I'm playing today's selection because of my Dad. When we were talking about him batching at the ranch, or when discussing my music collection, he would always mention how much he liked "Sleepy Rio Grande" by Bud & Joe Billings. He had a 78rpm record of this song which he apparently played a lot when living alone, or "batching" at the DuBois ranch. Dad and I went out to the old shack he lived in, found some old 78s, but no "Sleepy Rio Grande." I finally found it a few years ago on Cattle CD 207 Bud & Joe Billings - Singing Pals from Kansas. It was issued in 1929 on Victor 40088 and was side A. Side B was "When Its Springtime In The Rockies." I also found out there was no Bud & Joe Billings. Both singers were from Kansas, but they were Frank Luther Crow and Carson Jay Robison. Carson Robison, paired with Vernon Dalhart, pioneered the recording of cowboy songs. They recorded from 1924 to 1928. Frank Luther (as he became known) also developed a following during this period for taking cowboy songs to city dwellers. Dalhart & Robison broke up in 1928 and Robison & Luther started singing together. They recorded under several names, including The Carson Robison Trio, when they added Luther's wife, Zora Layman. She was a Kansas singer and fiddler, recorded on her own, one song of note was her "Seven Years With The Wrong Man." Luther & Robison were most remembered, however, for their recordings as Bud & Joe Billings.Anyway, I wish I'd found this song before Dad passed on.
I can still imagine him though, batchin' at the ranch, cranking up the Victrola, and listening to "Sleepy Rio Grande."
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