[78-L] Frank Luther items on my want-list for decades

[soundthink at aol.com]

Very cool, Jonathan. I grew up listening to Frank Luther kiddie records like "The Tick Tock Shop" (which used to frighten me when The Pain would chase the Old Woman all across the countryside). I have quite a few Luther 78s and will check my stock when I get home. I think his records have been vastly underrated; there was some superb musicianship on them, especially when you had folks like Frank Novak, Barney Burnett, and Carson Robison as sidemen. If it weren't for artists like Luther, Robison, Vernon Dalhart, and Bob Miller, I wouldn't own records on such hard-to-find labels like Herwin and Herschel Gold Seal.

Cary Ginell


-----Original Message-----
From: Guyotsmith at aol.com
To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
Sent: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 3:09 pm
Subject: Re: [78-L] Frank Luther items on my want-list for decades



 
In a message dated 2/18/2009 12:36:40 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
mbiel at mbiel.com writes:

Who was  your grandmother?

Mike Biel   mbiel at mbiel.com



Mike, my grandmother was not a recording artist and  not noted as a musical 
performer, although she did sing. She was a writer and a  folklorist by the 
name of Ethel Park Richardson. Upon publication of her book,  "American Mountain 

Songs," she journeyed from Chattanooga to New York and was on  NBC within a 
few days, as both a performer and a writer. In 1933, she created a  series of 
dramatized Appalachian folksongs, "Hillbilly Heart-Throbs." The series  title 
was later changed to "Heart-Throbs of the Hills" (in the belief it would  
attract a sponsor without the word "hillbilly") and it ultimately became "Dreams  
of 
Long Ago."
 
Frank Luther - with Zora Layman and Len Stokes, and  their friend Carson 
Robison - performed the music on the series. When Frank grew  too busy to 
continue 
with the program, Carson Robison took over. With the new  title, "Dreams of 
Long Ago," came a change in the music department. The Vass  Family, who - 
unfortunately - recorded only one session for Decca - did a  splendid job with 
the 
music on the show. When they left for Chicago, my  grandmother put together a 
group of her own design, which eventually became The  Song Spinners. They also 
recorded for Decca and had a couple of hits. 
 
Although my grandmother played character parts on all  her various radio 
shows and did sing folk songs, her chief focus was her  writing. She never had 
an 
agent, never made a record, and never pursued a career  as a performer. In my 
youth, when I wanted to perform and had questions about  singing, she would 
tell me to call Frank Luther. 
 
Thanks for asking.
 
Jonathan
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