Search - Shreveport High Steppers :: Shreveport High Steppers: Ram Rockabilly & Hillbilly

5 Stars for the Lonesome Drifter Alone

El Freak | Mooringsport, LA USA | 05/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What we have here is a collection of prime hillbilly and rockabilly, all released in the mid to late 50's on the tiny Shreveport, Louisiana label, Ram Records, founded in 1955 by session guitarist/songwriter Mira Smith. Nearly all of Ram's output is highly sought after by record collectors today, and it's easy to see why. Hardly any of Ram's releases did anything commercially outside of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi, but Mrs. Smith managed to record what is arguably some of the best rock n' roll, rockabilly, r&b and blues of the period. The original records are ultra-scarce and obscure. I am from the Shreveport area and consider myself to be pretty knowledgable about roots music, but even I had never heard of Ram until about 2 years ago. Anyway, on to this cd. Some of the tracks on this cd kind of drag and are a bit generic 50's hillbilly, but what really makes this cd worth owning is the fact that all the tracks the Lonesome Drifter recorded for Ram are here. The Drifter, aka Thomas Johnson, recorded one of the rarest and most eagerly sought after rockabilly 45's, Eager Boy, on Ram's subsidiary, K Records in 1958. One take of that is included here(there is another version on Ace's other Ram compilation, Shreveport Stomp, but I'm not sure which was the original master take), plus about 9 others.All very cool, especially the uptempo hillbilly Teardrop Valley, the b-side to Eager Boy,the killer rockabilly Ain't Got Nothing But the Blues and the bluegrass-sounding I Wished It Wasn't So. The Lonesome Drifter was/is one of the most CRIMINALLY overlooked talents in country and rockabilly. Imagine if Hank Williams had lived a few more years, and he and Bill Monroe decided to write songs together with Carl Perkins, and you've got an idea of what the Drifter sounds like. Just very very cool backwoods hillbilly twang.Thank God that the very cool people at Britain's Ace Records decided to share this with us and save it from obscurity.If you dig this, I would also recommend their other Ram compilation, Shreveport Stomp, which is an overview of all the material released by Ram, including blues, r&b, rock guitar instrumentals, and swamp pop, as well as rockabilly and country."

Days gone by

KDPost | Arkansas | 06/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I highly recommend this album to anyone who enjoys music from past eras.I enjoyed the whole album. Though I am more partial to track #9, Dollie in the Dirt Boogie-Leon Post.This is the first professional recording, credited specifically to MY DAD! After years of playing with the likes of Elvis, Jim Ed Brown, and Jim Reeves, I get to see his name by itself."