Madison Square Garden. Her horsemanship, personality and beauty earned her that crown. She was also pretty sharp with a rifle and won many a competition.

When she was just twenty years old, she was recording for Decca Records. Eddie White was her manager then and brought her to the attention of Decca's Paul Cohen. Her first release on Decca was a tune by Hank Williams, "Weary Blues From Waiting" b/w "Oh, I Like It".

Her musical talents and career took her eventually to radio station WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio and she became part of the cast of the Midwestern Hayride.

After that stint, she tells us she made a number of guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, Ozark Jubilee, Louisiana Hayride and a variety of other shows, working out of Nashville with various country and western package shows that starred the likes of such folks as Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb, Minnie Pearl, and others. She also continued to make recordings for Decca.

For a while, Mimi was a part of Pee Wee King's band the Golden West Cowboys, traveling by bus from Louisville to Chicago every weekend for his Saturday night TV show. She recalls one particular winter's night standing next to the driver all the way home in a snowstorm to make sure he stayed awake!

Leo Zabelin, Editor of Country & Western Jamboree magazine back in 1955, wrote in his column that Mimi joined the famed WLW Midwestern Hayride show, replacing Mary Jane Johnson, who had decided to move to the west coast.

In 1956, she earned the votes of the fans in Country & Western Jamboree's polls, finishing in the Top Ten for Best Female Singer and Best New Female Singer. Kitty Wells and Wanda Jackson were the top vote getters that year in those categories. In June of 1956, The Disc Jockeys named her the number two Best New Female Singer behind Miss Jackson in the magazines second annual poll.

Connie Salzl wrote in her News from the Midwest article in 1956 that Mimi was part of the first Grand Ole Opry show to appear at the Bloomington Stadium in Minneapolis. This event occurred during the Minneapolis Aquatennial. Some of the other stars on that show were Ray Price, Van Howard, Ferlin Husky, Mitchell Torok, the Wilburn Brothers along with local DJ and singer, Johnny "T" Talley.

In late 1958, she recorded a duet for Decca with Billy Gray - "Mr. Opportunity" b/w "We're Taking Chances". Back then, Country and Western Jamboree magazine would actually add a few comments of what they thought of the new releases of the day. In this instance, they noted that the timing was good for the duo for there wasn't any other male/female duet activity on the charts at the time. They noted that they both "...did a nice job, both during their own solos and when they harmonize."

In early 1956, the same magazine wrote a short synopsis that gave the readers the gist of the two song titles. For her Decca release, "Wrap It Up And Save It" b/w "My Tears Are Beginning To Show", they wrote, "She's not going to give her love away; she's saving it for a new love. There was never anyone but him and now she knows that she made a mistake."

One of the highlights of her career was a tour that lasted nearly eighteen months, playing approximately 260 cities across the United States, with the Phillip Morris Country Music Show. It starred Carl Smith, Goldie Hill, Red Sovine, Ronnie Self and, for while, Little Jimmie Dickens. The show entertained audiences in 45 states. She still thinks of it as the trip of a lifetime.

A short-lived publication, Rustic Rhythm, included a pictorial that offered a behind the scenes look at what went on with the Phillip Morris Country Music Show. Back then, the traveling was done by bus, and in this case, the sponsor had a bus for the group with the appropriate advertising you might expect as it traveled the roads of the USA. But these were not the most pampered stars that one might see today. The pictures don't show signs of a large entourage of people that cater to the artists. In scene after scene, we see them doing their own primping or cleaning. Goldie Hill was helping Mimi get zippered into her dress for one performance. In another, we see Mimi washing her nylons. In another scene, they ventured out to a local elementary school, even sitting in the teeny desks and perhaps kindling their childhood memories of what they saw in the school books. And in August of 1957, we see a group photo in front of the bus that included Slim Sutberry, Sonny Curtis, Johnny Sibert, Mimi Roman, Carl Smith, Goldie Hill, Red Sovine, Ronnie Self, Bun Wilson, Biff Collie and Sammy Pruett. Now, that's one crowded bus, but you wonder what kind of musical memories that group had.

In the spring of 1957, Barry Nesbitt of radio station CKFH out of Toronto, Ontario closed his column praising Mimi's Decca releases, noting they were earning top honors in the "...country gals category..." by Canadian disc jockeys. He noted, "Here's a young miss who can really sing." Smokey Warren noted in that same issue in his round-up of New York news that Mimi "...was doing a swell job with the Phillip Morris package, and why not, she's got what it takes." Barry wondered in his July article, "...if she still ahs that gold dress?" You get the feeling Mimi made an impression with those she met.

Rustic Rhythm also had a record review column. In April of 1957, it had this to say about her release on Decca, "Cheater's Luck" b/w "Tonight I Made You Mine": "...does a fine job as she emotionally projects a cheater's good fortune; while the "Tonight" number gerts a happier treatment in the singer's same fine, polished style."

But a bit after that tour, she found she had had enough of traveling. She chose to remain in the New York area doing commercials throughout the 1960's and 1970's including Sprite, Doublemint Gum, Clairol Shampoo, etc. She also did demos for writers such as Burt Bachrach, Carol King, Kander and Ebb.

She did work as an extra in movies such as "Tootsie" and "All That Jazz".

After marrying singer/writer Paul Evans in 1961 and having a daughter, Eden, the couple divorced and Mimi moved to Connecticut.

The 1980 found her hosting a radio show in Bridgeport for three hours a day and performed in clubs in the Fairfield County area on the weekends.

Mimi stopped performing in 1985 but she still keeps her guitar ready for anything!

http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=12760

Mimi Roman - Wrap It Up And Save It

Charlie Ryan - The Hot Rod Lincoln Drags Again!

Charles "Charlie" Ryan (December 19, 1915, Graceville, Minnesota – February 16, 2008, Spokane, Washington) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing and first recording the rockabilly hit single "Hot Rod Lincoln".

Ryan grew up in Polson, Montana and moved to Spokane in 1943. He served in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, he worked as a musician and songwriter, touring with artists such as Jim Reeves and Johnny Horton. In 1955, he and W. S. Stevenson wrote "Hot Rod Lincoln", and Ryan recorded the first version of the song (as "Charlie Ryan and the Livingston Brothers"). Ryan released a remake in 1959 as "Charlie Ryan and The Timberline Riders"; the song was later covered by Johnny Bond (1960) and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (1972), among others.

Birth name: Charles Ryan
Born: December 19, 1915
Origin: Graceville, Minnesota
Died: February 26, 2008 (aged 92)

From Wikipedia.

I just picked this @ the flea market for a mere 2 bucks. Most of the songs are just different takes on "Hot Rod Lincoln" and the ones that aren't.... well, meh. But its still a fun little record and the cover w/ the Hot Rod & Guitar is aces Daddy-O!!!

Charlie Ryan - The Hot Rod Lincoln Drags Again!

Wes Holly - Shufflin' Shoes

Rockabilly boogie country bop swinger!

Dig it!

Wes Holly - Shufflin' Shoes

Bobby Williamson - I Need Everything

Going in a completely different direction then the R&B dance craze number from Gene & Wendall here's another hillbilly who-dat, best remembered for his twanged-up cover of the doo-wop classic, "Sh-Boom," "Texas" Bobby Williamson was a regionally successful country cat and veteran of the Dallas-based Big "D" Jamboree radio show who recorded for a few years for RCA from 1951 to 1954, then faded from sight...

Bobby Williamson - I Need Everything

Pee Wee King and His Band - You Can't Hardly Get Them No More

This one goes out to my kids and once again the redboy.

See when i first got this here 45 a way back when and was playing it my kids were asking about it saying Daddy, what's a mustache cup? (listen to the song to fully understand) and i tried to explain it to them and they just had this puzzled look on their faces like "huh?". So what i did was actually took a coffee mug and cut out a piece of paper to make a mock mustache cup to show them...

So when i was telling the story to my my co-worker, fellow record collector geek and all around swell guy (well most times) the redboy i was shocked and dismayed that the man who knows everything was a bit clueless about the mustache cup as well. So we did what everyone does these days and looked it up on the interwebs. Now he had never heard this song before but i told him about it and the line "You Can't Hardly Get Them No More". Well low and behold a few weeks later i came to work and there on my desk was a fancy antique mustache cup (a few chips but its thee thought that counts right?) with a note in it saying 'i guess you CAN hardly get them no more". Nice!



