The Callahan Brothers "In Memory Of The Callahan Brothers" (Binge Disc, 2002)
Delicious, doleful, bluesy brother duets, much in the style of the Blue Sky Boys and the Bailes Brothers. These mid-to-late-1930s recordings are classic "brother act" material, with blunted, plainsong-ish harmonies and gentle acoustic guitar work. Homer and Walter Callahan hailed from North Carolina, but like many Depression-era musicians, they moved around a lot. This generously programmed disc has over two dozen tracks from early in their career -- if you like brother acts and old yodeling blues, then you'll definitely want to check this album out.

The Callahan Brothers "More Memories Of The Callahan Brothers" (Binge Disc, 2006)

The Callahan Brothers "The Callahan Brothers" (Old Homestead Records, 1975) (LP)

Shawn Camp - see artist discography

Cecil Campbell "...And His Tennessee Ramblers" (Bronco Buster)
Great fun -- a western swing and cowboy western-flavored outfit from the late '40s and early '50s with a knack for upbeat, humorous songs. Includes a baby bottle boogie that stands with the best of 'em, as well as the awesome anti-anorexia anthem, "Put Some Meat On Them Bones." Fun old Victor-label 78s, with a chug-chug-chuggin' accordion that just won't quit. Recommended!

Cecil Campbell "Steel Guitar Swing" (Jasmine Records, 2004)
There's some overlap between this collection and the earlier one (above) on Binge Disc, but also a slew of other songs of equal calibre. A great mix of hot picking, old-fashioned sentimentality and mildly raunchy comedic material. This reprises "Put Some Meat On Them Bones," a song whose jovial, old-fashioned sexism is balanced by a refreshing critique of the too "skinny" figure. Unfortunately, the sexism gets less amusing on songs like "Talk, Talk, Talk" (about the way those gals sure do gossip) and the self-explanatory "I'm A Hen Pecked Man," though these are of course just part of the humorous palate in Campbell's hillbilly swing arsenal, along with jaunty-sounding broken-hearted blues. The musicianship is consistently high, particularly the steel guitar work, which owes a lot to Hawaiian-style hapa haole music, but also shows the vigor with which country players were taking the instrument and making it their own. All in all, a great collection, and probably a lot easier to track down than the older German import.

Cecil Campbell "Greatest Hawaiian Instrumentals" (Winston Records, 1958) (LP)
Veteran hillbilly artist Cecil Campbell played steel guitar for numerous stars of the 1940s, and also led his own Tennessee Ramblers western swing band, and became known as a virtuoso steel guitar soloist, with an ear for Hawaiian-style music. Although it's nice to hear his sweet licks in these late-'50s recordings, the accompaniment is anything but authentic Hawaiian: the roller-rinky organist, in particular, is pretty distracting, and even kind of a drag. This one's probably only for hardcore steel enthusiasts, less so for Hawaiian music fans, though it is cool to hear this country music veteran getting all island-y.

Cecil Campbell "Steel Guitar Jamboree" (Starday Records, 1963) (LP)

Cecil Campbell "Cecil Campbell" (Country Classics, 1981) (LP)

Ray Campi - see artist discography

Judy Canova "Collector's Edition" (Simitar Records, 1998)

Judy Canova "Ozark Nightingale" (Collector's Choice, 2004)
She wasn't really a country singer, but like many mainstream pop artists such as Dorothy Shay and Arthur Godfrey, Canova played on a broad "hillbilly" stereotype to deliver warped versions of popular songs of the day. These radio performances (from the 1940s perhaps?) capture Canova at her best: playful, corny yet canny, and a powerful performer. Included are several of her signature tunes, such as her rollicking versions of "Just Because" and "The Wabash Cannonball," and omits other songs that play more into the hick schtick... All in all, this is a pretty fun set, although it really should be classed more closely with pop vocals and show tunes than with legitimate country stuff. But does that really matter? Check it out for yourself, and find out.

