THIS IS A FATHER’S DAY POST ... WITH GUITAAAAAAAAAAAAAUR!
For those who don't know, my dad was the guitarist for The Bluenotes, the rockabilly house band for Colonial Records of North Carolina in the 50s and early 60s. They backed artists like Doug Franklin and George Hamilton IV, and released a few singles of their own. Dad also wrote and arranged many of the songs they recorded.
A lot of Colonial 45s are now popping up on Spotify and other streaming services via some compilations that have been released in the last couple of years. This is the most comprehensive one - if you want to hear an obscure but interesting chapter in the 50s rockabilly scene out of North Carolina, now’s your chance.
PRODUCTION NOTE: I don't know how many of these Dad played on. Certainly a bunch of them, but not necessarily all.
Meanwhile, here’s the only 45 he released under his own name on Colonial.
A-side:
B-side:
FULL DISCLOSURE: Dad died in 1984, so I do get royalties whenever these songs get played. Which is hardly ever, since these records are pretty obscure, so the cheques aren't very big. Now that they're on digital services, that might change, but I just got my first statement since BMI started including digital royalties, and it's like literally $0.01 per stream. So you won't make me rich by listening to these.
BONUS TRACK: Dad was also A&R for Monument Records for a spell, which how Roy Orbison ended up recording one of his songs.
It wasn’t a hit at the time, and of course it doesn’t hold up to Orbison’s huge hits. But a lot of Orbison fans seem to dig it nowadays. So that’s nice.
Dad rock,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1644853.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
A lot of Colonial 45s are now popping up on Spotify and other streaming services via some compilations that have been released in the last couple of years. This is the most comprehensive one - if you want to hear an obscure but interesting chapter in the 50s rockabilly scene out of North Carolina, now’s your chance.
PRODUCTION NOTE: I don't know how many of these Dad played on. Certainly a bunch of them, but not necessarily all.
Meanwhile, here’s the only 45 he released under his own name on Colonial.
A-side:
Click to viewB-side:
FULL DISCLOSURE: Dad died in 1984, so I do get royalties whenever these songs get played. Which is hardly ever, since these records are pretty obscure, so the cheques aren't very big. Now that they're on digital services, that might change, but I just got my first statement since BMI started including digital royalties, and it's like literally $0.01 per stream. So you won't make me rich by listening to these.
BONUS TRACK: Dad was also A&R for Monument Records for a spell, which how Roy Orbison ended up recording one of his songs.
It wasn’t a hit at the time, and of course it doesn’t hold up to Orbison’s huge hits. But a lot of Orbison fans seem to dig it nowadays. So that’s nice.
Dad rock,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1644853.html. Please comment there using OpenID.