Search - Various Artists :: The Bullet and Sur-Speed Records Story

Only For Devoted Fans/Historians

06/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off, Larry Birdsong is not the artist on every track as indicated above. The correct listing is as follows: 1) Not Gonna Worry Me - Larry Birdsong; 2) Girl Be Careful - Larry Birdsong; 3) Just Walking In The Rain - Johnny Bragg; 4) Goin' Over Fool Hill - Johnny Bragg; 5) Shy - Shy Guy Douglas; 6) Midnight Soul - Shy Guy Douglas; 7) My Eyes Don't Have the Heart to Cry - The Tempo Rhythms; 8) Let It Ring - The Tempo Rhythms; 9) Every Night In The Week - Larry Birdsong & The Buford Majors Band; 10) If I Could Only Hold Back My Tears - Larry Birdsong & The Buford Majors Band; 11) Short Fat Woman - Doug Lane; 12) Nobody Else Will Do - Thomas Henry; 13) Cry Cry - The Buford Majors Band; 14) One Day - The Buford Majors Band; 15) Have Faith - The Buford Majors Band; 16) All In My Heart - The Buford Majors Band; 17) Sitting and Writing - The Buford Majors Band; 18) You've Got To Change - The Buford Majors Band; 19) Snap Your Fingers - The Buford Majors Band; 20) Kiss And Run - The Buford Majors Band; 21) I's So Grateful - The Buford Majors Band; 22) Hear That River - Levert Allison; 23) The Old Man - Willie Gunn



The two common factors for these tracks is that not one of them ever became a national hit, neither on the R&B charts nor the Billboard Pop Hot 100, and each of the artists/groups has to be among the most obscure ever gathered together on one CD. Yes, to devoted fans of the R&B/Soul genres and musical historians they will have some significance, but certainly not to the average fan.



In the case of Larry Birdsong, this bona-fide juvenile delinquent, after spending some time in a reform school, was heading the Sugar Hill Nightclub house band in Nashville when he came to the attention of producer Ted Jarrett circa 1955. That led to some recording stints at Excello which produced his only hit single, Pleadin' For Love, which made it to # 11 R&B with the backing of Louis Brooks And His Hi-Toppers, b/w You'll Never Never Know. In addition to the sides presented here, recorded at W.C. "Red" Worthan's Bullet/Sur-Speed Records in Nashville, Birdsong also cut discs for Decca, Champion, Vee-Jay, Carvert, and Home Of The Blues - but never had another hit. On a couple of the tracks here Birdsong, who passed away in 1983, is accompanied by The Buford Majors Band, a spin-off from the Hi-Toppers of which Majors was a member, and they also present a clutch of the band's own sides done at the same studios.



Another with a shady past was John Henry (Johnny) Bragg who had been sent to prison for a 1943 rape he denied ever committing to his dying day at age 79 on September 3, 2004. While at Tennessee State Prison, and under the auspices of a program introduced by Governor Frank Clement, he became the lead for a group calling themselves The Prisonaires and, in 1953, and under heavy security, they appeared at the fledgling Sun Records studios started by Sam Phillips where, among other tracks, they cut Just Walkin' In The Rain (Sun 186). Co-written by Bragg, it was a huge local hit and, although never making any national charts, is generally credited as being the record that gave Sun Records a much needed boost. In 1955 a cover by Johnny Ray would rise to # 2 Pop Top 100 on Columbia 40729. After having his sentence commuted in 1959, Bragg went back for a parole violation and was in and out of the pen until 1977. While there in 1961, he was paid a visit by one Elvis Presley who regarded Just Walkin' In The Rain, and Bragg's lead vocal, as a major influence on his career.



Thomas "Shy Guy" Douglas had no such skeletons in his closet. Indeed, he is widely regarded as THE greatest ever Down Home singer/harmonica bluesman, having started his career in the late 1940s at Nashville's famed Bijou Theater where he was discovered by Red Wortham, who began recording him in or around 1950. Levert Allison, perhaps better known as the lead for the gospel group The Dynamite Dixie Travellers, enjoyed wide local acclaim for the gloomy Hear That River, played second fiddle to brother Gene, who managed to register three hit singles, including the 1957/59 smash You Can Make It If You Try (# 3 R&B/# 36 Top 100 on Vee-Jay).



If you want an inexpensive sampling of the kind of R&B/Soul that influenced a generation of noted R&R artists you can't go wrong with this release which has adequate sound quality (hopeless audiophiles might not like it) and informative liner notes by Fred James."