Don Adams "On His Way" (Atlantic Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by David Paul Briggs)
The lone album, I believe, of this semi-rootsy country crooner from rural Greenfield, Ohio, which was also the hometown of country star Johnny Paycheck. Adams came from a large musical family, including his father Frank Adams, who was a Depression-era recording artist, as well as several brothers, including Arnie Adams, Darrell Adams, Farrell Adams and Gary Adams who worked together (and solo) backing various Nashville stars, most notably George Jones and fellow Ohioan Johnny Paycheck. The Adams lads also had a band of their own called The Boys, which was also included Doug Jernigan and fiddler Paul Justice (who also played on this album) and other erstwhile members of the Paycheck band; their cousin, Edward Daniel Adams, performed and recorded under the stage name Grizz Sawbuck. Don Adams broke through in '67 with a modest hit on an indie label, which landed him a spot in Paycheck's band. For whatever reasons, it never quite clicked for Adams as a solo artist. This major label debut was well-produced and satisfying... I like the loping honkytonk numbers, including the opening track, "I'll Be Satisfied," but the song only barely cracked into the Top 100, followed by a handful of non-album singles that also fizzled on the charts. Adams was best with a backbeat; there are also a few slower ballads where he sounds kind of Hank Locklin-esque, but these just underscored his limitations as a singer. Among the backing musicians are a couple of other Paycheck pickers, notably steel player Doug Jernigan and fiddler Paul Justice; Paycheck himself contributes brief liner notes and good wishes. Not an earthshaking album, but certainly worth a spin. Adams and his brothers later formed a local group called "The Boys," playing at regional "opry" venues and the like, and also privately released a double LP(!) souvenir album in 1975.

Johnny Adams "...Sings The City Celestial" (Gospel Record Service, 1966-?) (LP)
(Produced by Rev. Ray Anderson)
Primitive country gospel, not so much in the musical backing, but in Mr. Adams's unrelentingly rough, stylistically limited vocals, which I find appealing, though best in small doses. Mr. Adams hailed from Washington Court House, Ohio, and is backed here by his son Joe Adams, son-in-law Roger Snively, and a friend named James Bick -- unfortunately, he does not inform us about who played which instruments, though there is a solidly rural, backwoods feel throughout. This album is very much in keeping with the primitive style of producer Ray Anderson, a fellow Ohioan who had set up shop in Parkersberg, West Virginia at the time this album came out... The liner notes inform us this was Johnny Adams's first album, though I cannot tell you if he made another. Not a dazzling record, but authentic, and direct.

Bill Adkins & The Fugitives "Lost Love" (Freedom Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Vinnie Vincent & Joe Waters)
An ambitious country band from Mansfield, Ohio, up in the north end of the state, halfway between Cleveland and Columbus. The group was led by John B. Adkins (1939-2008) and Flora Adkins, a husband-wife team who played local country gigs for about twenty years and later turned to singing gospel; if Elvis Presley and Skeeter Davis had worked together, it might have sounded a bit like this. Bill and Flora are joined by a solid, understated band made up of fellow locals Junior Kegley (steel guitar), John Riley (lead guitar) and Chuck Stutz (drums), with "Miss Flora" singing lead on a tune or two, as well as singing harmony with her husband. This album has a wealth of original material, with seven songs credited to the band, including four by Charlie Stutz and one credited to Flora Adkins, and a couple by Mr. Adkins. There are also three cover songs: a version of "Silver Threads And Golden Needles," a lesser-known Dallas Frazier song, "If This Is Our Last Time," and Jerry Fuller's "Fugitive." As far as I can tell, this was primarily an amateur band, and this was apparently their only album.

Wendel Adkins -- see artist profile

Anna Jane Allen "Born A Woman" (Lakefront Records, 1967) (LP)

The Anna Jane Allen Family "You Are My Sunshine" (Lake Front Records, 197--?) (LP)
A family band from Sandusky, Ohio, fronted by Ms. Anna Jane Allen, who may have been in her early twenties at the time, from the look of things on the back cover. The rest of the group were (I think) all family members, including her dad, Andy Allen, Sr., and her siblings -- Andy Junior, Debbie and Patty -- who all look younger than Anna Jane. The band was pretty good, though to be honest, Anna had her limitations as a singer... Anna Jane had a high vocal tone which could be bent towards a Dolly Parton-esque direction, but was maybe a little more in the Juice Newton range. She projects forcefully, but doesn't have a lot of intonation or emotional texture -- it's all forward propulsion, at least on this album. Chalk it up to youth? Nonetheless, I think this band was pretty ambitious and played quite a bit regionally, including forays into Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. No date on this album, but it sure looks late 'Seventies, possibly early 'Eighties. Lots of cover tunes and possibly a few originals, though sadly no composer credits to back that up. Charming, but somewhat underwhelming... worth a spin, though.

Allen Creek Coal Company "The Allen Creek Coal Company" (Major Recording Company, 1983-?) (LP)
(Produced by Allen Creek Coal Company)
A half-hippie bluegrass band from Northeast Ohio, with decidedly "progressive" inclinations. They covered songs by the Beatles, Dallas Frazier ("California Cottonfields"), David Grisman ("Old And In The Way"), Peter Rowan (Midnight Moonlight") and Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles," as wella s some more traditionally-oriented material. The band included Buck Deal on guitar, Jim Kelley (fiddle), Jeff McCrystal (bass), Sonny Neff (mandolin) and banjo picker Larry Sargent. Pretty straightforward banjo-driven bluegrass; nothing too earthshaking, though I'm always interested in stuff on John Major's Virginia-based label.

Lee Allen & The Dew Mountain Boys "I'm Leaving You Darlin' " (Jalyn Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Lynch & Phil Mehaffey)
Though originally from Kentucky, singer Lee Allen was living in Middletown, Ohio when he cut this bluegrass album for the Dayton-based Jaylyn label. There's an impressive amount of original material here, eight out of twelve songs written by Allen, peppered with a couple of old-time standards and a cover of Arlo Guthrie's "Hobo's Lullaby." The group included Lee Allen, Lloyd Hensley, Ron Thomason, and Sherry Tuttle -- alas, the liner notes don't tell us who played what, though bassist Lloyd Hensley had played with Larry Sparks a few years earlier, and immediately after cutting this album, mandolin picker Ron Thomason went on found the Dry Branch Fire Squad, and to record several albums under his own name.

Reverend Ray Anderson "Rev. Ray Anderson Gospel Trio - Richmond Dale, Ohio" (Gospel Recording Service, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Anderson)
A veteran hillbilly singer whose career stretched back to the 1940s, Ray Anderson (1924-2010) started out as a secular artist, cutting singles for Starday and other labels. He was born in West Virginia, and worked on the WWVA Jamboree, though later in life he settled down in Ohio. Anderson's topical novelty numbers, "Sputniks And Mutniks" and "Stalin Kicked The Bucket" are both often-anthologized Cold War classics, showcasing Anderson's style of lively, uptempo rockabilly-adjacent twang. He also played bluegrass, and was bass player for the Osborne Brothers band in a late 'Fifties lineup that also included Red Allen. At some point, Anderson got religion and became an ordained minister in the early 1960s, leading his own church in Richmond Dale, Ohio while starting the Gospel Recording Service, a combination studio and record label that documented numerous rural Midwestern gospel acts in the area. He released several singles and at least two LPs of his own on the label. (Thanks to hillbilly-music.com for their impressive forensic work on Anderson's career!)

Reverend Ray Anderson & Maxine Anderson "We're Almost Home" (QCA/Gospel Recording Service, 196--?) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Anderson)
This album, cut with Anderson's wife Maxine, appears to have been very poorly recorded, though the murky sound quality may also be due to the griminess of the copy I picked up. It's also a bit of a shambolic mess, in musical terms. Everyone seems to be a little out of tune, with each musician whirling in slightly different circles than the others: Mr. Anderson is a little too laid-back and churchy-sounding, the rhythm section plods on, and the piano is so poorly mic-ed it has a jangling, echoing toy-piano feel, like one of those old "honky tonk piano" albums; meanwhile the backing singers oooh and aahhh all the livelong day without much relation to any given melody. There are some gems, though -- the plangent gal vocals on Maxine Anderson's "King Jesus" have a cool hillbilly authenticity, and equally delightful is Mr. Anderson's brazen theft of the melody to Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Die" (for his "You Must Take Time To Die," which I guess could be considered an answer song, of sorts. I wish this disc had better sound quality, though -- it would be a better record, obviously. For me, the resolute, primitive amateurism is definitely a plus.

Reverend Ray Anderson "Silver Bridge Disaster Memorial Album" (QCA/Gospel Recording Service, 1968) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Anderson)
This country gospel set memorializes the catastrophic collapse of a poorly-designed, poorly constructed bridge on the Ohio River, a disaster that killed 46 people on December 15, 1967. Anderson, who lived in nearby Richmond Dale, cut a single soon after the accident, a topical song that was included on this album, which came out the following year. The back cover of the album shows newspaper clippings about the disaster, though, alas, no info about the musicians on this album. Most of the songs were written by Ray Anderson, with three tracks credited to his wife, Maxine Anderson.

Ray Anderson "...With The Tennessee Mountaineers" (BACM, 2017) (LP)
This collectors' reissue CD-R gathers a bunch of Anderson's secular stuff from the 1950s, including novelty numbers like "Draft Board Blues," "Sputniks And Mutniks" and "Stalin Kicked The Bucket," as well as several tracks recorded with the Osborne Brothers, along with a gospel tune or two.

Johnny Angel "Swings At Swingos" (JoDon Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Joe Petito & Annie Rosenberg)
"What Johnny Cash is to Nashville, Johnny Angel is to Cleveland..." At least that's what they said in the liner notes... Angel was maybe more of a general lounge singer than a county artist, but he did know a little bit about Stetson hats and big belt buckles, and cut his fair share of country tunes. This album has him pictured outside of the Swingos Hotel's fabled Keg & Quarter restaurant, before it was rechristened Swingos Celebrity Inn. Swingos was an ultra-hip, bad-boy rock'n'roll hotel, a place that catered to rock stars on tour who wanted a place to party hardy and let their hair down... Led Zeppelin famously would come to town and trash the rooms, then pay the bills in the morning, a scenario that was portrayed in the movie Almost Famous. I dunno how often Johnny Angel played there, but it sure was a hip venue for him to record a souvenir album.

Johnny Angel "Texas Women" (JoDon Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Melvena Denardo & Dennis Alexander)
Well, Mr. Johnny Angel was definitely going all-in on the whole Mickey Gilley, urban cowboy thing here -- this is definitely a country album, but man, oh man, was he a subpar singer. I guess every town has one: one of those guys who just plugs away and makes themselves part of the scene despite their readily apparent limitations. I suppose this has a so-bad-it's-good feel, but I would be hard pressed to imagine a non-sadistic scenario in which I personally would be willing to play these songs over the air. Particularly mind-boggling is the sentimental-parental recitation weeper, "You're The Best Daddy In The World," in which he opines on his affection for "that chubby little girl," and really goes overboard with the schmaltz. Ditto with the title track, which is trying really hard to be a linedancing-era novelty hit, and could almost be effective if it weren't for Angel's insistence on repeating the chorus about fifty-seven times... the track just never ends! The songs all seem to be original, although there are no composer credits... Similarly, the backing musicians aren't identified, although they were real professionals, with a particularly capable steel player... The liner notes inform us this was Glen Campbell's band, but since there's also no date on the record, there's no way to determine which edition of Campbell's band we're talking about. Anyway, I am not big on mocking folks who make indie albums, but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't admit that this one is pretty, um, strained.

The Appalachian Opera "Our First Time Around" (Starr Records, 197-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Marvin Jones)
A progressive bluegrass band from Port Clinton, Ohio... The quintet included Roger Howard on mandolin, Scotty Jackson (guitar), Jesse Riley (banjo and dobro), Archie Stinson (bass), and fiddler Ellis Sturgill. About half the album is made up of original tunes from various members of the band, while the cover songs include 'Seventies staples such as The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo," as well as a Donovan song, "Black Is The Color."

Apple Ridge Band "Pickin' On" (Appleridge Records, 1986) (LP)
(Produced by Scott Turner & Al McGuire)
The lone album from this band out of McComb, Ohio. The group included Keith and Mark Detamore, drummer Dan "Spanky" Corwin, lead guitar Kenn Trout and keyboard player Jim Slagle... Songs include "Alabama Rose," "Long Legged Women," "Peterbuilt," and "Small Time Country Band." There's really not much info about these guys online... One bandmember became a local judge, so I think it's fair to say that the band was really just a for-fun kind of thing...

Jack Arwood "My Favorite Country" (NCR Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Billy Arr & Jack Elgin)
Hailing from Hamilton, Ohio, singer and multi-instrumentalist Jack Arwood was a stalwart of Dayton's country scene, performing regionally with his band, Country United, throughout the 1970s. He released a few singles on his own Sunrise label back around 1968-70, although he only appears to have made a couple of albums. This first one was a studio set containing a few cover tunes, but mostly packed with original material, including a couple of songs credited to Jack Arwood, "The Devil In Her Eyes" and "Pardon Me For Saying I Love You," and three more by Larry Steele. Dunno the exact trajectory of Arwood's career, though the liner notes here say he was born in Maryville, Tennessee and was blind at birth, and started his professional career around age six and was playing shows with singer Barbara Allen in places like a Pennsylvania steakhouse in the early 'Seventies, presumably before settling down into the Dayton scene. Sadly, the backing band isn't identified at all...

The Jack Arwood Show "Live At The Little Missouri Saloon" (Sunrise Records, 1979) (LP)
This disc is a souvenir of a gig Arwood held down at a steakhouse called The Little Missouri Saloon, in distant Medora, North Dakota. (The restaurant took its name from the Little Missouri River, which runs past Medora on its way north towards the larger Missouri River.) While his singles included original material, sadly those songs didn't make it onto this live album, which is entirely made up of crowd-pleasing cover songs, including newer hits such as Eddie Rabbitt's 1978 single, "Hearts On Fire" and "Y'All Come Back Saloon," which The Oak Ridge Boys released in 1977. Not a lot of info about Mr. Arwood to be found, and since there are no musician or producer credits on this album, the lineup of Country United remains a mystery as well. A contemporary album review in the Dayton Daily News mentions that the record includes showcase numbers for the each of the bandmembers, but also neglects to give us their names. Oh, well. Still, a nice snapshot of a local working band in the heart of the Midwest.

Larry B "Sings His Greatest Hits" (Superjok Records, 198--?) (LP)
This appears to be a comedy-oriented souvenir album by country DJ "Larry B," who cut this session with a guy named Jerry Bevis sometime (I think) in the early 1980s. Songs include "Planet Of The DJs," "We Still Love America" and "Red Neck And Rowdy." I'm not sure where Larry B was working at the time, but he seems to have continued his career through to the present day, and currently has a drive time morning show at Classic Country 105.9 WNKR/106.7 WNKR, twin stations in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, which was probably his stomping grounds back in the day.

The Backwoods "The Best Of The Backwoods" (Starr Records, 1977-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Marvin Jones)
A ton of original material by this band from Columbus, Ohio which featured two songwriters, Glenn Price and Jim Snell (1946-2020), along with a third lead singer, Debbie Cathell, as well as bassist Jim Higgins and veteran bluegrass picker Danny Milhon adding some sweet licks on dobro. There are two cover songs -- the Motown oldie "Heat Wave" and Captain & Tennille's "Muskrat Love" -- but otherwise it's all new stuff, like Snell's "Take Me Back To Ohio" and "Truck Drivin's Drivin' Me Wild" by Jim Price. Mr. Snell, who also worked as a local police officer and in the Madison County sheriff's department, started out playing rock music in the mid-1960s, notably in the garage rock band the Rolling Ramsaxs, which recorded at least one single in 1966 featuring a pair of Snell's early songs. Like all smart teenage rockers, he later switched to country music, and worked in a series of bands, including a group called The Posse, reflection his work in law enforcement. As far as I know this was the Backwoods group's only album.

Badlands "Badlands" (Rite Records, 1979) (LP)
This short-lived Cincinnati twangband was led by singer-guitarist Chuck Foster, along with Bob Catron (lead guitar), John Meek, Sonny Moss, Danny Williamson, and Johnny Ellison. This group broke up when Foster moved to Nashville to back songwriter Bobby Borchers; after moving back to Ohio he and Catron formed a new group called Cheyenne, which became the house band at the Silver Saddle nightclub for several years in the early '80s. Lots of cover songs here, including "Every Which Way But Loose" and "Old Slew Foot," and the old country-rock standard, "Glendale Train."

Denzil Bandy "...And The Country Rock" (Johnny Dollar Productions, 19--?) (LP)
A middle-aged factory worker from the rust-belt manufacturing town of Mansfield, Ohio, Denzil Bandy (1930-2003) was also a founding member of the Ohio Country Western Music Association and led his band, The Country Rock, for several years. This album opens with Bandy singing his own tune, "Factory Worker," in which he philosophically describes life at the General Motors stamping plant known as the Mansfield-Ontario Metal Center, where he worked for over thirty years. He sings lead on three of the album's songs, and hands over vocal chores on a few tracks to his guitarist Brad Bogner, and to family members Jerry Bandy and Ernie Bandy on a few tunes. Nothing fancy here, just a nice, earnest set with traces of the country-pop sound of the '70s, a few cover songs and some nice originals -- modest musicianship and a solid, down-to-earth presentation overall.

The Banjokers "The Banjokers" (Kelly's Ranch Records, 1973-?) (LP)
(Produced by Vic Clay)
An all-gal acoustic quartet from Cleveland, Ohio, although if truth be told, only one of them plays banjo. The quartet includes Lee Alflen (guitar and vocals), Helen Baker (banjo and guitar), Avnie Bedrosian (violin), and Marie Lenz on bass. They had a long-running gig at a Cleveland nightspot called Kelly's Ranch, playing novelty numbers from a variety of sources. This one's almost all country material, including versions of "Country Roads," "Dueling Banjos," "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and "For The Good Times."

The Banjokers "The Banjokers" (Kelly's Ranch Records, 19--?) (LP)
Same title, different album. There's not much country material on this one, outside of covers of "Orange Blossom Special" "Release Me," and "There's A Love Knot In My Lariat." Otherwise, it's all "Swanee" and "Have Nagila." Dunno how long this group was together, though as far as I know these two LPs and some singles were their sum of their recorded legacy.

Bobby Bare -- see artist profile

Audrey Barger "Singing Songs Of My Childhood" (Sylvers Studios, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Steve Common)
A bluegrass gal from Oxford, Ohio, Audrey Barger sings some great old tunes from The Bailes Brothers, Bill Carlisle, The Carter Family, Dolly Parton and others. Red Allen wrote the liner notes and says Ms. Barger is backed by "some of the finest Blue Grass musicians in Southwestern Ohio," though alas, they are not identified by name. Barger was apparently a full-time musician, and this was her first album; I'm not sure if she recorded anything else.

Ricky Barnes & The Hoot Owls -- see artist profile

The Bean 'Oller Band "Knockin' On The Back Door" (Oller Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Tim Carrabine, Marc Snider & Bean 'Oller)
Some clean-cut lads from Columbus, Ohio with a mix of cover songs and originals, including four songs written by lead singer Mike O'Brien: "Don’t Wanna Hear It Breakin'," "Gone Tomorrow," "Singin' In The City" and "Whispering Winds." Interesting choices in cover material, too, ranging from "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" to "Rocky Raccoon," and Crystal Gayle's "Ready For The Times To Get Better." The band -- which included bassist Steve Kraus, Jim Leake (harmonica and vocals), Dan Miller (guitar and vocals), Mike O'Brien (guitar and vocals) and Kim Tranchita on drums -- seems to have been the house band at a place called the Back Door Lounge, which gets thanked in the liner notes.

