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Topic: new boxset with lots of nonpedal! |
Tom Zielinski
From:
Buffalo, New York, USA
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Posted 22 Mar 2006 2:09 pm |
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Proper records did it again....and I am not affiliated with them.
I just gotthe new one "boppin hillbilly and red hot rockabilly" 4 cd set with a 68 page booklet. I have a lot of the tunes but was surprised to hear that about half the set has steel in it! All the tracks are from 1952-55.
Many of the names I dont recognize, but quite a few I do...Tani Allen, Jimmy Kelly, Don Helms, Jerry Byrd (Eddie Bond),Robert Foster, Harold Cavalerro, Ken Herman, Bobby Black, Jimmy Day, Billy Williamson, Bob Foster, Sonny Trammell,Mickey Woodward, James Farmer, Joyce Songer, Johnny Sibert, Speedy West and Bubba Winn. At least 30 or more tunes with unknown steel players---definitely not what I expected in this box set, but they did a great job with the pre-rockabilly. A fair selection of Elvis, etc. If you have the sun rockabilly comps then you really have most all the rockabilly you need, but most of this is hillbilly!
I bought it from amazon, they should have a track list. Us younger players need stuff like this!!!! |
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Chris Cummings
From:
England
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Posted 26 Mar 2006 2:26 pm
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Hi Tom
Could not agree more !! Proper have put out some great reissues over the last few years at budget prices. I'm sure others would disagree but there was a great period between 1954 - 1956 as country was influenced by the short lived rockabilly explosion. Some great records and tracks with fine and wild steel. That is until everyone realised that Elvis didn't feature steel on his records !
Chris
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Bill Thomson
From:
Ocean City, Maryland, USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2006 6:54 pm
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Rockabilly!!!
Lots of great tunes came from those early Sun Record days.
I have an excellent book on "Rockabilly". When I get back to my home tomorrow night I'll post the name and author etc. This ought to help the younger guys.
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2006 9:32 pm
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| Every now and then these Proper Box sets show up for good prices. Please post a notice here if this set shows up on sale somewhere. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 29 Mar 2006 4:05 pm
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Early rock & roll had a lot more country influence than is generally realised. A lot of country starts turned into r&r stars and brought their bands with them, steel and all.
You should check out Bill Haley. He had an entire career as a country singer before he ever had a pop hit. At one time he ran a country music radio station, and helped a lot of country singers on their way to fame.
Ironically, after years of recording he had his first country hit in 1952 with "Icy Heart". He was booked to play the Grand Old Opry, but was pulled out at the last minute when his manager pointed out that the kids were buying the record for the flipside, "Rock This Joint". So he toured the country to promote r&r and the rest is history. But he always had a non-pedal steel guitar in his lineup and actually played the steel guitar himself. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 29 Mar 2006 7:29 pm
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REMOVED
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 3:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tom Zielinski
From:
Buffalo, New York, USA
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Posted 30 Mar 2006 7:11 am
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Hey Bill, I have couple of great books. A rockabilly book called "Go Cat Go" and a book called "Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock'n'Roll"---this one had me glued! There is a whole Chapter that describes the steel guitar (no pedals) and its use in early country, but you would never know by the title of the chapter. I also recommend "southwest shuffle". I bought all of these from Amazon. There are still a few of us that like to do their homework!!!!
I will also check out that 10cd box set! Thanks!
Tom |
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Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Mar 2006 11:06 am
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This is a track from the 1st CD - it's called The Hot Guitar by Smiling Eddie Hill. He "impersonates" a number of top country guitarists of the time including a very passable Jerry Byrd. This tune was recorded in 1950, so needless to say - no overdubs.
Tom, this CD set is a treasure chest - thanks!
RA |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 30 Mar 2006 9:51 pm
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The guitar players on Hot Guitar are in fact Hank Garland, Chet and most likely Jerry Byrd himself, Eddie Hill is the singer. The song Steamboat Stomp comes from the same session and features an incredible unison bebob solo by Garland and the piano player.
Everyone should check out Curtis Gordon's RCA and Mercury recordings, the earlier RCA sides include a great array of steel players, JB, Isaacs, etc and Gordon's rockabilly sides for Mercury have some of the hottest thumbstyle steel pickin' you'll ever hear. And young Buddy Emmons is on some of the cuts too. |
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Dan Sawyer
From:
Studio City, California, USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2006 5:16 pm
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| Rick thanks for posting that. Does anybody remember the song by Phil Baugh like this? He impersonated a lot of the great pickers but not as good as Hank did it. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 31 Mar 2006 5:23 pm
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REMOVED
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 31 Mar 2006 10:49 pm
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| Thumbs Carlisle also has one of those "guitar imitation" songs; Springfield Guitar Social, an unknown steel player does a Speedy West-like chorus there and Thumbs imitates other famous guitar players. |
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Tim Tweedale
From:
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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Posted 1 Apr 2006 8:52 pm
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Speaking of great box sets... I just borrowed a fantastic western swing collection from a friend of mine. It's called "Swingbillies". It's put together by a German company. There are 4 CDs of great stuff - 100 Songs in total. Bob Wills, Hank Penny, Jimmy Bryant (w/ Speedy West), Hank Thompson... just to name a few. It even has Leon McAuliffe's theme song "Take it Away, Leon" on there.
A very good collection. Extensive notes too.
-Tim |
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Kevin Ruddell
From:
Toledo Ohio USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2006 1:58 am
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I order my classic jazz and country cd's online from the Copacetic Comic Book Co. in Pittsburgh. He has the entire Proper line on his site and for the best price . I don't know the guy but I've had good luck using his store , he's a music lover and knowledgeable.
Michael , do you have a source for the Cd box you mentioned in your post ? |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 3 Apr 2006 5:33 am
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I just received this collection "Boppin Hillbilly" and I can't believe how many boogies there were, and that's just this collection.
There's great steel & all, but I can see how you'd get "boogied out" easily.
Think I'll boogie back to work now....  |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 3 Apr 2006 2:34 pm
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REMOVED
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 3:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Lee Jeffriess
From:
Vallejo California
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Posted 3 Apr 2006 9:27 pm
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Jussi, that is, Thumbs playing steel on that tune.
Thumbs,and curly on occasion, worked with Frank Kays, western swing band in Kansas city, and they would sometimes have three steels onstage, so they could feature, Thumbs on steel.
Frank,played Koeffer type chord stuff, and had curly play all the single note crazy stuff, he said the horn guys thought curly was to nervous sounding, god knows what he was up too, remember, this was the late 50s,before he got his 1000, and i think he was playing a quad stringmaster, it was probably a much more sofisticated style than you hear on the Hank Thompson transcriptions,and it seems so far unrecorded.
Getting back to the piont, I beleive Frank told me that, Thumbs first instrument was steel, and it was the genusis, for his lap approach to standard guitar, and his use of the Eb open tuning.
Lee |
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Jussi Huhtakangas
From:
Helsinki, Finland
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Posted 4 Apr 2006 4:09 am
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| Hey Lee, yup, I had that info of Thumbs playing steel in the back of my head, but I didn't remember where I heard that or had I just imagined the whole thing. That makes the song even more interesting, the vocal verses between the instrumental breaks are really short, would've been cool to see how he switched back and forth with guitar and steel when they recorded that. |
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