Lee Rose - I've Got The Downhearted Blues / Lonely Heart, Stop Crying (Country Hit 233)
"I've Got The Downhearted Blues"
You gotta love these "time warp" records that occasionally turn up from the '60s; even when they're not very good, you're still charmed by them. Listening to this Lee Rose single immediately puts the listener in the mind of...1953? 1954 at the latest? Try 1964. Rock and roll, Rockabilly, the Nashville Sound, the Bakersfield Sound, Ray Charles' Country albums, Phil Spector, Chubby Checker, the Singing Nun...these minor distractions simply didn't exist in Lee's world. Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Tubb did, though, and dammit, that was enough for him. Such single-minded dedication is rare in pop music's empires of sand.
Lee Rose on stage with Buddy Brady (fiddle), Roscoe Clark (guitar), and Jerry Gimble (bass). Mayfair Auditorium, East Texas State Fairgrounds Tyler, Tx, 1953-54. Click on image for full-size view.
Lee Rose, whose real name was apparently Rosamond, probably came from the Henderson, Tx., area -- a later "Country Hit" single by him has a Henderson address -- and most likely was a country disc jockey in the Northeast Tx. area who sang occasionally, mostly for the "old-timers" who still appreciated the Rodgers/early Tubb sound. Billboard noted in a 1950 issue that he had recorded for Freedom, but if anything was released, only God and Lee Rose know for sure.