Kenny Biggs "Loving You Is What I Do The Best" (Gateway Records, 1968-?) (LP)
Originally from Sleepy Creek, West Virginia, singer Kenny Biggs carved out a niche for himself as a radio deejay on a string of stations in locales such as Gary, Indiana, Chicago and most notably several stations in Pennsylvania, which seems to have been his main stomping grounds. At the time, Mr. Biggs was working on WPIT, Pittsburg while also pursuing an ambitious touring schedule that took him up into New York state and Canada. He also had a gig on the WWVA "Wheeling Jamboree," where he was backed by his band The Talismen, made up of bass player Wayne Barnes, Wayne Kincaid on steel guitar, and Bill Lynn on drums. They were apparently represented by Ohio country music entrepreneur Quentin Welty, who wrote the liner notes for both of these albums, and whose B-W label released one of Kenny Biggs' earliest singles 'way back in 1961. There's no release date on this disc, but it includes a version of the title track, which Biggs recorded for Chart Records in 1966, as well as a cover of "Don't Squeeze My Sharmon," which was a hit for Charlie Walker in 1967, so I'll take a swing at it and guess this came out around 1968.

Kenny Biggs "Chasing Rainbows" (Pinnacle Records, 1970-?) (LP)
An excellent album of would-be early-'70s Top Forty material from an Ohio artist who was a cast member of the WWVA Jamboree show at the time he recorded this album. Biggs attempts a few countrypolitan ballads, but the best stuff here is the more robust, loping honky-tonk material... He had a good feel for novelty material as well, and overall was a pretty polished, likeable performer. There's no date on the album, but again the liner notes are by country promoter Quentin Welty, who was now identified as the General Manager of WWVA, a job he held from 1969-71 -- I'm splitting the difference and calling it a 1970 album. Biggs seems to have been in Welty's general orbit as a demo singer as well as a bandleader: in addition to a three originals written by Biggs, there are several credited to B-W Music (Welty's publishing house) with songs penned by Gene Hood, Jim Owen, and even one by 'Fifties hillbilly singer Howdy Kempf. Biggs might have been a little out of step with the times -- a lot of this material sounds like it would have fit in better with the post-honky tonk vibe of early '60s Nashville, but it's a still swell record, definitely worth tracking down. I'll count Kenny Biggs in my list of old-school coulda-woulda-shoulda artists.

J. D. Blackfoot "The Song Of Crazy Horse" (Fantasy Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Tony Baker & J.D. Blackfoot)
This guy was originally from Ohio, although this record was recorded in New Zealand, of all places... Anyway, the album kicks off with the title track, a dreadful, politically-themed fifteen-minute long folk-prog epic about Crazy Horse and the decimation and betrayal of the Native Americans... Blackfoot's heart was in the right place, and what with the occupation of Alcatraz and all, the issues were timely... But it's so painfully serious and so musically bombastic, it's hard to say anything nice about this track. Not my cup of tea. On Side Two of the album he plows into some leaden boogie-rock, and adds a smidge of sunshine rock, all of which accentuates Blackfoot's shortcomings as a singer. In theory this album has connections to hippie twang, but mostly it's just one song, the obscene, anti-country, faux-redneck novelty number, "Flushed You Down The Toilet Of My Heart," which is un-airable, but also painfully unfunny. Wouldn't say there's much to recommend this one, really. Certainly not enough to inspire me to check out his other records.

Bonnie Lou "Raining Down Happiness" (Wrayco Records, 1971-?) (LP)
A veteran musician whose roots date back to the hillbilly era of the 1940s, Mary Joan Okum (1924-2015) found national success as a pop-rockabilly artist, notably with her King singles "Daddy-O" and "Tennessee Wig Walk." Originally from Towanda, Illinois, Bonnie Lou moved through a series of regional radio and television programs, with high profile gigs as a cast member of the Kansas City-based Brush Creek Follies and later on Cincinnati's The Midwest Hayride, where she joined a latter-day edition of the Girls Of The Golden West. Highly successful in each point of her career, when larger fame beckoned she chose to stay in Ohio and headline the Hayride. In the 1950s, she partnered with TV pioneer Paul Dixon, co-hosting The Paul Dixon Show, a variety program that included both musical and comedic roles. Paul Dixon provides the liner notes for this album, and possibly the backing band as well (although there are no musician credits on the album...) Bonnie Lou starred on multiple local TV and radio programs, though she largely quit performing after Paul Dixon died in 1974, later working as a country deejay for several years while occasionally doing live concerts. This early 'Seventies album is notable for its wealth of material by up-and-coming songwriters such as Becki Bluefield, Rhett Davis, Canada's Don Devaney, Finley Duncan, and Susan Taylor of the Pozo-Seco Singers, and even one by her fellow 'Fifties rockabilly filly, Jean Chapel.

Donnie Bowser "Donnie Bowser Sings" (Top Tenn Records, 1965) (LP)
An old-school Ohio country singer who started his professional career in 1950 at age thirteen, Donnie Bowshier (1937-2002) was first and last a country singer, although he was also one of Ohio's pioneering rockabilly artists, cutting several tracks in 1956 that are rock'n'roll cult favorites. Also known as Little Donnie Bowser, he was originally from the small town of Madison Mills, Ohio, and played gigs around Dayton and Cincinnati, leading several bands and performing on regional local hayride/opry shows; he even briefly hosted his own TV show and radio programs. This was Bowshier's first full album, though his first recording sessions date back to 1953, when his group the JR Melody Boys cut a string of singles for the fabled King Records label in Cincinnati. In 1956 Bowshier's new group, The Radio Ranch Boys, leapt into the rockabilly world with the plangent, Elvis-y "Rock And Roll Joys" and "Stone Heart," an agonized teen ballad that gained national distribution and became Bowshier's signature song. Those same sessions also produced the novelty number "Grandma Rock And Roll," which was released under the name of Gene Sisco, who was the band's fiddle player, later becoming a solo performer and recording artist. Donnie Bowshier contracted polio when he was only three, and spent his life confined to a wheelchair, although it barely held him back as a performer -- he played onstage at numerous venues, including an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry much later in his career. Most of his records were singles, spread out over several decades, right through the late 1980s; I'm not sure if this was his only full album, though many of his songs have been compiled in reissue records. (Thanks to hillbilly-music.com for their extensive profile of Bowshier's career, which filled in more than a few blanks.)

Bill Box & The Dixie Drifters "I've Walked Many Miles In These Shoes" (Starr Records, 1973-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Marvin Jones)
Bluegrass picker Bill Box lived in Moline, Illinois before signing up for the Army back in the 1950s... When he got out in '59, he started his own band and moved down to Oklahoma, making Muskogee as his main base of operations. He landed a gig with Bill Monroe right around the time this album was made, but it turned out to be a pretty short stint, ending in '74. This edition of the Dixie Drifters included a bunch of guys from all over the Midwest: Kenny Cantrell (banjo), Dub Crouch (from Saint Louis), Arnold Johnson, Smoky McKinnis (fiddle), Charlie Newman (mandolin) (fiddle), and of course Bill Box on vocals and guitar.

Bill Box & The Dixie Drifters "Big Blue Grass Special" (Rich-R-Tone Records, 1978-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jim Stanton)
A later edition of the Dixie Drifters, with Bill Box on guitar and vocals, Tim Crouch (fiddle), Monroe Fields (mandolin), Colin Richardson (banjo) and Earl Sneed on bass. This set features four original songs by Monroe Fields, as well as a couple from Mr. Box, "Patched Levi Britches" and "Teenage Love," while the closing track, "Turns Every Day," comes from producer Jim Stanton.

Bill Box & The Dixie Drifters "A Tribute To Lester Flatt" (Rich-R-Tone Records, 1982-?) (LP)
Another big change of lineup, this time with Gene Hayes on mandolin, Al Murphy (fiddle), Dean Robinson (bass) and Larry Stacy on banjo.)

The Boys "Kickin' Around" (Rome Records, 1975-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey)
The "boys" in this case were the lads of the Adams family of Greenfield, Ohio -- Darrell, Don, Farrell and Gary Adams - who are joined by pedal steel great Doug Jernigan, along with Dave Gray (trumpet), Paul Justice (fiddle), and Steve Marple on drums. Johnny Paycheck was also from Greenfield, and hired these guys as his touring group in the 1970s, so even though they don't mention him on this album, it's also one of those "backup band" albums. This was a pretty ambitious custom album -- a 2-LP set! -- including a bunch of 1960s, '70s pop and country covers, as well as original material from the folks around Columbus, Ohio, tunes credited to the New Rome and Shetac Music publishing companies, which copyrighted a bunch of their stuff, circa 1974. I don't know how much these guys played live independent of the Paycheck gig, but they certainly seemed to be making a real go of things with this record.

Arne Brav "Ready To Go" (Tour Directions, 1983-?) (LP)
(Produced by Arne Brav, Junior Bennett & Bob Kearney)
A veteran performer with deep roots in the Midwestern folk scene, Arnold Z. Brav (1946-2005) was a true troubadour. Starting out in Cincinnati, he made a determined march across countless college campuses in several states, both headlining and supporting other artists on guitar throughout the 1970s and early '80s. This was his lone solo album, which featured a slew of Queen City locals as well as Ohio-born Harley Allen singing harmony on a tune or two. Although mostly a folkie affair, it includes covers of "Sixteen Tons," Gary P. Nunn's "Couldn't Do Nothing Right," and a few other twangy tunes. The album came out when Brav was pushing forty and proved to be his own creative swan song: starting in 1983 Brav cashed in a decade-plus of showbiz connections and set up shop as a talent agent and promoter, notably representing singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards, and helping 'Seventies pop star Dan Seals make the leap into a highly successful career as a Top Forty country star. For a while, Brav even served as the opening act for Seals while he was finding his footing in the twang scene. Although he made inroads in Nashville and for a while moved to Tennessee, Brav's company zeroed in on more familiar territories, specializing in booking musicians and comedians for college campus tours, the same scene he'd started out in decades earlier.

The Brothers & The Sisters "The Brothers And The Sisters " (Soundspace, Inc., 1982) (LP)
I wanna call this "Brady Bunch bluegrass," but I don't think these kids from Dayton, Ohio were all technically related... "The Brothers" were the lads from the Bean family -- Greg, Matt and Steve -- while "The Sisters" are Eileen, Gena, Terri and Tina D'Epiro, altogether a wholesome gaggle of kids whose ages ranged from nine to seventeen years old. Their repertoire is pretty standard issue -- chestnuts like "Boil Them Cabbage Down," "Wildwood Flower" and "Orange Blossom Special" (of course!) along with gospel tunes such as Alfred E. Brumley's "I'll Fly Away" and Hank Williams' "I Saw The Light," and several well-chosen bluegrass standards from the McClain Family, The Osborne Brothers, et.al. Alas, no breakdown of who played which instruments, and no producer info, though the liner notes are by Bob Ferguson, host of the WYSO radio station's "Country Jamboree" show.

Gene Brown "China Girl" (Chart/Music Town Records, 1968-?) (LP)
(Produced by Tommy Hill)
A truly excellent honkytonk album by a guy from Cincinnati whose vocal style lay somewhere between Hank Locklin and Webb Pierce, which is high praise in my book. Not 100% certain when this came out, but several of the tracks were issued as Starday singles in the late '60s; this custom disc was pressed by Chart Records on an imprint that seems to have been active between 1968-69... Anyway, this is a really great album with solid vocals, strong musical backing, and a consistently entertaining set of slightly off-kilter novelty lyrics, including tunes like "A Skeleton In Every Closet," "Force Of Habit" and "Watching Plaster Fall." Never heard of 'em? My point, exactly. Five songs are credited to Gene Brown, with three more penned by Shirl Milet -- Gene Brown seems to have been under contract to Milet's company, Tarheel Publishing, though as far as I know, they were never picked up in Nashville. No info on the backing musicians, but at least some of the tracks were recorded at Starday, with whoever was in the house band at the time. If you enjoy late '50s/early '60s shuffle classics from folks like Carl Smith or Webb, you oughta dig this disc, too. (Also: how much do we love that the gal on the cover has a tattoo on her arm that reads "Gary"? Now, that's country!)

Buckeye Biscuit Band "First Batch" (EP) (1975) (LP)
A 4-song EP self-released by this early country-rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. These guys stayed together until 1982, and worked in a variety of other local bands as well...

Buckeye Biscuit Band "Fresh Candy" (Peabody Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Cavanaugh)
A spunky but uneven album from one of Ohio's best-known 1970's country-rock bands... They seem to have been trying for a Firefall-style hit, as heard on the syrupy, Dan Fogleberg-ish AOR ballad that opens this album, but they also dip back into outlaw and outlaw-esque twang that owes equal debts to early Eagles and grittier, naughtier bar bands like Chuck Wagon & The Wheels. It's a pretty wide divide, and the more mainstream-leaning material might turn some twangfans off, particularly as singer Elbert Webb had a rather, um, unconventional voice, which was constantly straining and emotive in a way that might be distracting to fans of all the various styles the band took on. Still, this album documents a significant regional band and has a wealth of original material, with several strong songs. It may not hold up when listened to from end to end, but there are some fun tracks on here, definitely worth checking out.

Bruce Buckley "Ohio Valley Ballads" (Folkways Records, 1955) (10")
Old-school folk ballads, some with regional themes and others that were just sung widely within the Ohio Valley region. "Ohio Valley" itself is a fairly imprecise term, a wide area surrounding the Ohio River and encompassing several other states; similarly I'm not sure where singer Bruce Buckley was from but, well, I gotta park this album somewhere. It's a pretty straightforward acoustic folk presentation, with Buckley doing some simple fingerpicking, while galloping through his story-song lyrics and occasionally wandering away from the strict meter. But it's fun folkie material, nonetheless.

Jerry Byrd -- see artist profile

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "Peace On Earth" (Rite/Melody Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Tommy Crank & William M. Jones)
At the heart of southwestern Ohio's Pentecostal gospel scene was singer Ernest Carter's family band, originally known as the Bluegrass Hymn Trio. Formed in 1962, this gospel group initially included Carter's brothers Clifford Carter and Frank Carter (1934-1998), along with a series of sidemen who moved through their ranks. The Carters were originally from Kentucky, but lived around Germantown, Ohio (near Dayton) for most of their musical careers, and performed regularly on radio station WPFB in nearby Middletown. The Hymn Trio's original lineup dissolved around 1970, although Mr. Carter seems to have revived the group from time to time, and continued to record for several years after that. As seen in their association with Tommy Crank, the Hymn Trio had real country roots and plenty of twang. The large band behind them on this album included fiddle (Ken Bussell) and pedal steel (Rick Todd) along with bass, drums, piano and guitar. Ernest Carter apparently owned a grocery store in Middletown, and broadcast a weekly gospel show from the store. The repertoire for this album included traditional gospel hymns as well as more contemporary southern gospel-style material, and a few tunes from the country field, including songs by Glen Campbell and Marty Robbins. [Thanks to That's All Rite music blog for providing some helpful breadcrumbs about this band... I'm not sure about the timeline for the albums below, but hope to clarify it someday...]

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "I Thought Of God" (Rite/Harp Records, 1964-?) (LP)

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "This Old Time Religion" (Sounds Of America, 19--?) (LP)
This disc includes three Ernest Carter originals: "I'm On My Way Home," "I Was A Child Again," "Land Of Tomorrow," and "Time Out." There are also a couple of Claude Ely songs; Ely's material pops up on several Hymn Trio records, and it seems likely that Ernest Carter associated with Ely when he had his ministry in Ohio.

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "I Met A Man" (Starday-Nashville Records, 19--?) (LP)
A few Ernest Carter originals here, including "Daughters Of Jerusalem," "King Of My Heart" and "A Land" (a recitation piece which closes the album...)

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "A Bridge To Heaven" (Irma Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Tommy Crank)
As on other Hymn Trio records, this includes a wealth of original material from little-known composers... One name I recognized was Edgar Fultz, a Kentuckian who recorded a couple of albums himself, several years later.

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "Status Symbol" (Starday-Nashville Records, 19--?) (LP)
Special billing is given here to guest vocalist Loretta Carter (aka Mrs. Frank Carter) who was also in a separate family band called the Vaughn Sisters. The rest of the lineup included Clifford Carter on pedal steel, Frank Carter (guitar), Earl Powell (bass) and Stanley Turner on drums. The electrification of various instruments is called out in the liner notes; they wanted to make sure you knew they were plugged in and ready to roll!

Ernest Carter & The Hymn Trio "Old Time Religion Is Back In Style" (Nashville Bluegrass Recording Company, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Howard R. May & Rodney Cantrell)
This was a much later release, recorded after Ernest Carter had moved to West Liberty, Kentucky, and his brothers had retired from the "trio." This edition of the band had a much younger lineup, including Geraldine Carter, Mary Carter, Keith Powell (bass), Glenn Fields (flattop guitar), Vernon Lewis (flattop guitar), David Carter (banjo), presumably with the various Carters being relatives...

Caitlin Cary -- see artist profile

Jack Casey "Rural Rhythm Presents Jack Casey" (Rural Rhythm Records, 1968) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Unteed)
A stripped-down set of older, Depression-era mountain music and sentimental songs that fits more broadly into the bluegrass end of the spectrum. Born in Virgie, Kentucky, singer-guitarist Alfred Jack Casebolt (d. 1999) played in several high-profile bluegrass bands, notably with bandleaders Hylo Brown and Jimmy Martin, who had a blues-flavored, country-ish bent. Casey is of particular interest here because he operated the Rome Recording Studios, in Columbus Ohio and helped record countless regional and amateur artists, including numerous country and gospel musicians on Casey's own labels, Rome Records and Starr Records. Backing him on this old-fashioned, back-to-basics set are Howard Aldridge (mandolin), Ross Branham (banjo), Tommy Boyd (harmony vocals), Wayne Mendor (bass), and Danny Wilmon on dobro; some of these guys also did session work for Casey and recorded with him on many high-profile bluegrass recordings.

Peggy Caudill "I Met The Master" (Cabut Records, 1969) (LP)
Fierce, rootsy country gospel by Ms. Peggy Ruth Caudill, who according to the liner notes was born in 1939 in Portsmouth, Ohio. At some point Mrs. Caudill had a religious awakening -- the liner notes to this album say she had "been a Christian" for a year or so before recording this set, although I think that means she had converted to whatever evangelical denomination she had joined later in life. I'm not sure if she was part of the same Pentecostal network as other gospel artists in the area, but she certainly had a strong sense of true twang, as did other Dayton and Cincinnati-area singers who used the Rite Records custom company to release their work. Although she was originally from Ohio, I think Caudill later moved to northeastern Kentucky, though still inside the Cincinnati vortex.

Peggy Caudill "If I Can Make It Through The Valley" (Kingdom Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by John Caudill)
According to the liner notes, this was Mrs. Caudill's third album, with backing by local musicians Herman Bowen (bass), Lloyd Dean (steel guitar), Joan Gearhart (bass) and Chuck Morrison (electric guitar). They sound great. I haven't been able to track down the title of her other album, but I assume it's of an equal musical calibre to these two. Any additional info would be welcome!

The Challengers "Country" (Owl Records, 198-?) (LP)
(Produced by Larry Riley)
A mid-1970s country covers band from Columbus, Ohio, not to be confused (methinks) with the California-based surf/frat rock band of the '60s... This record appears to have been issued at least twice, once with full album art, and once with a plain white cover... And it seems to be relatively common, popping up fairly frequently, so I guess these guys were pretty active and successful on a regional level. The driving force seems to have been producer (and lead singer?) Larry Riley, who wrote or co-wrote all but three of the songs on this album. The aim is clearly in a then-contemporary Top-40 direction, with the Oak Ridge Boys as their clearest influence, a bit poppier and more expansive than your usual custom-pressing country disc... I suspect that, like the Oak Ridge Boys, these guys were originally a southern gospel group; a few tracks in, the jubilee vibe takes ahold on an otherwise secular-themed song, but they go full gospel-chorus on a version of "Troubles Are Gone," complete with a low, low, baritone lead vocal. Not entirely my kinda twang, but an ambitious and well-produced album, albeit a bit slick and commercially oriented.

