[78-L] Bowmar Records

[Gene Baron]

Hi,

I am glad you brough this up as it may spur me to get back to something I
started a while ago.  I am very slowly going through maybe 400-500 or so
78's of folk/ethnic/folk dance music passed on to me from a good friend and
fellow long-time folk dance teacher when he went to a retirement living
place.  It is a very interesting collection of mostly post-WWII records,
from major labels (Columbia, Decca, etc.) to the most prolific folk dance
specialty companies (Folkraft, Michael Herman's The Folk Dancer) down to
very specialized ones ('American Relief for Czechoslovakia', for example).
I am cataloging them as time allows, and I do have at least a few Bowmar
records (I have made it through the 'B's) of mainly South American folk
dance music, I think.  I will check these at home this evening and let you
know what is there.  I also don't know much about the label or its
background.  Thanks.

Gene
gene.baron at gmail.com



On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 12:22 AM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:

> Just acquired 2 10-inch 78s on the Los Angeles-based Bowmar label - this
> is a 1950s label from California that normally issued spoken word, foreign
> language, and other non-musical kinds of records, but I have found several
> interesting folk music artifacts. One was apparently an album consisting of
> 2 discs titled "Folk Songs of California and the Old West" - although I
> only have the two loose discs, #1610 & 1611, with the copyright date of
> 1953. Here's what the album looks like (you'll have to scroll down the page
> to see it)
>
> http://www.beardshampoo.com/Loscalifornios/Resources.html
>
> The two 78s I have include 11 songs while the website only lists 6 without
> listing the performers. The 78s have 2 or 3 songs per side, which explains
> how 11 got onto 2 discs. Artists are Ben Cruz and Sam Hinton. Hinton, of
> course, is a familiar name to folk music collectors, being the originator
> of one of the most famous anti-atom bomb songs, "Old Man Atom," first
> issued on ABC-Eagle and then on Columbia. The songs Cruz & Hinton sing (all
> solo with guitar, no duets) are in Spanish and English.
>
> The folk music record I have on Bowmar is by 2/3 of the Easy Riders
> (#1626), the group that had a big hit on Columbia of "Marianne" and who
> also backed Dean Martin on the million selling "Memories Are Made of This"
> for Capitol in 1956. Terry Gilkyson was probably still a solo act with
> Decca when the Bowmar 78 was made, which features songs by the other
> members of the group, Rich Dehr and Frank Miller, probably their first
> records as well, three years before the first Easy Riders records were
> released. The songs they sing are The Alabama, Haul Away Joe, Cowboy's
> Hymn, and Railroad Corral. I interviewed Miller about 20 years ago but
> don't recall him mentioning Bowmar at all. He was 76 then and I believe he
> passed some years ago.
>
> Has anyone done any research on this label? I'm wondering if there are
> other nascent recordings by early folk revival artists.
>
> Cary Ginell
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