Howdy!

Hello and welcome to Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round!

This blog was created to celebrate my love of vintage country music. I'll be featuring a wide variety of country, bluegrass, and other occasional related genres from roughly the '20s through the '60s in a hopefully creative and entertaining way.

I'm hoping that visitors like what I do here (and that there ARE visitors!), but that either way, you will feel free to comment on the posts. Getting comments from you and having a dialog among hopefully like-minded passionate fans is of paramount importance. That's what keeps the Merry-Go-Round spinnin'!

By the same token, if there's something posted here that anybody feels infringes on them (other than just not liking it), I'll remove it.

Thanks, and have fun!

Joaquin LeFleur - May 25, 2010

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (3/19)

Buck Owens & Rose Maddox - 50 years ago

Tuesday, March 19, 1963 (1:00 pm - 4:00 pm)

Capitol Recording Studios, 1750 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA

Buck Owens: vocal/guitar • Rose Maddox: vocal • John Calvin "Cal" Maddox: guitar • Don Rich: guitar/fiddle • 
Jay McDonald: pedal steel guitar • "Gentleman" Jim Pierce: piano • Kenny Pierce: bass • Ken Presley: drums

Producer: Ken Nelson

As mentioned in yesterday's post, this is the second and last session by the duet team of Buck Owens & Rose Maddox. They were a great, but short-lived duo that only recorded eight masters - four released over two singles, two originally unissued, and two thought to be lost (or as I prefer to think of them - yet to be found). Rose recalled, "Buck called me and asked me if I would like to do a duet session with him, and of course, I was in the top ten, and it wasn't gonna hurt me one bit, it was gonna do me good. He said he had asked Wanda Jackson and she said absolutely no, and asked a couple of other girl singers and they told him no. So he asked me and I said 'Sure, I'll do it.'" It's not really clear why they made so few recordings together. Their first release (see below) "Mental Cruelty" c/w "Loose Talk" was a reasonably big hit with both sides charting at #8 & #4 respectively. So after that kind of success, it's a little bewildering as to why they waited over two years for another session together. One possible reason they didn't continue after this last session is that Buck had a pretty significant change in approach during this time. Exactly one week before this session on March 11, "Act Naturally," Buck's first record featuring his new "freight train" sound, was released and would be his first #1 hit by the time the songs from today's session were released. Also, this second duet record didn't fare as well as the first, though both sides charted again ("We're The Talk Of The Town" at #15 and "Sweethearts In Heaven" at #19). Whatever the reason they decided not to continue, I'm very glad we have the six tracks that we have (though it's tempting to consider what "Mental Cruelty" would have sounded like with Wanda Jackson!).
Rose's brother Cal and session piano player "Gentleman" Jim Pierce from yesterday's session join Buck's current edition of the Buckaroos for today's recordings. Three of the four songs from this session were also written or co-written by Buck. "Sweethearts In Heaven" had already been recorded twice by Buck - once as his fourth and last single for Pep Records in 1956, and again with The Buckaroos at their previous session on Valentine's Day 1963. Buck also returned to this song later in his career, recording a new version in 1972 for his In The Palm Of Your Hand album, another duet version with Susan Raye in 1973, and again for his 1988 comeback album Hot Dog! There's no other song in Buck's canon that he made six records on, so clearly, this is a song that meant a lot to him. Buck & Rose's version was the only charting one, so I guess this is the "hit" version. We're also quite fortunate to have the two outtakes from today's session. Let's hope that someday the two outtakes from the first session surface. For now, we have six tracks by them that I enjoy immensely! I hope you do as well...

And as an added bonus (quickly becoming a new trend around here), since there are only two other songs available by Buck and Rose, I'm going to post them here as well. So, here is the entire recorded output of Buck Owens & Rose Maddox!

