Country Jazz

• Track Listing

Jazz-meets-country in an impossibly hot session, ca. 1959! A platter of lightning-fast picking and impeccable taste from the legendary George Barnes! Chicago's George Barnes led a storied career as bandleader and session guitarist, including roles with national radio and television orchestras during the post-war days when electric guitar was being heard more frequently as a central instrument. His Gibson ES-300 had a singular sound that established his presence and persona among other players, and was heard on many hit records of the '50s and '60s including Connie Francis' "Lipstick on Your Collar." Country Jazz is a 1957 collection of originals and public domain songs reworked in the guitarist's style and sound, originally issued on the budget labels Colortone and Brigade. Listen as one of the early guitar gods turns tune after tune into six-string magic, working a collection of familiar songs into a truly new and exciting experience, presented here in it's original mono mix. The description on the back of the original album reads: "A wonderful collection of Western favorites that everyone will love-and played in the traditional Western style." The front cover features a more accurate explanation: "Great guitar solos in modern country jazz style"-as if "modern country jazz" was an established category-though, if anyone could establish a new species of music, it was George. Country Jazz was not designed to explore a new iteration of country music, but when George added his own twist of jazz to these rockabilly-tinged tunes the resulting influence was unmistakable. These arrangements of traditional folk and country songs represent the enjoyment George got out of crossing musical genres. He could (and would) play anything-which made him invaluable in the studios of Chicago and New York City, but also meant he defied categorization, inadvertently denying himself a prestigious place in any one class of musician. Country Jazz was fun for George; little did he know it would become one of his most influential recordings. It's been said that the terrific guitarist Danny Gatton learned the entire album note-for-note, and that it inspired Jimmy Bryant to record his Country Cabin Jazz in 1960. Young guitarists who hadn't yet been born when George died in 1977 are as enthralled by Country Jazz as rock guitarists are of anything from Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, the latter even referencing George in his autobiography.