Captain Stubby & The Buccaneers "Captain Stubby & The Buccaneers" (BACM, 2005)

Bill Carlisle "Tramp On The Street" (Binge Disc, 2001)
This is a collection of early work by hillbilly singer Bill Carlisle, a Kentucky native best known as the leader of the Carlisles band, and a Grand Ole Opry regular for several decades, starting in the early 'Fifties. This disc gathers a couple of dozen rare singles cut for Decca Records and the King label, dating back to 1939, up through 1949, when he formed the group, the Carlisles, and started to find real chart success with a hopped-up hillbilly sound. These older recordings are more in the mode of the loping, old-fashioned pre-honkytonk country of the Delmore Brothers... There were some salty hokum blues numbers, sentimental weepers and gospel material, and Bill's brother, guitarist Cliff Carlisle adds some sweet harmonies and hot licks on a few tunes... At the time, Cliff was clearly the superior artist, but not long after these songs were recorded, Bill hit upon a more souped-up sound that better framed his thin, modest voice. Fans of the Carlisles -- all twelve of us -- will want to check this collection out, although it has to be admitted it's more interesting for its historical value than for pure fun, as many of these tracks are a bit on the lethargic side. Certainly worth checking out, though!

Bill Carlisle "Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight (Busy Body Boogie)" (Bear Family Records, 2005)
I've always loved Bill Carlisle's best-known hits, the irresistible "No Help Wanted" and "Too Old To Cut The Mustard," and I've ferreted out old LPs and random 45s over the years, based on their appeal... But for some reason I was leery of delving into a full-on 30+ track Bear Family deluxe retrospective... I mean, how many of these manic novelty songs can you really listen to, one after the other, and how many can you play on the radio...? Well, silly me. This is a great collection, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Of course it helps that Chet Atkins provided the bouncy, melodically innovative lead guitar on pretty much all the classic Carlisles hits (and most of the tracks on this album) and somehow even though the formula never changes, all these kooky novelty tunes are fun to listen to... It's such exuberant, upbeat, shamelessly dopey (and often quite saucy) hillbilly material, an interesting crossover between the old, Depression-era hokum blues of Bill Carlisle's youth and the new, streamlined country that was coming down the pike in the mid-1950s... but still with plenty of bite and sass to keep our toes tapping... Anyway, it's great stuff... highly recommended!!

Bill Carlisle "Country Music Hall Of Fame: 2002" (King-Federal Records, 2003)
Late-vintage stereo re-recordings of old classics such as "No Help Wanted," "Zat You Myrtle," "Knothole," etc.

Bill Carlisle "Rough And Rowdy Hillbilly Of The 1930s" (Collector Records, 2003)
The old stuff!

Bill Carlisle "Duvall County Blues -- Early Recordings: 1933-1939" (BACM, 2005)

Cliff Carlisle "Blues Yodeler And Steel Guitar Wizard" (Arhoolie/Folklyric Records, 1996)
Well, the album title pretty much says it all... but I'll add my two bits as well. String stinger Cliff Carlisle was the brother of future hillbilly star Bill Carlisle, who led the novelty-oriented Carlisles band in the 1950s and '60s... Cliff was hokum blues player who made his mark in the 1930s, and lined up next to his bluesy country contemporaries such as Jimmie Rodgers and Jimmie Davis, Carlisle was by far a superior musician. His flashy guitar work is reminiscent of Tampa Red, and many of these vintage, Depression-era tracks are strikingly bluesy and raw... it's really fun stuff! Highly recommended.

Cliff Carlisle "Far Beyond The Starry Sky" (BACM, 2005)

The Carlisles "Tennessee Memories" (BACM, 2006)
More great, crazy hillbilly comedy material. This generously programmed disc collects twenty-six vintage tracks from 1951-56, and amazingly enough doesn't overlap with the Bear Family set that came out around the same time. There are definitely some gems here including risque ditties like "Bargain Day, Half Off," "Unpucker" and "Teletouch" or the completely outrageous marital number, "Middle Age Spread," as well as some straightforward heartsongs and spiritual numbers. Of special note is their 1955 recording of "Rusty Old Halo," a gospel novelty song covered by Hoyt Axton about twenty years later. If you like a lot of corn in your diet, here's a bushel of Bill Carlisle and his crew. Tastes mighty fine!

Texas Jenks Carman "The Ole Indian" (Sage Records, 19--?)