So anyway here is a real goof-ball of a country song from 1955 about a mustache cup, among other things... Do any of you care about my story that is just as goofy as this song?
Most likely not, but i found it very amusing...

I already did a post about Mr. King so if you desire the info click HERE:

Pee Wee King and His Band- You Can't Hardly Get Them No More

Marvin Rainwater - So You Think You've Got Troubles

Going to stick with the country/hillbilly side of things and give you some Marvin Rainwater from 1957 for the weekend. This dude kicked in Jersey and man could he rock a headband = way cooler than you.

Marvin Karlton Rainwater (born July 2, 1925 in Wichita, Kansas) is an American country and rockabilly singer who had several hits during the late 1950s including "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" and "Whole Lotta Woman." He was best-known for wearing Native American outfits on stage. He is 25% Cherokee.

Rainwater was one of country's most noteworthy stars in the 1950s, when his good looks and baritone voice made him popular. One of the first rockabilly songs he recorded was "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird." Released in 1957, the song became a big country-pop crossover hit, making Rainwater one of the first country singers to appeal to a pop market. The song reached number five on the country charts. During the song's success, Rainwater re-located to the New Jersey-New York area. His next single, "So You Think You Got Troubles," was a successful follow-up on the country charts, but not on the pop charts.

Ya know, whenever I'm feeling down, i put this little tune on and think to myself, yep, life still sucks...

so I'm puttin' me a bar in the back of my car and drive myself to drink.

Marvin Rainwater - So You Think You've Got Troubles

Bonnie Lou - Tennessee Wig Walk

Going to stick with the King label here and some more early country rockin' style, this time from 1953.

Bonnie Lou (born Mary Jo Kath October 27, 1924, Talawanda, Indiana) is an American Rock and Roll and Country Music singer. During the mid 1950s, rock and roll was the hottest selling music on the market. Few women however ventured into this territory, like Bonnie Lou. Bonnie Lou was one of the first female Rock & Roll stars who proved to the public that female singers could indeed sing rock and roll.

Bonnie Lou's real name is Mary Jo Kath, and she was born in 1924 in Illinois. Mary grew up listening to Patsy Montana and her band "The Prairie Ramblers", and was greatly inspired by her. Mary learned how to yodel, which was from the help of her Swiss grandmother. As a child she learned how to play two instruments, the violin and guitar. By the young age of 16, she was singing and performing on a local radio show in Bloomington, Illinois. By age 18, Mary went on a bigger radio show, which aired in Kansas City, Missouri. Her exposure on this radio show in Kansas City, helped her land a job as a singer on WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio, where station executive Bill McCluskey hired Mary as a singer a yodeler for his radio show called Midwestern Hayride Country & Western Radio Program. McCluskey was the one who gave Mary Jo the stage name she would be known by for the rest of her life, "Bonnie Lou". While on the radio show in Cincinnati, Lou performed regularly with Country Music girl group the Girls of the Golden West, which Lou listened to as a child.

Bonnie Lou continued radio performances until the end of the 1940s. Her radio performances were even cut to acetate and released to the public. However, Bonnie Lou never truly broke as a recording artist until the 1950s.

In 1953, Lou signed on with her first record company called King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the beginning stages of her recording career, Lou recorded Country Music material and released it. Bonnie soon had big Country Music hits with "Tennessee Wig Walk" and "Seven Lonely Days". Both songs were Top 10 Country hits. The flip side of her hit "Seven Lonely Days" featured the song "Just Out of Reach", which would later be covered by other Country singers, like Patsy Cline, Billie Jo Spears, Jean Shepard, and k.d. Lang.

Soon, Bonnie started recording Rockabilly or Rock & Roll. In 1954, she recorded the song "Two-Step Side-Step", which was written by Murry Wilson, who is the father of The Beach Boys, Carl, Brian, and Dennis. In 1955, she released her first Rock & Roll record called "Daddy-O". The song was a Top 15 Pop hit that year, and turned Lou into a major Rock & Roll star overnight. The song was later covered by The Fontaine Sisters on the Dot Records label. It wasn't until 1958 though that Bonnie had another hit, this a duet with Rusty York called "La Dee Dah". They soon recorded a Teen Pop song together called "I Let the School Bell Ding-a-Ling". Soon, Lou left the King label for another Cincinnati record label called Fraternity. She released several different singles for Fraternity, one of which were as successful as her singles for the King label.

