1939-1949 Radio Broadcasts cover

1939-1949 Radio Broadcasts

The Blue Sky Boys

Album · 2018

Patuxent Music issued 1939–1949 Radio Broadcasts (CD-280) on 20 April 2018 as a four-CD set of 128 tracks. It was assembled by Tom Mindte of Patuxent, who restored the sound from the original 16-inch 33⅓ rpm lacquer transcriptions. They come from WGST in Atlanta, WCYB in Bristol, Virginia, and, from 1941, WPTF in Raleigh. Dick Spottswood, author of The Blue Sky Boys (University Press of Mississippi), wrote the liner notes.

Bill and Earl Bolick were brothers from West Hickory, North Carolina, and first recorded for RCA in Charlotte in June 1936. Earl played guitar and Bill mandolin. The disc headings credit them on these broadcasts with Sam “Curly” Parker for most of the programs, with Joe Tyson, Leslie Keith and, on a 1939 WGST recording, Red Hicks. Spottswood notes that Parker and later Keith sang lead in the brothers’ trios; the two Bolicks’ own broadcasts revisited traditional songs and hymns rather than promoting their RCA records. Bill Bolick recalled recording five 15-minute programs in one afternoon, and 140 programs for WGST in 1946–47 alone.

The set includes five complete broadcasts, among them the complete auditions from 1939 and 1941, along with comedy sketches featuring “Uncle Josh” and several 1947 Willys Jeep commercials. Discs 3 and 4 hold the 1949 WCYB programs, which include “The Sweetest Gift, A Mother’s Smile” and “If We Never Meet Again.”

Tracklist

  1. 1 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 1 0:52
  2. 2 Precious Memories alt version 2:49
  3. 3 Dust on the Bible 3:59
  4. 4 Songbook Pitch 1:58
  5. 5 Turn Your Radio On alt version 1:22
  6. 6 Only One Step More 1:07
  7. 7 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 2 1:05
  8. 8 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 3 0:54
  9. 9 Jeep Commercial - Version 1 0:44
  10. 10 I’ll Meet You in the Morning alt version 2:11
  11. 11 Short Life of Trouble - Version 1 2:58
  12. 12 Jeep Commercial & Music Bed 1:32
  13. 13 Uncle Josh Goes Rabbit Hunting 1:24
  14. 14 Just One Way to the Pearly Gate 1:14
  15. 15 Mississippi Sawyer alt version 2:04
  16. 16 Jeep Commercial - Version 2 0:43
  17. 17 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 4 1:47
  18. 18 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 5 0:40
  19. 19 Black Mountain Blues 1:54
  20. 20 The Hills of Roane County 3:23
  21. 21 Beautiful Life alt version 2:43
  22. 22 Uncle Josh Proves His Mental Ability 1:28
  23. 23 Worried Mind 2:23
  24. 24 Skip to My Lou 1:25
  25. 25 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 6 0:54
  26. 26 Are You Building on the Rock 2:43
  27. 27 Speak to Me Little Darling 3:50
  28. 28 Uncle Josh at Christmas / How Beautiful Heaven Must Be 3:20
  29. 29 Two Little Rosebuds - Version 1 1:07
  30. 30 Down Home Rag 1:22
  31. 31 Theme (are You from Dixie) - Version 7 1:21
  32. 32 An Empty Mansion 1:53
  33. 33 I'm Going Home This Evening 1:53
  34. 34 Uncle Josh Wants to Sing, Pt. 1 0:45
  35. 35 They're All Going Home but One 3:05
  36. 36 Where Shall I Be 2:00
  37. 37 Uncle Josh Wants to Sing, Pt. 2 0:47
  38. 38 Only Let Me Walk with Thee 2:02
  39. 39 Get Along Home Cindy alt version 3:19
  40. 40 Uncle Josh Wants to Sing, Pt. 3 0:49
  41. 41 No Place to Pillow My Head 2:29
  42. 42 Getting Ready to Leave This Wor 2:05
  43. 43 I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail alt version 2:15
  44. 44 Take up Thy Cross 1:53
  45. 45 Uncle Josh Wants to Sing, Pt. 4 0:53
  46. 46 Sourwood Mountain alt version 2:26
  47. 47 Great Granddad 1:41
  48. 48 Uncle Josh Wants to Sing, Pt. 5 1:03
  49. 49 There's No Other Love for Me 2:40
  50. 50 Uncle Josh and the Red Suspenders 0:59
  51. 51 If We Never Meet Again (This Side of Heaven) alt version 2:31
  52. 52 The Sweetest Gift, A Mother’s Smile alt version 3:07

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