Saturday, January 28, 2012

Clay Mundey on Lin



Clay Mundey

CP-1613 -I Knew
Bob Miketta-Lee Allman, Merrell Schwarz ASCAP
2:23

CP-1614 – Lucky Day
short sample
Henderson-DeSylva-Brown, Harms Inc ASCAP
2:15

Arr: Bob Miketta

Lin 1004

October 1958




This is ex-Gene Krupa band singer Bill Black.

The story of the search for Bill Black has been told by Bill Reed :

What I did fight for (...) was to try and understand how a singer---Bill Black---touted by big band poobah George T. Simon as being the next Sinatra could more or less disappear from sight after 1950, essentially never to professionally resurface again.

After two years of searching (...) almost on the point of giving up, I was finally able to make contact with and interview a close friend of Bill's (aka Clay). Soon, I should be able to solve the mystery of the recording. Who plays on it, etc.

(...)
The most illuminating (AND SHOCKING) thing he told me explains beyond question why Bill disappears from the "scene" after 1950. In retrospect, I should have guessed. If it had been a snake it would bit me. What Bill's friend said even explains why he "washed up" on the shores of Manhattan a decade later with a new name, Clay Mundey.

"He was attacked by the Mob," Bill's friend said. "He was left on a Los Angeles freeway. And some doctor out in Palm Springs had him stay in his house for about a year. He recuperated. That knocked the stuffing out of him and he changed his name to Clay Mundey at that time because he wanted to get out from under the radar of the Mob. It happened right at the wrong time. Right when the music was changing where it took an extra push for anybody that wanted to make it in the business. You had to have the desire, to have it in your belly, and Clay lost it. He was an exciting guy, one-of-a-kind.
☆ ☆ ☆

According to Billboard (March 14, 1960), a session was scheduled by a subsidiary of King Records in Cincinatti where Clay relocated :

Former Gene Krupa vocalist now making his headquarters here, cuts an album session soon for Bethlehem Records to be titled « The Morning After . » Album title is taken from one of the tunes in package written by Saul Striks, Red Robinson and Major Short, better known as Somethin’ Smith and the Redheads.
But I can't find any evidence that the album was ever released.


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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Carl Story And His Rambling Mountaineer Quartet on Gospel Recording Service



Carl Story And His Rambling Mountaineer Quartet

23813

Get In Line Brother
Don't You Love Your Daddy
In The Garden

23814

Follow Him
Are You Walking And Talking For The Lord
Working On A Building

Gospel Recording Service
P.O. Box 226
Richmond Dale, Ohio 45673


☆ ☆ ☆


A story of Bluegrass pioneer Carl Story can be found HERE.

Gospel Recording Service was owned by Ray Anderson.

In 1961 Ray Anderson quit playing with the Osborne Brothers and the following year he became a born again Christian. Ray Anderson formed his own label, GRS (Gospel Recording Service), "a Christian Studio for Christian People".while still a pastor at a church in Richmond Dale, Ohio. The label also had a subsidiary, Victory, which he managed as well until 1969.

Ray Anderson obituary :

Rev. Raymond L. Anderson, age 86, of Camden, OH, died Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at his residence. Born on June 18, 1924 in Richwood, West Virginia he was the son of the late Jesse A. & Bessie Anderson. Ray was a U.S. Army W.W. II Veteran and had been a pastor & bishop for 56 years. Currently he was serving as the pastor of Roosevelt Church of God in Cincinnati, OH for the past 26 years. His radio program, Country Camp Meeting, was on WCNW Radio in Fairfield, OH. He was an Honorable Kentucky Colonel. Preceded in death by his first wife: Maxine Anderson and a Son: Larry Anderson in 2003.





