Dim Lights, Thick Smoke 1949

Performer: Various Artists
Engineer: William D. Holford
Producer: Don Law; Fred Rose; Walt Heebner; Henry Glover; Jesse Kaye; Lee Gillette; Art Satherley; Stephen H. Sholes; Paul Cohen; Charles Grean; Colin Escott (Reissue)
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel: Leon Payne, Eddy Arnold, Ernest Tubb, Floyd Tillman, George Morgan, Hank Thompson, Hank Williams, Jack Anglin, Jimmie Skinner, Johnnie Wright, Lester Flatt, Little Jimmy Dickens, Alton Delmore, Carter Stanley (vocals, guitar); Rabon Delmore (vocals, tenor guitar); Bill Nettles (vocals, mandolin); Henry Ellis "Redd" Stewart (vocals, fiddle); Wayne Raney (vocals, harmonica); Thomas Elmer "Tommy" Duncan, H.O. "Jack" Loyd, Dean McKinney, Evelyn McKinney, Rose Maddox, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Vaughn Monroe (vocals); Ralph Stanley (tenor, banjo); Bill Monroe (tenor, mandolin); Darrell "Pee Wee" Lambert, Clyde Carl Baum (baritone, mandolin); Earl Scruggs (baritone); Danny Perri, Jack Shook, Joyce "Red" Murrell, Don Costa, Euell Nettles, Robert Kiser, Chuck Wiginton, Gig Sparks, Bill Drake , Lloyd Perryman, William Edward "Zeb Turner" Grishaw, Grady Martin, Howdy Edwards, Al Hopkins, Ken Curtis, Roy Nichols, Karl Farr, Bob Nolan (guitar); Eldon Shamblin, James C. Grishaw, Billy Byrd (electric guitar); Herbert L. "Herb" Remington, Roy Ayres, William Brannon Robinson, J.D. Standlee, Bud Duncan, Ivan LeRoy Wiggins, Beecher "Pete" "Bashful Brother Oswald" Kirby, Frank Juricek, Ralph "Lefty" Nason, Wesley Webb West, Jerry Byrd, Leon McAuliffe, Shot Jackson (steel guitar); Eugene Schuler, Ocie Stockard (banjo); Johnny Gimble (mandolin, fiddle); Henry Maddox, Leo Herbert Raley, Cliff Maddox, Oscar Sullivan, Ray "Curly" Lunsford, Clyde Baum (mandolin); E. Braghittoni, E. Humma (violin); Thomas Lee Jackson Jr., Bob Shivers, Buck Lambert, Shorty Boyd, Robert "Bobby" Sumner, Ernie Hunter, Don Maddox, Dorris Paul Warren, Hal Smith , Joe Holley, Woody Carter, James Hall, Hugh Farr, Tommy Magness, Robert Berg (fiddle); James "Jimmy" Riddle, Lonnie Glosson (harmonica); William Edward Liebert, Milton DeLugg, Pee Wee King (accordion); J. West , Murel Wayne Johnson (saxophone); Lee C. Keith, R. LaSala, William Ellsworth "Alex" Brashear (trumpet); W. Mustard (trombone); Jack Kelly , Millard Kelso, Charlie Lewis , Jack Pleis, E. Johnson, Ralph Smith (piano); Sol Gamboa, Harold McDonald, Johnny Cuviello, Billy Jack Wills (drums); Merle Travis (sound effects). Liner Note Author: Colin Escott. Recording information: ACA (Audio Company Of America) Studio, Houston, TX (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Capitol Records Studios, Los Angeles, CA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Capitol Studio, Hollywood, CA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville, TN (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); CBS Studio, Radio Station WBBM, Chicago, IL (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); E.T. Herzog Studios, Cincinnati, OH (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Fox Theatre Building, Atlanta, GA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); King Studio, Cincinnatti, OH (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); KTRB, Modesto, CA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Radio Station KMLB, Monroe, LA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); RCA Studio A, Chicago, IL (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); RCA Victor Studio, Hollywood, CA (03/14/1947-??/??/1949); Shamrock Hotel, Houston, TX (03/14/1947-??/??/1949). Illustrators: Colin Escott; Dave Sax; Brenda Colladay; R.A. Andreas; Kevin Coffey. Photographers: Colin Escott; Dave Sax; Brenda Colladay; R.A. Andreas; Kevin Coffey. Unknown Contributor Role: Herbert M. Paige. 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. The 1949 volume in the Bear Family's Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series is one of the strongest. Country music became a true hotbed of activity as the '40s ended, with labels both major and independent recording and manufacturing titles in record numbers. The music on this 28-track set offers a small example of the wealth that was flooding jukeboxes, small independent radio stations, and even ending up in record shops across the nation. Some of the selections here, such as "Ghost Riders in the Sky" by Vaughn Monroe, and Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" are equaled by those of Leon McAuliffe's "Panhandle Rag," Bill Nettles' "Hadacol Boogie," and Johnnie & Jack's "What About You." Leon Payne's brilliant,. "I Love You Because," and Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Mule Train" are here as well. None of these cuts are necessarily rare, but placed in sequence like this makes for an amazing mix reproduced in almost uniformly excellent sound quality. Highly recommended. ~ Thom Jurek

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