The Songs in the Tall Boots Project
Rye Whiskey Waltz (Traditional)
Performing in the old style, open-violin tuning of GDGD, Paul Elliott and James Mason echo the two Spencer brothers playing this lovely waltz across the holler to one another. We recorded this tune very late at night. As I listened to Paul and James in headphones, my great grandmother’s story came to life.
Paul Elliott – violin
Mike Dowling – guitar
James Mason – violin
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – Bass
Howlin’ Pup (Traditional)
This hot fiddle breakdown was an old family favorite, played with two violins. The form varies as much as the players choose. Oftentimes a tune like this began with instruments playing the melody. The next time around, it became a musical game.Players called and answered one another. This tune reminds me of the old barn at feeding time,when the dogs are trying to get their share,howling and jumping up and dancing on their hind legs.
Paul Elliott – violin
James Mason – violin
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – Bass
When It’s Night Time in Nevada (Dulmage/Clint/Pascoe, 1931)
This popular and nearly-forgotten song of the early 1930’s has charmed six generations with its dreamy visions of beautiful Nevada. My grandfather had a special love for the great Nevada desert. He took me there with him often. He would sit on the edge of the rocks at nightfall and gaze for hours at the desert’s majestic beauty. He told me that if I stayed very still, I could hear the sounds of the desert and see the colors change. He was right. In this magnificent desert, I learned to sing harmony with him on this song. One day, on a short trail ride, we were singing in the usual key, and – entirely out of the blue – he played a magical chord that put the song into my singing key. Off I went. I’ll never forget how fine it was when he began to sing harmony with me. Our song … Grandpa’s and mine.
David Keenan – lead and harmony vocal
Suze Spencer – lead and
harmony vocals, rhythm guitar
Nancy K. Dillon – middle voice
Sue Thompson – low voice
Paul Elliott – violin
Bobby Koefer – steel guitar
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Cary Black – Bass
Bon Ton Schottische (Traditional)
By the year 1910, young Jack Spencer was showing promise on the fiddle. At nine years of age, his grandfather taught him this old tune.He volunteered to play it for his sisters so they could practice their dance steps. To amuse himself, he learned it in all the keys.We’ve kept it to A and E here. A schottische dance can go on a while, so the key change can make it more interesting for the musicians and dancers. When it falls back into A, the dancers know it’s time to wind it down.
Stacy Phillips – lead violin
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
David Lange – accordion
Paul Elliott – harmony violin
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Saddle Your Worries To The Wind (Bob Nolan, 1938 – Music of the West)
Bob Nolan was a reflective man. A loner, he was an artist, philosopher, poet, songwriter, actor and musician. He recorded his abiding love for the Southwest in his songs. His beautifully-crafted melodies and lyrics are revered all over the world. As his grandson, Calin Coburn, observed, “Bob saw himself as a man who had loved and lost and made mistakes along the way as we all have. I doubt that even he saw all the gifts he possessed and his uncanny ability to express the feelings of so many people!” This song in particular says much about its author. “You’ll see the dark clouds vanish when the prairie breezes blow, and blue skies smile above you everywhere you go … so get along old timer, there’s a better range ahead, if you Saddle Your Worries to the Wind.” Just what the doctor ordered. The country was in a Great Depression and people needed something to raise their spirits.
Scott Whitley – lead and harmony vocal – yodel
Orville Johnson – baritone voice
Russ Keith – bass voice
Doc Stein – Hawaiian guitar – high voice
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
David Lange – accordion
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Clowin’ The Fretts (Traditional)
Although mighty similar to Farewell Blues, this tune had its own identity in the 1920s and was still going strong during the Honolulu meets Hollywood years, a wild and crazy time, when Tin Pan Alley went Cowboy and Hawaiian. This version comes from the repertoire of Bennie Nawahi and The International Cowboys, a group that preceded The Sons Of The Pioneers. Members were Len Slye (Roy Rogers), Billy Nichols, Vern Spencer (Tim Spencer), Austin Spencer, Jack Spencer and Bennie Nawahi. Bennie, Jack, Austin and Billy also performed in the Biltmore Hotel Orchestra in Long Beach, California where some of the nation’s finest musicians performed. Bennie and my grandfather Jack would remain life long friends, and we visited him often. They would take their guitars down to the beach and play the most beautiful Hawaiian songs, while I played in the sand nearby.
Paul Elliott – violins
Stacy Phillips – Hawaiian Guitar
Mike Dowling – lead and rhythm guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Sierra Nevada (Joel Herron, 1954)
I first heard this song in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the second day of a trail ride into the lake. Each rider was relaxing in the high mountain air, looking forward to a few days of wilderness fishing, hiking, swimming and visiting. We were riding around the side of a mountain that went straight up on one side and straight down on the other. When the singing began, the voices echoed off the rocks. It was extraordinary. I loved the part where they effortlessly shifted their voices even higher. It was a great way to keep me from thinking how far it was down there, if I were to fall.
Suze Spencer – lead vocal
Melissa Marshall – high voice
Kathleen Fallon – middle voice
Becky Kilgore – low voice
Sue Thompson – floating voice
Douglas Green – yodel – rhythm guitar
Mike Dowling – rhythm and lead guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Honolulu Bound (Traditional)
Here comes the Sugar Train! This frolicking tune is from the repertoire of Bennie Nawahi and The International Cowboys. The title is said to refer to the Hawaiian sugar trains that carried workers to the sugar cane fields. A virtuoso musician, Bennie Nawahi was born into a family of twelve children in Honolulu. By the age of fifteen, he was busking in the evenings, bringing in as much as $20.00 a night. He began recording on the East Coast around 1928 with various groups and moved to California around 1930. Bennie lived near Austin Spencer in Los Angeles when he first moved to California. Bennie and my grandfather worked up some tunes. My grandfather played some fiddle and guitar and Austin played banjo and piano. Hawaiian meets Texas cowboys soon became The International Cowboys. Short-lived as a group, they disbanded after a financially disastrous tour, capped off with an earthquake that struck while they played a Los Angeles theater. For his more difficult pieces, like this one, Bennie tuned his Hawaiian guitar to an open A tuning and played in the key of F. Stacy Phillips translated it to the key of Eb with the guitar tuned to open G.
Stacy Phillips – Hawaiian guitar – percussion
Mike Dowling – lead guitar – glass bell
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar – percussion
Cary Black – bass
Slumber Time On The Range (Bob Nolan, 1938 – Unichappell Music)
One of the greatest songwriters of all time, Bob Nolan often composed his beautiful melodies with three part harmony in mind. With Lloyd Perryman, Tim Spencer, Hugh and Karl Farr, he brought these songs to life in all their splendor. This sparkling jewel was nearly lost. Thanks to the relentless determination of Elizabeth McDonald, it has been recovered. My only memory of it was the melody and phrase “Now the campfire flame is fading …see the embers fading too.” Elizabeth immediately recognized that and told me: I have something to send you. On the day it arrived, I curled up into my rocking chair well after midnight and turned it on. There were Bob, Lloyd, Tim, Hugh and Karl at sundown around the campfire, singing this beloved lullabye, ever so sweetly. The film clip was barely visible, but the audio was clear enough to hear nearly every word. Time disappeared for a few hours that night. I had them all to myself once again. Both Calin Coburn and Elizabeth McDonald were pleased to see us wake this gem from its deep sleep, and render it’s very first commercial recording. The voices you hear are Woody Paul, Ranger Doug and Too Slim of Riders In The Sky. Suze and Mike play guitar, with Paul Elliott on violin and Texas Playboy, Bobbie Koefer playing the magical, dreamy steel guitar. Bob Nolan’s lyric creates a stunning visual of that magic hour between sundown and total darkness. “Silently the night has spread a starlit woven blanket on the ground.”
