Goebel Reeves: "The Texas Drifter" In Story & Song (Vinyl LP Glendale Records)

Description: Side A 1. Land of Never Was 2. My Mother 3. The Jailhouse Crooner (Medley: Treasure Untold & Birmingham Jail) 4. The Hobo and The Angels 5. The Kidnapped Child 6. Hobo Facts 7. The Tramp's Mother Side B 1. The Soldier's Return 2. When My Name Became A Number 3. End of The Hobo's Trail 4. My Buddy 5. The Hobo And His Mother 6. Wayward Son 7. Hobo's Last Letter With down-home quality in the speaking voice, a plaintive sound in his singing, Goebel Reeves "The Texas Drifter" was one of rural Americas's unique troubadours between the World Wars. Reeves was born in 1899 to an affluent family in a small Texas town. His mother was his earliest musical influence. The urge to drift came from contact with the local "hobo" jungle. This insecure wandering lifestyle had an instant romantic fascination for him which was to dominate the rest of his life. During the years between the two world wars, he moved around constantly. This was also the period of his greatest musical productivity. Shipping out with the merchant marine and riding freight trains was his way of life for twenty-odd years. He tried never to stay over six months in one place. He did, however, find time for radio broadcasts, and recording. By the 1930's Reeves was making a sort of living by performing. While composing most of his own material, he also collected and interpreted many old folk and country songs into ballads about cowboys and hoboes. Before World War II, he left performing and little is known of his private life except that he worked for the government with interned Japanese. He did however, continue to travel some, especially to Japan. He also continued to write songs and poetry though disillusioned with country music and its direction. A heart attack claimed his life in January 1959 at his home in southern California. Goebel Reeves music can be labeled country, western, hillbilly, or folk, but above all, his music is rooted in the rural American people. It has a unique sound containing honest emotions, while its appeal is absolutely direct. Reeves possesed a unique yodel — almost bird-like at times. It could be compared to the technique of coloratura in opera, used effectively to heighten and highlight the emotional content of a song. Many of his songs are sentimentally autobiographical or topical narrative tales of his times. Although seemingly eccentric from an early age, he was better educated than he implied from his homespun "Drifter" character. He purposely kept a great deal of his life shrouded in mystery, but his importance to American music shouldn't be denied. The oral history contained in this album paints a picture of other times and people that might be otherwise forgotten. So imagine a campfire in a hobo jungle, sitting on hard ground while drinking coffee from a tin can and listening to Goebel Reeves spin yarns and sing songs about a lost way of life from our colorful past.

Price: 12.5 USD

Location: North Little Rock, Arkansas

End Time: 2025-01-05T20:23:20.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD