Norman Price Trio - My little grass shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii

RCA master 81318-1, rec. New York, January 26 1934.
Norman Price (vocal) with two unknown singers and own guitar accompaniment.
Nothing can be found about the "Peerless Trio" of whom the Bluebird label published three discs in 1934 (on some pressings as the "Peerless Three"). This may be due to the fact that, as original RCA papers show, the group was recorded as The Norman Price Trio. Whether the group actually decided to perform under that name from now on or the record company wanted something better-sounding is unknown to me. The name change did nothing for the record sales, however. Maybe accompanying a vocal trio with a single steel guitar wasn't too good an idea to start with? Norman Price himself is an almost complete mystery, too. I don't think this is the Norman Price who worked for Victor and RCA as a graphic artist (although this would explain the connections of this rather unusual group to a major company). In December 1938 an arrangement of "Carry me back to old Virginny" for mixed voices by a Norman Price was copyrighted, and this may be him, but that's all I can find. As always, any further information would be very welcome. Please do not confuse this group with the Peerless Trio that recorded for Columbia and Indestructible Cylinders in the early 1900s (this was a comedy trio consisting of Byron G. Harlan, Billy Murray, and Steve Porter) or the famous Peerless Quartet led by tenor Henry Burr - they are totally unconnected.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 1930s
• close
• harmony
• American
• vocal
• trio
• Norman
• Price
• Peerless
• steel
• guitar
• Bluebird
• RCA
• novelty

[8trackers]

Wow! Thank you for posting this! What a treasure. I love the record label art! Also, no pops or scratches. How did you you get such a clean copy! Did you run software on it? Anyway, thanks for your efforts. This 75 plus year old recording sounds brand new to me. Thanks again.

[LazlosPlane]

Great stuff. Thanks.

Always think of "The Odd Couple." Felix and Murray sing this to an agent they want to represent Myrna, as she does a "hula" dance, and that's putting it mildly. Of course, they ham it up good.

[Rudipolt]

Thanks for Posting!

Fine version!

Aloha from Hawaii!

[RatPfink66]

Good little rendition - cracks past at a nice tempo. RCA didn't care much for Hawaiian music really - even when it came back into fashion later in the 30s.