James O'Gwynn (1928-2011) was a Mississippi honkytonker who started his career in the 1950s and for many years starred as a cast member on the fabled Louisiana Hayride variety program, a rival to the Grand Ol' Opry with a huge influence throughout the South. Although this gave O'Gwynn a national profile, his career stalled in the early 'Sixties, and he moved from Mercury Records onto labels such as Hickory Records, United Artists, Stop Records, and most prominently to a long stint with Plantation Records for most of the 1970s. A pretty solid hard-country singer, very much in the style of George Jones, much of O'Gwynn's work was spread out on far-flung one-off singles, most of which never made it onto LP or a best-of anthology. He cuts some fine ballads and real scorchers back in the day... so where is Bear family when you need them?? Anyway, here's a quick look at his work...
James O'Gwynn "Muleskinner Blues" (BACM, 2010) (CD-R)
A generously programmed set concentrating on O'Gwynn's early years, including several tracks with his old band, The Cry Babies. A word of caution: these archival releases on the British Academy Of Country Music are uniformly satisfying in musical terms, but are usually issued on odd CD-R formats, and though I've never had any trouble playing them, I know other folks who have. Also, they're hard to find. But BACM does go out of its way to go for the oldest, most rural material, and also not replicate other reissues, so if you're into hillbilly music, this might be a good place to start your James O'Gwynn journey.
James O'Gwynn "Star Of The Louisiana Hayride, v.1" (Cattle Records, 1982) (LP)
James O'Gwynn "Star Of The Louisiana Hayride, v.2" (Cattle Records, 1982) (LP)
James O'Gwynn "The Louisiana Hayride Presents James O'Gwynn, The Smiling Irishman Of Country Music" (Binge Disc, 1985) (LP)
Radio airshots taken from O'Gwynn's appearances on The Louisiana Hayride back in 1958...
James O'Gwynn "The Best Of James O'Gwynn" (Mercury Records, 1962) (LP)
While recording for the Mercury label, O'Gwynn worked with producer Pappy Daily, so perhaps it's not surprising that much of his work seems imitative of one of Mercury's biggest country stars, George Jones... And that's a compliment, not a criticism. Though clearly a fan of Jones's vocal mannerisms, O'Gwynn still had his own personal sound, and was a pretty compelling singer. Definitely worth checking out!
James O'Gwynn "Heartaches And Memories" (Mercury Wing Records, 1964) (LP)
James O'Gwynn "Greatest Hits" (Plantation Records, 1976) (LP)
Late vintage recordings from his years in the wilderness... This album is not, in fact, a best-of drawing on his classic years, but rather a collection of material he cut for Shelby Singleton over the course of the mid-'Seventies, mostly from singles that came out between 1973-77. This modest ten-track selection misses a few gems, notably 1973's "Country Song," and a couple of truly forlorn novelty numbers about not being able to grab the brass ring in a long show business career -- the 1974 classic "If I Could Sing A Country Song (Exactly Like George Jones)" and the even more pointed "If I Could Get One More Hit" which came out after this album, one year later in 1977. About four of these tracks I wasn't able to pin down to any earlier singles, and they may have been original to this album.
James O'Gwynn "Country Dance Time" (Plantation Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Royce G. Clark)
This album is strictly a set of traditional hard-country cover songs, weeper and shuffle songs like "Crazy Arms," "Faded Love," "Release Me," covers of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Buck Owens and Hank Williams, etc. You get the general idea. No musician credits, but sure to have been a crew made up of studio guys in Shelby Singleton's orbit at the time...
James O'Gwynn "Still Singing Country" (Cowboy Capital Records, 20--?) (CD)
(Produced by Pete Drake & Shelby Singleton)
Not sure of the provenance of these recordings, which may have been outtakes from O'Qwynn's stints recording at Pete Drake's old Stop Records label and for Shelby Singleton's Plantation Records in the late '60s and 1970s, respectively. I couldn't find singles with any of these songs on them, but you never know... It's also possible these were newer, contemporary recordings, but it seems unlikely since Pete Drake passed away in 1988, and Shelby Singleton died in 2009... There's no date on the disc, but this CD seems to have come out in the early 2000s, along with the other releases on Cowboy Capital.