Monday, January 16, 1961 (1:30 pm - 4:30 pm)

Capitol Recording Studios, 1750 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA

Buck Owens: vocal/guitar • Rose Maddox: vocal • Don Rich: fiddle • Ralph Mooney: pedal steel guitar • George French, Jr.: piano • Al Williams: bass • Pee Wee Adams: drums

Producer: Ken Nelson

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (3/18)

Rose Maddox - 50 years ago
Monday, March 18, 1963 (1:30 pm - 5:30 pm)
Capitol Recording Studios, 1750 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA
Rose Maddox: vocal • John Calvin "Cal" Maddox: guitar/vocal • Joe Maphis: guitar/fiddle • Roy Nichols: guitar • Ralph Mooney: pedal steel guitar • "Gentleman" Jim Pierce: piano •  Lawrence B. Wooten: bass • Gwynn M. Nichols: drums • Henry K. Vernon: unknown
Producer: Ken Nelson

50 years ago today, Rose Maddox entered the Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California to record these four songs. Rose didn't exactly set the world on fire during her time at Capitol, but she had a run of 14 Billboard charting hits from 1959 to 1964 and made some great sides. Two of those 14 hits were recorded at this session: "Down To The River" and "Somebody Told Somebody" - both #18 hits in 1963. "Down To The River" and "I Don't Hear You" are both Buck Owens compositions. Buck didn't play on these sessions, but they were, of course, duet partners at the time. In fact, Rose's very next session the following day was her second and last duet session with Buck. But we do have Joe Maphis (doubling on fiddle) and Roy Nichols on guitar - two of the west coast's finest players. Roy Nichols had a long history with Rose, playing as a teenager with The Maddox Brothers & Rose as his first professional gig. After subsequent stints with Lefty Frizzell, Cousin Herb Henson, and Wynn Stewart, Roy, as we all know, went on to be longtime lead guitarist with Merle Haggard & The Strangers. It all adds up to some great, spunky recordings by Rose Maddox & company that I find thoroughly enjoyable. I hope you enjoy them too...

As an added bonus, we also have a wonderful live version of "Down To The River" that was recorded at the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium as part of the Cousin Herb Henson Trading Post show. The song was released on an album of the show called Country Music Hootenanny. Rose's latest duet recording with Buck was in the charts at the time this was recorded on September 12, 1963, but this was her most recent solo hit. A couple months after this show, "Somebody Told Somebody" hit the charts. Hope you enjoy this bonus track...

Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys: Reunited

Here, by request, is the entire Reunited album by Ray Price and The Cherokee Cowboys. I'm not in the habit of posting full albums here at Honky-Tonk Merry-Go-Round, but we had a request, and this album is currently otherwise unavailable. (And I must give credit to the original uploader. Sorry I don't remember where exactly I got it...)

I'd have to say that I'm not sure the quality of the entire album is up to the standard of the previously posted lead-off track, "Different Kind Of Flower," but it's still a very enjoyable album. And again, more like what I love from Ray Price than anything he had done for more than 10 years at the point the album was released. He remakes some of his old hits, which are mostly enjoyable, but never top the originals. And his cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" is a nice bid to have some modern touches, but as much as I love Ray Price, this is one of my least favorite interpretations by him. In fact, it actually borders on being downright creepy. I don't know about you ladies out there, but I'm guessing that smirking, leering vocal isn't winning over anybody I'd want to spend the night with...

But with all those caveats, I still think this is an enjoyable album, and I hope you all enjoy it too...

Song Of The Day: Different Kind Of Flower

Hello Rounders! I'm doing a very brief little post today just to keep the train running on the tracks. I apologize for the lack of posts of late, but sometimes life takes over, and it's been a busy summer around these parts. But I didn't want anyone to think I'd gone away for good, so here's a song for your enjoyment.

To give you a little background on today's choice, this is a wonderful track recorded in 1977 by a reunited Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys. Price had spent several years by this point in his crooner phase and pretty far removed from the classic honky tonk sound he forged with the Cherokee Cowboys in the '50s and early '60s.

This is the leadoff track from their Reunited album recorded for ABC Records. The song was released as a single but only made a very modest showing on the Billboard Country charts. I really love this song. It has the familiar Ray Price honky tonk shuffle, but the song, written by Gary Sefton, is more modern and keeps it from being a self-concious nod back to the old days. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

Happy Birthday Cindy Walker!

Today is legendary songwriter Cindy Walker's birthday, and in tribute I've put together a sampling of some of her songs. Cindy Walker was born on July 20, 1918 near a town named Mexia, Texas which is east of Waco. She came from a musical family, and loved poetry as a child. As such, Cindy was a natural for a songwriter, although it was certainly less common to see successful women songwriters in her early years. One of the first songs she wrote was "Dusty Skies" after reading a story about the Oklahoma dust bowl. The song was later recorded by Bob Wills and is featured in today's post.

