Music City

Various Artists - Music City Blues & Rhythm (2018) {Ace Records CDTOP 1510 rec 1950's}
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© 1950's, 2018 Ace Records | CDTOP 1510
Blues / Classical Blues / Cool Blues

Here's a welcome surprise for blues fans, who might have been despairing they'd never again get a CD full of juicy rarities and previously unreleased goodies. Ray Dobard's Music City imprint didn't record or release a vast amount of blues as Dobard soon began to concentrate on the label's trademark vocal group recordings. But what there is gives a fascinating and previously unseen glimpse of life in Berkeley at the time. Compiled by Roger Armstrong and Alec Palao, with notes from Lee Hildebrand, there is something for every shade of blues fan, from the juke joint to the lounge. 22 of the generous 28 tracks are previously unreleased. And while there are plenty obscurities, there also first-time releases for bigger names like Roy Hawkins, Little Willie Littlefield and Jimmy 'T99' Nelson.

After fifteen years of touring with the beloved Hot Band, Emmylou Harris formed the Nash Ramblers, a new acoustic all-star group, in 1990, featuring Sam Bush (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Roy Huskey Jr. (bass), Larry Atamanuik (drums), Al Perkins (dobro, banjo, vocals), and Jon Randall Stewart (acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals).

Charley Pride - Country Charley Pride (1966) + Pride Of Country Music (1967) {2013 Music City Records Remaster}
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© 1966, 2013 RCA / Music City Records / Sony Music | 05310
Country / Country Pop / Nashville Sound

A few months back, in the British magazine Country Music People, someone asked why RCA now Sony did not do a complete albums set for Waylon Jennings and Charley Pride, just as has been done for Johnny Cash and John Denver. Waylon and Charley each recorded some 3 dozen original albums for RCA but whereas Waylon has had all but a half dozen or so reissued on CD, exactly the opposite is true for Charley and of the handful of albums reissued 3 were on the now defunct Koch label and are generally unavailable. This release of his first two albums from 1966 and 1967 is therefore immensely welcome. These were fantastic mid 60s period country albums, yes quite a few covers but great renditions of songs from great writers: Harlan Howard, Cindy Walker and Mel Tillis wrote the first 3 tracks. Co-producers were Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson and Jack Clement who sadly passed away earlier this year. The latter wrote or co-wrote 7 of the songs.

Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and The Nashville Cats - A New Music City (2015) {2CD Set Legacy 88875066552}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 728 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 275 Mb
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© 2015 Legacy / Sony Music | 88875066552
Country / Country-Rock / Folk Rock / Blues Rock / Progressive Country

A companion to the 2015-2016 Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit of the same name, Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City is a double-disc history of the moment when country met rock – or when rock met country, as the case might be. In this particular reading of country-rock history, the movement begins in 1966, when Bob Dylan headed down to Nashville to cut Blonde on Blonde with a crew of the city's renowned studio musicians. Prior to that, country could be heard in rock & roll mainly through rockabilly, a music that functions as prehistory on this collection, present through the presence of Sun veteran Johnny Cash but not much else.