1579 Rhubarb Red & His Rubes - Three songs

Most know of Les Paul, inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, hit-maker of the '50s with wife Mary Ford, and who influenced many rock guitarists of the modern era. However, before all that, he recorded and performed as Rhubarb Red. I know of only four sides that he recorded, all in Chicago in 1936. However, he and his group, The Rubes, made radio transcriptions for both American and Canadian companies. It is from those transcriptions that Bronco Buster records assembled a 22 track CD titled Rhubarb Red & His Rubes - Les Paul's Country Roots. With a little cowboy magic I've spliced together three for you: In The Blue Hills Of Virginia, The Old Spinning Wheel, and Firecracker Rag. The first shows you how he was backing up vocals, and the last two, both instrumentals, how he was backing up the fiddle. All three were signs of things to come. The Westerner http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/