[78-L] Bently or Bentley Ball

[Steven C. Barr]

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From: "David Lewis" <uncledavelewis at hotmail.com>
> I am interested in this artist, mainly owing to his repertoire, as per 
> Ty's site:
> A-3074     BENTLY BALL     LOCH LOMOND     90000     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3074     BENTLY BALL     TWANKYDILLO - SCOTCH FOLK SONG 
> 90001     -     -     01/??/20
> A-3083     BENTLY BALL     HIAWATHAS DEPARTURE     90049     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3083     BENTLY BALL     TRIBAL PRAYER     90052     -     (IS=12/20) 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3084     BENTLY BALL     GALLOWS TREES     90041     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3084     BENTLY BALL     BANGUM AND THE BOAR     90055     -     - 
> 02/??/20     -
> A-3085     BENTLY BALL     DYING COWBOY     90038     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3085     BENTLY BALL     JESSE JAMES     90039     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3086     BENTLEY BALL     GO DOWN MOSES     90051     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3086     BENTLEY BALL     O GRAVEYARD     90053     -     - 
> 02/??/20     -
> A-3087     BENTLEY BALL     THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN     90050     -     - 
> 01/??/20     -
> A-3087     BENTLEY BALL     OLD DAN TUCKER     90054     -     - 
> 02/??/20     -
>
> I'm particularly interested in A-3085, but would welcome anything I can 
> listen to. The only thing I've found on him was that he was a trained 
> singer, and although he was the first record some of these songs, his work 
> isn't taken very seriously by scholars in C&W because of his high falutin, 
> formal style. I don't care about that, and would love to know anything 
> more concrete on him -- birth/death dates/places, any biographical info.
>
> I have seen mention of him recording for Columbia as early as 1918 and 
> even mention of a catalogue listing for 1919, but can find no listing 
> prior to 1920. Why? Were his earlier records issued in the "E" or some 
> other Columbia series?
>
> Also, "Bentley" would be the correct form of the name, but can anyone 
> confirm it wasn't "Bently"?
>
The Columbia A30* records were "educational" records, intended primarily for 
use in (elementary?)
schools. The regular A series jumped from A2999 to A3300 (or 3301?) to avoid 
duplication.
IIRC, there was an earlier S- series (for "school"). These were NOT listed 
in the regular Columbia
catalogs, however!

Steven C. Barr