Vintage Bill Wolfgram CD - Maori Brown Eyes

[Ron Whitfield]

Here's one that may have slipped your radar too http://www.mele.com/music/artist/daphne ... rown+eyes/

Link to auction on eBay.

Classic style steel and nice singing/playing, with some non-standard titles, giving some new learnin' material to boot.

[Les Cook]

Fine stuff ...Good call Ron !

[Barry Smart]

Thanks for that link to Bill Wolfgramme and Daphne Walkers music Ron. I am going to buy that cd. I have some of Bills solos and Daphnes other recordings but that cd takes me back to the early fifties growing up in New Zealand where they were from.I was big fan of them and Bill was probably the first steel guitarist I remember.
The song Haere Mai which means in Maori something like "how ya goin" which is common greeting in Australia especially in the country was my favourite.I will able to brush up on my crude version of it when I get the Cd
Cheers Barry S

[Barry Smart]

Just checked my ipod.Another brilliant Kiwi steel guitarist of the same era who recorded with The beautiful Daphne Walker was Bill Sevesi. Three reasonably priced albums on Itunes Australia.The Magic Steel Guitar, Hula Girl and Thank You For Making My Day.I don't know if they are available on US Itunes
Good stuff in the Hawaiian style which is my brand.
Enjoy Barry S

[Ron Whitfield]

Thanx for the good info, Barry. I've heard of Bill, but there is precious little to hear. Two of NZ's best steelers.

[Wally Pfeifer]

Hi Ron,
Happy to say that this DID NOT slip thru
my radar. I have the original LP on 49th State purchased a long long time ago. Good music
Wally

[Ron Whitfield]

Wally, NOTHING much ever slipped past you, and it was probably played once and put away forever. Glad to hear it lives up to it's billing.

[Michael Lee Allen]

Deleted

[Mac McKenzie]

When he arrived in NZ from Tonga in the early fifties he introduced himself as William Wolfgramme. Kiwi style, this was very quickly reduced to Bill and he dropped the " E " but retained the double " M ' Nani Wolfgramm is his nephew. Dick Sanft, another Tongan, played at the dances, but did not record. He did in the US under his proper name, Richard Sanft.
Bill Wolfgramm and Daphne Walker recorded most of Sam Freedman's compositions on the Tanza label. Sam could not play any musical instrument, he could not hold the steel bar, he could not get the strings down on a rhythm guitar, he was not successful on a sax. and he could not span the keys on the piano. He worked in a shoe factory and words or musical notes would come into his head and he would write them down when he got home. When the melody and words came together he would add harmony and chords. He only heard it all together when it was recorded. Seeking an overseas market, he sent some records to 49th. State and asked if they were interested, they replied " send four more and we will do an LP." When Maori Brown Eyes was completed they asked Sam to visit and he was thrilled to bits to hear his best seller " Haere Mai " ( welcome ) ( Haere Ra farewell )being played at the airport. 49th State did not market in NZ but they gave Sam a bundle to bring homs and he said he did not know how high the plane flew, but his heart was that much higher as he cuddled his bundle all the way home.

Bill Sevesi, also Tongan, did a few records with Tanza, backing for Luke Simmonds and the Blue Mountain Boys and as Will Jess and the Jesters, but his main label was Viking feauturing Trevor Edmondson on steel on many of them. He later built his own studio, still featuring Trevor but also Bill W. and himself. To confuse the customers, he would have two steels, Trevor and Bill W., Trevor and himself or the " Two Bills. " He marketed under the Armar label.

Bill Wolfgramm died on September 25th., 2003, Trevor is still in good health, Bill Sevesi not so good but as he says " Well, I'm 88 but I am still hanging in there."

[David Matzenik]

Great stories Mac! Cut and pasted into my archives. Thanks heaps.