Sunday, September 10, 2017

Sorry 'Bout That


Curly McIntyre
and the Cimarron Cowboys

Sorry 'Bout That
Henderson Publishing Co. ASCAP

HAP Music Productions, Inc.
Box 5044 San Angelo Texas 76901

HP-653-105A

1966

Floyd P. McIntyre is his name.  He recorded two singles in 1968 (probably in Nashville), one for Stop Records with "Sorry 'Bout That" (backed by a different flip) and another for Plantation Records.

This Hap label is rather obscure and the usual sources of information about Texas music are of no help.
Four singles on this San Angelo label are listed here and obviously a dozen of singles still missing


Saturday, September 9, 2017

Let It Rock


Ronnie McFarlin
and the Javamen
Let It Rock

Slim Slo Slider SSS 230

Late 60s/early 70s



Hollywood-based country rocker Ron McFarlin came from Michigan where was first based this Slim Slo Slider label which was perhaps his own label as further releases by Ron on the label had an address in Hollywood, Calif.

He released three albums on the Round Robin label and  a number of singles for a number of labels (Corby, Sequoia, K-Ark, Solar, Mystic) including one single in Nashville for Stargem Records proudly "dedicated to the unknown singer and songwriter" as printed on the label

Friday, September 8, 2017

Johnny B. Goode


Stacy Lynn Ries
(10 yrs. old)

Johnny B. Goode

Nu-Sound Records 81N-447
1981



Born in 1970, Stacy Lynn Ries is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ries of Fort Wavne, Indiana.  The youngster began appearing on television at age 3 and recording records at age 4. when she also began appearing with her own band.   She has appeared twice at the Indiana State Fair, and in 1976 she performed before President Gerald R. Ford at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Indiana.   She also sang on her own weekly radio program. Stacy has appeared with such well-known singers as Ernest Tubbs. Faron Young. Justin Tubb. Loretta Lynn and Rex Allen Jr.   Her records include. "The Kindergarten Class Convoy." Be My Valentine" and "The Easter Bunny Hops Along." and several others.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Zabethe Wilde (China Doll Dickerson)






Elizabeth Dickerson, Waxmate of the Month (not yet known as Zabethe Wilde)
Capitol Records (1961)


Betty "China Doll" Dickerson, who possessed a rare knack for interpreting the blues with her body,  introduced a sparkling new brand of eurythmics to night-club audiences. 


China Doll Dickerson changed her name to Zabeth Wilde when she became a singer. She recorded at least two singles for Capitol Records in 1961



1952     

 possesses a rare knack for interpreting the blues with her body




 
 1954

Covers her torse with balloons and lets male customers at ringside pop them . 
When the last ones burst , she runs offstage nude


1958

Zabethe mimicking Elvis




Monday, September 4, 2017

Baby, Don't Do It


Jim Westerfield
with orchestra directed by
Mark Liberstein

Baby, Don't Do It

Addition

Marlo 1526

1962



Jim Westerfield

Jim was born on March 8th, 1935 in East St. Louis, IL. He was the youngest of eight children. He was an accomplished musician and composer.  He loved to share stories of his early days in music, including sharing coffee with Ike and Tina Turner at Technosonic Studios, and meeting his idol, Al Alberts of the Four Aces, in the 1950’s, and continued a close friendship with him until Al’s passing in November 2009.

Jim and his wife Marilyn had been married for over 55 years and turned their passion for history, food, and each other by creating The Westerfield House in 1984.   Visitors from across the country (and around the world) came to enjoy the experience of the bed & breakfast/restaurant until the Westerfields’ retirement in 2002. Also during the Westerfield House’s incredible run,  Jim turned his extensive knowledge of botany into another amazing chapter of his life. He cross pollinated mints and created a “new child of nature” (as Jim so eloquently put it) called Dulcia Citreus, or better known as ‘Hillary’s Sweet Lemon Mint’, which he also held the patent on. (The mint was delivered to then First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1993 and planted in the White House garden.) At the time of Jim’s passing, he had created over 60 unique culinary mints.



Jim Westerfield passed away at home on November 22nd, 2013 with his wife Marilyn at his side.

The Westerfield House was listed in Conde Nast Traveler magazine (4/95) as one of the top 250 restaurants in the US






Saturday, September 2, 2017

Motorcycle Michael



"Motorcycle Michael" has been issued on CD by Cees Klop on his Collector label in 2000 on a double CD titled "50 Early Rockin' Tracks".  The accompanying booklet had a picture on a single on the Mesquite label, a single that never was, as it was another of these fabricated images sometimes found on the Cees Klop's releases' booklets.

