[78-L] Carson Robison on Durium

[soundthink at aol.com]

Just got a British Durium 78 with two tracks on it that show the amazing?versatility of Carson Robison. We had been talking about how underrated folks like Robison, Frank Luther, and Bob Miller have been, and this disc shows proof of that, at least on Robison's part. Robison was making short films in London at this time when he cut 3 of the Durium 78s (Russell shows June/July 1932). There are two songs on the disc, separated by Robison front announcing the second song. The first one is a casual dance band tune, "Ev'rybody's Going But Me," with Robison sounding like any other Dick Robertson-styled dance band vocalist. This is immediately followed by Robison and his Pioneers (the Mitchell Bros. & Pearl Pickens) doing "Get Away Old Man," a classic Robison hillbilly tune with harmonica and even a patented Robison whistling break. There aren't many artists who could make that switch convincingly, much less do it in one take at a single session! (I'd love to have seen the faces on the?"stiff-upper-lip" unidentified dance band musicians when they heard the second tune).

Looking at the Russell discography, Robison made a ton of recordings from April to September while he was in London on such labels as Zonophone, Broadcast Twelve, English Decca, Sterno, Eclipse, and Panachord. If this is any indication of the quality of these sides, I'll be on the lookout for more. If anyone has any laying around, let me know!

Cary Ginell