Search - Gene Autry :: That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine

A FLAWED GEM

LAWRENCE OF THE RADIO | Bergenfield NJ USA | 05/31/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is a pleasure for students of the media, early music scholars and fans of Gene Autry to explore this package of early "surviving" recordings by the Oklahoma media giant but there are errors, deceptions and erroneous suppositions in the accompanying book.

Before covering the recordings I turn to the accompanying book which is divided into four sections; a biography by Packy Smith with a sidebar on

Mother Jones, a discography by Tony Russell w/ Frank Mare, and a gallery of labels and sleeves, all followed by a contents list by disc and alphabetic order. I'll address each separately.

The article on Mother Jones and Archie Green, is interesting with no discernible errors but the mention of William Calaway will be returned to later.

The label gallery is a feast for the eye but unfulfilling. It is a bit of slight of scissors, so to speak.

The illustrations of the sleeves with labels are only pasteups of particular labels used over each sleeve. The Clifford label & sleeves are Australian, not from USA as marked. Of particular interest is the Rex label example which, though carrying a song recorded during the period covered is beyond the scope of this package having been released after Gene went to Hollywood. This time discrepancy carries over into the discography section.

Tony Russell has brought the discographical work from his Country Music Discography (Oxford Univ. Pr.) and it has been updated with help from Frank Mare. One of the leading problems with virtually every discography is that though they list all releases made from a particular master they fail to note WHEN those records were released. This lack can lead to misunderstanding of exactly what a collector may have. Like the Rex example cited above released long after it was recorded the Regal-Zonophone label has led to confusion. Because the label carries the artist as "Gene Autry - The Yodeling Cowboy" and they may have the recordings of his earliest efforts and assume that he was "the Yodeling Cowboy" early on, they would be wrong. Regal-Zonophone came into existence in 1932 long after the recordings were made, which they licensed to get themselves going, and over a year after Gene was established as the Yodeling Cowboy on WLS, not KVOO.

Another problem with the discography is the lack of composer credits.

Only those credits shown on labels were included without any effort to learn the composers of the other songs. Additionally there was no attempt to clarify why the label of one release of "Frankie and Johnnie" was credited to Jimmie Rodgers and the other was to Ren Shields and the Leighton Brothers.

One might also ask why "I'll be Thinking of You Little Gal", cuts 5 and 6 on disc one are listed with the same master and take number but said to be different takes.

A subject that really needs correcting is the point of view regarding the Cova Manufacturing Company. QRS was NOT their label. It was the label of the QRS company, producer of piano rolls, who was making their third attempt to enter the record market. Their first utilized pressings by the Emerson Company and then Gennett. Their second stab was produced by Gennett and their third, and ultimate failure, was having records produced by Cova, a production facility without a label.

The credit W C Calaway on "Death of Mother Jones" and W R Calaway on "Dallas County Jail Blues" are the same person; William R Calaway. Why the error on the record? They are common. Calaway, if living in Deadwood would have been characterized as a claim jumper - in Gene's time he was an A & R man and record talent scout who attempted, successfully sometimes, to copyright other artist's work under his name. He failed on "Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff because it had already been registered but he did get his hooks into Gene's "Dallas County Jail Blues." Gene recouped his rights at renewal time by registering an audio cassette.

A different sort of gripe regards the two Frankie Marvin songs (Old Man Duff and I'm a Truthful Fellow) that have backing guitar by Gene. For historic reference it is interesting (Hell! Both songs are fun) but they could just as well have included the George Gobel sides for which Gene provided guitar. If they wanted REAL historic signifigance they would have included the version of "That Silver Haired Daddy" recorded eight months prior to Gene and Jimmy. The earlier recording was by Jimmy Long and a different Frisco employee - Cliff Keiser on Gennett and Supertone.

Packy Smith's bio piece on Gene does bring up some interesting facts, many suppositions and fails to rise to a truly illuminating level because he leans to heavily on the 1978 Autry autobiography "Back in the Saddle Again." This was a life misremembered by Gene and written down by a sportswriter, Mickey Herskowitz, without insight, or factual grounding in Gene's background. The work also suffered from a lack of fact checking by Doubleday editors and was issued in the top of the line printing and binding they reserved for their book club editions.

The story regarding Gene's inspiration and first trip to New York is foggy at best. I have no doubt that Will Roger's stopped by the telegraph office and offered the young singer some words of encouragement which he took to heart but the details are questionable. Packy says Will was visiting his sister at a nearby ranch when she, in fact, lived in the town of Chelsea in a house that still stands. When he relates how Gene was working relief in Butler and stopped by the diner run by the Marvin brothers mother he didn't check to see that the Frisco line didn't serve Butler, the Santa Fe did and Gene didn't work for the Santa Fe.

There is no documentation so far to prove Gene was Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy" on KVOO. He had another title which was reported in a magazine. The whole Oklahoma Yodeling Cowboy routine was instituted when he was "imported" to WLS by Art Satherley. Those publicity photos spread throughout the article were all taken in Chicago at one or two sessions to support the identity both for the radio station and for use on sheet music. There are no such publicity pieces found so far demonstrating any special identity at KVOO.

