Imagine my shock and horror when 2 years later I purchased a Reeves LP titled
Bimbo
on the London label (HA-U 8015). It featured material recorded for Abbott
Records, Hollywood that had been released here on the UK London label. I won-
dered why the record label was Decca and not Reeves’ label RCA? I had no idea
that Abbott’s Fabor Robison had negotiated a 10 year deal with London Records
for overseas representation of Fabor and Abbott product, and that Decca handled
London releases in the UK. Sleeve notes were by their staff writer Tony Barrow,
who would soon become the Beatles’ press agent. As I listened to the 14 tracks I
was unprepared for what I would hear. It was a startling revelation and an introduc-
tion to a style of music that was alien to me. This relatively raw, earthy, vibrant
hillbilly sound was not what I was expecting. The only song I had any recollection
of was
Bimbo,
which I seemed to remember from the BBC Radio’s Light Programme
Saturday morning show ‘Children’s Favourites’ hosted by Uncle Mac (Derek
McCulloch). The version I had heard was most likely the Decca 78 record (F 10264)
by Suzi Miller, though the hit version was by Ruby Wright which reached no. 7 in
the UK charts in April 1954. Little did I know then that this would start me on a
journey along a country music path on which I’m still travelling. The light from that
1960 single and the resultant discovery of the singer and his music is still burning.
Today, 50 years down the road, Reeves fans and country music fans generally
are far more knowledgeable than we were then, thanks to the wonderful world of
technology. We were enticed into the realms of that 30 year golden period of coun-
try music’s history, and the classics of the times are well etched into our memories,
thanks to the music’s history having been well documented over the past 40 years
on vinyl and then compact disc. This is where I have to bring Bear Family in. I well
remember being introduced to Richard Weize at one of the Wembley International
Country Music Festivals in the early 70s. I wasn’t to know it then, but this man was
to cost me a lot of money. Seriously, I would never be without my large collection
of Bear Family boxed-sets, which are still the best compilations around after almost
40 years and continue to furnish me with vital detail and information on an almost
daily basis.
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