___________ __Session Discography ___________________
Note: this is an excerpt from Matt Ringressi’s upcoming discography of small-label Blue Grass 78RPM records. Reproduction unauthorized without permission.
Late 1950 – Johnson City, TN (or WOPI station, Bristol, TN/VA)
Church Brothers and their Hillbilly Ramblers
Bill Church: Guitar
Lead vocal (A)
Ralph Church: Mandolin
Tenor vocal (B)
Ward Eller: Guitar
Lead vocal (C)
Baritone vocal (D)
Johnny Nelson: Banjo (1)
Edwin Church: Fiddle (2)
poss. bass vocal (E)
Ralph Pennington: Bass (3)
Darling Brown Eyes 1-2-3-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) A-B [1203] Blue Ridge 101-A
No One To Love Me 1-2-3-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) A-B-D [1211] Blue Ridge 609-A
I’m Lonely For You 1-2-
(Bill Church) 3-A [1302] RRT 1009-A
I Know My Name Will Be Called Up There A-B-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) D-E [1310] RRT 1017-A
A Sweeter Love Than Yours I’ll Never Know 1-2-3-
(Bill Church) A-B [1400] RRT 1009-B
We’ll Meet Up There A-B-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) D-E [1408] RRT 1017-B
You’re Still The Rose Of My Heart 1-2-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) 3-C [1717] Blue Ridge 609-B
Beneath The North Carolina Moon 1-2-
3-A [-] Blue Ridge – Unissued
Blue Ridge 609 released December 1951
Rich-R-Tone 1009 released ca. August or September 1951
Rich-R-Tone 1017 released October 1951
Note: this session was produced by Drusilla and Noah Adams for release on Rich-R-Tone, as a mean to showcase Drusilla’s songwriting. The Adamses had not yet started Blue Ridge records.
Note(2): “You’re Still The Rose Of My Heart” was believed to have been recorded at the first Blue Ridge session in 1951, however aural evidence, together with Ward Eller having stated he was drafted in 1951, clearly identifies it as from this one. Per Ralph Church, eight sides were recorded at this session. This is coherent with one of the clauses of the Rich-R-Tone contract, as reported by the 1950/12/16 issue of Billboard.
Note(3): in ca. October or November 1951, the Adamses gave 4 Jim Eanes masters to Stanton in exchange for the 4 unreleased Chuch Brothers masters in possession of Rich-R-Tone.
1951/10/27 – Unknown location (poss. WOPI station, Bristol, TN/VA)
Buffalo Johnson & the Church Bros & their Blue Ridge Ramblers
Buffalo Johnson: Lead vocal (A)
Lead vocal on verses (B)
Bill Church: Guitar
Lead vocal (C)
Lead vocal on chorus (D)
Ralph Church: Mandolin
Tenor vocal (E)
Johnny Nelson: Banjo
Edwin Church: Fiddle
poss. Baritone vocal (F)
Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms C-E-F [-] RRT – Unissued
Day Dreaming A [1312] RRT 1019-A
(Gladys Gobble)
Day Dreaming (alt) A [-] RRT – Unissued
I Don’t Know What To Do B-D-E [1410] RRT 1019-B (Gladys Gobble)
I Don’t Know What To Do (alt) B-D-E [-] RRT – Unissued
Rich-R-Tone 1019 released ca. December 1951 (mentioned in Billboard 1951/11/24)
Note: the 1951/11/24 issue of Billboard reports this session having been just cut. The band would have still been working for Stanton at the time of the session, and the trade of masters with Adams had probably not yet happened (or had just happened).
Note(2): in past studies, it has been contended that the banjo player on this session does not sound like Johnny Nelson. However, hard evidence shows Nelson played the following sessions (see following pages), so he was still with the band by that point. Furthermore, James Gar Bowers (who would have played banjo with the Church Brothers later in 1952) would have been working with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys during this time frame (he recorded with Monroe the very day after this session).
