Now that we’re actually living on the wild side of life thought it would be good to thank a very generous donor who has been delighting us with his donations for the past few years.  The photo above is the latest from donor William ‘Wilbur’ Houghtaling.  To date Wilbur has dropped off 1226 Hillbilly + Country 78rpm ten-inch shellac discs, 53 seven-inch singles, and more than 300 related press kits, postcards and letters from musicians, and a pile of signed photographs.  Autographed items include some by Buck Owens, Patsy Montana, Montana Slim, Stonewall Jackson, Carl Story, ALL of the Light Crust Doughboys, Ian McLagan (Small Faces) and Ralph Stanley. 

His early 78’s contains may highlights including “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” the original version of a song that Elvis recorded for Sun, and “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby.” Carl Perkins took the chorus (and title) from Roy Newman’s “Everybody” 78 and wrote his own song around it. The Beatles later covered the Carl Perkins’ version. Also donated is a scarce Arento Records 78 with a proprietary 3″ spindle hole. 

The Hank Thompson photo shows the young singer with one of the best backup bands in the biz, The Brazos Valley Boys.  Together they surrounded Hank’s loping baritone with a hot mix of County, honky tonk, Western swing, with a dash of polka and jazz. After creating interest with the Humpty Dumpty Heart LP, Hank launched the enduing classic The Wild Side of Life in 1952.  In a reaction to a few of the lyrics the song also initiated an early answer-back song It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels by Kitty Wells. 

Thanks Wilbur!