Bullet, the creation of musician Wally Fowler, music publisher C.V. Hitchcock and deejay/artist manager Jim Bulliet (pronounced Boulay), dominated Nashville’s recording scene in the immediate post-war years. Beginning with a country series in January 1946, it added a blues and R&B series three months later. The latter was launched with records by Wynonie Harris and ‘G.I. Singsation’ Cecil Gant; Harris moved on but Gant became a prolific Bullet artist, soon joined by bluesmen Rudy Greene, Walter Davis, Max (Blues) Bailey and Rufus Thomas disguised as Mr Swing. Bullet was joined in 1951 by Republic, Tennessee and Nashboro, the latter run by Ernie Young, owner of Ernie’s Record Mart. Tennessee’s most popular artist was Christine Kittrell, a talented and powerful singer who never achieved nationwide fame, while Republic’s Bernard Hardison cut the original version of ‘Too Much’, later made a hit by Elvis.
Starting in August 1952, Excello soon swept its competition aside with a roster of artists that included Kid King’s Combo, Shy Guy Douglas, Max Bailey, Arthur Gunter (Elvis commandeered ‘Baby Let’s Play House’), Gunter’s brother Little Al, Louis Brooks, Good Rockin’ Sam, Louis Campbell, Clarence Samuels (with a manic Johnny Copeland on guitar) and Jerry McCain, alongside a host of less commercial but no less interesting talent like Slim Hunt, the Dixie Doodlers, the Leap Frogs, the Blue Flamers and the Blues Rockers. Excello would go on to even greater (and international) success when in 1956 Young started to release Louisianan J.D. Miller’s swamp blues recordings by the likes of Lightnin’ Slim, Lonesome Sundown and Lazy Lester – but that’s another story.
Disc 1
01. Cecil Gant / Nashville Jumps [00:02:58]
02. Wynonie Harris / My Baby's Barrel House [00:02:50]
03. Rudy Greene / Evil Man Blues [00:02:43]
04. Cecil Gant / Train Time Blues [00:03:06]
05. Iona Wade & S Williams / Keep Your Man At Home [00:02:52]
06. Wynonie Harris / Dig This Boogie [00:02:31]
07. Don Q Orchestra / Tom, Tom The Piper's Son [00:02:12]
08. Sherman Williams / I'm Lucky With My Brown Gal [00:02:45]
09. Walter Davis / Move Back To The Woods [00:02:40]
10. Lewis Campbell / Call On The Phone [00:02:48]
11. The Blue Jacks / Late Hours Blues [00:03:07]
12. Tom Douglas / Raid On Cedar Street [00:02:34]
13. Max Blues Bailey / Delinquency Blues [00:03:21]
14. Mr Swing (Rufus Thomas) / Beer Bottle Boogie [00:03:04]
15. Bernard Hardison / Hey Little Girl [00:02:39]
16. Christine Kittrell / Don't Do It [00:03:33]
17. Mr Swing (Rufus Thomas) / Gonna Bring My Baby Back [00:02:29]
18. Sherman Johnson / Back Alley Boogie [00:02:46]
19. Tommy Brooks / Steam Pressing Woman [00:02:30]
20. Cecil Gant / Bullet Boogie [00:02:25]
21. Vivian Verson / Payday Lover [00:02:21]
22. Tucker Coles / Don't Get Excited [00:02:54]
23. Charlie Dowell Band / Wail Daddy [00:02:24]
24. Billie McAllister / Well Alright Baby [00:02:51]
25. Helen Foster / I Got a Big Fat Daddy [00:03:03]
Disc 2
01. Eddie Jones / Certainly All [00:02:14]
02. Christine Kittrell / Old Man You're Slipping [00:02:56]
03. Little Eddie / My Baby Left Me [00:02:21]
04. Gay Crosse / No Better for You [00:02:46]
05. Julius King / If You See My Lover [00:03:04]
06. J.D. Horton / Why Don't You Let Me Be [00:02:27]
07. Lewis Campbell / Don't Want Nobody Hangin' Around [00:02:29]
08. Eddie Jones / Feelin' Sad [00:02:37]
09. Helen Foster / Somebody Somewhere [00:02:16]
10. Robert Tucker / It Sure Costs Money To Live [00:02:56]
11. Christine Kittrell / Sittin' Here Drinking [00:03:30]
12. Charles Ruckles / Pitch a Boogie Woogie [00:02:35]
13. Ford Nelson / Still Feelin' Sad [00:03:05]
14. Christine Kittrell / I Ain't Nothing But A Fool [00:02:00]
15. Little Maxie Bailey / Brownskin Woman Blues [00:02:44]
16. Kid King's Combo / Chocolate Sundae [00:02:38]
17. Shy Guy Douglas / Detroit Arrow [00:02:59]
18. The Leap Frogs / Things Gonna Change [00:02:47]
19. Dixie Doodlers / She Was All I Had [00:02:57]
20. Ford Nelson / Little Annie [00:02:16]
21. Kid King's Combo / Skip's Boogie [00:02:57]
22. Bernie Hardison / Love Me Baby [00:02:38]
23. Little Maxie Bailey / Drive Soldiers Drive [00:03:03]
24. Robert Tucker / Changeable Woman [00:02:57]
25. The Leap Frogs / Dirty Britches [00:02:45]
Disc 3
01. Arthur Gunter / Baby Let's Play House [00:02:47]
02. Louis Brooks & The Hi-Toppers / Bus Station Blues [00:02:36]
03. Kid King's Combo / The Brass Rail [00:02:56]
04. Dixie Doodlers / Best Of Friends [00:02:45]
05. Tommy McGhee / Late Every Evening [00:02:51]
06. Shy Guy Douglas / I'm Your Country Man [00:02:48]
07. Arthur Gunter / Blues After Hours [00:02:32]
08. The Blue Flamers / Driving Down The Highway [00:02:42]
09. Louis Brooks & The Hi-Toppers / It's Love Baby (24 Hours A Day) [00:02:40]
10. Louis Campbell / Gotta Have You Baby [00:02:48]
11. Jerry McCain / Courtin' In A Cadillac [00:02:15]
12. Slim Hunt / Lonesome for My Baby [00:02:52]
13. Beulah Bryant / Prize Fightin' Papa [00:02:56]
14. Bernard Hardison / Too Much [00:02:25]
15. Shy Guy Douglas / Wasted Time [00:02:53]
16. Louis Campbell / The Natural Facts [00:02:33]
17. Blues Rockers / Johnny Mae [00:02:54]
18. Good Rockin' Sam / Don't Let Daddy Slow Walk You Down [00:02:56]
19. Little Al / No Jive [00:03:07]
20. Rudy Green / Cool Lovin' Mama [00:02:53]
21. Jerry McCain / That's What They Want [00:02:24]
22. Lillian Offitt / Miss You So [00:02:13]
23. Little Al / Little Lean Woman [00:02:02]
24. Earl Gaines with Louis Brooks & His Hi-Toppers / I Don't Need You Now [00:02:23]
25. Jimmy Beck & His Orchestra / Pipe Dreams [00:02:09]
