Foy Willing & the Riders of the Purple Sage - Good Good Morning

B.A.C.M.  CD 533

With this August 2016 release, the British Archive of Country Music (BACM) has issued another CD I think should be in every Western music lover’s collection! This group’s recordings have been re-issued by a number of companies over the years, but  this release is a little different in one very important respect. Most of the group’s output was on radio transcriptions and air checks, but the audio on the first releases of this material on CD often had little depth because of surface noise or background noise stemming from inferior recording equipment. There have been several exceptions, but the point here is that much of this new set of 32 recordings sounds better than many of the group’s previous releases! You can really appreciate the musicians as well as the vocalists!

      The collection of 32 tracks includes a rare Capitol recording of “Riders in the Sky” but most are from Associated and  AFRS transcriptions. Most are Western and country ballads, done in the Sagers’ unique style, of course, but there are several fine up-tempo tunes as well, like “Tweedle O’Twill,” “Good Good Morning” which they sang in Susana Pass, one of their Republic films with Roy Rogers, and “Ridin’ Down to Santa Fe,” one of the few selections you might find elsewhere. One of the rarities is a ballad you’ll enjoy titled “Paradise Trail” which, I believe, was composed by Western screen play writer, director and producer, Oliver Drake, for a James Newill movie.

Kevin Coffey wrote extensive notes on the group’s history. Highly recommended! Available from VenerableMusic.com, phone (678) 232-  0268

OJ Sikes