STARDAY RECORDS 569

STARDAY RECORDS 569

(Artist located in Rock Hill, SC at time of release.)

COUSIN ARNOLD and his Country Cousins

Jun 56 (BMI clearance on 20th Jul 56)

45-569-A - Be My Baby, Baby Doll

(A E Baynard) (Starrite BMI)

45-569-B - What is Life To You

(A E Baynard - Glenn Martin) (Starrite BMI)

Billboard reveals that Cousin Arnold is one Arnold E Baynard who was the commercial manager of WTYC, Rock Hills, SC (Summer 56). BB mentions that Arnold and his band are " ... new to the South Carolina area and are doing a weekly half-hour sponsored show over WTYC. They were also doing a weekly bard dance at a lodge in Rock Hill. (I have no idea where they were before this, dated 13 Aug 55. I should also mention that the snippet of info was fed to Billboard by Baynard, who seems to have neglected to mention at the time that he was in fact the artist in question.) By Nov 55 he was also doing "Day Break In Dixie" which was a 6:00 - 6:30 am segment in addition to his 1:00 - 2:00 over the same radio station. It also mentions he has penned two songs "Be My Love" & "If I Were A Millionaire" which he 's trying to get recorded. Did he ever record these? Anyhow, by the summer of 56, he'd recorded the two tracks above and had them shipped to Starday for a pressing run of 300 copies.

The A side is a jolly old hillbilly song with a banjo as the main instrumental. It's a bit of a "sermon" rather than an actual song, but pleasant enough I guess. Flip side is a torrid Country / Rock-A-Billy cross over which flies along at a fast pace. Good guitar and steel throughout with that rather annoying banjo threatening to take over at the slightest provocation. (Sorry, I'm not a huge banjo fan.) Marvelous stuff indeed! (MC)
Email me!

Label Shots courtesy of Terry Gordon.