The Charles Brothers "The Charles Brothers" (Lemco Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Lou Zechella & Cecil Jones)
These three Ohio siblings -- Billy, Dallas and Phillip Charles -- were a rock-solid bluegrass combo holding down a gig with the Continental Inns hotel chain in Lexington, Kentucky at the time this album was recorded. The hotel's manager, Lou Zechella, produced the album and contributed liner notes as well. The repertoire is all cover songs, with a few country tunes in the mix, including Merle Haggard's "Daddy Frank" and "Roll On Buddy" from the Wilburn Brothers, as well as a nice version of Tony Hazzard's "Fox On The Run," which was part of the progressive bluegrass canon at the time. This is more straight-up bluegrass than most of my locals-only listings, but I can't resist: I'm a sucker for a lounge-music twang LP. Not sure what happened with his brothers, but Billy Charles kept plunking the banjo, with various gigs over the years, most recently playing in a bluegrass gospel group called Three Rivers, with singer Brien Charles.

Gay & Lois Cheatham "The Workers Of The Vineyard" (Jalyn Records, 1975-?) (LP)
(Produced by Phil Mehaffey & Tim Norris)
Homegrown hillbilly gospel from Lodi, Ohio, with almost all the songs written by Arna Gay Cheatham, who is joined by her sister Lois, along with Elmer Huff on steel guitar, Phil Mehaffey (piano), Dick Ryan (drums), David Salyer (lead guitar), and Charles Watson playing bass.

Cheyenne "Recorded Live" (Jewel Records, 1983-?) (LP)
(Produced by Rusty York)
This twangband from Cincinnati was one of several groups using the name Cheyenne... In this case, it was the reincarnation of an earlier group from Ohio called Badlands, a late-'70s outfit that also featured lead singer/guitarists Bob Catron and Chuck Foster. Here they're joined by drummer Joe Clooney, bassist Larry Heuser, and David Morris on keyboards. Around 1983, Cheyenne was the house band at Bob Bowery's country bar, The Silver Saddle, which is where this album was taped. They also released a single, with two songs by Bobby Borchers, "Brass Buckles" and "Buffalo Rug," both penned by songwriter Bobby Borchers, a guy from the Cincinnati area who Foster backed in Nashville. Chuck Foster worked regionally around Ohio for most of the '80s and '90s before moving to Indiana, and later retiring to Florida, where he continued to perform at local venues.

Cheyenne "Cincinnati On My Mind" (Fraternity Records, 19--?) (LP)

Vic Clay "Here Today And Gone Tomorrow" (DoViNe Records, 1965) (LP)
Best known as a gospel and country producer working on innumerable albums, Vic Clay started out as a performer himself, singing and playing guitar. This is a gospel set with a mix of styles, dipping back into oldies like "Life's Railway To Heaven," and newer material as well. He's backed by locals: Leona Jones on bass, pianist Danny Koker, drummer Jerry Sanders and a vocal trio comprised of Bobby Clark, Glenn Payne and George Younce.

Vic Clay "Guitar Plain And Fancy" (Hymntone Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Gene Eichelberger)

Jim Click & Sue Click "My Lord Is A Mountain High" (Rimrock Records, 19--?) (LP)
Classic country/gospel bluegrass... The Reverend Jim Click provided two addresses on this album -- one in Joppa, Maryland and another in Dayton, Ohio, though I think he was an Ohioan, one of the many bedrock gospel artists from the Dayton area. Most of the songs on this album were originals written by Jim Click and his wife Sue, with some traditional tunes and other contemporary originals in the mix. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the Clicks settled down in Galion, Ohio, north of Columbus. It's possible Rev. Click was the same guy who recorded some secular honkytonk country in the early 'Sixties as "Jimmie Click," but then again, Jim Click seems to have been a surprisingly popular name in that neck of the woods.

Jim Colegrove "Panther City Blues" (Flying High Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Jim Colgrove & Mike Talmage)
Born in Springfield, Ohio, guitarist Jim Colegrove had been a key member of Ian & Sylvia's short-lived country-rock band, Great Speckled Bird, and its spinoff, Hungry Chuck, which he formed with pianist Jeff Gutcheon and some other guys from the Bearsville label scene in upstate New York. Later Colegrove headed off to Texas, where he got more into blues and bar-band music, as heard on this album, with Jeff Gutcheon sitting it... Colegrove also was part of the Juke Jumpers band, formed with Stephen Bruton, and recorded several retro blues-a-billy albums with that group.

David Allan Coe - see artist discography

Earl Thomas Conley -- see artist profile

Country Aire "Take One" (Kopperhead Productions, 1982-?) (LP)
An early 'Eighties country cover band from Canton, Ohio, featuring Connie Dingler (keyboards and vocals), Rod Dingler (guitar), Bill Hullihen (bass), Ray Lashley (guitar) and Ken Rowland (drums). The repertoire is strictly drawn from their live act, mostly newer stuff by the likes of David Frizzell, Terri Gibbs, Vince Gill, and Charlie McClain, with hits of the day such as "Somebody's Knockin'," "Who's Cheatin' Who" and "You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma." There are a few nods to an earlier era, like their version of Bobby Austin's "Apartment #9" and one by Willie Nelson, albeit his 1980 hit, "On The Road Again." The album is closed out by a version of John Denver's "Back Home Again," dedicated to a friend of the band, Cal Emerick, the organizer and emcee of the North Country Bandstand, a live show held weekly in the Akron suburb of Barberton. Emerick passed away in 1981, and was lauded by many local musicians.

The Country Earth "Volume One" (Old Hickory Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Garey A. Wheatley)
An all-original set from this progressive 'grass band out of Dayton, Ohio... No date on the disc, but it's probably from around 1975 or so... This disc and their second record from '76 seem to be the band's only albums.

The Country Earth "Strictly Progressive" (Sagegrass Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Dennis Hemsly)
While their first album showcased a wealth of original material, here the Earthers dig into the progressive tradition of grassing-up pop, rock and country hits, with propulsive renditions of classics such as "Feelings," "Good Hearted Woman," "Sweet Caroline" and "Take It To The Limit." Personally, I was most jazzed by their cover of "Third Rate Romance" by the Amazing Rhythm Aces. Great song. The lineup on this second album included drummer Paul Burton, Ray Bushbaum (piano), Ted Hartman (bass), Frank Myers (lead guitar), and Melvin Myers on rhythm guitar. As far as I know this was the group's last record.

Country Grass "Country Grass" (Opus Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Tony Pettinato)
They mighta been 'grassy, but these guys from Columbus, Ohio covered outlaw anthems by Waylon Jennings and Jerry Jeff Walker, as well as Jerry Reed's "East Bound And Down," a little bit by Flatt & Scruggs, and some Johnny Cash, for good measure. The band featured four guys from the Eastridge family: Al, Ed, Larry and Randy, along with lead guitarists Phil Frenz and Ron Humes, and a few more guest singers and pickers. On the back cover they thank Merl and Bonnie Johnson, owners of a bar called Bonnie & Betty's Place, with a photo of the band lounging outside, so doubtless they played some gigs there.

The Country Grass "Don't Forget To Care" (Sagegrass Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Curt Britton)
A different band, but still from Ohio... Springfield, in this case. These guys were more into straight-up bluegrass, with a taste for older, more traditional material. The group included bassist Johnny Carroll, Bob Ferguson (banjo), Wayne Horsley (lead vocals and guitar), Earl Huff (dobro), and Ted Wallace on mandolin.

Country Judo Jim "Long Stemmed Red Roses" (Country Bugs Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by John Hull & Mark Snider)
This is sort of outsider-art country music, from Columbus, Ohio's Jim Moss... To be honest, Moss was not a great singer, but he had a certain joie de vivre that enlivens these kooky tunes, despite the sometimes iffy vocal phrasing and whatnot. Plus, it's always nice to hear an album of all-original material. There are several songs about the country music biz ("Stetson Hats And Cowboy Boots" and the self-mythologizing "Country Judo Jim"), some romantic stuff, including "I Get High" -- where he tells his true love he doesn't need pot or booze when snuggling is more than enough -- and a fair number of songs about drinking and whatnot. There's also a Doctor Demento-able novelty number, "Beep Beep Beep," about a guy in love who makes funny noises when they're fooling around... This disc skirts the edges of the whole so-bad-its-good thing, but it also has some genuine nutball charm, and I think Moss was pretty sincere in his aspirations. The band's pretty solid, too - local guys as far as I can tell -- with fiddle, steel and plenty of twang.

The Country Legend Band "Deadlines" (Blue Ash Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Bob Lowe)
Not a lot of info on these guys... The group included John Dalyrimple (lead guitar, keyboards), Steve Quinn (guitars), Tim Quinn (bass), and Mike Tolliver on percussion... They were from a cluster of small towns east of Columbus, Ohio -- Crooksville, Roseville and Somerset -- though the sessions were recorded in town at Kingsmill Studios. Though they had the rural-sounding band name and wore big, old cowboy hats and 'Seventies-style fringe jackets, apparently the band later mostly played classic rock at their live gigs.

The Country Masters "...First" (Rite Record Productions 1973-?) (LP)
(Produced by Phil Burkhardt)
A local country covers band from Perry, Ohio led by Billy Kuhn and his wife, bassist Nancy Kuhn (1938-2010), along with guitarist Corky Simmons, banjo picker Randy Stone, and Don Wilkerson on drums. The set list includes a couple of songs by Raymond Smith, "Gotta Find A Place In The Sun" and "Sea Of Broken Memories," though all the others are well-known country hits. Not a big online footprint for this group, a couple of local show notices from 1973 and '74, but that's about it. From the songs covers, I'd guess this album was from the earlier end of that spectrum; the most recent ones are from 1972.

Country Roads "Country Roads" (Central Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Delbert Barker, Jr.)
A thumpy country bar band from around Dayton, Ohio, featuring Jay Combs on bass, Jack Harper (drums), John Humphrey (lead guitar), Brian Via (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), and Bobby Worley (lead guitar and banjo). First things first: these guys maybe weren't the most musically adept band in the world; most everything they played was at the same galloping, hammering beat, with the lone exception of a cover of Johnny Lee's "Lookin' For Love." But they were spunky! They also seem to have dug Charlie Daniels' shaggy redneck vibe, covering two of his songs, "Long Haired Country Boy" and "South's Gonna Do It Again," along with country classics like Terry Fell's "Truck Driving Man," "Folsom Prison Blues," etc. Perhaps the most surprising selection is a novelty number that appears to be an original, Paul Boyd's "Jesus Is My Insurance Man," a perky faux-gospel song which that closes the album out. I couldn't find much information about these guys, and suspect they were a short-lived group inspired by the Urban Cowboy boom of the early 'Eighties; banjo picker Bobby Worley may have kept at it in the local bluegrass scene, but that thread also proved a little tough to track down.

Country Rovers "Making An Album In Nashville" (Globe Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Jim Maxwell)
The husband-wife duo of Ginny and Joe Baker hailed from Wooster, Ohio and headed down to Nashville to cut this disc, which I believe was their only album. It's all cover songs, except for the presumably autobiographical title track, "Making An Album In Nashville." Ginny Baker also recorded a single of "Columbus Stockade Blues"/"I Wanna Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart," for the local indie label United Audio in 1972, and this LP looks like it's from around the same era, possibly a few years earlier. The personnel included Bill Phelps on fiddle, Terry Goad on drums and Buddy Edgell on guitar, with Joe Baker playing bass... Locals, all!

The Country Sunshine Band "Livin' And Lovin' " (Jewel Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey)

The Country Sunshine Band "Livin' And Lovin' " (Rome/Starr Records, 1981-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey)
A fairly shaggy-looking outfit from Delaware, Ohio (near Columbus...) They formed the band in 1970 and played local gigs throughout the state. I think this was their only album: they devoted Side One to original material by singers Dick Jackson, Tom Boggs and Larry Stidham, and Side Two to covers of outlaw artists such as Charlie Daniels, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson... They definitely had a major Waylon wannabee jones, which works well on several songs. Unfortunately, they were kind of democratically-minded, so they took turns singing lead vocals, and not all of the guys in the band were top-flight singers. Overall, though, this is good country bar-band material - they were authentic, and reasonably good. Rough around the edges, but worth a spin

John Cowan -- see artist profile

Dave Craig & The Country Blazers "Dave Craig Sings Your Requests... Plus" (Central Records, 1979-?) (LP)
(Produced by Delbert Barker & Delbert Barker Jr.)
A country music fan and full-time trucker from Middletown, Ohio, Dave Craig was most likely not a professional musician, though he put together a pretty interesting crew of country pickers to back him on this album. With their far-flung membership, the Country Blazers were probably an ad hoc group that mostly existed in the studio -- producer Delbert Barker was a hillbilly music old-timer who'd recorded his own stuff years earlier, and bass player Steve Lake had a band of his own called The Swingmasters, though he and steel player Dave Zornes did session work at Barker's studio, and played together on an unknown number of private-press albums similar to this one. The other guys, drummer Dennie Brooks, Bill Harp (lead guitar), Tom Hollon (drums) are less familiar, and may have been Dave Craig's pals. Anyway, the music is almost all cover tunes, with some interesting selections, ranging from Lawton Williams' "Farewell Party" and Clyde Beaver's "Drunk Again" to the goofy Billy Crash Craddock hit, "Rub It In." There's also one track credited to Mr. Craig, a recitation number called "The Most Precious Christmas Eve," which he says was based on a dream he had in 1976. Clearly Mr. Craig was a fan of neotrad twangsters like Moe Bandy, etc., and this is a nice slice of amateur-hour Midwestern hard country. Heck, I'm in!

Tommy Crank "...Sings Revival Songs" (Pine Tree Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Roy Hensley)
A straight-up bluegrass gospel set featuring raw, unfiltered rural vocals and primitive guitar picking by Rev. William T. "Tommy" Crank (1926-2007) a real-deal, old-school bluegrasser born in the backwoods of Jackson County, Kentucky who worked with Ralph Stanley, The Isaacs Family and others, and who settled down in Trenton, Ohio, where he worked as a radio deejay for several years, and as a Pentacostal preacher. He's backed here by Buddy Blaylock on banjo, Eddie Carroll (guitar), Tom Rains (mandolin), John Sullivan (bass), Virgil Shouse (fiddle) and backing vocals by Juanita Carpenter and Mr. Crank's daughter, Shirley Crank. There's no date on the album (though it precedes the ones below) and also no composer credits, although I believe there's a lot of original material on here... Mr. Crank is said to have released at least two dozen records, though it's unclear how many were singles as opposed to albums, etc.

Tommy Crank "Sings Bluegrass Mountain Gospel" (Pine Tree Records, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Hensley)
Rough-edged, deeply authentic bluegrass music with a truly striking, distinctive sound. Trenton, Ohio's Tommy Crank wrote all the songs on this album, with several co-written by Carl Kinder, and one with Syndia Norvell. He's got an all-local band as well: Bruce Andrew and Bill Lyon on banjo, Ray Hall (fiddle), Bob McNeely (flattop guitar) and Eugene Turner (bass), Reggie Wallace (dobro), and Chuck Walton on mandolin. They provide solid, lively, true-twang backup in the high lonesome style of Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys, while emphatic, unruly Crank's vocals are feral and foreboding -- the bluegrass equivalent, perhaps, of Howlin' Wolf or Hasil Adkins. Crank's raspy, explosive delivery is really quite striking, a remnant of mountain music's primeval past, or the Alfred Karnes school of white gospel singing, bristling with a rock'n'roll-ish restlessness. Certainly worth a spin if you've ever thought, oh, all modern bluegrass sounds the same, all slick and melodic...

Tommy Crank "Best Bluegrass Gospel" (Pine Tree Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Tommy Crank & William M. Jones)
Where his first album was all originals, this one is mostly cover songs. It includes an original by Hattie Crank, "Weighed In The Balance," along with songs from the Carter Family, George Jones and Bill Monroe... He's working with a completely different band this time: The Gospel Mountaineers included Vernon Bowling (mandolin), Ernest Wells (banjo), Ralph Murphy (fiddle), Alvin Ison (dobro), Jeff Morgan (bass), and Joe Isaacs (from the Isaacs family gospel band) on flattop guitar, with Lily Isaacs adding some harmony vocals.

Pat Dailey "Whiskey Morning" (Olympia Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Danny Sheridan & Boris Menart)
Midwesterner Pat Dailey moved from state to state for years, singing in bars and clubs in numerous cities throughout the 1960s and '70s, before landing a decades-long gig at a place called the Beer Barrel Saloon in Put-In-Bay, Ohio. In the early '80s he met Shel Silverstein, and together they collaborated on several songs. This was Dailey's first album, recorded around the time of his more or less permanent relocation to Ohio... The sessions were recorded in Hollywood with a studio crew packed with country-rock luminaries such as Danny Sheridan (bass), Al Perkins (pedal steel and dobro), Gib Gilbeau on fiddle and various others in the LA twang scene.

Pat Dailey "Island Fever" (Olympia Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Alex Bevan & Michael Bishop)

Pat Dailey "Live 'N' Kickin' " (Olympia Records, 1986) (LP)

Bob Dalton "...And The Dalton Gang" (RPM Records, 1969) (LP)
A lesser-known country singer from Downington, Pennsylvania, Bob Dalton landed one song hit the charts -- barely. "Mama, Call Me Home" came out in 1970 on Mega Records, and peaked at #73... and I think that was about all she wrote for these fellas. This album has a lot of contemporary cover songs -- "Act Naturally," "The Auctioneer," "Mama Tried," etc.

The Dalton Gang "Family And Friends, v. II" (Harvest Records, 1984) (LP)
I'm not sure if this is the same group as Bob Dalton's band from over a decade earlier... it's possible, although there were several bands using that name over the years. The Harvest label was apparently from somewhere in Ohio.

Joel Daly & The Sundowners "Thank God I'm An Anchorman" (Flying Anchor Records, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Joel Daly & Vince Ippolito)
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, broadcaster Joel Daly made his way to Chicago where he worked at WLS-TV starting in 1967 until 2004, retiring after nearly two decades as one of the station's top news anchors. He moonlighted as a country singer, playing with the city's fabled honkytonk band, The Sundowners. This live album was recorded at the then newly-opened Rosemont Horizon arena, with backing by Bob Boyd (rhythm guitar), Curt Delaney (bass), Vince Ippolito (drums), Roger Pauly (piano) and Don Walls playing lead guitar... A fair amount to novelty material here, including the title track, along with tunes such as "City Canyon Yodel," "Older Women," "I'm Going To Teach You To Yodel" and "Son Of A Beeper." The Sundowners also released a few albums under the band's name.

Danny & The Starlighters "The Starlite Club Proudly Presents..." (Cyberteknic Creative Recording, 1974-?) (LP)
(Produced by Phil McHaffey & Tim Norris)
A bar band from Dayton, Ohio (and environs), this group included several guys who had been to Nashville and worked backing various country stars. The band's leader, Danny O'Boyle seems to have had the most experience, though some of the other guys also claimed time on the road -- Mike Harris (drums), Danny Meade (lead guitar), Bill Taylor (organ and saxophone) and Ronnie Truett on bass. According to the liner notes by nightclub owner Edward Gelia (1941-1983), O'Boyle formed the Starlighters in March 1974, presumably in commemoration of their gig as the house band at the Starlite Club, in Springfield. The album art proclaims, "it's not all country, but it's not bad," and sure enough, along with their covers of "American Trilogy," "Ramblin' Man" and "Sweet Becky Walker," they also played stuff like Santana's "Samba Pa Ti," so there was some ambition there... Not sure about the other guys, but Danny O'Boyle also seems to have done a fair amount of studio work for QCA and other gospel labels in the area.

Deadly Earnest & The Honky Tonk Heroes "...The Honky Tonk Heroes" (Wheeler Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Danny Sheridan)
Midwest indiebilly pioneer Denny (Deadly) Earnest was Cleveland, Ohio's answer to Jerry Jeff Walker, and this classic album has several of his best, funniest Jerry Jeff-style songs. After playing in regional groups such as Sheffield Rush, Earnest formed this rootsy country band in 1975, playing locally for the better part of a decade until decamping to Wyoming. My favorite tunes are the delightfully snarky "Don't Make Me Laugh (While I'm Drinkin')" and "Leavin' For Texas," with "Restless Me," a song about roving eyes in a committed relationship, coming in a close third. This is a very DIY, slightly uneven album, but it has moments of pure brilliance and always manages to float to the top of my "keepers" pile for music of this particular vintage. I think there are two editions of this album, his self-released version on Wheeler Records, and a second pressing that came out on Mike Nesmith's nationally-distributed Pacific Arts label, one reason that so many folks got a chance to hear this obscuro local hero. Apparently he's made a bunch of records over the years under the Denny Earnest monicker, but the "deadly" trio are pretty fun stuff.

