The Bar J Chuckwagon "Volume One" (Bar J Chuckwagon, 1978) (LP)
A pretty enjoyable set from a chuckwagon show from the Bar J Ranch located in Wilson, Wyoming, near Jackson Hole, just south of Yellowstone... Veteran cowboy singer Babe Humphrey founded this group in 1977, and as far as I know this was their first album. They sound very youthful, trending a little towards the callow side of the spectrum, and possibly a little unsure of themselves int he studio. But they also sound personable and appealing as they work their way through a set of western standards such as "Cool Water," "Dust On My Saddle," "Pecos Bill" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Highlights include comedic numbers like "He's A Killer" and especially "Here I Come," a drawn out character profile of a lazy ne'er-do-well with zero work ethic, which has some pretty clever lyrics. Not the strongest album in the dude ranch subgenre, but it's still pretty fun. (By the way, the real name of the group on this first album seems to have been "The Bar J Chuckwagon Supper And Original Western Show," though they wisely streamlined in into the The Bar J Wranglers on subsequent releases...)

The Bar J Wranglers "The Bar J Chuckwagon Supper And Original Western Show: Volume Two" (Bar J Chuckwagon, 1980) (LP)
On their second album they share a little inside info, that the "Bar J" show was hosted on the Earl Hardeman Ranch, a cattle spread founded in 1911...

The Bar J Wranglers "The Bar J Chuckwagon Supper And Original Western Show: Volume Three" (Bar J Chuckwagon, 1982) (LP)
It does seem like they could have come up with shorter album titles for this series, but hey, it's the music that matters... Like many dude ranch bands, the Bar J crew seems to have recorded roughly one souvenir album per year... for many, many years, at least well into the 1990s. I'll keep adding to the list as they come across my path.

Mary Brooks & Steve Brooks "Country Love... With A Touch Of Nashville" (Windchime Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Johnny Slate & Ben Hall)
This one's about as off-the-radar as you can get, a super-generic custom-press album by a couple from Torrington, Wyoming, on the eastern edge of the state, by the Nebraska state line. I could find no trace of this disc online, no mention of them playing at a local bar or a county fair, or even any hint about what they did next in life. Amid all the country stuff, they also cover Randy Vanwarmer's 1979 pop hit, "Just When I Needed You Most," though that's not such a far stretch when you're "going Nashville" in the early '80s. Anyone know more about these folks?

Linda Buell "Linda Goes To Nashville" (Buffalo Chip's, 1978-?) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Logan & Jim Vest)
Singer Linda Buell hailed from Buffalo, Wyoming, just north of Casper and during the '70s she and her husband Chuck Buell fronted a band called the Fugitives which played regional gigs. She traveled to Nashville to cut this disc at the Music City Recorders studio, with Jack Logan on board as the producer, playing an all-covers set with some pretty nice selections. The packaging is unusually minimalist, with no pics of Buell on the cover and no info about the backing musicians. The thing is, though, she was pretty darn good. Buell's voice was a mix of Wanda Jackson, Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker -- a little thin, but soulful, and she really owns these songs, even with occasionally lackluster backing by the anonymous studio crew. Again, there's no information about the sessions, or a release date on the record, but I'm gonna guess 1978, based on the set list, which includes Ed Bruce's "Texas When I Die" and a version of "Heaven's Just a Sin Away" by the Kendalls, both of which were hits in 1977.

Linda Buell "Keeps It Country" (Vista International Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Jim Vest, Dan Dunkleberger & Al McGuire)
On her second album, Buell worked again with producer Jim Vest, who also played steel guitar on these sessions. About half the album is original material, including one song credited to her, "Big Horn Mountain Breakdown," along with several others on same publishing company. A couple were written by Jodie Emerson (with co-credit to Wild Bill Emerson) and also sang a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Never Do Nothing Right." In 1985, she and her husband moved to Nashville to try and make it as songwriters, apparently having some success getting demos placed with big stars like Alan Jackson, et. al. but for the most part she found her old-school traditional style out of synch with the increasingly glossy, pop-oriented sound of modern-day Nashville, and in the late 1990s they moved back to Wyoming. (Their son, Geoff Buell, is a steel guitar player still living in Nashville who has self-released a couple of albums of his own.) As far as I know, these two albums are the only records she made.