There's a great story about Cindy traveling to Los Angeles on vacation with her parents and making a gutsy approach to Bing Crosby to pitch him a song she'd written for him called "The Lone Star Trail." Bing ended up recording the song (also featured in today's post), and that basically launched her career in Hollywood. Walker appeared in movies and did recordings under her own name, but it was also in Hollywood that she began her association with Bob Wills providing songs for his records and movies. Wills recorded almost 50 of her songs, including several they wrote together, and they had an association that lasted from 1941 until Bob's death in 1973.

Cindy also had successful relationships with other artists like Ernest Tubb, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold (with whom she co-wrote the standard, "You Don't Know Me") who all recorded, and in many cases had big hits with her songs.

In 1954, Cindy moved back to Texas and lived with her mother until her mother's death in 1991. Cindy was an only child and was very close to her parents throughout her life. Her mother was a piano player, and helped Cindy write her songs. When Cindy was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997, she recited this verse in tribute to her mother:

In the 1980s, my mother bought me a dress for a BMI affair

and she said “when they put you in the Hall of Fame, that's the dress I want you to wear.”

And I said “Oh Mama, the Hall of Fame? Why that will never be.”

And the years went by, but my mother's words remained in my memory.

And I know tonight she'd be happy, though she's gone now to her rest.

But I think of all that she did for me, and tonight I'm wearing this dress.

She received a standing ovation and after blowing a kiss to the crowd left the stage in joyous tears. Cindy died on March 23, 2006 at the age of 87. Cindy Walker just seems like someone I wish I'd known. Through her songs, I feel I do a little bit. I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do...

Cindy Walker's typewriter on which she wrote many songs

In Memory of Hank Cochran (1935-2010)

I was in the midst of preparing a post celebrating the upcoming birthday of one of my favorite country music songwriters when I heard the sad news that today we lost another of my favorites, Hank Cochran. So today's post is in tribute to a man I consider to be one of modern country music's finest songwriters. There will be a lot written in the next few days about the life and songs of Hank Cochran, so I won't bother to fill up space with my version of that here. I'll let the man's songs do the talking. Here is a healthy sampling of Hank Cochran songs from the early '60s through the early '70s, including some of his biggest hits, and some a little more out of the way. Some of the songs he wrote by himself, and others he wrote with other legendary songwriters of the era, like Harlan Howard and Willie Nelson. The first song was not actually written by him, but to him by Johnny Paycheck and Aubrey Mayhew, begging for a follow-up to "A-11" (also included here). Thanks for the great tunes, Hank. Peace be with you...

Happy Birthday America

Today is Independence Day in America. So, in typical American fashion, I thought I'd post some songs of people pounding their chests and bragging to the world about how great it is to live in this country. Not to say that it isn't, but I can't think of too many other countries that have so many songs telling you so. But even if you're not American, you can still appreciate one of our finest truly American art forms, Bluegrass Music. Happy 4th of July! Hope you enjoy the tunes...

Jimmy Martin (pledging allegiance to his Cadillac) • Jim & Jesse • Flatt & Scruggs • Bill Clifton

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (7/1)

George McCormick - 56 years ago

Thursday, July 1, 1954 (1:30 pm - 4:30 pm)

Castle Studio, The Tulane Hotel, 206 8th Ave. North, Nashville 3, TN

George McCormick: vocal, guitar; Sam Pruett: lead guitar; Don Helms: steel guitar; Jerry Rivers: fiddle; Cedric Rainwater: bass.

Producer: Fred Rose

Today's recording session may be of particular interest to Hank Williams fans. George McCormick was a Nashville musician that played with a variety of bands in the late '40s and early '50s including a gig with Big Jeff Bess (the husband of Tootsie of Orchid Lounge fame) and his Radio Playboys. George was eventually featured on occasional solo vocals emulating his favorite, and recently deceased country singer, Hank Williams. While the Radio Playboys were playing a run at the Starlite Club in Nashville, George was heard by Jimmy Rule who was a songwriter and the co-author with Hank Williams of his book on country songwriting. Rule brought McCormick to the attention of his employer Fred Rose who was impressed enough to sign McCormick to MGM Records and give him songs that were planned for Hank Williams. Rose produced at least three sessions on George McCormick - two in 1953, and the one from today in 1954. McCormick's MGM records were obvious and conscious nods to Hank Williams, but this third session recorded today is particularly Williams-like in that it utilized Hank's Drifting Cowboys, including the great Don Helms on steel guitar who co-wrote "Don't Fix Up The Doghouse" which was intended for Hank as a followup to "Move It On Over" (much after the fact, as "Move It" was originally recorded in 1947). None of these songs were hits, but I think they're thoroughly enjoyable recordings that have a definite Hank Williams sound to them. I hope you enjoy them too...

