Date News Posted: January 12, 2009

Another year has all but gone and probably will be by the time you read this.  With the election of a new president I think the whole world is holding on just waiting to see how this is going to turn out, I don’t even want to start talking about politics but Lord I hope this works out, all I can say is, something better happen.

When you have nothing better to do crawl up in your attic and see if you have stashed any boxes of old records, old 45s or old 78’s or albums either as far as that goes, I could use any old 45s or albums  or both by a guy named Jim Alley, Jim some years ago had a big release on one he wrote called “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line” and that was on DOT Records, he also recorded for other labels.  What I want to do is find enough of his records to make an album (CD) since we have his permission to do so.  Also if you have any old country magazines or books with stories in them about him we could use the book or even a copy.
 

And >>> we need some old 78s by Johnny Horton, some of Johnny’s old recordings never made it to wax and of course never to CD and any record by any artist that went on to make a name for himself like Johnny Horton everything he ever recorded should be able to be bought and played for Country Music History’s sake.
 

So many great recordings over the years have been lost in moving and how any of the old 78s made it all is beyond me.  As many CDs that are sold these days could you imagine having a million seller and it was on a 78 rpm record and you got the job of mailing them out to radio stations? Other then a whole lot of cardboard your next piece of equipment you would need, might be a forklift and at today’s postage rate it would cost more then the pressing to mail them. A hundred of them buggers are heavy.
 

If you are not quite old enough to remember what country music sounded like and how it was presented back in the 40s and even before, a good CD to buy would be that of Cowboy Slim Rinehart.

This Cowboy Slim Rinehart album (CD)  that it is now on, was recorded from radio shows live in the 30s. Slim announces every song before he sings it, while he was doing the song live on radio, he, or someone was  recording it either on a wire recorder or a skinny tape recording machine if they had one.

This recording was digitally mastered close to 60 years later after it was recorded, there wasn’t a lot to mix with just Slim and his guitar but the audio restoration was probably a nightmare.  We need to give credit to the folks who did this which was the NRC Studios in Rome, Georgia. We think it is just outstanding and a great piece of radio history.

The graphic layout and design was done by Johnny Carter and the recording was also manufactured in Georgia by NRC which is the National Recording Corporation in Rome, Ga.

You might not care who made it or why but I do, I think it is a masterpiece of history and we are lucky any time we find any old wire recordings, tapes, records, discs, transcriptions or anything else that time has left us behind and we need to thank who ever takes the time and spends the money to put it back together again.

So where else but Texas, or maybe Germany would anybody take the time or spend the money to renew those old recordings, it’s for sure it ain’t never gonna sell enough copies to get their money back, it might if there was enough radio stations left in America to know what country music history sounded like, there’s not to many that still knows George Jones.

You could help by buying a copy or al least write them a letter and ask about it.

Heart Of Texas Records

1701 South Bridge Street

Brady, Texas 76825

Or you can give them a call if you had rather at (325) 597-1895

Or even check them out on the net at www.heartoftexascountry.com    and of course that spells Heart Of Texas Country.

Also this ain’t no puny CD with 6-8 songs on it, this sucker has got 26 pieces of music on it, the CD is called  COWBOY SLIM RINEHART

KING OF BORDER RADIO  
 

Finally found almost a brand new copy of the only album John Wayne ever did called “America Why I Love Her”, most all the words in the album were written  by our old friend John Mitchum it was released in 1973 on RCA records and is pretty much a collectors album although it has been re-released on a CD but not by RCA.  You would have to know John Mitchum to know where his head was at, sometimes John didn’t even know where all those words came from he was putting on paper.

John was on a movie set one day I think he said he was sitting there talking to Forest Tucker, John and Forest had a part in Wayne’s movie and while sitting there killing time waiting to do their lines, Mitchum said to Forest, let me recite something to you and so he did, “America Why I Love Her” Forest said damn Mitch why in the hell don’t you read that for Wayne.

When Wayne finally came over and sat down by the two Forest said, Mitch wants to read you somethin’ Duke.  John Mitchum told me later, Don I’m pretty sure I saw a tear fall. I said well, what else did he say, he said, what else you got? And so that’s how the John Wayne album was born of “America Why I Love Her”.

From the liner notes on this album that John Wayne wrote himself, comes these words.

“For a number of years I have tried to express a deep and profound love for these things; to be able to say what I feel in my heart. And now in this album, I’ve had the chance to do so”

As a Marine I will never forget when we landed in Japan on our way to Korea, my buddy Dave and I decided to hike up a couple city streets and visit a few shops along the way, and a few other things. Dave and I still laughed about it the last time we saw each other three years later and tried to count the number of people over there, and in Korea, that ask us, “uh..you know John Wayne?”

