Tex Ritter - Capitol 4567 (1961) (45 RPM)

It was an uneventful day out looking for 78s...didn't come home with a single one.

The only find worth mentioning (and it's a personal mention) is this Tex Ritter 45. From what I've been told, it was one of my grandfather's favorite, if not his absolute favorite, songs. He passed away a few months before I was born so apart from pictures and a scant minute or so of silent Super-8 film footage, its things like this that gives me something tangible to relate to him by.

Recorded in 1961. (With the death of Andy Griffith this past year...the star dusted Big Tally Book no longer has any living names left.)

¡Azucar! Celia Cruz Con La Sonora Matancera - Seeco 7507 (1954) (45 RPM)

From wikipedia…

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso de la Santísima Trinidad (October 21, 1925 – July 16, 2003) was a Cuban-American salsa performer. One of the most popular salsa artists of the 20th century, she earned twenty-three gold albums and was renowned internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" as well as "La Guarachera de Cuba."

She spent much of her career living in New Jersey, and working in the United States and several Latin American countries. Leila Cobo of Billboard Magazine once said "Cruz is indisputably the best known and most influential female figure in the history of Cuban music."

With fidel castro assuming control of Cuba in 1959, Cruz and her husband, Pedro Knight, refused to return to their homeland and became citizens of the United States. In 1966, Cruz and Tito Puente began an association that would lead to eight albums for Tico Records.

Recorded in Cuba on October 12, 1954.


Earl Burtnett & His Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra - Brunswick 4232 (1929)

Found this in a charity thrift store for dogs...looked almost unplayed. Here is another side by Burtnett.

Other than Burtnett on piano, only vocalist Paul Gibbons seems to be known.

Recorded in Los Angeles on January 25, 1929.