Mimi Roman's story was just a bit unusual by the standards of country music in the 1950s. As a child, Miriam Rothman developed a passion for horseback riding and as she grew into her teens, she fell in with a group of fellow equestrians known as the Brooklyn Cowboys, who introduced her to the joys of country music. Blessed with a strong and versatile voice, Miriam was named Rodeo Queen at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo at the age of 19, which led to a deal with
Decca Records and a career as a barnstorming country singer. She adopted the stage name
Mimi Roman and a fabricated backstory to disguise her status as a Jewish New Yorker, which was too exotic a commodity for many C&W fans of the day.
Roman never scored a hit during her years as a country singer, but it was not for lack of trying or want of talent, and
Sundazed Records offers a pleasing summation of her career on the 2022 collection
First of the Brooklyn Cowgirls. The set includes a healthy sampling of
Roman's singles for
Decca, cut between 1954 and 1958, as well as rare radio recordings, including her appearances on
Arthur Godfrey's successful Talent Scouts show, where she first found a national audience.
Roman could hold her own on slow and sorrowful numbers, like "Weary Blues from Waiting," "My Tears Are Beginning to Show," and "The Wind Up," suggesting she'd learned a few lessons from her labelmate
Patsy Cline. And she really delivers on upbeat numbers like "Wrap It Up and Save It," "Rocky Road Blues," and "Route 66," where she shows off a sunny, spunky attitude; she could have been a first-rate rockabilly singer had she come along just a couple years later. On the studio sessions, producer
Owen Bradley gave
Roman just enough polish to make the most of her voice without drowning out her emotional range, and the live takes from her radio appearances leave no doubt she knew how to work a crowd and connect with her band.
First of the Brooklyn Cowgirls falls a bit short of convincing listeners that
Mimi Roman was the Great Lost Country Artist of the 1950s, but she had a fine voice, the smarts to know what to do with it, and great taste in material, and
Sundazed make clear that she deserved a higher profile than she gained in the 1950s. (
Roman would later record pop tunes under the name
Kitty Ford, and
Sundazed has also issued a sampler of
Ford's sides, titled
Pussycat.) ~ Mark Deming
