Clay Blaker & The Texas Honky-Tonk Band "What A Way To Live" (Texas Music, 1981)

Clay Blaker & The Texas Honky-Tonk Band "Sooner Or Later" (Texas Music, 1986)
One of George Strait's best buddies and favorite songwriters, Clay Blaker originally hailed from Southern California, but when he moved his band to the Lone Star State, he found that he fit in just fine. This is one of several independently released albums that feature his amiable mix of honkytonk and western swing, and it's mighty fine to listen to, especially with a beer or two under your belt. Only two of the songs on here are Blaker originals; bandmembers Bob Kelly and Dan McCoyeach contribute a few as well... Nice disc; ends with a swell version of Johnny Cash's "Big River"... Nice, unpretentious, danceable hard country music. (Check out Blaker's website at www.clayblaker.com for more info.)

Clay Blaker "Layin' It All On The Line" (Neobilly, 1993)

Clay Blaker "Rumor Town" (Neobilly, 1998)

Clay Blaker "Welcome To The Wasteland" (Neobilly, 2000)
An old-timer on the Texas indiebilly scene, songwriter Clay Blaker has taken on a somewhat more rock-tinged sound this time around, although this album is also packed with rich, pure country tunes. I started noticing a strong similarity to Jim Lauderdale's work in a bunch of these songs, and when I finally looked at the song credits, it turns out he'd co-written two of the songs with Lauderdale, and Lauderdale's quirky, eclectic approach is an obvious influence on several other tunes. All but one of the songs were written or cowritten by Blaker; the lone holdout is a nice version of Rodney Crowell's "Don't Need No Memories," a plaintive duet with Lisa Morales. A mighty fine record, proving once again that there's gold in them thar (South Texas) hills!

Blue Ridge Rangers "Blue Ridge Rangers" (Fantasy, 1973)
After Creedence Clearwater Revival imploded, frontman John Fogerty got so fed up with the fratricidal aspect of actually being in a band, that he promptly went off and recorded an album all by himself -- played all the instruments, picked all the tunes, multitracked the album, and totally rocked out. This is the result, a masterful set of country oldies, covering artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Webb Pierce and Melvin Endsley, all with a jocular, rolling bounce that can't help but win you over. Highly recommended!

Dock Boggs "Country Blues -- Complete Early Recordings: 1927-1929" (Revenant, 1997)
Stark, some might even say scary, old 78s by one of the legendary ne'er-do-wells of old-timey, Depression-era country music. A fabulous set culled from the record collections of John Fahey and friends, this has all the charm of the stringband tradition, but with a blues-based roughness to it which puts to shame the bad boy images of many of Boggs' contemporaries. You can tell just from the tone of his voice that Boggs was the real deal. Packaged inside a handsome, hefty, hardcover booklet, with liner notes by Griel Marcus.

Dock Boggs "His Folkways Years: 1963-1968" (Smithsonian-Folkways, 1998)

Johnny Bond - see artist discography

Bill Boyd "Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers" (RCA-Bluebird, 1975) (LP)
A stunning 2-LP set. A cult favorite of western swing fans, Bill Boyd and his Cowboy Ramblers were certainly one of the best outfits of their time. Throughout the dark ages of the minimal major-label reissues, this twofer became a Holy Grail of sorts -- thirty-two long out-of-print classics by one of the greatest bandleaders of the 1930s. This features, of course, the irresistibly wacky "Wah Hoo," as well as tunes like "I Can't Tame Wild Women," "Fan It," and "What's The Use," which somehow always find their way into the canon. Even now, when a couple of Bill Boyd CDs have popped up, this collection is the one to look for. Hard to imagine a better collection, and boy, wouldn't it be great if RCA got around to reissuing this set again? (Vinyl only.)

Bill Boyd "...And His Cowboy Ramblers: 1934-47" (Texas Rose, 1982) (LP)
Also long out of print, but quite welcome when it came out, this LP mirrors the RCA twofer mentioned above. The RCA collection is far superior, in sound quality, song quantity and in selection... Still, since both editions are pretty elusive, you definitely shouldn't hesitate to pick this disc up if you see it...

Bill Boyd "The Master Of Cowboy Swing" (Bronco Buster)
These mid-1940s recordings are not necessarily his best; there are a bunch of indifferent instrumentals, and the sound quality is iffy in parts. Still, it's certainly worth checking out, especially since RCA isn't likely to ever reissue that killer 2-LP retrospective that came out on Bluebird in the mid-'70s.

