The Steel Guitar Forum

I just picked up Sunshine State Swing 1944-1949, Country Routes RFD CD 22, distributed by
Innerstate Music Ltd.
20 Endwell Road, Bexhill-on-Sea
East Sussex TN40 1EA England

This CD has 26 tracks and consists of transfers from rare direct from radio recordings and radio transcription discs. The songs are from Los Angeles radio stations and were recorded between 1944 and 1949.

Bands included are Spade Cooley, T. Texas Tyler, Porky Freeman, Freddie Tavares (doing "Coquette"), Rue Barclay, Hank Penny, Johnny Bond, Merle Travis, Jack Rivers, Tex Williams, the Sunshine Boys, Harold Hensley, Les Paul (singing "Midnight Special"!), and Red Rowe.
Lots of good steel guitar by Joaquin Murphey, Noel Boggs, and Freddie Tavares among others. Decent sound considering the source material. Good liner notes by Lou Curtiss.

I picked up a copy at Tower Records, but since it's new it might take a while to be generally available.


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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Found this one at cdnow.com for $12.99 -
Brad, how does it rate sonically?

Considering the source material (50 year old transcription discs), it sounds quite good. They used the CEDAR noise reduction system to clean up the sound. It's a bit muffled in places, but the music really shines through. The only song that is misidentified is "Oklahoma Stomp" which is called "Riverside Drive".

$12.99 is an excellent price, considering what you get:

01. It's Dark Outside - Spade Cooley
02. South - Spade Cooley
03. You Don't Love Me But I'll Always Care - Spade Cooley
04. Flying Home - Spade Cooley
05. Remember Me - T. Texas Tyler
06. My Bucket's Got A Hole In It - T. Texas Tyler
07. Between Memphis And New Orleans - T. Texas Tyler
08. The Grass Looks Greener Over Yonder - Porky Freeman
09. Coquette - Freddie Tavares
10. Guitar Boogie - Rue Barclay
11. Still Water Runs The Deepest - Hank Penny
12. We Met Too Late - Hank Penny
13. Gals Don't Mean A Thing - Johnny Bond
14. Tomorrow Never Comes - Johnny Bond
15. John Henry - Merle Travis
16. Little Rock Getaway - Jack Rivers
17. Don't Telephone Don't Telegraph - Tex Williams
18. Noah - Sunshine Boys
19. Texas Set-Up - Harold Hensley
20. Midnight Special - Les Paul
21. Be Honest With Me - Red Rowe
22. Riverside Drive - Spade Cooley
23. One Sweet Letter From You - Spade Cooley
24. Fireball Mail - Spade Cooley
25. Devil's Dream - Spade Cooley
26. Shame On You/Steel Guitar Rag - Spade Cooley

That does it! Los Angeles? Texas? I'm sueing!! Florida is the Sunshine State!

See you in court Interstate Music, Ltd.!

Just kidding, looks like a great CD.