The Winters Brothers Band - Live (1980)

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It's the jolly time of the year again, so here's something nice for under the tree. Classic Southern Rock by The Winters Brothers Band, recorded live in 1980. Mostly excellent SBD recording, though with a few patches of radio noise. Sit this one out though, and you won't be disappointed. Obviously they're playing 'Sang Her Love Songs', but this show gives a great representation of what these cats were (and still are?) all about. Southern Rock smack dab in the middle of Skynyrd, The Allmans and the CDB. Nice to hear an early version of 'Keep On Runnin'', of which a studio version had yet to be released on the 1985 album of the same name. It's a smoking show which will have you up and dancing in no time. Happy holidays everybody! Old stories...

Don Winters & The Winters Brothers - The Yodeling King (1984)

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Well, this record sure put a grin on my face. Yes people, it's the very first yodeling album on Skydog's Elysium. Don Winters (no , not Don Williams!) is (or rather was, since he passed away in 2002) the daddy of Dennis and Donnie Winters of The Winters Brothers Band. He has had a Country career since the late 40's and joined Marty Robbins' band in the 60's. As far as I can tell, he's only had one solo release, and this is it. Yes, it's Country and no, there's hardly any Southern Rock to be found here, save for two tracks. On those two tracks, 'Yodel Our Way To The USA' (which I hereby pronounce to be a definite Southern Rock classic) and 'The Yodeling King', the band playing and singing is basically The Winters Brothers Band, with papa Don yodeling along. Still, all in all, this is a very fine piece of work indeed. This album was provided for by Luc, who did an interesting interview with The Winters Brothers Band, in which this album was discussed as well. Read it here.
For those of y'all with an open mind towards Country, be sure to grab this. The playing and singing is excellent (as is the yodeling) and the songs are well chosen. 'Call Me The Breeze' is done nicely and, of course, this includes the Jimmie Rodgers standard 'T For Texas'. Great stuff that'll make for a good time feeling. Let's yodel our way to the USA.

The Winters Brothers Band - Keep On Running (1985)

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The Winters Brothers Band consisted of brothers Dennis and Donnie Winters, along with their band. I first learned about them, listening to the Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam, which had them playing and singing the songs, "Sang Her love Songs and "Rich Kids", in the late 70's. This EP has 5 songs and was released in 1984. Yes, the dreaded 80's. It's pretty much a product of it's time. There's some definite attempts at trying to sound modern, which I reckon most of you won't care much about. But some tracks are very good, so do not dismiss this as yet another piece of plastic Rock from the 80's. Strangest song here is the track "Jailer-Jailer", which has them sounding like Harry Belafonte. So, this is not (!) representative of The Winters Brothers Band! But thanks Dirk for sending this. I like to have a complete view of what went on with Southern Rock through all the years, even if it's the Dark Ages of Rock & Roll. Some of these tracks would end up in re-recorded versions on later albums. And those are the ones that will stick. This one's for satisfying a curious mind. Keep on running...