The song was issued on "Hollywood On The Pike" (Mesquite Records) an album presenting 13 tracks by various performers and recorded from the bandstand at the Hollywood On the Pike, a Long Beach show club (no dancing) located on West Pike.

Cindy Carson was mainly a Long Beach club performer, vocalist, bassist, and yodler. According to a musician who worked with her " Ol' Cindy had a great set of pipes and played a solid country bass. At one point she was with Capitol Records. We worked together a good bit over the years, mostly private stuff....."

Motorcycle Michel
was a minor hit for Jo Ann Campbell in 1961. 
Peter Udell wrote the lyrics and Gary Geld the music.  Born in 1935 in New Jersey) Gary Geld was a writer and producer for Connie Francis, Brian Hyland, Jackie Wilson, Gene Pitney, and Skeeter Davis.  His main collaborator was Peter Udell. Geld-Udell team's greatest hit was perhaps "Sealed With a Kiss".



Cindy Carson
Motorcycle Michael 
Mesquite Records,   1965


Jo Ann Campbell
Motorcycle Michael 
ABC-Paramount 10200,    1961



P.S. I've just learned today the passing of Mr Klop (See this blog)
Sure, a controversial figure. But how many obscure recordings and artists were saved from the oblivion thanks to him and other music collectors from Europe. He will be forgiven for his [minor] sins. I fondly remember these wonderful albums with so many obscure artists I've never heard before... 

R.I.P. Cees




Saturday, August 26, 2017

Africa (The Jungle Song)


The Kornettes

Africa (The Jungle Song)

Minnie Records SP-M-104
1964


The songwriters Allie Mae Brock & Minnie Pearl Brock, two sisters from Chattanooga, Tennessee had records on Gennett and Paramount as early as... 1929. 

The Brock Sisters were among the first duets who opened the field of country singing for women, according to the Jemf Quarterly [Spring 1978]
Milly and Dolly Good, as the Girls of the Golden West, had played a big part in
breaking open the field of country singing for women, and particularly for women duets.
Such duets, drawing on the appeal of blended voices and building up repertoire from the
innovative kinds of music being done by Cliff Carlisle and the Delmore Brothers, now
took center stage. The route to the break from traditional style had been shown in
the 1920s by popular duets like the Boswell Sisters. A taste of the Brock Sisters shows
uptown phrasing and the instincts of jazz-pop:

Oh, a Knoxville girl'd make a
hound dog lose his trail (2)

And a Chattanooga girl'd make a
tadpole hug a whale,

When you take those blues,
those Broadway blues.
Their "Broadway Blues" from 1929 can be heard on YouTube here

But what about the Kornettes I hear you asking? I have no idea. Perhaps some good people from Chattanooga would have some information.

Recorded at Spann Records, 2642a South Broad St., Chattanooga.  Spann Records was formed there by two juke ops Fred Cofer and Alfred Samples.

Friday, August 25, 2017

Bread


The Players

Bread

Power 45-14214

1956

Lyrics by Ernest Torres Chavez, music by Irving Marcus.  

Biography of Ernest Chavez found at IMDb :
Date of Birth     31 August 1927, Watsonville, California, USA
Date of Death     19 September 1992, Palo Alto, California, USA  (brain tumor)
As a five year old boy, the story goes, Ernest Torres Chavez would scale a fence next to the family's first home in North 11th Street in San Jose, California, and quietly enter the house next door. The neighbors then would be surprised to hear the boy making noise on the guitars stored in the back room. The music stayed with him. He left San Jose High School at the age of 17 to join the National Guard, where he played tenor sax at his base in Tacoma, Washington. Released from active duty in 1947, Ernie joined the San Jose jazz combo called Three Bees and a Queen. He played around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The group, which also featured pianist Jose Castro and singer Treasure Ford, reached its high point in the early 1950's when it was given second billing at the London Palladium. In the 1950's he settled in Los Angeles, where he played for several years with Cuban-American composer Rene Touzet and his Latin jazz orchestra. He also worked as a member of the house band at the Band Box, a well-known comedy nightclub. It was there that Don Rickles often used Mr. Chavez as a straight man, hurling racial slurs at him while Mr. Chavez chuckled and the audience roared. One night Mr. Chavez came back with a swipe of his own, recalled Rita Chavez-Law who married Mr. Chavez in 1950. "Some day I want to be just like you, Mr. Rickles" he said. "How's that?" Rickles asked. "Vicious." said Mr. Chavez. The audience roared. Rickles never asked him back on the stage after that. Other LA stints included music arrangements for Nancy Wilson and filling in for recording sessions with band leader Harry James. He also had a one-time speaking role in "The Ring". Other bit parts included Musician roles in "strangers When We Meet" and a spot on the TV series "Bourbon Street Beat." After his divorce in early 1960's Mr. Chavez returned to San Jose. He played sax and flute for lounge combos around the Bay Area for 30 years. A working musician until health problems took him off the stage, Mr. Chavez developed a brain tumor and died in 1992.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Richard J. Gonzales, Jr.


