Born in Oklahoma and transplanted to Bakersfield, singer Vancie Flowers (1924-2008) was about as hardcore and unreconstructed a West Coast hard-country singer as you're ever likely to find. Mrs. Flowers was a prolific songwriter and penned much of her own material, including many of the tracks on her long string of singles... Flowers also wrote a few songs recorded by others, including fellow Bakersfield belle Kay Adams, who recorded her trucker tune, "Six Days Awaiting." The contours of Vancie Flowers's career are pretty hazy: her obituary in The Bakersfield Californian merely mentioned that she learned to play guitar while still living in Oklahoma under her maiden name of Vancie Littlefield, and that she "wrote and recorded many songs for which she received several awards."
Her records were mostly released on the independent Pike Records label, which was owned and operated by her husband, Roy Lee Flowers (1919-2007) who she married while living in Oklahoma, and moved out to Califorrnia with sometime in the 'Fifties. Mr. Flowers started up Pike Records in 1958, and though Vancie was by far the most frequently-recorded artist in their roster, the label had an impressive lineup of country unknowns, as well as a few rockabilly artists such as Ronnie Sessions and Al Hendrix and a surprisingly strong showing from several mega-obscure garage rock groups out of the Central Valley... There's even an early single from Bonnie Owens! Some of the earliest Pike singles give an address in rural Arvin, California, a tiny ag-and-oil town just south of Bakersfield which was the site of the first federally-run migrant labor camp, opened in 1937 at the height of the Great Depression, and a center of local Okie culture. The Flowers family were devoted Jehovah's Witness church members, though as far as you tell, this didn't affect their musical output.
Vancie Flowers also recorded a couple of singles on the influential Crest Records, based in Hollywood, and at least some of her recording sessions were held at venues such as the Buck Owens Studios. In the mid-1960s Mrs. Flowers released one lone vinyl LP, which included many tracks from the singles listed here, and years later released a second album, which seems to have been cassette-only. Here's a quick look at her career.
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1959-?) (#5901) (7")
A: "What A Man" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "I Threw My Orchid In The Water" (c: Vancie Flowers)
(Producer not identified)
This single may have been her first record (though I wouldn't be surprised if over time other indie-label offerings emerged) and features two songs that were re-released years later, with different spellings on the titles. Also note: very few of her singles include release dates, but I am including tentative dates added by other sites (such as Discogs) that base theirs on contemporary reviews or other super-cool collector-nerd secret info... and added some question marks, just to be on the safe side. "Orchid" was included on Flowers's first album, while "What A Man" was omitted.
Vancie Flowers (Crest Records, 1960-?) (#5-1073) (7")
A: "Prisoner In Siberia" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "You Taught Me To Love You" (c: Dale Fitzsimmons)
(Producer not identified)
Neither of these two tracks made it onto a Flowers album...
Vancie Flowers (Crest Records, 1962-?) (#5-1102) (7")
A: "Wet Back" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Slave Chain" (c: Vancie Flowers & Bud Coleman)
(Produced by Dale Fitzsimmons)
The latin-flavored A-side, "Wet Back," has a song title that obviously carries an offensive ring in modern times, but is actually a surprisingly progressive song, portraying an undocumented immigrant as a hard-working family man who aspires to become a US citizen, even in the face of racist discrimination. Don't condemn it out of hand. "Wet Back" was included on her album, while the flipside remained a singles-only track.
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1963-?) (#5916) (7")
A: "Orchid" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Whatta Man" (c: Vancie Flowers)
(Producer not identified)
I'm not sure if these are the same versions as on her 1959 single, above, or re-recordings... The titles are spelled differently, though, and both tracks credit Don Ralke as arranger.
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1963-?) (# 59022) (7")
A: "Thick And Thin" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Six Days A Waiting" (c: Green, Montgomery & Vancie Flowers)
(Producer not identified)
You might see a pattern developing here: one song ("Six Days") included on her LP, with the other ("Thick And Thin") remaining obscure... "Six Days A Waiting," an answer song to the Dave Dudley hit "Six Days On The Road," was later covered by Bakersfield star Kay Adams.
