GENE AUTRY AUTOGRAPHED Picture Disc LP - Yellow Rose of Texas - RARE

$

70

GENE AUTRY PICTURE DISC LP - Yellow Rose of Texas with GENE AUTRY’s AUTOGRAPH!!!

Picture Disc 12" LP record album in gatefold cover

LABEL:       Bear Family Records BDP-15204

RELEASED: 1986 West Germany

CONDITION: Record is near mint; the cover has a bend at the lower right corner 

AUTOGRAPH Comparison:       http://www.stowevintage.com/gpage75.html

SIDE 1:

1.               Yellow Rose Of Texas

2.              The Little Ranch House On The Old Circle B/Lo

3.              Louisiana Moon

4.              Cow Boy's Heaven

5.              Kentucky Lullaby

6.              Black Bottom Blues

7.              That Ramshackle Shack

8.               Back Home In The Blue Ridge Mountains

SIDE 2:

1.               Do Right Daddy Blues

2.              Money Ain't No Use Anyway

3.              That's How I Got My Start

4.              Bear Cat Papa Blues

5.              1Don't Do Me That Way

6.              High Steppin' Mama

7.              1There's A Good Gal In The Mountains

8.               A Dreaming Of You (& JIMMY LONG)

Orvon Gene Autry was born on September 29, 1907 – died October 2, 1998. Autry was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television. An amateur talent with the guitar and voice led to his performing at local dances. After an encouraging chance encounter with Will Rogers, he began performing on local radio in 1928 as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy". He signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago, Illinois, on the WLS (AM) radio show National Barn Dance for four years with his own show where he met singer/songwriter Smiley Burnette. In his early recording career Autry covered various genres, including a labor song, "The Death of Mother Jones" in 1931. Autry also recorded many "hillbilly" style records in 1930 and 1931 in New York City which were certainly different in style and content than his later recordings. These much closer in style to the Prairie Ramblers or Dick Justice, and included the "Do Right Daddy Blues" and "Black Bottom Blues", both of which contain substantial similarity to "Deep Elem Blues". These late prohibition era songs deal with bootlegging, corrupt police, and women whose occupation is certainly vice. These recording are generally not heard today, but are available on European import labels such as JSP Records. But his first hit was in 1932 with That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine, a duet with fellow railroad man, Jimmy Long. Autry also sang the classic Ray Whitley hit "Back in the Saddle Again", as well as many Christmas songs including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", his own composition "Here Comes Santa Claus", "Frosty the Snowman" and probably his biggest hit ever, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Autry also owned the Challenge Records label. The label's biggest hit was "Tequila" by The Champs in 1958, which started the rock and roll instrumental craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934, he and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp. in In Old Santa Fe as part of a singing cowboy quartet; he was then given the starring role by Levine in 1935 in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire. Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the formation of Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick and had many opportunities to sing in each film. He became the top Western star at the box-office by 1937, reaching his national peak of popularity from 1940 to 1942. His Gene Autry Flying "A" Ranch Rodeo show debuted in 1940. He was the first of the singing cowboys, succeeded as the top star by Roy Rogers when Autry served as a C-47 Skytrain pilot of the United States Army Air Forces with the rank of Flight Officer in the Air Transport Command during World War II flying dangerous missions over the Hump between Burma and China. From 1940 to 1956, Autry had a huge hit with a weekly radio show on CBS, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, and his horse also had a radio-TV series The Adventures of Champion. Autry briefly returned to Republic after the war, to finish out his contract, which had been suspended for the duration of his military service and which he had tried to have declared void after his discharge. Thereafter, he formed his own production company to make westerns under his own control, which were distributed by Columbia Pictures, beginning in 1947. He also starred in and produced his own television show on CBS beginning in 1950. He retired from show business in 1964, having made almost a hundred films up to 1955 and over 600 records. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969 and to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Post-retirement, he invested widely in real estate, radio and television, including purchasing from dying Republic Pictures the rights for films he had made for the company. In 1952, Autry bought the old Monogram Ranch in Placerita Canyon (Newhall-Santa Clarita, California) and renamed it Melody Ranch. Numerous "B" Westerns and TV serials were shot there during Autry's ownership, including the initial years of "Gunsmoke" with James Arness. Melody Ranch burned down in 1962, dashing Autry's plans to turn it into a museum. According to a published story by Autry, the fire diverted his attention to Griffith Park, where he would build his Museum of Western Heritage (now known as the Autry National Center). But like a phoenix rising, Melody Ranch came back to life after 1991 when it was purchased by the Veluzat family and rebuilt. It survives as a movie location today as well as the home of the City of Santa Clarita's annual Cowboy Festival, where Autry's legacy always takes center stage.

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