Note(3): per Ward Eller’s recollections, he was drafted in the army in 1951 and stayed for two years. He most probably did not take part in this recording session, or the following ones.
ca. November or December 1951 – WKBC station, North Wilkesboro, NC
Church Brothers and their Hillbilly Ramblers
Bill Church: Guitar
Lead vocal (A)
Ralph Church: Mandolin
Tenor vocal (B)
Johnny Nelson: Banjo
Edwin Church: Fiddle (1)
Ralph Pennington: Bass
Someone Else Is Loving You 1-A-B [1709] Blue Ridge 101-B
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church)
Someone Else Is Loving You (alt) ? [-] Blue Ridge –
Unissued
Tears Fall On My Broken Heart ? [-] Blue Ridge 302-A
Unissued
Blue Ridge Special [-] Blue Ridge 302-B
Unissued
Blue Ridge 101 released ca. early 1952
Blue Ridge 302 unissued
May 1952 – WPAQ station, Mount Airy, NC
Church Brothers and their Hillbilly Ramblers
Bill Church: Guitar
Lead vocal (A)
Ralph Church: Mandolin
Tenor vocal (B)
Johnny Nelson: Banjo (1)
Edwin Church: Fiddle (2)
poss. Bass vocal (C)
Ralph Pennington: Bass (3)
Baritone vocal (D)
Broken Vows And A Broken Heart 1-2-3-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) A-B [1109] Blue Ridge 209-B
An Angel With Blue Eyes 1-2-3-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) A-B-D [4069] Blue Ridge 1208-A
When Jesus Calls You Home A-B-
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church) C-D [5031] Blue Ridge 1208-B
Blue Ridge 209 released February or March 1953
Blue Ridge 1208 released mid-to-late 1952
Note: “Broken Vows And A Broken Heart” is very similar to “An Angel With Blue Eyes”, and features a virtually identical banjo solo. The label on Blue Ridge 209-B reads “banjo by Johnny Nelson”, confirming it’s Nelson playing on both tracks.
While it is entirely possible it could have been recorded at the 1951 WKBC session, the author feels aural evidence and the release date of BR 209 suggest the track was cut at this session.
Note(2): Ralph Pennington is singing baritone on “An Angel With Blue Eyes”, as all evidence suggests (not last, the fact that the bass stops playing on choruses). The baritone singer on “When Jesus Calls You Home” seems to have the very same vocal timbre. A 1951 picture of the Bill, Ralph and Edwin Church and Ward Eller around the WKBC microphone seems to suggest Edwin Church was also singing – thus making him a likely candidate for the bass singing on BR 1208-B
October 1952 – WPAQ station, Mount Airy, NC
Church Brothers and their Hillbilly Ramblers
Bill Church: Guitar
Lead vocal (A)
Ralph Church: Mandolin Tenor vocal (B)
James Gar Bowers: Banjo
Edwin Church or Jim Wilkerson: Fiddle
Ralph Pennington Bass
Way Down In Ole’ Caroline A-B [0990] Blue Ridge 209-A
(Drusilla Adams – Bill Church)
+ more unknown tracks
Blue Ridge 209 released February or March 1953
Note: the label to Blue Ridge 209-A clearly indicates Gar Bowers as the banjo player. Bowers is also credited as having played on BR 401-B with Joe Franklin, on a session that Clarence Greene dates to October 1952 (see below). Positively, these sessions took place the same day.
Note(2): Ralph Church recalled Jim Wilkerson might have been the fiddler on this session. To the author, this is clearly the same fiddler as on previous sessions (identified as Edwin Church)
October 1952 – WPAQ station, Mount Airy, NC (same day as previous)
Joe Franklin and his Mimosa Boys
Joe Franklin: Guitar
Lead vocal Tenor vocal on chorus (1)
Ralph Church: Mandolin
James Gar Bowers: Banjo
poss. Ray Abernathy: Fiddle
Baritone vocal (2) Lead vocal on chorus (3)
poss. Robert Oakes?: Tenor vocal (4)
High baritone vocal (5)
Charles Connley or Ray Austin: Bass
There’ll Be No Wedding Bells For Me 2-4 [5645] Blue Ridge 401-B
(Drusilla Adams – Joe Franklin)
You’re The Cause Of All My Heartaches 1-3-5 [-] Blue Ridge – Unissued
Blue Ridge 401 released late 1952
Note: in 1970 Johnnie Whisnant stated in an interview with Walt Saunders that he had
recorded at least one song with Joe Franklin and Ralph Church in ca. 1953, and was under the
impression that it was intended to be issued as a Church Brothers release. This has led some
to speculate it could be him playing on 401-A.
However, the record label reads “Banjo by James Gar Bowers”, and the banjo playing is
stylistically consistent with that on BR 209-A. Furthermore, BR 401 was released in 1952.
All these elements discredit the possibility of Whisnant being on 401-A.
On the other hand, Whisnant might indeed have been present on an unreleased
Franklin/Church session held after Johnny Nelson’s draft in the army (1952) or possibly after
his death (January 1953), and still untraced to this day. .
arkansas 45s