Hal Southern (aka Hal Clark, 1919-1998) was a western music singer who was born in Indiana, but made his way out West to Hollywood, where he was part of the Southern California country scene, albeit largely off the radar of fans on the national stage, mostly recording for smaller independent and budget labels. Southern was pals with Eddie Dean, Doye O'Dell and numerous other relatively obscure musicians of the hillbilly era, playing in semi-anonymous bands such as The Frontiersmen, which often had fluid memberships. His career spanned back to the late 1940s, but he recorded sparsely under his own name up until the 1960s, when he released his first album. Southern is best known as the composer of the 1950's novelty hit, "I Dreamed Of Hillbilly Heaven," a classic cornball recitation tune made famous by Tex Ritter. Southern's Hollywood career included a lot of work in movies and film, both on camera and as a musician. Here's a quick look at his career...
The Frontiersmen "Country Jamboree" (Crown Records, 1962) (LP)
Hopefully you'll forgive the cliche, but this album is one of the jewels in the Crown Records story, a great hillbilly pop album issued on the legendary Southern California super-cheapo label. The Frontiersmen, identified on the album cover only as "Hi, Wayne and Hal" were in fact Hal Southern on guitar, bassist Wayne West and bandleader Hi "Highpocket" Busse, a fella who usually played accordion but doesn't seem to on these recordings... They were stalwarts of the 1950's SoCal country scene and frequently backed singer Eddie Dean (who may sing on some of these tracks as well, but there's no credit given...) The music ranges from sweet, Sons Of The Pioneers-style vocals harmony to more rambunctious country bop, with some tasty electric guitar licks... really great stuff! The copy I picked up has terrible sound quality, and it varies from track to track, making me think that this must include songs from several different eras, stretching back into the mid-1950s. (Each side of the album opens with a song with clearer sound quality, which may have been recorded around the time this album came out, but that's just a theory... I'm sure there are uber-collectors out there who would know for sure...) Anyway, it's good stuff -- these tracks have also been reissued on digital downloads (linked to above) but I don't know if they have been recently remastered.
The Frontiersmen & Joanie "America's No. 1 Entertaining Western Vocal Group" (Mira Records, 1966) (LP)
(Produced by M. W. Grimm)
Hanging out in Texas, the trio of Hi Busse and Hal Southern and Billy Armstrong backed a gal identified only mononymically as Joanie on a set of country and cowboy standards, mostly oldies from the '40s and 50s. Joanie also cut several singles with the Frontiersmen, so she was probably part of their regular road show. Although this album was recorded at Tommy Allsup's studio in Odessa, it came out on a short-lived label in LA. The liner notes reflect the band's Hollywood roots, with testimonials by Gunsmoke actors Ken Curtis and Milburn Stone. Their comments are strangely informative, however, with Stone recalling appearances he made with the Frontiersmen at rodeos and county fairs; their performances on various TV variety shows such as the Joey Bishop Show are also mentioned.
Hal Southern "You've Got A Man On Your Hands" (Sand Records, 1967-?) (LP)
I think this was his first full album under his own name... Most of the songs are Hal Southern originals, with all the other tracks credited to Pete Beck... The liner notes mention Southern's work in Hollywood, where he appeared in various western movies and TV shows, and also backed "singing" actors such as Lorne Greene and Michael Landon when they performed offscreen as country and folk musicians...
Hal Southern "Mister Hillbilly Heaven" (Country Gold Records, 197-?) (LP)
Hal Southern "Frettin' Around" (Country Gold Records, 197-?) (LP)
Hal Southern "Here Comes The Sun Again" (VJ International Records, 1977) (LP)
This is actually a compilation of material from Sage & Sand as well as other small labels... The album includes covers of "He'll Have To Go" and "Welcome To My World," though otherwise these are all Hal Southern compositions. There may be some newer recordings in here as well, but I'm not in deep enough to know for sure...
Hal Southern "I Remember Jim" (El Dorado Records, 1978) (LP)
An homage to country crooner Jim Reeves, with a bunch of covers of classic Reeves hits; the title song was an original by Hal Southern which had previously been released as a single...
