Jimmy Lee Durden, "No Mistake" c/w "Time Heals Everything," Starday 45-285 (rel. 2/1957)
Today, I present what may be my favorite country music recording. That’s a big statement, I know, and I hope you’ll be as moved and wowed by the record as I have been. For many years, I’ve longed to own a copy of the final single by teenaged singer-composer Jimmy Lee Durden. The record we’re about to celebrate is quite scarce. Its label, Starday Records out of Texas, did one small pressing of it in 1957. It received an unjustly negative review in Billboard (reproduced below in all its dunder-headed glory) and vanished from public view in an eye’s blink.
I woke one Sunday morning three years ago to see that a long-dormant eBay search for this record yielded results. I scanned the seller’s listing (which, thank the record deities, was a Buy it Now sale and not an auction), determined that this was a nice copy, and bought it before my first cup of coffee. (And, if you know me at all, that is noteworthy.)
It arrived just in time for my 60th birthday. What a gift, even if I'd bought it myself! If you’re so fortunate, a few times in your life you hear a record that conveys such sincerity, purity and beauty that you can't believe it's real. "No Mistake" by Jimmy Lee Durden is such a recording. This teenager’s clear, heartfelt tenor voice sings a country waltz of extraordinary power and emotion. Its words are beautifully chosen and expressed and set to a haunting melody; He is backed by a fiddler whose low-register solo adds to the luster of a beautiful, raw and real song. The record casts a spell on me. It reaches back through decades to a voice, composition and performance that is one of a kind.
I would hold "No Mistake" up to the best country songs of all time. I wonder if Durden, who wasn't out of his teens when he made this recording, understood the beauty, pain and heart he gave the world. It affects me in a way that few recordings or songs ever do. I'm so grateful this record exists and that I’m fortunate to own a copy.
Billboard got everything wrong in their poor judgment of this work of rural art.
"Time Heals Everything" is a fine up-tempo number on the flip. It's impossible for it to measure up to "No Mistake," but it shows Durden knew the contemporary country market and wrote first-rate songs with potential commercial appeal. I wish this record had been released on a bigger label. Even Sun Records (which this record's sound fits like a glove) might have been able to get this single the attention it deserved. This guy wasn’t old enough to vote when he made this final recording.
I have two of Durden’s three Starday 45s. I only lack the first, issued in 1955. I was in touch with Durden’s son, who didn't made it clear if his father is still with us. I asked him it (a) his dad is still alive and (b) if I might interview him, as I think there is a major story here that I would like to document. Nothing came of that request, and it's been a few years so I won't hold my breath. For now, I share this unforgettable pair of recordings with you, my Jukebox chums.
Tomorrow: Fortune Records is back again with the weird, wonderful debut single of The Five Dollars. Lo-fi legends from 1955 Detroit!
Great voice! Love that first track especially--thanks, Frank! I wonder if a young McCartney had heard the track... the intro of it sounds a tad like the opening of "Michelle." I believe McCartney wrote "Michelle" as an instrumental in around '59.
ReplyDeleteTwo great songs! What a wonderfully perfect voice Durden had. He knew his strengths and didn't over extend himself. Love the andante haunting waltzy "No Mistake" and the faster vivace tempo of "Time Heals Everything"— a classic country tune in a Hank Williams vein.
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