Song Of The Day: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)

The Blackboard Cafe, Bakersfield, CA

Joe & Rose Lee Maphis • Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs

The Flying Burrito Brothers • Vern Gosdin

From the Flatt & Scruggs 1955 songbook

Today we have five versions of one of the all-time classic honky tonk songs, "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)." The story goes that Joe Maphis wrote the song one Saturday night (presumably in 1952) while driving home to Los Angeles from Bakersfield after seeing Buck Owens perform at the Blackboard Cafe. The Blackboard had a reputation for being a pretty hardcore honky tonk bar, and the title alone is very evocative of what it must have been like. The song has been covered many times over the years by a variety of artists, but I picked five versions today that I think are significant for various reasons.

The first version is the one recorded by two of the songs three credited composers, husband and wife team Joe and Rose Lee Maphis (Max Fidler, a Los Angeles based accordionist, is the third composer). This version done for OKeh Records in April of 1953 isn't the first recorded as the next version by Flatt & Scruggs was recorded the previous November.

The Flatt & Scruggs version is certainly one of the most well known and was responsible for introducing the song into the bluegrass repertoire where it's been covered many times. I'd love to know how the song got to them.

Margie Collie's version is interesting in that it's almost an answer song as she turns it around to the woman's perspective. Her version made for Decca was also probably recorded before the Maphis's sometime around late March or early April 1953. She's a somewhat limited vocalist, but it's interesting to hear another version from the era when the song was written.

While I love and idolize Gram Parsons, you could argue that in many ways he's a somewhat limited vocalist himself, and his vocal on the Flying Burrito Brothers version of "Dim Lights" is one of his lazier ones. But like many of his better vocal performances, that tortured vulnerability still comes through. To be fair, this recording was done as a demo and wasn't originally released in Gram's lifetime. I think a lot of people know the song from the FBB version, particularly those less familiar with traditional country and bluegrass. (Many versions over the years by New Riders of the Purple Sage could also share some of that responsibility - especially for Dead Heads.)

From two somewhat limited vocalists to one of modern country's most gifted, Vern Gosdin. Though the song is seemingly quite well known and has been covered a multitude of times, Gosdin's 1985 version is the only version to chart so far on Billboard's Country charts, and even then only peaking at #20. Also in contrast to the previous FBB demo version which is somewhat sparse and straightforward, Gosdin's version is quite heavily produced - a bit too much for my taste, in fact, but his vocal is outstanding as usual.

As I've mentioned, there are plenty of other versions of this song including ones by Porter Wagoner, Rose Maddox, Earl Scruggs & Tom T. Hall and many others. I hope you like the five I've chosen for today...

As an added bonus, here's a video clip of Joe & Rose Lee Maphis performing the song live on the Los Angeles television show Town Hall Party from 1959. Also featured here on fiddle is the great Gordon Terry.

Joe & Rose Lee Maphis live on Town Hall Party (1959)

Album Roots: The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo

The Roots of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Original versions of the songs that inspired the Byrds' landmark country rock album.

Bob Dylan & The Band • Merle Travis • The Louvin Brothers

William Bell • George Jones • Woody Guthrie

Gene Autry • Merle Haggard

I've always loved the Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Over the years, I've come to appreciate it in different ways, but one thing I've always enjoyed doing is seeking out the original versions of the songs and compiling them into the playing order of the album. So for today's post, that's what I've done. Since there are two original Gram Parsons songs on the album, those songs have been omitted.

