Born in Moline, Illinois, baritone crooner Jack Barlow (1924-2011) was strictly a country second-stringer -- a DJ, and later a jingle singer and voiceover artist, Barlow had only a handful of hits and was never able to crack into the Top 20. He recorded only a few albums (along with several uncollected early singles) and later in his career came up with a Ben Colder-ish comedic alter-ego called Zoot Fenster, where he scored his final hits. Here's a quick look at his work...
Zoot Fenster "The Man On Page 602" (Antique Records, 2008)
So far (as of 2014) there are no best-of collections of Jack Barlow's work, other than this set that gathers the novelty tracks he recorded under the pseudonym "Zoot Fenster," an alias he created in the mid-1970s after hanging up his hat as a chart artist...
Jack Barlow "Baby, Ain't That Love" (Dot Records, 1969) (LP)
Jack Barlow "Son Of The South" (Dot Records, 1969) (LP)
Jack Barlow "Catch The Wind" (Dot Records, 1972) (LP)
(Produced by Ricci Mareno, Charlie Black & Jerry Gillespie)
Barlow's last major-label album had him cast as a Waylon Jennings soundalike, with several songs featuring strong backbeats and rock-tinged arrangements. He quickly veers into softer-sounding countrypolitan ballads, some of which are dreary although a couple are classically kitschy, like Billy Mize's "Somewhere In Texas" and "Early Morning Sunshine," which is one of those mildly erotic, middle-aged-guy-getting-laid-in-the-morning country songs which were in vogue in the early '70s. He covers some ho-hum stuff, like "Take Me Home, Country Roads," Freddy Hart's "Easy Lovin'," and "They Call The Wind Maria," although the title track, "Catch The Wind" was one of his bigger career hits, peaking at #26. It's one of several songs composed by the album's producers -- Mareno, Black and Gillespie -- who apparently bankrolled this album in part as a songwriter's demo. All in all, I found this enjoyable -- there's both uptempo and slower material that has a nice early '70s kitsch factor to it... worth a spin, for sure!
Jack Barlow "I Live The Country Songs I Sing" (Antique Records, 1976)
(Produced by Dallas Corey & Don Johnson)
About half the tracks were recorded in Oklahoma, with the other cut half in Nashville, using a bunch of "usual suspect" studio players. Six songs were written or co-written by producer Dallas Corey, along with a couple by Red Tuck and one song, "Too Young To Understand," which was credited to Jack Barlow.