Don't You Love Your Daddy


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Allen Shepard And The Countdowns on Redstone


Allen Shepard And The Countdowns

CP-5639 - Scrumshus
CP-5640 - Hands Of Time

Redstone Records - RS-001
4837, Mitchell Ave.
Detroit 7, Michigan

1961

"Chalypso-Style" beat b/w ballad (e-bay)

☆ ☆ ☆

First release on the Redstone label, formed in 1961 by Owney Burnett and Bob Holiday (Billboard, May 15, 1961). Names of the label, of the artist & of the band were undoubtely inspired by the first manned space mission of the USA : launched by a Redstone rocket, astronaut Alan Shepard piloted a 15-minute spacecraft on May 5, 1961, three weeks after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had carried out the first orbital spaceflight. He was the first American in space,

Bob Holiday is the pseudonym of Robert Senecal. And Owney Burnett is the pseudonym of Norbert S. Biernat, previously owner of Star-X Records.

Sammy Marshall, the ubiquitous song-poem singer, had a release on both labels, Redstone and Star-X.




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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Allison Records

George Montana

30013 - Green Eyed Lady
30014 - Good Thing Going

Allison 101

Both wr. Montana, Go-Far ASCAP

1972




Bob Millian and the No Gas Band

32833 - There's No Gasoline For You
32834 – Newton St. Chevron Bounce

Both wr. Millian, R&M Music ASCAP

Allison 102

Sample (both sides)


☆ ☆ ☆

I can't find any information on this label, nor on the artists, nor on the Kallish Enterprises, whose Alllison Records was a subsidiary. (Kallish, name, means 'bee' in hebrew, I've learned during my research)

Both Millian's songs were copyrighted in March of 1974. And the full name of Millian is Robert P. Millian. He also copyrighted, the same month, another song : "The Rest Is Up To You".

A George Montana was a member of Freewheelin' McClure Montana, a name adopted by Frank Reynolds (Secretary of San Francisco’s Hells Angels), Beat poet literature instructor at Oakland’s California College of Arts & Crafts, Michael McClure, and electronic composer and multi-instrumentalist George Montana. Same George?

The ASCAP database doesn't help neither where no Go-Far or R&M publishers can be found.

Also affiliated with ASCAP, a "R&M Music "was the publisher of Lindisfarne and Audience, two english groups issued in the USA on Elektra Records in 1971 and 1972. But it's probably a different company.




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Monday, January 23, 2012

Bill & Ben and the Arkansas Travelers




Bill & Ben & The Arkansas Travelers

CP-1525 ~ My Blue Eyed Baby
B. Golden – C. Foster
Golden State Songs BMI 2:40

CP-1526 ~ The Sun Shines Brighter
B Golden
Golden State Songs BMI 2:20

Traveler Records 715
601 East University, Champaign, IL

1958

Bill is Billy McManners. Ben is Ben Cooley. Country bopper. A copy was recently auctioned at eBay. Winning bid was $350.00! Unusually high result perhaps due to the fact that this is a good record AND a Starday Custom release AND a Rite pressing?


The Arkansas Travelers released a second record on the same imprint, also in the Starday custom series, but with a different Illinois address (Seymour) the following year.

Three releases followed in the sixties for Nashville Records, a Starday subsidiary.


★ ★ ★



Arkansas Travelers
Traveler Records 878 (pressed by King Records)
PO Box 61, Seymour, Il

You Ask Me (B. Cooley, Tronic Music BMI)
Just One More (B MacManners, Tronic Music BMI)


Ben & Bill & the Arkansas Travelers
Nashville 5013 (Recorded at Starday Studios)

My One Mistake (Ben Cooley, Tronic BMI) 2:28
re-issued under the name of "Woody & Sam Jones". on LP Modern Country And Western Sounds (Palace M-719).
Monkey See Monkey Do (Billy McManners, Starday BMI) 2:16


The Travelers
Nashville 5110
Lips That Do the Talking (Bill McManners, Tronic BMI) 2:22 Vocal by Bill McManners
Make Believe World (B.Cooley-T. Morgan) Vocal by Ben Cooley


The Travelers
Nashville 5154
Most Of the Time () 2:28
Passions Over Conscience (Ben Cooley) 1:50



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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Leo Gray and The Ohio Valley Playboys


Leo Gray and The Ohio Valley Playboys

15721 - After I Have Broke Your Heart
15722 - Blue Skies Over Kentucky

Log Cabin 903



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The Joyfullairs on WNC



The Joyfullairs
Alexander, N.C.

