Name: My Rifle, My Pony & Me: Movie & TV Soundtracks
Brand: Bear Family
SKU: 1299313
Availability: OutOfStock

Performer Notes

Personnel: Lloyd Perryman, Johnny Cash, Johnny Western, Rick Nelson (vocals, guitar); Dean Martin, Dickson Hall, Fess Parker, Frankie Laine, Johnny Horton, Ken Carson, Kirk Douglas , Lorne Greene, Marty Robbins, Merle Kilgore, Roy Rogers , Tab Hunter, Tex Ritter, Tim Spencer (vocals); Hugh & Karl Farr (guitar, fiddle); Loren Otis Shook, Gerald Tomlinson, David Gates, Alton Hendrickson, Andy Wolkowsky, Allen Hanlon, Jack Pruett, William Everett Strange, George Barnes, Bobby Gibbons, William Pitman, Harold Bradley, James O. "Jimmy" Wyble, Howard Roberts , Ed O'Connor, Dale Henry Warren, Tommy Doss, Jack Rose, Ervan Coleman, Ken Curtis, Al Caiola, Al Viola, Allan Reuss, Tony Mottola, Tony Rizzi, Barney Kessel, Billy Bauer , Bob Bain, Tiny Timbrell, Luther Perkins, Bob Nolan, Neil Levang, Carol Kaye (guitar); Ed Vito (harp); Gerald Vinci, Mischa Russell, Chuck Hurter, Felix Slatkin, Erno Neufeld, George Kayser, Alex Beller, Dan Lube, Joseph Livoti, Robert Sushel, Marshall Sosson, Bobby Bruce (violin); David Sterkin, Louis Kievman, Paul Robyn (viola); Cy Bernard, Edgar Lustgarten, Kurt Reher, Eleanor Slatkin (cello); Ronald Langinger (flute); Danny Welton, Tommy Morgan (harmonica); August Klein, Johnny Douglas, Carl Fortina (accordion); Ryland Weston (clarinet); Harold Hugh Ehrmann, Justin Gordon (saxophone); Dave Pell (tenor saxophone); Carroll Lewis (trumpet); Jim Decker , Vincent DeRosa (French horn); Gail Martin, Hoyt Bohannon, Si Zentner, Lew McCreary (trombone); Ray Alonge (horns); Robert Florence, Floyd Cramer, Donald Robertson , Francis Howard, Frank Wolfe, Rex Koury, Al Lerner, Ken Lane, Milt Raskin (piano); Korla Pandit (organ); W.S. Holland, Earl Palmer , Frank Carlson, Louis Dunn, M.C. Berry, Irv Kluger, Jack Sperling, Richard Shanahan, Lou Singer, Milt Holland, John Cyr (drums).
Recording information: Bradley Film & Recording, Nashville, TN (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); Columbia Studio, Nashville, TN (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); Columbia Studio, New York, NY (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London, England (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); Hollywood, CA (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); RCA Studio, Hollywood, CA (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); RCA Victor Studio A, Chicago, IL (10/23/1947-08/06/1964); United Recorders, Hollywood, CA (10/23/1947-08/06/1964).
Illustrators: Colin Escott; Fritz Bauer; R.A. Andreas.
Photographers: Colin Escott; Fritz Bauer; R.A. Andreas.
Arrangers: Gus Levine; Billy Vaughn; Charles Bud Dant.
There is astonishingly little overlap between this 26-song collection, consisting of songs from various western movie and television soundtracks, and other, rival domestic releases. As usual, Bear Family has done its best to gather together the best and most unusual of this material -- a promotional-only single of Ricky Nelson and Dean Martin singing "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" from Rio Bravo (adapted by Dimitri Tiomkin from the title theme from a score he wrote for an earlier John Wayne/Howard Hawks movie, Red River); Merle Kilgore (sounding a lot like Tex Ritter) doing the title song from Nevada Smith; "The Legend of Shenandoah" by James Stewart, telling the plot of the film while a chorus sings the title tune, as a sort of audio trailer for the movie Shenandoah (more of an eastern than a western); the Sons of the Pioneers doing the title theme from The Searchers; Marty Robbins' version of "The Ballad of the Alamo"; Tex Ritter's second (and best) recording of "High Noon"; and the Sons of the Pioneers performing "Song of the Wagonmaster" and "Wagons West" from Wagonmaster; Roy Rogers singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" (to an utterly unfamiliar melody); Johnny Cash's "The Sons of Katie Elder" (a soundtrack never reissued on CD); and the only CD release of Dean Martin's "Rio Bravo." There are no notes, but everything else is first-rate about this disc. ~ Bruce Eder