Country / Blues

This 45 reminds me of that scene in Blue Velvet where Frank Booth is wielding a love letter that will send you straight to hell. Dare to hear! It’s Time You Spent The Night

While debating whether to drop 3 bucks on this mystery I noticed a previous owner’s remarks inked into the cover – “Fantastic !!??”.  Well, that sealed the deal.  Jaw hit floor as the first track, “Agua Fria” flowed from the stereo…

The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band were actually pretty popular in New Zealand in the late 60s/early 70s. It kind of blows my mind that these guys (and gal) achieved pretty strong mainstream success with such a traditionally bluegrass sound. Confusingly, I think Fifth Season is [...]

Floridian country rocker Billy Earl offers up a one-tracker with “Ninety Nine Thump”. While poor Billy was out lookin’ for lovin’, the session axeman worked his mediocre magic with limp fuzz riffs and fake (read: wah pedal) lion’s roar for added intrigue.  Awesomely tepid.

Solid 197? local release out of Nashville. Can’t find any info on this album anywhere. Standouts include infectious vocals on a cover of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”, and a version of Prince Buster’s “Ten Commandments of Man”.

Ken Lindsey put out a handful of unremarkable rockabilly sides on the Prince label. This sleepy instrumental b-side was reissued on 51 West’s Long Gone compilation in 1976. It feels odd to post a review of a label comp, but I got tired of waiting [...]

There is something that is kind of appealing about this country/gospel LP. Jim Gill runs through a bunch of styles (often within the same song) and the band is pretty tight. There is definitely some cool, smart and humorous songwriting going down here and often [...]

R.F.D. (Rural Free Delivery) was developed in the 1890s so rural dwellers wouldn’t need to trek to the nearest post office to pick up their mail. “2002 R.F.D.” is naturally a rural rendition of the ever-reliable “Theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey,” aka “Also Sprach [...]

Every year my brother and I take a road trip to dig for records. The objective is to find rare and desirable records of all genres. Without fail the highlight is always finding that special LP that none of our collector friends have ever heard [...]

Who says a guy in the middle of the woods can’t lay down a solid funk track? Listen and enjoy! “Joy To The World” “Love It Or Leave It”

Not completely sure what this song has to do with POW’s, but I’m really feeling it. Yet another nice track in the vein of country funk. Enjoy! Like You Do

Last Next is one of the odder birds in my collection. Self-released circa 1972 by a group of New York City musicians led by an army veteran songwriter (shown in uniform on the cover), the album is dominated by amateurish country s-sw with a world-weary undertone, [...]

Yet another interesting title on the Starr Record label. This group is from Ravenswood, WV. A five piece band that according to the liner notes, “…have their own style and they know what to do with it.” This is definitely one of the more interesting [...]

Lame ass LP but a sweet and crispy version of this cornball classic with some liquid bass and drums.

This is a really solid set of mid-late 70s folk/country/blues. Everything is well played & Rucker has a great singing voice. Variations in instrumentation keep things fresh throughout (harmonica, banjo, fiddle etc) & Rucker is adept & convincing over all the material. Of the thirteen [...]

A short bit of agonizing over whether or not to crack the seal followed my one dollar purchase of this local San Jose, CA bulldozer man lp. I guess it just seemed like another likely candidate for the better left to the imagination section. Glad [...]

Here’s an interesting record from a bygone era. Not only were Auckland’s Zodiac Records one of the biggest local independent labels of the 50s & 60s, as an aspiring musician you could also use their facilities to cut your own record. This 45 was recorded [...]

This rules!! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t detect a shred of humor here. I think, this is dead serious. In any case, I know the readers here, myself included deal with alot of these problems on a regular basis, and will find [...]

John & Ed Strickland seem to have been something of a none to one almost hit wonder group, it’s actually been pretty tough to find any information on these guys or this 45. The actual A side is a nice mid/slow version of Wilbert Harrison’s [...]

Welcome to the magical world of Edna Mae Henning. A very special country singer from rural Pennsylvania. She is in many ways what I had always dreamed of in an older woman singing good ol’ fashioned country music. She has a way of capturing the [...]

This 45 is a pretty good piece of late 1950s rockabilly from New Zealand. Back in those days it seems that New Zealand rock & rollers would do songs about anything “Pie Cart Rock & Roll” & “Blackberry Boogie” come to mind. This song written [...]

JUST US 2 is a macrobiotic choice here in Texas. Consisting of Phyllis and Bryan Barnes, it blooms sporadically in local thrift stores. I think i’ve turned down what looked to be their second lp because of an unsympathetic backing band . This first one [...]

For what it’s worth, I really like this record. One of my favorite rural California lp’s which is saying a lot. Stellar lonesome fire-side cosmic cowboy moves. Never fails to make me wanna spark a doobie, attire myself with large, garish turquoise man-jewelry & hit [...]

This is a really solid private press (I think) LP that covers acoustic blues, country & folk territory. All the songs are originals by McElheny and the instrumentation is various combinations of voice, guitar, banjo, electric bass, drums and dobro. Recorded in October 1976 at [...]

Easily one of my best scores this year were two cassettes by this homegrown basement folk trio out of Peekskill, NY. I met Bernie while hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer, at the Greymoor Monastery for Franciscan Monks. He was painting the shelter they provide [...]