Texas Jenks Carman "Hillbilly Hula" (Bear Family Records, 1991)

Texas Jenks Carman "Chippeha! The Essential Dixie Cowboy: 1947-1957" (Revenant Records, 1998)
Oddball recordings from one of hillbilly music's more colorful characters. Carman dressed as a Native American (buckskin coats, feather head dresses, etc.) and wasn't above belting out a war-whoop yodel or two midway through his honkytonk tales of woe. This collection is pretty damn charming, and includes early old 78s as well as great stuff from rare radio transcription discs. Carman was kind of a sloppy, chaotic singer, which may help explain his popularity with the rockabilly crowd, but his antics might make ya smile, even all these years later. If you like kooky, wild stuff, you might get a real kick out of this disc.

Texas Jenks Carman "Cow Punk" (Bear Family Records, 2004)

Texas Jenks Carman "The Old Guitar And Me" (Bear Family Records, 2004)

Carolina Cotton - see artist discography

Jenny Lou Carson "The Chin-Up Girl" (BACM, 2007)
One of the most successful songwriters of the WWII era hillbilly scene, Jenny Lou Carson (nee Virginia Lucille Overstake) was also one of the first female country stars. Carson started out in a family trio with two of her sisters, billed as the Overstake Sisters, and as "The Little Country Girls"; she also recorded under the pseudonym of Lucile Lee, and finally as Jenny Lou Carson, the name where she found her greatest fame. Carson wrote numerous hits, including "You Two-Timed Me Once Too Often," "Let Me Go, Lover," and "Don't Rob Another Man's Castle," which will be familiar to many fans of old-school country, albeit in mostly-male versions. This disc gathers her recordings as a solo performer, mostly with sentimental songs like "I L-O-V-E You" and "I Feel Like Crying Over You," but also with spicier novelty songs such as "I Married A Mouse Of A Man..." To be honest, even though she had a reputation as a bit of a wild woman, Carson sounds quite matronly and prim on many of these songs -- much more fun are the handful of earlier, raunchier novelty songs that come at the end of this album, saucy hokum-blues tunes recorded back in 1939, when she was just setting out on her own. These are all rare recordings from an artist best remembered as a composer, and nice nostalgic material that will be of interest to anyone looking into the foremothers of modern country.

Joe Carson "Hillbilly Band From Mars" (Bear Family Records, 2002)
Wow. This is a killer set of true, hardcore honkytonk from one of the greatest "lost legends" of the late '50s and early '60s. Carson started his career as a skinny, rail-thin teenager, working his tail off in local clubs in Texas until he came to the attention of Hank Thompson, who helped get him a contract with Capitol Records. He plugged away on Capitol and other labels for over a decade, recording some fine, fine country music but it wasn't until the early 'Sixties that he started to make some headway on the charts. His version of Willie Nelson's "I Gotta Get Drunk" made a few waves, along with a couple of other fine tunes, notably "Helpless" and "This Is The Last Song I'm Ever Gonna Sing." Sadly, Carson died in a fatal car crash in 1964, just as his star began to rise, and he became a historical footnote rather than a chart topper... But, man! ...Are these recordings great!! This disc collects everything Carson ever recorded, from his early teenage recordings, where his jumping-bean vocals sounded like Little Jimmy Dickens, to his final recordings in the 'Sixties where his voice had deepened and matured into a rich timbre that rivaled George Jones for soulfulness and depth. It's a really, really good set... If you like the hard stuff, you should snap this one up when you get a chance!

Joe Carson "In Memoriam: The Last Song (I'm Ever Gonna Sing)" (Liberty Records, 1964) (LP)
Issued after his fatal accident, this disc was the lone LP to come out under Carson's name and includes, sadly enough, the all-too appropriate "This Is The Last Song I'm Ever Gonna Sing."

June Carter Cash - see artist discography

The Carter Family - see artist discography

Wilf Carter "Dynamite Trail -- The Decca Years: 1954-58" (Bear Family Records, 1990)
Canadian cowpoke Wilf Carter, who also worked under the stage name Montana Slim, mostly recorded for the RCA record company, but in the mid-1950s he took a break and signed with Decca for a four-year stint. This disc gathers his best work for Decca, and it's lively, good-natured stuff. There's some "western"-themed material, plenty of humor-laced heartsongs and even a smidge of gospel, all performed at a galloping pace and all quite entertaining. On a few of the later tracks, Carter even experiments with electrified arrangements, including some fascinating guitar work on songs such as "Let A Little Sunshine In Your Heart." From start to finish, this is a fun, engaging record, well worth checking out.