Deadly Earnest & The Honky Tonk Heroes "II" (Wheeler Records, 1980) (LP)

Deadly Earnest & The Honky Tonk Heroes "The Modern Sound Of..." (Wheeler Records, 1982) (LP)
(Produced by "Bo Deadly" and Jay Vecchio)
A disappointing followup to the first two albums, though there are some nice moments, and lots of nice ideas. I think the main problem is with the production, which is kind of static and muted -- not a lot of jolt comes through from the performances, although he wrote some good songs. I'm also not that into his duets partner, Robin Stratton (who also sings solo on some tracks) a gal with an okay, but not great, voice and generally distracts from his strengths as a performer. It has to be said, he still sounds an awful lot like Jerry Jeff, and the more he does, the better he sounds, like on "Time To Get Paid," a comedy song about singing for tips in dive bars, and probably the highlight of the album. Also of interest is "The Kid's Song," a rather serious, surprisingly feminist song about a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage who can't quite figure out how to make the single-income parent thing work out, so she stays "a mother to her children, then a mother to him." This is worth checking out if you liked his earlier albums, but don't get your hopes up too high. (By the way, Earnest, if you're out there, my copy still has the insert for the free Prairie Wonders 45... Any chance you still have one laying around?)

Kathy Dee "DEE Lightful" (BW Records, 1963) (LP)
The Midwest's Kathleen Mae Potts, aka Kathy Dee, enjoyed modest success with a pair of singles issued by United Artists -- her debut was the 1963 hit, "Unkind Words," which rose to #18 on the charts, although the followup, "Don't Leave Me Lonely Too Long," was perhaps a flop, peaking at #44, and was her last chart entry. Although regional success, starting at a very young age, Kathy Dee suffered from diabetes and was eventually felled by the disease in 1968, when she suffered a stroke and slipped into a fatal coma. Born in West Virginia, Dee was managed by an Ohio empresario, Quentin Welty, whose regionally-based BW Records label released several dozen singles in various musical styles, including a number of country recordings. This included Kathy Dee's early singles, which were licensed to United Artists where they found a national audience. This album features a dozen other songs recorded for BW (though sadly, not her hits) and was reissued on a budget label, as seen below. Her style was similar to that of Sue Thompson, an odd mix of country ballads and girl group-ish pop - not quite gritty honkytonk, but she had some twang in there, for sure, Definitely worth a spin!

Kathy Dee "Teardrops In My Heart" (Guest Star Records, 1964) (LP)
This LP was basically a budget reissue of the BW album above, with ten tracks instead of twelve. The two songs that were left off this album are "Go On Home" and "Funny How Time Slips Away," with all the other songs being the same. As of this writing, all her recordings, including her UA singles, remain unissued in digital form.

Ethel Delaney "Goin' To The Country With Ethel Delaney" (Ohio Records, 1972-?) (LP)

Ethel Delaney "Heeeere's Ethel!" (Ohio Records, 1976-?) (LP)
A veteran performer of many decades and eras of country music history, Ohio's Ethel Delaney (1927-2005) started her professional career in 1934 at age eight, singing on Wheeling, West Virginia's WWVA radio station, and went on to become one of America's most famous female yodelers. Not sure when these albums came out -- looks like the early-to-mid '70s(?) and the middle-aged Ms. Delaney was clearly still plugging away with a tour bus of her own, emblazoned with the name of her band, the Buckeye Strings. She eventually moved to Las Vegas in the 1990s, but continued to perform for years, giving her last public performance in 2004(!) seventy years after she first took the stage.

Ethel Delaney "...And Her Buckeye Strings" (Ohio Records, 1976-?) (LP)
(Produced by Russ Delaney)
This one includes covers of oldies like "I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart" and "Steel Guitar Rag" along with more contemporary hits such as Bobby G. Rice's 1973 hit, "You Lay So Easy On My Mind," Charley Pride's "We Could," and Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors." Also featured is one Ethel Delaney original, "A Bottle, A Blond And A Barroom," and several instrumental showcases featuring Russ Delaney and guitarist Mark Szabo.

Bruce Dillon "To Everyone Who Has A Song" (Little Wonder Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Mitch Hennes, Gary Loisso & Garry Elghammer)
This album from from New Lebanon, Ohio's Bruce Dillon is a little questionable... Yes, there's pedal steel in the mix (played by Tommy Furlong) but also brass, flutes and an overall profusion of orchestral instruments, pushing this into an ornate folk-pop direction... However, Dillon did shows opening for stars such as Brenda Lee and Hank Thompson, and wrote some country-themed material, so there is some legit crossover there... Indeed one of Dillon's ten originals on here is called "Crossover," appropriately enough.

The Clay Eager Family "The Clay Eager Family" (Gloryland Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Marvin Jones)
A charming little down-home country gospel album. Rushville, Ohio's Wilbur Carl Eagy, Jr. (aka Clay Eager, 1925-1995) was a veteran of the hillbilly era and the early rock'n'roll scene who made this album while he was on the mend from a health crisis of the sort where when you get better you figure it was Jesus who healed you and you start writing about it in ALL CAPS. He's joined by various family members -- his wife, Helen Jo Eager, their daughter Lana Jo, and his in-laws, Mom and Pop Wood, who had previously had their own country music act on programs such as the Madison Lake Jamboree and the WCKY Jamboree, in Cincinnati, which also hosted Mr. Eager in the early 1960s. Rome Records owner Jack Casey sings on here as well, and provides a few studio pickers to fill out the sound, notably banjo player Carl Dutton, whose bright, rolling licks define most of the album. A lot of space is given to Lana Jo's little-girl vocals, which gives this album a more amateurish feel than was probably necessary, but it's still a sweet record, as much for its imperfections as for its soulfulness. Clay Eager released a string of secular singles back in the 1950s, but this may have been his only full LP.

Vanessa (Edmonds) "Oh What A Sunrise!" (Gospel Shore Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Rev. Dan Brockman & Rusty York)
One of those evangelical Christian country albums showcasing a young child as the star performer, in this case, eight year-old Vanessa Edmonds... I'm not sure where Ms. Edmonds and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Edmonds, were from, but the backing band includes several pickers from the Dayton-Cincinnati axis: Dan Brockman (guitar and keyboards), Bill Croucher (bass), Chubby Howard (steel guitar) Terry Johnson (percussion) and lead guitar layer Gary Smith, with backing vocals by a trio billed as the "Hamilton Sound," Dan Brockman, Becky Burress and Angie Vickers. The repertoire is mostly from the twangy end of the southern gospel sound, tunes from the Goodmans, the Hemphills, the Hinsons, the Rambos, with one original credited to Edmonds, "He's Coming Back," which closes the album. As far as I know, this was Vanessa's only album... but ya never know.

Eli Radish "I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier" (Capitol Records, 1969) (LP)
(Produced by Roger Karshner)
The Eli Radish Band is considered, in retrospect, to be one of the seminal roots-rock/Americana acts of the hippie era, and fostered the talent of actor/producer Danny Sheridan who became friends with future "outlaw" icon, David Allan Coe. Originally a late '60s regional band from Ohio, Eli Radish scored a major label deal, but only released this one album, a topically-themed set of edgy modern covers of old war-related songs, meant as a blow aimed at the war in Vietnam. The choice for a twangy proto- jamband to mimic the agitprop antics of folks like Country Joe & The Fish seemed a little odd, and indeed, few people in the record-buying public got the joke, such as it was. The album sank like a stone, though the band plugged away, touring nationally for several years before calling it quits in the early '70s.

Mike Finnigan "Mike Finnigan" (Warner Brothers, 1976)
(Produced by Jerry Wexler)
Born in Troy, Ohio, Mike Finnigan became keyboard player to the stars. Perhaps best known as a rock, pop and R&B player, and for his work with rock and pop elite such as Jimi Hendrix, Peter Frampton, and Crosby Stills & Nash, Finnigan also had a country side, as heard in parts of this funky, eclectic album, which includes Texas fiddler Johnny Gimble and picker Pete Carr as part of an impressive studio lineup. At the time, according to the liner notes, his day jobs were backing Maria Muldaur and Dave Mason, and Muldaur sings on here as well... Mostly it's a white soul album -- I'm reminded of Bill Champlin on several tracks -- but on songs like "Mississippi On My Mind," "Southern Lady" and "Misery Loves Company," there's a subtle bit of twang. The Stamps Quartet provides some Southern gospel backup, ala the Oak Ridge Boys... Mostly this is too slick and pop-oriented for me, but it's a good slice of eclectic '70s music-making, for the more AOR-oriented among us.

Chuck Fisher "Visions Of Elvis/And Just Me" (Thunder Bolt Records, 1981-?) (LP)
(Produced by Gail Faught & Tommy Esian)
You'll be forgiven for assuming this is an Elvis Presley tribute album, or that Mr. Fisher might have been an Elvis imitator. Yes, he does tip his hat towards the King, and covers some classic Elvis songs, including "Heart Break Hotel" and "Love Me Tender," but the rest of the record is a mix of country and pop oldies played by a pretty scruffy, redneck-y-lookin' band from Strongville, Ohio. The group was made up of Tommy Duty (bass), Gail Faught (lead guitar), Paul Haney (drums), Johnny Shaffer (steel guitar), and Gail Shephard (piano). Though mostly a covers set, the album ends with an original by guitarist Gail Faught, "Don't Let It Slip Away," and may have some other original material as well.

Flatbush "Driver's Dream" (Bush League Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Flatbush & Jerry Bruno)
One of the premiere country-rock bands from Cleveland, Ohio during the late 1970s... These guys apparently broke up in 1981, not long after recording this album...

The Flowers Family "Showtime With The Flowers Family" (Jewel Records, 1967-?) (LP)
(Produced by Ron Solomon & Bill Starret)
A family band from Columbus, Ohio, the group was led by parents Pauline Flowers (drums) and Ralph Flowers (steel guitar and mandolin) with backing by siblings Christine, Garland (bass), Lorraine (accordion), and Ralph Junior on guitar. They were more of a pop and gospel band, covering standards such as "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Tea For Two" as well as "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" and whatnot, although with a definite country flavor. I don't think they had much of a professional footprint, though they did perform for various community groups and local events.

The Four Guys - see artist profile

Jack Fox "Bourbon Cowboy" (Dale Records, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Fox & Gene Rice)
A hometown hero from the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio, Jack Fox stayed local though he went to Nashville to record this set in the mid-1980s. This disc lands on the neotrad end of the commercial country spectrum, with a bit of a Moe Bandy-meets-Hank Junior feel. Judging from a local newspaper profile, Mr. Fox may have been a bit too cantankerous to make it in the music business -- he proudly recalls a few incidents when he told various Top Forty stars who wanted to record his songs to go take a long walk off a short pier. But he's kept busy back home for decades, playing VFW shows and any other gig that pays. He's backed by a mix of Nashville heavyweights -- Sonny Garrish, Charlie McCoy, Hargus Robbins, et.al. -- and lesser-known players, possibly including some Ohio locals.

Fred & Sue "I Don't Mind Old Jordan" (Pathway Records, 196--?) (LP)
(Produced by Red Ellis)
Earthy evangelical bluegrass gospel from the husband-wife duo of Fred & Sue Johns, who were originally from East Tennessee, but lived in Cleveland, Ohio for most of their career. Their musical ministry grew out of Mr. Johns' work as a pastor in a local church, and they performed quite a bit in the region... According to the liner notes, Mrs. Johns formerly sang rock'n'roll under the name Eva Sue Smith, but gave that up all that kooky kids stuff for her marriage and for the Lord. (I wasn't able to find any information about her secular career online, so perhaps she never recorded under that name...?) At any rate, Sue Johns was a driving creative force on these records, composing six songs on this album, along with many other spread out across their LPs. Here they are backed by a vocal group known as the Pilgrim Heirs, and a band called The Crossmen, who also recorded several albums on the Pathway label. The music is straight-up traditional bluegrass, with a strong hillbilly tang; Fred Johns had a pretty standard voice, though Sue Johns' tone is much harder and more unusual, hinting at the rugged rural gospel of country pioneers such as Alfred G. Karnes. Cool stuff!

Fred & Sue "Reunion In Heaven" (Circle B Records, 19--?) (LP)

Fred & Sue "I Dreamed Of A Heaven" (REM Records, 196--?) (LP)

Fred & Sue "The Old Home Place" (REM Records, 196--?) (LP)

Fred & Sue "Over The Sunset Hills" (Circle B Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Owens & Louis Owens)
Sue Johns wrote three songs for this album, and even more on earlier LPs. There are also a couple of songs here by their manager, Don Loving, who also contributed the liner notes. I believe the producer, Bill Owens, was a relative of Dolly Parton who recorded for the same label (REM Records) as Fred & Sue on their earlier releases. This was Fred & Sue's fifth album, with backing by the Bluegrass Mountain Boys: Carl Pack (banjo), Lynn Roberts (guitar), Larry Wright (bass) and Lenny Wright (mandolin), as well as piano player Jim Jewel.

Frog & The Greenhorns "My Tennessee Girl" (Starr Records, 1976-?) (LP)
(Produced by James Stack & Marvin Jones)
A family-based bluegrass band from Radcliff, Ohio, organized by their dad, a regionally-known square dance caller named James "Frog" Stack. The group included siblings Jimmie Stack (lead singer, the oldest at age 18), Barbara (guitar), Alan (fiddle), along with bassist Bret Allman and Clint Richards on banjo. The band formed around 1975 and played a bunch of local gigs, including appearances on Columbus radio station WMNI's "Country Cavalcade," as well as appearing in concert with the Goins Brothers, whose song, "Sweet Face Girl" they cover on this album. There's also one original, "My Tennessee Girl," written by one of the Stacks... Anyone know if these kids played in other bands after this?

Richie Furay - see artist discography

Gentle Ben - Featuring Sonja "Barroom Stories" (Jewel Recordings, 1981-?) (LP)
(Produced by Junior Bennett)
Strangely enough, I believe this Gentle Ben was an entirely different group than an Idaho band that was active around the same time. These folks were from Cincinnati, led by the main songwriter Ben Nielsen, his wife Sonja and fiddler Junior Bennett, who produced the album. Their sound is fleshed out with help from steel player Dale Wagner, and the Jewel label's Rusty York, who sits in on banjo and dobro. Overall, this one didn't wow me... The band is pretty clunky and clompy, aiming for an outlaw country/boogie rock sound... real-deal bar-band stuff, but not the best I've heard. The cover songs include a belabored version of Tompall Glaser's infamous "Put Another Log On The Fire," recast as a "Tramp"-style bickering couple song, with the Nielsen's dishing out jabs at one another in what I guess was a chance to, ahem, liberate the song from its agitprop male chauvinist origins. Worth a spin, but not as much fun as I'd hoped.

Bob Gibson "Folksongs Of Ohio" (Stinson Records, 1957) (LP)
A set of ostensibly Ohioan folk tunes recorded by 'Sixties troubadour Bob Gibson (1931-1996). Why Ohio? Well, why not? Gibson was born in New York and gained fame in Chicago, but I guess Ohio was close enough, right? Includes songs such as "Down In Sky Town," "Katey Morey," "Ohio River" and "Working On A Push Boat." Wikipedia notes that this record was first released in 1957 without Gibson's permission, and later reissued in '63, again apparently without his consent.

The Goads "You Can Do It" (Goad Ministries, 1980-?) (LP)
A family band Piqua, Ohio who presented themselves as a Christian group, but unapologetically dipped into secular Top Forty material from both the country and pop charts. This included some crypto-religious tunes and optimistic ditties that could be interpreted as dialogues with deities, tunes like "Let Me Be There," "You Are So Beautiful" and Andrew Gold's "Thank You For Being A Friend." This is only one of many, many albums released by the band, and seems to have been their second album, after which they steadily went in a more explicitly contemporary Christian/southern gospel direction...

Gold Rush Junction "Volume One" (Omeda Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by W. M. Copenhaver, Dumpy Rice and Harry Urschel)
A twangband from Dayton, Ohio, or thereabouts, recorded at Rusty York's Jewel Studios in Cincinnati... The band consisted of a main quartet with Arlis J. White (lead vocals, guitar), his son Mike White on drums, Terry Burke on bass, and Mike Copenhaver (lead guitar), with additional backing by York cohorts Dumpy Rice on piano and acoustic guitar and Chubby Howard playing steel guitar. The material is apparently all originals, including songs such as "The Homesick Hillbilly Blues," "I Just Don't Care" and "The Last Drink For This Evening." Although the band's name coincides with the name of a country music venue in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (later the site of Dolly Parton's Dollywood amusement park) it's not totally clear if they were connected to the park -- I haven't found any info that indicates this was the case. According to the liner notes, the group first recorded with York back in 1968 -- presumably there's a single or two out there, though perhaps only under Arlis White's name, as seen in his early '70s single, "Too Many Do-Goods" b/w "Doin' My Time."

Dennis Goodrich "A Busy Body" (Liz-De Records, 1973-?) (LP)
(Produced by Betty Goodrich & Dennis Goodrich)
A few low-rent, generic-looking self-released record from an aspiring songwriter from Lorain, Ohio. Although he booked studio time at the Rite Records studio, I guess Mr. Goodrich didn't want to spring for full graphics, instead opting for a plain white background with plain black text on both the front and back covers. He also didn't want to pay for any retakes: the rather charming liner notes that explain that one of the songs has a glitch in it due to a sound engineer's flub, but that Mr. Goodrich decided to leave it in, to be "honest with you the record buying public." We appreciate that. The songs are all Dennis Goodrich originals, though sadly there's no information about the backing musicians or who actually produced the sessions. There's also no date, though the copy I saw had "72" handwritten on it; a string of singles including some of these songs also came out, with some sources placing these seven-inches starting around 1971, and Mr. Goodrich may have recorded some stuff later in the 'Seventies.

Charlie Gore "...Sings Hymns Most Requested" (Lake Records, 1967-?) (LP)
A hard-country honkytonker from the post-war, pre-rockabilly era, Charlie Gore recorded for King Records back in the day, and was a well-known regional performer, particularly around Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. He was born in Champmansville, West Virginia and was an early 'Fifties cast member of The Midwestern Hayride, which was hosted by TV station WLW, Cincinnati. Mr. Gore was still a Hayride regular decades later when he cut this gospel album, which was produced and promoted by his bass player Steve Lake, a Franklin, Ohio native who also organized live country music shows at his Chautauqua Park venue. The backing band was called the Country Swing Masters, with Charlie Gore on lead vocals, along with Junior Dison (drums), Bob Hamilton (tenor vocals), Wendy Hargraves (steel guitar), Steve Lake (bass), and Jim Parsons playing lead guitar. These guys were regular at Chautauqua Park, though the time frame's a little unclear. There's no date on the disc, but it looks like it may have come out around 1967, which fits in with newspaper show notices around from the late '60s and early '70s featuring Gore and the band. Likewise with the instrumental showcase below, which may have been the Jim Parsons "solo" album mentioned in the liner notes as still being in the works.

Charlie Gore "...Presents The Swing Masters" (Lake Records, 1967-?) (LP)
A "band album," featuring the pickers in Charlie Gore's group The Country Swing Masters. This may have been the solo album by guitarist Jim Parsons mentioned in the liner notes of Gore's gospel LP listed above. That album was to be called Wildwood Flower, and a version of that tune is included here, along with other standards such as "Buckaroo," "Orange Blossom Special," and "Orange Blossom Special," as well as a version of the George Jones hit, "She Thinks I Still Care," and one called "Jim's Boogie," which was presumably a Parsons original.

