George McCurn--I'm Just a Country Boy (1963)

Gospel music has always informed popular music.  

Country, Rock and Roll, R&B and Soul all have been influenced at some level by Gospel. 

It's not surprising then that most of the singers of those genres came out of the church. 

Some, like Johnny Cash and Elvis were influenced by the songs of the church, and at least in Presley's case, it's stage manner as well. Others like Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin were actually singing gospel music before switching to more secular material. 

George "Ooppee" McCurn spent the 1950's as a member of two of gospel's greatest groups; The Fairfield Four, and The Pilgrim Travelers. After being invited to tour with The Ink Spots through Europe in 1961 and 62, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss asked him to be a part of the new A&M label. 

McCurn was blessed with a wonderful bass voice, and listening to this and his other recordings, it was obvious that he could sing just about anything with a resonance that (many times) outshown his material. This was probably the reason why he never made a dent on the charts...Alpert and Moss never really found a place for him to really open up with the material. It reached #100 and was his highest charting song.

The material in the case, was a fine folk song co-written by Fred Hellerman, a member of the seminal folk group, The Weavers. It was first recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1954 and covered by many, including a number 1 country hit by Don Williams in 1977. 

The KenJoLairs--Little White Lies (1962)

     Those of you who will be following along with me will soon pick up on a few things about this blog. First of all, for me to be inspired to write, I need some sort of structure.

      I have a radio show heard on six stations across the country called "The Rock and Roll Omnibus" which covers a wide range of music from a broad time frame. In preparation for the show I listen to a LOT of music, and being the kind of person that I am, began listening to music by the label instead of the artists. This led me to A&M Records. As I began with the first song and continued through the years, it became apparent to me that we had a lot of material and loads of stories to tell, which led to me to start up a new blog.

      I will promise that we will not go song by song....there is only enough Claudine Longet and Chris Montez one man can handle.

      We will be going through that catalog picking out interesting tidbits along the way, and hope you enjoy the ride.
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      Any of us who purport to be fans of music (any genre) can remember artists we grew up with. Local bands and/or singers that we thought had enough to make it all the way, only to fall by the wayside with only your memories and people like me picking through the best (or sometimes not so great)  to put on some blog for you to click on in the middle of the night when your up too late because of a case of insomnia.

      The KenJoLairs were one such group. I have little information to help with these guys. I know the three guys in the group were named Ken, Joe, and Larry (If you couldn't tell by the name of the group, the label of the 45 can help you out there). The Larry in question is Larry New, but his website just tells us that he was a part of the group, but nothing else that is of help.

      "Little White Lies" was written back in 1930 by Walter Donaldson. Those of a certain age might remember some of his songs; "My Mammy" (a huge hit for Al Jolson), "Makin' Whoopee" and "Yes Sir, That's My Baby". The song has been recorded many times and was a big hit for Dick Haymes and Dinah Shore in 1948, and again by Betty Johnson in 1957.

     The version by Ken, Joe and Larry in a pop ballad/folk style was actually quite easy on the ears. It also did well on the West Coast, especially in LA and San Francisco, but couldn't make much of a dent elsewhere. They were dropped from the label after a second single and not heard from again, at least from what I can tell.

     Larry New...if you read this, or anyone else who can tell me more about the group, please send me a note at rockandrollomnibus@gmail.com and we'll get the story out. In the meantime...enjoy.

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass--The Lonely Bull (1962)

      It all started in a garage.

      How many bands and artists over the years found a garage the perfect place to find their voice. It provides the perfect amount of reverb to someone who is wanting to fatten the sound of an imperfect instrument(s) and it's bigger than a bathroom shower.

      Not many can say however that their efforts would soon lead to a record label that would be sold for 500 million dollars.

      It started in a garage with someone attempting to mimic the emotions of a bullfight, it seems perhaps, even from the perspective of the bull.

      The sound of the horns in either ear being recorded separately resulting in a layered effect. The added on sounds of a crowd cheering their hero, but all with an air of sadness filtered through more than a few glasses of wine.

      Sol Lake (real name: Solomon Lachoff, 1911-1991), wrote this with the name of "Twinkle Star". The album version of the song along with the album it came from was recorded in studio (with studio musicians--the Tijuana Brass did not exist yet) and led off the juggernaut that was to become A&M Records.

     Alpert was to perfect this sound and became the background music (literally) for the mid-60's.