Thursday, August 24, 2017

Thumpity Thump


Gracie Lind
with
Jim Rollins on guitar

B. Blue - J. Rollins
Fairway Music Corp.

Intro 45-6094
1956

Her only record?

Billboard rev. 24 Nov. 1956

Cash Box rev. 5 Jan. 1957

A Dallas artist, or at least a Dallas recording.
B. Blue is a pseudonym for Bob Belyeu, "a Dallas up-and-coming tunesmith", who was with the Charles Wright Agency.  For guitarist Jim (Jimmy) Rollins, see Wikipedia article

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Rocky Road Blues


David Bailey

Rocky Road Blues

Banner 60204

The Bill Monroe classic song.  
 
Guessed date : 1960. Label most probably from Shreveport, Louisiana and owned by Owen Perry, a singer, songwriter, and guitar player popular during the 40's and 50's. Recording artist (Bullet, Four Star, Capitol) from 1947 to 1954.






Monday, August 21, 2017

Next Stop, Paradise




Jesse Pearson

Next Stop, Paradise

Decca 9-31117
1960

"Next Stop, Paradise" penned by Oramay Diamond and Dave Dreyer was first recorded by Teddy Randazzo (Vik Records, 1957) followed in 1959 by a version by Rusty Draper (Mercury Records, 1959)

Songwriter Oramay Diamond was an acrobatic dancer in New York City, adding a strip routine in her show around 1953. According to Billboard (May 16, 1953) 
Ora May, star Morokoff chorine at the Hudson, Union City, pressed into service every
so often to do a strip routine, scored another show-stopper last week with an act in which she cleverly imitated Vicky Wells, Peaches and Georgia Sothern. .
. .


Bobby Wayne Pearson (1930-1979) known as Jesse Pearson,  actor, singer, director, and writer.

After releasing two singles on Decca Records with little success, Pearson was heard by composer Charles Strouse, who recommended him for the national tour of the musical Bye Bye Birdie. When Richard Gautier, the original actor playing Conrad Birdie, fell ill, Pearson took the role of the rock idol inspired in Elvis Presley. He repeated his hilarious characterization in the 1963 film version, Bye Bye Birdie.

Further readings:
https://alchetron.com/Jesse-Pearson-(actor)-779646-W#-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Pearson_(actor)
http://musicweird.blogspot.fr/2014/02/jesse-pearson-aka-conrad-birdie.html

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Mendocino


Rudy And The Vigilants



Out of Albuquerque, New Mexico on the Del Norte label came this cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet hit (Smash Records, 1968)



Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Nanette Fabray

 Nanette Fabray
Born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares
in San Diego, Calif. in 1920
actress, dancer and singer








Nanette Fabray and Chorus performing "Louisiana Hayride"
 in the musical film “The Band Wagon (1953)”

Friday, July 28, 2017

House Of The Rising Sun


Marjon Records MJ-523

Early 70s


 
A native of Ashland, Kentucky, Carl Curtis Hughes was the son of the late Albert and Mildred Dixon Hughes.  He recorded at least one LP for B-W Records  He left the music business, went to Africa where he worked for over 30 years before becoming a Chaplain in Waynesville, North Carolina where he resided for more than 12 years when he died in 2015.
 
 
 

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Popcorn


Rudy Harvey And The Pips
R.D. Stokes Band


Capri 103

1958

Better known as a DJ and entrepreneur, Rudy Harvey owned and operated several labels in California :
Capri (58), Dynamic (60-61) Dynamite (62) Titanic (62-63), Amazon (62-63) and Azuza.  

Henry Strogin, a long time friend of Rudy Harvey, reported :
We received the astonishing and shocking news that Rudy was found dead. That was shocking and surely it was surprising to say the least. To this date, we never found out the details of the death of Rudy Harvey.
There was much talking about Rudy having ties to the «mob». If he was and did have ties, we knew nothing about it. Rudy was a young man of about 28 or 29 years.