Wilf Carter "Prairie Legend" (Bear Family Records, 1994)
A four-CD box set of Carter's work... golly! If you're a fan, this oughta just about do it for you!

Wilf Carter "Cowboy Songs" (Bear Family Records, 1997)
But wait... there's more! Nine whole CDs more!

Claude Casey "The South's Favourite Yodeler" (BACM, 2006)
A great collection of classic country from a little-known South Carolina showman who was a regional star best known for his yodeling abilities and for his love of Bob Wills-ish western swing material. There's not a lot of yodeling on this disc, but there is some lovely swing material, mostly on the mellow side, as well as several deliciously raunchy hokum-blues style novelty songs, such as "Down With Gin" and "I Took It." Although Casey obviously excelled at blue material, he also recorded sentimental numbers such as "Two Little Girls With Golden Girls" (they die in a house fire while their sinful parents are out drinking and dancing...) and religious tunes such as "Keep Praying" and "Family Reunion In Heaven." Casey was one of those all-around showmen of years gone by, who mastered all kinds of material, as the market demanded. Fans of old-school country will find a lot to love here -- there's not a bad track on the album and plenty of stuff that ought to make it into your personal shortlist for years to come. This covers Casey's recordings from 1938-1953, when he retired from performing and concentrated on a radio career. It's a really fun record.

Johnny Cash - see artist discography

Rosanne Cash - see artist discography

Leon Chappel "Automatic Mama" (Bear Family Records, 1999)
One of the early pioneers of the Texas swing scene, the plain-voiced, bluesy singer Leon Chappelear was a founding member of the Lone Star Cowboys, a popular regional trio that staked out an early claim to fame in the late 1920s and '30s, alongside bigger bands like Milton Brown's Musical Brownies and the Light Crust Doughboys. Chappelear's career was pretty star-crossed -- a car accident in 1935 sidelined him for a while, and while he kept the Cowboys together for another couple of years, things were never the same, and he lost the momentum that the group had built in the years before. Chappelear retired from music until the late 1940s, when his old pal Jimmie Davis helped swing a record deal with Capitol, and he recorded numerous singles for them in the early 'Fifties, under the name Leon Chappel. This disc gathers all of his work for Capitol, including several tracks that were unissued at the time. Mostly it's old-fashioned, bluesy hokum material, saucy, ribald novelty songs with thinly disguised sexual references, much like the material Chappel and his Depression-era contemporaries such as Jimmie Rodgers and Jimmie Davis recorded decades earlier. It might have been old hat in the postwar years, but it still sounded nice... and still does today! A fun set of fiddle-based hillbilly music with plenty of amusing lyrics, including the title track, which is a real hoot... Recommended!

Harry Choates "The Fiddle King Of Western Swing" (Arhoolie Records, 1982)
Classic backwoods fiddle music from the Louisiana bayou... These late-'40s recordings are an interesting mix of cajun, straight old-timey fiddle music and honkytonk-heavy western swing tunes. A veteran of the Louisiana swamp scene, by the postwar years Choates seemed ready to try just a little bit of everything and see what would stick -- fortunately, he was pretty darn good at any style he played, and this album is pure fun from start to finish. The CD version includes ten extra tracks that weren't on the original LP (although his big hit version of "Jole Blon" is still sadly absent...) Cool stuff, and a little off the beaten track.

Harry Choates "Five-Time Loser: 1940-1951" (Krazy Kat Records, 1998)
A nice, scrappy collection of 'Forties tracks, well-selected by the folks at Krazy Kat, which is one of my favorite labels. Once again, a cool. fascinating mix of pure country and backwoods, swampy cajun.

Harry Choates "Devil In The Bayou: The Goldstar Recordings" (Bear Family Records, 2002)
A 2-CD set drawn from his later work on the maverick Gold Star label, which recorded a lot of unusual and noteworthy material in the 1960s...