Charlie Gore "Absolutely Free" (BACM, 20--?) (CD-R)

Janet Greene "Country And Spanish Flavors" (CAM Records, 1980-?) (LP)
This is not strictly a country album, but it does have a great back story... Formerly a TV entertainer and lounge singer in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, Janet Greene moved to Long Beach, California after being recruited by John Birch conservatives to become "the right wing Joan Baez," a far-right guitar-strumming siren for the nascent New Right. From 1964-67 Greene (nee Janet Marcum) appeared at press events with her political mentor, Dr. Frederick C. Schwarz and recorded several faux-folk singles with caustic satirical lyrics. She sang at Goldwater rallies, anti-Communist lectures and pro-war demonstrations throughout Southern California, hobnobbing with the Orange County hyper-conservatives who helped propel Ronald Reagan into the governor's mansion and onto the national stage. By the time she cut this album, Green had abandoned her political persona and was doing supper club gigs in Southern California and Vegas... The liner notes mention painter Jose Nieto, who translated one of the songs into Spanish, and who was also Green's companion for several years before his death in 1984. This album is mostly covers of country classics such as "Crazy" and "Easy Lovin'," as well as Spanish-language standards such as "Amapola" and "Cucuru Paloma." Several originals are credited to Greene and her collaborators: she wrote "I Am Only One" and "Just For A Little While," while Long Beach country crooner Clarke C. Rohn contributes one called "Secretly," and quite likely backs her on this album. (Thanks once again to the Conelrad website for their informative profile of Ms. Greene's career!)

Johnnie Greene & His Zane Valley Boys "Twelve Songs" (Zane Records, 196--?) (LP)
There's no date given on this album, but it's old enough that the inner label includes a note, "vocal with string inst. acc.," the kind of thing you'd see on 78s from the 1930s and '40s. This record is more modern than that, though: the liner notes are from deejay Bob Duff, host of the "Country Junction" program on radio station WCIT, a 250-watt microstation in Lima, Ohio, which went on the air in 1959. The repertoire includes songs by Jim Reeves and early stuff by Willie Nelson, so I'm guessing this disc came out during the station's first incarnation, before it began playing Top Forty pop, maybe around 1963-64. Additionally, the Zane Valley Boys cut a string of 45s on the Carroll Records label, which collector websites date as being from 1962, although it's not clear which came first, this album or those singles. Anyway, the Zane Valley Boys played straight-up old school country stuff, covers of hits such as "Fraulein," "Funny How The Time Slips Away" and "Little Ole Dime" and some oldies like Hank Williams's "Cold Cold Heart" and Bob Wills's "San Antonio Rose." The band included Bobby Reber on steel guitar, Kenny Haugh playin lead on an amped-up Spanish guitar, Farrall Walty on bass and Bill Barry on drums. Johnnie Greene also worked as a radio deejay on WOHP, and possibly some other stations as well.

The Harmony Brothers "Presenting The Harmony Brothers" (Dawn Records, 19--?) (LP)

The Hart Family "...Featuring Mr. Sandman" (Associated Recording Artists, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Billy Walker, Ailene Hart & Larry Hart)
Led by their mother, Ailene Hart, this Midwestern family band from Hopedale, Ohio recorded several albums toured regionally, while Hart's son Larry landed several appearances on Hee Haw and other TV shows. They mainly recorded gospel material, but went secular for this set, with support from some Nashville old-timers. Producer Billy Walker plays guitar on these sessions, while Eddy Arnold wrote the liner notes, and I believe he may have recorded some of their songs as well.

Harvest Gold "On The Road" (Trail Records, 1980-?) (LP)
(Produced by Bobby All)
A country covers band from Stow, Ohio, this five-piece outfit was led by singer/multi-instrumentalist Buddy James and featured gal singer Patti Watson, along with Mark Hawthorne on steel guitar. There's no date on the album, but I'm guessing 1980 based on the set list... The repertoire is mainly '70s country hits, with the most recent songs being Conway Twitty's "I May Never Get To Heaven" and "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body" by the Bellamy Brothers, both from 1979. Also tons of material from vocal groups like the Oak Ridge Boys and Statler Brothers, stuff that's fun to sing along to, so I imagine they really enjoyed recording this album.

Dorsey Harvey "Dorsey Harvey" (Poca River Music, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Kenneth Davidson & Sharon Davidson)
A well-regarded Ohio bluegrasser, Dorsey Harvey (1935-1988) played in a number of bands although I think this was his only album as a "solo" artist. Harvey plays fiddle and mandolin, with backing by Beck Gentry of the Fall City Ramblers on mandolin, Bob Leach (banjo), Ron Murphy (bass) and just for good measure, four different guitar pickers: Fred Bartenstein, Steve Johnson, Chris Montgomery and Dan Spires.

Hazel & Louise "...Sing I'll Put My Trust In Thee" (REM Records, 1965-?) (LP)
(Produced by Bob Mooney)
Country gospel by a duo previously known as the Horton Sisters... Hazel Trubee and Louise Wilson grew up in the backwoods of Scioto Country, Ohio, later living in Xenia with their families. The sisters performed live radio programs daily on several local stations, and also sang at their church. Hazel's husband was Pentecostal evangelist Bill Trubee, and their daughter Sharon plays piano on this album, as does their fellow country music evangelist, Reverend Ray Anderson who plays bass (as opposed to the lead guitar work on his own albums.) They are joined by a local band including Joe Adams playing steel guitar, his father Johnny Adams on rhythm guitar, Pete McKeehan on drums, and Denny Waggoner pickin' lead guitar. About half the album is original material credited to Mrs. Trubee, with an additional tune from Hisel Carpenter, who also recorded an album for the REM label. Actually, these local folks were in pretty good company: the label, which was located in Lexington, Kentucky, also recorded albums with established artists such as Cliff Carlisle, Tex Jenks Carman, Esco Hankins, Charlie Monroe and Molly O'Day. Great stuff: it's like if Kitty Wells and Skeeter Davis had formed a hillbilly duo with Merle Travis backing them up.

Hazel & Louise "He'll Never Fail" (Gospel Recording Service, 1966-?) (LP)

Curly Herdman & The West Virginia Boys "Old-Time Fiddle Tunes" (Arcade Records, 19--?) (LP)

Curly Herdman "Fiddler: Ohio State's Best" (Kanawha Records, 1967) (LP)
Old-time fiddler Curly Herdman was born near Ripley, West Virginia, way back in 1918... He came from a rural family packed with fiddlers, and quickly mastered the instrument as a child... While still in his teens he started playing professionally, getting gigs on WSM, the Renfro Valley Barn Dance and other regional radio shows, while working a day job with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Herdman worked with the Bar-X Cowboys and the Georgia Crackers, and won numerous fiddling contests over the years. He eventually settled down in Ohio, and cut this album of old-timey standards with his brother Troy Herdman on guitar, along with brothers Bob Tanner on mandolin and Joe Tanner on banjo. Although the album includes many standards such as "Old Joe Clark" and "Turkey In The Straw," there are also several tunes credited to Herdman, including "Meig's County Reel" and "Rocus's Reel." Just before recording this album Herdman won a stunning victory in the Ohio State fiddling championship, beating the legendary Clark Kessinger, who was one of his idols. Sadly, he passed away the following year, in 1968, having recorded just two albums as well as a number of 78s and 7" singles over the years.

Hilda "Stay Awhile" (Jewel Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Frank Doyle, Pat Nelson and Rusty York)
An early album by Hilda Doyle, a stalwart of Columbus, Ohio's acoustic music scene... This is sort of in a folk-country mode, with country-leaning material including covers of Anne Murray's "You Needed Me," "Desperado" by the Eagles, and "Rocky Top" -- she also sings show tunes and standards such as "Send In The Clowns" and "Stormy Weather." Doyle wrote two of the songs on this album, "Stay Awhile" and "You Came Along," and is backed by producer Rusty York on banjo, although the album has no steel guitar, fiddle, or mandolin. Doyle went on to record over a dozen albums, and formed a Celtic/folk band called the Ladies Of The Longford, with a couple of her daughters.

Zeke Hoskins & The Country Gospel-Aires "On The Road" (Baron Records, 1972) (LP)
Hardcore, bluegrass-y country gospel by a family band from Waynesville, Ohio. The group started in the early 'Sixties as the Country Gospel-Aires, but eventually became mainly lead singer Zeke Hoskins' band, and later he brought his sons Mike and Rick into the lineup. Mr. Hoskins, who ran the Gospel Music Center in Dayton, recorded over a dozen albums of pure gospel twang, with a sound heavily influenced by the bouncy, melodic style of Flatt & Scruggs. The lineup on this early album included Zeke Hoskins, with Mike Hoskins on bass, Ronald Jackson (banjo and flattop guitar), and Richard Lewis

Otis Johnson "Country" (Starr Records, 1981-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey)
A bunch of country cover tunes on this set from Columbus, Ohio... Mr. Johnson runs a barber shop in Columbus, Ohio (Johnson's Barber Shop, no less!) with a fair number of country music-related pictures up on the wall, including one of him back in 1973, guitar in hand. I'm not sure when this album came out -- the Rome/Starr label usually doesn't say -- but I think 1981 is a good guess, what with him covering "Elvira," since the Oak Ridge Boys had a hit with it that year... He also covers "Tulsa Time" (cool!), "Country Roads," "Rocky Top" and "I'd Just Love To Lay You Down," to name a few... No info about the band, other than who was in it... Connie Sarena (bass), Audie Wykle (lead guitar), Junior Bennett (fiddle), Jim Ebert (piano), Joe Guida (guitars) and Aaron Morris (drums) while producer Jack Casey also plays some bass, with backing vocals by Libby Benson. I think this was his only album, but Mr. Johnson also cut several singles,

Doug Jones "Chasing The Dream" (Dominion Records, 1976-?) (LP)
(Produced by Ralph Wright & B. Meavis)
Jones was an African-American country singer Chilocothe, Ohio who had been touring with old-timer Pee Wee King for several years before cutting this album in Nashville. It seems to have been a songwriter's demo set, with three tracks written by producer B. Meavis, two by R. Kirkland and four more by Harold Alexander, along with a version of Boudleux Bryant's "Hey Joe," and a Ray Griff song, "Tearin' Me Up." I'm not sure exactly when this was released, but the liner notes mention him doing a Bicentennial-themed medley during one of his shows, and though the nation's birthday was celebrated for roughly fourteen years during the '70s, my first guess would be anywhere from 1975-77. And, of course, there are also some comparisons to Charley Pride... go figure.

Kathy Kaysa "Lover's Question" (Harmony Showcase Records, 1977-?) (LP)
(Produced by Roy Drusky & Tommy Lee Reid)
Not a lot of info out there about Ms. Kaysa, a singer apparently from central Ohio... From around 1976-80 she was the female lead vocalist in a band called Kandy Caboose, which was formed by oldies rocker Tommy Lee Reid (1941-2009) who was a member of country star Roy Drusky's road show, circa 1976-77, and recorded this album with Drusky's help. It's sort of a folk/pop/oldies set with a few explicitly country tunes, including two by Dolly Parton "Here I Am" and "Down From Dover," which was also released as a single. She also covers Jim Weatherley's "Midnight Train" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." As far as I know, this was her only album.

Howdy Kempf "The Talents Of Howdy Kempf" (Hilltop Production Company, 1972-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Linneman & Howdy Kempf)
A hillbilly singer from 'way back when, Howard C. Kempf (1926-1997) was born in Shelby, Ohio and started his career in the early 1950s, recording for the King Records label in Cincinnati. Like a lot of musicians from that era, he took jobs at radio and TV stations in many different towns, including a stint on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, WV. But Shelby was his lifelong home and in addition to playing local dances and whatnot, he worked for the local phone company for thirty years, then worked privately as a phone technician for over a decade after he retired. Kempf cut several singles for King and earned some level of immortality as the guy who delivered the oft-imitated raspberry sound effect on Bob Newman's original version of the novelty number "Pffft! You Were Gone." This album collects a bunch of his later recordings, mainly a string of 1960s singles recorded at Starday Records and released on Starday or some of its custom imprints, circa 1962-66. This appears to have been Mr. Kempf's only full LP, though he seems ripe for a more comprehensive Bear Family style retrospective someday.

Jo Kiser "To Get To You" (Rome Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Marvin Jones)
There's not a lot of info out there about Jo Kiser, a country singer from Columbus, Ohio who apparently put out two albums in the 1970s. This first one has what I think are remakes of several singles -- "What's The Difference" first came out in 1967 on Jack O' Diamond's label, and in 1971 she cut Harlan Howard's "He's A Good Old Boy" as a single on for MGM. I'm not sure, but she might have also released some teen pop/rock earlier in the '60s, but it's hard to tell. Only so far back I can dig. Anyway, I haven't heard this album, but it's cover art is pretty, well, striking... Ms. Kiser fills the image, with her big, beehived hair, but mostly it's her gams you'll notice as she's sitting sideways with a brisk midi pulled up tight, revealing quite a bit of thigh. I guess that's one way to sell a record. This includes a lot of covers of country standards, as well as the remade singles mentioned above. If I give in and buy this, I'll give you an update. But after listening to album #2 (reviewed below) I'm not sure how big a hurry I'm going to be in...

Jo Kiser "With Love" (Concorde Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Walker)
I was all excited to find a "new," obscure female country singer and had high hopes for this Ohio local. But, jeez, this is a not-great record. Kiser's voice irritates me for some reason, and the arrangements on this album are flowery and pop-oriented, with a small string section that included cello and viola... Kiser may have been "more country" on her earlier work, but here she's trying too hard to sound classy, and the listener is constantly aware of the effortfulness of her performance. I actually couldn't listen to the whole thing -- it's not quite on a par with Mrs. Miller or the Shaggs, but headed in that direction.

Jimmy Kish "The Flying Cowboy: Square Dances And Calls" (Pickwick Records, 1976) (LP)
Singer-guitarist Jimmy Kish (1925-2010) was true veteran of many levels of the country music business, first working in medicine shows(!) as a teen during the 1940s, as a radio DJ and performer in the 1950s, as a western movie actor and as a nationally-known square dance caller. Kish was born in Ohio, but like a lot of musicians from the hillbilly and honkytonk era, he moved around a lot and held jobs in various states. Kish was also a licensed pilot and got his nickname when he was working as a DJ back in Ohio and gave a group of listeners an airplane ride to see the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. In 1972, he took part in Nashville's first Fan Fair gathering, and participated in the event every year up until his death in 2010... This album is pretty much a straightforward square-dance "calling" record, and pretty dull to my way of thinking, even though there's some nice fiddling in the background. It's the album art that's irresistible, though: Kish poses next to a Piper Apache, which was apparently his plane of choice. I tell you one thing, though -- you'd never get me up in one of those things!!

Steve Lake "...And The Swingmasters" (Jewel Records, 1977-?) (LP)
(Produced by Steve Lake & Rusty York)
This was a later edition of a journeyman band from Franklin, Ohio, led by bass player Steve Lake. Originally formed in the early 'Sixties, The Swingmasters were apparently Connie Smith's road band for a several years in the '70s, and backed her on a performance on the last night the Opry played at the Ryman Auditorium. The Swingmasters were also regulars on the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree, and frequently backed touring stars who passed through the area. Steve Lake seems to have spent considerable effort looking for another female star to recapture Connie Smith's magic: teenager Lana Davis sings (a little flat) on this album, while the group also backed a gal named Donna Jean Mackie on a Jayln single that came out in 1971. This late 'Seventies lineup seems to have been a little tenuous, with Mr. Lake backed by several kids, including Ms. Davis, as well as fourteen year old pianist Jeff Smith and Lake's five-year-old son, Stevie, who plays drums on one track. Also in the band were drummer Cline Hall, guitar picker Charlie Rolph and studio steel player Chubby Howard, who also contributes liner notes. The set list is all covers, stuff like "Burning Memories," "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy," "San Antonio Rose" and "Slide Off Your Satin Sheets," as well as the world's 102,334th version of "Rocky Top," with Lana Davis singing lead. An earlier, more classic lineup of the band featuring guitarist Jim Parsons backed hillbilly star Charlie Gore on an album in 1967, though this later offering may have been the Swingmasters only "solo" set as a band. The band performed regionally for many, many years, well into the 1990s and early 2000s.

Don Lewis "New Straitsville Man" (Kale Records, 1973-?) (LP)
(Produced by Ned Kazee)
Country songwriter Don Lewis (1935-2013) was born in New Straitsville, Ohio, a microscopic village not far from Columbus, and was living in nearby Newark when this album was made. The set list is all original material, written by either Don Lewis or producer Ned Kazee (1930-2017), who apparently owned the Kale label, and appeared on other artist's records as well. (Originally from Kentucky, Mr. Kazee was related to old-timey banjo legend Buell Kazee; Ned's son, Jeff Kazee, became a highly successful rock keyboardist, playing in the original lineup of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, and later backing numerous stars out on the road. Quite a family.) Don Lewis's biography is a little harder to track down, though judging from the publishing credits, he seems to have knocked around Nashville a little: a couple of his songs were copyrighted through Starday Records, and through Lonzo & Oscar's publishing company. Lewis had a goofy, early-era George Jones-ish vibe, uptempo and novelty oriented. Between 1965-73 he recorded a string of singles --for Starday, Kale and other labels, with many of the songs collected here, probably in their original versions. Lewis led a band called The Moonshiners that played locally in the early 'Seventies; their name comes from Newark's annual "moonshine festival," which sounds like a real hoot. I'm not sure if he's the same local lad Don Lewis who studied aeronautics and was an intern at NASA when they first landed on the Moon, but if so, that would explain the song "First Country Singer (On The Moon)" which is included on this album.

Marty Licklider "...And The Original Missouri Fox Hunters" (Rand Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Norm Snow)
A bunch of real-deal old-timey music, including fiddle tunes and a song or two you might recognize from modern revivalists. Not sure why these guys from Ohio called themselves the Missouri Fox Hunters, but go figure. Show business. The band started in 1938 as a quartet featuring brothers Buell and Marty Licklider on mandolin and guitar, fiddler/banjo plunker Otis Sumpter and bass player/comedian Laddie Koala... They performed on air at Ashtabula radio station WICA, and gave live concerts onstage up through the early television era. Keeping up with the times, the Lickliders both became radio deejays, while Koala found a niche on TV, performing his routines on a local polka program... not country, maybe, but close enough! Perhaps their best known song was "Cold Hands, Warm Heart," an old single that's been anthologized a time or two. This reunion concert was recorded live in October, 1978, with all four of the duffers in fine form.

The Looper Trio - see artist profile

Kevin Mabry & Liberty Street "We Love Our Country" (Rome Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by James Krause & Kevin Mabry)
A popular local artist and concert organizer, Ohio native Kevin Mabry led the band Liberty Street for several years before becoming born again in 1984, after which he devoted himself more fully to Christian music, founded his own ministry later in the decade. Before that, he played plenty of secular music and recorded several LPs and a handful of singles for the Ohio-based Rome Records label. This album includes songs such as "Married Strangers," "Turning The Tables" and "Misery On My Mind," as well as two songs written by Mabry -- "Dreamin (Watchin Time Go By)" and "Before Eight Has Turned To Nine." The musicians all seem to be Midwestern locals, with the sessions cut at the Rome studios in Columbus, Ohio.

Kevin Mabry & Liberty Street "Green Scene" (Rome Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Kevin Mabry & Jack Casey)
Pointing towards Mabry's later focus on Christian music, this was a Christian/Christmas album with a couple of Dallas Holm songs on it, one by Gary Paxton, and a few secular songs as well, including "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" and "Tennessee Waltz." Of particular note on this album is the album's pianist and fiddle player, a very young Lionel Cartwright, an Ohio prodigy who was several years away from his 1990s breakthrough in Nashville.

Kevin Mabry & Liberty Street "Flat Gettin' It" (Rome Records, 19--?) (LP)

The Bobby Mackey Show "...Featuring Nancy Lee Nelson" (T Records, 1978-?) (LP)
(Produced by Chuck Rogers)
Independent twang from the greater Cincinnati metro region... Kentuckian Bobby Mackey first hit town around 1970 when he became a member of Delbert ("Red") Jenkins' band, the Country Lads. A few years later he set out on his own, and even bought a nightclub in Wilder, Kentucky, just on the other side of the Ohio River. There's no date on this album, but it definitely looks very late 'Seventies, and since Mackey bought the club in '78, I'd guess it was from right around then. Now, about that club... Apparently Bob Mackey's Music World is the subject of a lot of super-lurid stories of vengeful ghosts and gory murders, satanists and suicides, and has been profiled on numerous television shows and such as one of the "most haunted places in America." Make of that what you will; personally, I'm more bothered by the dingy shag carpet and acoustic tiles. Anyway, this album was produced by a guy named Chuck Rogers, who wrote seven of the ten songs; the others are by Tom Ghent, Ken Westberry and there's one by Carol Jones called "To Satisfy The Weakness In A Man," which sounds awful darn groovy. Other than gal singer Nancy Lee Nelson, none of the musicians are identified, which is a pity. Though Mackey later recorded an album in Nashville, I would assume these were all local guys, possibly one of Rusty York's studio groups. Also worth noting: country singer Jack Reno contributes the glowing liner notes; at the time he was working as music director for radio station WUBE, Cincinnati. As far as I can tell, this was Nancy Lee Nelson's only record.

