The Corders Bluegrass Show- The Legend of Northeast Missouri

Here is another autographed record for the collection.  That is why I bought this.  $4.  The inscription wishes a merry Christmas to a perhaps Lesa and Rick?  Hard to tell,  Anyway, they are thanked for everything.  It is signed by the principle of this record, Oma Corder (technically signed Oma & Bob).

As much as I want to bring this month to a close, I suppose I should do some back story.  Born in 1925 in Coatsvile, Missouri, we have Oma West Corder, who along with her sister May, formed the West Sisters, a venerable act who had their own  radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa in the 40’s.  At some point, she met and married Bob Corder (1946 to be exact) and formed a bluegrass act with him.  Bob and his siblings also had an act dubbed The Black Hill Brothers.  The act would later include daughters Sandy and Sue, who grew up to perform with mom and pops.  The Corder Family act performed extensively around the area at State farms and festivals for a good period of time.  I am not sure when Bob passed but Oma left this world in 2012.

Their daughter,Sandra also died tragically in a car accident in 1977.  This event is referenced mentioned on the back sleeve.  This record was dedicated to her memory .  Two songs on the record feature the work of the sisters.  The rest feature young musicians Bob Thompson and Russ May.  Overall, pretty good stuff.  Some traditional works.  Some country hits such as Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone”.  From an independent label, this is not bad.  Some of the small label bluegrass records tend to appeal to purists only.  I thought this record was really quite accessible.  I believe it came out in 1977. For a sample, I really liked “Last Time I Saw Tennessee” which features Bob on vocals.  I also wanted to include one of the two tracks from the sisters, “The Banks Of The Ohio”. I guess I also really liked “Second Fiddle to an Old Guitar” so I am going to make this a triple sample post.

Really good little record.  I was really dreading listening to it as I thought it would only appeal to bluegrass junkies but it was quite enjoyable.  Satisfactory.

US Senator Robert Byrd- Mountain Fiddler

I was really on the fence about posting this which cost me an arm and a leg at $8 and was previously owned by one Jack Clemens.  Yikes (on the price that is).  I mean I bought it pretty quick without fully thinking it through.  It is not so much Byrd’s mixed views on race and his early membership in the Klu Klux Klan, both of which he would later repent, nor the fact that he has a Confederate portrait in his Senate office (Note despite leaving the Klan around 1951, a fake picture of the Senator in a Klan outfit from recent times is widely circulated around the net).  Both these issues weigh heavily on me, but it the fact that he was the longest serving Senator in history, holding the office from 1959 until his death in 2010 at age 92 .  Without turning this into a huge political discussion, let’s just say, I am a huge supporter of term limits and feel that a democracy needs new blood on a periodic basis to function properly.  There, I said it.  My God, I hate injecting politics on this blog.

So back off  my high horse, here is the kind of oddball thing this blog does so well; a collections of bluegrass tunes from the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd (1917-2010).  Byrd was an avid fiddler since his youth and he used it to entertain audiences both while running for as well as in office. He also made an  appearance as shown below on Hee Haw. An essential tremor in his hands silenced his play for the most part in 1982.

This record, which I think was his only album, from 1978 on County Records. Pretty good collection of bluegrass standards including “Turkey In the Straw”, “More Pretty Girls Than One”, “Roving Gambler”, “Old Joe Clark”, and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”.  Byrd starts several of these songs with a narration and is backed on these tracks by Doyle Lawson on guitar, James Bailey on banjo, and Spider Gilliam inn bass.  Byrd’s fiddle playing is actually quite good.  I think, however, it is that narration that makes this album for me.

For a sample, I went with “Cripple Creek” which he learned from his future father in law and “Cumberland Gap” which he learned from the coal mining boarders who stayed at his aunt (who was his foster mother following the death of his own mom from the pandemic flu)’s house.

On the fence about how to rate this given how I feel about staying on office forever as well as paying $8 for a record but I am feeling charitable today and will say satisfactory.

Easy Pickin’- The Winning Combination- Xerox

This was $4 but looked interesting enough as I like to buy and review product or promo records.

The Easy Pickin’s group, I believe were from Stamford,which oddly enough was Xerox’s headquarters until 2007.  The group consisted of Barbara Allen on vocals, her husband Bill on guitar, mother of three Linda Shackleford on bass, Joe Knowlton on banjo, and Dave Raucsher on the mandolin, violin, and just about every other instrument.  According to the one piece of information I bothered looking at, the band had been around some twenty years or so, recording a live album at the Country Tavern Restaurant, where they gigged regularly.  It is said that they had a interesting repertoire between bluegrass standards as well as contemporary country hits.  The record does reflect this.

This record is a promotional record but for whom, I am unsure.  The records welcomes the holder as a proud member of the ISG team.  It also mentions FSM members which I assume is the Full Service Maintenance group.  The record encourages members to ” share points for service achievements focusing on machine reliability and response time”.  These points, in turn, can be translated “into merchandise gifts for you… and your family”.  So I am deducting that theses were given to Xerox service people who achieved departmental goals.  And this was back in the day when people were decently paid.

I am guessing this came out sometime in the seventies.  Pretty good mix of tunes. including “Luckenback Texas”, “Heaven is Just a Sin Away”, “Tennessee Stud”, and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”.  Decent album.  Nothing that will make you radically re-look the way for see bluegrass, but not bad either.For a sample, I went with the theme song/jingle of the record, “The Winning Combination”. Decent record, overall, although I am sure I would have liked a monetary bonus more if I worked at Xerox.  Anyway, Satisfactory record.

