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A fairly familiar characteristic of the recording scene in the late fifties was for country
artists to cover R&B hits of the day - and to a lesser extent, vice-versa. One R&B tune
that attracted a great deal of interest from the hillbilly fraternity was Big Mama Thorntons
Hound Dog
. Alabama boy JACK TURNER was rushed into RCA’s New York Studios in
March 1953 to record the number at a split session with The Country All Stars. This was
not Jack’s first session for RCA; he had recorded some material for them a month or so
earlier, but nothing from that particular session had been released. Born Will Jack Turner
on 17th June 1921 in Haleyville, Alabama, where during his high school days he formed
a four piece ensemble, ‘The Corn Crib String Band‘. After the war and a spell in the
navy, he settled in Montgomery, Alabama and joined the cast of ‘The Deep South
Jamboree‘, a weekly extravaganza broadcast by radio station WBAM.
Walking A Chalk
Line
is a splendid example of this honky tonk style, resplendant with chunky rhythm,
solid walking bass line, whirling fiddle and ringing steel guitar which accompany Jacks’
nasal intonations, made more delightful by his two-tone semi-yodel on the chorus line.
When his association with RCA came to an end in 1955, he went on to record for Hickory
and MGM before dropping out of sight in the late fifties.
Long before Jack Turner had signed up, EDDIE MARSHALL and his band, The Trail
Dusters had been recording for RCA (since 1950), but his version of Rodney Morris‘
Moblin’ Baby Of Mine
was his swan song for the label. Despite the fact that Marshall had
nine releases on RCA over a two year period and enjoyed a modest degree of success,
very little information exists concerning his career. Paradoxically, that of LEE BELL is
well documented, yet he had but two releases on the label. This veteran western swing
performer, a native of Fred (yes, Fred!), Texas, served his musical apprenticeship with
Moon Mullican and Cliff Bruner. Lee cut his first solo sides for Lew Chudd’s Imperial
label in 1948 and four years later, he recorded his one and only session for RCA at Jim
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