Bobby Mackey "Introducing Bobby Mackey" (QCA Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Steve Vining, Pete Drake & Bobby Mackey)
Mackey went to Nashville to "introduce" himself on this album, backed by Music City pros such as Mark Casstevens, Buddy Harmon, Dave Kirby, Hargus Robbins, Hal Rugg, Buddy Spicher, Hank Strzelecki, et al. Even though he left his band back home and was recording mostly cover songs, he brought some original material with him, with a song called "Hero Daddy," which they unsuccessfully tried to plug as a single. (Between albums, however, Mackey did have a brief fling on the charts, with Bill Addison's "Pepsi Man," which hit #57 in the charts in '82... Though it was produced with the same studio, it wasn't included on this album.) Mackey self-released this album, and was still selling copies at his club, nearly four decades later. It's worth noting that Mackey also released a slew of singles on a bunch of labels, and later self-released a bunch of CDs.

Bobby Mackey "Truckin' With Bobby Mackey" (CRT/Bobby Mackey Records, 1982-?) (LP)
(Produced by Dennis Hensley, Donny Burton & Bobby Mackey)
Breaker, breaker, Smoky, 10-4, good buddy! Taking a break from the whole haunted-nightclub routine, Bobby Mackey hit the road and recorded a bunch of gear-jammin' trucker songs, with backing by what I believe was an all-local Kentucky band, led by Danny Burton on guitar and piano, along with Kenny Bobinger (drums), Ron Griggs (bass), Bob Lotz (harmonica), David Short (lead guitar), Tim Short (drums), and even some guy (Ray Heckman) on saxophone. Let's head for the haunted HoJo's!

Darrell McCall -- see artist profile

Gary Mobley "Reflections Of Love" (Appaloosa Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Greg Alexander)
Mr. Mobley was a Cincinnati native who's moved out to the 'burbs in Mason, Ohio by the time this album came out... It's strictly a super-local affair, with no flashy Nashville types involved, though a couple of the guys picking on here go back a ways, notably Kentucky hillbilly Delbert Barker (who plays bass here) and pianist Dumpy Rice, who did a ton of session work on the Cincinnati-Dayton twang scene. Mostly, though, the musicians seem to be acquaintances of Murphy's, including Keith Adams (harmony vocals), Betty Auterson (vocals), Red Creech on lead guitar and Glenn Hamblin on acoustic guitar, while off to the side are Barker and Rice along with some other pickers who were probably hired guns, including fiddler Bill Thomas and steel player Dave Zornes. Along with guitarist Creech, Mobley had some connections to the Renfro Valley music venue, and brings a bunch of his own material to this album -- all but two of the tracks are his own originals. No date on the disc, but from the look of things, I'd say it's an early- to mid-'Eighties affair.

Lee Moore -- see artist profile

The Muddy River "Roll On Muddy River" (Vetco Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Lou Ukelson)
A forward-thinking bluegrass band from Spring Valley, Ohio, notable for isome early work by banjo player Pam Gadd, who was later in the reformed lineup of The New Coon Creek Girls, as well as her Top Forty band Wild Rose, which recorded few albums out in the early 1990s. There are two songs on here written by Gadd, "Big Boss" and "Kentucky Mountain Music," complimenting solid covers of bluegrass elders such as Vassar Clements, The Dillards, Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe, and Larry Sparks. There's also a Stephen Stills tune, from the rock world, and some country stuff, including Mickey Newbury's "Tell Me Why", as well as the title track, which is a Vern Gosdin song.

Gary Muse "The Kingdom Of God" (Adco Records, 196--?) (LP)
Gary T. Muse was a Cincinnati native who got religion and began evangelizing several years before he cut this disc. He was an awkward singer, but earnest and fully committed, though not, I imagine, a professional musician or public performer. This is one of those odd indie-gospel blends of country and bluegrass with the banjo and guitar mixed up front, but a wild, unrestrained steel guitar accompaniment deep in the background. Along with steel player Bill Brown, he's backed by Don, George and Jim Hardin, who seem to have been a roving house band for Ohio's bluegrass-oriented gospel labels: they also played on a Jewel Records album by Herman Croucher. The repertoire includes covers of the Carter Family, Ralph Stanley, Don McHan and the Speer Family, along with two originals by Gary Muse, "The Kingdom Of God" and "Nobody Ever Stood So Tall." The balance shifts between styles, with some tracks explicitly country, though both styles are strong.

The Needham Twins & Gemini Express "Double Shot: Country - '50s" (Identical Productions, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by Kit Grove, Jerry Needham & Larry Needham)
Identical twin brothers Larry and Jerry Needham hailed from Cleveland, Ohio and got their start as a musical duo while serving a Vietnam War-era tour of duty in the armed forces. After their discharges, they moved to Nashville, where they worked throughout the '70s, then moved to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, where they were living when they cut this kooky album. The repertoire is split between country (ranging from hillbilly oldies to newer stuff like "Bobbie Sue," "On The Road Again" and "I'm Gonna Hire A Wino To Decorate Our Home") and rock'n'roll oldies ("At The Hop," "Blueberry Hill," "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Big Girls Don't Cry," et.al.) On the back cover they have two pictures, one in their cowboy duds, the other in Sha-Na-Na muscle shirts, both brothers doing a bicep-flexing Bowzer pose. (Dunno if they ever did live shows where they switched costumes backstage, but that would have been kinda cool... ) Apparently, they travelled to Fargo, North Dakota to record this album, at Kit Grove's studio, Audio Media.

The Needham Twins "Branch Two" (Identical Productions, 19--?)

The Needham Twins "In-Between" (Identical Productions, 19--?)

The Needham Twins "Songs Of The Needham Twins" (19--?) (LP)

The Nichols "The Nichols" (Rome Records, 198--?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey, Tim Sheppard & The Nichols)
A family band from Columbus, Ohio with commercial, Top 40 aspirations... The band's name is The Nichols, but the family name is actually Ginnetti -- Tony, Joe, Fred and Jim... Guitarist Jimmy Nichols moved to Nashville and became an in-demand session player, backing Faith Hill and Mindy McCready, and was the tour bandleader for Reba McEntire. Not sure what year this album came out - early '80s sometime, from the looks of it... Most of the songs are originals, written by Jim Ginnetti and Tony Ginnetti, with lead guitar by Audie Wykle.

Candy Noe & Roy Ferguson "Roy Ferguson & Candy Noe" (Benson Sound, 19--?) (LP)
The husband-wife duo of Roy and Candy Ferguson met in the 1960s when they were working in the Tulsa music scene -- Roy played guitar for Johnny Lee Wills for over twenty years, and also fronted his own group, Roy Ferguson and The Royals, which often backed big-name country stars on tour through Oklahoma. Singer Candy Noe originally came from Ohio, where as a teen she sang in the Marion Jamboree -- moving to Tulsa, she landed a job on country deejay Billy Parker's local TV show. Noe and Ferguson met in '65, got married in '66, released an album together, and opened Roy & Candy's music store in the 1970s, which for three decades was a fixture of the Tulsa, Oklahoma arts scene. The Fergusons played with the Wills band until 1984, when Wills passed away, and continued to perform locally right up until Roy passed away in 2015. As far as I know, this was their only album as a duo, although Roy Ferguson played guitar on a bunch of albums over the years...

Candy Noe "Candy Noe" (Branch International, 1978-?) (LP)

Mike Parsons "The Country Stage Introduces Mike Parsons" (Country Stage Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Jim Owen)
An excellent album of boozy, melodic honky tonk, ala George Jones and Moe Bandy... Parsons seems to have been a native of Lorain County, Ohio and may have had a regular gig at the Country Stage Campground in nearby Nova, Ohio. The album's producer, Jim Owen, was the same guy who made his name as a Hank Williams imitator and led the remnants of Hank's band in the 1970s. Owen makes major contributions to this record, penning almost half the songs (with Parsons contributing three more, cowritten with others, including one with his band's bass player, Rick Adkins.) Parsons had a good voice, great presence and really puts himself into these recordings... He had his own group, the Tennessee River Band, who get credited on the liner notes, although they didn't actually play on the album -- Parsons went to Nashville and recorded with a bunch of studio ringers, including guitarists Russ Hicks, Leo Jackson and Randy Byrd, as well as steel player Jim Baker. Perhaps the most interesting footnote is that Kay Adams (presumably the Bakersfield gal from the '60s) sings backup, although her voice is pretty buried in the mix. Anyway, if you like real-deal hard country, this is a pretty good record. If anyone out there has more info about this one, I'm all ears.

Johnny Paycheck - see artist discography

Tom Perry "Tom Perry" (Marjon International Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Johnny Krizancic)
Country covers and several originals from singer Tom Perry, who was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and moved to Ohio as an adult... Singing and playing bass, Mr. Perry is backed by a local group including Mike Faber on piano, Lee Horsefall (drums), Tommy Johnson (steel guitar), Ed Koren (steel guitar and lead), Ernie Maurer (lead guitar), and some guy only identified as "Billy" on backing vocals. The set list includes four songs credited as Perry originals: "Golden Lady," "It's Gotta Be Love," "Lonely Women," and "Singin' To The Mountains" -- he also covers classics from Dave Dudley, Merle Haggard and even Johnny Russell's "Red Necks, White Sox And Blue Ribbon Beer." Not a lot of info about this guy to be found, and no date on the disc, though it looks like this was a late 1970s release.

Garnetta Pollock "A Country Girl With A Country Song" (Jewel Records, 1973-?)
(Produced by Rusty York)
According to the liner notes by hillbilly legend Jimmie Skinner, Mrs. Garnetta Pollock (1941-2011) was an Ohio gal who sang with her father as part of an amateur musical act in the late 1940s and early '50s. She quit performing publicly after getting married at age fifteen(!) to Dixieland jazz bassist John Pollack, but eventually she persuaded him to switch from hot jazz to hillbilly country, and he backs her on this album. She had a super-rural, backwoods-y voice with Kentucky tonalities that Loretta Lynn fans will recognize in an instant; she might not have been the most robust singer ever, but she was definitely authentic. The Pollocks played some local gigs in the early 1970s with a band called the Country-Aires, though it's not clear who played on this album. It's possible producer Rusty York backed them, as he often fronted the Cincinnati-based Jewel label's house band. Anyway, this album has some standard-issue stuff like "Rocky Top" and some Hank Williams, as well as more unique numbers such as "I Don't Always Cry," "Journey To Mars," "Lamb's Book Of Life" and "Our Great Nation." Like many local country artists, music was mostly a side-note in Mrs. Pollock's life story: her obituary mentions her waitressing at the historic Golden Lamb restaurant, but not the fact that she recorded at least two full albums and a string of singles. At least one single was broken off this album, and others credited to Garnetta and Johnnie were released as well, including a cover of Dottie Rambo's "Tears Will Never Stain The Streets," from the gospel album below.

Garnetta Pollock & Johnnie Pollock "Mama's Bible" (Melody Records, 1978)
(Produced by William M. Jones)
An all-gospel set with decidedly rural song selection, including tunes by Ray Baker, J. D. Jarvis, Loretta Lynn and Dottie Rambo. Recorded at the Melody Sound Studio, in Hamilton, Ohio, this is a local affair with backing by pianist Jack Arwood (an Ohio bandleader who was probably the "special guest" mentioned on the cover), Andy Eckman on pedal steel, Darell Jeffries (drums), Danny O'Boyle (harmonica), Johnnie Pollock (bass) and guitar picker David Sayler.

Vic Pontious "3C Highway" (Wild Oats Music, 1982-?) (LP)
As the evidence clearly shows, there sure are a lot of law enforcement officers who also made country records... Not that many judges, though, which is one reason Vic Pontius stands out. He lived in an Ohio town called Washington Court House, and wouldn't you know it? He grew up to be a country judge, still living in his hometown. This is him in his younger years though, sowing his wild oats, if you will. It's a very-indie, very folkie set, including some real oldies such as "Hey Good Lookin'," and "Wreck Of The Old 97" as well as a cover of "City Of New Orleans," a couple of Gordon Lightfoot tunes, and some originals by Mr. Pontious. He's backed by a small acoustic band with Damon Hixon on banjo, Dan Lowe (drums), Brian Stritenberger (guitar) and Rod West playing bass... The band's okay, but it must be admitted that the sound mix is a bit chaotic and Mr. Pontious perhaps wasn't the strongest singer, sounding a bit tremulous although super-earnest and fully committed to the material. There's no date on the album, though some online sources put it at 1982. Mr. Pontious got involved in Republican politics and was first elected to a municipal judgeship in Fayette, Ohio, around 1994, later moving up to the county level, a position he held for many years.

Jim Prenger "Dive Bar Stars" (Jim Prenger Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Chuck Seitz)
Cool local country. An indie honkytonker from Minster, Ohio, singer Jim Prenger led this band through the late 1970s and early '80s... Around that time, a friend of his named Mike Barhorst started up a local music festival -- the Country Concert In The Hills, a now-annual event which features local artists (Prenger in particular) as well as national acts... Over the years, Prenger became the event's publicist and one of the main organizers, as well as a regular performer. As far as I know, these two LPs were his only albums, although Mr. Prenger continued to write music for decades to come, and is still involved with the concerts. On this album he really digs deep into a hard-country vibe, though there's an almost unsettling mix of rough, bare-bones production and Prenger's own emphatic though fragile vocals... Took me a while to place it, but I finally figured out that he really reminds me of Gram Parsons, in his musical presentation as well as his intense devotion to twang, tempered by an aloof, outlaw-outsider attitude. It's a little awkward, but he's for real. The band includes Ken Bobinger, Eddie Drake, Paul Patterson, Denzil Rice, Charles Rich, Mike Scharf and Jim Prenger's wife, Connie. Prenger intersperses oldies ("Jambalaya," "Red River Valley," "He'll Have To Go") with juicy, beer-soaked originals such as "Dive Bar Stars," "Starlight And Stroh's," "To Hell With You, Nashville" and "Right Behind You, Kenny Rogers." A lot of tunes where Prenger basically says he'd trade his local scene anyday, over the empty desolation down south in Nashville. If you're into albums where bar band twangsters sing about playing in dives, you oughta dig this disc.

Jim Prenger "Back To Where We Started" (JP Records, 1982-?) (LP)

Pure Prairie League -- see artist profile

Rainbow Canyon CB "Rainbow Canyon CB's Greatest Hit" (1980) (LP)
(Produced by Tommy Lee Reid)
I'm not sure, but I think the CB was meant to stand for "country band," presumably to differentiate these guys from a rock band that had the Rainbow Canyon name in the 'Seventies... This twangband from Columbus, Ohio was anchored by lead singers and primary songwriters Bob Hummel (1947-2019) and Neil Walter, who struck gold with their first single, "Franklin Country Woman," an homage to their hometown that was packed with lots of local references and generated lots of local fans. Other songs such as "Discobilly Music" and "Please Mr. Carter" underscore their novelty orientation, which frequently tilted towards the crude, as on their profanity-laden "Corvette Cowboy," as well as a version of Jimmy Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk And Screw." Other cover songs include a lesser-known Kenny Rogers song and Johnny Horton's "Battle Of New Orleans," although this album distinguishes itself with its wealth fo original material, as on their previous LP. This seems to have been recorded in several sessions over a number of years, with a parade of sidemen including two different bass players and four drummers. Lead guitar Jeff Shaner seems to have been there all the way along, with additional backing by steel player Amos Searan and fiddlers Junior Bennett and Andy Carey. The group continued in various forms for several years, including an edition with a gal named Jojo McQuade, who married Robert Hummell in 1985.

Rainbow Canyon "It Was So Tasty" (Rainbow Canyon Records, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Doug Edwards)
Although the Bob Hummel/Neil Walter duo still provided most of the material, additional song credits are given for Ward Foster, Jojo McQuade, and Roy Leslie Lee (who also had a song recorded by Nashville's Bill Phillips) though I'm not sure how many of these folks also played on this album. Hummell and McQuade kept the band up for several years, and there was a "Rainbow Canyon 88" that celebrated the band's tenth anniversary.

Kathy Ramone "On The Road Again" (GP Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Ben Arrigo, Joe O'Reilly & Arnie Rosenberg)
Though not directly related to the punk rock legends of the same name, Kathy Ramonez Romanko Findley (1954-1995) too "Ramone" as her stage name around the same time they did, performing locally in Sandusky, Ohio during the late 1970s and '80s under the name Kathy Ramone. The name was also used for a nightclub, Ramones Crystal Room, which she and her husband Larry Findley opening in 1984, the first of several supper clubs they opened in the area. Mr. Findley was also a musician, leading a jazz big band that also performed in the area. This album, which was released by a tiny indie label in New York, is pretty much all country covers, although a GP single that came out the same year featured two original songs penned by the Broadway team of Andy Badale and Frank Stanton, "Nashville Beer Garden" and "Quietly Back To Dreaming," neither of which appear on her LP. Ms. Ramone also led a band in the 1990s called Top Notch and may have recorded with them; at least one CD came out under her name, though it may have been a posthumous release.

David Rea "Maverick Child" (Capitol Records, 1969) (LP)
A well-regarded folk-scene sideman, Ohio-born singer-guitarist David Rea (1946-2011) moved to Canada in his teens and kicked off his career in the early 1960s as a sideman for Gordon Lightfoot, later performing with Ian & Sylvia, Jesse Winchester and other stars of the era... By the time he got his own record deal, Rea had moved into more of a rock mode, albeit with strong currents of country in there as well. He worked for a few years with blues-rocker Felix Pappalardi, and Pappalardi's new band, Mountain, co-writing the sludge-y hard-rock anthem, "Mississippi Queen," which became a big hit. He continued working as a studio session player and sideman, including a brief stint with an early-'Seventies lineup of the English folk-rock band Fairport Convention.

David Rea "By The Grace Of God" (Capitol Records, 1971) (LP)

David Rea "Slewfoot" (Columbia-Windfall Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by David Rea & Bob Weir)
Although this one's mostly on the radar for Deadheads, standard-issue twangfans will wanna check it out too, particularly for the fine covers of real-deal country songs that Rea opens the album with, notably Tom T. Hall's "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" and the Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner duet "Run That By Me One More Time," which spotlights a dead-on Loretta Lynn imitation by Darlene DiDomenico. Rea excels on the copious cover tunes, and picks some doozies, even including one by UK folkie Dave Swarbrick(!) along with some R&B songs by Chuck Berry and Ike Turner that kind of get swallowed up into the early '70s boogie-rock void. Speaking of which, let's circle back to the Dead now... David Rea was definitely in the Dead-o-Sphere, in a major way... His band features Bob Weir, both as a producer and guitarist, Keith and Donna Godchaux, as well as folks from the New Riders Of The Purple Sage and other orbiting musicians: bassist John Kahn, drummer Spencer Dryden, Matthew Kelly (from the band Kingfish), Buddy Cage on pedal steel and even fiddler Richard Greene and post-bop saxophonist Charles Lloyd. The originals on here by Rea are mostly spacey, yearning, folk-rock-boogie tunes, with great concern for capital "L" Love, and it sounds perhaps as if Rea was really hoping that the Dead or some of their pals would pick them up to record. Anyway, this is a pretty decent hippie twang album, at least when he is being twangy. Definitely worth a spin.

