Artists – W

The Jack Walrath Group's 1982 LP Revenge Of The Fat People, released on Stash Records.

Jack Arthur Walrath (born May 5, 1946) is an American post-bop jazz trumpeter and musical arranger known for his work with Ray Charles, Gary Peacock, Charles Mingus, and Glenn Ferris, among others.

Walrath was born in Stuart, Florida. He began playing the trumpet at the age of nine in 1955 while living in the small town of Edgar, Montana. He attributes his wide range of musical appreciation to a "lack of negative peer pressure which so often happens in cities".

In 1969 Walrath relocated to the West Coast and found work in Los Angeles's jazz scene. Soon he was a member of the band Revival, with trombonist Glenn Ferris, and the West Coast Motown Orchestra. He worked with Ray Charles for one tour of the U.S. In 1970 Walrath relocated to New York City. For a year and a half he was a columnist of the International Musician and Recording World, which had its US department there. He also wrote liner notes and articles for DownBeat.

Walrath spent the next several years working with mainstream and Latin jazz bands.

With Mingus he recorded Changes One and Changes Two, both for Atlantic Records in 1974. The latter album features Walrath's composition "Black Bats and Poles" (originally entitled "Rats and Moles" until Mingus decided it needed a darker name).

Other personnel on this LP include Mike Clark on drums, Ricky Ford on tenor saxophone, Michael Cochran on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass.

The Jack Walrath Group's 1982 LP Revenge Of The Fat People, released on Stash Records.

Jack Arthur Walrath (born May 5, 1946) is an American post-bop jazz trumpeter and musical arranger known for his work with Ray Charles, Gary Peacock, Charles Mingus, and Glenn Ferris, among others.

Walrath was born in Stuart, Florida. He began playing the trumpet at the age of nine in 1955 while living in the small town of Edgar, Montana. He attributes his wide range of musical appreciation to a "lack of negative peer pressure which so often happens in cities".

In 1969 Walrath relocated to the West Coast and found work in Los Angeles's jazz scene. Soon he was a member of the band Revival, with trombonist Glenn Ferris, and the West Coast Motown Orchestra. He worked with Ray Charles for one tour of the U.S. In 1970 Walrath relocated to New York City. For a year and a half he was a columnist of the International Musician and Recording World, which had its US department there. He also wrote liner notes and articles for DownBeat.

Walrath spent the next several years working with mainstream and Latin jazz bands.

With Mingus he recorded Changes One and Changes Two, both for Atlantic Records in 1974. The latter album features Walrath's composition "Black Bats and Poles" (originally entitled "Rats and Moles" until Mingus decided it needed a darker name).

Other personnel on this LP include Mike Clark on drums, Ricky Ford on tenor saxophone, Michael Cochran on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass.

Learn more about The Warratahs on their Facebook page at facebook.com/thewarratahs

Tracklist
A1 Big Sky
A2 High And Dry
A3 To Whom It May Concern
A4 Tight Rope
A5 Torch Song
A6 No Work Street
B1 Another Town
B2 Diggy's Dam
B3 On The Same Side
B4 Who Do You Believe
B5 It's All Over Now
B6 Wild Mountain Thyme

1977 LP released on Masa Records.

The Wasepi Bluegrass Gospel Singers is a religious bluegrass band from Wasepi, Michigan. They have released many albums over the years, and Are You Washed In The Blood Was Their first LP.

The band formed in 1974 and was active until 2021 when original member Jack Stauffer passed away. According to their website they are on an indefinite hiatus. The website can be found at wasepibluegrass.com.

In addition to Jack Stauffer, other members of the band on this LP include Ray Schlabach, Homer McCowen, Don Stauffer, Freeman Stauffer, and Ron Lehr.

The Great Wear family consisted of fiddler DeWayne Wear, his sister Patty Jo on mandolin, and his parents Audrey and Jim on guitar. I can't find much information about the Wear Family online, and I only managed to track down one photo of them, but they released quite a few LPs of old-time, bluegrass, and country gospel music on Rural Rhythm Records in the 1960s.This LP contains lots of bluegrass, old-time, and and fiddle tune standards like Wildwood Flower, Wreck Of The Old 97, and Lula Walls.

Rural Rhythm Records was a budget mail-order record label started in California by Uncle Jim O'Neal. O'Neal wanted this label to showcase some of the greatest bluegrass and old-time musicians of the 1950s and 1960s, and some of the artists featured on Rural Rhythm over the years included Mac Wiseman, Red Smiley, Don Reno, and Vassar Clements. These LPs were jam-packed with songs, sometimes having as many as 28 songs on a single LP. Most of their releases, including this one by The Wear Family, came packaged in a plain white sleeve. As far as I can tell Rural Rhythm Records is still an active label, although no longer run by the founder.

Description coming soon!

Tracklist
A1 Everything I Am
A2 Loving You So Long
A3 Time
A4 Kickin' Our Hearts Around
A5 A Word To Texas Jack
A6 Love And Honour
B1 Goodtime Charlie
B2 Lucille
B3 Today I Started Loving You Again
B4 Drive
B5 You're The Only Girl In The Game
B6 Big Tom Skinner's Beer

1979 LP by Bill Wells & The Blue Ridge Mountain Grass, released on Old Homestead Records.

Bill Wells was born in Cromona, Kentucky and grew up in Virginia. He formed The Blue Ridge Mountain Grass in 1975, releasing a few LPs in the 1970s and 1980s on Old Homestead.

