Lester Flatt / Scruggs,Earl - 1940's Recordings (Uk) [CD]

He was billed on many of his recordings and was widely known as "The Man With A Million Friends". And while David 't Texas' Tyler might not have known quite that many people, he was a genuinely big star of Hillbilly and Western Swing in his heyday. His biggest hits were his original version of 'Deck Of Cards' and other similarly cloying recitations which can be heard on earlier TTT CD compilations, and thus are mercifully able to be excluded from this new Jasmine collection in favour of great songs delivered in his inimitable way, featuring the unique 'growl' that he would let fly with at least once in the majority of his recordings. TTT recorded around 150 songs in a 10 year period. Only eight charted, but many of his releases were very big sellers and particularly on the west coast where he was based. A considerable number of those songs have not been reissued in any shape or form prior to this release, which chooses to mostly forego further reissue of familiar material in favour of bringing you great tracks that have mostly not been heard in around 70-80 years. Some of the greatest musicians of the Golden Age of Western Swing passed through the ranks of TTT's band the Oklahoma Melody Boys in the 1940s, including steel guitarist Noel Boggs, fiddler Don Decker, pianist Jimmy Pruitt and electric guitarist Jimmy Wyble to name just a few. They can be heard at their best on tracks like 'Fairweather Baby' and 'Ida Red'. The musicians who played on TTT's 50s sides featured here are no less impressive, among them steelie Speedy West and guitar wizard Jimmy Bryant. Previous CDs of TTT have been blighted by doctored sound, with added reverb and echo and/or reprocessed for stereo. The audio in this Jasmine collection comes to you direct from original unenhanced 78s, with no embellishments and, at times, a bit of snap crackle and pop that merely adds to the overall quality. One or two have been reissued previously, but here they are heard in a sound that does these wonderful vintage performances justice.