Musical Episode #035 : Girl Group Sound v.3 – Bang n’ Twang

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Hello everyone! Happy to have another podcast here for you today. This one is a slightly strange one and I don’t really have an adequate description for it- not that genres are always that great anyhow…-but I think it’s a really fun one. The mix broadly moves around the “girl group sound” but takes a detour down some country roads with a healthy does of R&B and pop.

Generally I think there’s a desire for us, looking (and listening) back to try to neatly categorize sounds especially sounds that later developed into clear genres/industries like Country music. The historical paths often tell a different story with sounds and songs sitting much closer to each and soul and country artists borrowing from each other and pop artists covering both for mass market audiences.

That being said a bunch of these songs are really just shimmer examples of the genre and I think make this mix a lot of fun and worthy of repeat listens. The opening 45 by Janis and Her Boyfriends is a favorite and despite being a rockin’ country / rockabilly tune I’d regularly spin during our pre-covid soul dance party. Janis was merely a teenager when she cut this along with her other outstanding RCA sides and was disrupting the polite country audiences bringing drums on stages and leaving her shoes off while dancing and performing her songs at the Grand Ole Opry. Soon after being labelled the “female Elvis” she was married and pregnant much to the chagrin of her label. She ended up leaving the music industry to raise her family only returning a decade later.

The Rose Mitchell track is early for this blog being from 1954 but boy is it a scorcher! The song itself is a folk song that was popularized by Big Joe Williams in 1935 and has been covered a gazillion times over which in and of itself is an interesting way to look at how interconnected these styles are and how they developed together. This song predates “soul” but would absolutely fit the definition. It’s a little raw in sound compared to a lot of the other tracks in the mix but felt like a good dip into blues/r&b.

The Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Lynn Anderson tracks each bring a distinct country sound but it takes very little imagination (especially with the widely covered Jim Dandy) to imagine a different artist singing and you have yourself a single on the soul charts.

The “Song Spinners” are one of these knock-off groups that covered hit songs and sold them at a discount to confused kids but often are actually kind of cool in their own right. Usually the ones that do too good of a job replicating the artists aren’t worth the time but some due to lack of budget or rushed production can have a cool “made in the garage” quality that I love.

Hope you enjoy today’s podcast. Until next time.
-George / Snack Attack

Tracklist:
Janis and Her Boyfriends : Bang Bang (RCA, 1958)
Little Brenda Lee : Bigelow 6-200 (Decca, 1956)
Betty O’Brien : Money Honey (Imperial, 1962)
Jaye Sisters : Pitter Patter Boom Boom (Atlantic, 1958)
Gloria Dennis : That’s My Boy (Rust, 1963)
Linda Glover : Different Kind of Love (Warwick, 1960)
Gail Wynters : Snap Your Fingers (Hickory, 1967)
Norma Tanega : Walkin My Cat Named Dog (New Voice, 1966)
The Song Spinners : He’s A Rebel (Big, 1962?)
Patsy Cline : Back in Baby’s Arms (Decca, 1963)
Lynn Anderson : Jim Dandy (Chart, 1971)
Wanda Jackson : Lets Have A Party (Capitol, 1960)
Damita Jo : Another Dancing Pardner (Mercury, 1962)
Patti Jerome : Mojo (Bigtop, 1961)
Rose Mitchell : Baby Please Don’t Go (Imperial, 1954; re)
Ella Mae Morse : I’m Gone (Capitol, 1957)
Jo Ann Campbell : I Really Really Love You (Gone, 1958)
Millie Brown : He’s Not For You (Gaylord, 1963)
Loretta Lynn : You Wanna Give Me A Lift (Decca, 1970)
Lesley Gore : Brand New Me (Mercury, 1968)
Capri Sisters : I Want You To Be My Boy (Newtown, 1962)
Lulu : I’ll Come Running (Parrot, 1964)
Baby Jane and The Rockabyes : My Boy John (United Artists, 1963)
The Delicates : Black and White Thunderbird (UnArt, 1959)

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Sources:

Poore, B. (1998). Rockabilly: A Forty Year Journey. Hal Leonard

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