10351 - He Means All The World To Me (Sumner) / Christ Had To Go To Calvary (Moody)
10352 – Rainbow Of Love Easterling / In The Morning (Mitchell)

WNC Records
Western North Carolina Records
Marshall, North Carolina

Produced By Ed Stines And Jerry Plemons

1963


☆ ☆ ☆


One copy is preserved at The Wilson Library in the Daniel W. Patterson and Beverly Bush Patterson Papers (Southern Folklife collection). That's the only reference to The Joyfullairs found online.

Jerry Plemmons, (with two Ms), born in 1938, was at the time director of programming of WMMH, Marshall, NC. WMMH switched in 1964 to full-time country and gospel format, only station in the area with such a policy. An interview of Jerry Plemmons can be found HERE.

Rev. Ed Stines served the West Side Baptist Church (Winston Salem) as pastor from 1988 to 1991. He died in 2001.

Also, in 1956, Ed Stines from Morganton, N.C. (who may be or not the same man) shooted to death his wife's persistent suitor. He was then 19-years old.


☆ ☆ ☆


Christian gospel EP spotted today at eBay HERE.




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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Slim O'Bannon on Jewel

Slim O'Bannon

16867 - Baby, You Don't Know My Mind
16868 - I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water

Jewel 913

Produced by Rusty York





The song "Muddy Water" was written in 1965 by Joe Babcock and has been recorded by Stonewall Jackson, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Glen Campbell, Jerry Reed, Johnny Rivers and so many that it's hard to count!



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Monday, January 16, 2012

Roger Wilcoe on Unicom

Roger Wilcoe

7943 - Hello Heartaches
7944 - Delta Gal

Both written by D. Frazier and published by Crosswind Music BMI

Unicom Records
Kennan Rd.
Huntsville, Ala.

country

1962


First release on a label launched by Dean Frazier who was then working at the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) tower in the Hunstville airport. He co-wrote the two sides of Buddy Hughey's Cherokee single issued in 1959, three years earlier.

His "Don't Hide Your Face From Me" was recorded by Clarence Brown for Avalon Records (date unknown).

According to the BMI database, the songs that Dean Frazier wrote are handled today by Linco Music, a company owned by Ernie Tucker, out of Fayetteville, Tennessee, where Ernie also operated his own label, Linco Records (1959-1963).



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Friday, January 13, 2012

The Odyssey on Artane


The Odyssey

22935 ~ Karin Ann

22936 ~ You're A Fool

Both wr Kettles
Publisher : Mead Music BMI

Artane Records 68022

Brimfield, MA

"Pop" ballads w/organ


Certainly recorded at the Universal Recording Studio, located in West Springfield, MA. The studio, owned by Flem DeAngelis, made custom recordings for the local as well for regional artists from Connecticut and Uptsate New-York. All these records were published by Mead BMI. The studio Rite account was #1100.



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Pvt. Eddie Lloyd on Alco

Pvt. Eddie Lloyd

17089 - Red, White, And Blue
(Arvey L. Webster-June Newhouse)

17090 - Walk It Off
(Arvey L. Webster-Della Lloyd)

Falls City Music and Counterpart Music BMI

Alco Records

Dayton, Ohio

1966



Alco Records discography :
45 rpm website or at Buckeybeat.com




Red, White, And Blue



Walk It Off

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Invictors on Bee


The Invictors
Music by The Royal Dukes

7987 - I'll Always Care For You (RA 1)
(Elijah Johnson, B & G Music Co. BMI)

7988 - I Don't Wanna Go (RA 2)
(Edwards-Barbour, B & G Music BMI)

Bee 1117

[ 1962 ]


The Invictors were a mixed group : 3 white and 2 black members. Following the breakup of the Honeybees, vocalist Barry Boswell met Ray Edwards of the Silhouettes, who was living in Reading from 1944 to 1956. By 1962, the Silhouettes had become loosely organized, and Edwards had been performing on his own. The three white members of the group were brothers Bill and Gene Yuhas, and Bobby Rohrbach on baritone. Bee 1117 was their sole release and featured Gene Yuhas on the A-side, « I’ll Always Care For You. » The flip was written by Ray Edwards’s daughter, and features Edwards on the lead. Also credited for the songwriting is Barbour, Grover Barbour, owner of Bee Records located in Reading, Pennsylvania.