The Rhythm Masters "Daddy Sang Bass" (AR Co. Records, 1970-?) (LP)
(Producer not listed)
Formed in 1967, this Cincinnati-based gospel group went through a few changes in lineup over the years, but on this (early '70s?) offering, three original members were still present: Dan Hubbard, Grady Nix and Bill Phelps, along with newer members Buddy Liles and Carrol Rawlings. Fans of the Southern Gospel incarnation of the Oak Ridge Boys (or the Statesmen, Blackwood Brothers, et.al.) Despite the Johnny Cash cover, their rugged-sounding name and the groovy bell-bottoms, though, this disc is probably of limited interest to country fans -- not much twang, though some nice harmony vocals.

Kim Richey -- see artist profile

Sandy Robb "From The Heart Of Sandy Robb" (Award Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Biff Collie)
A singer from Bryan, Ohio covering country classics like "I Fall To Pieces," some Hank Williams tunes and a version of Mickey Newbury's "American Trilogy." Several of the backing musicians seem to have been from Robb's own band, while Nashville players such as Doyle Grisham and Willie Rainsford also play on this album...

Johnny Roy & The Roy Boys "A Session With Johnny Roy And The Roy Boys In Nashville" (NRS Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Dave Mathes)
A just-the-basics honkytonk band from Cincinnati, Ohio made up of three Kentuckians -- Johnny Roy (lead singer and emcee), Jacky Roy (drums), Doug Bowling (steel guitar) -- and a couple of guys from Ohio, Gary Eichler (bass) and Paul Toney (lead guitar). The repertoire is over half Merle Haggard songs, though there also seem to be a few originals: "Fool In The Corner" and "Once That Was Me" by Jim Walters and one called "If They Hadn't Invented The Bottle" by Bill Parsons, and while not credited, "Two Dollars In The Juke Box" is probably the Eddie Rabbitt song that became a hit in '76. There's no date on this disc but based on the repertoire it looks like it's an early 'Seventies offering, I'm guessing somewhere between 1971-73. Johnny Roy also cut some singles on Nugget Records that were recorded at the same Nashville studio sometime around 1974, but this album seems like it's earlier than that. The liner notes say that the group was formed in 1957, but if so, it was with a completely different lineup, as Johnny Roy is the only guy in the cover photo who looks remotely old enough to have been in a band back then; the other Roy Boys all look like they're in their twenties.

Ed Samons & The Kentucky Mountain Boys "Sacred Sounds Of Bluegrass" (Gloryland Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Marvin Jones)
Well, I'm always a sucker for good country gospel, especially all that backwoods stuff from the Ohio/Kentucky axis where all the hillbillies hung out. Plus, I have a weird fascination with the "beach" stock-art album covers, of which this is a fine example. Mandolin picker Edmond Samons recorded several albums of straight-up, premium bluegrass gospel, as well as numerous indie-label singles. He grew up in Wayland, Kentucky, though he'd moved to Ohio by the time his recording career kicked into gear, and ran his own recording studio on the outskirts of Columbus. Mr. Samons worked with the same group of musicians near over the span of a decade or so: fiddler Eldon Allen, Leslie Gillam on banjo, Joe Martin on guitar, and bass player Starr Orr. They had a pleasantly round-toned, melodic sound that integrated several different strands of classic bluegrass -- Samons' own brisk solos echoed Bill Monroe, while the bright, assertive banjo riffs had more of a Flatt & Scruggs feel. Over it all, though, is a sweet, soft feel more reminiscent of the Stanley Brothers. So, if you're a truegrass fan, this should really rock your socks off.

Grizz Sawbuck "Meet The Mountain Man: Grizz Sawbuck Sings One More Memory" (Simbuck Records, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by Sims & Sawbuck)
This strapping young fella from Hebron, Ohio lays it on pretty thick, what with his beaver-fur cap, buckskin jacket and boots -- a whole Daniel Boone vibe which is only mildly undercut by how new and clean everything looks. But if that's really his own big, bushy beard, well then more power to him! This was apparently the nom du frontier of Ohio country singer Edward Daniel Adams (1947-2013) who was kin to a whole slew of country music Adamses, including Arnie Adams, Darrell Adams, Farrell Adams, Gary Adams and most notably solo artist Don Adams, a bunch of brothers who had a hometown band called The Boys and who functioned as George Jones' tour band at various times, as well as backing Johnny Paycheck and various other Nashville stars. Anyway, "Grizz" was their cousin, and at the time of this album's release he claimed twenty years experience in the country music scene. This album is interesting for its selection of "deep cuts," relatively obscure songs from the likes of Buck Owens, Ray Pennington, Billy Sherrill and others that are pretty far from the standard-issue chart-toppers that populate most cover-song albums. Unfortunately, there's no info about the backing musicians; the only clue about who he was hanging out with when he cut this album is the last name of his co-producer, Sims, which still leaves a lot to learned. For many years, Adams worked for Little Jimmy Dickens and appears to have moved to Nashville after cutting this album; he is said to have been buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park, right near George Jones.

Helen Scott & Billy Scott "Songs You've Requested" (Chance Records, 1967-?) (LP)
(Produced by Dean Richards)
A thoroughly charming album from a husband-wife duo, neither of whom were particularly strong vocalists, but they really put their hearts into it. Originally from Indiana, the Scotts established themselves as a country duo in Columbus, Ohio, performing on the Jamboree USA radio program and the syndicated Hayride TV show... This album has a bunch of cover songs on the softer side of things, including contemporary country songs like "There Goes My Everything" and "Tippy Toeing," as well as perky, twanged-up versions of two folk hits, "Pack Up Your Sorrows" and Tom Paxton' "Last Thing On my Mind." A couple of songs may have been originals -- "Demolition Derby" and "The Ego Of My Mind," though I couldn't find any songwriter's credits. Musicians include steel player Chuck Rich and electric guitarist Wally Proctor, who add lots of fun, bouncy, '60s-style pop-country twang. I couldn't track down the year this came out, but would definitely appreciate any info folks could share... ("Tippy Toeing" was a hit in 1967, so it's sometime around then...) Anyway, I honestly find them completely charming -- kind of a lower-tier version of folks like Jonie & Johnny Mosby, or even earlier forebearers such as Texas Ruby & Curly Fox. Plus she yodeled... in 1967! How cute is that??

Helen & Billy Scott "My God And I" (Jewel Records, 1976) (LP)

Helen & Billy Scott "Good Times" (Jewel Records, 197-?) (LP)
(Produced by Rusty York)
This one's definitely much later -- they cover "Help Me Make It Through The Night," "Rose Garden" and "Bobby McGee," so maybe '73, '74 or so? Anyway, it's hard to know what to make of this one, especially given my enthusiasm for their earlier work in the 'Sixties. To put it simply, this really isn't a very good record, or to be more precise, the vocals are pretty bad. Now, I'm not a guy who's big on the whole snarky, cynical, make-fun-of-bad-records thing, but I think it's fair to say that this is the kind of album that can give you an appreciation for the quality level of other private-label records, because, yes, sometimes they do sound like this. On this disc, the (unidentified) backing band play quite well, and were presumably some of the best session players in Rusty York's orbit -- their arrangement of "Rose Garden" closely mimics the Lynn Anderson original, and generates an impressively large sound for a small regional studio. But the Scotts themselves are off their game -- Billy Scott comes through as an understated average-guy vocalist, but Helen Scott is horribly off-key for most of the record, and sounds like somebody's grandma who got drafted to do a memento album for the kids. I'm not sure what the deal was, but while I honestly enjoyed their earlier album, I found this one pretty painful. Cynics looking for mockable, Mrs. Miller-ish records in the country field may delight in this disc... I'm just gonna file it away for future reference.

Randy Shaffer & The Honky Tonk Heroes "Live In The Studio" (Grenadier Records, 19--?) (LP)

Kathy Shaw & The Expressions "Ever Hear These Expressions?" (Jamboree USA Records, 1972-?) (LP)
(Produced by Stan Hutto)
A gal from Ohio, Kathy Shaw was originally in a duo with her sister Margaret, winning a statewide competition in 1971 which earned them an invitation to perform at the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree USA show. Margaret Shaw is also on this album, singing and playing drums, while the Shaw Sisters are backed up by a band that included Tom Prince (bass), Jerry Sexton (lead guitar and banjo), Ray Snider (rhythm guitar), and Brad Waltermeyer on bass and guitar. As far as I can tell, these guys were Ohio locals backing her, though some of them may have been in the WWVA's orbit.

Silver Wings "Test Flight" (Starr Records, 1982) (LP)
This lounge-y family band from Croton, Ohio features four members of the Gladden family, along with lead singer Mona Lisa Danna. They cover several Beatles songs, a couple by Hank Williams, as well as versions of "Crazy" and "Proud Mary," and of course the Merle Haggard tune they took their name from... Apparently this has become a kind of an ironic, kitsch-retro cult classic in recent years... This album was recorded at the Rome Records studios in Columbus, but released on the Starr label.

Gene Sisco "Coal Diggin' Country Boy" (Riverside Sound/Triple G Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Steve Hoffman)
This album is a set of all originals, written by former rocker Gene Sisco... When still a teenager in the early 1960s, Sisco was in an Ohio rockabilly band called the Ramblin' Ramblers, with singer Donnie Bowshier -- they put out some singles and toured with Hardrock Gunter... This set is more solidly country, though, and of a much later vintage -- the early '80s perhaps? Sisco also seems to have moved to Kentucky somewhere along the line...

The Sleek Brothers "The Sleek Brothers Band" (1980) (LP)
Originally a straight-up bluegrass band, The Sleek Brothers Band formed in 1954, with Gene Sleek on mandolin, Joseph Ray Sleek (1935-2019) on fiddle, Ned Sleek on banjo and Tony Sleek playing guitar. They were farm kids from the town of Kansas, Ohio, a teeny place just a few miles outside of Toledo and played local gigs for several decades, notably a decade-long residency at the Rollersville Tavern, in nearby Rollersville. The band had a shifting membership over the years, including several musicians from outside the family, and its sound changed as well, to incorporate more distinctly country influences, including electric bass and pedal steel. Ray's twelve-year old son Jim joined the band in the early 'Seventies though he formed his own group, Uptown Country, in 1984 but rejoined the family band a few years later. The Sleek Brothers recorded several cassette-only albums, though this one also came out on vinyl. (Many thanks to Buckeye Beat for their detailed history of the band.)

Bette Smith "I'm A Lady" (Nashville North, 1971) (LP)
(Produced by Floyd Whitehead & Brien Fisher)
Well, it took a little bit of legwork, but I finally figured out what was going on with this record... At first, this seemed like it was just what it looked like, a slightly kooky but legitimately twangy country set by a housewife from Ohio who had a funny little voice and a way with words. The end. The back cover includes some of the most charming liner notes ever, actually a reprint of a newspaper article relating how teacher-housewife Bette Smith of New Carlisle, Ohio worked up the gumption to record an album of her own music, copyrighted through her own charmingly-named Hope-A-Hit publishing company. Mrs. Smith was a Montessori teacher at a local elementary school, and the article helpfully takes a few paragraphs to explain the Montessori method. The record itself is pretty solid, though there's a strong novelty orientation, notably in the tune "Teachin' Whomper Stomper," where she comedically conveys how tough she could be in the classroom. Mrs. Smith put Rita Abrams to shame with her twangy sensibilities, channelling Loretta Lynn in her brash, uptempo approach, and Brenda Lee with her high, girlish voice. But wait, there's more... Apparently she self-produced this disc as a songwriter's demo, and got a few bites in Nashville: when I was tracking down a few individual songs, Smith's name popped up as the composer on a few tracks by a gal mononymicly known as "Margo," who cut a few singles for Chart Records around 1971-72. A quick drop of the needle on those discs made it clear that Bette Smith and Margo were the same person -- who else had that kind of helium-powered chirp? Just when it looked like this gal from Ohio was yet another one of the countless hopefuls who got chewed up by Nashville, I happened to notice that some of Bette Smith's songs were also recorded a few years later by Top Forty countrypolitan star Margo Smith, and wouldn't ya know it? Turns out this was actually Margo Smith's first record, made about four years before she broke through and became a chart-topping artist during the late rhinestone-plated 'Seventies. Who knew? Anyway, I dig this record. It's lively and lighthearted, a fun, enthusiastic romp.

Connie Smith -- see artist profile

Herbie Smith "By Request" (Astral 7 Records, 19--?) (LP)

Herbie Smith "For Country Lovers" (Astral 7 Records, 1971-?) (LP)
(Produced by Herbie Smith & Wes Owen)
A picker and singer from Dayton, Ohio, Smith plays several Kris Kristofferson covers, one by Haggard, and some pop stuff such as the inevitable "Proud Mary" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and one Smith original, "I Can't Say I'm Sorry" credited to his own Astral Seven Publishing. This album was recorded with local musicians such as Ed Mull on steel guitar, Eddie Drake on dobro, and Dumpy Rice playing piano. I'm guessing at the release date, based on the inclusion of "Help Me Make It Through The Night," which was a hit for Kristofferson in 1970.

Herbe Smith "If You Like Herbe" (Astral 7 Records, 1977) (LP)

Margo Smith -- see artist profile

Spring Wheel "Spring Wheel" (Gulf + Western/Green Bottle Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Carl Maduri & Arnie Rosenberg)
A goofy, hippie-era gem, full of unintentionally hilarious songs. This pop-oriented country-rock group was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where lead singers/songwriters Mike Hay and Ron Jankowski had played together in some youthful, mid-1960s garage-pop bands. They were one of a scant few bands signed to the short-lived Green Bottle label, owned by one-time Hollywood mogul Charlie Greene, and while musically ambitious, the album is thinly produced with a tinny mix that lends itself well to the band's country component, but falls short on their more grandiose moments. There's a prominent Grateful Dead influence -- the Dead in their perkier, more melodic boogie-pop mode -- and some of the uptempo tunes, such as the opening and closing tracks, "Always In All Ways" and "You Ain't Got Nothin', " have a nice, twangy feel. Also running through the record are airy vocal harmonies, from the post-Byrds, CSNY/Poco musical school, and this is where things get fun. There are some truly laughable lyrics, fuzzy-headed, pretentious, flower-child hippie stuff about pretty colors and lullabies, put together in a clunky, artless, charmingly naive kinda way. These guys were clearly hoping for a hit, and though I suppose there's an almost-but-not quite quality to this record, it seems more likely that this album simply wound up being just another music business tax write-off... Steely Dan fans may delight in (or revile) their absurdly perky cover version of "Only A Fool," where the starry-eyed Spring Wheelers really don't seem to get the cynicism and darkness of the song's lyrics. Pricelessly kitschy stuff. The group also included several of the duo's Cleveland cohorts, including Jankowski's brother Russ and bassist Artie Dussault, who had played with them in local garage bands such as the Tree Stumps; after this band broke up, Ron Jankowski moved out to California, eventually becoming born again and devoting himself to playing Christian pop, while Mike Hay started another local country-rock group called the Stone River Band.

Stanley Staggers "Country Collection" (STS Records, 1976) (LP)
This album is all cover tunes -- very mainstream material, but on a very low-budget vanity album, with no artwork on the back cover. Super-obscuro, with no date or other identifying info, although I think this guy was Stanley T. Staggers (1938-1996) of Newark, Ohio. Outside of this LP, the only other STS release I've seen is a gospel 7", "Precious Memories"/"Just A Closer Walk With Thee," which was a QCA pressing.

Llynn Stevens "Hits The Road" (TVi Records, 197-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Logan)
Ohio country singer Llynn Stevens sure looked rough and rugged with his square jaw and a big patch over his right eye, but his gangly vocals might sound a little surprising, with sort of a Bill Anderson-ish or Roger Miller-esque tone... The interweb breadcrumbs leading back to Stevens are pretty sparse: his first single, and his signing to Lake Front Talent Agency were plugged in Cashbox back in 1975, and a few show notices are scattered in local newspapers through 1979, mostly gigs around Akron and Sandusky, including working a comedy routine as "Cousin Luther" in the Lonzo & Oscar stage show, and one show where he opened for Barbara Mandrell at a place called Country Paradise Park, in East Brady, Pennsylvania. The Cashboxplug also mentioned appearances at WWVA's Jamboree USA, Ponderosa Park, in Salem OH, and other regional venues. This appears to have been his only album, and looks like a Nashville songwriters demo, with a gaggle of tunes from several publishing imprints -- Cut Country-BMI, Barlow Music-BMI and Lyncoya Music-BMI. None of the songs were written by Stevens, unless they were published under a different name. Anyone know more about Mr. Stevens? I'm all ears!

Bob Stewart & The Westerniers "The Sounds Of Bob Stewart & The Westerniers: Our First" (Blue Diamond Records, 1975-?) (LP)
Lots of cover tunes but a mighty nice sound on this indiebilly honkytonk set... Stewart was a younger guy who had a Merle Haggard-ish sound... And he does cover Merle, along with Buck Owens, Lefty Frizzell, Red Steagall, Don Gibson and other classic artists, along with some odd contemporary hits such as "Monster's Holiday" and "Rub It In." There are two Bob Stewart originals on here, "I Just Gave Up The One I Love" and "White Lines On The Highway" which is kind of buried on Side Two... But for listeners who can appreciate cover artists, this is a pretty solid record, with good vocals and solid backing from his band. The group was mostly made up of younger guys from a string of tiny Ohio towns -- Knoxville, Richmond and Toronto -- on the state's eastern border, near the Ohio River. The Westerniers formed around 1970, and seem to have played together for several years, though the only mentions of them I could find online were some show notices for concerts in Maryland around the fourth of July, 1975. And, yes, they spelled it "Westerniers" on the front and back covers, so I don't think the band name was a typo.

Gary Strong "Gary Strong & Hardtimes" (Central Records, 1983) (LP)
Yeah, okay, maybe he's considered to be more of a bluegrass artist, but I had to include this album since he does a cover of Don Everly's fab twangtune "Brother Jukebox," a song I really love. So, he's got my vote! Not sure about Strong's entire bio, but an earlier album from the late 1970s mention that he was working as a radio deejay in Cincinnati; his old band name, The Licking Valley Boys, suggest that he was originally from Newark, Ohio, outside of Columbus.

T & M Express "T & M Express" (Tunesmith Music Company, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Tony Griffin)
Acousticky, mellow folk-rock from Columbus, Ohio... The songwriting duo of Tim York ("T") and Michael Hawthorne ("M") are joined by bassist Jeff D'Angelo and drummer Tony Martucci for a mostly-original set that also includes a medley of Guy Clark's "Desperados Waiting For A Train" and the Eagles hit, "Desperado." Also includes a bunch of gooey-sounding T&M tunes, such as "Early Morning Breeze," "Morning Light," "Riversong" and "Cherish Your Dreams." Groovy, man!

The Tackett Brothers Band "Long Haired Country Boy" (Programme Audio, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Dave Scott & Tim Padrick)
This Midwestern progressive 'grass band did indeed include a slew of Tacketts -- brothers Danny Lee, David Lynn, Larry Randall and Timothy Scott Tackett, along with Justin Wallace on banjo and Rory Harper playing dobro. They play some bluegrass oldies and standards -- stuff by the Stanley Brothers, Larry Sparks and the like -- as well as a lot of non-canonical rock and country covers, tunes like Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried," Eric Clapton's "Lay Down Sally" and "4 + 20" by Crosby Stills & Nash... and, of course, Charlie Daniels' hippiebilly classic, "Long Haired Country Boy." The lads were from rural Ohio, and grew up or lived in a series of small towns just east of Akron.

George Thacker "...And The Happy Hearts Trio" (Riverside Recording Studios, 197-?) (LP)
(Produced by Terry Brooks & Ron Shawver)
Super-twangy, pleasantly rough-edged country gospel from a fella from Ewington, Ohio, supported by a small country band with a chaotic but definitely country sound. The trio were vocalists George Thacker, Ruth DeLong and Hester Eblin, who stick to a traditional jubilee style, with rather dynamic musical backing by Bob DeLong on piano, Sonny Hudson (lead guitar), R. E. Tackett (bass), Jerry Taylor (steel guitar), Roger Cooper (fiddle) and Ron Shawver on drums. Thacker was decidedly a singer of limited ability, but he is enthusiastic and joyful, while the female vocals alternate between beautiful harmonies and rougher, more shape-note sounding accompaniment. Thacker's pastor, Dewey King of Wesleyan Church in Pomeroy, Ohio, offers brief congratulatory liner notes. A nice example of lively, heartfelt amateur gospel twang.

