Brunswick 6847 – The Boswell Sisters – 1932/1931

Posted on November 9, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Please note: this article dates to Old Time Blues’ first year and does not meet the standard of quality to which more recent postings are held. Thank you for your understanding.

This website needs more Boswell Sisters. It’s going into its sixth month of existence and still only has one article featuring the Boswells. That simply won’t do. After all, it was the Boswell Sisters that dragged the center of my interests back from the 1940s and 1950s into the 1920s and 1930s, and they’ll always have a special place in my heart. To remedy this unacceptable omission, here are two of the Boswells’ finest sides, one of my favorite records.

Brunswick 6847 was recorded on two separate occasions, the first side was recorded December 7, 1932, and the second was recorded a year and a half earlier, April 23, 1931, both sides in New York City. The first side, “Crazy People”, features only a rhythm backing by Dick McDonough on guitar and Artie Bernstein on string bass, along with Martha Boswell on piano. The flip side, “Shout, Sister, Shout” features a truly all-star accompaniment directed by Victor Young, including either Mannie Klein or Jack Purvis on trumpet, Tommy Dorsey on trombone, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto sax, Joe Venuti on violin, Arthur Schutt on piano, Eddie Lang on guitar, and Chauncey Morehouse on drums and vibraphone.

Although the Boswells’ rendition of Edgar Leslie and James V. Monaco’s “Crazy People” was recorded in 1932, a few months after the sisters filmed their performance of the song for The Big Broadcast, it was not given a record issue until this one in 1934.

Crazy People, recorded December 7, 1932 by The Boswell Sisters.

The Boswells’ classic performance of Clarence Williams’ “Shout, Sister, Shout” on the other hand was issued originally on Brunswick 6109 in 1931, and again issued on Brunswick 6783, before this issue in 1934.

Shout, Sister, Shout, recorded April 23, 1931 by The Boswell Sisters.

Broadcast Twelve 3203 – Carson Robison and his Pioneers – 1932

Posted on August 27, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Please note: this article dates to Old Time Blues’ first year and does not meet the standard of quality to which more recent postings are held. Thank you for your understanding.

The other day I had the pleasure of acquiring a small selection of British records, which are always a treat for their diversity of content. Among my souvenirs was this one on the Broadcast Twelve label. Given that it is by an American artist, I first presumed that it was recorded in the United States and exported to the UK for pressing. However, I questioned whether Broadcast Twelve had ever even used imported masters, as some labels did, and I began to remember hearing about Carson Robison visiting Europe around the time the record was made.

Sure enough, in 1932, Carson Robison and his Pioneers embarked on one of the first country music tours of the British Isles, and Broadcast Twelve 3203 was recorded in London, England in May of 1932. Personnel includes Carson Robison on guitar, harmonica and vocal with John and Bill Mitchell on banjos and guitars, Frank Novak on string bass, and an unknown fiddle.

I don’t know why it is, but it seems like somehow American artists played with more vigor and gusto in recordings made while touring overseas.

On the first side, Robison’s Pioneers don’t disappoint with Stephen Foster’s “Oh! Susannah”, which features the Mitchell Brothers really tearing it up on their banjos. Seems to me, Carson Robison doesn’t get enough credit, the more I hear of him, the better I like his work.

Oh! Susannah, recorded May 1932 by Carson Robison and his Pioneers.

“Sweet Virginia” can’t live up to the standard set by the “A” side, though it does feature a nice piece of Carson Robison’s whistling, and a vocal by Pearl Pickens.

Sweet Virginia, recorded May 1932 by Carson Robison and his Pioneers.

Updated with improved audio on May 8, 2017, and on October 13, 2017.

Victor 23781 – Jimmie Rodgers – 1932

Posted on July 14, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

Please note: this article dates to Old Time Blues’ first year and does not meet the standard of quality to which more recent postings are held. Thank you for your understanding.

Around this time of the year, the weather starts to heat up, and on trees all around the South (and California), the peaches begin to ripen, so I figure what better time to listen to this classic by the Father of Country Music, Mr. Jimmie Rodgers.