Paul Chrisman – lead vocal (Woody)
Douglas Green – middle voice (Ranger Doug)
Fred LaBour – low voice (Too Slim)
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Bobby Koefer – steel guitar
Paul Elliott – violin
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
El Cajon Stomp (Hugh Farr, Karl Farr, 1934)
The story that I was told goes like this: The fellas were traveling over the El Cajon Pass in Southern California, when they lost their brakes. Their delightful drive down the steep canyon road turned into a nightmare trip. Karl described it in vivid detail: certain well-known curves, how many wheels were still touching the road (sometimes none). When they came to the final dip, they went airborne and were literally ejected off the last part of the hill. When the car stopped, they were completely shook up, but unharmed. A few days later during a radio station broadcast, Hugh told the announcer about their lives being spared on this wild ride. With some slow fiddling, he demonstrated how they had started off slowly down the hill. Then Karl just took off with it. They made the tune up on the spot, complete with sound effects and with the blast into a major chord at the end, for the final terror of being ejected off the hill into safety. Asked the name of the tune, Karl said it was the “El Cajon Stomp.”
Paul Elliott – violin
Stacy Phillips – resophonic guitar
Mike Dowling – lead and rhythm guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Lonesome Cowboy Blues (Tim Spencer, 1945 – Unichappell Music)
A fantastic scene from the Republic Film, Utah. The boys are all in jail again, singing up a storm of blues to cover up the sound of Gabby sawing the window bars from the outside with a hacksaw. Just as he is about to break through, the sheriff comes around back and invites Gabby to come on in to the jail the easy way. Now they’ve really got the blues. Shug Fisher howls in the background, drowning out the rest of the song.
Mike Dowling – lead vocal – guitar
Lonesome Cowboy Chorus: Sue Thompson, Dave Keenan, Nancy K. Dillon, Suze Spencer, Greg Scott
James Mason – violin
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Yippi-Yi Your Troubles Away (Tim Spencer,Glenn Spencer, 1941)
Songwriting at it most cheerful. This song appeared in a scene in the Columbia Film, Outlaws Of The Panhandle. Pat Brady is doing his goofy dance number in the saloon while the remainder of the fellas are singing and trying to keep a straight face. Tim Spencer bursts out laughing for a split second before Lloyd goes into the middle patter part, where the scene breaks away. The film comes back to the last verse and chorus several scenes later. My great aunties used to sing this with me in the kitchen. With their hair up in rag curlers, bandannas, aprons and scuffys on, they were a sight to behold. I loved every minute of it.
Becky Kilgore – lead vocal
Suze Spencer – high voice
Kathleen Fallon – low voice
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Stacy Phillips – resophonic guitar
Paul Elliott – violins
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Old Madeira Waltz (Traditional)
A soulful waltz often played in honor of a dear family matriarch. Somewhat shrouded in mystery, the song has been played for many generations of mothers, dating back to the English Gypsies. It is known as Madeira today, but I believe the tune itself was unnamed. One early-30s reference notes that the song was known then as “Goodbye My Little Devis.” Some people believe it may have been composed in the early nineteenth century.
Stacy Phillips – lead violin and resophonic guitar
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Paul Elliott – harmony violin
Cary Black – bass
The Prairie Sings A Lullabye (Glenn Spencer, 1940)
This very rare and lovely lullabye is written in the Spencer family style of harmony singing. No one voice has the melody for long. The melody shifts from the highest to lowest voice throughout. This style of harmony singing rose to a new level when Bob Nolan joined Tim Spencer and Len Slye (Roy Rogers) as The Pioneer Trio in early 1934. When Lloyd Perryman joined them later, the sky was the limit on vocal harmony. As the new trio began to develop, Tim’s elder brother, Glenn, played piano as they rehearsed their vocal parts. Glenn was a trained classical musician with a wonderful voice of amazing range. The melody to this song has not been located in either sheet music or lead sheet. My relatives sang it to me in the car on long trips, to put me to sleep. I can still hear the melody as it travels between voices. Glenn Spencer was a prolific songwriter in his own right, and an astute business man. He loved to copyright titles and phrases. In the 1930s, he copyrighted the phrase “Beverly Hillbillies.” His brothers teased him unmercifully and said he had wasted $20. He had the last laugh. His heirs continue to collect royalties for his clever foresight. The voices you hear are Gene, Ken, Alan and Paul of The New Pioneers … all the way from Sugar Land,Texas!
