Starday Custom Series

Saturday, 20 July 2013

STARDAY RECORDS 701

LOU WALKER
Apr 58
45-701-A - Little Bitty Man
(Walker) (Starrite BMI)
45-701-B - Cause I'm Losing You
(Walker) (Starrite BMI)
STARDAY 701

Source: Terry Gordon

Monday, 15 July 2013

JOHN STEPHENSON and the Texans
Apr /May 58
CP-1494 - Was I Borned To Lose (Starrite BMI)
(J W Stephenson / Mary M Miller)
Sweeter Day By Day (Starrite BMI)
(Mary M Miller)
CP-1495 - The Truth Hurts
I Was Warned.
COWTOWN 701
Po Box 192, Avery, TX (John Stephenson)

Now - conundrum time. Is this a Starday Custom pressing and does it fit in with this listing? Well, after every London Record Fair at Great Portland Street, the weary collectors, sellers and dodgy geezers with notebooks and plastic carrier bags full of beaten up 45's (sounds a lot like me, except for the carrier bag), get together in the local pub / bar / watering hole and talk rubbish for an hour of two, usually about records. (It's a bit like fishing stories - the "One That Got Away" and "I Used To Own That But Not Anymore"). Anyhooo, as most of the contributors of this listing seem to drink together, especially on the rare occasion Phil Tricker blows the dust off of his wallet, flits away the moths and gets the beers in, the talk usually steers towards Starday Customs. (Don't often see Ian Saddler in there, but he's usually behind his stall counting his money).

The general consensus is:- (cue trumpets or drums) that it was probably sent to Starday for pressing and Starday farmed off the duties to Rite in Cincinnati. The Rite numbers are a little ahead of March 1958, but Rite wouldn't despatch until payment was received. (This was pressed after the Starday Custom 712 - Jesse Stevens). So in theory it is one. But others stammer and yell that, as there is already a bonefide 701 (Lou Walker on Starday), then it's probably not part of this series and simply a Starday / Rite pressed follow up to Cowtown 700. Whatever, I've included it anyway. It's covered with Starrite Publishing and it almost fits datewise. You know it's not like DNA sequencing - there's probably not a true "order" of things except the fact that the listing is numerical. Feel free to leave your comments and I'll add them to this page - unless of course it's simply to tell me it isn't one without some kind of explanation.

John Stephenson and his Cowtown label was sometimes part of the "Song Poem" legacy.

Source: Udo Frank / Dan DeClark

Sunday, 14 July 2013

STARDAY RECORDS 700

TEX TURNER
58
700-A - Why Not Honey
700-B - (Unknown)
STARDAY 700

One of the many mysteries regarding Starday Customs is this one. In 30 years I have never seen this record, heard it or even know anybody who has a copy. BUT ...... a Spanish collector, who's opinion I tend to value, says he has heard this record back in the 70s or 80's and it does indeed (obviously) exist. He described it as a "little like Truitt Forse" which is high praise indeed!

I have also seen this listed as having Lou Walker on the flip side - both sides of the Starday 701 release. No idea where this comes from either.

Perhaps anybody else can fill in any blanks on this record?

14 Jul 2013 - Update.

To correct my last statement, the collector I mentioned had NOT heard or seen this record. Apparently, a french collector heard this track at Don Pierces' office and that it was on a (possible) acetate and probably unissued. To confound matters, when asked about the record years later, he denied he'd ever heard it, despite actually sending a letter to another collector to announce what he'd just heard at Dons. Time can play tricks on us all I guess. (I can't remember who I am most mornings). A collector even hired a private detective in the 70's to try and find a Tex Turner but drew a blank. (I have omitted the names of the collectors as they have not given me permission to use their names in this.)

Another note I found which I had written back in the 80's was that Tex Turner was a pseudonym for another artist and may have appeared on a Dixie ep. Where I got that snippet from is anybody's guess as I never wrote down my sources until the 90's (and by then it was too late to remember some of them).

I love a mystery - as long as I can have the answers at the end!

Sunday, 23 June 2013

COWTOWN RECORDS 700

HARRY PEPPEL and his Shenandoah Valley Rangers
(Side A by Tommy Donohue) (Side B by Dick Dorn)
Mar 58
CP-1444 - One Night's Love (Starrite BMI)
Oh My Aching Head (Stephenson Music)
CP-1445 - Thermostat baby (Starrite BMI)
Old Fashioned Waltz (Starrite BMI)
COWTOWN 700
Po Box 1694, Ft Worth, TX (JW Stephenson)

Another Rite pressed Starday Custom. JW Stephenson owned Cowtown Records which dabbled in Song/Poems and self-financed record releases on the label, as well as taking a punt on a few with his own money. Cowtown issued some fine music here and there. Label based around Avery, TX, although here Fort Worth is mentioned as the address. The Dick Dorn sides are especially nice on this EP.
Harry Peppel is a mystery to me - although I am informed his name appears on a few more records dotted around the US, but I have no details at present. (He does appear on an earlier Cowtown release in this series.)

I have to mention that there is another contender for the #700 spot - see next post - but with the Rite information, the dating of this record seems to fit in the listing quite nicely.

Source: Terry Gordon