Bill Boyd "The Eyes Of Texas" (Binge Disc, 1998)

Bill Boyd "The Golden Age Of Bill Boyd" (Binge Disc, 2000)

Bill Boyd "Swing With Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers" (Binge Disc, 2002)

Bill Boyd "V.1 -- Saturday Night Rag: 1934-1936" (Acrobat, 2004)

Bill Boyd "V.2 -- Lone Star Rag: 1937-1949" (Acrobat, 2005)

Bill Boyd "Singing And Swinging" (BACM, 2005)

Elton Britt "The RCA Years" (Collector's Choice, 1997)
One of those improbably sissy-voiced singers who became country stars back in the early days, Britt started off doing novelty songs and yodeling tunes, but shifted to the sentimental side when he had a big wartime hit in 1942 with the patriotic weeper, "There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere." After that, he kept his hillbilly sensibility, but his work was much smoother and sedate, keeping an eye on the Bing Crosby-dominated pop market. In a sense, Britt could be seen as an early prototype for Porter Wagoner, rural and cornball, but also showbiz slick. This is a great collection of his early work, and a nice compliment to the recent set of radio transcriptions released on the Bloodshot Records "Soundies" series.

Elton Britt "Ridin With Elton" (Soundies, 2000)
A spirited set of western-flavored tunes recorded for Britt's late-'40s radio shows... Since his biggest hit was the anthemic "Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere," this set is packed full of patriotic and military-themed songs, but also some nice weepers and cowboy tunes. Mostly, though, what's notable here are his heartfelt performances... This is easily one of the best albums in this series, thus far. Great stuff -- highly recommended!

Elton Britt "Country Music's Yodelling Cowboy Crooner, v.1" (Jasmine, 2005)

Elton Britt "Country Music's Yodelling Cowboy Crooner, v.2" (Jasmine, 2007)

Elton Britt "Stars And Stripes Forever" (Binge Disc/Cattle Records, 2005)

Elton Britt "Sings Jackass Blues And Other Country Songs" (BACM, 2005)
Also with Rosalie Allen...

Elton Britt "Early Recordings: 1933-1937" (BACM, 2005)

Elton Britt "The Wandering Cowboy" (ABC, 1959) (LP)
(Produced by Creed Taylor)
Sure, Britt's career was pretty much in the past tense when this disc came out, but it's still a semi-cool record. I dunno... He just seems so sincere and direct, and although there are some mild attempts to spruce up and modernize his sound (mainly the presence of a doot-dootling little organ on a few tracks), this is a pretty down-to-earth album. The thing that really caught my attention was that the old-school hillbilly bandleader Zeke Manners is backing Britt up here... And he covers a Manners song or two (including several old western songs that they decided to throw their brands on, copyrighting "arrangements" of chestnuts such as "Roving Gambler" and "Red River Valley." Anyway, it's cool to see some late vintage Zeke Manners material, whatever the circumstances may have been. Also, check out who was twiddling the dials: future jazz-fusion luminary Creed Taylor is listed as the album's producer... Now there's a guy who was paying his dues!

Elton Britt "Beyond The Sunset" (ABC) (LP)

Elton Britt "The Singing Hills" (ABC, 1965) (LP)

Rosalie Allen & Elton Britt "Side By Side: The Duets" (Jasmine, 2010)
A whole album's worth of duets by these cowboy/girl western stars? Who knew? Great stuff! Allen worked with a wide variety of artists over her long career, but these two enjoyed a particularly long run together. Unfortunately, a lot of it is really, really schmaltzy - spare arrangements built around a roller-rink organ, lingering, gooey melodies, etc. There are some fun songs, though, including one or two that have some actual twang to them, though mostly these are sentimental songs with a few attempts at novelty numbers... Oh! And a bunch of yodeling and polkas! Can't forget that. Anyway, I was surprised at how disappointing much of this was... This is a great archival set, but the disc itself was a bit of a chore to get through, although there are about dozen songs -- less than half the album -- that I'd say are worth listening to again. Worth checking out if you like either of these artists, but it might not really ring your bells.

Junior Brown -- see artist discography

Marty Brown "High And Dry" (MCA, 1991)
(Produced by Richard Bennett & Tony Brown)
An unusual album for a commercial country release... It opens on a hypertraditionalist note, flipping our ears back with several stark, Hank Williams-style acoustic honkytonk tunes, with Brown sounding for all the world like Wayne Hancock. Midway through, some bigger production kicks in, but it's poppy stuff, like the Rockpile-ish, Everly Brothers-flavored tune, "Every Now And Then" -- again, not exactly what you'd expect from a '90s Nashville disc. Surprisingly good stuff, at least if you're into old-fashioned honkytonk.

