Thursday, June 3, 2010

Song of the Day: "Just For The Children's Sake"



Miss Bonnie Owens
Tuesday, May 3, 1960 (2:00 pm - 6:00 pm)
Radio Recorders, 7000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood 38, CA
Bonnie Owens: vocal; Billy Strange: guitar; Ralph Mooney: steel guitar; Gordon Terry: fiddle;
George French, Jr: piano; other personnel unknown.
Producer: Bob Keane

JUST FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE (Del-Fi 4142)


Jean Shepard
Thursday, July 14, 1960 (Session #9552, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm)
Bradley Film & Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville 3, TN
Jean Shepard: vocal; Grady Martin: guitar; Ray Edenton: guitar; Herman Bland: steel guitar;
Lightning Chance: bass; Buddy Harman: drums; Jerry Smith: piano; unknown: fiddle.
Producer: Ken Nelson

FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE (Capitol 4425)


Bonnie Owens
Wednesday, August 3, 1966 (Session #14017, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm)
Capitol Recording Studios, Capitol Tower, 1750 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA
Bonnie Owens: vocal; probably - Merle Haggard: guitar; Ralph Mooney: steel guitar;
Jerry Ward: bass; other personnel unknown.
Producer: Ken Nelson & Fuzzy Owen

JUST FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE (Capitol unissued)

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that the b-side to "Lonely Little World" was another Harlan Howard song called "For The Children's Sake." For today's post, I thought I'd feature that song. We have three versions of it: the Jean Shepard flipside mentioned above, and two Bonnie Owens recordings. The first one is the earliest version I know of from 1960 for Bob Keane's Del-Fi Records, and it's a fabulous example of early Bakersfield, hard driving country. Bonnie re-recorded the song in 1966 after she had signed to Capitol, but this version was not issued at the time. This is another great Harlan Howard tune, and all three versions are outstanding country shuffles, which I really love. Hope you do too...

2 comments:

Jeff Stanzler said...

Don't lose your enthusiasm for doing this, friend. This Bonnie track is a terrific one...thanks for sharing it.
I really like the session notes that you attach to the tracks as well. Please keep up the great work!
--Jeff from Michigan (US)

Joaquin LeFleur said...

@Jeff - Thanks Jeff! I'm glad you like the Bonnie Owens track. She's a favorite of mine. And it's quite gratifying to know that you like the details. I'm a geek for such things and it's nice to find others that share that appreciation. Thanks for visiting, and be sure to stop by again. There will be more...

JLF