Linda Brannon, "Wherever You Are" c/w "Just Another Lie," RAM 1478 (rel. 9/1958)
Linda Brannon made many singles without getting a hit. She thus lacks the romantic tragedy of the one-record wonder, but her obvious talent and individuality was admired by her peers and she was a well-liked performer. She's still with us, and her exit from the music scene, in 1964, seems to have been due to her marriage to Nashville producer Jerry Kennedy. He may have been one of those regrettable "no wife'a mine is gunna work" males who dominated the 20th century.
Born in 1941, Ms. Brannon made her debut on the Louisiana Hayride radio and TV programs at age 16. She made her first single that year for Ram Records--the first of five she'd do for the Louisiana-based label. Today's single got a reissue on Chess Records. Tho' Ram (Royal Audio Music) was distributed by Ace Records, they seem to have declined further action. Chess' release got Brannon's disc on the edge of the mainstream.
It's one of many records from this period which get the label rockabilly slapped on them. Like Northern Soul or pop-sike, it's a misunderstood and mis-used genre. A country record with a beat is not always rockabilly; a pop record with mild rock elements and a grating vocal chorus, ditto. Given Ms. B's rural delivery and the atmospheric vibe of the band and the production, today's single touches the hem of the rockabilly garment, but is just as much swamp pop--that distinctive Louisiana-Texas take on rhythm and blues blended with country.
From the first bars of "Wherever You Are," we're in a special musical world. This and its flip-side possess what I call The David Lynch Effect: music one can imagine the late, great artist and filmmaker using in his work and music possessed of an eeriness not intended by its makers.
With pizzicato guitar, an earthy femme chorus and a swamp's worth of studio reverb, Brannon delivers this heartfelt ode to a lover who's far away but always in her heart. Her Southern twang is ideal for this song that embraces the Western part of country and Western. One might imagine it being sung in a cowboy movie shown ten thousand Saturdays ago in a long-gone theater. While it's too short for its own good--the record's over before the listener is settled in to enjoy it!--it stands far apart from the Nashville sound or that of the big city studios.
Cash Box gave this single a lot of press without their reviewers touching it. Brannon's was a star-crossed lot: audiences loved her, her records went over well, but not at a strength to sustain a career or earn her hit singles.
"Just Another Lie" leans more towards rock 'n' roll, but its sinister, stripped-down sound defines The David Lynch Effect. It's an inversion of the Brenda Lee formula: no extras, as Nashville producer Owen Bradley would've piled on (The Anita Kerr Singers! a room full of session men! Strings!). Just a guitar with heavy tremolo chuggin' out the chords to a swamp-pop 12-bar blues, a rhythm guitar, perhaps a bass and no percussion I can discern.
Talk about an intimate performance! Brannon's front-and-center and delivers a killer performance. Dig her yodel-adjacent scat-singing towards record's end. "Just Another Lie" is transformative: for its two minutes and 23 seconds, you're taken someplace outside the norm. Not a moment is wasted; nor does the record feel too brief. Just right, like whichever of the three bears' oatmeal was to Goldilocks.
I confess I purchased this as a ringer to fulfill a discount offer on eBay. The other three singles in my purchase are all heavy-hitters. This li'l unassuming disc won my heart, and I hope to find some of Linda Brannon's other records soon. That's the magic of the seven-inch record: you never know which one will reach out and tag you it!
Tomorrow: keepin' it rural, we hear the country-bluegrass hybrid of Hylo Brown, via one of his best singles for Capitol Records, made in 1959.
Yes—definitely the David Lynch filter was applied to these two songs. Brannon has a lonesome oneiric voice and both songs transport the listener to another plane of where lost loves live.
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