The Lonesome Valley Singers "Hello Vietnam: Country And Western War Songs" (Diplomat Records, 1965) (LP)
One of the many anonymous bands booked by the cheapie labels to record knockoff albums, The Lonesome Valley Singers actually featured several hotshot pickers, and they knew how to play. The group frequently recorded concept albums, including a number of patriotic albums that can be considered part of the right-wing folk movement. This early album is a vigorous, robust defense of the war in Viet Nam, with a healthy bit of twang in the mix. This record kicks off with a cover of Tom T. Hall's "Hello Vietnam" and includes even blunter songs with titles such as "Jungle War," "It's Got To Be Done," "What We're Fighting For" and "Don't Worry Just Pray." The tide would turn in public opinion, but back in '65 when this came out, the war was still up for grabs, and this is an unusually political record for a country band of the era. Worth checking out, though maybe most if you're a history buff.
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Houston: Country And Western Cities" (Diplomat Records, 19--?) (LP)
A bunch of geographically-themed cover songs, most of them from country music origins... You got "Cheyenne," "Tulsa," "Saginaw, Michigan," "Streets Of Laredo," and a few that may be originals... Hard to tell without any composer credits!
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Country Serenade" (Diplomat Records, 19--?) (LP)
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Men In The Green Berets" (Diplomat Records, 1966) (LP)
Piggybacking on the popularity of Sgt. Barry Sadler's Ballad Of The Green Berets, this is another, perhaps less nuanced pro-Vietnam album, with songs of macho might and derring-do... This record was once a pretty common sight, and was probably a good seller for the folks at Diplomat.
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Folsom Prison Blues" (Diplomat Records, 1968-?) (LP)
Another concept album, this time a set of prison songs, ala Johnny Cash, who topped the charts in 1968 with his live version of "Folsom Prison Blues," recorded as part of his first famous prison concert album. What caught my eye on this album was the fact they added composer credits -- a rarity on this kind of record -- and that, other than the title track, all the other songs are originals, all published by the Kasen Music Company, which was owned by the Diplomat label's founder Daniel Kasen. Among their stable of writers was Ramsey Kearney, who later became the king of Nashville's "song-poem" producers, though he was apparently still paying his dues in the trenches when this record came out. The album dutifully opens with a soundalike version of "Folsom Prison Blues (complete with canned crowd noise) then swiftly moves onto the knockoff material. There are two tracks credited to Kearney ("A Day At A Time" and "The Legend Of Me") with others credited to H. F. Huffstettler, the songwriting team of Ed Lay and Juanita Miller, one by Dave Mathes, and a a pair of odd ones by Jim Maxwell, "Nine Pound Hammer On Cold, Cold Steel" (a prison-oriented twist on "Nine Pound Hammer") and "Another Prison Dream," where the composer closely parallels the popular "Green, Green Grass Of Home," but doesn't just come right out and cover the original. Anyway, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable record, and unusually informative for one of these cheapie-label offerings.
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Skip A Rope/Here Comes Heaven" (Diplomat Records, 1968) (LP)
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Wichita Lineman/Little Arrows" (Diplomat Records, 1968-?) (LP)
One of the lesser albums in this series. The title tracks, "Wichita Lineman" and "Little Arrows," are of course covers of two country hits from 1968, the other tracks are originals, (mostly) country tossoff tunes written by the staff musicians hired by Diplomat Records. Unfortunately, there are no composer credits, so their actual provenance is a bit obscure. (I had hoped to be able to track down some of the copyright info online, but nothing came up -- looks like the folks at Diplomat didn't even bother to register these particular songs with the Library of Congress.) Anyway, the general vibe is pretty low-key -- lackadaisical, even -- perhaps in keeping with the folkish feel of Glen Campbell's soft-pop countrypolitan hits. Most of the vocals seem to be from the same guy -- possibly Ramsey Kearney(?) -- although oddly there is also a song called "Why" which is more of a pop vocals number, randomly sung by some unidentified female singer, likely one of the gals singing backup on a couple of other tracks. Though I often find the original material on these knockoff albums to be pretty rewarding, I have to admit this one was a bit of a dud... Feels like they weren't trying very hard. A couple of songs are okay, notably "Who Can Mend A Broken Heart" and "Green Satin Gown," which had some okay steel guitar. Mostly, though, this is fairly dull.
The Lonesome Valley Singers "The Chair/Great Stone Chapel" (Diplomat Records, 19--?) (LP)
A whole album of songs about prisons, and cells, and wardens, and the death penalty. Cheerful fellas, ain't they...?
The Lonesome Valley Singers "God Bless The Working Man" (Diplomat, 1971-?) (LP)
This later album is still pro-Vietnam War, but tackles a wider range of themes and presents a richer picture of the American cultural landscape, albeit from the point of view of what what had been dubbed "The Silent Majority" by President Nixon, the un-hippie, blue-collar "squares" who supposedly supported the war. Songs include "God Bless The Boys In Uniform," "The Politician And The War," "P.O.W.," "War Time Taxes" and slightly more forlorn, resigned-yet-hopeful songs such as "Oh Victory" and "Will We Ever See Peace Again." The times they were a-changing, though and while this early '70s album still has a conservative tilt, it nonetheless offers a more nuanced, less propagandistic snapshot of post-Woodstock, pre-Watergate America.
Lonesome Valley Singers "Songs Of The Dragsters" (Diplomat Records, 19--?) (LP)
The Lonesome Valley Singers "Songs Of The Trail" (Diplomat Records, 19--?) (LP)
Not terribly original, but a very satisfying album. These are blithe, easygoing performances of a bunch of well-known western and campfire classics, tunes like "Black Jack David," "Blood On The Saddle," "Jack Of Diamonds," et. al., played confidently, with solid, unobtrusive picking, and a reasonable amount of sincerity. There seem to have been a couple of different singers on here, one of them a young guy affecting a quavering, raspy "old man" voice, the other doing a pretty darn good Marty Robbins imitation. If you dig western albums, this cheapo album is surprisingly good.
The Lonesome Valley Singers was the nom-du-totally-fake of one of the more prolific cheapo-label anony-bands of the 1960s, a made-up "group" name that Diplomat Records used on a wide range of hastily produced exploitation albums. Most of these releases were country-themed, though they did branch out into a few esoteric fads, like drag racing, as well as a number of gospel and patriotic albums that put The Singers firmly on the Archie Bunker side of the hippie-era social divide. As was often the case with these cheapo albums, a lot of songs attributed to the Lonesome Valley Singers were deceptively re-packaged under different artist names and album titles, apparently including LPs by "artists" such as The Badmen, Faro Burke, and Tex Johnson... I haven't pulled at all those threads and am only including the officially-branded Lonesome Valley Singers albums here. The musicians on these albums remain a mystery, though doubtless the lineups changed quite a bit from record to record.
