Notes & Personnel Info |  | Liner Note Author: Fred James. | | Bullet Records was one of the most successful independent record labels in the immediate post-World War II era. Founded in 1945 in Nashville by Jim Bulliet, Wally Fowler, and C.V. Hitchcock, the imprint had an initial plan to release records across a broad range of styles that included pop, gospel, county, R&B, and blues, but by the time Bulliet departed the label in 1948, the company's releases were largely for the country (then called hillbilly) and blues markets only. Bulliet was replaced by Overton Ganong in 1949, who stayed around just long enough to hand the reins over to W.C. "Red" Wortham a year or so later. By 1952 Bullet Records was dead in the water, which certainly wasn't Wortham's doing, since he had essentially inherited a sinking ship. Wortham and Bulliet revived the label toward the end of the decade, and when Bulliet again backed out, Wortham steered things through into the 1970s, by which time Bullet had descended to being a custom label for hire putting out anything anyone would pay to have released. This set features 25 Nashville-flavored blues sides from Bullet's late-'40s and early-'50s run. Much of the label's catalog (the masters were kept on aluminum discs -- tape was not yet the dominant recording medium at the time) was foolishly discarded or sold as scrap, so what's here is here by fortune. As a rule, Bullet's blues stuff was on the light side, often piano-based, with a touch of jazz tossed in, and wasn't gritty so much as brightly weary. Highlights here include St. Louis Jimmy's "Going Down Slow" from 1947, Roosevelt Sykes' jazzy and impressive "Candy Man Blues" (recorded in Chicago by Lester Melrose) from 1949, Walter Davis' bouncy "I Just Can't Help It" (featuring a young Henry Townsend on guitar), also from 1949, and Little Eddie's woozy and New Orleans-drenched "Darling You Know I Love You" from 1952, complete with barely in tune horns that add a delightfully uneasy edge to things. Nothing in this collection is too startling, and its appeal is probably more archival and historical than anything else, but there's a nice, easy breeze blowing through these sides that makes this set well worth hearing. ~ Steve Leggett |
Producer: Fred James (Compilation) |
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