Alan Meyer – high voice
Ken Butts – baritone voice
Gene Butts – low baritone voice
Paul Denton – bass voice
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
David Lange – accordion
Paul Elliott – violin
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Jack O’ Diamonds [Diamond Jack,The Rattler] (Traditional)
The Eagle Cap Wilderness Area has some of Eastern Oregon’s most breathtaking scenery. The air is pure and quiet, and you can hear all the sounds of the woods, including critters. Rattlers a long way off let you know you’d better be watching for them. Although I’ve never received a direct bite, I’ve had more than one occasion to respect the king of rattlers. One particular evening, when I was twelve, my mule, Big John, came a little too close to a rock sheltering an enormous timber rattler. That snake came out at him with his rattle shaking like death itself. He aimed his fangs at my high top lace-up boots. Before I could dodge away, his fangs got stuck in my laces. That snake was thrashing and slammin’ itself around like the devil himself, trying to get his teeth out. The last thing I remember is looking down at those cold eyes, seeing him pump venom out of those big fangs. Big John stepped on his middle, and Chief got me out of that boot in less than a heartbeat. When I came to, my boot was off my foot, on the ground, with the dead rattler’s fangs still holding fast.
James Mason – violin
Paul Elliott – violin
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Ridin’ on the Rocky Range (Tim Spencer, 1939 – Unichappell Music)
One year,my grandfather came along on a long packtrip through the Eagle Cap with our girls 4-H group. He was absolutely delighted to be with us gals. Our hair bounced back and forth in pony tails while we rode through the mountains singing. He taught us this song. We had it fairly well learned by the time we reached Wallowa Lake. As we sang it, going down the steep, dusty trail that leads to the headwaters of the lake on that last day, I looked back at my grandfather, face all dusty and worn, wishing I could freeze time and have him with me forever. Those were some mighty precious days for all of us. David Keenan – lead vocal
Scott Whitley – low tenor voice
Orville Johnson – baritone voice
Russ Keith – bass voice
Bobby Koefer – steel guitar
Mike Dowling – guitars
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Over Nevada (Tim Spencer, 1948)
Over Nevada is the very first song I remember hearing, at a favorite camp out near Lake Tahoe. I tried to stay awake in my sleeping bag while the voices of my grandfather, great uncles and aunties filled the starry night air. Lying awake, I tried to remember every note and word until my mind swam with all the beautiful voices and could no longer stay awake. Sometimes their laughter would bring me to an almost waking state, but the lull of their guitars would soon send me back to peaceful slumber. When my daughter Melissa was around two years of age, we went to visit my grandparents in California. Little Missy wasn’t out of her car seat for five minutes before my grandfather had her all gathered up in his lap, singing this song to her. My grandfather never passed up a chance to sing a child to sleep. Missy learned to sing harmony on this song. She’s just below my voice at first, and then just like her great, great Uncle Tim, she flies above in the next phrase. By the end of the song, she’s holding firm in the middle. A true Spencer!
Suze Spencer – lead vocal
Melissa Marshall – high voice
Kathleen Fallon – middle voice
Sue Thompson – low voice
Stacy Phillips – resophonic guitar
David Lange – accordion
Mike Dowling – lead and rhythm guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
Oom-Pah Rag (Traditional)
This tune was played off the cuff in the old days, as it is here. We recorded it on the last of four long days at 10:00 at night. Mike had worked up a rough chart earlier in the day, which he never even looked at, after the downbeat. I think they had a game plan for a few measures. Then I could see it was going to go anywhere it could … which it did. Mike on guitar, James Mason on violin, Cary Black on bass
James Mason – violin
Mike Dowling – guitar
Cary Black – bass
You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Gone (Fred Rose, 1958)
Auntie Lucille brought my cousin, Kathy and I along to a dance practice at the Country Club close to her home in Walnut Creek. She visited with my grandmother, while Kathy and I enjoyed our Shirley Temples and listened to the musicians rehearse. My feet could not stay quiet under my chair, so Lucille and my grandmother stood up and began to dance with us. We were swinging all over the floor, doing dips and hops, stopping only to watch the hands of the steel guitar player as he slid his magic bar over the strings. My Auntie Lucille taught us all that life’s best times were often lived in small moments. In my eyes, she didn’t miss a single one.
