The Minister and the Nuns

The Minister and the Nuns
(Rev. David Wayne Smith and the Congregation
of the Missionaries of Jesus the Crucified).

When The Heart Sings

Fé Records 1003

Side 1 [18215]

A Good Friendship
Don't Let Evil Win Out Over You
Suffering
Mist
Read The Gospel
Hello! Hi There!

Side 2 [18216]

Yet The Sun Continues To Shine
A Little Bit Of Perfume
True Happiness
Life, Why're You Running
Your Smile

(1966)

All selections written by Smith and Gomez copyrighted in Brazil


This record was made in Brazil by a group of six Brazilian Roman Catholic Nuns and an American Protestant Missionary.  The Rev. David Wayne Smith, a minister of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., who is interested in developing Christian leadership in Brazil, has been working there since 1963. Wayne is a former minister of South Charleston.

Musical arrangements : Maestro Pachequinho; Music and portuguese words : Sister Irene Gomez MJC, solo and duets : sister M. Auxiliadora Chaib, Sister Glaucia Balteriro MJC and the Rev. David Wayne Smith.  Producer Hugh McPherson

To purchase this record in the United States : Fé Records 1465 Bridge Road Charleston, West Virginia 25314

There was a Brazilian edition of this record.

 

True Happiness 

 

Elmer Jones & Viola Dickerson (Cozy)

Elmer Jones & Viola Dickerson

 25593 - Baby I Don't Mind

25594  - Lazy Man's Blues

 Cozy 580/581

(1970)

The Koon Family

The Koon Family
Gospel Singers

29759 - Build My Mansion
29760 - Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John

Recorded at Mother Cleo Productions Newberry, S.C.
Cub 721

1972

Gospel/bluegrass from Morgantown, West Virginia.   One copy for sale here

The Cochran Family (Carpenter's Records)

Richard Cochran And The Cochran Family
31217 ~ Banjo Special 

Reno & Hobbs, Lois (BMI)

Little John & The Cochran Family
31218~ Maple Sugar

Carpenter's 2001/2

Recorded At Carpenter's Studio

Sutton, West Virginia

1973

The Cochran Family had also an album on the same label, the same year : The Little John And Cochran Family– Pick Memories Of Old Time Bluegrass.  Details HERE.

Label later address was in Cottle, West Virginia.   Partial label discography HERE

The Cochran Family (1976)

Hailing from Diana, W.Va.,  the Cochran Family consist of five children ranging in ages [1973] four through fifteen years of age under the leadership of their father, "Daddy Frank".  Little John, age 7, Lindo Jo 4, Richard Lee, 10; Bert Steven, 11 and James Franklin, 15.  Besides appearing regularly on Jamboree USA radio show heard on WWVA, the Cochran Family has toured for the West Virginia Department of Commerce and appeared at many of the fairs, parks and bluegrass festivals around the country.

Iris Bell with The Iris Bell Trio (Bell Enterprises)

Iris Bell with The Iris Bell Trio

9503 - This Is My West Virginia
(West Virginia's Only Official Centennial Song)

9504 - My West Virginia

Bell Enterprises Records
901 Main Street
Charleston, WV

1963

Iris Bell obituary
(from the Charleston Daily Mail (Friday May 2, 2008) :

As a teenager, she heard Sarah Vaughan and fell in love with jazz. She taught herself to play jazz piano and learned songs by listening to the radio and scribbling lyrics in shorthand. Playing by ear, she built a repertoire of more than 7,000 pieces.

In 1956, at age 22, she formed the Iris Bell Trio. The only female bandleader in the area, she entertained regularly at the Press Club, Army Navy Club, Owl's Club and Charleston Athletic Club. "We would play anywhere, work anytime, and got some good engagements," she said in a 1977 newspaper story. "Most of the dates were in bootleg clubs, but I was only raided once."

She wrote more than 20 songs, including one that was released on the flip side of a Paul Anka recording. In 1963, she wrote "This Is My West Virginia," the official West Virginia Centennial song adopted by the Legislature as a state song.

In the late 1960s, she took her trio on the road and settled for seven years in Ann Arbor, Mich., where she headlined at the Rubyiat Supper Club.

In 1975, she performed at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago, a coveted booking for jazz musicians. That summer, she appeared at the National Women's Music Festival with Melissa Manchester. In 1977, she returned to Charleston. Battling depression triggered by her mother's death, she limited appearances for many years to the annual West Virginia Jazz Festival at the Science and Culture Center.

She revived her career in the 1990s and played frequently at the Fifth Quarter. In later years, beset with worsening health problems, she remained a virtual recluse. She died in Buckhannon, where she moved recently to be near her youngest daughter.

West Virginia has three State songs (By Richard Ramella) :

“The West Virginia Hills,” with words by Ellen Ruddell King and music and chorus by Henry Everett Engle, was completed in 1885 in Gilmer County.

“West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home” appeared in 1947 and was composed by Col. Julian G. Hearne, Jr., a Wheeling native, attorney, and career military officer.

The third song, “This Is My West Virginia,” was written by Charleston musician and performer Iris Bell in 1962.

Each of these three songs had received an official designation from the State Legislature over the years. “West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home” was declared the first official state song in 1947. In 1961, an edited and approved version of “The West Virginia Hills” was also made an official state song. In 1962, “This Is My West Virginia” was named the official Centennial Song of West Virginia. Understandably, this resulted in considerable confusion.

Lyrics of the three songs can be found HERE.



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Cousin Johnny Presents The Prophets of Echo

Cousin Johnny
Presents
The Prophets of Echo

11153
Is It Well Wth You Soul (Virgil O. Stamps)
Lonely River (Wm. Cortez Blaylock)

11154
Time Has Made A Change (Haskins Frye)
It Will Be Wondervful Just To Be There (Eugene Whitt)

"Gospel Quartet, acapella"; unlisted HERE or HERE.

"Cousin Johnny" is almost likely Cousin Johnny Simpson who worked at WPLH in Huntington and WTCR . Nothing is known about the Prophets of Echo.



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Nimrod Workman on Dillons Run Records

NIMROD WORKMAN
Dillons Run Records
Capons Bridge, WV
30325 Talking Union And John L. / Black Lung Blues
30326 Coal Black Mining Blues / Hart's Creek Mt.
Rite Account # 5559

Nimrod Workman was born in Inez, Martin County, Kentucky and was named for his grandfather, a Cherokee Indian. At the age of 14 he went to work in the Howard Collieries coal mines in Mingo County WV, and he continued working as a coal miner for forty-two years until he was forced to retire due to black lung and a slipped disc.

Throughout his coal mining career he was active in union politics and United Mine Workers of America organizing. In 1920-1921 he worked alongside Mary Harris "Mother" Jones in West Virginia, and participated in the Battle of Blair Mountain uprising. In later years he advocated on behalf of black lung victims, and was able to receive union compensation for his own health problems in 1971.

Following his retirement as a miner he became known as a folk singer, with frequent performances around Appalachia as well as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the 1982 World's Fair. In 1986 he was a recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Workman recorded two albums, Passing Thru the Garden, with his daughter Phyllis Boyens, which was released by June Appal Recordings in 1975. In 1978 he released Mother Jones' Will on the Rounder Records label. In addition he contributed songs to several albums of traditional and coal mining music.

He was the subject of a documentary Nimrod Workman: To Fit My Own Category, produced by Appalshop Films, and appeared as himself in the documentaries Harlan County, USA, Chase the Devil: Religious Music of the Appalachians, and The Grand Generation. He is heard leading the singing of "Amazing Grace" in the funeral scene in Coal Miner's Daughter, which also featured Phyllis Boyens as Loretta Lynn's mother.

He spent most of his life in Chattaroy, West Virginia, though in later years he lived in Mascot, Tennessee. He died in Knoxville, Tennessee at the age of 99.

The a cappella recordings pictured here was pressed by RITE Records in 1972 and may be the first occasion his voice was released on record.

Record photos courtesy of Steve Foehner. Text from Wikipedia.

Emperor label : 4 additions

4 additions, all EP by Buddy Durham on the Emperor label

Emperor EM-F-1-61

CP-5001 - ?
CP-5002 - Black Mountain Rag/Under the double Eagle

Emperor EM-F-2-61

CP-5003 - Soldiers Joy/ Tom & Jerry
CP-5004 - ?

Emperor EM-F-4-61

CP-5007 - Beaumont Rag/Ragtime Annie
CP-5008 - ?

Emperor EM-F-5-61

CP-5009 - Beautiful Girl Shoddish/Old Dan Tucker
CP-5010 - ?