Bonnie Lou - Tennessee Wig Walk

Neal Burris - The Sissy Song

Not much i could find out about Mr. Burris here 'cept this;

He was born March 11, 1929 and this is a 1951, cover version of the Billy Briggs song. Don't ask me how there are pictures of Neal on the interweb but no info.

Also, I'm pretty sure this Mr. Burris never shot himself in the leg... (OK the spelling is different but it's phonetically the same, you get the joke no?)

Neal Burris - The Sissy Song

Len Barlow - Hades Highway

Here is a road the devil has traveled down many a times....

Let's see how 2009 pans out...

Len Barlow - Hades Highway

The Smith Brothers - Sinner's Dream

To Prove that anything and everything goes here at the devil's music and after a few great funky soul cuts from The Triumphs & Alvin Cash, and then some blistering heavy psych, we now switch it up even further with some fine hillbilly country gospel music with The Smith Brothers from 1953.

The Smith Brothers, Smitty and Tennessee, were born in a small town called Oneida, Tennessee into a musical family. The boys learned to sing the gospel and folk tunes that were familiar to the local folks back then. The Smith Brothers were a gospel duet team. They did numerous personal appearances in the Southern region of the United States as well as recording for Capitol records.

They were at first with the group called the Sunshine Boys.

The Smith Brothers found themselves in Hollywood for a time. During their four years, mostly with the Columbia studio, they appeared in 17 films. They were said to especially be proud of their work with Charles Starrett in the "Durango Kid" series.

But television was coming onto the scene and the brothers wanted to see what it would offer them. They heard that WSB-TV was to become Atlanta and the south's first television station. In fact, it went on the air in September 1948. The Smith Brothers made a favorable impression with the station manager and program director and became the first musical act and thus, the first "live" television show in Atlanta.

Soon, Atlanta had a new station - WAGA-TV. Smitty and Tennessee put their heads together again and thought they could have a bigger and better show. Evidently they couldn't convince the folks at WSB-TV, so they switched to WAGA-TV. They went on the air with folks such as Boots Woodall, Paul Rice and announcer Jon Farmer, doing a 75-minute daily show called "TV Ranch". The show gained immediate popularity with the fans and in 1952, the folks who read Atlanta's "TV Digest" voted "TV Ranch" their favorite local music show.

Around this time, they recorded four sides for an independent record label. The records sold well and word got back to Ken Nelson of Capitol Records who convinced them to sign a recording contract with Capitol.

Their popularity continued to gain momentum in Atlanta. WAGA-TV gave them another daily show at 5:45pm which they did alone, singing their familiar duets and gospel melodies.

A 1954 article notes that the brothers were well qualified and talented enough to play Western swing and popular music, but their real interest was in the Gospel songs.
http://www.hillbilly-music.com

The Smith Brothers - Sinner's Dream

Sonny Joe Ivy - Ruby and the Gambler

Gonna keep going here with the more "Country" side of things and give you some Elvis inspired Rockabilly via 1964 by Sonny Joe Ivy: Real name, Joe Ivy Dupin, Jr.

Once again, the info was pretty scarce on Mr. Dupin. When i typed & searched his name in "Google" other than a few copies of this 45 that showed up for sale not much else was available. But I'm not really here to educate as i am to share and hope for some answers myself (which have been few & far between) so please enjoy and possibly shed some light on the following Elvis inspiried "rock-a-billy" joint.

Sonny Joe Ivy - Ruby and the Gambler

Joey Gills - (I'm Like) A Dog Without A Bone

Here is a little something I've yet to touch upon on my lil' old bloggie here, some Rock-a-billy - Bop - Hillbilly music.

Here is what I found out about Mr. Gills, he is from Louisiana, Born January 27, 1929 and this record is from 1956.

Enjoy some strong mid pace Hillbilly Bop from JOEY GILLS with a definite lean towards Mr. Hank Williams to get your weekend started.


Joey Gills - (I'm Like) A Dog Without A Bone