Guy Clark - see artist discography

Sanford Clark "The Fool" (Bear Family, 1993)
Sanford Clark "Shades" (Bear Family, 1993)
Singer Sanford Clark was a prototypical one-hit wonder... The vocal talent for producer Lee Hazelwood's first commercial success, 1956's "The Fool," Clark never came close to matching the success of that runaway Top Ten pop hit. He started out as a sorta-billy singer, his plain, half-spoken vocals bringing in a folk-ish feel atop a slick production style. When the chips were down, this slowly settled into a more country feel, although the overall sound of his work never changed that much. I picked up the Shades album a while ago, and was actually pretty surprised at how much I liked it... The are the recordings Sanford did late in his career, when the possibility of another big hit was years behind him, and he was struggling just to get labels that would record him. In 1960, he cut a single for Jamie Records; several years later he cut a few tunes for Ramco, and then he was basically out of the studios until the early 1980s, when he self-produced an album's worth of material, most of which went unreleased until this Bear Family set came out. When possible, Clark worked with Hazelwood, but in the late 'Sixties, Waylon Jennings was one of his producers (Waylon also played guitar on these tracks) and it's this period that gave us some of Sanford's best material, oddball songs like "The Big Lie" and "Where's The Door," where the soft-voiced Clark sang of drunken stupors and barroom brawls. One of his cult classics is Leon Payne's "It's Nothing To Me," in which a sociopathic drunk threatens, then kills the listener, and expresses no remorse when he faces the death penalty. It's an extremist novelty song along the lines of Porter Wagoner's "Rubber Room," and there are several songs of equal calibre on this album, including "Black Jack County Chain," which goes to similar extremes. The thing of it is, Clark is a perfect vessel for this kind of material, and the songs are just kooky enough and just country enough that it's really pretty charming. I liked it... it was listenable and the kind of thing I'd hang onto to play on the radio someday...

Yodeling Slim Clark -- see artist profile

Al Clauser & His Oklahoma Playboys "The Golden Age Of..." (Binge Disc/Cattle Records, 2005)

Zeke Clements "Early Star Of The Grand Ole Opry" (Binge Disc/Cattle Records, 2005)

Eddie Cletro "Flying Saucer Boogie" (Bear Family, 2006)
An unknown from the West Coast country scene, LA's Eddie Cletro was an early 'Fifties proto-rockabilly twangster who specialized in rollicking novelty songs like "Stallin' For Time," "The Old Brown Jug (She Threw At Me)," and the title track of this collection, "Flying Saucer Boogie." He recorded only a few singles under his own name, so this tasty set also includes a few tracks where his band backs other stars of the era such as cowboy singer Eddie Dean and rockabilly pioneer Rose Maddox, as well as a bunch backing Canadian singer Donn Reynolds. Retroholics will like this one, which gathers a bunch of rare stuff from various small '50s labels.

Patsy Cline - see artist discography

Hank Cochran - see artist discography

David Allan Coe "For The Record: The First Ten Years" (Columbia Records, 1984)
To be honest, David Allan Coe wouldn't be my first pick as a champion of the country "outlaw" scene... I always read him as a failed Top Forty dude who rode in on the coattails of Waylon and Willie and the boys... One sure sign is the high proportion of name-dropping songs he recorded (i.e. "Willie and Waylon and Me"... yeah, right.) That being said, though, he still made a bunch of catchy, fun, faux-rowdy redneck novelty tunes, and this collection is chock full of the best. "Jack Daniels, If You Please" is irresistible, and his version of Steve Goodman's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" is a high water mark for country music -- any kind of country! Once he had a smash hit with "Take This Job And Shove It" in 1978, though, the writing was on the wall. As soon as he became a star in his own right, his music took a real nosedive. Muy mal. But hey, even with the later stuff, this collection is definitely worth having. There are about a half-dozen super-awesome songs on here -- total classics.

Mark Collie - see artist discography

The Collins Kids - see artist discography

Tommy Collins - see artist discography

Commander Cody - see artist discography

Ry Cooder - see artist discography

Elizabeth Cook - see artist discography

Spade Cooley - see artist discography

The Coonhunters "...Featuring Merle Travis" (BACM, 2005)
(Available through the British Archive of Country Music website.)

Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper - see artist discography

Cowboy Copas - see artist discography

Paul Craft "Brother Jukebox" (Strictly Country, 1998)
His name may not roll right off your tounge when asked to name some great country songwriters, but when you give this disc a listen, you'll be amazed at how many of these tunes you'll recognize - and what a high calibre they all are! There is, of course, the original 1976 demo version of title track, covered most famously by Mark Chesnutt and Keith Whitley, and most effectively by Don Everly on his late-'70s album of the same title. Then, there's "Midnight Flyer" (The Osborne Brothers, Eagles), or "Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life," "Ancient History," and a slew of others that are perhaps less well known, but no less well-crafted. This is a nice, relaxed set, with subtle backing by a slew of talented well-wishers (including Rob Ickes, John Starling, Scott Vestal, Charlie Sizemore, and others from the Nashville/bluegrass axis...) Some of the songs may suffer in comparison to the punchier, bigger-sounding hit versions, but there's a lot to be said for Craft's low-key, unpretentious approach. This disc's a real gem.

The Crickets/Various Artists "...And Their Buddies" (Sovereign, 2004)
Hey, everybody loves Buddy Holly, right? What's not to like? So when Holly's old bandmates -- who've still been playing together off and on for years since his untimely death -- asked various rootsy types to guest star on their record, you can bet a bunch of them leapt at the chance. Thus country dudes like Rodney Crowell and dino-rock guitar god Eric Clapton rub shoulders with indie-altie types such as Nanci Griffith and John Prine, as well as many names from the past, such as Peter Case, Johnny Rivers, J.D. Souther and Bobby Vee... Albert Lee delivers a gemlike version of "Learning The Game" and the late Waylon Jennings (who was also briefly in Buddy Holly's employ) rasps out an earthy rendition of "Well... All Right." (And isn't that Lucinda Williams, singing uncredited on a fine version of "Love You More Than I Can Say"?) All in all, this is a pretty nice, heartfelt, almost DIY-ish tribute album that also highlights the undiminished talen of some 'Fifties pickers who never stopped rocking. Worth checking out!

Howard Crockett "Out Of Bounds: The Johnny Horton Connection" (Bear Family Records, 2007)
Songwriter Howard Hausey is best known as the guy who gave Johnny Horton some of his biggest hits -- I'm A Honky-Tonk Man," "Ole Slew Foot," "Whispering Pines," and several others. He took the stage name Howard Crockett and tried to make it himself as performer, but his legacy was mostly one of obscure singles and a few "soundalike" recordings (when an otherwise anonymous singer tries to cash in on the success of a more famous artist by copping their sound; Hausey specialized in Johnny Cash-ish numbers...) Naturally, he's got a cult following in Europe, and they've finally given their hero his due, with this generously-programmed set of demos, one-offs and oddities. There's lots of material here in the cornball "historical" and folk-country vein that was popular during the Kennedy era, and some catchy honky-tonk as well. I wouldn't say Hausey was a great singer, but on some of the straight-ahead country tunes he does sound pretty rugged and nice. This is a fairly ephemeral release, mainly of interest because of the Johnny Horton connection, but for folks who groove on the obscure, it certainly has its charms. As with all Bear Family releases, it's got the best sound quality and copious archival documentation.... Certainly worth checking out.

J.D. Crowe And The New South "My Home Ain't In The Hall Of Fame" (Rounder Records, 1979)
An alumnus of one of the early '60s top bluegrass bands, banjo player J.D. Crowe set out in the '70s as a newgrass traditionalist, skirting the border between bluegrass and country in much the same way as his mentor, bandleader Jimmy Martin. This is my favorite of the New South albums (though the rest are all good, too)... It features a gorgeous version of the title track, Jonathan Edward's classic alterna-country anthem, as well as upbeat versions of "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "My Window Faces The South." The band also included fiddler Bobby Sloane, bluegrass whizkid, Jimmy Gaudreau, and the late Keith Whitley (who went on to briefly become a Nashville Top 40 guy). Lots of fun, and highly recommended.

Alvin Crow -- see artist profile

Rodney Crowell -- see artist profile

Dick Curless - see artist discography

Hick Music Index