Players on this LP include Virgil Harrison (Jackson, Kentucky) on fiddle, Andy Cartoun (Pennsylvania) on banjo, John Cheney (Pontotoc, Mississippi) on lead guitar, and Wilma Houson (Pike County, Kentucky) on bass. Members of the band were in other bands such as The Coon Skin Boys (Cartoun) and The Cumberland Mountain Gang (Houston). Although not on this LP, Norm Oglesby later replaced Wilma Houson as the bassist in the band.

Bill Wells passed away in 2011 but his son, Willie Wells, continues to perform with The Blue Ridge Mountain Grass. You can find out more about Willie's band at williewellsandbrmg.band

Tracklist
A1 The Home Place
A2 The Wandering Boy
A3 Love Me Darling Just Tonight
A4 Don't Think Of Me Unkind
A5 Cotton Eyed Joe
A6 Rocky Island
B1 Little Cabin Home On The Hill
B2 Durham's Reel
B3 All I Ever Loved Was You
B4 Blue Ridge Mountain Home
B5 Nobody's Love Is Like Mine
B6 Orange Blossom Special

Description coming soon!

Tracklist
A1 One Man Show
A2 You Gave Me Love
A3 Emily Rose
A4 Woman At The Well
A5 Truth/Whole Truth
B1 Moses
B2 None Of My Business
B3 He's Alive
B4 God Really Loves You

1982 LP by country singer-songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler, released on Sagittarius Records.

From Wikipedia:

"Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (born December 9, 1932, Boone County, West Virginia, United States) is an American songwriter, performer, writer, and visual artist.

His songs include "Jackson" (Grammy award winner for Johnny Cash and June Carter) "The Reverend Mr. Black", "Desert Pete", "Ann", "High Flyin' Bird", "The Coming of the Roads", "It’s Midnight", "Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back", "Coal Tattoo", "Winter Sky", and "Coward of the County" (which inspired a 1981 television movie of the same name) and have been performed by over 160 artists including Judy Collins, Jefferson Airplane, Bobby Darin, The Kingston Trio, Neil Young, Kenny Rogers, Hazel Dickens, Florence and the Machine, Kathy Mattea, Nancy Sinatra, and Elvis Presley. "Jackson" was also recorded by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for the movie Walk the Line. His song "Sassafras" was covered in the folk rock era by Modern Folk Quartet and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band."

In addition to his songwriting careers, Wheeler has written plays, musicals, a folk opera, and several novels and humor books. Wheeler has released many LPs over the years, starting in the early 1960s. He has recorded for Monitor Records, Kapp Records, RCA Victor, Flying Fish, Sagittarius, United Artists, among others.

This LP was produced by Billy Edd Wheeler, Walter Haynes, and Russ Miller. It was recorded at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tracklist

A1 Asheville
A2 Chain Gang Of Love
A3 Long Arm Of The Law
A4 The Memory
A5 Duel Under The Snow
A6 Cheating Winds
B1 Pepsi
B2 Wheels
B3 In Your Spanish Eyes
B4 Miracles Really Do Come True
B5 Love At First Song
B6 He's Got My Woman (I've Got His Guitar)

A pretty interesting mix of Hawaiian music and gospel tunes on this LP. I'm not certain when it was released, but based on the dates and information on the back of the LP jacket I would date it to sometime around 1955 or 1956.

From Wikipedia:

"Lorin J. Whitney (September 11, 1914 – August 29, 2007) was an American organist and recording artist who played on Christian radio programs such as the Haven of Rest in the 1930s–1950s. His organ music programs were heard on the CBS Radio and NBC Blue Networks in the 1930s. He founded the Whitney Recording Studio in Glendale, California, in 1957, where he had a pipe organ installed. His studio organ was used for recordings by Whitney and other organists, along with furnishing accompaniment for singers."

Bud Tutmarc (1924-2006) was a gospel musician and Hawaiian steel guitar player. He was a music director at many churches over the years and had his own recording studio, Tutmarc-Summit Studios. Bud also manufactured electric guitars with his father and fellow musician Paul Tutmarc. He and his father were innovators in the field of electric instruments, developing some of the first electric lap steel and bass guitars. You can find out more about Bud on his website at www.budtutmarc.com.

Kentucky/Indiana country musician Paul Williams' 1980 LP They're Hauling Kentucky Away, released on Jewel Records.

Paul Williams was born in Hazard, Kentucky but ended up in Muncie, Indiana by the time he was an adult. All of the songs on this LP were written by Paul Williams, and additional personnel include Chubby Howard on pedal steel, Dumpy Rice on piano, Roger Seibel on bass, Bryan Rice on drums, and Danny Reneau on banjo. The LP was produced by Rusty York.

Besides what is listed on the back of the LP jacket I cannot find any information online about Paul Williams. I know this is his first LP, but I don't know if he made any other recordings throughout his life. I don't know if he is still alive.

1979 LP from Kentucky musician Randy Wilson, released on Viola Records.

Tracklist
A1 Come On Children
A2 Whiskey Before Breakfast / Blackeyed Susie
A3 Johnny My Love
A4 Hot Corn, Cold Corn
A5 I Will Arise
B1 Breaking Up Christmas
B2 Shanty Town Beggar
B3 Gimme That Old Time Religion
B4 Bury Me Deep
B5 Planxty Irwin