Charlie Moore & Bill Napier - The Best Of Moore & Napier

Folk Singing, Hootenanny, Eveything

(King KLP-880) Jan 1964
Reissued in Japan (Gusto-Starday VIP-5050(M)) 1978.

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The pair's second album is rather confusingly entitled "The Best Of Moore & Napier" suggesting it's a 'greatest hits' package, but it is nonetheless quite a decent LP of 60s folk / bluegrass, with Bill Napier making his recording debut on banjo.

The LP liner notes are also a bit misleading as it suggests the album was rush-recorded on the back of the success of their Truck Driver's Queen 45, saying: "Currently riding high with a singles hit on the Best Selling Charts... the boys were rushed into the studio to record their second album". But... Truck Driver's Queen wasn't issued on 45 until Sept 1963 and at least four of the 'Best Of...' LP tracks were cut a couple of months earlier in July 1963.^[1]

The album is a blend of new & old material, featuring seven original compositions by Charlie Moore & Bill Napier, plus three oldies, and a couple of tracks (probably) supplied by King Records for the sessions.

The two tracks probably supplied/suggested by King are: I'm Just Your Stepping Stone which was written by Ray Pennington & Roy Marcum, the same songwriters as on Stone Walls And Steel Bars and Don't Cheat In Our Home Town; and I've Got Over (You) which was written by Ray Pennington, and was also cut by Jimmy Logsdon for King in June 1964.

The three 'oldies' included: Down The Road - a spirited version of Flatt & Scruggs' classic; Goodbye And So Long To You which was popularised by Hal Lone Pine and His Mountaineers on RCA Victor 1952 and recorded by Mac Wiseman for Dot in 1953. Mac also later re-recorded the song with The Osborne Brothers, and more recently Alison Krauss has also recorded it; and the ancient folk ballad Barbara Allen which features a fine rich lead vocal by Charlie. (He would later re-record the song on his 1972 LP 'Sings Good Bluegrass' (Vetco LP-3011).

Of the original compositions: Love Me One More Time is a slowish number with fine harmony vocal, which Charlie later re-recorded on his 1979 LP 'The Legendary Charlie Moore and the Dixie Partners'; Chain Gang features prominent Stanley-esque banjo; No One As Sweet As You has a solo vocal by Charlie; Johnny On The Spot is an ensemble piece with fiddle & mandolin breaks, harmony vocal on the chorus, and Charlie's lead on the verses; I'm Giving You Your Freedom is about giving a partner the elbow; Whitrock and Down South are instrumental numbers with fine banjo & fiddle work, and unusally run back-to-back, closing out the album.

Four tracks from the LP (Whitrock, I'm Giving You Your Freedom, Goodbye And So Long To You and Barbara Allen) were included on the 4xCD 'The Best Of King And Starday Bluegrass' (King/Gusto KG0952-4-2) 2004. Gary Reid's liner notes give the recording date as 25 July 1963 with the personnel as listed below.

• Charlie Moore: guitar, lead vocals
• Bill Napier: banjo, baritone vocal
• Ralph Mayo: bass
• Audie Webster: mandolin, tenor vocal
• Benny Williams: fiddle, lead guitar

Aside from Charlie Moore, all the personnel had links to The Stanley Brothers: Bill Napier had worked with Benny Williams with The Stanley Brothers in 1958^[2]; Ralph Mayo was with Bill Napier on The Stanley's epic King debut LP The Stanley Brothers And The Clinch Mountain Boys; and both Ralph Mayo & Audie Webster played on the Sacred Songs From The Hills 1960 sessions. (Ralph Mayo worked with Audie Webster in the Webster Brothers.)

Two 45s were released from the album with Johnny On The Spot / I've Got Over You (King 45-5840) 1964; and Goodbye And So Long To You / I'm Just Your Stepping Stone (King 45-5986) 1965.

Chain Gang was also issued on 45 with My Dear One from Folk 'n Hill (King 45-5926) 1964.

The album was later issued in 1975 as The Best Of... but with only ten tracks. The songs omitted were Barbara Allen and Love Me One More Time. The unabridged LP, with it's original cover, was also issued in Japan in 1978.

Charlie Moore later re-recorded Chain Gang on the 1975 Charlie Moore & Bill Napier - Collectors Edition LP; and Goodbye And So Long To You on his 1976 Wheeling LP.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] The 14 Sept 1963 edition of 'Billboard' mentions: "Charlie Moore and Bill Napier and Their Dixie Partners, were featured at the Beauty and Fashion Show held recently at Gayfer's, largest department store in Pensacola, Fla., under sponsorship of Seventeen magazine. It marked the first time a bluegrass group has played the event. Moore and Napier have a new release on King Records, Truck Sriver's Queen b.w. World Of Broken Hearts. Charley Pennell's bluegrass discography also lists the release date of the 45 as Sept. 1963. http://www.ibiblio.org/hillwilliam/BGdiscography/?v=fullrecord&albumid=15943
[2] p.88 of Gary Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book.