Walter Brennan - Old Shep
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Free Music Notes for Old Shep
Free Music Review: The real McCoy
Hit: 5 Stars
Great CD. Could you get such a CD produced and played on radio in todays' world?Free Music Review: super
Hit: 5 Stars
This was a great song, and could not have been sung better by any one else!!!!Free Music Review: Old Shep
Hit: 5 Stars
A must have CD if you ever watched and loved his shows.Free Music Review: Beloved Character Actor Had Success With Records Too
Hit: 4 Stars
When seemingly everyone else in the movie and television business decided to try their luck at cutting records in the early 1960s [Patty Duke, Johnny Crawford, Shelley Fabares, etc. etc.], this grizzled old veteran character actor, whose first film was in 1924, and who was then playing Grandpa on The Real McCoys, figured he might just as well join the club. Not singing, of course, but narrating stories set to music.
His first shot came in 1960 at age 66 for the Dot label when Dutchman's Gold [track 9], the story of a tragic miner, was released billed to Walter Brennan with Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra. Emulating an earlier success by Vaughn [1955's The Shifting, Whispering Sands with narration by Ken Nordine, and which Walter does here at tracks 3 and 4], this reached a quite respectable # 30 that June. The B-side was the comical Back To The Farm [track 5].
When nothing else turned out by Dot could repeat that success, he next turned up at Liberty, releasing the marvelously whimsical Old Rivers, the story of a farmer, his mule, and a young friend, soared to the # 2 Adult Contemporary, # 3 Country, and # 5 Billboard Pop Hot 100 spots in May of 1962 with the backing of The Johnny Mann Singers. The flip was a story about America's first astronaut, The Epic Ride Of John H. Glenn.
Two more Liberty hits followed that year, both again backed by Mann, with Houdini just making the Hot 100 at # 100 in August b/w The Old Kelly Place, and then his version of the Bill Anderson Country smash, Mama Sang A Song, which peaked at # 14 Adult Contemporary and # 38 Hot 100 in November b/w Who Will Take Gramma?
It's too bad that only one of his hits and its B-side appears in this album because, while Old Rivers is also fairly easy to locate, you simply cannot find Mama Sang A Song or Houdini anywhere in CD format, never mind the other flipsides. At least I can't.
As for the other contents here, he also does a fabulous job on each, but especially on Old Shep and the Carson Robison 1948 hit Life Gets Tee-Jus, Don't It. There are, unfortunately, no liner notes, which is a shame. It's not as if there wasn't reams of material associated with his long career [he died in September 1974 at age 80] with which to compose a few paltry paragraphs.
Free Music Review: Lots of Nostalgia Here
Hit: 4 Stars
If you can make it past the first song on the CD "Old Shep" without crying,the rest of the CD offers a delightful selection of classic old songs. My grandfather's favorite song was "Life Gets Tee-jus,Don't It", a really funny way that some farm folks felt in the old days, especially those who went through the Depression. Walter Brennan does an excellent job of talking all of these classic songs. There is no voice like his for expression of feelings. From "Shiftin'Whisperin'Sands" to "Dutchman's Gold", this CD is a delight. In between you get "I Believe". I recommend it highly to anyone who remembers Walter Brennan.