Carl and Pearl Butler
Andrew Smith Crying My Heart Out Over You This CD was released by Bear Family in 1993, and I’ve had it since then, but after listening to it again, I decided it warrants a review, especially since Bear is now selling it at a bargain price. For hardcore, intense honky-tonk country music, Carl (1927-1992) and […]
The Hank Williams Connection
Andrew Smith This single, 33-track CD comprises versions of Hank Williams songs by other artists, ranging from hard-core country to rockabilly and popular (including big-band) music. Its release in late 2023 marked the centenary of Hank’s birth (on September 17, 1923) and, arguably, close to the anniversary of his death, purportedly on January 1, 1953. […]
Sanford Clark – Rocks
Andrew Smith This Bear Family 31-track CD highlights some of Sanford Clark’s output between 1956 and 1967 for their “Rocks” series. Best known for his hit, The Fool and a minor hit follow-up, A Cheat (both with guitar by Al Casey), Clark was a pleasant-voiced rockabilly and country performer who was associated for much of […]
Bill Carter – Ramblin’ Fever
Andrew Smith Bear Family have issued yet another interesting, budget priced, and fully documented double-CD set with this release. Bill Carter, its featured artist, recorded country and rockabilly music from 1953 until 1961. He was born in 1929 in Arkansas; his family moved to Oklahoma in 1937 and then California in 1943. He performed locally […]
Augie Meyers – High Texas Rider
Andrew Smith Augie Meyers features on another album in Bear Family’s On The Honky Tonk Highway series. Perhaps best described as “Texas Country,” tracks on this entertaining 26-track album run the gamut from anthems to Texas (Deed To Texas, Deep In The Heart Of Texas, Sun Shines Down On Me In Texas, High Texas Rider), […]
On the Honky Tonk Highway with Jeannie C. Riley
Andrew Smith “She was an excellent singer, a true singer, in the same league as Patsy Cline or Connie Smith in terms of range, clarity, and expressed feelings,” wrote Martin Hawkins about Jeannie C. Riley in the booklet accompanying this outstanding Bear Family reissue. “She was the real deal, a genuine country sounding singer but […]
Gary Williams – The Traveling’ Blues Boy
Andrew Smith I was introduced to Gary Williams during late 1970s when I imported his A Tribute To Jimmie Rodgers vinyl album on the German Folk Variety label (FV 12013). (Folk Variety was the forerunner of Bear Family.) At the time, there were two other Folk Variety albums of his (My Reflection, FV 12004, and […]
Willie Nelson – Bluegrass
Andrew Smith Continuing in the tradition of mainstream country singers who have recorded “Bluegrass” albums – from Rose Maddox (Sings Bluegrass, 1962), Porter Wagoner (The Bluegrass Story, 1964), George Jones and Melba Montgomery (Bluegrass Hootenanny, 1964) through Carl Smith (Sings Bluegrass, 1971), Buck Owens’ album of Bluegrass standards (Ruby, 1971), the award winning Dolly […]
On The Honky Tonk Highway with The Brother Boys
Andrew Smith The Brother Boys, founded in the late 1980s by Ed Snodderly and Eugene Wolf, are from East Tennessee. They’re still active today, performing music that has been described as “new hillbilly”. Alana Nash characterised it as “a smart amalgam of the tongue-and-groove vocal harmony of the Wilburn Brothers, the lonesome quality of […]
John Edwards: Collector, Researcher and Discographer Extraordinaire
Don Cusic, Andrew Smith, Mickie Akenson, James Akenson Managing Editor’s Note: Once again Andrew Smith in Tasmania, Australia provides a fascinating discussion of an important Country Music topic. A description of the John Edward collection at the University of North Carolina may be found at https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/20001/ . It is particularly interesting how some international […]