The Skylarks, or the Famous Skylarks, recorded for Nashboro from 1950 (this year is given on the back cover of their only LP release, LP 7058) until 1967. Apart from the LP, which marked the end of the group’s recording career, 24 singles were issued. Yesterday and today I’ve added scans of all the Skylarks records in my possession – sixteen 45’s/78’s plus the LP release.
After recording the previous album (Gospel Chords on Chalice) I was in the mood to do another one: the album “Thank You Jesus” by the Six Voices of Zion of Columbia, SC. This rather obscure LP, released on Gusman 1001 in c. 1972-73, featured ‘new’ recordings on the A-side and older recordings on the B-side (1966-69). This was the group’s first album, with follow-up releases on Pitch (1976) and Co-Town (1980’s).
Three songs on this album were released on the 3CD release “The Pitch/Gusman Record Story” on Big Legal Mess (#BLM 0224; 2009). This CD release is still available from their website.
The album is available on CD-r and as a download. Send me a message if you’d like to make an order.
Today I transferred the album “Introducing the Gospel Chords” (Chalice LP 1001) to the digital format. It’s available as a CD-r and as a download (see For Sale and then CD-r’s from the menu). This female group featured Emiley Harris, Marva Harris, Wilma Dunlap and Martha Rowena Smith, and this was probably their only release, from 1965-66. The Chalice label was owned/operated by Bill Justis in Nashville, TN. Bill Justis had a couple of instrumental hits as a saxophone player on Phillips (a Sun sub label, run by Sam Phillips) in the late 1950’s (“Raunchy” being his most famous recording), and was also known as a composer and arranger. He moved to Nashville in 1961 where he became a successful record producer and music arranger for Monument, Mercury and other labels. During these years he also started his own label, Chalice Records, not to be confused with the Chalice label from Memphis (which was a Stax subsidiary). Justis’ label was only short-lived but featured a few gospel acts; apart from the Gospel Chords, Lucille Barbee also recorded for the label (a 45 was released). I guess it was a bold action to release a black gospel LP on the Chalice label, but Justis probably saw the potential of this group. I don’t think it brought him any financial success and both the group and the album vanished in obscurity.
In the last week I’ve been adding several images to the website: Peacock 1857 and 3089, Specialty 876 and 894, all Myrl issues, plus several Nashboro’s (591, 603, 627, 634, 656, 672, 681) – and this is just the beginning. The Nashboro label will keep me busy for some time to come…
