Monday, August 23, 2010

Obray Ramsey & Byard Ray - File Under Rock



Here is a strange LP. At first I thought the name of the record was White Lightnin` and that File Under Rock was just for people working at the record store. Come to find out that the duet is called White Lightnin` and the name of the album is File Under Rock. Most of you have downloaded the other Obray Ramsey LP`s I`ve posted (they have been some of the most downloaded posts) and know Obray was a pretty straight old-time style musician. This album is just weird, they are backed by choirs on some track and some feature instrument back-up that is strictly NOT old time, thus File Under Rock I suppose. This is by a far piece my least favorite record of Ramsey & Ray (I`m pretty hard-core on my old-time likings), but decided to post it as I had a few people ask if I had this one. I do have one more Obray Ramsey LP I will post soon, it`s the only other one I have and as far as I know it`s the only other LP Ramsey made. Where else could you hear them all?
Happy listening!







Click here to download Obray Ramsey & Byard Ray - File Under Rock

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Armstrong Twins - 2 LP`s



Here is a group that I don`t really know anything about. We know that brother groups were very popular in the 30`s into the early 40`s, because of their close harmony. So, TWIN harmony should be REALLY close. These two do hit it pretty good.
This first LP is from mid-40`s recordings. They do songs from traditional country tunes to what might qualify as rock-a-billy.




Click here to download The Armstrong Twins - Hillbilly Mandolin



This second LP was recorded after their "re-discovery" after the first LP was issued. The liner notes sort of tell the story.
This LP shows a heavy influence of Roy Acuff on their music over the years. Seven of the fourteen songs were Acuff numbers, some quite popular tunes, some sort of obscure Acuff recordings, such as Greenback Dollar and Beautiful Brown Eyes (of course these were common traditional songs and may have been learned elsewhere.
Listen and enjoy!




Click here to download The Armstrong Twins - Just Country Boys

Friday, August 13, 2010

Molly O`Day - The Living Legend Of Country Music



We are overdue for a posting of the great Molly O`Day! Sorry, I don`t know a whole lot about her.
First I`ll talk a little about the voice of Molly O`Day. She has an unusually strong voice for a woman. She sings in the mountain style, but not at all with a nasal voice as many home recordings of mountain women had. Molly really belts it out there, sort of makes me think of the pop star Kate Smith. Some people called her the female Roy Acuff. I don`t know if Molly tried to pattern her vocals after Roy or not, but you can`t help but think of Roy when you hear Molly sing. Although this LP is all gospel music, she recorded many Roy Acuff songs in the 40`s. The blog Visit Me In Music City (which is listed on the left side of my blog page) has two downloads of Molly`s earlier country & gospel material. It`s ALL great, I highly recommend downloading it.
Now a little about her banjo pickin`. She had a great, driving, rhythmic style. She could really beat the fire out of the old 5 string. She was just a great artist all around.
As she got older, she became highly religious and mostly abandoned country music for a ministry of gospel music with her husband. I read a story once that she became really insecure about her voice (which is crazy!) as she grew older. The article said in the late 70`s or early 80`s she had a recording session set up and when the dat came she kept putting it off. Turns out she would get so worked up and nervous about the session she would lose her voice by the time the date came around. Too bad we couldn`t hear more of her, there really isn`t all that many recordings of her. I do have a couple of other LP`s of radio broadcasts I will post sometime.
Happy listening!




Click here to download Molly O`Day - The Living Legend Of Country Music

Monday, August 9, 2010

Correction for The New Lost City Ramblers LP - Old Timey Songs For Children

Hello folks! When I posted this LP below I failed to get the song Barbara Allen in the download file. I have just added Barbara Allen to the file. So---if you want the song Barbara Allen also, just download the file again and it will be there with the rest of the songs. Sorry for the flub up! Hope you enjoy the post.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

New Lost City Ramblers 10 inch LP - Old Timey Songs For Children



10 inch LP time! I can`t believe in 1959 anyone would still issue a 10 inch LP. Oh well----it`s a good one.
I`m not going to go into any information about the New Lost City Ramblers. There is plenty of information on the internet about them.
Hope you all enjoy this one!

Track list from back of LP---


They sure didn`t go to any trouble to design a back for the record jacket, just this narrow song list and black otherwise.

Click here to download The New Lost City Ramblers - Old Timey Songs For Children

Click here to download booklet that came with this LP