Victor number 23781, issued in their special 23500 series intended for rural audiences, was recorded late in Jimmie Rodgers’ career on August 15 and 29, 1932 in Camden, New Jersey. It was issued in April of 1933, a mere two months before Rodgers’ untimely death. I had the fortune of finding this great record in the backroom of one of my favorite record stores down in Austin.

First up, Jimmie sings “Peach Picking Time Down in Georgia”, recorded on the earlier date, accompanied by members of Clayton McMichen’s Georgia Wildcats, including the great McMichen on fiddle, who shares composer’s credit for the tune, on fiddle, Oddie McWinders picking the banjo, and Hoyt “Slim” Bryant filling in for the ailing Rodgers on guitar.

Peach Picking Time Down in Georgia, recorded August ,1932 by Jimmie Rodgers.

Peach Picking Time Down in Georgia, recorded August 15, 1932 by Jimmie Rodgers.

Next, Jimmie sings the waltzy, western themed “Prairie Lullaby”, recorded on the later date, again with Slim Bryant on guitar, and an unknown accompaniment on two violins, clarinet, and piano. This could be classified as one of Jimmie’s efforts to tailor his music to the tastes of the popular music consumer of 1932, still makes for fine listening.

Prairie Lullaby, recorded August 29, 1932 by Jimmie Rodgers.

Updated on January 1, 2017, and with improved audio on July 6, 2017.

Superior 2815 – Happy Joe Hill – 1932

Posted on June 12, 2015 by R. Connor Montgomery

This record, featuring two guitar-accompanied popular songs by one Happy Joe Hill, was recorded by the Starr Piano Company quite late in their history, at a point when the Great Depression had all but killed off sales completely. The Superior label was introduced by Starr Piano around the time their Gennett label disappeared from the market. With the Great Depression only getting worse as time passed, all the record companies were in bad shape financially, the Starr Piano Company especially so, and as such, Superior records aren’t very commonly encountered.

Happy Joe Hill—per George Kay’s Superior Catalog published in Record Research—was a pseudonym for Harold J. Leslie. Leslie recorded four titles for the Starr Piano Company in 1932, consisting of “‘Leven Pounds of Heaven” and “I Wanna Count Sheep (Till the Cows Come Home)”, issued on Superior 2803 and Champion 16404, and “Rhymes” and “I Could Expect it From Anyone but You”, issued on Superior 2815 and Champion 16413. His releases on the Champion label were credited as Jack Leslie. With a single guitar backing lending to a more rural, folksy feel, his songs differ a bit from most of the standard pop fare of the period, and make for fairly interesting listening. Compare to Charlie Palloy’s solo recordings for Crown records in 1933, at a time when that company was near its end. Whether or not he intentionally borrowed his performing name from the union agitator of the same name I do not know. Outside of his brief recording career, I can find no details regarding Leslie’s life, professional or private. If anyone out there has any information regarding “Happy Joe Hill”, please comment, I’d love to know.

Superior 2815 was recorded in March of 1932 by Happy Joe Hill, accompanied by guitar, likely his own. Unless I’m misinterpreting the data in Kay’s Superior Catalog, it shipped out a total of only forty-two copies!

The first side of this record features Happy Joe’s very polite and sincere rendition of Leslie Sarony’s “Rhymes”, with somewhat Americanized lyrics. I’ll eventually post the version by Jack Hylton’s Orchestra here too, so you can compare.

Rhymes, recorded March 1932 by Happy Joe Hill.

On the flip, and with a bit more background noise, Hill performs “I Could Expect it From Anyone But You”, written by Al Hoffman, Al Goodhart, and Ed Nelson and published by DeSylva, Brown and Henderson. Composer Al Hoffman sued or at least threatened to sue the BMI in 1946 over similarities between this song and the pop hit “Laughing on the Outside (Crying on the Inside)”—and rightly so, the latter song “borrowed” close to the entire melody of this 1932 flop.

I Could Expect it From Anyone Else But You, recorded March 1932 by Happy Joe Hill

Updated on June 15, 2017 and with improved audio on June 21, 2017.