Sources :

Keystone Record Collectors’ Recorder, Winter 1988
The Silhouettes website



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Iris Bell with The Iris Bell Trio (Bell Enterprises)



Iris Bell with The Iris Bell Trio


9503 - This Is My West Virginia
(West Virginia's Only Official Centennial Song)

9504 - My West Virginia

Bell Enterprises Records
901 Main Street
Charleston, WV

1963



Iris Bell obituary
(from the Charleston Daily Mail (Friday May 2, 2008) :

As a teenager, she heard Sarah Vaughan and fell in love with jazz. She taught herself to play jazz piano and learned songs by listening to the radio and scribbling lyrics in shorthand. Playing by ear, she built a repertoire of more than 7,000 pieces.

In 1956, at age 22, she formed the Iris Bell Trio. The only female bandleader in the area, she entertained regularly at the Press Club, Army Navy Club, Owl's Club and Charleston Athletic Club.
"We would play anywhere, work anytime, and got some good engagements," she said in a 1977 newspaper story. "Most of the dates were in bootleg clubs, but I was only raided once."

She wrote more than 20 songs, including one that was released on the flip side of a Paul Anka recording. In 1963, she wrote "This Is My West Virginia," the official West Virginia Centennial song adopted by the Legislature as a state song.


In the late 1960s, she took her trio on the road and settled for seven years in Ann Arbor, Mich., where she headlined at the Rubyiat Supper Club.

In 1975, she performed at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago, a coveted booking for jazz musicians. That summer, she appeared at the National Women's Music Festival with Melissa Manchester.
In 1977, she returned to Charleston. Battling depression triggered by her mother's death, she limited appearances for many years to the annual West Virginia Jazz Festival at the Science and Culture Center.

She revived her career in the 1990s and played frequently at the Fifth Quarter. In later years, beset with worsening health problems, she remained a virtual recluse.
She died in Buckhannon, where she moved recently to be near her youngest daughter.

West Virginia has three State songs (By Richard Ramella) :

“The West Virginia Hills,” with words by Ellen Ruddell King and music and chorus by Henry Everett Engle, was completed in 1885 in Gilmer County.

West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home” appeared in 1947 and was composed by Col. Julian G. Hearne, Jr., a Wheeling native, attorney, and career military officer.

The third song, “This Is My West Virginia,” was written by Charleston musician and performer Iris Bell in 1962.

Each of these three songs had received an official designation from the State Legislature over the years. “West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home” was declared the first official state song in 1947. In 1961, an edited and approved version of “The West Virginia Hills” was also made an official state song. In 1962, “This Is My West Virginia” was named the official Centennial Song of West Virginia. Understandably, this resulted in considerable confusion.

Lyrics of the three songs can be found HERE.



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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Craftsmen (Tropical 110)



The Craftsmen

13403 - Today In Omaha (Albert E. Bly, Alison ASCAP)
13404 - Diddy Wah Doo (Albert E. Bly, Alison ASCAP)

Tropical 110

1964


Song-Poem record. A made up studio band, The Crafstmen, is also credited on the following Tropical release (#111) : "My Honey / Big Foot Wallace", in all likehood also pressed by Rite Records.

Albert Earl Bly name is also found on both sides of Film City 1070. (Rod Rogers, 1964) : "Draft Board" b/w "Save A Little Lovin' For Me".

Evidence of Albert Bly's song writing urge is found as early as 1943, year of the copyright of one of his songs "I Picked Some Oranges in California", possibly an autobiographic song, as he was then located in Santa Rosa, California!


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Monday, January 9, 2012

The Runaways (Fiesta Recording)


The Runaways

18575 - It's Alright (Jackson, Tubbs) / Hello Stranger (Lewis)
18576 - Daddy's Home

HF-6903
A Fiesta recording
Engineer : Doug Clark
Produced by Jerry Boss

For The Benefit of Amy Brousseau

[ January 1967 ]

SAMPLE

Recorded by Doug Clark in his own studio located in East Hartford, CT.

