Rockin' Song of the Week - Number 35

Wayne Raney - Heads Or Tails, I Win (King 1058)
Wayne Raney and the Delmore Brothers were as close as country music ever got to the blues. From the harmonica and the guitar boogie lines to the simple lyric structure, their work for King Records of Cincinnati could have been mistaken for "race records’" if it wasn't for the pure hillbilly vocals. From an October 21st 1951 session the musicians on Heads Or Tails, I Win are to northern hillbilly what Jimmy Van Eaton, Roland Janes and Billy Lee Riley were to southern rockabilly. Raney is joined on twin harmonica by Lonnie Glosson with Alton and Rabon Delmore picking the geetars. Al Myers also plays a lick and the bass comes courtesy of the prolific Louis Innes. Raney's vocals are as playful as the lyrics on what is a great, but sadly overlooked slab of bautiful mid-tempo hillbilly boogie.
Recommended downloads: Anything on the Ace CD "That Real Hot Boogie Boy’" or the Fan records bootleg from 2001. The bootleg is hard to find but amazingly the Ace one doesn't have Heads Or Tails, I Win.