Dim Lights, Thick Smoke 1950

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

Notes: Personnel: Arkie Shibley, Clarence E. Snow, Carl "The Truth" Smith, Floyd Tillman, Hank Penny, Hank Williams, Hardrock Gunter, Jimmie Skinner, Lefty Frizzell, Little Jimmy Dickens, Red Foley, Skeets McDonald, Webb Pierce, Carter Stanley (vocals, guitar); Billy Bowman (vocals, steel guitar); Myrl "Rusty" McDonald, Jimmie Widener (vocals, tenor banjo); Moon Mullican (vocals, piano); Teddy K. Wilds, Ernest Tubb, Jerry Elliott, Gene Autry, Kay Starr, Stuart Hamblen, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Billy Jack Wills (vocals); Ralph Stanley (tenor, banjo); Darrell "Pee Wee" Lambert (baritone, mandolin); Grady Martin (guitar, electric guitar); Allen Massey, Maurice Cameron Hill, Floyd "Ole" Rasmussen, Eddie Kirk, Frank Kinman, Dick Morgan, Luther Roundtree, Lucky Moore, Norman Stevens, Hazel Dooley, Gene Thomas , Hank Garland, Harold Bradley, Earl E. Finley Jr., Ivy J. "Jimmy" Bryant, Billy Byrd, Jimmy Martin , Johnny Bond, Lester Flatt, Buddy Attaway (guitar); Eldon Shamblin, Bob McNett, Robert Arrington (electric guitar); Don Helms, Coy Crank, Rev. Billy Robinson, Buster Magness, William A. Tonneson, Ted Crabtree, J.D. Standlee, Joseph Hale III Talbot, Wesley Webb West, Jimmie Curtis, Noel Boggs, Shot Jackson, Ted Daffan (steel guitar); Earl Scruggs, Jackie Hays, Rudy Lyle (banjo); Luther Jay "Luke" Wills (tenor banjo); Johnny Gimble (mandolin, fiddle); Curly Seckler, Clarence McGarr, Leo Herbert Raley, Ray "Curly" Lunsford, Bill Monroe (mandolin); Benny Gill, William Miller (violin); Dale Potter, Jimmy Brown , Gerald M. Rivers, Louise Helsing, Charles Hurta, Henry Boatman, Johnny Strawn, Merle "Red" Taylor, Rocky Stone, Henry Newton "Tommy" Vaden, Pee Wee Stewart, Benny Sims, Harold Hensley, Lester Woodie, Joe Holley, Woody Carter, Keith Coleman, Tex Atchison, Vassar Clements, Carl Cotner (fiddle); William Edward "Billy" Liebert (accordion, piano); Paul Sells, Jerry Carter (accordion); Don Harlan (clarinet); William Owen Bradley (piano, organ); Clarence Cagle, Edward Austin Strode, Joe Bardelli, Madge Sutee, Mancel Tierney, Ralph Smith (piano); Dorothy Borchers (organ); Howard Davis , Dickie Harrell, Joseph Donald Mutto, Jack Peltier, Milton Curtis "Muddy" Berry, Tommy Perkins, Farris Coursey (drums). Liner Note Author: Colin Escott. Recording information: ACA Studio, Houston, TX; Brown Radio Productions, Nashville, TN; Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Capitol Studio, Hollywood, CA; Castle Studio At The Tulane Hotel, Nashville, TN; Cincinnati, OH; Dallas, TX; Detroit, MI; E.T. Herzog Studio, Cincinnati, OH; Hollywood, CA; Jim Beck Studio, Dallas, TX; KVOO Studios, Tulsa, OK; KWKH Studio, Shreveport, LA; Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA; Radio Station WAPI or WBRC, Birmingham, AL; Tacoma, WA; WREN, Topeka, KS. Illustrators: Colin Escott; Dave Sax; Brenda Colladay; R.A. Andreas; Kevin Coffey. Photographers: Colin Escott; Dave Sax; Brenda Colladay; R.A. Andreas; Kevin Coffey. Arranger: Webb Pierce. 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 final volume in the Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series covers the year 1950. As reflected in the track choices here, hillbilly boogie is in its full maturity, and the serious roots of hard honky tonk music are entering the jukebox and radio eras. There are some killer holdovers from the prime of Western swing, such as Moon Mullican and Bob Wills (whose classic "Faded Love" is included). But more the norm are performers like Hank Penny (with "Bloodshot Eyes"), Little Jimmy Dickens ("Hillbilly Fever"), Lefty Frizzell ("If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time") , Ernest Tubb ("Letters Have No Arms"), Jimmie Skinner("You Don't Know My Mind"), Carl Smith ("I Overlooked an Orchid While Looking for a Rose"), Hank Williams ("Long Gone Lonesome Blues"), and Webb Pierce. The latter's killer "Drifting Texas Sand" is one of the real high points here. Floyd Tillman's "I've Got the Craziest Feeling," and Red Foley's "Sugarfoot Rag" also lend to the overall wealth of this collection. But the true stellar moment is one of the earliest rock & roll tunes in Hardrock Gunter's "Birmingham Bounce,"(complete with a wah-wah sounding steel guitar!) that kicks the pants off Bill Haley's "Shake, Rattle & Roll," and predates Chuck Berry by a few years -- though to be fair, this sounds like a hillbilly version of the music played by Louis Jordan. In any case, this final volume is a fitting send-off to one of the most successfully curated of the bunch. ~ Thom Jurek

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