Bruce Hauser -- see artist profile

Eddie Hawkins "Cowboy Memories" (Summit Records)
(Produced by H. Wayne Fox)
I have absolutely no info about this album, except that I saw it at a used book store a while back and thought the novelty album art was funny (it's a picture of the artist -- a big, lanky cowpoke feller -- sittin' nekkid in a tiny tin washbasin, scrub brush in hand...) and I was tempted to pick it up, but thought it was a little too pricey for me, like two bucks or something... Anyway, this fella (who is not to be confused with the gospel artist Edwin Hawkins) seems to have been a rodeo rider in Colorado and Wyoming, and the music is mostly cover tunes, ranging from Hank Williams to other oldies such as "Philadelphia Lawyer" and "Yellow Rose Of Texas." There's one song that might have been an original, "Teardrops In My Heart," but I don't know for sure. I couldn't find any other mention of this guy anywhere else... I'm guessing this came out in the mid-to-late '60s, possibly the early 1970s(?) Apparently pedal steel player Don Buzard plays throughout this album, and adds some pretty tasty licks, with guitarist George Braswell backing him up. Anyone out there have anything to add?

Harry Jackson "The Cowboy: His Songs, Ballads And Brag Talk" (Folkways Records, 1959) (LP)
Classic cowboy folklore from Harry Jackson (ne Harry Aaron Shapiro Jr., 1924-2011) was a Jewish kid from Chicago who headed out west to Wyoming when he was just fourteen and devoted himself to the cowboy life. On this double-LP set Jackson, who prided himself on performing old-school western music without the adornments of the commercialized "singing cowboy" scene, delivers a few dozen brisk renditions of classics such as "Blood On The Saddle," "Strawberry Roan," "Tying A Knot In The Devil's Tail" and "When The Work's All Done This Fall," as well as numerous more obscure tunes, along with jokes and other recitations. This album was released well after Jackson pursued a career as a highly successful painter and sculptor, working notably as a postwar abstract expressionist, and later as a realist, producing numerous western-themed paintings and statues. Harry Jackson also had some bit roles in Hollywood and, following the release of this album, was "discovered" by the folk revival scene and shared the stage with young'uns like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Although this album was reissued in the wake of that recognition, it seems to be the only full album he released.

Ed Julius & The Wranglers "Life Is Hard" (Renee Records, 1976-?) (LP)
(Produced by Bud Comte & Dalton Fuller)
Born and raised in Rock Springs, Wyoming, singer Ed Julius (1941-2007) led this twangband for several decades. On this album they played mostly cover tunes, including stuff like "Bandy The Rodeo Clown" and Bob McDill's "Amanda," but they did their own stuff, too: the title track was written by bandleader Ed Julius, with other originals credited to polka king Ernie Kucera and one by Dan Foral. (About five years earlier, Julius was in Foral's Nebraska-based band, the Drifters, as a singer-guitarist, and sang on his album, which was also on Renee Records, though as far as I can tell, Foral wasn't involved in this later record.)

Jerry Landrey "Hangin On To Memories" (Renee Records, 1984)
(Produced by Bud Comte)
An album of all-original material by Jerry Landrey, a native of Buffalo, Wyoming who recorded this disc at a studio in Nebraska. The liner notes mention Landrey winning some regional music awards in 1984, so maybe this came out in '84-'85... More info is always welcome!

Bonnie Makepeace "I'm A Song In The Wind" (19--?) (LP)
I could find very little information about this 12-string strummin' gal or about this album, which I believe was her only record. She was originally from Canadaigua, New York, and played there from the mid-1970s to at least the mid-'80s, playing at rodeos and county fairs, as well as venues such as the Lakeview Inn and the California Ranch nightclub. She sang traditional folk and country songs, but was also a prolific songwriter, copyrighting over a hundred songs during her career. She may have moved to Wyoming by the time this record was made, though, again, it's hard to pin down much information about the album itself.

