I grabbed this 59' blues side on the strength (for lack of a better word) of the vocals alone. They’re bad, but in a good, down-home sincerity, kinda way. I initially figured it for general cheap studio ineptitude until reading the snippet below, which gave me a new-found fondness for an already awesome offering.
See Bobo Jenkins & the Big Star story:
"He {Bobo Jenkins} called his studio and record label, Big Star Records. The first group he recorded was the Walton Brothers, featuring ten year old, Clarence Walton on the song, The Cat” and on side 2, “Midnight” (BS002). He then recorded their father, harmonica player, ‘Little Daddy’ James Walton, who came to Detroit in 1945. Backed by his sons, the record was called “Come On Tell Me What You Got” and the flip side called “Shady Grove” (BS-001)".So there you have it folks. It's a family affair of underage pickers and their mush-mouthed little bro. Sensational!
Note: A shiny new wooden nickel to whomever can tell me what the fuck this kid is sayin'!
The Cat - Clarence Walton & the Walton Brothers
Midnight - The Walton Brothers
2 comments:
I have a copy of this 45 as well. I am trying to get more info on it. My copy has a different label than yours. It has a much deeper and more well defined inner ring.
The artist listing is formated as Clarence Walton on the first line
and on the second line
Walton Brother Band on the Third line.
The text is smaller and under vocal a it has 12151 instead of ZTSC-96945. Are these difference do to being pressed in different plants. Would lower budget labels like this have been pressed at more than one plant?
Hey Anon,
Unfortunatly I'm not too familiar w/ label variations for this particular disc. I do know that a lot of independently run labels would use whatever label stock and type-set was available at the time, hence a lot of price-gouging for weird variants (needlessly so). As for the band themselves, I do have a bit of additional info.
http://www.detroitmusichistory.com/BoBo.html
"10 Year Old Clarence Walton. 1st 45 recorded on Big Star Records (Bobo Jenkin's legendary Detroit blues label). Bobo Jenkins produced midnight blue labels. In 1959, Bobo began working on his long-time dream - a recording studio. His first studio was built in a basement under his record shop at 5901 Antoinette. He called it his “paste board studio”. It was located near a supermarket and everyday when the stockboy would throw the empty cartons out, Bobo was there. “I had to go out and hustle card-board boxes to make this studio.” Bobo continues, “People used to think I was a junk man carrying all those boxes under my arm”. He had a little Webco tape recorder with one track. He was determined to fulfill his dream. “I’m not goin’ to give up. There’s only one thing that is gonna stop me and that is sickness or death.” He looks me straight in the eye and continues, “If I have to go and eat me a can of soup today, tomorrow I might be able to eat steak”. He laughed and said, “Yea, that’s right”.
M Bobo knew what he wanted, “I just need a four-track cause that’s all I need for blues - too many pieces don’t make it sound like the blues - just drums, couple of guitars and organ. See, I know the blues artists here, white and black. If I could just get enough for pressing and distribution, I can make it.”
"He called his studio and record label, Big Star Records. The first group he recorded was the Walton Brothers, featuring ten year old, Clarence Walton on the song, The Cat” and on side 2, “Midnight” (BS002). He then recorded their father, harmonica player, ‘Little Daddy’ James Walton, who came to Detroit in 1945. Backed by his sons, the record was called “Come On Tell Me What You Got” and the flip side called “Shady Grove” (BS-001)."
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