Marty Brown "Wild Kentucky Skies" (MCA, 1993)

Marty Brown "Cryin', Lovin', Leavin' " (MCA, 1994)
(Produced by Richard Bennett)
Wow... how come they don't teach us about Marty Brown in Honky Tonk Snob School?? He's so good!! This is a great album, a total throwback to the 'Fifties, with awkward hillbilly material and heartfelt heart songs galore. Hank Williams is an obvious influence, but whiny, tearjerky balladeers like Webb Pierce are also echoed, particularly in songs like "Shameful Lies," which would have been a huge hit back in, oh say, 1957 or so... (Heck, it's even got Melba Montgomery singing the harmonies... What more could I want??) Buck Owens comes to mind on the album's opener, "You Must Be Mistakin' Me," and even when he stretches into blues-rock guitar territory, Brown still hits the right notes, bringing to mind George Thorogood rather than Stevie Ray Vaughan. In short, for the roots-minded among us, this disc is a goldmine, with hardly a bum note on it. Plus, other than one cover of an old Moon Mullican tune, Brown wrote or cowrote every song on here... He's one talented dude. This is one fine record.

Marty Brown "Here's To The Honky Tonks" (HighTone, 1996)

Jann Browne "Tell Me Why" (Curb, 1990)
Formerly a singer with Asleep At The Wheel, hard country singer Jann Browne set off solo with this doozy of a disc, backed by some hotshot pickers along the lines of Albert Lee and James Burton (alumni of the Emmylou Harris Hot Band), and John Jorgenson as well. Browne racked up two Top 20 hits with this one, and though that was her commercial peak, she'd been making great music ever since. Recommended!

Jann Browne "It Only Hurts When I Laugh" (Curb, 1991)
(Produced by Steve Fishell)
Here's a hidden gem: a remarkably rootsy commercial offering from a gal with an appealing but imperfect voice. Alt-country hillbilly filly Rosie Flores is the closest comparison I could come up with, with a fleck of that old Emmylou warble in there as well... and hey, if you like Rosie, you oughta love this album! The title track is pretty darn fun, and the rest of the album holds up as well... Apparently, Browne started out as the "girl" singer in the Asleep At The Wheel band in the early '80s; she had a couple of songs hit the lower rungs of the charts, but none of them were from this album. At any rate, this one's worth searching for...!

Jann Browne "Count Me In" (Cross Three, 1995)

Jann Browne "Missed Me By A Mile" (Plan B, 2001)

Jann Browne "Buckin' Around: A Tribute To The Legendary Buck Owens" (Plan B, 2007)

Ed Bruce - see artist discography

Cliff Bruner "...And His Texas Wanderers" (Bear Family, 1997)
A 5-CD set devoted to an outstanding -- but little remembered -- pioneer of classic western swing. Covers Bruner's work between 1937-1950, with bands that included hick music greats such as pianist Moon Mullican, steel player Bob Dunn, and others. Prime stuff!

Buchanan Brothers "Atomic Power" (Bronco Buster)
Whereas other brother acts like the Louvins, Monroes and Delmores tended to be Gloomy Gusses, singing endlessly about lost loves and Mama up in heaven, these two were whooping it up and having a whale of a time. Like the Louvin Brothers, the Buchanans came to the "brother act" scene a little bit late (the real heyday had been in the 1930s, these tracks come from the late '40s...) but that didn't diminish their pep in the slightest. Great novelty songs with an archaic, string band sound -- songs about flying saucers, atomic bombs and undesirable girlfriends, all from a delightfully "hillbilly" perspective. (Available through the Binge Disc label...)

Ed Burleson "Comin' Around" (Bar 27 Productions, 1997)
An extraordinary debut by this Texas-bred indiebilly firebrand, aided by an extraordinary cast of musicians -- Tommy Alverson, Clay Blaker, Alvin Crow, Bill Kirchen and Lloyd Maines are among the old-timers who pitch in to give this disc a rich, full, rural sound that'll pin back the ears of any hardcore honkytonk fan in search of for-real country music in these times of push-button, pretty-boy Nashville pop. Those Texas twin fiddles waft up amid the pedal steel and Merle Haggard-style guitars; here's an indiebilly album that has grand ambition, and lives up to it on every song. A nice mix of weepers and honkytonk tunes -- Burleson doesn't have a killer voice, but he's got real country soul, and that counts for a lot. Most of all, the calibre of songwriting and performances by the band are both quite impressive. Most of the songs on here are Burleson originals, and it's always nice to hear someone adding new stuff to the tradition. Four of the other cuts were written by Jim Lauderdale, and Burleson seems to have a nice feel for his idiosyncratic composing style. There are rough edges, to be sure -- Burleson's vocals might not be for everyone -- but, hey, isn't that kind of the point, that we're sick of hearing all this too-perfect pop pablum coming out over the radio? Chances are you won't hear this guy over the airwaves, but if you pick up this CD (or any of his other albums), you'll be mighty glad you did!

