Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music: 1946 by Various Artists (CD, 2008)

Syd Nyman; Frank Walker; Lee Gillette; Art Satherley; Stephen H. Sholes; Bobby Miller; Colin Escott (Reissue)

Bear Family Records (Germany)

4000127169518

8050132965

Various Artists

CD

2008

Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Hillbilly Music: 1946

Country

Personnel: Wiley Morris, Zeke Morris (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Eddy Arnold, Elton Britt, Ernest Tubb, Clarence A. Poindexter, Lloyd Copas, T. Texas Tyler (vocals, guitar); Merle Travis (vocals, acoustic guitar); Joy May Schaller (vocals, banjo); Thomas Elmer "Tommy" Duncan, Roy Acuff (vocals); Golden Stewart, John Will Drake, Stanley Walker, Art Ryerson, Johnny Bond, Roy Lanham, Tony Mottola (guitar); James Erwin Short (electric guitar); Carl Mosher, Earl Joaquin Murphey, Frankie J. Marvin, Ivan LeRoy Wiggins, Wayne Fleming, Noel Boggs (steel guitar); Oscar Sullivan (mandolin); Mischa Russell, Samuel Reitz, Bertrand Hirsch, Mac Ceppos (violin); Fred "Red" Herron, James Robert Wills, Felton Harkness, James Howard "Speedy" McNatt, John Magness, Joe Holley (fiddle); Larry DePaul (accordion); Salvator Franzella, Justin Gordon (clarinet); A. William Graham, Wilmot "Holly" Hollinger, Jack McTaggart (trumpet); Millard Kelso, William Owen Bradley (piano); Monte Mountjoy, Milton Curtis "Muddy" Berry, Chauncey Morehouse (drums). Liner Note Author: Colin Escott. Illustrators: Colin Escott; Ivan M. Tribe; Dave Sax; Brenda Colladay; R.A. Andreas; Kevin Coffey. Photographers: Colin Escott; Ivan M. Tribe; Dave Sax; Brenda Colladay; R.A. Andreas; Kevin Coffey. Arranger: Harry Choates. Germany's Bear Family is well known for its stellar box set reissues of country, rock, and rhythm & blues recordings, as well as for single titles by deserving if not necessarily remembered American artists. Their mastering, production, and packaging set the industry standard for excellence. The six-volume Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series was released on CD in December of 2008 and covered the years 1945-1950, a strange and wonderful time in country music history born from of the end of the War Department's restrictions on shellac and the end of the recording ban, all near the end of the second world war. These discs all contain either 27 or 28 tracks, and are lavishly annotated with historical essays and track by track annotation by the esteemed Colin Escott, and contain with photographs of performers and record sleeves where available. 1946 was a stellar year for all forms of country music as this volume attests. It kicks off with the original version of "Atomic Power" by the Buchanan Brothers that walks a fine line between Western swing, hillbilly boogie, and proto-bluegrass vocal harmonies. Of course, Bob Wills was still at the pinnacle of his mighty run and is represented here by "New Spanish Two Step" and "Stay a Little Longer." Eddy Arnold's classic charting "That's How Much I Love You" is in this mix, as is Bill Monroe's "Kentucky Waltz," with entries by Merle Travis, Gene Autry, the Delmore Brothers, Al Dexter with his groovy "Wine, Women and Song," and Cowboy Copas' "Tragic Romance." Some of the true standouts, though, are reserved for Hank Penny's "Steel Guitar Stomp," Spade Cooley's "Three Way Boogie," and Grandpa Jones' "Eight More Miles to Louisville." The sound qualit

Mojo (Publisher) (p.123) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] masterly affair, collecting some of the earliest examples of bluegrass by Bill Monroe, Harry Choates' original version of the CAjun classic 'Jole Blon'...[and] hits by Tex Ritter, Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff...and others..."

E1 Distribution (USA)

Stereo

1

Germany