Jody Gibson "Spanning the Decades 1957-2001"

Mostly Folk, some C&W. Contains commercial recordings on TETRA (Good Morning Captain, my one "hit")
Good Morning Captain is simply my way of singing "Muleskinner Blues" It was only released in New England, NY, NJ and (maybe) Pennsylania. Sold 400,000+ 45's and 25,000 78's. (or 75,000 78's, depending on who is counting)
I was a USAF T/Sgt Air Traffic Controller when I made all of my commercial recordings. I was chief controller at Suffolk County AFB, NY when Good Morning Captain was released. one of the reasons for it's (unexpected) success is that Alan Freed was my manager's father in law and it got a lot of play on the pop and Rock stations. This one was released in May 1957. almost immediately after it's release I was transferred to England. While I was stationed at RAF Bruntingthorpe I formed the first integrated C&W group to record for a major lable (Parlophone)
Sir George Martin was head of A&R at Parlophone. All my Parlophone recordings are included in this CD. I was transferred to RAF Lakenheath in 1958.
The flip side of Good Morning Captain was poorly produced with too much echo which made the singing sound sour. The echo from each note fed over to the notes on either side and prroduced a cacaphony. This "Dud", though recorded at a first class studio (Bell Sound) was released over my objections. It was entitled "21 years" but was a lousy re-write of Worried Man Blues. Jay Stump's arrangement and electric guitar background and my 5 string banjo lead and instrumental solo were, too good to just throw away. So, I made a composite using the instrumental break for background (twice) added an acoustic guitar rhythm throughout, and sang the traditional lyrics with this composite, (also harmony on the chorus)
This bit of magic was accomplished at the Rose Island recording Co. studio (my attic) and is track #3 on the CD
Similar technique was used for "San Antonio Rose", but, for a different reason. All I had of this excellent "Parlophone" recording was a tape that I'd sent to my parents. The first 16 bars had been accidentally erased. The instrumental break is 16 bars long, so, lead in and the first 16 bars of background were constructed from the instrumental break. I sang along with this background and sang harmony with myself on the middle 8 so the change in voice isn't too startling, and then let the original run itself out. This worked even better than "Worried Man" I can't find the exact spot where the pieces are "punched in" even though I know where they are.

Oh! Yes, The original "flip side" of Good Morning Captain" is included (track 21) to show where the pieces of the composite came from.

All instruments and all voices on the "Rose Island" tracks were done by me. This was a lot of fun. Only the best of this lot are on the CD. The others are (to put it simply) not quite up to standard. (realy lousy) Donna and I laughed a lot when I did these.
On Paddy Lay Back, the "bunch of semi-sober sailors " in the chorus (deliberate) include imitations of Porky Pig, Capt Herb Spinney, Capt Barclay Warburton III, Popeye and Buggs Bunny.

The tracks on this CD are:

1.Good Morning Captain (TETRA 1957)
2. Heave Away Johnny (Trad. Capstan Chantey) (Rose Island 2000)
3. Worried Man Blues (Trad. composite TETRA 1957-Rose Island2001)
4. Farewell to Tarwaithe (trad. Rose Island 2001)
5. Kissin' Time (Mann-Lowe) Parlophone 1959
6. Providence Waltz (Jon Campbell) Rose Island 2000
7. San Antonio Rose (Wills) composite Parlophone 1959 and Rose Island 2001 8. Foxwood Polka (Jon Campbell) Rose Island 2001
9. Man on My Trail (Loudin) Parlophone 1959
10.Company's Comin' (w/"The Muleskinners") Parlophone 195911. Hillbilly Fever (w/"The Muleskinners") Parlophone 1959
12. That's All (Merle Travis) recorded in the laundry room of AMQ 825A, RAF Lakenheath 1958 (AMQ-Airmen's Married Quarters)
13. So You Think You've Got Troubles (Marvin Rainwater) Parlophone, 1960
14. If You Don't Know (Geo Hamilton IV)Parlophone 1960
15. Fredericks of Galilee (Jon Campbell)Rose Island 2001
16. Keep on Fishin' (Jon Campbell) Rose Island 2001 17 & 18 Paddy Lay Back (Trad Capstan Chantey)Rose Island 2001
19. All For Me Grog (Trad.) Rose Island 1999
20. The D-Day Dodgers (Henderson) Rose Island 1999
21. Twenty One Years (Gibson-Bruce) TETRA 1957