From the Vaults: Decca Country Classics [Box set]

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Decca was a fairly wide-ranging label whose trademark sound was a strain of commercially palpable hillbilly pop perfected by producer (and, beginning in 1958, label head) Owen Bradley. These four discs offer an assortment of stars (Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn), subordinates, and the uncelebrated. The latter, in fact, are what makes this box stand out. A great deal of the fun comes from antiquated time pieces like Johnny Wright's "Hello Vietnam" ("I hope the world will come to learn/That fires we don't put out will bigger burn") or that master of the hayseed soliloquy Red Sovine's "If Jesus Came to Your House" ("Would you have to change your clothes before you let him in?/Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?"). Overall, From the Vaults serves as an evocative sampler of what a rural jukebox was playing when Gunsmoke ruled the tube. --Steve Stolder

Tracks:

Texas Plains - Stuart Hamblen & His Covered Wagon Jubilee
Cattle Call - Tex Owens
Just Because - Shelton Brothers
Listen To The Mockingbird - Curley Fox
The Eyes Of Texas - Milton Brown & His Brownies
My Dixie Darling - The Carter Family
La Bonne Valse - Leo Soileau's Rhythm Boys
The Last Letter - Rex Griffin
Bile Dem Cabbage Down - Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats
Short Life Of Trouble - Riley Puckett
Singing In The Saddle - Tex Ritter & His Texans
I'll Get Mine Bye And Bye No. 2 - Buddy Jones
Sparkling Blue Eyes - Bill Carlisle's Kentucky Boys
Truck Driver's Blues - Cliff Bruner & His Boys
You Are My Sunshine - Jimmie Davis & Charles Mitchell's Orchestra
Cool Water - Sons Of The Pioneers
Walking The Floor Over You - Ernest Tubb
Milk Cow Blues - Johnny Lee Wills & His Boys
They Took The Stars Out Of Heaven - Floyd Tilman & His Favorite Playboys
Gospel Cannonball - Delmore Brothers

Tracks:

Ruby - Cousin Emmy & Her Kinfolk
Sugarfoot Rag - Hank 'Sugarfoot' Garland
Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy - Red Foley
Uncle Pen - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels - Kitty Wells
I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes - Goldie Hill
Crying In The Chapel - Rex Allen
Pork Chop Stomp - Grady Martin
I Gotta Go Get My Baby - Justin Tubb
Why Baby Why - Red Sovine & Webb Pierce
If Jesus Came To Your House - Red Sovine
Blue Days, Black Nights - Buddy Holly
Fraulein - Bobby Helms
When - Kalin Twins
On This Mountain Top - Donny Young & Roger Miller
I Ain't Never - Webb Pierce
Another - Roy Drusky
I'm Sorry - Brenda Lee
Crazy Bullfrog - Lewis Pruitt
Little Bitty Tear - Burl Ives

Tracks:

Trouble's Back In Town - The Wilburn Brothers
Tennessee - Jimmy Martin
Still - Bill Anderson
Sweet Dreams - Patsy Cline
The Bridge Washed Out - Warner Mack
Hello Vietnam - Johnny Wright
Put It Off Until Tomorrow - Bill Phillips
Evil On Your Mind - Jan Howard
Misty Blue - Wilma Burgess
There Goes My Everything - Jack Greene
I Never Had The One I Wanted - Claude Gray
Louisiana Saturday Night - Jimmy Newman
Rocky Top - Osborne Brothers
Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn
Hello Darlin' - Conway Twitty
Raggedy Ann - Jimmy Dickens
After The Fire Is Gone - Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty
If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry - Jerry Wallace
The Lord Knows I'm Drinking - Cal Smith
This Much A Man - Marty Robbins

Amazon.com

Decca was a fairly wide-ranging label whose trademark sound was a strain of commercially palpable hillbilly pop perfected by producer (and, beginning in 1958, label head) Owen Bradley. These four discs offer an assortment of stars (Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn), subordinates, and the uncelebrated. The latter, in fact, are what makes this box stand out. A great deal of the fun comes from antiquated time pieces like Johnny Wright's "Hello Vietnam" ("I hope the world will come to learn/That fires we don't put out will bigger burn") or that master of the hayseed soliloquy Red Sovine's "If Jesus Came to Your House" ("Would you have to change your clothes before you let him in?/Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?"). Overall, From the Vaults serves as an evocative sampler of what a rural jukebox was playing when Gunsmoke ruled the tube. --Steve Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Thank You Amalgamated!.......2002-02-10

Is this thing even being produced anymore? From way back in 1994 it is a great concept (obscure Country music), but lousy production. (i.e. short discs, poor packaging, etc.). I'm not sure how much it cost because I got mine from the library (maybe yours has it too!) For whatever reason MCA, which absorved Decca in the early 70's and is now owned by UNI, didn't feel the need to number the tracks in the booklet (doh!).

Anyhoo... its interesting to note how previous burners marked up the songlistings on my copy and what songs they selected. Decca was, first and foremost, the home of Bing Crosby and famous for being the brain child of Jack Kapp, who succeeded while others went bankrupt euring the depression by undercutting the competition (he charged 35 cents per single when the going rate was 75 cents). While making big bucks off pop acts of the day (Mills Brothers, Guy Lombardo, that type of thing) early on the label had a keen ear for American Folk Music. Interestingly, in addition to this stuff, the label was also home to blues singles and most of the catalog of Big Joe Turner.

Their 5000 (Hillbilly) series had over 1000 releases before World War II !!! This stuff is awesome and hard to find elsewhere (if you like the Anthology of A.F.M. you will need to get ahold of this for the stuff on disc one alone). Recorded in Chicago, New York City, and Texas, most of these acts had been on other labels that didn't survive the depression (See: The Carter Family, as well as ex-Skillett Lickers Puckett and McMichen). They recorded brother duos (Shelton Bros., Carlisle Boys both well represented), cowboy songs, western swing (why it's called Country & Western), and proto-blue grass hillbilly. Decca's biggest new stars developed honky tonk, starting w/ the definitive version of Ted Daffin's Truck Driver's Blues in 1939. Ernest Tubb recorded most of his stuff for the label including "Walking the Floors Over You".

After world war II (and the death of Kapp) the label located all of its recording studios in Nashville under the supervision of Paul Cohen and Owen Bradley. These early 50's tunes are scorchers! Hillbilly classics by Cousin Emmy, Goldie Hill and Monroe, share space with Honky Tonk classics by Kitty Wells, Red Sovine and Bobby Helms. Two great "Nashville Jazz" tunes are also on here (Sugar Foot Rag and Pork Chop Stomp) and rock!

Too Bad for Country, because around 1956, it got its butt kicked by Rock and Roll and Decca didn't have a clue what to do. Listen to the weak rockabilly presented as well as the failed Buddy Holly session to see what I mean. Owen Bradley responded by developing what is now known as the "Nashville Sound" with Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee. As a result, Owne Bradley single handedly set back the recording industry in Nashville fifteen years (not that it would ever really recover). Don't get me wrong, "I'm Sorry" is one of the greatest pop songs ever and should be covered by Brittney Spears while she is still hot looking.

Some of the late 60's stuff (bluegrass, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, and a cool Marty Robbins song) are good but you can find it packaged better elsewhere. So. For free I'm going to tell this record company how to make a bucket load of cash (do you think these clowns ever read what we have to say?). UNI/MCA: release more of the pre-rock and roll stuff to us on a good fifty song, two disc set. The sucess of Oh Brother... tells us thers is a market.

And, yes, I will now thank the all supreme Amalgamated for giving us every one of these tunes in Real Audio format (even though it doesn't loook like this is going to come out in print again anytime soon).

Music Album:

Music Album