Cat. No. BCD 17335: SPEEDY WEST & JIMMY BRYANT ~ BUSTIN' THRU - FLIPPIN' THE LID. BEAR FAMILY BCD 17335. (IMPORT).
LOS ANGELES IN THE PERIOD IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE END OF WW11 WAS IN THE THROES OF A GREAT ECONOMIC BOOM. THE MIGRATION OF “OKIES” DURING THE DUST BOWL OF THE 1930s, COMBINED WITH THE EXPLOSION OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DEFENCE INDUSTRY DURING THE WAR, MEANT THAT THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ROWDY HILLBILLIES WAITING TO BE ENTERTAINED AFTER THEIR DAY’S WORK WAS DONE. HILLBILLY, COUNTRY AND WESTERN SWING FLOURISHED, AND MUSICIANS HAD AS MUCH WORK AS THEY COULD HANDLE. MUSICIANS FROM AROUND THE U.S. HEARD OF THE OPPORTUNIES TO MAKE GOOD MONEY DOING WHAT THEY LOVED. TWO OF THESE, WESLEY WEBB ‘SPEEDY’ WEST FROM MISSOURI AND IVY J. BRYANT FROM MOULTRIE, GEORGIA EMIGRATED TO CALIFORNIA IN SEARCH OF THE GREAT OPPORTUNITIES. ‘SPEEDY WEST’ PLAYED STEEL GUITAR, A BIGSBY, TRIPLE NECK ELECTRIC STEEL GUITAR AND JIMMY BRYANT WAS QUITE PROFICIENT PLAYING GUITAR AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRST COUNTRY GUITARISTS TO PLAY A FENDER “TELECASTER” AS HIS PREFERRED INSTRUMENT.
THE TWO BECAME FRIENDS AND COMBINED FORCES IN 1949 AND THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE TWO MEN WAS UNDENIABLE. SOON AFTER THEY BEGAN RECORDING AS SIDEMEN FOR CAPITOL RECORDS’ NEWEST SINGING SENSATION, ‘TENNESSEE’ ERNIE FORD. THE TWO FELL IN WITH A GROUP OF MUSICIANS, HOLLYWOOD’S ‘A-TEAM’ OF HILLBILLY PLAYERS THAT BECAME THE “HOUSE BAND” AT CAPITOL RECORDS AND THEY BACKED MANY A CAPITOL ARTIST IN THAT CAPACITY. BOTH OBTAINED THE OPPORTUNITY TO RECORD IN THEIR OWN RIGHT AND THEIR RECORDINGS ARE INCLUDED ON THIS CD ALONG WITH THEIR DUETS. WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT THE IMPACT OF THESE TWO MEN IS THAT ALL THESE YEARS LATER, THEIR RECORDINGS STILL SOUND FUTURISTIC, WITH FLEET-FINGERED PROWESS NO ON HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO EQUAL. BRILLIANT *****
TRACK LISTING: Flippin’ The Lid / Stratosphere Boogie / Jelly Beans Daddy (vocal: Amos R. ‘Corky’ Carpenter) / Bryant’s Boogie / Lover / Wild And Wooly West / Hawaiian War Chant / The Night Rider / Ain’t Nobody’s Business But My Own (vocal: Kay Starr & ‘Tennessee’ Ernie Ford) / This Ain’t The Blues / Bryant’s Shuffle / Cotton Pickin’ Steel Guitar Rag / Water Baby Blues / Totem Pole Dance / On The Beach Of Waikiki / Truck Driver’s Ride / Boogie Barn Dance / Wild Card / Okie Boogie (vocal: Ella Mae Morse) / Jammin’ With Jimmy / Sand Canyon Swing / Hop, Skip And Jump / Yodeling Guitar / I’ve Turned A Gadabout (vocal: Eddie Kirk & Marilyn Tuttle, leader: Spike Jones) / Speedy’s Special / Space Man In Orbit / Swingin’ On The Strings / Pushin’ The Blues / Speedin’ West / Twice The Lovin’ (In Half The Time) (vocal: Jean Shepard) / Hillcrest (Opus 3) / Pickin’ Peppers / This Must Be The Place (vocal: ‘Tennessee’ Ernie Ford & Betty Hutton).
CD DIGI-PAK NEW
