Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers, Vol. 5 in Bloomington, MN

Looking at the title of this compilation, you might wonder, "When will reissue labels ever run out of classic
rockabilly
and
country
sides from the 1950s to reissue?" Judging from this disc, the answer would be, "Perhaps they already have." This collection is drawn from the archives of the Memphis-based
Glo-Lite
label, and if that doesn't sound at all familiar to collectors of vintage
, there's a reason -- the label opened in the mid-'60s, never really scored a hit, and released a handful of sides on obscure local talent before disappearing by the end of the 1970s. There's a certain novelty in the fact
founder
Bill Glore
was still flying the flag for old-school
honky tonk
long after such stuff had fallen off the charts, but the truth is
Glore
's intentions were more impressive than his results; while few of the tracks on this collection are truly awful, not much of this is particularly impressive either, and
Sun Records
second-stringers
Malcolm Yelvington
Marcus Van Story
are as close as
got to major names on the label (and neither was in their height of their powers in 1974, when they cut their contributions). There are a few solid tunes here --
Roy Alden
's energetic
"Crazy Memories,"
the glottal acrobatics of
"Your Pilot Light Went Out"
by
Roy Jones
,
Thomas Jernigan
's
charger
"Whole Lot of You on My Mind,"
the memorably titled
"Wino of the Year"
Jim Waldrop
, and the bizarre UFO chronicle of
Tommy Peairce
"Take Me to Your Leader."
But there's a lot more filler than meat in this package, and only Memphis music completists need to bother with this collection of well-intentioned also-rans. ~ Mark Deming