C & W Recommendations

[paul secor]

Charlie Rich for me is like the urbane Charlie Feathers-- the legend is better than the reality.

Tennesee Clem

"urbane Charlie Feathers"???

Perhaps this was something that was discussed in Irony/Sarcasm 101 the day I skipped class.

[Matthew]

I was able to pick up Bear Family's Walking the Floor Over You for a very cheap price, and I'm enjoying it very much. Tubb's vocal are so straight forward, seems to be talking just to you -- love it. Thinking of trying Wynn Steward next.

edit for bad spelling

Edited September 23, 2004 by Matthew

[paul secor]

Why is that unclear Paul? More prosaically, both Charlies have legends/musical reputations that their recorded output simply does NOT live up to & I dig Charlie Feathers but it's not like he is the A-Bomb of unfettered hillbilly genius he was often reputed to be. Likewise Charlie Rich-- he made SOME good records & liked jazz & blues... ok, so... ??? Maybe if you extract the artistic potential from Rich's tortured (I'm being generous bc I don't see how he's any more interesting than near dead-drunk Wynn Stewart or Don Gibson, let alone speedfreakin' Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc etc) psyche, yeah, there's something more compelling there but in the larger discography of things, he was an also ran, Guralnick's transcendent essay notwithstanding.

The KILLER Lives!

Dr. Clem, Visiting Professor of Honky Tonk Studies

No problem with your opinions, Clem. I listen to music, and don't truck much with legends - whether they're written by Guralnick, yourself, or whoever. I also couldn't care less which country singers drank themselves or pilled themselves to death or near death.

When I listen to Charlie Rich, I hear a unique voice - one that's unlike most other singers of the country genre (though truthfully, I don't classify Charlie Rich as a country singer) in that he has a true blues sound. Willie, Merle, and a slew of western swing bands may have played jazz influenced stuff, but I don't hear any of that as strongly blues influenced as a lot of Charlie's records.

All of that's irrelevant anyway. I love the sound of the man's voice. I admit that he made a bunch of mediocre records, but he made a bunch of fine ones too, and those are the ones I listen to.

As for Mr. Feathers, to my ears, he was truly one of a kind, and his recorded output is generally consistent - with the exception of his last recordings, when he was in ill health.

I'm not going to build up either of these men by knocking someone else. Suffice it to say that I love their music, and that I'll keep listening to it.

Signing off - Not a Professor - merely a listener.

[Jim Dye]

Also, in regards to Proper - there's a box called 'Doughboys, Playboys and Cowboys: The Golden Years Of Western Swing' that's a great introduction to that music (especially for $20!).

A second recommendation here for the Proper Doughboys set. It's wonderful!

Re:Gary Burton in Nashville, check out this record:

The Nashville All-Stars - After The Riot At Newport.

Originally RCA, now on Bear Family as a single CD.

SIDE 1

RELAXIN' (11:05)  

NASHVILLE TO NEWPORT (3:13)

OPUS DE FUNK (6:08)

SIDE 2

'S WONDERFUL (4:31)

'ROUND MIDNIGHT (4:32)

FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (3:30)

RIOT-CHOUS (8:53)

Recorded July 4, 1960 at Newport, Rhode Island.

The story of the riots at Newport on the July 4th 1960 weekend has been told and retold. We won't detail it further. The unanimous feeling of the critics was that the music heard at the Festival was the best in its history. But nobody has commented on the music not heard at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival.

One group I was particularly interested in hearing was to perform on Monday night, July 4th. This was a group of jazz musicians from Nashville, Tennessee, headed by Chet Atkins---the same Chet Atkins who is so famous for his appearances on the "Grand Ole Opry" and the many Country and Western albums recorded for RCA Victor.

Several months ago Bob Yorke, Ben Rosner and Steve Sholes of RCA Victor invited me to Nashville to hear a jam session. Many of the Country and Western musicians have a great love for jazz. After finishing "Grand Ole Opry," they invariably find their way to a little club in Nashville where they switch styles and start "swinging," far into the early hours of the morning.

In addition to Chet and Hank Garland, Floyd Cramer, Boots Randolph, Buddy Harman, Bob Moore and Gary Burton---all well-known in the country field---there are usually one or two faculty members of A & I State University of Tennessee. One of them, Brenton Banks, is heard on this record playing violin and piano.

Probably you are wondering how this album was recorded if these musicians did not appear at the Festival. RCA Victor Records, responsible for bringing these musicians to Newport, rented a beautiful mansion. When it became obvious that the remainder of the concert was cancelled, Ben Rosner thought it a good idea to have a party on the lawn and record the musicians at a jam session. The music on this disc is what transpired on that sunny Monday afternoon. Incidentally, but importantly, two selections in the album were composed for the occasion. Chet Atkins penned Nashville To Newport, and Boots Randolph with Hank Garland extemporized Riot-Chous the night before the session---right after the big riot.

To me, the highlights of the album are the wonderful violin of Brenton Banks, the swinging guitar of Hank Garland, and the brilliant work of a 17-year old vibraphonist from Princeton, Indiana, Gary Burton, whom you will be sure to hear a lot in the future. The thing that impressed me most was the virtuosity and sensitivity of Chet Atkins' guitar work. While not a hard swinger, Chet has the ability to express a style uniquely his. He has the same delicacy of approach that exemplified the music of Django Reinhardt. Chet's technique is that of the classical guitarist, yet his harmonic concept is modern. I have no doubts that if he would devote his time exclusively to jazz, he'd become equally renowned in that medium.

The spontaneity and exuberance of the music and musicians on this album is in the tradition that made jazz the great music it is.

[paul secor]

That's hep, Paul. I think we're pretty much in agreement, w/some variation, as to be expected, in  individual taste. What I can't tell from your post is if your older or younger than I am... Older and you could have gotten those records as they came out w/o too too too much difficulty; younger & you are in the age of everything-is-reissued.

When I began to seek this stuff out in the mid-late '80s... in the north... (so no used lp bins full of cheap Charlie Rich lps)--

You read about it-- Charlie Feathers in "Kicks" magazine, bc he was not at all canonical; I do not think he's even mentioned in the discography section of "Mystery Train," for example, tho' I am thinking he gets a mention or two in Tosches' "Country"; Charlie Rich in the Guralnick book-- go to quite some efforts & $$$ to check out their records...

thus the admitted parlor game of praise, disappointment, ranking, etc.

we differ on one point, however: i DO care about the personal lives of the musicians, at least to a certain extent, bc it is absolutely a part of the music.

again, if you had the opportunity to hear this music contemporaneous w/its creation either on the radio or maybe you even saw Charlie Feathers live in & around Memphis, that's great but the rest of us had to do some digging.

I wanted to KNOW why Don Gibson & Wynn Stewart sounded SOOOOOO dark & tho' the books to the respective Bear Family sets are respectful (done in cooperation w/family members, in fact), I was not surprised to read about how dissolute they often were.

If you're happy to just listen & dig it, that's cool... I still find most (not all) Rich too slick & easy--

like I want him to be the white Charles Brown & he ends up lesser, later Nat Cole & w/o the Sam Fuller flick ("China Gate") to make up for it.

But ya' know academia, man, Publish or Perish so I'm just talkin'...

Professor Clem

Clem - I'm cool with what you're saying. Don't know exactly what set me off - I'm usually not that way about differences of opinion.

Anyway, we are probably closer in opinion about Charlie Rich than I realized. I hear Charlie in the same way I hear Earl Hooker - another of my favorites in another genre. Earl was blessed with the ability to play almost anything on the guitar (in the blues genre and somewhat beyond), but he didn't have much of a voice, and it was hit or miss (and as often miss as hit) whether he hooked up with a singer or a record producer who made proper use of his gifts.

Charlie Rich was either jinxed in hooking up with the wrong producers throughout most of his career, or didn't have a strong enough personality to stand up for what he wanted to do (probably both, from what I've read). In any case, you have to do a lot of listening to mediocre stuff to pick out the good. I've been willing to do that, but I can understand that many people would be frustrated. I just love the sound of his voice - can't say more than that.

I would imagine that I'm a fair number of years older than you - I'm 58 - but that doesn't matter. You've obviously done your listening. I first heard Charlie Rich on a Sun compilation LP in he mid-sixties and I was hooked. Later on I picked up some of his RCA an Columbia LPs, and have bought most of the reissues as they've come out - probably a lot of the same stuff that you've listened to - Charly, Zu-Zazz, etc. If you come across his Set Me Free LP on Epic, listen to side two. It's some of the best Charlie you'll hear without lifting the tonearm or hitting the remote. Otis Redding could have covered "Got To See My Baby".

As for Charlie Feathers, I never heard him in Memphis, and never heard his early records when they were released. I imagine that a lot of people who did hear them - and probably not many did - are dead now. The first time I heard one of his records was in the early 70's - a small label release (all of his stuff was then) - either something he released or perhaps a record released by Sam Phillips' brother. I'm hazy on that. I'm not sure if I even have the record anymore. In any case, I don't remember that it was one of his better records.

The closest I ever came to hearing Charlie Feathers live was a very vivid dream that I had about 15 years ago. He was playing in a bar/club and I was taking photographs. I can still remember that the reds and blues from the neon lights and the shadows they cast were more real real than any colors and shadows I've seen in my waking life. At the end of the dream, Charlie was in the parking lot, packing up to go home, and an altercation developed beween two guys. Charlie walked over and acted as a peacemaker. Everyone seemed to respect him, and calmness prevailed. I don't know if that would have been his response in real life, but that's how my dream ended.

As for Mystery Train goes - I believe that Marcus calls Charlie Feathers something like - nothing more than a wierd country singer - I got rid of the book years ago so I can't quote - I guess that's his opinion. It's definitely not mine. I'm not a Nick Tosches fan in general, but his "Hymn for Charlie", in the Revenant set is a keeper.

The bottom line is that, possibly like you, I was a middle class kid from the north who was looking for something different - I started a few years before you, but so what - heard the records, got hooked, and have remained so. The only difference is that you're a lot better writer than I am.

Keep writing. Perhaps I'll disagree - even if I do, I'll learn something.

Edited September 26, 2004 by paul secor

[Adam]

I saw a second (new) Proper Box of Western Swing music yesterday at Amoeba Records.

Anyone have it yet? I feel like I still haven't given all of "Doughboys" a proper listen yet (no pun intended). "Stompin' Singers and Western Swingers"

From teh Proper site:

Western Swing was the most eclectic form of country music and in its free-wheeling diversity, it set the stage for rock & roll. Based in traditional string band music, Western swing also incorporated traditional pop melodies, jazz improvisation, blues and folk, creating a wildly entertaining and eclectic form of American music. Bob Wills and Milton Brown popularized the genre in the '30s, and Wills became known as the father of the genre, since he remained popular for several decades, during which he had a remarkable string of hit singles. This Properbox follows on from our set of several years ago ("Doughboys, Playboys & Cowboys" Properbox6), expanding on that set to look at the work of many more of the artists working in the genre from the '30s to the '50s, and presented with the same attention to detail with comprehensive liner notes, a discography and 4CDs of digitally remastered music.

DISCOGRAPHY TRACK LISTINGS REVIEW

Also, do any of you have an opinion about the Proper "Hillbilly Boogie" box?

[chris olivarez]

Bob Wills,Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams.