We can't really tell you anything about any of these artists, unfortunately. So we'll just share this clipping from the classified section:
Carrying on through the stack of Westmount Records singles, here's a batch of three country records from Denny Eddy, A.J. Nobles & The Country Mystic's (sic), and Ron Sillito. Is Ron the father of 2000's indie singer-songwriter Dolly Sillito? We hope so. But we couldn't find anything to confirm it.
But we did find a clipping about Denny Eddy from 1972, chronicling his attempts to make it in the music business:
We've got an all-female line up from Westmount Records today, with a pair of singles from Sally Dee, two from Judy Reimer (although one is on Doug Wong Music - how did that slip in here? we'll get to the DWM collection soon, we promise!), and one from Marie Bailey.
We couldn't find anything on any of these singers, aside from an obituary for Marie Bailey - Bailey passed away in 2014, and her obit notes that she "loved music, had a beautiful voice and sang with several bands in Calgary (Quinton and the Polka Dots and Foothills Stompers). She was the first local girl to sing at the Petroleum Club with Frank Bailey’s orchestra in the 1970’s; sang in Vancouver, B.C at the War Amputees Club and various Legions, as well as in a choir and quartet with Sweet Adelines. Marie recorded a 45 - single of 2 songs she composed in 1975 which was sent to radio stations across Canada and also recorded with Quinton and The Polka Dots."
These records span a pretty huge range of years (despite the date in her obituary, we're sticking with 1978 as the year on Marie Bailey's single, based on the catalogue number), reminding us that Westmount was active for a pretty big stretch of the 70's. Here's a clipping from the early days in 1972, with some more info about founder Peter Bentley:
Here's today's helping of Westmount Records singles, a smattering of country artists that we largely can't tell you much about. Except for one!
We found a pretty comprehensive article about Wayne Vold that covers his many facets - cowboy, stock contractor, and country singer. It's a pretty fascinating read - and we quite like Vold's single, possibly because his voice reminds us of Tom Phillips'.
Get this batch of Westmount singles here!
We're trying to figure out how to eat the elephant that is the rather large pile of singles on Westmount Records that's sitting in the queue here at the CCPS. We're still uncertain - but we do know that if we do them one by one, we're going to be struggling for content. SO! We'll start with this pair by singer Roxanne Goldade.
Goldade was an up-and-coming star in the late 70's, attracting national attention (a Juno nomination!) in her mid teen years, based on a series of LP and single releases. It looks like after these country-focused singles, she was part of soft-rockers Hot Pursuit, before heading into University - and, we assume, leaving the music biz.
Today we've got a set of singles from Vocal Records, which was the imprint of E.K. Studios The clipping below describes the studio's output as "country, middle-of-the-road gospel and other specialized music" - which is pretty much what this batch of 7 inchers is.
Get our Vocal singles here!
Get taken here!
Oh, but we're not here to talk real estate. We're here to talk singles! Honky Tonk Heroes may have been based out of Vancouver at some point, based on what we could find out about them - which wasn't really much. All we know is that their drummer, Britt Hagarty, was also a writer. Sadly, Hagarty passed away in 1999.
Get your Honky Tonk on here.
Next up is a trio of singles from the, uh, duo of Brian Booker and Margie Jameson, who put out a bunch of releases under the moniker Jameson Booker in the late 70s/early 80s - with their debut on Richard Harrow's Living Room Records. We've also got two singles on Edmonton's Vera Cruz records added in here for your listening pleasure.
Roman Cooney is maybe a bit cruel in his review of the band's live show (at Lucifer's!) below, but it helps paint the picture of the conundrum that faced local bands in the 70s and 80s - covers sell seats.
We've posted work by Living Room Studios head honcho Richard Harrow in the past, so let's catch up with a few singles that we've picked up over the years.
The first two are on the History On Records imprint, which we know NOTHING about (surprise!), and were recorded at Sound West rather than Harrow's living room/basement studio. They're kind of fun local history/tourism things - the B side of Skiing Lake Louise is a great soft rock jam, the instrumental of the A side - it sounds like the theme music from an 80s sitcom.
Long Time Laying Down is a pair of remixed tracks from Harrow's 1974 album, Potts. Which is also kind of a local history thing, now that we think about it...
Get the Harrow singles here!
Here's a slew of singles from Jonathon Sound Production/Michael Chursinoff's Strawberry Records. And another clipping!
While the first record in this set isn't truly a Calgary release, since it's by local blues legend Tim Williams, we couldn't pass up a chance to package it up alongside his Aura Records release.
American-born Williams has a long career, reaching back to recordings from the early 1960's. These two capture more of a country feeling than the most bluesy guitar work that he's renowned for - except maybe for the b-side of his Aura Single, "Hoo Doo Woman," which is the standout track on these records.
The Heart Archives have a great story about that first recording and how it came to be:
Placing semi-finalist in the American Song Festival, A Hit Song (aka Tryin' To Write A Hit Song) was first recorded by the group Player, giving Mahonin his first Gold record. Teaming up with manager Marc Gordon of Los Angeles, Mahonin's version of A Hit Song was produced in L.A. studio One Step Up. With a law suit in the works against an L.A. publisher, Mahonin recalls, "We did the record on spec, but no one would touch it. Even the Canadian record companies loved the record, but because of the legalities, we couldn't get a deal." Desperate to make at least some money back on the initial recording investment, the record was self-released in Canada. And the rest as they say, was history. The record achieved incredible airplay, broke on every major market station and a Canadian label was born.
We also found this great clipping from the Herald, from the early days of Heart:
We're going to keep this one short. YES we realize that the Mom and Dads (note: singular female parent, plural male parents) were from Spokane, NOT Calgary. NO we don't know why these singles were released out of Calgary. And NO REALLY we don't know why there were released from an address on THE SAME STREET as the CCPS offices, within less than 500m. BUT YES it freaks us out a bit.
But because we're committed to the cause, you can get these here.
We're pretty sure we warned you that this trip into 7" land was going to get random, right? So, from 60's garage rock to... 60's square dancing!
Roy Warhurst is a celebrated musician with a long history of radio performances, touring, and recording... Mr. Warhurst was introduced to the fiddle and banjo at a young age by his uncle. As a schoolboy, his principal became a fan of his musical abilities and sent him off to other schools in the area to perform. At fourteen years old, Mr. Warhurst became a featured performer on Bill Rae’s Roundup show on CKNW Radio (New Westminster, BC)... this band became regulars on CBC’s national Burns Chuckwagon Show. One year later, Roy formed his own band, the Fraser River Boys, which played western swing, standard country tunes, and old-time dance music... Mr. Warhurst was then asked to join Vic Siebert and the Sons of the Saddle in Calgary. He also played fiddle with the iconic western music group Sons of the Pioneers from 1994-1997... Mr. Warhurst also had established himself as a recording artist, recording albums of western swing music with the Kunkel Brothers Band and various projects in Nashville, TN. Together with Dick Damron, Mr. Warhurst produced the album “Northwest Rebellion,” later deemed an instrumental work of art. He was also a musician on three Ian Tyson albums... Mr. Warhurst would go on to produce local Calgary TV shows, recruiting local talent for the station and putting together shows for the Calgary Stampede for three decades.
