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

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

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

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.

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

Bashful Brother Oswald & Charlie Collins - That`s Country LP on the Rounder label

Here`s the Oswald LP I mentioned in the other post. What a great name for a country record! Charlie Collins is featured on some of the songs as lead performer.
One little note----the song list on the back of the LP cover is not in the right order of the songs on the actual disc, although all the songs in the list is on the LP.
I hope you can read the back of the album cover, dark brown print on light brown background is hard to see sort of. As always, just click any picture to enlarge it.
Hope you enjoy!



Click here to download Bashful Brother Oswald & Charlie Collins - That`s Country

Bashful Brother Oswald - Dobro & Banjo LP on the Tennessee Records label

Here is another LP by one of my favorites, Bashful Brother Oswald. I believe this is a quite rare reord, I didn`t even know this existed till I found it on ebay one day. There`s some great music here. Most of these tunes are not songs Oswald routinely performed.
The Tennessee Records label was a label that dobro picker Tut Taylor had in the 1970`s. I have no idea how many records Tut released on this label.
One interesting thing on this album is the first song is sort of an advertisement. Oswald mentions he`s going to pick banjo the way the Tennessee mountain banjo style. Tut Taylor also owned and ran Tennessee musical instrument building company and had a model of open back 5 string banjo that was supposedly the "Oswald" model. I have got to actually play one (likely wasn`t many made) and it was a good `un. There was also a Grandpa Jones model planned. I don`t know if either model was ever put into production. There was also an "Oswald" model dobro, but I`m sure there was very few if any built.
We have the usual crew here for an Oswald record---fellow Smoky Mountain Boy Charlie Collins, Norman Blake, Tut Taylor and someone named Dave Daughtery, which I know nothing about.
I`m sure th instruments in the LP cover picture are "Oswald" models, too bad they can`t be seen well. On another Oswald LP called That`s Country I`m 100% sure the banjo in the picture on the album cover is an "Oswald" model. The one that I played had identical inlays on the finger board. Now I`ll have to post that record so you can see the banjo.
Happy listening!!




Click here to download Bashful Brother Oswald - Banjo & Dobro

Kirk McGee LP on the MBA label - Mister Kirk - 54 Years Of Country Pickin`

Sorry to be slow about posting lately. Here`s a good `un! The last recordings made by Kirk McGee as far as I know. Kirk May have been 81 years old but he was still in fine form.
Some of the songs on this were written by Kirk, as noted in the track list from the cover. Also, his daughter Ona wrote a song included here too.
Most of the songs feature Kirk on finger picked guitar. He wasn`t as proficient as his brother Sam on guitar, but was still a pretty fine picker.
One of the songs feature Kirk`s great banjo stylings on a song Uncle Dave Macon was well known to play, Bound To Go. Too bad there is only one banjo tune here, Kirk was a great 5 string picker, my favorite.
Likely the best known song on this LP was one Kirk wrote, Blue Night, which was recorded by Bill Monroe. I`ve never heard the Bill Monroe recording though.
There a a couple really dark songs here that Kirk and his daughter wrote, Dark Clouds and The End Of Forever. Dark Clouds is an especially odd song to me. Not a good one to listen to if you already have the blues! Kirk`s guitar is great on this song though.
One more little note, the LP cover has Sinner`s Prayer listed 2 times on side one as track 7 & 8. Of course the tune isn`t on here twice, it`s just a typo. The LP only has 15 tunes on it, not 16.
Listen and enjoy!!




Click here to download Mister Kirk - 54 Years Of Country Pickin`

Banjo Pickin` Girl - Vol.1 LP

Sorry it`s been a while since I`ve posted anything. Been busy lately working at night some long shifts and that don`t go so good with other activities!
Here`s a mighty good LP with some sort of unusual songs. The tunes range from hard core old-time to near pop.
Here is just a few facts from the shadows of my mind on a few of these artists---
Eva Davis & Samantha Bumgarner was the first female duet to record country music (for Columbia in 1924)
Roba Stanley was the first female solo artist to record a country tune (for OKeh)
Moonshine Kate was the daughter of Fiddlin` John Carson.
The Bowman Siters were the daughters of Charlie Bowman, a famous old-time fiddler from the 1920`s that played with The Hill Billies that recorded for Brunswick (they were the first group to use the word (s) hill billie (or hillbilly - however you want to spell it)
Rubye Blevins became the well known Patsy Montana.
Unfortunately I don`t have the book that came with the LP, nor do I have vol.2 of this. I don`t even know if vol.2 was ever even issued.
Enjoy!



Click here to download Banjo Pickin` Girl - Vol.1

Obray Ramsey Sings Jimmie Rodgers Favorites - LP on the Prestige/International label

Here is on more Obray Ramsey LP. If you like this I encourage you to go back in the blog and find the other Obray Ramsey LP`s I have posted in the past.
The Obray Ramsey records I have posted in the past had more response from fans of the Archive that any other records. I do have one more of his LP`s I will post soon. Sorry the scans of the back of the LP cover don`t line up so well, I have to make more than one scan to get the whole cover. Hope you enjoy this one!



Click here to download Obray Ramsey Sings Jimmie Rodgers Favorites