I'm sure fans of this genre are familiar with Tennessee Ernie Ford's version of "Shotgun Boogie" but I'm not so sure how many heard this song by Cecil Gant, tho. The next tune "Snap Your Finger" (written by Grady Martin) is a great song that later also became a hit for Country singer Ronnie Milsap and Joe Henderson gives an outstanding performance here. Pretty much the same for Little Son Jackson, Bubber Johnson, Wade Flemons, Richard Berry, Brook Benton, and other artists included here. Louisiana bluesman Lazy Lester (a big C&W fan and scholar) recorded "If You Think I Lost You" by mistake. His producer and renowned C&W songwriter JD Miller originally wanted a white singer in Nashville to record it, before realising that actually having one of his Country songs done by a black blues artist could have earned him a hit too and he was actually right. Miller scored a huge hit with another C&W song he wrote "Rainin' In My heart" but with Slim Harpo, not Lazy Laster. I will include it in one of the next volumes of this series. I have to admit that "Joy Joy Joy" is not really a Country number (even if it sounds just like it) but a gospel tune. The version I included here is probably the closest thing to a Country song Little Richard ever recorded. Fantastic versions of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" by Johnny Nash, "Pistol Packing Mama" By Lloyd Price, and " You Are My Sunshine" by Dee Dee Sharp. Even if "Bloodshot Eyes" by Wynonie Harris is nowadays regarded as a "classic" R&B tune, it was originally a Country & Western hit by Hank Penny in 1951. The Platters are doing a very good version of "Blue Christmas" a song made popular in the Country world by Ernest Tubbs. The one and only Sam Cooke gives a very personal treatment of " Along The Navajo Trail" (one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time), followed by more greatness by Eugene Church and Laverne Baker but I gotta say Arthur Alexander doing Johnny Bond's "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight" is simply outstanding. The closing song "Pal Of Mine" sounds just like a classic Western Swing or Country & Western song, but bluesman Blind Willie McTell was already playing it in 1916 or 1917, long before record labels decided to "invent" genres and separate music according to the artist's color.
01. Mickey & Sylvia – I’m So Glad (Robinson) Rainbow 316 1955
02. Big Al Downing – When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again (Sullivan, Walker) Carlton 507 1959
03. King Curtis – Steel Guitar Rag (Stone, McCauliffe, Travis) King 5647 1962
04. Little Willie John – She Thinks I Still Care (Lipscomb, Duffy) King 5667 1962
05. Johnny Fuller – Haunted House (Geddins) Speciality 655 1959
06. Cecil Gant – Shotgun Boogie (Ford) Decca 9-48200 1951
07. Joe Henderson – Snap Your Fingers (Martin, Zinetis) Todd 1072 1962
08. Lil’ Son Jackson – No Money, No Love (Jackson) Gold Star 653 1949
09. Little Richard – Joy, Joy, Joy (Down In My Heart) (Gabriel) Mercury AMT1165 1961
10. Bubber Johnson – Keep A Light In The Window For Me (Johnson) King 4872 1956
11. Lazy Lester – If You Think I’ve Lost You (West) Excello 2219 1962
12. Joe Jones – McDonalds Daughter (P. D.) Roulette 25413 1961
13. Richard Berry – What Good Is A Heart (Tevis) Smash 1789 1962
14. Johnny Nash – I’m Movin’ On (Snow) Warner Bros. 5336 1963
15. Clyde McPhatter – Let’s Forget About The Past (Oliver, McPhatter) Mercury 71941 1962
16. Larry Williams – You Bug Me Baby (Williams, Bono) Speciality 615 1957
17. Lloyd Price – Pistol Packing Mama (Dexter) Double L 714 1963
18. Wynonie Harris – Bloodshot Eyes (Penny, Hall) Roulette 4291 1960
19. Dee Dee Sharp – You Are My Sunshine (Davis) Cameo 1032 1963
20. Brook Benton – The Same One (Benton, Otis) Mercury 71652 1960
21. Ivory Joe Hunter – A Tear Fell (Burton, Randolf) Atlantic 1086 1956
22. Wade Flemons – I Hope, I Think , I Wish (Pay) Vee Jay 471 1962
23. The Platters – Blue Christmas (Hayes, Johnson) Mercury SR60841 1963
24. Sam Cooke – Along The Navajo Trail (Chares, Lange, Marks) Keen 82112 1960
25. Eugene Church – Light Of The Moon (Church, Otis) King 5610 1962
26. Arthur Alexander – I Wonder Where You Are Tonight (Bond) Dot 16454 1963
27. Lavern Baker – Humpty Dumpty Heart (Boye) Atlantic 1150 1957
28. Blind Willie McTell – Pal Of Mine (McTell) Prestige Bluesville 1040 1961
