So, last week I got up early and drove to Columbus, Ohio. My first stop was the huge Goodwill on the east side. Tons of LPs, and all stacked, but I'm fine with that, because in a previous visit, the LPs had been crammed into the shelves in long rows--rows almost impossible to move, because the shelves aren't tall enough. So, stacks were fine. I quickly figured out a method whereby I cleared room as I moved LPs. This 78 album (see above) was to the side, and I saw that it contained Chuck Wagon Gang 78s, none of them in great shape, but they were only $2.99. So I grabbed everything (a big armful of LPs, plus the 78 set) and walked all the way to the carts to deposit my finds. Logic would have dictated leaving the records where they were and bringing the cart over, but do I listen to logic?
Anyway, I was able to restore all but two of the CWGs--the two had been ruined by bad needles and/or too many plays--and I discovered that one of the 78s is by the Masters Family. I tossed in the Maddow Bros. and Rose version of He Will Set Your Fields on Fire, and now we have a gospel set I'd wanted to post yesterday but didn't have ready to go. Keep in mind these are pretty chewed up, but I think I got decent sound. And I guess I hadn't known that the CWG went back to the 1930s--two of the tracks here are from 1936. I thought they had their start in the 1940s. Shows you the hazards of thinking.
I'm a little nervous about posting a thirteen-selection set (cue Halloween theremin), but I think we'll be okay. (CLUNK! CRASH!) Wh...what was that? By the way, these are fabulous sides. I forgot to mention that. My late foster parents introduced me to this group, which I loved from the start.
Click here to hear: Chuck Wagon Gang
A Beautiful Life--The Chuck Wagon Gang (Okeh 03432; 1940)
Will You Meet Me Over Yonder?--Same
He Will Set Your Fields on Fire--Maddox Brothers and Rose, year unknown
I'll Be Going to Heaven Sometime--The Masters Family (Columbia 20785; 1950)
Let the Spirit Descend--Same
We Are Climbing--The Chuck Wagon Gang (Columbia 37450; 1940)
After the Sunrise--Same
Shall We Gather at the River?--CWG (Columbia 20969; 1949)
Come Unto Me--CWG (Columbia 20969; 1950)
Kneel at the Cross--CWG (Columbia 20269; 1936)
The Son Hath Make Me Free--Same
He's Coming Again--CWG (Columbia 20460; 1941)
Jesus Hold My Hand--Same
Lee
17 comments:
Many thanks for this. I didn't know the Gang went back to the 30s myself!
I read how they got their name, and I forgot just as quickly!
Oh, and the Okeh label scanned anything but okay. One of those labels that won't scan properly. So I did a "live" photo from about four angles, and the result, after color adjusting, is way better than the scan.
Yeah, they were among the worst, along with Columbia 45s of the 50s and early RCA 45s. Legibility was not a requirement back then. The labels of some early RCA 45s are all but unreadable.
The records may have been worn, but the sound is excellent nonetheless.
Here's a useful, if hardly scholarly, article:
https://www.last.fm/music/The+Chuck+Wagon+Gang/+wiki
It lists Dad Carter as still being a member of the group, so maybe not the last word in accuracy.
There's a whole book to be done on record labels. (I know there are plenty of web sites covering this, but I'm a Physical Media lover, since I suspect anything digital will eventually be taken away from us.) Sometimes I think record companies were like the early film studios -- Pathe, Edison, Keystone -- who wanted fans to love the provider instead of the creators and thus refused to identify their stars until forced to. RCA albums of the 1950s practically hide the name of the singer at the bottom of their labels. But that damn dog is always prominent up top.
I got the joyful opportunity ten years ago to help host a gospel concert here locally as a fund-raiser for the non profit I worked for at the time, and someone made a connection at almost the last minute to snag the then-current version of the CWG. It was an amazing 90 minutes listening to them sing with only a guitar for instrumental support, they were phenomenal. I was able to take my Mom to the concert, and it was a joy to watch her go back to her Southern-gospel piano-playing roots and singing along with all of the old tunes they performed. I'll never forget the young lady singing alto with them at that time, she had a voice that my grandmother always described as bucket bottom alto, a true contralto who, when she dropped to her chest voice, absolutely could rattle everything in the house not tied down, and it resonated inside me sitting only five rows back from the stage. Brought tears to my eyes just from the beauty of her voice.
