Truck Stop Sweethearts & C.B. Savages: The Plantation Records Story 1968-1981 in Bloomington, MN

Shelby Singleton
, the former head of
Mercury Records
and
Smash Records
, and firmly established as a record industry maverick, started
Plantation Records
in 1968, with the idea of making it a dedicated country label, but given
Singleton
's idiosyncratic nature, it ended up featuring plenty of pure novelty releases, too.
Plantation
had four million-selling singles during its run between 1968 and 1981,
Jeannie C. Riley
's feisty and sassy "Harper Valley P.T.A.,"
Harlow Wilcox
's guitar instrumental "Groovy Grubworm,"
Terry Nelson
C Company
's controversial "Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley," and
Rod Hart
's odd gay truckers' anthem "C.B. Savage," all of which are included in this fascinating two-disc, 50-track set, along with dozens of other rare gems that combine to tell the
story. It amounts to a sort of goofy alternative universe to the one that was operating in Nashville during this time, a sort of lost history, if you will, and a fun and endearing testament to the delightfully skewed vision of
. ~ Steve Leggett