Find Of The Week

A quick one before a three week hiatus: Jimmy Gartin, from Taylorville, WV. Best known for his recordings "Gonna Ride That Satelite" - spelt as is - on the Hi-Q label (as Jimmy Gartin And His Highlanders) and "Honey, Won't You Love Me" (as Jimmy Gartin And His Bad Cats), on two other Detroit-based labels, Fortune and Strate-8.
There do not seem to be any other releases by him, according to several sources. The more proud we are to present a previously unlisted 45 that has two distinguishing features: 1) the writing on label (WOL) indicating that the previous owner knew Charly, the bass player on this 45 and 2) the unique fact that Jimmy Gartin seemed to have a different band on each of his releases. Here it is "Jimmy Gartin With The Prides Of Detroit". While "Sometimes" is a beautiful country ballad, "Pains Of Love" convinces with an infectious groove and great  lap steel work.

Biographical info on Jimmy Gartin is almost non-existent. Fortunately, there is an interview out on Youtube showing an bare-chested and aged Jimmy Gartin playing guitar, drinking Johnny Bootlegger Apple shots and telling stories from the past. The "Agile, Mobile and Hostile" of Detroit Rockabilly, so to speak.
The video maker (Jimmy's niece's boyfriend) mentions that a book on Fortune records is in the making. Hopefully it will shed more light on Jimmy Gartin's biography.

Equally obscure is the Big Chief record label. We can assume that it was also in Detroit, but hope for more information through some comments. Any help here is highly welcome - we are here to learn.

Sometimes:


Pains Of Love: