Various Artists - The Other Side Of Bakersfield: 1950s & 60s Boppers and Rockers From ‘Nashville West’ Volumes 1 and 2

Bear Family BCD 16946 AR; Bear Family BCD 17353 AR



Bakersfield in California is synonymous with the West Coast Country Sound of the 1960s, which has become better known as the Bakersfield Sound. A more rhythmic, beat-laden style than the then-prevalent and certainly more-sedate Nashville Sound, it had its roots in honky-tonk and western swing and was very much designed more for the dance floor than sitting in a concert hall and listening. Bakersfield in the 1950s was an oil town and agricultural centre that had grown and developed following the arrival of thousands of Dust Bowl migrants and others from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and other parts of the South. This mass migration to California also meant that their music would follow and thrive, finding an audience in California’s Central Valley. Bakersfield, in the late 1940s, was a hotbed of country music, both venues and musicians. In the 1940s they’d dance to the western swing of Bob Wills and Spade Cooley, but by the mid-1950s western swing had become old hat. It was the time for honky-tonk, rockabilly and country-styled rock’n’roll in clubs such as The Blackboard, and on local television stations in Bakersfield and throughout California.

Artists like Wynn Stewart used electric instruments and added a backbeat, as well as other stylistic elements borrowed from rock’n’roll. Important influences were Depression-era country music superstar Jimmie Rodgers and 1940s western swing musicians like Bob Wills. As demand for the music grew, so did recordings. At the forefront of the early Bakersfield recordings was Kentucky-born John Grimes. Working under the name Hillbilly Barton, following a short-lived dalliance with Abbott Records, he moved out to California in the early 1950s and set-up Mar-vel and Grande, Bakersfield’s first hillbilly record labels.

Barton didn’t stay in Bakersfield for too long, but he opened the doors for other inspiring music lovers and businessmen to launch their own labels, often leasing their recordings to the major labels. Several of the early musical pioneers of what Capitol Records’ producer Ken Nelson called the Bakersfield Sound had played an integral role in forming small amplified combos to play in the various clubs where dance music was the order of the day. Amongst the earliest purveyors were Bill Woods, Billy Mize, Fuzzy Owen, Lewis Talley, Cliff Crofford, Buck Owens and Tommy Collins.

This pair of albums turns the spotlight very much on the more rhythmic and rockier side of the Bakersfield Sound, with the emphasis very much on a solid backbeat and often very simplistic lyrics. As you listen to the 62 tracks spread across the two CDs you do occasionally get the feeling that the singers, the songs and even the band sounds, could so easily be interchangeable as several of them sound so similar to each other.

That’s not meant as a criticism, but an observation. It’s always been that way with music. If you think back to say the Merseybeat sounds of the early 1960s, the so-called ‘hat acts’ of the 1990s or even today’s ‘Bro-country’—a sound or style was developed and then everyone tried to replicate it to keep the listening public happy.
That’s very much apparent here and only occasionally does a track stand out from the rest, and usually that tends to be by an artist who went on to make an impact nationally, rather than just remaining a local Bakersfield favourite. So the highlights on the first volume are Untied (Tommy Collins - Capitol), Solid Sender (Billy Mize - Decca) and Flash, Crash And Thunder (The Farmer Boys – Capitol). The best on the smaller labels include Skidrow (Merle Haggard – Tally), We’re Gonna Bop (Alvadean Coker – Abbott), Long Time Gone (Dusty Payne – Bakersfield) and Scaredy-Cat (Ronnie Sessions – Mosrite).

The second volume features more distinctive sounding tracks the best of which are I Feel Better All Over (Ferlin Husky – Capitol), Take Me In Your Arms (Joe Carson – Capitol), I’ve Been Thinking It Over (The Three Notes – Tally) and I Remember (Larry Bryant – Santa Fe).

Though the earlier tracks on these compilations veered closer to rockabilly and up-tempo hillbilly, later tracks like I Know Better by J.R. LaRue & the Goldtones and That’s Just Where (I Oughtta Be) by Billy Bledsoe from 1962 lean closer to the pop sounds of the day as typified by the California-based Buddy Knox, the Crickets and Johnny Burnette

Though the majority of these tracks do not typify the recognised Bakersfield Sound of Owens, Stewart and Haggard, you can see how many of these earlier recordings were an influence on that sound. It was a sound that in the 1960s became one of the most popular styles of country music, also influencing later country stars such as Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, Brad Paisley, The Mavericks, and The Derailers.

The Bakersfield Sound also had a massive impact on British country music and also some of the British Invasion-era rock bands. This was very apparent in Liverpool and such outfits as the Hillsiders, the Kentuckians and Phil Brady & the Ranchers. This fed down to the Beatles who not only covered Buck Owens’ Act Naturally, but also recorded the Bakersfield-inspired BEATLES FOR SALE album.

Bakersfield country was unintentionally a reaction against the slickly produced, string orchestra-laden Nashville Sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. It was vibrant rockabilly that truly reflected the mix of country, gospel and r&b that helped pave the way for rock’n’roll. It was pure. It wasn’t polished. It was rough and ready. This set is crammed full of hard rocking, rough edged country music, frequently with a dance beat, and well representative of the sound coming out of the Bakersfield scene at that time. Despite some minor flaws, it should appeal equally to rockabilly and rock’n’roll fans, not to mention those traditionalist country listeners who favour hard-core honky-tonk with lashings of pedal steel, fiddle and tinkling piano.

Both albums come with a fully illustrated booklet featuring lots of rare photos, full details of the each recording and superbly written liner notes by Scott B. Bomar.

www.bear-family.com

May 2015