Eddie Bond "Sings Greatest Country Gospel Hits" (Philips International/Advance Records, 1962-?) (LP)
Eddie Bond "My Choice Is Eddie Bond" (Country Circle Records, 1966-?) (LP)
The first secular album from Eddie Bond, though the liner notes by deejay Jim Wells, of KWAM, Memphis. peg this as Bond's first album. There's no date on it, it seems to be a mid-1960s release, with covers of songs such as "Big Boss Man," although most of the record seems to be original material written by Bond, including a few tunes he'd been performing locally since the 1950s. Among the juicier titles are "Double Duty Loving," "Only One Minute More," "Someday I'll Sober Up." No info on who was backing him up, though, alas.
Eddie Bond "...Sings Favorites" (Millionaire Records, 19--?) (LP)
Eddie Bond "Caution: Eddie Bond Music Is Contagious" (Tab Records, 1972) (LP)
The title track to this album, "Caution," was also released as a single on the Stax label's imprint, Enterprise Records, leading to a subsequent album tied to the release of the Buford Pusser biopic, Walking Tall.
Eddie Bond "The Legend Of Buford Pusser" (Stax/Enterprise Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Jerry Chesnut, Jack Clement & Eddie Bond)
For those of you not around in the early 1970s, when the movie Walking Tall was in theaters -- or in constant re-runs on TV -- let me fill you in on the backstory. Buford Pusser was the hard-ass sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, fictionalized in numerous films and TV shows as an incorruptible, indestructible good ole boy tank of a man, who cleaned up the Tennessee border of the so-called Dixie Mafia, despite numerous attempts to kill him. Indeed, in real life Mr. Pusser was shot and stabbed on several occasions, and during one assassination attempt, his wife was shot and killed, an incident which some say transformed the already-volatile lawman into a remorseless vigilante. The fictional versions of his life were generally fetishistic glorifications of manly retribution and violence, with the portrayal of Pusser as an unstoppable law-and-order reformer making Walking Tall roughly into the redneck equivalent of Serpico. Country singer Eddie Bond claims to have been one of Pusser's deputies, and he really throws himself into this concept album which is loosely based on Pusser's career. The album is packed with jaunty, uptempo, Jerry Reed-esque redneck tunes, as well as a few honkytonk weepers and gospel songs that are sort of shoe-horned into the project. He's got a good band backing him, and though they aren't identified on the album, it's probably safe to assume that more than a few were from the Stax/Muscle Shoals studio scene.
Various Artists "A NIGHT AT THE EDDIE BOND RANCH" (Tab Record Company, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Eddie Bond)
Apparently Eddie Bond have his own ranch, out on West Mitchell Road near Memphis... Whether it was a live music venue, a recording studio, or what, I'm not sure, but regardless, this is kind of a fun little obscuro-oddity album. By and large, the participants seem to have been real, live good old boys, charmingly unpolished, amateur musicians, dudes with thick rural accents and a relaxed, down home vibe. By and large they're kind of indistinguishable (although one guy sang with a lisp, which is kinda cute) though a couple of them had rather colorful names, such as Cousin Bo-Jack and Major Pruett, along with the more prosaic Dale Beaty, Bobby Davis, Leon Griffin and Wilford Ray. The backing band, The Stompers, was a rock-solid country crew, with plenty of steel guitar for those who like that kinda thing. Standing out from the pack was gal singer Sandi Stevens, who sounds quite a bit like Skeeter Davis on her lone number, "Tonight I'll Celebrate." Bond steals the show with a remarkable divorce/breakup song, "I'm Free," while Cousin Bo-Jack (Bobby) Killingsworth plays two songs, one at the end of each side of the original LP. Apparently it was Killingsworth who introduced Eddie Bond to rough-and-tumble lawman Buford Pusser, leading to Bond recording the hit single, "The Ballad of Buford Pusser," which doubtless helped with a few payments on the old ranch, and probably helped finance this album. Anyway, good stuff here.
Eddie Bond "...Sings Carl Smith" (Balser Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Russ Balser)
A tribute to Carl Smith? Dude, I'm in.
Rough-edged singer Eddie Bond (1933-2013) was a pioneering rockabilly star from Memphis, Tennessee. Back in the day, Bond was famous for being the guy who told a teenage Elvis Presley not to quit his day job when Elvis auditioned for a gig with Bond's band, back in 1954. That anecdote naturally overshadows a lot of Bond's own accomplishments and career, but even though he had limited success at the time, Bond was later lauded by rockabilly fans and his early stuff is available in various collections. Also like many first-generation rockabilly artists, Eddie Bond turned towards country music when the rock'n'roll scene died down, and recorded a few LPs in the early '70s that were pretty twangy and rural. In the early 'Seventies he recorded the theme song for the movie, Walking Tall, an association that breathed life into his career for several years to come. Here's a quick look at his work...