The source material for the album is quite varied. Though there are a number of country songs and artists that the band drew from, as they often did, they also culled a couple of songs from the pen of Bob Dylan. The two songs they covered for Sweetheart were both newly written and recorded songs from Dylan & The Band's legendary Basement Tapes sessions. The Byrds probably weren't the first artists to record songs from those sessions, but they were certainly among the earliest. As they had also done before, they drew from older folk material as well, in this case Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd," and "I Am A Pilgrim" from Merle Travis's Folk Songs Of The Hills album. Though the Byrds had not previously looked to the world of R&B for cover material, for Sweetheart they took Stax artist William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water" and made a southern soul ballad into a credible country song.

It's interesting to hear the wide variety of influences that made up this groundbreaking album. I think it also makes for a very enjoyable listen. I hope you do too...

Happy Father's Day

That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine

Gene Autry & Jimmy Long

In celebration of Father's Day, I'm posting six versions of the classic father tribute song, "That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine." We lead off with the original version by Gene Autry and Jimmy Long. Obviously, the wonderful Everlys version is here as well. But do you know who the other four are (without downloading and looking at the artist names)?

I wish all you fathers out there the happiest of days today. We deserve it! Hope you enjoy the tunes...

Classic Radio Broadcasts - On This Date (6/18)

Hank Williams - 61 years ago

Saturday, June 18, 1949 (first Prince Albert Opry appearance)

Ryman Auditorium, 116 5th Ave. North, Nashville, TN

Hank Williams: vocal, guitar; Red Foley: emcee; other musicians unknown.

As country music fans, I think we're incredibly lucky to have had a performance as important as Hank Williams's first nationally broadcast appearance on the Grand Ole Opry preserved for all time. And that's what we're presenting for today's post. We all are probably too familiar with Hank's up and down relationship with WSM and the Grand Ole Opry, but to hear him on these performances, he's confident and ready to take on the world. His first #1 hit, "Lovesick Blues," has put him on top and his followup single, "Wedding Bells," is just hitting the charts. We're fortunate to have both songs as performed on the Ryman Auditorium stage 61 years ago today. I hope you enjoy this Opry broadcast as much as I do...

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (6/17)

The Carter Family

Saturday, June 17, 1933 - 77 years ago

Camden, NJ

Sara Carter: vocal, autoharp, guitar; Maybelle Carter: guitar, vocal; A.P. Carter: vocal

Producer: Ralph Peer

Victor Records

Thursday, June 17, 1937 - 73 years ago

New York, NY

Sara Carter: vocal, autoharp, guitar; Maybelle Carter: guitar, vocal; A.P. Carter: vocal

Decca Records

Today we have 26 songs from the Carter Family from two sessions exactly four years apart. The first session is a significant one for the Carter Family in that it almost didn't happen. This was the first session after Sara and A.P. had separated following Sara's initial "flings" with A.P.'s cousin Coy Bays (who she would ultimately marry), and A.P.'s becoming aware of it. Sara had moved back with her aunt and uncle and initially refused to do any more recordings with the group. A.P. wrote letters back and forth with their producer/manager Ralph Peer until ultimately he convinced Peer to have his wife Anita write a personal letter to Sara making a plea in favor of the recordings. It worked, because Sara realized it was her only way to make money for her and her children. Sara moved back to Maces Springs in advance of the recordings to rehearse with the group, but stayed with Maybelle and Eck's family rather than at home with A.P. and the children. The trip to New Jersey for the sessions (and New York where they would also do a radio broadcast from Radio City Music Hall) could well have been strained, but the performances from the session don't suffer. Several classics, including "Give Me Roses While I Live," "Gold Watch And Chain," and "School House On The Hill" are recorded at today's session. Significantly, another classic Carter Family song recorded at today's session, but that still remains unissued is an early version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken." The Carters would record two more sessions in 1934 to wrap up their initial run at Victor before moving on to the American Record Corporation (ARC) in 1935.

By our second session, four years later, much has changed. Sara and A.P. are now divorced. They've left ARC for Decca Records where they would do sessions each June for three years running from 1936 to 1938. Today's session is the first day of the second year of the Decca sessions. At ARC they would re-record much of their Victor material, but at Decca all the material was new. Twelve songs were recorded today including the classics, "In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain" and "Hello Stranger."

It's a lot of Carter Family to listen to, but I hope enjoy both of these sessions as much as I do...

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (6/16)

The Blue Sky Boys - 74 years ago (1st session)

Tuesday, June 16, 1936

Charlotte, NC

Bill Bolick: vocal, mandolin; Earl Bolick: vocal, guitar.

