The Homer & Jethro Project #65

#65

The Penultimate post and the last new record released by Homer and Jethro and one as a posthumous tribute to Homer Haynes collecting the remaining studio bits fleshed out with recent singles to make a long player.

February 1972 - lsp-4648 - The Far-Out World of 

I can't think of anything to say here so I'll just copy out the liner notes:

"Wild, wooly, wacky, weird, but never wicked, that was the world of Homer and Jethro. We were the Jet Set Hillbillies; our world extended from the posh gambling casinos of Nevada to Blake's Tavern, one of the greatest saloons of Indianapolis. There were no sacred cows in our world; our targets were beautiful ballads by composers who wanted their songs recorded badly. We were called song butchers, music manglers and more. Our lyrics were laundered for records, radio and T.V.; in person we let it all hang out and liked it much better - so  did our fans. We were lazy. Many agents criticized us for not working hard actually we just never allowed bookings to interfere with a ball game or fishing trip or just doing nothing when we felt like it.

Many acts copied up with little or no success, probably because we weren't acting. We enjoyed making people laugh or pickin' our guitar and mandolin, singing crazy songs and never taking ourselves too seriously. Many comedians made more money, but nobody had the fun we did. We didn't make the scandal sheets, maybe that's where we went wrong. We never used our families in our publicity we figured they were entitled to their privacy and it worked out fine. When Homer passed away on August 7, 1971 our world ended - from that time on it would be half a world.

It will never be the same, but half a world is better than none. To try and replace Homer would be impossible, and I'm not even gonna try. One thing I do know, on the nights I'm on stage working as a single, sometimes I'll miss my lines or play bad notes and way back in my mind I'll hear a little voice say, "Come on dumb ass, do it right."

Sincerely

Jethro Burns"

The Homer & Jethro Project #64

#64

It goes on and forward.

May 1971 - lsp-4553 - NSB - Strung Up

Another pop instrumental contribution.

Of note are a really pretty hot version of the Monkees tune and original contributions by Chet Atkins & Jethro Burns ("Alhambra" & ""Flaky", respectively)

I mean, I feel like I should really have more to say about these Nashville String Band records than I do. But I don't. They'll have to speak for themselves. Though it is kind of a shame to  a certain extent that these kind of light pop instrumental records don't really get made much any more.
It's a niche market, but someone needs to make that niche viable again.
 

Last Train To Clarksville	2:25
Nola	2:24
Geneviève (Shawn-vee-ev)	2:12
Opryland	2:40
Happy Ending	1:56
Alhambra	2:42
El Condor Pasa	2:10
Tennessee Waltz	2:36
The Birth Of The Blues	2:10
Flaky	2:03

The Homer & Jethro Project #63

Here we are again a couple days later and in the final push.

There's less than a week of Spring 2018 to be had and only four more posts to go before this is all over.

I don't know if I should be sad or relieved. I'm neither actually. I'm more interested in moving onto other stuff, but I started this, so I'll damn well finish it.

Damn it.

January 1971 - lsp-4472 - NSB - Identified!

It was probably not really much of a surprise to anybody, but at least it was out in the open.
More Pop instrumental stuff for light entertaining & cocktails or maybe as the soundtrack to one of those swinging 70's key parties that were the stuff of Penthouse Forum letters and which I probably wouldn't have gotten an invite to anyway.

Colonel Bogey	2:12
White Silver Sands	2:30
Red Wings	2:24
The Three Bells	2:37
Oklahoma Hills	2:26
Strollin'	2:09
Sweet Dreams	2:17
Rocky Top	2:35
Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)	2:54
Green, Green Grass Of Home	2:37

The Homer & Jethro Project #62

#62

Mopping up the last couple of 45 rpm records.

June 1970 - RCA 47-9866 - Daddy Played First Base/You Smell Like Turtles

The  a-side is their version of the Johnny Cash song " Daddy Played Bass" that the no doubt had loads of fun with between appearances on his popular summer replacement variety show.

The other side is just kind of odd. I like it.

November 1970 - RCA 47-9922 - Hello Darlin' #2/Punny Farm


Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty.

 The other side of this record is a lot of what might be referred to as "Dad Jokes" in these razzle dazzle modern times. If you're a parent or plan on being one here's an opportunity to stock up a bit. You never know when you'll need to make a child embarrassed to be around you.

The Homer & Jethro Project #61

I'm actually listening to the Holy Modal Rounders while I type this. There were a few stray Lps that I didn't have digital copies or cds of, so I'm making my own. These are just for me anyway. I'm pretty sure I've already pissed off most of the people who had formerly been keeping this thing on their radar. No need to dig that hole deeper.

I'm also planning on killing the last couple of inches of whisky in that bottle while I do all of it.

It's six months ago and while it looks to warm up considerably for the next couple of days it's been nothing but negative numbers for the last couple of weeks and sitting here with a space heater, records and whisky seems like a perfectly sensible thing to be doing right now.
It's still plenty cold out there.

May 1970 - lsp-4363 - NSB - Down Home

Here we are again with the next installment of sweet pop instrumental jamming from the Boys & Chester. This time we're hitting on some classic country tunes that they already knew. The back of the jacket makes a point to let you, the listener, know that all the instruments on it are acoustic. No electrics.

It works for me.

Under The Double Eagle	2:24
Just A Closer Walk With Thee	2:36
The Arkansas Traveler	1:55
Cold, Cold Heart	2:34
Fraulein	1:59
Wildwood Flower	2:01
Tennessee Rag	2:17
Maiden's Prayer	2:23
South	2:52
Mockingbird Hill	3:00