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Wild Country (Ron Berry)

Wild Country

Label : Wild Country

39579 - Rodeo Cowboy
39580 - Back Door Man (Ron Berry)

1978

Rockabilly cat Ron Berry was born October 12, 1939, in Mariba, KY. Though the product of his church choir, his most profound influences included Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, and while still in high school he cut his first rock & roll session at the studios of Mt. Sterling station WMST. The session would not see official release for close to a half century, and Berry dropped from sight until 1963, resurfacing on the Ken-H label with "I'll Give You All My Love." He later cut sides for the tiny Wildwood and Pixie labels, but was virtually forgotten by all but the most omnivorous rockabilly collectors when the NBT label compiled material past (including his 1957 WMST sessions) and present (like latter-day recordings with his Rock Creek Band) on the 2004 set I Want You! ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

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Missy Connor, Child Singer from West Virginia

Missy Connor Sings « Songs From My Heart »

41355 - Cowgirl For Jesus; Thanks My Friends For Loving Me
41356 - Lord, Remember Mama

Missy Connor
PO Box 503
Sutton, WV, 26601

Child Singer from West Virginia.

Missy has a mother. Her name is Carolyn. Like her mother, Missy began her musical career at the tender age of five. For the better or for the worse.

Carolyn traveled with her evangelistic family for many years singing country and southern gospel music. Originally from Canton, she met and married Don Connor of West Virginia. One year later Missy was born. The family booked as The Connor Family was now The Connors.

Above information was found HERE.

Cowgirl For Jesus
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You don't like the song? Wait, the worst has yet to come. See my next post.

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Evangelist R.A. West : Jesus Worked A Miracle For Me

Evangelist R.A. West
Jesus Worked A Miracle For Me
Label : Jay-Boy

Side one [ #33705 ]

Jesus Worked A Miracle For Me
I'm Proud to be a Christian
When I've Gone the Last Mile of the Way
He Is The Beginning and Ending of Time
King Jesus (Send an Angel By My Way)

Side two [ # 33706 ]

He Knows Exactly What I need
I Am to Blame
Because He Lives
He's the Good Shepherd
Time Is Winding Up

R.A. West
March 12, 1947 - July 6, 2002

R.A. West Revivals and Ministries began in 1969. Brother and Sister West and Jason (Jay-Boy), their son, worked with others in small local churches and prayer groups around the Varney, West Virginia area. Brother West worked at that time as a fireman/engineer for the Norfolk and Western Railway Company until the early 70’s when he resigned to follow his calling from the Lord...

Read more here

R.A. West preaching

The Parker's Sing Again

Reverend Don And Sharon Parker
The Parker's Sing Again
#25007/25008


Tracklist:

The Soldier's Prayer
Dear Jesus Abide With Me
Oh Glory Hallelujah
I Cannot Fail The Lord
I'm Looking For Jesus To Come Someday

A Christian Wife
You're Not Home Yet
To The River Of Jordan
It's Not The First Mile
Wasted Years

Address on back cover is : Reverend Don Parker, Box 203, Baxter, West Virginia

From the back cover :

The Parker’s would like to dedicate this record and the song « The Soldier’s Prayer » in remembrance of Paul Goggin who gave his life for his country in Vietnam.

We met Paul and learned to appreciate his dedication to the Lord while conducting a revival in Morgantown, West Virginia where his father, Reverend Julian Goggin, was the pastor.

Paul was a very unusual young man because he not only wanted to be a Christian but he wanted to serve his country too. One day he came home from college and told his father he wanted to join the Marines because he was sick of hearing the fellows at the college protesting the war in Vietnam, and so he became a protestor against them. Paul was a great testimony for the Lord while serving his country in Vienam.

Reverend and Mrs. Goggin have received some wonderful letters from fellow soldiers who were with Paul on the battlefield in Vietnam. Paul is survived by his wife, Shirley Goggin, and a son.

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The Paragons - From Hunger Records

The Paragons
From Hunger Records
15045 ~ All I Can Do (Garage)
15046 ~ Gone Away (Instrumental)
Rite Acct. #1010
PO Box 402
Parkersburg, West Virginia - 1965

This rare garage band recording is previously undocumented and Google searches find no relevant information. Photo courtesy of Ralph Tewksbury.

