bottle up and go

I just spent 2 hours on a post....and Blogspot lost it...Internal error, they said. Swell. I'm not remotely pissed off.

So, I'll keep this brief.

Two site of interest to all you Shane Macgowan fans (and who isn't, really?). Go HERE for a ton of Nips (Shane's first band) songs. And go HERE for a Shane and the Popes live bootleg. Bit rate's are low...sound's muddy...and all is good in the world.

I'm not sure how other bloggers manage to decide who or what they post when they approach the often daunting task of a new entry. Me, it's a bit of a struggle, perhaps because I can't seem to manage a daily post. I've been thinking of converting this site to an all "old-timey" format. But, then, I want to do a Flying Nun post (perfect Autumn music...The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, the Bats...something very good in the water there in New Zealand). And I want to talk about the mighty Joel RL Phelps, Billy Childish (and all things Thee), Howlin' Wolf, Merle Haggard, Robert Cage, the Holmes Brothers, drinkin' tunes, truckin' tunes, train tunes...well, you get the idea. It's a hard life i live, apparently. Note the tear in my beer.

So, Johnny Bond:

"Laconic, humorous, and self-deprecating, Johnny Bond was one of the true gentlemen of western music as well as an important songwriter and musician. Reared in south-central Oklahoma, Cyrus Whitfield Bond moved in 1937 to Oklahoma City, where he formed a trio with Jimmy Wakely and Scotty Harrell, known as the Bell Boys after their sponsor, the Bell Clothing Company. Regional success followed, and a move to Hollywood came in 1939, where they appeared in a Roy Rogers film, Saga of Death Valley. They landed a spot on Gene Autry’s CBS Melody Ranch radio show in 1940 and stayed together until Wakely’s solo career took off. Meanwhile, they pulled a clever musical scam: they recorded for Decca as the Jimmy Wakely Trio and for Columbia as Johnny Bond & the Cimarron Boys.
Although he composed hundreds of songs (“I Wonder Where You Are Tonight,” “Love Gone Cold,” “Your Old Love Letters,” “Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Those Gone and Left Me Blues,” and many others, mostly in the country idiom), Bond is best remembered for his western classic “Cimarron,” which he wrote in Oklahoma City as a theme song for the Bell Boys. As a recording artist, he enjoyed moderate success from his earliest recordings in 1941 through the 1950s, and even placed a few hits high on the charts during the late 1940s. In 1965, Bond’s recording career briefly revived with Starday and the novelty drinking song “10 Little Bottles,” which he had first recorded for Columbia in 1951.
Whereas Wakely’s career was meteoric, Bond’s was steadier: He remained a mainstay of the Melody Ranch cast until the show’s end in 1956, and his distinctive acoustic guitar runs became an Autry trademark on radio and record. He had small parts in many films, recorded frequently, began a music publishing business with Tex Ritter, spent nearly a decade as host and writer on the television show Town Hall Party, and in his later years became an author as well, writing a brief autobiography and a biography of Tex Ritter."

Me, I'm a big ole fan of Mr. Bond. Particularly his drinkin' songs...of which he has a ton. There aren't many of his albums currently available. Bloodshot has a great compilation, and the songs below are from "I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size" on Jasmine Records. As a matter of fact, to be a bit of a panhandler, but I'm looking for a bunch of his albums on vinyl. Particularly these (and even more particularly, the "drinkin' albums). So if, as yr rootin' through the record selection at yr local Salvation Army, you happen to run across any Bond albums, I'd be more than happy to reimburse, pay for shipping, and offer a generous finder's fee for said albums.

Without further ado (and for fear Blogspot's gonna lose my post again), I offer the hot western swing sounds, in hi-fi, of Mr. Johnny Bond:

Johnny Bond: I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size (mp3)

Johnny Bond: Set 'Em Up Joe (mp3)

Johnny Bond: Bartender's Blues (mp3)

(Click on song...go to Briefcase...download soberly from there)