Hot For Teacho

 Happy Halloween!

And I have about the unscariest news possible: Today is the day I have completed the correction of the last of the as-of-today still broken "Song Poem of the Week" posts. 

There are a handful of posts between January of 2009 and today which have not been updated, but they are none-song-poem related, and of course there are the 40-odd posts I made between 2005 and 2008, before I focused heavily on song-poems (and those posts feature a few song-poems as well), but every post labeled "Song Poem of the Week", including those from the first month of that project, are now fully corrected, with all tracks playable and downloadable. 

Today, I corrected those earliest posts, from January of 2009. A reminder: at that point in the project, I was not sharing both sides of individual singles, nor was I always posting scans of the labels. I do intend to update at least the scan issue at some point in the future, but for now, I just focused on the tracks. 

First, I will mention that, in January of 2009, I wrote two posts that are not updated. One was simply a snarky celebration of the end of George W. Bush's tenure in the White House, and the other was a lengthy tribute to Toby Deane, a singer I was just discovering at that time. Mysteriously, all but two of my Toby Deane tracks (and their folder) have disappeared from my computer (nothing else is gone!), and I will have to find those records and make new files of them. 

On the song-poem beat that month, I offered up three posts with no central theme, one featuring Gene Marshall and Rodd Keith, one featuring Phil Celia and Little Donnie Lane, and one featuring Rodd Keith, The Real Pros and Mike Thomas. I also featured an astonishing case of Preview Records putting out two different songs with the same backing track on the same single. And I kicked off the entire project that month, with one of my all time favorite song-poems, an 88 second oddball patriotic number titled "In God We Trust". 

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A favorite of mine, from the earlier days of the song-poem business, and probably the coolest name in the game, ever, is Teacho Wiltshire. Mr. Wiltshire had a legit involvement with the music business, both before and after his brief tenure at Tin Pan Alley (I've found references to him in Billboard magazine as early as 1948, and he was actively involved in record production and arrangement at legit labels for many years thereafter. 

Teacho's work for Tin Pan Alley was largely behind the scenes, but he made a handful of records under his own name for the label in their earliest years. On the slower numbers, which tended to be what Billboard called (in those days) "rock-a-ballads", he sings with an overenunciated style, sounding like he's about to cry from time to time, and drawing the words out in a manner I find rather unctuous, yet still appealing in a ridiculous sort of way. 

Today's record is from 1955, and the two sides are fairly interchangeable - I wasn't sure which to lead off with, as they both draw me in for the same reasons - the cut-rate Platters-esque stylings of the band, the reverb, and those insanely over-the-top vocals. Here's the one I chose to lead with, "Are You Willing?"

Please note that this is "the one and only, original Rock and Roll Waltz". Based on the dates on other Tin Pan Alley releases in sequence, it really does appear that this record was released before Kay Starr's # 1 hit, "Rock and Roll Waltz"!

Download: Teacho Wiltshire, His Piano and Orchestra - Are You Willing?

Play: 

The flip side carries the tautologistic title of "Love Your Loved Ones", and it contains most of the same features I've ascribed to "Are You Willing?". 

Download: Teacho Wilshire, His Piano and Orchestra - Love Your Loved Ones

Play: 

You can see lists of some of the records Teacho was involved with, and find a picture of him, here.