His work there with Jimmie "Catfish" Wilson's band was strictly for whatever radio program they worked together. On public appearance outings they were separate on the presentations and on one occasion the Catfish Band recorded in Dallas during the same period that Gene was recording in New York.

Packy tries to put Bob Miller's words in Gene's mouth regarding the Death of Jimmie Rodgers. An unproved assertion.

One last item is a statement Packy makes about Gene working full time on the railroad until he left in 1932. The personnel files and other sources indicate otherwise. So does common sense. How could Gene work a daily morning show on WLS, a show on WJJD, and who knows how many other times during the day, and tour with a show out of Chicago when he was working on the railroad in the Tulsa region?

One can only hope that the forthcoming Gene Autry biography, due out in late 2007, will clarify myths, misremembrances and stick in some solid documented facts.

Oh, yes - now the music.

Once again Bear Family deserves a giant pat on the back for their restoration work although one gripe is that they had better sound from the Victor sides on their early vinyl picture disc release "Yellow Rose of Texas,"

Since the sides are presented in chronological order they do present some problems comparing various takes from different companies. Run side by side the differences in arrangement, performance and mike work are very noticeable.

It is easy to hear how the sound quality of the Gennett material differs and whether it was overloaded microphone distortion or something in the chemistry of the disc masters is not known. The best way to break down the listening experience I found was to group the multi takes, then the remaining Jimmie Rodgers material and finally all the single discs, all in chronological order.

Questions arise about the origin of the "Hattie" yodel that manifested itself mostly on the Gennett recordings. The Jimmie Rodgers material is important not so much because Gene may or may not have been imitating Jimmie (they had the same limited range) but because of the financial benefits to both parties. Gene had a special royalty agreement regarding his recordings of Rodgers' product. Gene got a slice of the pie when he recorded and Jimmie got a slice to increase what he was already receiving from his Victor releases.

Gene's enunciation needed a lot of work since he was prone to sing "woik," "toin," "soich," and "woild" for "work," "turn," "search," and "world." Art Satherley seemed to have curtailed this problem in the ARC recordings.

As far as the two "blue" songs - it is no surprise that he did the material, the surprise is that he did it where it could be recorded.

Enjoy the set! There is enough here to keep a lot of people listening and evaluating for a good time to come."

The Singing Cowboy's early music

Wayne Engle | Madison, IN United States | 04/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gene Autry's recording career began in 1929, and all his records from then through 1933 can be heard on this splendid boxed-set album from the Bear Family of Germany.

Those not familiar with any aspect of Autry's career except "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and his western movies will be pleasantly surprised at a lot of the contents of this 225-song, nine-disc set. It spans Autry's early white country blues recordings, in the style of the immortal Singing Brakeman Jimmie Rodgers; through his early "hillbilly" songs, as they were called in those days; to his well-known songs of the range and the cowboy; through four heart-felt tribute songs to Rodgers after his death of tuberculosis in 1933.

Gene's singing styles vary widely during the four-year span. In the blues numbers, some of which were written by him and are both funny and risque, his voice is high-pitched but true, with expert yodeling; Gene Autry was actually a better singer than his idol Jimmie Rodgers.

By the time we reach the Rodgers memorial songs of 1933, Autry's voice has deepened and enriched, with a beautiful vibrato. And on the first tribute, "The Death of Jimmie Rodgers," Autry's sorrow at his idol's passing is very plain in his voice.

And, of course, anyone who has read earlier reviews of this set probably knows there are a couple of "raunchy" songs sung by Autry, and placed at the tail-end of the ninth and final disc. It is a shock, admittedly, to hear Gene Autry singing bawdy lyrics in the same matter-of-fact style that he would later perform his theme song, "Back in the Saddle Again." But then, he was human just like us all, a young man, and according to recent research, with an eye for the ladies.

The only fault I would find with this set is excessive repetition. Some songs are heard in three, four or five different versions. But it does help the listener to hear how Autry grew and improved as a performer over time.

All in all, this is an excellent collection of the early work of one of the 20th Century's best popular musicians, the Singing Cowboy. I heartily recommend it.

"

Absolutely outstanding!

Maheen Wickramasinghe | Ontario Canada | 06/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To all Gene Autry and country music fans! I received this award winning box set this past Monday and boy! Is it ever unbelievable! I am having such a blast listening to all these early Autry recordings and the way he sings and plays the guitar like the legendary Jimmie Rodgers is enough to give you goose pimples. I am a 21 year old guy and I have been blind all my life. I have been a huge country and western music fan since the age of 13. Gene Autry really puts his heart and sole in his music but folks, if you are looking for him singing songs such as Back In The Saddle Again, Be Honest With Me, Rudolph The Red Nose Raindeer and others, this set is not for you. If you are looking for Gene's early recordings as a Jimmie Rodgers impercenator, you absolutely deserve this set! I consider Bear Family to be the number 1 record company of all time! They are my hero! I really and truly love making friends especially country music fans so if any of you would like to Email me you are more than welcome to at maheen5894@sympatico.ca or better yet, if you would like to chat you may add me to MSN at maheen_the_music_man@hotmail.com that is the best way to communicate I find! Well done Bear Family you are the best! Yours very sincerely, Maheen."