Country Girl Blues - Chris Powell and The Five Blue Flames (1951) скачать в хорошем качестве

Country Girl Blues - Chris Powell and The Five Blue Flames (1951)

Today's song comes from Chris Powell and The Five Blue Flames, one of the first rock groups to sign with Columbia. This song is a bluesy number called "Country Girl Blues" which features Powell singing about trouble getting used to women's new role in a post World War II America. The song was recorded in January 1951 and released in early April of the same year. Christopher Eugene Powell, Sr. was born on December 7, 1921 in Syracuse, New York. Growing up, he took a liking to the drums and at some point he made his way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which is where he put together his Blue Flames consisting of guitarist Eddie Lambert, Duke Wells on piano, Danny Turner and Red Spencer on saxophones, and bassist James Johnson. The group started as a local jive band and toured the club scene. By the late 1940's, jive had pretty much run its course and the group started changing their sound to something sounding close to what would become rock and roll. Whatever it was, it caught the attention of Columbia Records who were chasing down family-friendly early rock acts. Powell had versatility in his singing voice and the ability to write music as well. Columbia wanted to keep them toned down which didn't work for audiences. It was only when they were allowed to give it all they had with a cover of Jimmy Preston's "Rock The Joint" that audiences took notice. It became their first real hit, albeit minor, and steered them further into rock. The lineup changed slightly with Powell getting replaced on drums and confined to singing, Vance Wilson replacing Spencer on a horn, and adding another bop trumpeter, Clifford Brown, gave them more tools to work with in their music. Even so, they never quite made a splash again and when Columbia revived their OKeh label as a place to stick their African American artists in 1951, Powell and his Blue Flames were taken off the main label. The new label also signaled a big change with the group, leaving rock behind and trying more traditional pop music. Turning away from rock in a market that wanted nothing BUT rock proved to be a poor choice and Columbia/OKeh finally dropped them in 1952. They then recorded for Grand Records, then RCA Victor subsidiary "Groove", but found no luck at either. They went back to playing the club circuit and would disband toward the end of the 1950's and fade into history. Powell would pass away in 1970 as just 48 years old.