Producer: Eli Oberstein

Today marks the 74th anniversary of the debut recordings by Earl & Bill Bolick, the Blue Sky Boys. I'm a big fan of country brother duets, and as much as I love the Monroe Brothers and Delmore Brothers, I'd have to say that my favorite brother act of the '30s has to be the Blue Sky Boys. The Monroes and Delmores played faster and were hotter instrumentalists, but that thing that makes the blending of siblings so sublime seems to be in particular abundance when it comes to the Bolick Brothers. They have such a sweet sound, and that sound went on to influence two of the greatest brother acts of the '50s: Charlie & Ira Louvin, and Don & Phil Everly.

Charles K. Wolfe in his chapter on the Blue Sky Boys from his book Classic Country: Legends of Country Music has the following to say about the session recorded today:

It was a late spring morning on June 16, 1936, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Two teenage boys sat reading a newspaper in a waiting room in the old Southern Radio Building on South Tryon Street. Inside, engineers from the Victor recording company had draped the walls with heavy curtains to create a temporary recording studio. A big moon-faced man named Eli Oberstein was in charge, and he was making records for Victor’s new Bluebird label – a cut-rate record subsidiary that featured blues and country music, and sold in those Depression-era times for 35 cents apiece. He had recently discovered that Charlotte was a good location to find both kinds of talent – he had already recorded hit acts like Mainer’s Mountaineers and the Monroe Brothers there – and now he was racing through another marathon session, cutting as many as twenty or twenty-five masters in a day, and hoping that lightning would strike again.

The two teenagers in the waiting room were named Bill and Earl Bolick. They were from Hickory, North Carolina, and though they were only eighteen (Bill) and sixteen (Earl), they had been playing on radio stations in Asheville and Atlanta for a year. It was an age of duet harmony singing, and groups like the Monroe Brothers (Bill and Charlie), the Callahan Brothers, and the Delmore Brothers were winning radio fans throughout the South. Soon the Bolicks too had begun attracting fans, and while they were at Atlanta’s WGST an offer had come to record for Bluebird. Now that they were here, though, there seemed to be some confusion.

One hour dragged into two, and then three, and still nobody had spoken to the boys. Finally Oberstein brushed through the room and noticed Earl reading his newspaper. “What do you think this is, a reading room?” he snapped. “I don’t care what it is,” Earl snapped back. Oberstein then asked them what they thought they were doing there, and seemed surprised when they said their names were Bolick and they had been told to come and make records. “We understood that you had broken up,” he said. He had given their spot to somebody else. “You’re the boys who copy the Monroe Brothers, aren’t you?” he said. Again the brothers protested; they had replaced the Monroe Brothers on WGST, but they had never even heard them, let alone copied them. “Being that you’re here, I’ll give you an audition,” Oberstein finally said.

Oberstein went back into the little room that he had rigged up as a control room, and the brothers unpacked their guitar and mandolin. They checked their tuning, and then began singing into the big carbon microphone.

There’s a sunny side, where no ills betide,

On the road that we must go,

There are pleasant vales, verdant hills and dales,

Where flowers ever grow.

After a few more lines of “On The Sunny Side Of Life,” Obserstein was running out of his control room. “That’s enough,” he said. “That’s good. That’s nothing like the Monroes. It’s very different, and I think we’ll just go ahead and record you.” By now it was afternoon, and the boys began recording the material they had worked up for the session – all songs that were proven favorites with radio fans, and songs that, the boys felt, were new to records. In addition to “Sunny Side Of Life,” they did nine other pieces, ranging from old Victorian loves songs to prison songs like “I’m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail.” Of the ten songs preserved that afternoon, five were gospel tunes; the resulting Bluebird records were to write a new chapter in the history of country gospel music.

After the session, Eli Oberstein debated about what name to use for his new discovery. “At that time there were a lot of brothers recording,” recalls Bill. “So he suggested we use another name besides the Bolick Brothers. Eli and I sat down and kicked it around and came up with the name Blue Sky Boys, mainly because we were from the western part of the state, which was known as the Land of the Blue Sky.” Thus was born the name that for many came to stand for the very essence of old-time brother duet harmony singing – the Blue Sky Boys.

What a fabulous start to a recording career! I love these recordings, and I hope you enjoy them too...