Be Bop Wino Pages

Joan Selects - the complete Joan Selects Collection

Big Ten Inchers - 78rpm rips by El Enmascarado


Attention Mac Users!

Mac users have been experiencing problems in unpacking the WinRAR archives used on this blog. Two solutions have been suggested.

1. Use The Unarchiver - www.theunarchiver.com - see comments on Little Esther Bad Baad Girl post for details.

2. Use Keka - http://www.kekaosx.com/en/ - see comments on Johnny Otis Presents post.

Monday 22 April 2013

Far Away Blues / Flychick Bounce - Lonnie Lyons (Freedom 1507)



Lonnie Lyons (vocal, piano); Nelson Mills (trumpet); Conrad Johnson (alto sax); Sam Williams (tenor sax); Goree Carter (guitar); Louis "Nunu" Pitts (bass); Allison Tucker (drums). Recorded and released in Houston, Texas, in early 1949.

Listen to "Far Away Blues"

Listen To "Flychick Bounce"

The real deal from El Enmascarado - a rare 78 rpm disc from the Freedom label of Houston. Pianist and singer Lonnie Lyons sounds a lot like fellow Texan Amos Milburn on both the slow "Far Away Blues" and the driving "Flychick Bounce."

Featured on these sides is the Conrad Johnson band, or "Conney's Combo" which recorded for Gold Star, Freedom and Eddie's Records in Houston in the late 1940s. They were very much the house band in the early days of Freedom, backing singer L.C. Williams, including the hit "Ethel Mae", and releasing sides under the names of band members Goree Carter ("Rock Awhile") and Lonnie Lyons as well as under Conrad Johnson's name. As for Lonnie, his own recording career spanned a mere two years from 1948 to 1950, from his first release on Gold Star, through half a dozen releases on Freedom, to his final disc on Sittin' In With.

Many thanks to El Enmascarado for these shellac rips. It's good to get way down in the alley now and again!