Local Customs: Lone Star Lowlands

by LOCAL CUSTOMS: LONE STAR LOWLAN

Overview

Where the first volume in Numero Records' Local Customs series focused on R&B, funk, gospel, and soul from small labels and a basement studio in Ecorse, MI, Lone Star Lowlands focuses on Mickey Rouse's Lowlands Recording Studio in Port Neches, TX, part of the States "Golden Triangle," that existed in between Port Arthur and Beaumont, located between Lake Charles, LA and Houston. Rouse's studio, like so many of the offerings that Numero passionately documents on its releases, was a hard-luck concern that recorded minor acts from the region between 1969 and 1972 when it shut its doors. The material ranges in form and genre but certainly has a sound. There's the folksy pop-psychedelia of Bobby Welch's "Yellow River," and his more Texas songwriter-oriented pop on "Benashaw Glen," and the spacy, harder rocking "Give Me Time" from Circus, and "Take a Look at Your Friends" by the Next Exit. There is also the deeply Crosby, Stills & Nash-saturated influence on "Where's Love Gone Today" by Mourning Sun that almost directly rips the "doo-doo doo-dit-doot-doot-doo doo doot" of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." For the collector interested in obscurities, Lone Star Lowlands will no doubt provide CD versions of recordings issued on tiny regional labels. Numero has done its usual exhaustive job in research, with a long liner essay by Rob Sevier and Ken Shipley, and did a stellar job of packaging with lots of rare photos, all packaged in a slip case box. [There is also a deluxe double-LP version of this set available.]~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	07/13/2010
Label:	NUMERO
UPC:	0825764103428

Tracks

1. Trash One  -  Lowland Studio Band
2. Live My Life Today  -  Insight Out  - Bill Swicegood
3. Simple House  -  Mother Lion
4. She's My Daughter  -  Sassy
5. Yellow River  - Bobby Welch
6. It Makes You Feel so Bad  -  Insight Out  - Bill Swicegood
7. I Still Remember  - Linda Crowe  - Bill Swicegood
8. Love of the Morning  -  Circus
9. Where's Love Gone Today  -  Mourning Sun
10. I'm the Fool  -  Mother Lion  - Bill Swicegood
11. I Found My Music  -  Sage  - Bill Swicegood
12. Benashaw Glen  -  Mourning Sun
13. Tomorrow  -  Hope
14. Take a Look at Your Friends  -  Next Exit
15. Give Me Time  -  Circus
16. No Control  -  Boot Hill
17. Lady Tell Me Why  -  D.O.A.
18. Every Day Is Saturday  -  Sage  - Bill Swicegood
19. Dream Away  -  Hope
20. Let's Take a Walk in the Woods  -  Mourning Sun
21. You Know I Love You  - Roy Briggs  - Alton Tew
22. Calling Me Home [Demo]  - Donald Thomas

Album Credits

Performance Credits

D.O.A.   Primary Artist
Next Exit   Primary Artist
Sage   Primary Artist
Boot Hill   Primary Artist
Sassy   Primary Artist
Donald Thomas   Primary Artist
The Hope   Primary Artist
Bobby Welch   Primary Artist
The Circus   Primary Artist
Lowland Studio Band   Primary Artist
Roy Briggs   Primary Artist
Alton Tew   Primary Artist
Linda Crowe   Primary Artist
Insight Out   Primary Artist
Mother Lion   Primary Artist
Mourning Sun   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Ken Shipley   Research,Liner Notes,Reissue Producer
Dante Carfagna   Research
Rob Sevier   Research,Liner Notes,Reissue Producer
Maria Rice   Tape Transfer,Restoration
Tom Lunt   Reissue Producer
Jeff Lipton   Mastering
Michael Slaboch   Reissue Producer
Fred Winograd   Photo Courtesy
Bill Swicegood   Composer