Eddy Bailes - Parkersburg, West Virginia

Eddy Bailes and The Cadillac's with The Accents
(No Label Name)
11233 ~ Dark Side Of The Moon (Teen)
11234 ~ If This Is Sin (Vocal Harmony)
Rite Acct. #1209
Parkersburg, West Virginia - 1963

Eddy Bailes (with vocal background)
BJ Records 1779
18463 ~ Tarzan (Rock & Roll)
18464 ~ She'll Take You Back (Teen)
Rite Acct. #1864
Parkersburg, West Virginia - 1967

Eddy Bailes, a recording artist of the 1960's & 1970s, wrote and recorded the hit song The West Virginian in 1975. It became a gold record. A bill in the state legislature would have made it the state song. After recording other songs, Bailes appeared in several movies and TV shows, and was the opening act for such stars as Rick Nelson, Marty Robbins, George Jones, and Mickey Gilly. He wrote Faron Young's last single, Just An Old Heartache. Bailes was was born in Parkersburg. He had been living in Hendersonville, Tennessee, until he died on June 17, 2002.

The two releases above are rare as hen's teeth. The BJ is previously undocumented on Rite lists. Bailes also recorded two releases on the Cozy label from Davis, West Virginia.

Photo credits to Ralph Tewksbury.

Even Or Odd?

One of the things Rite is known for is the consecutive matrix numbering system they used for virtually all of the 30 years they custom pressed records. Thirty years is a very long time to develop and maintain a consistant system of doing anything. Of course, Rite was not perfect in their numbering system. In a perfect consecutive numbering system the A-side of each release would alway be either even or odd and the B-side would be the opposite depending on whether the system started with the number 0 or 1.

From 1955 to 1959, Rite jumped back and forth between series of even and odd numbered A-sides over 20 times. Finally in the later part of 1959, at matrix number 2471, all A-sides became odd and all B-sides were even. This appears to be consistant from that point in 1959 until production ceased in 1985.

Many of us have documented Rite pressings sight unseen from reliable sources, ebay auctions, etc. and had to guess what's the probable matrix number for the flip side. If it's in the early years, guessing may lead to error.

Also, typically but not always, Rite pressings have the matrix number printed on the label as well as in the matrix. Once in a while the matrix numbers are not on the label and can only be found in the deadwax. Here's a couple of interesting examples:

Herman Griffin
HOB 112
CP-1920 ~ I Need You
CP-1921 ~ I'm So Glad I Learned To Do The Cha-Cha
House Of Beauty, Detroit, MI

Most listing have the matrix numbers incorrect on the above Rite pressing probably because it's an even number A-side and it's not printed on the label. This would be an easy one to get wrong if you're not holding it in your hand.

Ralph And Ruth
Rena 803/804
Rite 141-CP-5119 RENA 803-785 ~ Hard Hearted Girl
Rite 141-CP-5120 RENA 804-785 ~ A Though Crossed My Mind
Ripley, WV
Afilliated with John Bava - Cozy Records

The Rena label is very scarce with pressing quantities of 100 or less for all issues. Mostly bluegrass or country boppers, this one has no pressing info on the labels but tons of info in the matrix!

Little Jimmy Lynch

Little Jimmy Lynch
Meet Little Jimmy Lynch
25553/25554 - stereo

Come On Home And Sing The Blues To Daddy,
Release Me,
She Went A Little Bit Farther,
Act Naturally,
Green Green Grass Of Home,

I Guess I'm Crazy,
Your Cheating Heart,
Running Bear,
I've Cried A Mile,
Golden Rocket.

Little Jimmy Lynch

Mary Hankins With The Tiki-Turbans

Mary Hankins With The Tiki-Turbans

12451 – The Way Of Love

Mary Hankins /Jimmy Taylor With The Tiki-Turbans
12452 – Ants In My Pants

Continental Promotions
Charleston W. Va.

Curtis Price remembers :

« My dad […] was a musician, so obviously I became involved with music real early. He was a piano player, so I played piano with him for years. Later, I switched to guitar. My grandmother bought me my first guitar. It was a Christmas present, and she passed away on Christmas Day. That guitar was always very special to me.

"By junior high, I was playing with a group called the Tiki Turbans. There was a club called the Man Tiki on the Boulevard, a college hangout. We played there three or four nights a week.

"The Way Of Love" has been compiled on CD (The Kiddie Sound, volume 13), but wrongly credited to Jimmy Taylor. The singer is Mary Hankins.

The Way Of Love