Customer Reviews

Country Music Hall of Fame

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Grandpa Jones recorded for several different record labels and often re-recorded his old songs. In the thirties, he was nicknamed Grandpa aged just 22 because of his general outlook and his old-sounding voice.

In the late forties, Grandpa achieved great success with Mountain dew, Eight more miles to Louisville and Old rattler, while signed to King records. He switched to RCA in 1952 and made some great music for them before switching to Decca in 1956. This CD contains everything that Grandpa recorded for Decca between 1956 and 1959 - just fifteen studio tracks and one live recording.

Here you will find re-recordings of some of his earlier country hits with King (Mountain dew, Eight more miles to Louisville, Dark as a dungeon) along with songs about dogs and hunting (Rattler's pup, The hunting's over for tonight, Old Towzer).

Grandpa had a sense of humor, never clearer than in Don't bring your banjo home, an adaptation of Johnny Cash's Don't take your guns to town, and Daylight saving time, about changing the clocks in October (a debate that still endures). Grandpa clearly liked Johnny's early music - he also recorded a straight cover of Picking time. Another great cover is Waiting for a train, originally by Jimmie Rodgers, Grandpa's first musical idol.

After his spell with Decca, Grandpa recorded for Monument (1960 to 1973) and CMH (1976 to 1981) where he continued to make great music, albeit in a somewhat different style, more folk than country.

If you enjoy old-time country or folk music, especially if you like Pete Seeger (another banjo-picking singer), you might enjoy Grandpa's music. But if you want the original versions of his country hits, look for a compilation of his King recordings.

First off, the music here is from his time on Decca Records in the 1950's, in fact this is his entire Decca output (excluding one lost song). Now, Grandpa's most well known recordings are were on King Records, and his chart hits were on Monument Records.

The booklet is very well done, and the essay is great. Recording dates are included.

Probably the best cut is a live version of "Cindy" from the Grand Ole Opry, with Ray Price introducing Grandpa.

Country-music master Grandpa Jones recorded prolifically for several different labels; this CD represents his entire output for Decca Records (1956-59). This writer was pleasantly surprised by what a consistent performer Jones was: the 1958 rendition of "Mountain Dew" heard here is almost precisely the same as his 1971 performance on "Hee Haw," right down to the ad-libbed humming during one of the banjo breaks.

The CD features traditional country ballads (with Jones leading a close-harmony vocal arrangement); up-tempo banjo specialties with Grandpa's infectiously genial solo vocals ("Mountain Dew" is a highlight); and sometimes a happy combination of the two styles ("The Huntin's Over for Tonight" is a glorious hootenanny that you'll enjoy again and again, with Jones leading the whole gang). There are also some tongue-in-cheek selections: "Daylight Saving Time" has Grandpa railing against monkeying with the clocks, and he practically spits out the title phrase contemptuously; "The All-American Boy," the story of a backwoods kid who became a rock-and-roll sensation, seems an odd choice for Grandpa Jones, but he sings it in character with chip-on-the-shoulder cockiness.

This collection could have used "Old Rattler" and some of Grandpa's other tunes, but it is confined to the Decca sessions. It does include an unissued track, a live recording, and a rare side issued only as a 45-rpm single. Those who know Grandpa's vocals on "Hee Haw" will not be disappointed by this CD.

Louis Marshall Jones was born on October 20, 1913 in Niagra, Kentucky, the youngest of 10 children. By age 16, and already proficient on guitar and banjo, he was performing on radio and quickly got his own show on WJW out of Akron. He also became a regular guest on the Lum and Abner radio show.

In 1935, still just 22 years old, he hooked up with a touring group led by The Kentucky Mountain Boy, Bradley Kincaid. Also renowned as "the man who first brought Kentucky mountain songs and ballads to radio" it was he who came up with the nickname Grandpa because, on their radio show out of WBZ in Boston, he came across like a crotchety old geezer. Not only did it stick, but Louis donned an old-man's get-up for personal appearances and changed his billing to Grandpa Jones.

Jones stayed with Kincaid until 1937 when he decided to strike out on his own, appearing on various radio stations including the famed WWVA Wheeling, West Virginia, before again joining an established radio group which broadcast from WLW in Cincinnati. This, the Boone County Jamboree, also featured The Drifting Pioneers, a group that included a young Merle Travis, as well as Alton and Rabon Delmore and one Ramona Riggins, a singer, fiddler and mandolin player who, in a few short years, would become his wife.

Together with Travis and the Delmore Brothers he also performed Gospel as the Brown's Ferry Four, and in 1943 the group cut several sides for the just-formed King Records. Then, in 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he saw service in occupied Germany as an MP. Upon leaving the army in 1946 and a brief return to Cincinatti, he relocated to Nashville where he was accepted into the Grand Ole Opry.

He also resumed his recording career with King and among his many cuts in this period were the ones which brought him to national prominence - It's Raining Here This Morning, Eight More Miles To Louisville, Mountain Dew, and Old Rattler, the song that began his almost exclusive use of the banjo.

In 1949 he moved to station WARL in Arlington, Virginia, and from 1951 to 1952 he performed on the Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond. He then returned to Nashville and the Opry and this time stayed put to 1956, before switching to Washington, D.C. and work on the Connie B. Gay television show. Three years later he was back once more in Nashville and performing on the Opry.

It was also in 1959 that he landed a contract with Decca and in March had a # 21 cover of the Bill Parsons [really Bobby Bare] smash hit, The All American Boy, a thinly-disguised saga of Elvis. Since that and its flipside, Pickin' Time, were recorded for Decca - now MCA - both are here, unlike his only other charted hit which came four years later with the Monument label. This was a cover of the 1928 Jimmie Rodgers classic T For Texas which hit the # 5 slot in January 1963 b/w Tritzem Yodel.

In 1969 Grandpa joined the cast of the CBS - and later syndicated - TV show Hee Haw, performing and doing comedy sketches with fellow Country legend Minnie Pearl, and now no longer needing an old man's disguise. In 1978 he was the lone inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. On February 19, 1998 he collapsed and died of a stroke at age 84.

Although this volume is as good as the others in the series from the point of view of sound quality and liner notes, you would think that, since he only had two charted Billboard Country hits to his credit, MCA would have made a concerted effort to get approval [and, you would think, also receive it from whoever owns the rights] for the inclusion of T For Texas and its B-side, especially in a compilation honouring a Hall of Famer.

Like so many people, my memories of Grandpa Jones extend about as far as his appearances on Hee Haw, but this CD is but a sampling of some of his best-known music. "Mountain Dew" and "Rattler's Pup" are instantly recognizable, and bring to mind a time when music was just plain fun. "Everyone's Grandpa" is probably a more complete collection of his work, but this is far more affordable and accessible for those wanting to add just the essentials.