Various - Country & Western Hit Parade 1950 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music

1-CD deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks. Playing time approx. 77 mns.

After many, many requests, we're finally doing a definitive year-by-year country series! And it won't stop when the music is in copyright, either! The most luxuriously packaged single CDs we've ever done! The history of country music told year-by-year from 1945-1970. The first six volumes are complete, 1945-1950. The hits! The classic performances! The truly influential recordings! Painstakingly restored sound! The series is compiled an annotated by Grammy winning Colin Escott. The country series has been compiled with today's fans in mind. Yes, the big hits are there, but so are the classic performances that weren't necessarily big hits at the time, but became influential in the years ahead. Every volume has incredibly detailed behind-the-scenes stories, fabulously rare photos, and an ongoing history of country music set against the backdrop of the broader American music business.
Definitive' You bet!

The battle over speeds was slowly resolving itself. In 1948, Columbia Records had introduced the LP, and the following year RCA had introduced the 45 RPM single. Both companies manufactured their own record players, and Columbia's wouldn't play the 45 while RCA's wouldn't play the LP. But then in March 1950, RCA broke the logjam and announced that it would begin to manufacture LPs and players that would play them. The LP had established itself as the sound-carrier of choice for classical music, and RCA's classical artists were beginning to revolt. In September, Columbia and the third major label, Decca, announced that they would manufacture 45 RPM records and include that speed in their players. For all the bickering, the vast majority of records were still 78s. In 1949, of the 188 million records sold, 177 million were 78s. Just 7.3 million were 45s and 3.3 million were LPs. And of those 177 million records, the jukebox operators bought 46 million. The United States was consumed with the Korean War that started in June 1950 and the Cold War's Communist witch-hunts. The country music industry provided the soundtrack. Elton Britt recorded The Red We Want Is The Red We've Got In The Red, White, And Blue, while Jimmie Osborne chimed in with the somewhat premature Thank God For Victory In Korea (there was a truce in 1953 but as of this writing, the Korean War is still not officially over). Even Hank Williams as Luke The Drifter recorded an admonishment to Joseph Stalin, No, No Joe. In August 1950, several entertainers including the blues singer Josh White were forced to confess that they'd been Communists or Communist sympathizers. None of the Red-baiting songs are included here because they don't withstand repeated listening, but those who want the fall-out shelter experience should buy some tinned goods, hunker down and check out Bear Family's 'Atomic Platters' box (BCD 16065). It's a full cross-section of politically-charged music from this era.

The country music industry was quickly centering itself upon Nashville. Soon after Mercury Records was launched, it had brief local representation in Nashville, but Mercury wasn't a major at the time and the local reps didn't stick around. When Murray Nash became Mercury's first full-time Southern representative, he was based in Knoxville. In 1950, Lee Gillette was promoted from country to pop A&R at Capitol, and was replaced by Ken Nelson in Los Angeles and Walter 'D.' Kilpatrick in Nashville. Nelson eventually edged Kilpatrick out of the picture, but for a year or so Kilpatrick was the first major label A&R man permanently stationed in Nashville. It was also in 1950 that RCA became the last major label to begin recording there on a regular basis.

The years 1949 and '50 saw the emergence of several country stars who would dominate the field for years, although in the case of Hank Williams, he would dominate it from an early grave. Hank Snow, of course, had been recording since the 1930s in Canada, but finally broke through in the United States in 1950. Lefty Frizzell burst upon the scene from nowhere in 1950 and Webb Pierce made enough noise that year to be signed to Decca in '51. Carl Smith made an unostentatious debut but within a few years every one of his records became a smash hit. Ray Price, although not featured in this volume, also began recording in 1950, although it would take considerably longer for him to find his own true voice.

Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music

Country & Western Hit Parade

“Collecting an anarchic mix of sex and sentimentality, earnest paeans to family and fanciful tales of drinking and cheating, DIM LIGHTS… affords a fascinating glimpse into black-and-white ‘50s polemics… Established stars, inspired wannabes proffer an intoxicating brew of dancefloor honky tonk, hillbilly boogie, bluegrass, western swing, incipient rockabilly, goofball novelty, and sentimental country-pop.” (UNCUT magazine)

 

The reviews are in and everyone from Australia to Los Angeles to London is raving about Bear Family’s definitive year-by-year country series. Starting in 1945, DIM LIGHTS, THICK SMOKE, AND HILLBILLY MUSIC (COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADE) tells the real story of country music record-by-record. The hits are here, but so are groundbreaking records that went nowhere at the time. This is the true and uncensored history of country music. Everything you need to hear, year-by-year. Stars like Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, and Hank Snow are here, but so are beerhall legends like Eddie Noack and Sonny Burns, and roots music mavens like Charlie Feathers and the Stanley Brothers, as well as overlooked giants like Carl Belew and Floyd Tillman. You’ll also hear the incredible original versions of songs like Duelin’ Banjos, Release Me, Lonely Street, and many more!  Every CD is full to the brim with great music, and they’re all individually packaged in hardcover 72-page books by Colin Escott that tell the story of every song as well as the broader music history of the time. Fabulous photos, original record labels, and period advertisements round out the packages.

Bear Family began its journey into year-by-year anthologies with its groundbreaking and award-winning BLOWIN’ THE FUSE/SWEET SOUL MUSIC series that tells the story of R&B from 1945-1970. Look for the series to continue into the Funk era. And look for a year-by-year Rock ‘n’ Roll anthology coming soon.

# After the volumes covering 1945-1955 were released, the word was out. This series is definitive, fabulously packaged, and faultlessly remastered! Everything you'd expect from Bear Family…and more!

# Jack Clement, who produced Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, and many others, said, "This is the best country series of all time. No doubt. No question." Robert Hilburn in the 'Los Angeles Times'said, "An invaluable album project…enables fans to step back in time and listen to the radio just like Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan did."

# Now the story continues from 1956 until 1960. Every CD is generously full. Every booklet is extensive and chocked full of rare photos and illustrations, as well as complete stories behind the songs!

# In addition to the hits, the series contains rarities that went on to influence country music…and all music…in the years ahead, like Wanda Jackson's original version of Silver Threads And Golden Needles, Carl Belew's original Lonely Street, and Chet Atkins' influential Walk, Don't Run.

# This series is designed to introduce new listeners to the very best that country music has to offer… while keeping longtime fans entertained. Every volume is a fabulous time capsule.

 

Here's the story

For many years, we'd received requests to do a truly definitive country series, but it wasn't until the success of our year-by-year R&B/Soul series, 'Blowin' The Fuse' (now 'Sweet Soul Music' and soon to be continued into the Funk era) that we decided we needed to do something comparable for country music. The first volumes of 'Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music' took us from 1945-1955, and now the story continues into the era of the Nashville Sound.

The series has been compiled with today's fans in mind. Sure, the big hits are there, but so are the classic performances that weren't necessarily hits at the time, but became influential in the years ahead. Every volume has incredibly detailed behind-the-scenes stories, fabulously rare photos, and an ongoing history of country music set against the backdrop of the broader American music business. The booklets alone are 72 pages! Definitive? You bet!

Superlatives are often overused, but we feel that this series is part of our mission to bring this incredible music to new fans ... as well as entertaining older fans. We pick up the story in 1956....just as country music was coming to terms with the upset of rock 'n' roll!

And, keeping in the spirit of the releases, some of the artists' listings are as they originally appeared - like Jim Edward and Maxine Brown and Bonnie, Wayne Raney - Raney Family (Wayne, Wanda and Zyndall) and Marty Robbins with Ray Conniff -  while the cd in each set is stored in a reproduction of a 45 rpm record label bag appropriate to that year.

Country music author and historian Colin Escott is responsible for these remarkable releases, an obvious labour of love that has taken considerable research effort, offering a valuable insight into the development of country music over the years. Many of country music's foremost entertainers are included alongside others who may have only earned a place in the footnotes of country music history, but all present a variety of voices and differing musical styles that have virtually disappeared, over half a century later, in contemporary country music's conveyor belt output. The songs were also different back then: sometimes relating to current events, they also regularly centred upon themes like boozin', honky-tonking and slippin' around, now generally considered non-pc in these over sensitive times.

Country & Western Hitparade - CD-Album-Series by Bear Family

Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/bear-family/country-series/country-und-western-hitparade/
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