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The Bailes Brothers
Oh So Many Years
Bear Family BCD 15973 AH (2002)

Kyle, Johnnie, Walter, and Homer Bailes — all born between 1915 and 1922 in the Charleston, West Virginia, area — began playing and singing at a young age. Johnnie and Walter teamed up in 1940 to do live radio shows in West Virginia, and counted future stars Little Jimmy Dickens and Molly O'Day in their band. In 1943, the Bailes Brothers were discovered by Roy Acuff, who thought they were "Grand Ole Opry" material and exerted his influence to have them added to the Opry on Nashville's WSM in 1944. Although their public image was that of clean-cut, Christian gentlemen, offstage they weren't so angelic: Excessive alcohol use, failed marriages, internal tension, and some womanizing occurred. In fall 1946, Johnnie was romantically involved with a married woman who attempted suicide by jumping out of a second-floor window of a Nashville hotel. She survived, but the Bailes' tenure at the Opry didn't, for they were terminated immediately because of the scandalous situation. By 1947, the brothers surfaced in Shreveport, Louisiana, on radio station KWKH, and in 1948, the legendary country music program "Louisiana Hayride" debuted on KWKH with the Bailes Brothers as the headlining act. Eddie Stubbs (WSM "Grand Ole Opry" announcer) says in his 32-page biographical/discographical essay that the "brothers lent a helping hand to Hank Williams and Webb Pierce in Shreveport, and worked on numerous shows with both acts destined for stardom." By decade's end the Bailes had left "Hayride" and their glory years were over.

This CD contains all 28 sides the Bailes Brothers waxed for Columbia Records between 1945 and 1947. At the time of their first recordings in February 1945, only Johnnie (guitar, tenor vocals) and Walter (guitar, lead vocals) were in the quintet with a mandolin player, bassist, and fiddler. Four Roy Acuff compositions (such as "Searching for a Soldier's Grave") and six by Walter and Johnnie, including the Bailes' most well-known song "Dust On the Bible," were recorded at this session. Stubbs states the brothers "sang with heartfelt conviction in a full-volume, open-throat fashion that audiences up to that time weren't used to hearing." The vocals are indeed distinctive — Walter's lead singing reminds one of Jimmie Dale Gilmore — and the instrumental work is solid. Kyle on bass and Homer on fiddle joined their siblings, plus Ernest Ferguson (mandolin) and Harold "Shot" Jackson (steel guitar), for an April 1947 recording date that produced titles like "Whiskey is the Devil (In Liquid Form)," "Broken Marriage Vows," and "Oh So Many Years" (written by Walter's wife Frankie), later on a hit by Kitty Wells and Webb Pierce, then covered by the Everly Brothers. By the Dec. 21, 1947, session, Walter had quit, Johnnie was lead singer, and new bassist Tillman Franks replaced Kyle. Franks penned three of the eight tracks cut that day, including "Has the Devil Got a Mortgage On You." Despite their popularity on both the Opry and "Louisiana Hayride," the Bailes Brothers remain obscure today. Their recordings hold up well when compared to other country-music platters from the 1940s, and this set, featuring excellent sound along with Bear Family Records' informative notes and thorough discography, should revive interest in a group whose musical style, according to Stubbs, "bridged the gap between the old-time brother duets, the mainstream country music of the day, and what would eventually become known as bluegrass."
— Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)

 

ALBUM DETAILS:                                                             

 

Release Date: Nov 12 2002                                                

JOHNNIE BAILES- guitar, vocals WALTER BAILES- guitar, vocals ERNEST FERGUSON- mandolin DEL HECK- fiddle EVELYN 'EVY LOU' THOMAS- bass, vocals HAROLD 'SHOT' JACKSON- steel guitar HOMER BAILES- fiddle KYLE BAILES- bass CLYDE BAUM- mandolin TILLMAN FRANKS- bass

Label: BEAR FAMILY                                                     

Catalog No.: 15973                                                             

UPC: 790051597320                                                          

Oh So Many Years     1. The Drunkard's Grave 2:41     2.   Searching for a Soldier's Grave 3:00     3.   As Long as I Live 2:51     4.   Dust on the Bible 2:54     5.   There's Tears in My Eyes All the Time 2:53     6.   Fare Thee Well 2:56     7.   I've Got My One Way Ticket to the Sky 2:34     8.   I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You) 2:30     9.   Down Where the River Bends 2:58     10.   I Guess I'll Go on Dreaming 2:37     11.   Whiskey Is the Devil (In Liquid Form) 2:53     12.   Broken Marriage Vows 2:36     13.   Building on the Sands 3:01     14.   We're Living in the Last Days Now 2:48     15.   You'll Always Be the Only One 2:53     16.   Oh So Many Years 2:49     17. If You Have Retreated from God 2:54     18.   Ashamed to Own the Blessed Savior 2:58     19.   Do You Expect a Reward from God 2:31     20. Read Roman Ten and Nine 2:40     21.   Come to the Savior 3:03     22.   Remember Me 2:59     23.   Has the Devil Got a Mortgage on You 3:00     24.   My Heart Echoes 2:48     25.   You Can't Go Half Way 2:47     26.   Pretty Flowers 3:02     27.   Sinner Kneel Down and Prey 3:03     28.   Will the Angels Have a Sweetheart 2:52         REVIEWS All Music Guide Oh So Many Years covers the Bailes Brothers most commercially productive period in the 1940s. These 28 tracks, originally released on Columbia Records, capture their unique harmonies on signature songs including "The Drunkard's Grave," "Dust on the Bible," and "Broken Marriage Vows."