Bob Mathews "This Little Texas Girl" (Rocky Mountain Recording Company, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Kenny Gray)
Fiddle tunes -- including a few obscure ones -- from the 1980 winner of the 1980 Wyoming State Oldtime Fiddling Championship, Bob Matthews, Jr., backed by his father Bob Mathews, Sr., on guitar, and Debbie Mathews playing piano. According to the liner notes, Mr. Mathews started his career busking outside of the Frontier Days festivals in Cheyenne, and later played with the Cheyenne Civic Symphony, as well as in a bluegrass band called Chug H20. Here he saws his way through standards such as "Black Mountain Rag," "Old Joe Clark" and "Under The Double Eagle," along with a selection of hornpipes, polkas and waltzes... This was his first solo album; not sure of others followed.

John David McCain "Laramie In Winter" (Starwood Corporation, 1977) (LP)
A local-folkie/country-type thing from Laramie, Wyoming. This six-song EP was uber-uber- DIY, with the liner notes onto a xeroxed sheet of white office paper, glued to the back... So, yeah...good luck finding a copy!

Chris Roberts " 'Till Five In The Morning" (Frisky Records) (LP)

Sawmill Creek -- see artist profile

Shelley & Kelly "Shelley & Kelly" (American Heritage Music Corporation, 1977) (LP)
Fiddler Shelley Clark and guitarist Kelly Rubrecht (who later married) were a popular duo in Wyoming's 1970s folk-country scene, playing a classy mix of bluegrass, country and western swing for appreciative fans in Jackson Hole and beyond. This is the first of two albums they recorded, with pedal steel Harley Brendal, banjo plunker Jake Hoffman, bassist John Sherpe and Bill Long on second fiddle and guitar... Although they didn't make many records, Shelley & Kelly played steadily for decades, until Kelly Rubrecht was sidelined by Parkinsons...

Shelley & Kelly "Chute 5" (Jester Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Shelley Clark & Kelly Rubrecht)
Man, this record is really, really good. They were great musicians. Her fiddling is lively and clever, his accompaniment on guitar is elegant and precise. A well-produced, beautifully performed album, deeply steeped int he best of the acoustic swing tradition... Bet they were great live! Anyway, if you're a fan of folks like The Hot Club Of Cowtown, or even older stuff like Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang, you'll wanna check this one out.

Shelley & Kelly "Retroactive" (2014) (CD)
This CD updates the duo's career, with live tracks and rehearsal/demo recordings recorded over a thirty-year span... Their two studio albums were also apparently reissued on CD, but I haven't laid eyes on that one yet.

Wyokie "Sundance Sunday Morning" (Clique Productions, 1980-?) (LP)
This one is a real ultra, super-mystery disc. More of a folkie thing, really, although they did know their country music, and covered several top forty country hits, although in a gentle, folkie style. The main musicians were a fresh-faced (if slightly shaggy) ultra-earnest trio -- Connie Hannah (guitar), pianist Rusty Hudelson, and his wife Scharara Hudelson on guitar -- along with Jeanne Rogers, Johnnie Rogers, Cheryl Wales, Terry Wales, who are all mentioned on the inner label. Some members of the Wyokie band were also business partners, having opened a coffeehouse in Sundance, Wyoming, a tiny hamlet nestled in the shadow of butte-like Morian Hill, on the eastern state line right by South Dakota. They recorded this album in nearby Rapid City, and one imagines it pretty closely mirrored the kind of music they sang at their cafe. In addition to some very hippie-sounding originals, this includes covers of a couple of recent country hits, the Oak Ridge Boy's 1977 classic,"Y'All Come Back Saloon" and the equally irresistible "Louisiana Saturday Night," which they probably picked up from Mel McDaniel's version which charted in 1981. They also covered Don Williams' "It Must Be Love" and "I Had A Lovely Time" from the Kendalls, as well as the dino-hippie classic, "Teach Your Children," from Crosby, Stills & Nash. What's weird, though, is that I could find literally zero information about this album online -- the only reference I could find to the band itself was a show notice (and brief profile) that ran in The Sundance Times back in 1986... About all that I could learn was that the Hudelsons were originally from Oklahoma, and it looks like they eventually left Wyoming, with Rusty Hudelson pursuing a solo career down in Texas. Any info is welcome.

Hick Music Index