Rex Allen, Jr. "The Very Best Of Rex Allen, Jr." (Warner Brothers, 1994)
Rex Allen, Jr. hit the charts as a solo singer in the early '70s, crooning low against bright, modern arrangements. Only towards the end of the decade did he start letting disco-y production styles creep into his songs, which (thankfully) he retreated from fairly quickly. This is a pretty good set of sunshine country -- not really my kinda music, but if you wanted to check this fella out, this would be a fine album to try. Covers his main hits from 1973-1982, when he got dropped from Warner, and shifted to an indie label.
Rex Allen, Jr. "Today's Generation" (SSS Records, 1970)
An unlikely debut, this topically-oriented album was recorded at the peak of the hippie era, and features unusual arrangements (for a country album, at least: sitars, mellotron, etc.) and numerous songs that address the issues of the time: drug use, social rebellion and war protests... It's a far cry from his career to come, as a successful countrypolitan crooner, but it does show how Allen had a wider frame of reference, even so early in his career.
Rex Allen, Jr. "Another Goodbye Song" (Warner Brothers, 1973) (LP)
Rex Allen, Jr. "Ridin' High" (Warner Brothers, 1976)
Rex Allen, Jr. "Rex" (Warner Brothers, 1977)
Rex Allen, Jr. "The Best Of Rex" (Warner Brothers, 1977)
Rex Allen, Jr. "Brand New" (Warner Brothers, 1978) (LP)
Rex Allen, Jr. "Me And My Broken Heart" (Warner Brothers, 1979) (LP)
Rex Allen, Jr. "Oklahoma Rose" (Warner Brothers, 1980) (LP)
Rex Allen, Jr. "The Cat's In The Cradle" (Warner Brothers, 1981) (LP)
Rex Allen, Jr. "The Singing Cowboy" (Warner Brothers, 1982) (LP)
Rex Allen, Jr. "On The Move" (Moonshine Records, 1984)
Rex Allen, Jr. & Rex Allen, Sr. "The Singing Cowboys" (Warner Brothers, 1995)
Rex Allen, Jr. "Songs I Wrote" (BPR Records, 2009)
Rex Allen, Jr. "It's Finally Christmas" (2009)
Born in Chicago, the son of singing cowboy Rex Allen, Rex Allen, Jr. was up on stage when he was barely out of diapers, performing with his dad and learning the ropes of show business at a very early age. He became a Top 40 country star in his early twenties and remained a vigorous, if mid-level hitmaker throughout the 1970s and early '80s. Although he started out as a more conventional country singer, he gradually began to specialize in the same sort of nostalgic "western" music as his father, singing about cowboys and horses and the open skies of the West. Here's a quick look at his work...