Mike Dowling – lead vocal – lead guitar
Suze Spencer – high voice, rhythm guitar
Nancy K. Dillon – low voice
Bobby Koefer – steel guitar
Paul Elliott – violins
Cary Black – bass
Kelly’s Waltz (Traditional)
This beautiful waltz was played for dances back in Texas when my grandfather was a young boy learning to fiddle. It was the custom at the time for the mothers to leave the dance early in the evening, taking the younger children home. The dance would often go on until the wee hours though. My grandfather longed to stay and play with his elders. His father told him that if he wanted to stay late for the dances, he should learn Kelly’s Waltz and be able to play it alone, in all stops and good time. It was a most difficult tune to master. Young Jack set to work on it, playing in the shed so as no one could hear him practice. Lucille had a small accordion. On one particular evening, she went out to the shed and they played the song together for hours until her brother could get all the way through it. I heard this story one evening at one of those fabulous get-together dinners at Lucille’s. She said that, not long after that night in the shed, Jack stood up alone and played the song for his father and uncle, winning his wish to stay and play late for the dances. Her father asked her to play her accordion with Jack as he performed the waltz a second time so that he could dance with their mother. More than fifty years later, the pride of their accomplishment was still apparent, as they smiled at one another, recalling their childhood memory.
James Mason – violin
David Lange – accordion
Mike Dowling – guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
If You Would Only Be Mine (Jack Rivers, 1954 – Mono Music)
The instruments were still out of their cases and lying around the room. It was hot, and I awakened during a discussion about dancing. Karl said he favored playing waltzes at dances. “Nothing more exciting than watching the sparks fly on the sawdust,” he said. My grandfather spoke of the time his mother taught him to waltz in the kitchen back in Texas. She promised him he could win the girl of his dreams by gently leading her around the floor to a lovely waltz. Karl winked at me. He picked up his guitar, and softly plucked the distinctive 647 chord. I felt my heart jump. Our dancing song … my grandpa’s and mine. I took my place with little lace socks firmly planted on the toes of my grandfather’s boots. Mr. Perryman began to play his guitar and Uncle Pat picked up the bass. By the time Tommy sang the second line, full harmony was in place while my grandfather waltzed me around the room on his boots. At every glance, I saw the sweet, smiling faces of my most precious friends and I tucked those images tightly in my mind to remember forever.
Suze Spencer – lead vocal
Becky Kilgore – high voice
Nancy K. Dillon – middle voice
Sue Thompson – low voice
Mike Dowling – guitar
James Mason – lead violin
Paul Elliott – harmony violin
Stacy Phillips – resophonic guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
The Old Wagoner (Traditional)
Fiddle tunes are often composed of one, two and sometimes three different parts. Usually, those parts are played in a particular order, which is the basic form of the song. Not necessarily so for Hugh and Karl Farr. If one listens closely to their take on instrumentals, it becomes quickly apparent that they were very playful with the rules of order. When I was first learning to play fiddle tunes on my guitar, it seemed unnatural to always play the parts in exact order. I complied for a while … until I met these guys and the real fun began!
Paul Elliott – violin
Stacy Phillips – resophonic guitar
Mike Dowling – lead guitar
Suze Spencer – rhythm guitar
Cary Black – bass
My Best To You (Isham Jones & Gene Willadsen, 1941 – Forster Music)
American songwriter Isham Jones penned this poignant song shortly before the onset of World War II. Although he had other popular hits including “I’ll See You In my Dreams”, “It Had To Be You” and “On The Alamo”, “My Best To You” was particularly endearing with its genuine wish of good will. The Sons Of The Pioneers adopted the song as their last of the evening in the early days of the war, when family and friends were leaving to serve in the military forces. My favorite part was the beautiful verse that my grandfather always started it with: “Here’s to love and laughter … yours forever after … may there always be happiness in your heart”… and then the nice little guitar chord run … and the voices join in full chorus. We present it here, as written by Isham Jones, complete with the lovely verse so rarely heard.
Mike Dowling – lead vocal and lead guitar
Suze Spencer – high voice – rhythm guitar
Sue Thompson – low voice
Scott Whitley – baritone voice
Russ Keith – bass voice
Bobby Koefer – steel guitar
David Lange – accordion
Cary Black – bass