Various - Country & Western Hit Parade 1955 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks, playing time: 80:29 minutes.

It was the year everything began to change. When the music merchants gathered for their annual convention in July 1955, one of the keynote speakers remarked that "Vintage years lie ahead." How true for the industry as a whole, but how tough for the mainstream country music heard here. Reviewers in the trade papers noted an increasing number of artists taking after Elvis Presley and his "trick warbling," as 'Billboard' dubbed it. And make no mistake, Elvis was still viewed as a country artist. He was still on a hillbilly barndance, the Louisiana Hayride, and still touring predominantly in the South and Southwest. Most of the interest in acquiring his contract came from the major record labels' country divisions, and it was RCA's country division that acquired him from Sun Records in November 1955.

In 1955, country music finally came to network television on a regular basis. Tennessee Ernie Ford was on NBC-TV's daytime schedule, and, as of January 25, 1955, the Ozark Jubilee, hitherto broadcast on local TV in Springfield, Missouri, was picked up for nationwide transmission by ABC-TV. Soon after its debut as a radio show in December 1953, the Ozark Jubilee had recruited Red Foley as host, and Foley's small-town avuncular charm worked well on television. All this left the NBC-affiliated Grand Ole Opry in the dust. The network had tried rotating some Opry cast members through The Kate Smith Evening Hour without much success, and a one-off Opry telecast on June 11 didn't do much better. Following the success of The Ozark Jubilee, ABC approached the Opry, and Purina sponsored the show on ABC-TV. Rather than film the actual show, Purina insisted upon staged sets with merry-go-rounds, hay bales, and non-country guests. The Purina Opry show went out in the 1955-'56 season, but didn't return, while the Ozark Jubilee remained on ABC-TV until 1960. Meanwhile, pioneering film maker Al Gannaway filmed many Opry stars, and his work is the only filmed documentation of the Opry's cast (Cowboy Copas, Webb Pierce, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, etc.) in the mid-1950s. Pillsbury bought the series and placed it into 40 markets.

Country music was slow to reach nationwide television because advertisers assumed that country music purchasers had little or no money to buy their products. This was backed up by industry surveys showing that in country music 78s still outsold 45s on a 70:30 ratio and that country LPs barely sold at all. While it was probably true that country music generally appealed to those with less disposable income, it was also true that country music fans supported their music in other ways. There were around 25 country music parks that opened after church on Sunday and presented shows that ran until midnight. Two hundred more drive-ins, theaters, speedways, and ballparks regularly scheduled country music shows. Performers were paid between $1000 and $2500 depending on how many acts they brought with them. That business took in $50 million in 1954-'55. The industry was impressed.

On the broader business front, Britain's EMI bought Capitol Records in January 1955 for eight million dollars. EMI's HMV label had handled RCA Victor in England since the early 1900s and EMI's Columbia label had handled American Columbia for as long (and had even owned the American parent for a few years). RCA, though, made known its intention to break free of EMI when the term was up in 1957 and, as of 1953, American Columbia had gone to Philips Records in Europe. That left EMI contemplating a future without American repertoire. The only solution was to buy one of the two affordable major American labels, Capitol or Mercury. The Capitol purchase was so profitable for EMI that Philips bought Mercury in 1961 when it became clear that it would lose Columbia Records.

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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