The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #87022   Message #1624228
Posted By: GUEST,Bob Coltman
10-Dec-05 - 05:13 AM
Thread Name: Obit: Merrick Jarrett / Canada (Dec 2005)
Subject: RE: Obit: Merrick Jarrett / Canada (Dec 2005)
Merrick's Riverside LP, to my knowledge his only solo album in the States, was RLP-12-631, THE OLD CHISHOLM TRAIL AND OTHER TRADITIONAL SONGS OF THE OLD WEST, vcl/gtr, rec. by Kenneth Goldstein in Toronto, May 1956. The songlist was as follows:

The Old Chisholm Trail
When The Work's All Done This Fall
The Cowboy's Dream
The Railroad Corral
High Chin Bob
I'm A Poor Lonesome Cowboy
The Cowboys' Dance Song
Cowboy Jack

The Gal I Left Behind Me
Roy Bean
Little Joe the Wrangler
The Lone Star Trail
The Strawberry Roan
Arizona Boys and Girl
Utah Carroll
All Day On the Prairie

Merrick was but one in a long line of distinguished Canadian cowboy singers, from Wilf Carter (Montana Slim) to Ian Tyson. His LP was one of the few of its day to feature real traditional cowboy songs done plain, vocal and guitar, no fuss, no feathers.

You may be interested in his brief bio from the LP:

MERRICK JARRETT is a young Toronto folk-singer who has specialized in cowboy songs. His singing career started in 1941 while he was serving as an airman in Newfoundland. After winning an amateur show, he was featured on a weekly radio program from VORG, Gander. Returning to Toronto after the war, he had his own folk-song program on a local station for three years. In 1952, he made his debut on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation network in a folksong series called "A Man and A Maid" with Joyce Sullivan. In 1956, he acted as both narrator and singer in "Cowboy Songs of the Old West," a 14 week series prepared by Edith Fowke for the CBC. These programs proved very popular and from them were chosen the songs for this recording.