Joe Dassin "Blue Country" (CBS Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Jerry Hudgins & Jacques Plait)
Though born in New York City, American actor/singer Joe Dassin was primarily known as a French pop singer, and like many of his French pop contemporaries he went through a country music phase. In this case it was with the help of swamp-pop singer Tony Joe White, who wrote seven of this album's tracks, including the early 'Seventies hit, "Polk Salad Annie." Other songs come from Dassin himself as well as J. J. Cale ("Promises") and Jim Croce ("You Don't Mess Around With Jim," naturally) complete with French-language translations from Pierre Delanoe and Claude Lemesle. The instrumental backing was recorded in Los Angeles, with several studio studio pickers, notably pop bassist Donald "Duck" Dunne and pedal steel player J. D. Manness... as well as a suspect number of saxophonists and other horn players.
Joe Diamond "My Angel's Gone To Hell" (Neon Fire Records, 1994)
(Produced by Royce Clark, Chad Daniels & Pat Holt)
Milan Drobny "Milan Drobny" (Supraphon Records, 1975) (LP)
(Produced by Jiri Brabec & Gustav Houdek)
Czechoslovakian country crooner was one of these Iron Curtain musicians who got to fudge the rules and appropriate decadent American culture and play a few twangtunes... These included "Kdo Vi" (a translation of John Fogerty's "Proud Mary") as well as similarly adapted tunes from the likes of Doug Kershaw, Ken Munds, and Ian Tyson, along with an even greater amount of homegrown material. The musicians in his band aren't identified by name, and it's possible they were fellow travelers of producer Jiri Brabec, who had his own legion of musicians, including a number of studio players he worked with on various projects.
Milan Drobny "Milan Drobny" (Supraphon Records, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Jiri Brabec & Gustav Houdek)
Though his career lasted several decades and was not always country-oriented, these two Cold War-era albums definitely tilted towards twang, including covers of a couple of outlaw anthems, "Let Me Go To Texas When I Die" and "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." The backing band, Nova, included Karel Kahovec on lead guitar, Petr Kalandra (harmonica), Medard Konopík (guitar), Milan Plechaty (bass), Stanislav Stavík (keyboards) and Pavel Zuman on drums.
J. G. Duke "Better Than Ca$h" (J. G. Duke Productions, 1985) (LP)
(Produced by Rene J. Zingg)
J. G. Duke "Lonely But Free" (Montana Country, 1987) (LP)
(Produced by Rene J. Zingg)
Apparently J.G. was an American fella, originally from Tennessee, though at some point he emigrated to Switzerland... And, hey, not to be mean or anything, but they can keep him and his Confederate flag... I mean, maybe the music's okay? But I still haven't gotten past that whole barricade of stars & bars in order to find out...
J. G. Duke "Prime Cuts" (Montana Country, 1989) (LP)
(Produced by Rene J. Zingg)
Country music is everywhere, even in the erudite intellectual aeries of Europe... In fact, there's so much of the stuff, I barely know a fraction of it. This section includes a bunch of random bluegrass and country bands from across the European continent, although I'm aware there are many, many other artists and albums not currently on my radar. Also, separate sections exist for Germany and The United Kingdom and Ireland which have their own large, impressive country scenes, though many of those albums may also be included here. And trust me, once I crack the code and find all the records, France, Croatia and Lichtenstein will all get their own twang guides, too! (PS: I apologize for not being able to support umlauts and schwas and other special characters and for making all your languages look so very not right. I'm just not smart enough for all that technical-type stuff!)