Ed Burleson "My Perfect World" (Tornado, 1999)
This is largely the same record as Comin' Around, with two new songs (and two others omitted) and a different track order. And damn, it's good. If you miss the hazy, crazy days of the 1970s, when great bands with small budgets ruled the earth, then this disc will seem like a nostalgic blast from the past... And if you missed out on that kinda sound the first time 'round, be thankful that folks like Burleson are here to keep the flame alive.

Ed Burleson "Live At The Sons" (Just Released Records, 2001)
Let's hear it for Texas! Another fine album that confirms Ed Burleson's status as one of the most vigorous, vital and roots-oriented country singers out there today. It's just amazing to hear a guy this good and this down-to-earth making records, and singing his songs like he actually gives a damn about the music. Playing live at the Sons of Herman Hall in Dallas, TX, Burleson cusses a little, sings a lot, and lets his band romp through a really tasty set of hard country classics. The show kicks off with a fine version of Johnny Paycheck's "A-11," and cruises into some fine Burleson originals, including sardonic gems like "I Can Be Lonely By Myself" and the refreshingly retro "Bitch And Moan," where the singer admits he'd rather be stuck in traffic than have to hear his girlfriend try and rip him a new one. By the time he gets to a cover of the old Webb Pierce hit, "There Stands The Glass," Ed'll have you won over. Only a few songs come from his earlier albums, like "No Closing Time," and others include well-chosen covers like Waylon's "Rainy Day Woman" and a sizzling version of the Link Davis cajun anthem, "Big Mamou," with some dazzling twin fiddle work. A really nice record -- you really get a sense of Burleson's easygoing charm and his deep country roots. Highly recommended.

Ed Burleson "The Cold Hard Truth" (Palo Duro, 2004)
This is just flat-out one of the best hard country albums of 2004... heck, even of the century (so far!). Sure, Burleson has plenty of rough edges... that's what makes his music so real. He also has a kick-ass band with guys who know how to play country music with real feeling, and a bunch of songs that sound like a real, live human being wrote 'em, not some committee in Nashville. Burleson's other albums have all been really good... this one is really great... his best to date. Highly recommended!

Smiley Burnette "Smiley Burnette Is Frog Millhouse" (King, 1997)

Smiley Burnette "The Gentle Genius Of Country Music" (Binge Disc/Cattle Records, 1998)
Jovial post-WWII novelty tunes with that distinctive chug-chuggin' Los Angeles Hollywood country sound. Burnette really was a Hollywood dude, having played Gene Autry's sidekick in numerous cowboy oaters... (He later appeared as one of the train engineers on TV's Petticoat Junction...) The overlap between his film and music careers brought him into proximity to the Tinsel Town C&W set, including Merle Travis, who plays on several of these tracks. Though overall Burnette's delivery may have been a little effete or sluggish, there are still a bunch of charming tracks on here, particularly the fishing ballad, "Catfish, Take A Look At That Worm."

Smiley Burnette "Collector's Edition" (Simitar, 1998)

Smiley Burnette "Country Songs & Comic Cuts" (BACM, 2005)

Sonny Burns "A Real Cool Cat: The Starday Recordings" (Bear Family, 2011)
A rock-solid set of classic Texas honkytonk from the early 1950s... A rugged, agile hard-country singer, the little-remembered Sonny Burns had the same sort of wicked, near-rockin' uptempo vibe as George Jones, and indeed the two performed together and even cut a couple of duets for the Starday label. Burns and Jones also shared a hard-partying lifestyle, and one day when Burns was too hung over to make it to a recording session with George, Starday ended his contract, and his career. Before then, though, he cut over two dozen totally killer honkytonk songs, gathered here with typically high-class Bear Family flair. If you like sizzling old-school country, like the stuff cut by Hank and Faron Young and good old George Jones, then this disc is for you. Highly recommended!

Johnny Bush - see artist discography

Buz Butler "Money Ain't Everything" (BACM, 2006)
Gangly, gallumphing, old-school hillbilly novelty songs with a healthy dose of honkytonk... I wouldn't say that Butler, a fella from South Carolina who recorded about two dozen tracks in the late 1940s and early '50s, was the world's greatest singer, but this is some lively, fun comedic material, and his band was good and twangy. Butler's great claim to fame was that he recorded the original version of "Mule Train," and while others took the song to the top of the charts, his initial recording is pretty fun. Some songs are more strained, such as the goofy "Rubber Ball Bounce" -- there's also a fair chunk of folk-ish material such as "Gambling Fool" that sort puts him in the same territory as later singers such as Rusty Draper and Paul Evans. Still, there's enough grit and twang here to be of interest to hard country fans, even if the vocals are a bit clunky. Certainly worth checking out, especially if you have a weak spot for novelty songs. (Also available through the British Archive Of Country Music website.)

Carl Butler & Pearl - see artist discography

Hick Music Index