Said all tat to say this...I love the Gang in any version, but these old recordings are a blessing that take me back to my childhood listening to my great-grandma's old records, and my gospel-singing grandparents. Thanks, Lee, for the time and trouble of sharing these with us!!!
Thanks Lee, though I'm afraid I'm no fan of The Chuck Wagon Gang. Way back even before I had a blog, I remember trying to rip a Chuck Wagon Gang Christmas record, and the music did nothing for me. All the songs started out with the same strum on the guitar to get everyone in the same key, I suppose. Maybe my opinion would be different today, it's been 15-20 years ago, but that bad taste is still in my mouth.
DonHo57,
My pleasure, and an amazing story! My foster parents would have loved that concert, I'm sure. My biological parents... no. They had nothing to do with anything that was down home, to put it lightly. I don't know how I turned out the way I did.
Ernie,
For what it's worth, their Christmas LP is very atypical, if only because they're singing Christmas hymns and carols. I like the LP, myself, but my CWG-fan foster parents didn't. Their style didn't evolve around that material, and sort of ironically, I admire them for not shaping the hymns and carols to their idiom, beyond using the guitar-strumming background and the bouncy beat. The results are certainly bland compared to their regular output. Also, CWG are part of a quartet style that seems emotionless to many listeners. I have a country duo on 78 singing a murdered-girl ballad in that unaffected Appalachian fashion, describing the gorier details of the murder like they were reading a shopping list. I'm used to Southern/mountain music, so I don't even think about what I once considered stylistic oddities. Or whatever I just typed.
Pretty sure I've discovered more than one Christmas album of theirs now. Not sure if it was the same music with a different cover or different stuff. And I kinda thought it was just a collection of singles, but I don't really remember. I'll try to revisit it someday.
I have a Christmas LP by them, but it's in stereo (IIRC), so probably from the 60s.
If it's true stereo, then yes. And you know the difference, of course! Their older Christmas stuff came out on Harmony. I wish I'd kept my copy--I really liked it, even if it's not up to their more CWG-style stuff. I recently passed up a cheap copy. Oh, well.
I actually have two Christmas LPs by the Gang. One is on Columbia (C30263), is in stereo and appears to be from the late 60s. The other is on Harmony, is rechanneled, and probably is from a few years earlier. The latter may be the one you remember. I'll transfer it for next year's seasonal offerings.
Yes, that sounds about right. I remember having the two of them in my hands together at the same time, but not much more than that. :)
Mr. Hartsfeld,
Josh Owens of Hartford, KY here, long time no talk! Thanks for posting this, what a great find! Back when I was a kid in the Piedmont of NC, a local station would (every Summer for a few years) devote an hour or so every Sunday afternoon, to CWG music/history. That same announcer, would borrow other 78s as well from listeners and one record in a particular collection, was said Masters Family record too LOL, so a lot of good music/memories here. CWG recorded at least two Christmas albums, the first, reisued in fake stereo. I had the first issue of it, but it got lost in luggage right after I got it, but Jess and I found the latter in a thrift store later. I believe that album was originally recorded mid-'50s, because of Dad Carter still being in the group and the two non-Christmas cuts contained therein, In The Garden and In The Sweet Forever, the latter a great cut BTW! In The Garden was first issued on the album that contained their Song Of The Year for 1955, Shout And Shine, can't remember the title of the album though: don't know where In The Sweet Forever was issued first BTW. Also, thought A Beautiful Life/Will You Meet Me Over Yonder was from '35 on Columbia, dunno. Again, great stuff, thanks!
Romans 11:33-36 KJB
Josh
Podcast: http://www.jeremiah616.sermon.net
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Thanks, Josh!
Great to hear from you. I'd love to find that mono edition of that LP.
You Ain't the only one Lee, LOL! Reckon I was glad Jess found the other though, even though it was in fake stereo and the cover was in pretty rough shape. The few days I had the mono copy though, I played the fire out of In The Sweet Forever! I actually played a couple cuts from that album, on my broadcast for Christmas week, although unannounced. Sunday, December 23, 2018 http://jeremiah616.sermon.net/main/main/21285539
Romans 11:33-36 KJB
Josh
Podcast: http://www.jeremiah616.sermon.net
Callcast: (563) 999-3967
Blog: http://www.brojoshowens.wordpress.com
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/preacher-friends
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