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1965-?) (#59021) (7")
A: "I'm So Lonely" (c: Vancie Flowers & Mary Forrest)
B: "Birds And Bees" (c: Barry Stuart)
(Producer not identified)
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1965-?) (# 59022) (7")
A: "Can't Buy Me Love" (c: John Lennon & Paul McCartney)
B: "Private Party" (c: Frank Morgan)
(Producer not identified)
The Beatles cover, alas, was left off her album... Bear Family...? Are you paying attention...?
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1965-?) (#5920) (7")
A: "I've Just Got To Tell You" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Foot Prints In The Dust" (c: Vancie Flowers)
(Producer not identified)
The A-side was in, while the other side was out.
Vancie Flowers (Pampa Records, 1971-?) (# P-1973-3) (7")
A: "Paradise" (c: Vancie Flowers & L. Zeltner)
B: "Listen Kids" (c: Sandy Lemons)
(Producer not identified)
Mrs. Flowers recorded sporadically through out the 1970s and '80s, though little of her work from that period has been collected elsewhere, and remained singles-only for decades. As far as I know, this was the first of her records the enter this limbo state; the A-side, "Paradise," was re-recorded and issued as a single a decade later (see below).
Vancie (Flowers) & Rita (Lane) (Pampa Records, 1974-?) (# PA-202) (7")
A: "Tears In My Beer" (c: Flowers & Swope)
B: "Heart Be Careful" (c: Billy Walker & Jay Bobington)
(Producer not identified)
Duets by singers Vancie Flowers and Rita Lane, produced on the same Bakersfield-based label as Ms. Flowers other singles of this era.
Hart & Flowers (Pike Records, 1981-?) (or 1983-?) (#P-5929-A/B) (7")
A: "Remembering Patsy (Missing On A Mountain)" (c: T. Dee, Vancie Flowers & Leon Hart)
B: "Tears In My Beer" (c: Vancie Flowers & L. Zeltner)
(Producer not identified)
A collaboration with honkytonk singer Leon Hart, who released at least one other single for Pike Records, back in 1961, but otherwise was pretty darn obscure. The A-side was a tribute to Patsy Cline, written back when she died in 1963 and first recorded on Pike by San Bernardino radio deejay Tommy Dee as a duet with Bonnie Owens. It was revived here and provided "new lyrics by L. Hart & V. Flowers," though again I wonder if the 1981 copyright date (listed on both songs) applies only to when the song was composed, not when the disc came out. It would make a lot more sense for them to memorialize Cline's tragic death on the twentieth anniversary rather than randomly in '81, and perhaps she cut this track while she was in a mournful mood for the loss of Marty Robbins, who passed away at the end of '82. See the disc reviewed below: it kinda lines up.
Vancie Flowers (Pampa Records, 1982) (or 1983-?) (#PR-150) (7")
A: "Woman Knows A Woman" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Don't Worry" (c: Marty Robbins)
(Producer not identified)
This is one of the few Vancie Flowers releases that seems to include a firm release date, even though I suspect the B-side was recorded as a tribute to Marty Robbins, who passed away in December, 1982, and the disc itself may have actually come out in '83, or even later. (The 1982 date is actually a copyright for the A-side, which was a new composition by Flowers, while the Robbins track shows that song's 1961 copyright date. Also odd is the widely-perpetuated typo/mistaken belief that the B-side was the Flowers song, "Wet Back," when it was indeed "Don't Worry." If anyone can show me a copy of that alternate version, I'd be thrilled, but I think it's really just a Discogs typo.) West Coast country fans may also be interested in the arranger credit for Bakersfield old-timer Bill Woods, a nightclub owner and sometimes producer/musician who helped promote or guide the careers of pretty much any Bakersfield artist you can think of. Guess he was still kicking around in the early 'Eighties when this came out!
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1983) (#P-598304) (7")
A: "California" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Don't Worry" (c: Marty Robbins)
(Producer not identified)
A later recording, with the original song "California" later anthologized on her album, Soft Rain, though oddly her Marty Robbins cover (which she released a few times on singles) was not.
Vancie Flowers (Pike Records, 1987) (#5905-A/B) (7")
A: "Idaho" (c: Vancie Flowers)
B: "Glad I Smell The Roses" (c: Vancie Flowers)
(Producer not identified)
Both these songs were included on the Soft Rain album (above), possibly helping date that cassette-only release. Anyone know if there are other singles from this era which have been missed so far?
Vancie Flowers "Birds And Bees" (Pampa Records, 1963-?) (LP)
