Crazy Rhythm

EDITORIAL REVIEWS
30 unissued tracks from one of the original country music outlaws! Hank rebelled against Nashville and just about everything else; maybe that's why his recordings have been almost impossible to find. But no more-this package shines with notes by Rich Kienzle, unpublished photos and over an hour of excellent sound. Includes Little Red Wagon; Flamin' Mamie; Peroxide Blonde; Big Footed Sam, and two cuts sung by a young Jaye P. Morgan (here billed as Mary Morgan): I'm Waiting Just for You and I Like the Wide Open Spaces.

AMAZON
It's tempting to dismiss a man with three measly hits and a fitful career as a bit player in country-music history. Yet Hank Penny's music says otherwise. He was a mere 17 when he was captivated by the salacious Western swing of idol Milton Brown in 1935, and by the following year, he'd established his own outfit, the Radio Cowboys--the first Western swing band to take root east of the Mississippi River. His buddy Merle Travis convinced him to move to Los Angeles in the mid-1940s, and along with Bob Wills and Spade Cooley, Penny was a significant figure in that decade's vibrant Western swing scene. Yet, while Penny's combativeness seemed to keep him from the success that the other two achieved (though Wills and Cooley were hardly passive gentlemen), his bands were stylish, finely honed ensembles, more akin in sound to Cooley's polish than Wills's power, capable of moving from sharp jazz instrumentals to peppy novelties to pop standards.

Penny and crew recorded these radio transcriptions in 1951, and they boast the full range of the repertoire. Penny's mellow, charismatic crooning shows the influence that Brown still had over his style 15 years after he'd died. Penny's musicians, meanwhile, were wonderful, led by guitarist Benny Garcia and Penny's longtime pal Noel Boggs on steel. --Marc Greilsamer

Number of Discs: 1

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