Floyd Cramer - RCA Country Legends

Artist:

Cramer, Floyd

UPC:

744659977527

See Also:

Mullican, Moon Williams, Hank Charles, Ray Frizzell, Lefty

Description:

Personnel includes: Floyd Cramer (piano, keyboards); Raymond Walker (vocals); Hank Garland (electric guitar); Ray Edenton, Grady Martin, Chet Atkins, Walter Haynes, Billy Sanford, Donald Sheffield (guitar); Pete Drake (steel guitar); Lennie Haight (violin, viola); Sheldon Kurland, Dennis Molchan, Brenton Banks, Lillian Hunt, Howard Carpenter, Dorothy Walker, Byron T. Bach, Solie Fott, Vernal E. Richardson, Cecil Brower, Donal Teal, Sauel Terranova (violin), George Binley, Roger Bissell, Gary Vanosdale (viola); Roy Christensen, Dennis Good (cello); Scobe Dill (alto saxophone); John Duke, Dutch McMillian (tenor saxophone); Don Sheffield (baritone saxophone, trumpet); Boots Randolph, H.B. Johnson, E.R. McMillan (saxophone).
Producers: Chet Atkins, Chips Moman, Felton Jarvis, Floyd Cramer.
Compilation producer: Rob Santos.
Principally recorded at RCA Studios and Music City Music Hall, Nashville, Tennesse between December 29, 1957 and January 14, 1980. Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle.
Digitally remastered by Elliott Federman (SAJE Sound).
Liner Note Author: Rich Kienzle.
Recording information: 12/29/1957-01/26/1977.
This release highlights one of the most noted keyboard influences in pop music -- Floyd Cramer. His laid-back and non-threatening demeanor garnered him a reputation as an MOR artist, although the influence he had on rock & roll is also duly noted. This 16-track career retrospective presents many of Cramer`s best-loved and remembered pieces in the highest sonic quality available on a domestic CD release. However, the collection does seem a bit less definitive considering that under half of the compact disc`s maximum playing time -- 80 minutes -- is utilized on this package. Before Cramer became a solo artist, he spent his formative years as a session pianist performing first on the Louisiana Hayride radio program, accompanying the likes of Webb Pierce, Jim Reeves, and even a fledgling Elvis Presley. After signing with RCA Records in Nashville, Tennessee, the sides he cut for the label in the mid- to late `50s and early `60s became international hits synonymous with the full-bodied timbre and laid-back style known as "the Nashville sound." Every track on this compilation reveals Cramer`s ability to take the piano -- which was becoming increasingly replaced by the electric guitar in pop music -- to a new strata as a lead instrument. His abilities range from jazzy pop music standards such as "Stormy Weather" to the chicken shack rockabilly of "Flip Flop Bop" to the haunting cover of "Rhythm of the Rain" (which includes an effective false ending). Cramer`s influence spread to wherever there was a turntable. The effect that songs such as "Stormy Weather" and "Tricky" would have on the burgeoning West Coast "Bakersfield sound" is evident. What lies just below the surface, however, is the persuasion that this music would admittedly have on artists such as Keith Emerson and Elton John -- both of whom cite Cramer`s sound as paramount among their inspirations. ~ Lindsay Planer

Track Listing:

DISC 1

1. Flip Flop and Bop
2. Swingin` Shepherd Blues, The
3. Last Date
4. San Antonio Rose
5. Stormy Weather
6. Rhythm of the Rain
7. Java
8. Drown in My Own Tears
9. Don`t Get Around Much Anymore
10. Midnight
11. Stood Up
12. Dallas
13. Lonesome Road, The
14. Yesterdays
15. Tricky
16. Woodchopper`s Ball

Album Information

Release Date:

02/20/2001

Type:

Performer

Genre:

Country

Subgenre:

Nashville Sound

Label:

Buddha Records

Catalog Number:

74465997752

Original Release Year:

2001

# of Discs:

1

Studio/Live:

Studio

Mono/Stereo:

Stereo

Runtime:

37 : 51

Guest Artist:

Gary Burton; Chet Atkins; Boots Randolph

Portions copyright 2005 Muze Inc. All rights reserved.