I thought I might touch from time to time on the smaller labels that are represented in my collection. The Canary label is listed in the ASPMA website, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was more of a vanity project than a true song-poem outfit. It seems to have been largely set up to produce records of the compositions of Earl Miles, as well as a few other writers. In fact, at the time that ASPMA stopped being updated, the company remained in the hands of someone from the Miles family. Many of the records on Canary were performed by Durward Erwin, who has one of the more interesting names found on song-poem or vanity labels.
The production values are higher here, as I've found them to be on several smaller labels (as well as the labels that were subsidiaries of places such as the Globe family of labels), and as a result, the songs tend to sound more professional than much of what I've shared here.
On the other hand, today's offerings fit well into that brand of early '60's pop music which was all over the MOR stations of the day, and your tolerance for that style will probably dictate your enjoyment of this record. Here's a song by another Canary author, Grace Tindell, "Capture It":
Download: Durward Erwin - Capture It
Play:
And here's a tune by the aforementioned Earl Miles, "A Girl Named Sorrow", sung again by the dulcet pipes of Durward Erwin:
Download: Durward Erwin - A Girl Named Sorrow
Play:
