Many Guest Artists On New Double CD

Often it’s difficult keeping pace with George Hamilton IV. In a career that now stretches over 55 years, which includes over 120 albums and many tours across both national and international time zones, the North Carolina born entertainer shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, the last few years have shown an increase in activities …. and certainy very true in recent weeks!

Currently the International Ambassador of Country Music is celebrating the release of a new double cd – a “landmark” collection among his many releases - and promoting it with a whirlwind launch on both sides of the Atlantic.

With 28 tracks, the new collection features duets from many of secular and gospel music’s foremost entertainers as well as several of George IV’s compatriots from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Titled George Hamilton IV & Friends: Old Fashioned Hymns and Gospel Songs (From Those Who Miss Them!), it’s a package of mainly well loved, familiar titles that includes Family Bible, Mansion Over The Hilltop, When Could I Go (But To The Lord), When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder, Love Lifted Me, Leaning On The Everlasting Arms and Someone Is Looking For Someone Like You while Charley Pride, The Whites, Connie Smith, George Beverly Shea, Marty Stuart, Bill Clifton, Jim Ed Brown, Charlie Louvin, Bill Anderson, Ricky Skaggs, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, Del McCoury and Tommy Cash are just some of the artists who add their voices in a succession of fine duets. There’s even a brand new song, Ain’t It Alright, written especially for the album by John D. Loudermilk who also shares the vocal honours.

The album was officially launched on Nashville’s Midnight Jamboree, on Saturday July 3, where its producer Colin Elliott, alongside several members of the Grand Ole Opry who contributed to the album, joined George IV on stage. A few hours earlier the artist and producer appeared on the Opry itself while, the following day, the two continued their musical partnership at the weekly Cowboy Church.

Prior to the hectic weekend launch, Colin Elliott had flown into the States from his Northern Ireland home to accompany George Hamilton IV for a church based tour in Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Then, over the weekend July 10 & 11, the two – alongside George Hamilton V – introduced the album to the British public at the 30th Americana International, now recognised as Europe’s biggest country music festival.

The album is the brainchild of Colin Elliott, vocalist and bass player with the group Live Issue, and took over 18 months to record. A truly international project, sessions took place in various locations in Northern Ireland and Nashville, with many of the artists sending their recorded performances to the producer to be edited, mixed and inserted into the master recording. Dave Moody handled the Nashville production and backup vocals were laid down by the multi-award winning trio, the Babcocks (Joe and Carol Babcock and daughter Lorrie).

As Colin Elliott writes in the cd’s accompanying, fully coloured 28 page booklet that details the background and artists who contributed to the project, “the title of the album suggests the criteria by which we chose many of the songs to record …. Songs that had been very popular in years gone by but now have been superseded by many new worship songs in churches and Gospel recordings. We also wanted to give this recording a sound and feel similar to the older American vinyl albums released during the 1960s and early 1970s.”

A genuine trans-Atlantic recording that adds another impressive credit to George Hamilton IV’s achievements over the years, the artist considers the cd as a “legacy” album, featuring a selection of his favourite old-time Gospel songs recorded as duets with many of those American artists who had worked closely with him over his years. While a distribution deal is currently being discussed for the British Isles, the album is released in the USA by Lamon Records.

But with no time for any dust to settle under the feet, George IV (after the briefest of family vacations) set off on his travels again. First on the international schedule was Prague, in the Czech Republic, where he (with George V) appeared on the Porta Festival as well as taking part in a tribute to the late Jiri Brabec, who had first introduced the Nashville artist to Eastern European country enthusiasts in 1974. Then he moved on to Scotland where he sang at the Duke of Hamilton’s Memorial Service on July 31. Finally Letterkenny, Donegal, the setting for this year’s annual Country Fest where he was one of the many artists to take the stage on August 1.

Now, back home in Nashville, he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry over the past weekend. Truly the International Ambassador of Country Music shows no signs of slackening his pace!

CD details:

GEORGE HAMILTON IV & FRIENDS - Old Fashioned Hymns and Gospel Songs For Those Who Miss Them!

Disc One: Family Bible (Charley Pride); Mansion Over The Hilltop (The Whites); Nothing But The Blood (Connie Smith); When We All Get To Heaven (Pat Boone); I’d Rather Have Jesus (George Beverly Shea); The Solid Rock (Marty Stuart); The Old Hymns (That Mother Used To Sing) (Kenny Sears); Far Side Banks Of Jordan (Terry Smith); My Jesus I Love Thee (Johanna Webster); Where Could I Go But To The Lord (Bill Clifton); Where No One stands Alone (Jan Howard); The World Is Not My Home (Jim Ed Brown); When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder (Dave Moody); Sail Away (Barry & Holly Tashian/George Hamilton IV).

Disc Two: Love Lifted Me (Terry Warren/Buddy Greene); Jesus Is Whispering Now (Charlie Louvin); Leaning on The Everlasting Arms (Bill Anderson); The Gospel Quilt Song (The Moody Brothers); Just As I Am (Ricky Skaggs); Someone Is Looking For Someone Like You (Gail Davies/Chris Scruggs); When All Of God’s Singer’s Get Home (Billy Grammar); Acres Of Diamonds (Arthur Smith); I’m Using my Bible For A Roadmap (Del McCoury); How Long Has It Been? (Mosie Lister); He The Pearly Gates Will Open (Cliff Barrows); He Is My Everything (Jack Greene); Ain’t It AlrRight (John D. Loudermilk); At The Cross (Joanne Cash Yates/Tommy Cash)

MINDY MCCREADY RETURNS STRONG WITH I’M STILL HERE Iconic Records Releases Testament To Platinum Artist’s Resilience

A Tribute Compilation To The Country Greats

Collections by Big Jeff Bess and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott

VARIOUS ARTISTS A Girl Named Johnny Cash (And Other Tribute Songs)

The Ballad Of J.C. (GORDON TERRY); The Night The Ernest Tubb Show Came To Town (STONEY EDWARDS); Leonard (MERLE HAGGARD); The Carter Family (STONEY EDWARDS); Cash (STONEY EDWARDS); A Girl Named Johnny Cash (JANE MORGAN); Roy Acuff, The King Of Country Music (STONEY EDWARDS); Hank, It Will Never Be The Same Without You (ERNEST TUBB); The Jimmie Rodgers Blues (STONEY EDWARDS); Goodbye Lefty (MERLE HAGGARD); Bob Wills, The Fiddlin' Man (STONEY EDWARDS); Hag Sang Me A Song (STONEY EDWARDS); The Ballad Of Johnny Horton (RUDY THACKER); Red Foley (STONEY EDWARDS); Gentleman Jim (CHARLIE RICH); Bill Monroe – Daddy Bluegrass (STONEY EDWARDS); Johnny's Cash And Charley's Pride (MAC WISEMAN); Hank And Lefty Raised My Country Soul (STONEY EDWARDS).

(Bear Family BCD 15945 AH)

Although rare these days, tribute records had once regularly found a place in the recording schedules, in particular following the deaths of such iconic figures as Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams. Now Bear Family has assembled 18 such recordings, remembering various artists across the decades. The greater number of tracks originate from African-American Stoney Edwards who enjoyed 1973 chart success with Hank And Lefty Raised My Country Soul and recorded several other fine tributes (spotlighting Carter Family, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Red Foley and Bill Monroe) which have remained unissued until the arrival of this collection. Johnny Cash is also remembered three other times, kicking off with the amusing The Ballad Of J.C, recorded by Gordon Terry, his close wild-partying friend. Equally amusing is Jane Morgan’s A Girl Named Johnny Cash (an obvious reference to Cash’s “Sue”) and Mac Wiseman’s version of Jack Clements’ cleverly penned Johnny’s Cash And Charley’s Pride, a song that related to friends as much as to artists whom Clement produced. Merle Haggard, besides being the subject of an Edwards tribute, also contributed a couple himself – Leonard (to his old friend Leonard Sipes, better known as Tommy Collins) and Goodbye Lefty, a touching song to an artist who had greatly influenced Hag. Charlie Rich, in somewhat unusual musical territory, gives acknowledgement to another of the music’s iconic figures, Gentleman Jim, and The Ballad Of Johnny Horton comes from this collection’s least known singer, Rudy Thacker, a staff musician on the Wheeling Jamboree. A now almost forgotten sub-genre of country music, this tribute collection is accompanied by a full colour, 34 page booklet with notes by Deke Dickerson accompanying the photographs and recording details.

BIG JEFF BESS Tennessee Home Brew

Hom-Bru Boogie; A Kiss And A Memory; Poppin' Bubble Gum; The Tramp On The Street; Gonna Give You Back To The Indians; After We Are Through; Poppin' Bubble Gum; Juke Box Boogie; You Talk In Your Sleep; Step It Up And Go; After We Are Through; Lifetime To Regret; Fast Women Slow Horses And Wine; Move On Baby; I'm In Love Dear With Thee; I Courted An Angel; I Don't Talk To Strangers; Somebody Clipped Your Wings; Car Hoppin' Mama; Most Of All; San Antonio Rose; The Bible Tells Me So; Waiting For A Train; Long Tall Sally; Precious Memories; The Same Two Lips; If You Ever Fall In Love; A Kiss And A Memory; I Courted An Angel; Slowly Dying; You; Ten-E-Cee Hom-Bru

(Bear Family BCD 16941 AR)

For every hitmaker in country music, there were numerous others who didn’t make it big – but many, nevertheless, still created music that doesn’t deserve to get overlooked. Big Jeff Bess was one such artist and, although his name may be unfamiliar to the majority of contemporary country music fans, his reputation was widespread in many parts of the States during the 1940s and ‘50s. This was the age of live radio and Bess would be heard daily on Nashville’s powerful WLAC performing with his Radio Playboys, which featured many of the town’s top session players including, at one time or another, Hillous Butrum, Benny Martin, George McCormack, Jerry Rivers, Jack Henderson, Bob Moore and Grady Martin. Although a popular radio attraction, his output on record was fairly limited and, with the exception of several releases on the major Dot outlet, came out on small Nashville independent labels like Cheker, World and Ma An Pa Say during the period 1947-52. Then, making a late return to the studios in 1972/73, he recorded a handful of tracks for Fiddle & Bow and Delta. Most of these recordings are included on this cd alongside hitherto unreleased recordings made in the WLAC radio studios and, while the records comprised a lot of original material, the studio tracks centred upon mainly known titles (San Antonio Rose, The Bible Tells Me, Waiting For A Train and others). Overall Bess’ music was well representative of the period with his vocals always prominently supported by fiddle and steel guitar, his best known title being Step Up And Go, regarded as one of the first examples of how hillbilly music would develop into rock ‘n’ roll.

And, if Big Jeff Bess isn’t remembered for his music, there’s a couple of other important credits to his name. He was the husband of the former Hattie Louise, better known as “Tootsie”, the founder of Nashville’s foremost bar on Broadway. He also appeared in two movies, “A Face In The Crowd” and “Wild River”, the former which Bess considered the highlight of his career. Accompanying this cd’s 32 tracks (11 unissued and the remainder so rare that they’ve never been re-issued!), Martin Hawkins recounts the artist’s story in great detail in the accompanying 86 page booklet, also providing invaluable insight into the musicians, record labels and Nashville in the post-war years. The booklet also has photographs and discography.

JACK ELLIOTT At Lansdown Studios, London

Talking Guitar Blues; San Francisco Bay Blues; Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms*; East Virginia Blues*; Ain't It A Shame*; Muleskinner Blues*; Ain't It A Shame (comic version)*; Howdido; My Daddy; Why Oh Why; The Fox; Riding In My Car; Old Rattler; Rusty Jiggs And Sandy Sam (The Sierry Petes); Git Along Little Dogies; My Little Lady (Sadie Brown); Night Herding Song; The Old Chisholm Trail; Fifteen Cents And A Dollar; Rocky Mountain Belle; Talking Blues; Diamond Joe; Down In The Willow Garden; I Ride An Old Paint; Jack O'Diamonds; Pretty Boy Floyd; Do-Re-Me; Dead Or Alive; Grand Coulee Dam; Dust Storm Disaster; I Ain't Got No Home; So Long, It's Been Good To Know You; Whippin' That Old T. B. (tracks marked * are duets with DARROLL ADAMS)

(Bear Family BCD 16630 AH)

Although there were devotees spread around the country, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott effectively brought folk music to Britain in the mid 1950s and, busking his way around the nation, introduced the songs of his mentor Woody Guthrie and of the American Southwest to brand new audiences. Britain also launched Elliott's recording career, virtually beginning at the time of his arrival in the country when he was signed up to Topic Records, a non-exclusive that also saw the American recording for record shop owner Doug Dobell’s 77 Records. But it wasn’t until 1958, and his association with Lansdown Studios (created by broadcaster, record producer and jazz critic Denis Preston, who had earlier achieved success with skiffle productions) and released through EMI’s Columbia label, that Elliott recorded the majority of his British output. The first sessions comprised mainly traditional western folk songs like Git Along Little Doggies, The Old Chisholm Trail, Jack O’Diamonds and I Ride An Old Paint but it wasn’t until a year later – after a short break in the States - that he would record material from Woody Guthrie’s much revered catalogue. In a lineup that included Alexis Korner (mandolin) and Jack Fallon (string bass), Elliott first covered such familiar titles as Do-Re-Me, Grand Coulee Dam, I Ain’t Got No Home and So Long, It’s Been Good To Know You before, at second session, recording a selection of children’s songs like Howdido, Old Rattler and Riding In My Car.

This collection of 33 tracks (with a running time of almost 89 minutes), brings together the majority of Elliott’s Lansdown Studios recordings, hitherto unavailable for years, alongside a handful of previously unreleased recordings. These include Guthrie’s Pretty Boy Floyd, Jesse Fuller’s San Francisco Bay Blues and five titles laid down in a 1960 reunion with fellow American Derroll Adams with whom Elliott toured during his initial British years as the duo The Rambling Boys. Regarded as a major influence on the development of the folk scene in Britain (as well as upon Bob Dylan, who idolized Elliott), the background of the recordings and this period of Ramblin' Jack Elliott's life, is precisely detailed by Hank Reineke in the accompanying 42 page booklet that also contains photographs and discography.

For more information on these and other Bear Family releases, please contact Yvonne Saunders at Rollercoaster Records, Rock House, London Road, St. Mary’s, Stroud, Glos GL6 8PU. phone: 01453 886252; fax: 01453 885361; e-mail: von@rollercoasterrecords.com

Classic Country Music Legends Released By Bear Family

CARL SMITH Hey Joe! - Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight

Hey Joe!; Go, Boy Go; Trademark; San Antonio Rose; Baby I'm Ready (1); If You Want It, I've Got It; Goodnight Mister Sun; Dog-Gone It, Baby, I'm In Love; Let's Live A Little (1958 version); That's The Way I Like You Best; No Trespassing; Lovin' Is Livin' (1952 version); (When You Feel Like You're In Love) Don't Just Stand there; 14. Don't Tease Me; Our Honeymoon; Happy Street; Oh Stop!; More Than Anything Else In The World; If Teardrops Were Pennies (1958 version); Baby I'm Ready (2); Time's A Wastin' (& June Carter); No, I Don't Believe I Will; Cut Across Shorty; A Love Was Born; Back Up Buddy; I Won't Be Mad, I'll Be Glad; Why, Why; Loose Talk; I Just Don't Care Any More; Mr. Lost; Lonely Girl; Be Good To Her; It's All My Heartache; Try To Take It Like Man

(Bear Family BCD 16943 AH)

A very timely release from Bear Family as Tennessee born Carl Smith passed away just a few weeks ago (on January 16) at the age of 82. Elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2003, he was one of country music’s most successful artists, scoring around 80 hits during the 1950s and ‘60s, and then slowing down in the 1970s before retiring from the music scene to raise quarter horses on his Franklin, Tennessee farm with wife Goldie Hill.

Bear Family has already released a 5 cd box set of Smith’s recordings – “Satisfaction Guaranteed” (covering the period 1950-59) – but this generous 34 track solo cd, as part of the label’s ongoing “Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight” series, concentrates upon his up-tempo hillbilly, proto-rockabilly and hardcore honky-tonk recordings. Kicking off with his 1953 chart-topper Hey Joe, the compilation also other high ranking chart successes like Trademark, Don’t Tease Me, Go Boy Go, Our Honeymoon and Cut Across Shorty, the country hit version of Eddie Cochran’s rock ‘n’ roll classic. There’s a rockabilly remake of his earlier hit If Teardrops Were Pennies, a rousing duet with former wife June Carter on Time’s A-Wastin’ and covers of Loose Talk and San Antonio Rose.

“Hey Joe” is not only a collection that’s a fine memorial to a classic country music singer but will also have appeal to listeners with an interest in bobbin’ country and hillbilly boogie. It comes with a 38 page booklet, containing a well researched detailed biography penned by Deke Dickerson alongside photographs and discography.

JOHNNY HORTON The Ballads Of Johnny Horton

Whispering Pines; Everytime I'm Kissing You; You Cry In The Door Of Your Mansion; Words (1); All For The Love Of A Girl (2); Lost Highway; Journey With No End; The Mansion You Stole (1); Betty Lorraine (Betty Lou); Miss Marcy (Billy Boy); Words (2); Another Woman Wears My Wedding Ring; Shadows On The Old Bayou; When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below); Counterfeit Love; Comanche (The Brave Horse); The Mansion You Stole (1); They'll Never Take Her Love From Me; Jim Bridger; Done Rovin'; All For The Love Of A Girl (1); Johnny Reb; Meant So Little To You; Tetched In The Head; North To Alaska

(Bear Family BCD 16384 AR)

JOHNNY HORTON Take Me Like I Am - Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight

Barbecue; Two Red Lips And Warm Red Wine; The Devil Made A Masterpiece; S.S. Lureline; Shadows On The Old Bayou; Broken Hearted Gypsy; Bawlin' Baby; Shotgun Boogie; No True Love; Ha Ha And Moonface; She Knows Why; You, You, You; The Train With The Rhumba Beat; You Don't Move Me Baby Anymore; Hey, Sweet Thing; Move Down The Line; On The Banks Of The Beautiful Nile; Sister Moonlight; Out In New Mexico; It's A Long Rocky Road (Overdub); Talk Gobbler Talk (Old Gobbler, The Hound Dog; In My Home In Shelby County (Overdub); First Train Headin' South; Ridin' The Sunshine Special; I'll Do It Everytime; Seven Come Eleven; You're My Baby; Goodbye Lonesome, Hello Baby Doll; Rhythm In My Baby's Walk; Big Wheels Rollin'

(Bear Family BCD 16354 AH)

The early 1960s were particularly tragic times for country music as a number of its top stars were to die in plane or auto accidents, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline being the most famous. Another was Johnny Horton, the first to suffer such a unforeseen death, on November 5, 1960, just as his movie theme tune North To Alaska was heading to the top of both Billboard’s Country and Pop Charts. Just a year earlier he scored his first number one with Battle Of New Orleans, which opened up the gates to international successes as well as launching a series of "historic" recordings that spotlighted famous events and people.

Although both the aforementioned titles have appeared on “Greatest Hits” collections, the majority of Johnny Horton’s recordings have not seen the light of day for many years apart from two Bear Family box sets which presented the whole Horton career. Now the German based record label have delved into archives once again and, this time around, compiled two single cds that spotlight two different aspects of this distinctive singer’s recordings – ballads and up-tempo songs.

Originally a 'ballad' was a story song, and then it became shorthand for a slow love song. Johnny Horton was the master of both sorts of ballads. This set was compiled by record producer Richard Bennett, who writes in the accompanying 26 page booklet that Horton’s voice was “big, infectious and friendly, bursting with charisma and personality”, all such vocal characteristics clearly heard in this 25 song collection. Moving from earliest recordings like Done Rovin’ and Shadows On The Old Bayou in 1951 to his chart-topping North To Alaska, the set also includes another number one, When It’s Springtime In Alaska (It’s Forty Below), a handful of his “historic” offerings (Johnny Reb, Comanche and Jim Bridger), a couple of Leon Payne songs (They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me and Lost Highway) and two versions of his heartfelt original All For The Love Of A Girl. More generally remembered for his up-tempo recordings, the ballads were generally “B” sides or tucked away in albums. This collection gives them the recognition they deserve as well as revealing how superbly Johnny Horton could handle such material.

The second of the two cds, “Take Me Like I Am”, is another contribution to Bear Family’s much acclaimed “Gonna Shack This Shack Tonight” series and presents Horton in his more familiar musical role as the up-tempo, honky-tonk singer who sometimes moved into the realms of rockabilly. Avoiding the over familiar (Battle Of New Orleans and Honky-Tonk Man among others), this 33 track collection brings together the singer’s less well known recordings like Tennessee Jive, The Train With A Rhumba Beat, First Train Headin’ South and Big Wheels Rollin’ as well as a previous unreleased rockin’ version of Candy Jones and a never before released cover of Shotgun Boogie that well matches up to Tennessee Ernie Ford’s original. Deke Dickerson provides the notes in this set’s 36 page booklet, detailing the singer’s struggle for success and an almost bizarre life that saw him obsessed with spiritualism and fears of a violent death. As with all Bear Family booklets, this has a generous amount of photographs and full discography details.

For more information on these and other Bear Family releases, please contact Yvonne Saunders at Rollercoaster Records, Rock House, London Road, St. Mary’s, Stroud, Glos GL6 8PU. phone: 01453 886252; fax: 01453 885361; e-mail: von@rollercoasterrecords.com