By the Time I Get to ILX: Good Books About Country Music

That's a good book, don't think I have a copy anymore.
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Came to post that in the Holding Things Together podcast they mention Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Boogie song craze. I recently came across something in the"Hillbilly Boogie' chapter of the super detailed, obviously not strictly country book Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the the Independent Rock'n'Roll Pioneers, by John Broven about Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie" on Super Disc out of Washington DC, kicking off this craze of transferring from piano boogie to guitar, but in Paul KIngsbury's excellent Encyclopedia of Country Music he says that the first guitar boogie recording was Porky Freeman's "Porky's Boogie Woogie on the Strings" on the ARA label.

Also glad we got to Charlie Rich early since he was backhandedly referred to in the KBdoc as a "journeyman rhythm and blues singer."

From Record Makers and Breakers:

Ironically, Nashville’s potential as a recording hub was unlocked by a pop record on an independent label. The impact of Francis Craig’s “Near You,” a freak No. 1 hit on Jim Bulleit’s Bullet label in 1947, was as seismic in Tennessee music circles as Cecil Gant’s “I Wonder” was on the West Coast.

Back in January 1944, the activity that had helped country music to achieve critical mass led to the introduction of “Juke Box Folk Records,” the first-ever country chart, in Billboard. Then in 1945, a supposed “million-seller” was notched up by Arthur Smith with “Guitar Boogie” on Super Disc out of Washington, D.C. This toe-tapping instrumental record, mirroring the boogie-woogie piano craze, was the catalyst for the hillbilly-boogie style that evolved effortlessly into rockabilly.

Am kind of fascinated by the story of "Near You," Bullet Records and Jim Bulleit, which is told in some detail in a few pages of I Don't Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America, by Albin J. Zak III, again not strictly about country but well worth your while, in which Bullet Records is defined as Nashville's first record label. The song was basically a vanity recording, and a B-side at that which became a breakout hit, setting a record by being number 1 for 17 weeks on the pop chart, a record that was only broken this year. Craig was a relative of the family that owned the insurance company that owned WSM, a bandleader at the Hermitage Hotel and author of the Vanderbilt University fight song, "When Vandy Start to Fight (The Dynamite Song)".

Not 100% sure where it was actually recorded, at WSM's Air Castle Studio or elsewhere but the engineer was a young Owen Bradley. Lots of artists had their first recordings released on Bullet, I think, among them Chet Atkins, Minnie Pearl, Ray Price, and B.B. King and/or Pee Wee King. Believe the label was not able to reproduce the success of "Near You" and Jim Bulleit (pronounced something like "Bewlay") got pushed out. Later he mentored Sam Phillips found Sun Records, as can be read about in the Guralnick bio, and among other things, was instrumental in getting The Prisonaires recorded.

Another artist to first record for Bullet, Sheb Wooley. Leon Payne had some hits on Bullet, including his original version of "Lost Highway."

http://www.bopping.org/bullet-always-a-smash-hit-the-grandaddy-of-nashville-indie-country-labels-600-755-country-serie-1946-1952/

Bobby Troup was on there too!

https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=17307613

In Last Train to Memphis, Guralnick seems to be quoting the Memphis-Press-Scimitar saying "Bulleit drove the five singing prisoners to Memphis, the composer having to stay in prison. An armed guard and a trusty came along, the record company paying the expenses."

Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen by Jimmy McDonough (the "Shakey" guy).

Not only covers Tammy's story (which is all kinds of sad), but also gets fairly in-depth on folks like Billy Sherrill, Glenn Sutton, George Jones and George Richey.

Sorry , C. Grisso!

Michael Streissguth's Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville incl. lesser-known mavericky-to-rogue invidiuals who nevertheless made certain creative contributions to Nashvlle as Babylon and Business As Usual--presented crisply, though my fave ravers are transegenre twangers like Just Friends and The Babushka Brothers---favorites to read about; I still haven't found any of their music. Products/landmarks of an intriguingly fecund yall-sprall overlapping the penumbrae of Vanderbilt and Music Row, which deserves a book of its own.
Meanwhile, most of this tome is built from interviews with then-survivors of scenes involving the titular principals, incl. Guy Clark and Cowboy Jack Clement, as well as other recording artists, songwriters band members, sessioneers, producers, biz pros of all stripes,
Fave re the big boys is a kinetic, pungent portrait of Waylon--did not know that the suits got him to cover "MacArthur Park" early on---who eventually, despite his misgivings about Outlaw hype, finds a good groove, fueled by coke and pinball, cantankerous at times, but patient enough to glean good songs from randos' home demo tapes so shitty-sounding that no one else can stand to listen.
Good perspectives, though a bit Kristofferson-centric for awhile, I take it because KK was so forthcoming, though the author seems overly tactful about bad habits of this particular, artiste, who has been cogently candid in Rolling Stone etc. interviews.
Speaking of interv0ews with then-surviving musos, like Donnie Fritts, also see recent links over on the Sweet Soul Music thread.

Re the fecund sprawl: only passing mentions of and a few quotes from members of Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry, but at least those bands did make albums which can still be found.

Robert Hilburn bio of Johnny Cash is pretty solid.

this was the first (and it seems p definitive) Carter Family bio I ever read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15824.Will_You_Miss_Me_When_I_m_Gone_The_Carter_Family_and_Their_Legacy_in_American_Music

Yes. I have only read bits of it, but those bits have been grebt. Wonder if anyone here has read Among My Klediments?

how is the George Jones autobiography, anyone know?

Have only read comments about it on Amazon. Most described it as very truthful about his drinking and troubles in his life, while one person found it more detailed about his younger years than later .

I read it years ago, don’t recall much in the way of details, past it being a solid ghostwritten autobiography, reads well and quickly. Not much musical insight IIRC, more along the lines of the story of GJ’s life (which is obviously very interesting!) and a sprinkling of opinion about the world in general.