Uncle Jack & Mary Lou "Live At The Reading Fair: July, 1971" (Dollo Records, 1972) (LP)
An homage to a pioneering figure in the hillbilly music scene of the 1930s and '40s, "Uncle" Jack Nelson (1987-1972). Nelson and his wife Mary Lou were originally from Ohio, but like many performers in the radio era, they moved around a lot; eventually they settled in Pennsylvania, and for over a decade operated their own music venue, Himmelreich's Grove near Womelsdorf, PA, where they worked for most of the 1940s. Nelson's connection to the Shorty and Dolly Long dates back to the Great Depression when they worked together on radio, maintaining that relationship for many decades to come. The liner notes are remarkably forlorn and circumspect, as Shorty Long recounts his attendance at Nelson's funeral in April, 1972, where he and Dolly joined a handful of old-timers. Apparently, although Uncle Jack and Mary Lou were big stars on the radio, they never recorded singles or albums, at least that's what Long says here, so this concert recording from a show in Reading, Pennsylvania makes a fitting epitaph for a now-obscure country legend.

Dick Unteed "Down Memory Lane" (Rome/Starr Records, 1974-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey)
There is remarkably little information about Dick Unteed online, despite his having recorded several albums for the ultra-traditionalist Rural Rhythm label, and having been a producer and possibly session player for Rural Rhythm. An Ohioan old-timey artist, he seems to have been in a band with Jack Casey, another artist on the label who also produced some of his sessions. But as far as Mr. Unteed's life story and musical career go, these remain opaque. I believe he was Richard Alan Unteed, born way back in 1916, although he doesn't seem to have started recording -- at least not as a solo artist -- until the late 1960s, when he cut a string of LPs for Rural Rhythm, and copyrighted a number of his own songs. He probably played in several regional bands when he was younger, though again the details are dim... This album was a tribute to Lew Childre, Jimmie Rodgers and other old-school country artists that Mr. Unteed says he'd worked with in bygone years. This may have been his last album, recorded with Jack Casey on Casey's Rome label.

The Villagers "On Such A Night" (Friar Tuck's Productions, 1976-?) (LP)
A jaunty though amatuerish folk quartet, three guys and one gal singing a variety of material at a club called Friar Tuck's, located in Maumee, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo. This was primarily a string-swing kinda thing, with some material from the country, bluegrass and roots genres. The country songs include renditions of "Coal Tattoo," "Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms" as well as several less twangy options such as a 1940s medley and an acoustic cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." The musicians aren't identified on the album, though signed copies give their first names as Joe, John, Patty and Steve -- turns out Patty and Joe were the Morans, who opened Friar Tuck's as a folk-oriented cabaret in 1973 and operated the venue through most of the 1980s. Not the smoothest or slickest or twangiest-sounding group, though their admittedly awkward cover of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" might be of interest.

The Villagers "Homemade" (Friar Tuck's Productions, 19--?) (LP)
Not sure which of these albums came first, though this one is definitely more firmly in the folk camp. Also, a different lineup: this edition of the Villagers included Patty and Larry Hays, Joe Moran, Mike Robarge, and Steve Scharren, with some other Toledo locals credited in the liner notes for their contributions.

Tiny Wellman & The Raindrops "The Saturday Night Honky Tonk Sounds Of..." (King's Music City Records, 1975-?) (LP)
(Produced by Pat Deer)
Buckeye balladeer Paul "Tiny" Wellman (1949-2000) grew up in Salem City, Ohio and led a series of Columbus-area bands throughout the 1970s, cutting his first single in 1969, a super-groovy, semi-psychedelic country rocker called "Motorcycle Queen." This is a live set recorded at G. G. Asher's Ohio Grand Old Opry Club, with his wife Rosalie Wellman and their band -- Leland Darst, Pat Deer, Bob Deer (bass), Ronnie Blevins (drums) and the Wellmans on lead vocals. Towards the end of Side Two, Tiny Wellman delivers a mockingbird medley of country hits, imitating Bill Anderson, Elvis Presley, Charley Pride and Hank Snow.

Tiny Wellman "Just T And The TWB" (Rome Records, 1978-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey & Steve Logan)
Wellman released at least two singles from this album, which featured backing by a local band that included steel players Sonny Curtis and Leland Darst, Jerry Deer (fiddle), Pat Deer (guitar), Steve Logan (bass), Ric Vitocolonna (drums), Danny White (keyboards), Tiny Wellman on vocals, and his wife, singer Rosalie Blevins Wellman. I've seen a few sites online that tag these tracks as being from around 1971, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong, an assumption that seems to be based on the BMI info for Don Wayne's song, "Hank," which was copyrighted in 1971. However, the production style sounds pretty late 'Seventies, and the bio for pianist Danny White says he joined Wellman's band sometime after taking a gig at the Wheeling Jamboree in 1977 and subsequently joining Faron Young's road band. Finally, the A-side song on this disc, "Giving Her The State Of West Virginia," was recorded a couple of times by different artists, including Nashville old-timer Bill Phillips and the far more obscure Lyndel East, both recording for NSD in 1979. Giving Wellman the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he recorded the song first, (especially since this single features two songs penned by Roy Leslie Lee) I'm guessing these tracks may have been cut around 1978, possibly '79. At any rate, it's swell stuff, with Wellman giving his vocals a Merle Haggard-ish feel.

Whiskey River "Volume One" (Nashville Remote Recording, 1977-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jimmy Clum, Vic Gabany & Kurt Storey)
One of several bands called "Whiskey River," this group hailed from Dennison, Ohio, a tiny hamlet just south of Akron. This particular Whiskey River was led by singer David Gentson, who previously had a band known as David Gentson & The Gents, which played gigs at a local pizza parlor called the Holmstead Lounge. The Gents put out a lone(?) single in 1975, featuring Genton's song "Take Away The Empties," co-written with a guy named Lewis C. Hunter -- it's a great uptempo honkytonk number which sadly is not included here. I'm not sure if there was any overlap between the two bands -- the lineup of The Gents is unknown, while Whiskey River included David Gentson on lead guitar and steel, Freddie Regula (piano), Kurt Storey (fiddle), Deryl Stutz (bass) and Jack Wood (drums). Anyway, this record was a pretty low-rent private-press affair, and I would have guessed it was the earlier release, except that it includes covers of Mickey Gilley's "The Girls Get Prettier At Closing Time" and the Ronnie Milsap hit, "It Was Almost Like A Song," which came out in 1976 and '77, respectively. There was also some groovy outlaw stuff on here -- "Whiskey River," of course, Waylon's "Did Hank Really Do It This Way," Pure Prairie League's "I'll Fix Your Flat Tire Merle," so these guys were pretty hip for a small-town covers band. David Gentson had a great voice, but I'm not sure if he did much after this... Apparently the surname Gentson was a pseudonym, which doesn't help narrow things down, though bassist Deryl Stutz (1941-2020) did join another local band called the Code West Band, which was doing shows in the early 1990s, and fiddler Kurt Storey seems to have done some session work (including on an early Amy Grant album) and later shifted into work as a recording engineer. So, not so bad for some small town fellas!

Lilimai (Whitaker) & The Southern Gospel Singers "The Church In The Valley" (Harp Records, 1965-?) (LP)
Rugged bluegrass gospel from Ohio... Lilimai Whitaker (vocals, guitar) was accompanied by bassist Curnie Collins, fiddler Aaron Hicks and Charlie Whitaker on banjo and vocals. Ms. Whitaker wrote two of the songs, "Lord Show Me How" and "You Gotta Go To Judgement," which fit in nicely with a repertoire that includes a couple of Reno & Smiley covers, as well as other songs listed as traditional material. The Whitakers have recordings dating back at least as far as the early 1960s, and appear to have been part of the whole Dayton/Columbus/Cincinnati country gospel scene, also recording with J. D. Jarvis.

Lillimae Whitaker & The Dixie Gospelaires "Jesus Has Called Me" (Rural Rhythm Records, 19--?) (LP)

Lillimae Whitaker & The Dixie Gospelaires "There's A Big Wheel" (Rome Recordings/Gloryland Records, 1974-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Casey)
Straightforward bluegrass gospel, with several originals as well as covers of old standards, and a couple of contemporary tunes by John Duffy and J. D. Crowe. Lillimae Hardy Whitaker is joined by her husband, mandolin picker Charlie Whitaker, along with a pretty straightforward assortment of traditional instruments -- bass, banjo, fiddle and dobro. This was recorded at the Rome Studios, in Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Whitaker (1939-2014) lived in Kenton, Ohio, a little to the north. The Whitakers founded the Dixie Gospelaires in 1959, along with banjo player Noah Hollon, who helped anchor the band for several decades. Charlier Whitaker took a hiatus in the early '80s to tour with Bill Monroe(!) and the Gospelaires disbanded for about a decade, reforming in 1995, with Whitaker's youngest son Jeff joining as the band's lead guitarist.

Joani Whitmore "The Gospel Side Of Joani/Joani Sings Country Love Songs" (Artists Records, 1973-?) (LP)
(Produced by Vic Clay)
An adequate amateur, Joani Whitmore recorded this private press album at the Rubber City Sound Studios in Akron, Ohio, dividing the disc between gospel songs and secular stuff, presumably tunes that were her favorites at the time. There are a couple of current hits, such as Donna Fargo's "Funny Face" and "Loves' Gonna Live Here Again," from the Buck Owens catalog, while the gospel side has standards such as "He Touched Me" and "How Great Thou Art." Now, in all honesty, Mrs. Whitmore (whose husband wrote some brief, loving liner notes) wasn't the greatest vocalist, and teeters out of tune most of the time. But she's heartfelt and sincere, and that counts for something. More surprising is how upbeat and enthusiastic the musical backing is, particularly on the religious numbers, which actually get pretty funky. Producer Vic Clay seems to enjoy himself, and is very generous with his accompaniment; Clay also recorded an album or two himself, and though the other musicians aren't listed on this LP, I'd imagine they were guys he regularly worked with in his studio. An imperfect, but charming "real people" record.

Pat Zill "Sings Country Favorites" (QCA Records, 197--?) (LP)
Known in his hometown as "the singing bartender," Pat Zill (1925-2015) was the proprietor of the Boat House Lounge, a nautically-themed nightclub situated on the main drag of Whitehall, Ohio, a Columbus suburb which apparently had a swinging scene back in the 1950s and '60s. Zill sang on the radio when he was a kid, but got into boxing in his teens and was competing professionally until World War Two swept him up and landed him in the Marines. He kept prizefighting after the war, but some time in the 'Fifties switched gears and started running a bar outside Columbus, where he sang along to the country tunes on the jukebox. Mr. Zill was recruited by Cincinnati-based talent scout Pat Nelson to cut some tunes over in Nashville, and scored a regional hit with a jaunty little version of "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down." Zill ran the bar for many more years, became a fight promoter and successful boxing coach, and also recorded a few more singles on various labels throughout the '60s and '70s. Zill cut this LP sometime in the 'Seventies, probably under the guidance of Pat Nelson, who joined the QCA label in 1973. As far as I know this was his only full album, other than a CD he cut in 1994 called New Beginnings which featured re-recordings of some of his older stuff. [Thanks to The Columbus Dispatch for their informative posthumous profile of Mr. Zill, which ran in 2020.]

Various Artists "ATHENS HOMETOWN ALBUM" (LRS Recording Studio, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Louis Ralph Stevens)
A compilation of indie country and bluegrass artists from Athens County, Ohio, including Diane Andolsek, A Touch Of Grass, The Expanding Band, Hobson's Choice, Jeannie Jeffers, J. D. Jewell, Doug Lovelace, Terry McAuley and Scott Minar. A house band featuring guitarist Terry McAuley and piano player Louis Ralph Stevens provides backing on many of the tracks, though some of the performers brought their own musicians into the sessions...

Various Artists "THE CARWIN COUNTRY SHOW" (Parklane Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Carl French & Rodger Wilhoit)
An odd little album purporting to be a showcase for "the Carwin Country Show," though it looks more like a vehicle for the songwriting aspirations of producers Carl French and Rodger Wilhoit, who assembled a who's-who of obscure singers from Cleveland, Ohio to record their work. Carl French had a track record that preceded him, with several songs recorded in the mid-1960s by artists such as Jack Campbell and Patti Walker on mainstream pop labels such as Jubilee and Ronn Records. He seems to have retreated to the Midwest to set up his own label, Parklane, which seems later to have morphed into "CC International," which I'd guess is a permutation of Carwin Country. Campbell recorded several singles for Parklane (and CC International) and is featured on this album, as is Rodger Wilhoit, who later cut a full album in '74, after releasing a string of singles in the early 'Seventies. Other singers on this disc include Windy Blevins, Sandra Bonham, Earlene Frost, Janie Lee, Dick Lemley, Gene Perine, Kathy Shaw and Tim Stacy, with Campbell and Blevins being the only ones recording their own material, while Janie Lee sings a tune penned by Gene Perine -- all the others are songs co-composed by French and Wilhoit. (Also see the GET COUNTRY-FIVED collection, below, for more of the Carwin story.)

Various Artists "FOLK MUSIC OF OHIO: 1938 THROUGH 1940" (Ohio Folklife, 1978) (LP)

Various Artists "GET COUNTRY-FIVE'D" (CC International Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Carl French)
As near as I can figure this is a locals-only compilation from late-'70s Cleveland, Ohio, with five unknown musicians -- Jack Campbell, Gail Faught, Ronnie Ferrel, Conrad Morgan and Rodger Wilhoit -- singing material that was mostly written by producer Carl French. No info on the backing band, but the liner notes say that the sessions were recorded in RCA's Nashville studio, with "Nashville's finest musicians," so it may have been an A-list, usual-suspects crew. Not sure what the back-story was on this one, but it looks very tax-dodgy, especially the odd list of several different "Carwin Country" business names on the back, which reminded me of the credits to "Bambi Meets Godzilla."

Various Artists "IN CAHOOTS... WITH 3WJ-103 FM" (Rome Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Bob Kramer)
This one's pretty cool, an odd hybrid of the pay-to-play "song poem" albums and those old-fashioned radio station promo records. But while most radio station albums were K-Tel-ish re-licensings of whatever Top 40 artists they were playing, this one features real live, original artists. In this case, the artists were regular folks, strictly locals from the Columbus-Newark area of Central Ohio, members of "Ohio Country And Western Music Association." Radio station WWWJ-103.1 FM's Bob Kramer organized the album, presumably setting up the recording sessions at the Rome label (which was a prolific regional indie label) and packed it with artists with Nashville-y names such as Vicki Lynn, Paula Wayne and Tiny Wellman, also some oddly-named bands like Crosstown Traffic and Slo Poke II (which actually seems to have been a pseudonym for a singer...) Some tracks are predictably iffy, though a few are actually quite good, or at least fun in an oddball, DIY kind of way. The details of this project seem to have been lost to time, but it sure is a fun, sometimes funny record.

Various Artists "QFM96 HOMETOWN ALBUM PROJECT" (Q-FM96, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Steve Runner)
A local-artists compilation produced by radio station WLVQ, in Columbus, Ohio. This is mostly a rock comp, though it includes a song from country rockers McGuffey Lane, "Stay In Love With You" (which also appeared on their first, self-released album in 1980) as well as one called "Country Rocker," by a band named Roughrider. So methinks there was some love of twang to be found among the deejays in Columbus.

Various Artists "SNOW ON THE ROOF, FIRE IN THE FURNACE" (June Appal Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Malcolm Dalglish & Grey Larsen)
Sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council and curated by a couple of nationally-known Celtic musicians, this album documents some of the rich musical heritage found within the ethnic diversity of Cincinnati, Ohio, spanning blues, jazz, mountain music, marching bands, polka and schlager, and even some Arabic material composed by Farid el Atrache. The project grew out of a program aimed at older citizens, the Traditional Ethnic Music and the Elderly (TEME) that was spearheaded by musicians Malcolm Dalglish and Grey Larsen; the disc was made available to retirement homes and community groups free of charge. Larsen plays some Celtic tunes, while a few old-timey tracks feature folkie Dick Pinney.

Various Artists "THIS IS TOLEDO COUNTRY" (New Image Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Dave Peterson & Cheryl Lingenfelder)
This is a remarkably subpar set of locals-only country... and this comes from a guy who's pretty forgiving about imperfections in these kind of albums. I mean, I'm not trying to be all snarky or anything, but for the most part these are pretty iffy performances, recorded with fairly minimal production. That being said, this is another good example of "just plain folks" making just plain music -- these Ohioans might not have been ready for prime time, but they were sincere. The album includes a couple of would-be child prodigies, Holley King and Jimmy Speer, who performed together as a duo called the Country Sweethearts, though they each recorded solo numbers on this album, as well as a duet on "Leavin' It All Up To You." She's the stronger of the two, and gets backing on her track, "A Little More Time," by a local group called The Sweethearts Of The Rodeo, who were probably the tightest musicians on this set. The Sweethearts were led by Chuck Monto, and included steel player Vic Holly and vocalists Scott Patterson (who sings lead on his own composition, "I'm Just A Man") and Bob Currier, who contributes two songs to the album, including "Too Cold," a rather anomalous foray into heavy blues/jam-band rock. There are also two tracks by Sheriff Dave & The Road Gang, featuring a gruff-voiced older guy named Dave Siravo, who pretty much sounds like a middle-aged amateur musician backed by his pals. Finally, there's the Radiation Blues Band, who are more rock-oriented, although their original number, "Anyway," has a Glen Campbell countrypolitan feel, and is an album highlight. As far as I can tell, these folks weren't part of any particular shared venue -- no Toledo jamboree or anything like that -- and despite the chatty liner notes, the impetus for this album also isn't clear. It doesn't seem to have been sponsored by a local radio station or arts council, so I guess it was just some kind of pay-to-play deal. Your guess is as good as mine.

Various Artists "THIS IS TOLEDO COUNTRY, v.2" (New Image Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Dave Peterson & Cheryl Lingenfelder)

Various Artists "TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM CENTRAL OHIO" (Ohio Foundation On The Arts, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Timothy C. Lloyd & David A. Brose)
A mix of old-timey and gospel material, performed by a strictly local cast. There are fiddle tunes, ballads and hymns, with performances by F. LeRoy Hawkins, Ruth Hiles, Rollie Hommon, Harold Henthorne, Woody Inboden, Ward Jarvis, Harvey Phelps, Shorty Ratliff and the Bluegrass Mountain Boys, Clyde C. Riggs, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church Mass Choir.

Various Artists "WSAI AND STROHS PRESENT: OHIO VALLEY COUNTRY MUSIC ALBUM NUMBER ONE" (19--?) (LP)
Nothing like having a beer company sponsor your country album. Now, I'm not here to comment on the relative quality of Stroh's (more of a Schlitz man, myself...) but this disc definitely qualifies as a highly-local collection of independent twang. The other sponsor was Cincinnati, Ohio radio station WSAI, which was a pop-rock Top Forty powerhouse for many years before switching to a country format in 1978... one presumes this album was intended to drum up listener interest and cement their country image, as well as boost some local talent. Although a couple of these artists also released a single or two, for most of them this LP seems to be their entire artistic legacy... The big exception was singer and banjo picker Pamela Rose Gadd, who delivers the bluegrass-y tune, "Kentucky Mountain Music," and at the time was being recruited for the revival edition of the New Coon Creek Girls band; she later formed the country Top Forty band Wild Rose, and recorded some solo stuff as well. Other than that, we've got folks like The Buffalo Brothers, Steve Cox, Bo Daniels, Billy Gant, Bobby Mackey, Pam Temple, Ron Spivey, Tom Wartman and Joe Wells, who were doubtless plugging away in local clubs, but basically this was about it as far as records went. Singer Nancy Nelson, who contributes the song "Flighty Sue," also released the song as a single on an indie label from Fairfield, Ohio, a suburb just north of Cincinnati. Final notes: WSAI of course flipped its format again a few years later, and Stroh's, after riding high in the '80s fell into decline and got bought out in the late 1990s. All good things must end.

Hick Music Index