Customer Reviews

One Good Boogie Deserves Another [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Love the music,the remastering leaves a bit to be desired, it sounds a bit flat in places, however this does happen. As always thanks Amazon for the prompt delivery to South Africa.

Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, from South Carolina, became one of the first country artists to abandon the acoustic guitar for an electric one. It was also at the beginning of his long association with radio station WTB in Charlotte that he first cut the selection [for Super Disc Records] he is best remembered for - Guitar Boogie - while a member of The Tennessee Ramblers in 1945.

Later he moved to MGM at the head of his own band, The Cracker-Jacks, where, in September 1948, he chalked up his first instrumental hit, Banjo Boogie [more or less the same tune as Guitar Boogie] which peaked at # 9 on the country charts b/w Have A Little Fun [not included here].

Late that year he did it again with a guitar, and it was this version of Guitar Boogie that made him famous - for awhile - as it hit the charts at Christmas, rising eventually to the # 8 Country slot in January 1949 as well as crossing over to the Pop charts at # 25. The flipside, Boomerang, also went to # 8 Country, and both were billed to Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith And His Cracker-Jacks.

In 1953 a group known as The Super-Sonics would do it for the Rainbow label [unsuccessfully] as New Guitar Boogie Shuffle, followed in 1959 by The Virtues who, under the title Guitar Boogie Shuffle, would take it to # 5 Billboard Pop Hot 100 and # 27 R&B for the Hunt label.

Further charted hits would evade Arthur for 14 long years until, in 1963, he released a parody of the Rolf Harris hit, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport called Tie My Hunting Dog Down, Jeb, a # 29 country that October b/w Guitar Hop (not included here).

That would turn out to be his last charted single, although he would go on to record several fine albums for Dot, Starday, Nashville, Monument and CMH while continuing with his radio and television shows for WBT.

If you can, seek out his 1955 Feudin' Banjos for MGM, a duet with Don Reno, and you'll see why they were successful in legally contesting the right of Eric Weisberg and Steve Mandel to claim composing rights under the title Dueling Banjos for the film Deliverance. Arthur and Don ultimately received the royalties which were their due.

Not a huge success as a singles artist by any means, but his influence would be felt in the changing music scene in 1954 with the advent of people like Bill Haley & His Comets. Worth having, but it loses one star from this reviewer for omitting the missing B-sides.