The Fiesta studio [Rite client account #331 and later #1829] was where recorded :

-The Blue Echoes (Bristol & BEP labels),

-Jerry Boss
- producer of the Runaways - and Jerry & the Del-Fi's (Hound label),

-The Bends
(Rebel label),

-The Young Men
(on Tyrant Gold),

-the Paul Praetz Trio
(of Salem, Massachusetts)

and probably several others.

Who was Amy Brousseau? and who were the Runaways ? We may never known.



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Friday, January 6, 2012

Thomas Mitchell on Flash



Thomas Mitchell

CP-5031 - Conscience Let Me Be
CP-5032 - I'm A Wise Ole Cat

Flash Records #108
1961

Offered on eBay (12 hours left). I've seen it listed in Rockabilly Price Guides with an estimate value between 40 and 60 US dollars. However, I believe that this is an underestimated value... We'll see very soon. (the copy offered is in VG shape).

I've never seen before a label shot of this rare Fernwood Records custom recording. Rockin' Country Style lists the record and gives a Tyler, Texas address, which is certainly wrong.

"I'm A Wise Ole Cat" has been compiled a number of times, including by Stomper Time (Stomper Time STCD7, 1998) Fernwood Rockabillies. Its liner notes has this comment :

Thomas Mitchell also seems to have recorded his marvellous 'I'm a Wise Old cat' sometime in 1960. Immensely popular on the European Club Scene, this track has been 'Bootlegged' on a number of occasions. It's a steaming 'Rocker' in the best Memphis tradition with great instrumental breaks. Issued on Flash records, Thomas Mitchell seems to have been just that--a flash in time, Two Minutes and Fifteen Seconds of Rockabilly Heaven and gone! We do know that Thomas came from Shreveport, Louisiana, played the Hayride & made one tasty 45 for Mercury 'Little Mama/Jukebox help me find my Baby'.

The above information has at least one mistake : Tommy Mitchell on Mercury is a different artist. He was a Tom Fleeger protégé from Texas (or Shreveport?), appearing on various shows in Dallas « Saturday Night Shinding » , "Big D Jamboree" etc.

According to my research, Thomas Mitchell real name is likely Thomas Mitchell May, born on 07/03/1922 and died on 09/01/1999. Thomas May is buried in the cemetery: Mt Zion Cemetery , located in Independence, Ms.

If my assumption is correct he is the same Thomas Mitchell May who operated the Flash label out of Senatobia, Mississippi.


Flash Records discography
Senatobia (Ms.)

Publisher : Kingdom Music BMI


1550 Alvin Stone
Naggin' Woman / Don't Take My Love For Granted

1551 Thomas Mitchell with Shirley & Joe Music by the Country Lads
If It Had Not Been For You / Floor Walking

1552 Brothers Five
Just A Little Talk With Jesus/No Tears In Heaven

1553 Hank Mizell - Jim Bobo With The Brothers Five
Ramshackled Homestead / Little Bill's Goodbye

1553 Kingbeats (1964)
I've Been A Bad Boy / I'll Tell My Mama On You

1554 The Phantoms (1965)
Workin Tired / Gonna Be Nice Tonight

Update :


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Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Exciting Sensational Wonders on Impala


The Exciting Sensational Wonders

27361 - Wings Of A Dove
27362 - Ready To Serve The Lord

Impala 1170

Recorded Realtone Recordings
Hwy. 29 South
Blacksburg, S.C.

Black gospel




Sample




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Johnny Chaplo Sings


Johnny Chaplo Sings

36567 – Maria! Maria! (J. Chaplo)
36568 - Lovin' Feelin' (J. Chaplo)

Recorded at Bill Lamb Productions, Flint Michigan

[April 1976]

On eBay now, with sound clip. "Raw obscure - teen Rab garage track - Early ? Mark & The Mysterions ?" is the description. As you can guess, this is indeed not a Teen, not a RAB or not a garage record. Note the allusion to a well known Flint band, Question Mark and the Mysterians.

It rarely happens but a Google search brings ZERO result for "Johnny Chaplo", so, yes, this record is obscure.