I guess there would only be one answer to that question from everyone in the world. “Who don’t”?
 

The number one man on the Totem Pole starting in 1946 was Eddy Arnold, it has been said he was one of the sharpest business men in Nashville and it’s for sure you never heard of him doing  any thing crazy  like getting soused and falling off the stage or any where else as far as that goes.  I think the charts starting at the year 1946 will make you know that Eddy Arnold meant business and music was his business.

Starting with one song at number 10 in 1946 was Eddy’s “That’s How Much I Love You”.

Come 1947  he hit with 3 more, the number two song was “It’s A Sin”  The number 4 song was “What Is Life Without Love”  & the number 5 song was “I’ll Hold You In My Heart” (what a monster hit that was)

But 1948 was really a banner year for the Plowboy, Eddy Arnold hit 4 in a row.

#1   Bouquet Of Roses

#2   Anytime

#3   Just A Little Lovin

#4   Texarkana Baby

#10  My Daddy Is Only A Picture

The only songs that jumped into the line up at all was at number 5, my friend Eddie Dean’s song sung by Jimmy Wakely of “One Has My Name” At number 6 was Hank Thompson and “Humpty Dumpty Heart” At number 7 was a really cute song by Carson Robison called “Life Gets Tee-jus Don’t It?” “Sweeter Than The Flowers” was number 8 by Moon Mullican and then a giant smash that some of the great radio stations that still know what country is still play today called “Deck Of Cards” by the great T Texas Tyler coming in at number 9. The other 5 in the charts like we said belonged to Eddy Arnold.

In 1949 Eddy had 3 more in the top 10

In 1950 Eddy had 2 more

In 1951 Lefty Frizzell pretty much took over but Eddy Arnold still managed to slip 2 in at #5 & #6..

Until Eddy Arnold died just a year or so ago he still was selling records and still recording up to a year before he died.  Cindy Walker called us while Eddy was recording his last CD album and told us that he was in the studio, we ask her could he still sing good enough to cut a whole album, she said not really but what he said he was doing was spending time in the shower each night working on the song he was going to record the next day and trying to really put a strain on his vocal cords so the next day he could get through it with some ease.

Speaking of singing in the shower, I reckon we all have done that, actually most people that can sing at all can sing pretty darn good in the shower it being hollow and giving you a little echo. In fact we had a friend call and said, “boy you were sure right about singing in the shower and how good it makes you sound and I really love that little echo sound it makes in there, last night I couldn’t believe it, I sounded exactly like Johnny Cash when I sang Ring Of Fire”.  I said, “Well that’s really good Mary”
 

Looking back over the old charts of songs that were played on the radio, when  you think about it, you can almost (if not exactly) remember where you were and who you were with (if anybody) the very first time you ever heard that song. But if you don’t, it will sure start you thinking.  But on the other hand are there any “Country?” songs you heard (Yesterday) you can still remember? Unless it might have been George Strait.
 

A lot has happened this past year, an election that will go down as “Who would have thought” but like it, or not like it, we had better stand behind this man and get America out of what we are into.  Give him his 4 years, as you know looking back over your own life 4 years goes by faster then you even want to think about it, if he does what he told us he was going to do and the American flag is waving high, well give him some more time or take him out that’ll be up to you.
 

We started to finish this last year but it didn’t work out that way, being Christmas and New Year you probably wouldn’t have read it ‘till now anyhow, so let’s try to make 2009 a good year I don’t know how many more we have to go but what ever it is we might as well enjoy it.
 

Finally, if you would like to hear probably the best “Country” album you have heard in a while then you need to check out this one by a guy by the name of Brian Burns, as far as I know Brian is from Texas and also as far as I know it was  recorded there although I could care less if it was recorded on the moon it is an outstanding CD.  And even though the whole CD has some great music on it weather you’re a honky-tonker or just somebody that likes to kick back with a glass of buttermilk and listen to some great country stories then you ought to buy this CD by Brian Burns called “Lost Highway” and while you are at it play my favorite a couple of times called “I Forgot That I Don’t Live Here Anymore”.  Actually I think the album is called “Highways, Heartaches and Honkytonks”.

So just to be on the safe side buy everything he ever recorded.
 

God Bless America & we’ll see ye next time but just in case we don’t, take care of yourself.

Don Bradley