78 RPM - Delmore Brothers - Prisoner's Farewell / Sweet Sweet Thing - King - USA

78 RPM Record

Artist:	Delmore Brothers
Label:	King
Country:	USA
Catalogue:	503
Date:	1 Dec 1944
Format:	10"
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
Community:	1 Owns, 1 Wants
Price Guide:	$25
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PRICE GUIDE

$25

Track	Artist	Title	Composer	Rating
A	Delmore Brothers	Prisoner's Farewell	Jean Ruhe	Rate
B	Delmore Brothers	Sweet Sweet Thing	Jean Ruhe	Rate

Notes

First recorded Jan 1944, Dayton, OH (1st version).
Re-recorded later in 1944, Dayton, OH (2nd version).
Re-recorded again early 1945, King Studio, 1540 Brewster Avenue, Cincinnati, OH (3rd version).
All versions used the same matrix numbers (1772 - Prisoner's Farewell, 1774 - Sweet Sweet Thing).
Second and third version have "Sweet Sweet Thing" as A-side and "Jim Scott" as composer (like "Jean Ruhe" a pseudonym for Alton Delmore).

Images

Comments and Reviews


deezee 17th Jan 2016		The first version had only the brothers and was far more intense. There was an alternate of each. Then they recorded it with a string bass which diluted this intensity. One of my favourite Delmore records and the original was reissued on LP but the sound is ruined by muddy echo. Have to re-check Ace CD issues.



fixbutte 6th Oct 2015		In 1944 at WLW, Merle Travis and Grandpa Jones also formed a fictional gospel quartet with the Delmore Brothers, named Brown’s Ferry Four after the Delmores' theme song of the 1930s, "Brown's Ferry Blues". This quartet would also record for King, but the presence of Merle Travis on the recordings is controversial, see King 530.



fixbutte 6th Oct 2015		Sorted the different versions of this record, all with the same catalog number and matrix numbers, see notes. The early King releases were mostly re-recorded because King owner, Syd Nathan, was using his own pressing plant and the first masters were for the most part lost. Nathan had started the King label in 1943 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he owned a record shop specialized in hillbilly. Among his customers were Merle Travis and Louis "Grandpa" Jones, both then playing for the local WLW Radio but unknown to the wider public. They also recorded the first two King records in September 1943, officially released on Nov 15, 1943 in a small number of around one hundred copies of each title. Travis and Jones made up the fictional Sheppard Brothers on King 500 ("You’ll Be Lonesome Too" / "The Steppin' Out Kind"), and Travis chose the name Bob McCarthy for his solo efforts on King 501 ("When Mussolini Laid His Pistol Down" / "Two-Time Annie"). Alton and Rabon Delmore, who also had a job at WLW, were friends with Travis and Jones and frequent visitors to Nathan's record shop as well. They had made records as the Delmore Brothers since 1931 but were dropped by Decca in 1943 because of the wartime pressing shortages. So early in 1944 they became the first big act that Syd Nathan would sign for his new label.



78-Ron 3rd Oct 2015		Added scans of first version. Slightly different songs.