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Very few people know that Gene Autry... America's beloved Singing Cowboy, began his career as the writer and performer of authentic white country blues. While working as a telegrapher for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad-the Frisco Line-he used a railroad pass to travel to New York in 1929, hoping to follow his dream of competing with the top pop singers of the day. Instead, on the advice of Frankie and Johnny Marvin, and legendary producer Arthur Satherley, Autry used his talent to emulate Jimmie Rodgers. No other performer caught the essence of Jimmie Rodgers as Autry did. He could match Rodgers' yodel, Mississippi dialect and guitar runs so closely that it was often hard to tell the two apart. Yet, as he performed more and more original songs in the Rodgers style, he began to develop a sound of his own.

Producing records for a variety of labels such as Gennett, Victor, and Columbia, as well as various low budget labels ('dime-store platters') owned by ARC, Gene sold lots of records during the Depression when people could least afford to buy them. In the early 1930s, Gene with the guidance of his mentor Jimmy Long and Art Satherley, moved from blues to the more traditional hillbilly music of the time. His duet with Long on the mountain ballad That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine, recorded in October of 1931, became a million-selling record. Quickly following that success with other songs, such as My Old Pal Of Yesterday, Missouri Is Calling, The Little Ranch House On The Old Circle B. and Louisiana Moon, Gene went on to transform himself into America's preeminent singing cowboy.

With the 226 songs on this 9 CD box, Bear Family Records brings together all of the surviving recordings from 1929 - 1933 for the first time ever. Most of these songs have never been on CD, and many have not been available in any form since their original release 75 years ago, including more than 20 songs ...Read more at: https://www.bear-family.de/

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