A RARE ACETATE RECORDING  OF JIM REEVES PERFORMING THREE SONGS ON STAGE AT THE  LOUISIANA HAYRIDE  ON 14 JULY 1951 IS  BEING   AUCTIONED ON EBAY

Now and then someone contacts me for advice  about  documents relating to Jim Reeves or his music. It always has given me much pleasure to give as much   advice as I can.  Occasionally they ask my advice on audio and video recordings.  Probably they trust me because I don’t record phone calls with out asking permission to do so first.

About six months ago, I got a call from Connie Sanders and she played three Jim Reeves songs over the telephone and asked for my opinion. I was flabbergasted to learn that these were from a  previously unknown Louisiana Hayride radio appearance  of July 1951. Jim sang “I  Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You”, a Hank Williams composition, “Unfaithful One”, an Ernest Tubb song and a Hank Thompson composition “Today”.  I got really excited when I listened to those songs,  I had earlier learned Jim had sang Hank William’s songs on stage, but here was finally, an audio recording of one of them. The recordings, despite obviously not being hi-fi or  in stereo, showed Jim’s craftsmanship as a singer, even that early in his life, if I was told Jim had recorded those in 1958, I would have believed it. I feel very happy I was given  the privilege to listen to and comment on these recordings.

At first, I could not find any documentation of Jim performing at the Hayride in 1951. No one, including members of Jim’s family, had ever mentioned it. Correspondence between Monroe Smith and Jim Reeves, supplied to me by an American fan, has yielded information about circumstances surrounding Jim’s appearances at  the ´Hayride´. Unfortunately, these and other documents won’t be made available to historians until certain conditions have been met.  I have been informed by  two collectors that they’ll open their collection of documents and audio/video recordings for serious researches only  when  the long ago announced Jim Reeves Biography has been published. We have to respect their views, just as we have to respect the view of the collector who will not have his precious Jim Reeves acetates transferred to another medium, until his proposed  Jim Reeves Media center has been established.  You can see that for more than one reason  the fans look forward to the forthcoming Jim Reeves biography.

With all respect to the author of the forthcoming book on Jim Reeves, I believe another very informative book about Jim Reeves with minor duplications could be written using information from documents from the collection of both fans. 

To view the auction on eBay click here to  go to it.  The auction ends on July 30^st.

With the help of some other fans are joining forces, I hope to put a winning bid on this acetate. Each of the participants will have a share of $100 in the bidding. If we win the bid, each of the participants will receive a  copy of the recordings on CD, probably we will acquire enough money for  audio restoration  too. 

Unlike what happened to  the ´Mountain View Concert´ tape, no free CD copies will be floating around this time, no matter  who the winner will be. Perhaps it may get released by  a commercial record company and you will charged  $25 or so for a copy.  Or perhaps it will join the other stored acetates  ….. 

UPDATE 31-7-2006

The acetate record fetched $810 , we were outbid by Mr. Frank C. Anderson, one of the fan club members who did not joined our bidding. As I predicted earlier, there will no copies floating around.