Earl Scruggs – Performing With His Family and Friends

dscn5573This was $3.00. Technically, I should be back from vacation.  However, I am still blazing thru the rest of this months’ post.  If you come here for the writing, you have been short changed this month.

Earl Scruggs, 1924-2012. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Earl Scruggs (1924-2012) popularized his three finger style of banjo and was a pioneer of bluegrass music.  Together with guitarist Lester Flatts, (both of which played with Bill Monroe until 1948), Scruggs formed the Foggy Mountain Boys and had several bluegrass hits thru out the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Oddly enough, Scruggs was one of the few bluegrass artists to support the anti war movement at the time.  That is evident on this record in the segment recorded at the Moratorium in Washington DC in 1969.

This record was from a TV special Scruggs did with several guest stars.  Released in 1972, it featured a diverse line up of artists such as Doc Watson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and the Birds.  Various members of Scruggs family also play on the album.  Dylan’s contribution is small, playing guitar on the instrumental “Nashville Skyline Rag”.  Doc Watson’s segments are quite good.  Baez, provided some controversy and along with Dylan’s inclusion, may have turned off some bluegrass die hards.  However, Scruggs music was able to transcend prevailing attitudes at the time.
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For samples, I went with a somewhat interesting track featuring Scruggs talking about electronic music.  “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” features Scruggs playing banjo against a Moog.  I also featured Scruggs playing with the Byrds on thier take of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere.”

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Satisfactory Record

The Stonemans- In All Honesty

dscn5518This was $3.00.  I got it for the two Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes on it. I also think I got a kick out of the cover.thestonemans

Despite what the front cover might look like, this is not hippie crap.  It is pretty straight bluegrass/country.  I think the hippie outfits might have originally caught my eye, but I am sure the back cover alerted me to what this album would sound like.

The Stonemans were a sibling act.  Made up of various line ups of brothers and sisters, they were all offspring of country/bluegrass legend Ernest Stoneman, the “Unsung Father of Country Music”.

Ernest and his wife Hattie
Ernest and his wife Hattie

Country Hall of Fame Bio on Ernest Stoneman

Stoneman had 23 kids, 13 of which would survive to adulthood.  Stoneman himself performed with his kids until his death in 1968 at age 75.

Of the siblings, perhaps the most well known is the banjoist, Roni, who played Ida Lee Nager on TV’s Hee Haw.

That is not to say that her musical talents were not on the show as well.

This record was released in 1970, two years after the death of the patriarch Stoneman.  I believe it was the group’s second to last record.  The album is a collection of bluegrass.  dscn5519

As stated above, there are two CCR songs, “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and “Don’t Look Now”.  There is also a version of The Youngbloods’ “Let’s Get Together”.  This is probably the reason for the hippie garb on the cover.  More traditional country writers are also on this album including Townes Van Zandt and Tom T. Hall.  Overall, it is a decent album.stonemans69

For a sample, I went with the reason I bought the album, CCR’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain”.  I am also throwing in “Let’s Get Together” for good measure.2ba9b93a59670ab2c1f55b9640697c48

Satisfactory record.  Why not. I did not start this post with the intent of making it all video but it kind of turned out that way.

Red and Murphy & Co- Fast Picks and Hot Licks

DSCN0047This was $2.00.  It was autographed by Red and Murphy.

DSCN0048Red and Murphy and Co were a bluegrass band formed by husband and wife Red and Murphy Henry with Murphy’s sisters on rhythm mandolin and bass fiddle.   Murphy, who grew up singing in church and learning piano, picked up the guitar during the folk boom of the sixties (at least I imagine).  Teaching her sisters to play in order to back her up, she played around the University of Georgia.  After playing bass in more established acts, Murphy realized that she would gain more spotlight playing the banjo.  She met Red Henry at a bluegrass festival.  Shortly after, they got married and formed a band.  Based out of Gainesville, Florida, they would perform regularly from the mid 70’s to 1986.  They would be backed up by Murphy’s sisters as well as their children as time progressed.  I believe their daughter , Casey, has become quite accomplished in her own right.R_M1985a

During this time, Murphy taught banjo and after some evolution, the couple started their own instruction method.  With this endeavor, the family band gets together about twice a year and both Red and Murphy play here and there as well.  Murphy also wrote a book recently, Pretty Good for a Girl, documenting the unsung role of women in bluegrass.

Murphy Method Webpage

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The album itself, is pretty good bluegrass.  Released in 1978, it is a collection of rolling banjo and mandolin tunes backed up with vocals from the family.  Additionally, Red plays fiddle on a few of the tunes as well.  Some of the highlights include the title track, “The Band Played On”, “Hold Back the Waters” and “Cabin in Caroline”

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I really wanted to pick a song that showcased Murphy’s vocals as a sample, but for some reason, I fell in love with the Stamps-Baxter song, “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire”, with Red on lead vocals.  The females do an excellent job on backup vocals and the playing is good as well.  maxresdefault

Satisfactory rating.  If you are a casual bluegrass fan, the genre may get old after awhile, but in terms of both technical prowess and emotional expression, this album accomplishes both.