Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (5/26)

Lefty Frizzell - 50 years ago

Thursday, May 26, 1960 (7:30 pm - 11:00 pm)

Bradley Film & Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville 3, TN

Lefty Frizzell: vocal, guitar; Grady Martin: guitar; Harold Bradley: guitar; Don Helms: steel guitar; Joseph Zinkan: bass;

Buddy Harman: drums; Floyd Cramer: piano; unknown: vocal chorus.

Producer: Don Law

Lefty Frizzell - 40 years ago (10 years later)

Tuesday, May 26, 1970 (6:00 pm - 9:00 pm)

Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville 3, TN

Lefty Frizzell: vocal, guitar; Fred Carter: guitar; Walter Haynes: guitar; Weldon Myrick: steel guitar; Billy Linneman: bass;

Jerry Carrigan: drums; Johnny Gimble: fiddle; Jerry Smith: piano; unknown: vocal chorus.

Producer: Don Davis

Here are two 3-song sessions from Lefty that are exactly 10 years to the day apart. I guess you couldn't say either of these are exactly "classic" Lefty sessions, but the man never did anything not worth listening to. So while these aren't hits, they're still mostly enjoyable tunes, and we even get one song from the legendary Harlan Howard in "Watermelon Time In Georgia." It's an interesting comparison to hear the difference not only in Lefty in 10 years passage, but in country music in general. The '60s were an incredible period of change in all of music, but here you can hear the progression of the Nashville Sound over a full decade. The 1960 session is a snapshot of what was happening in country music in the wake of the rock and roll boom. These aren't the kinds of songs that we know Lefty for, but this kind of material was not uncommon for many artists of this era. By the 1970 session, country has gotten a little more comfortable with itself again, although the strings and vocal choruses are a far cry from the hits that made Lefty a star in the '50s.