Bill Carter - Ramblin' Fever: The Complete Recordings From 1953-1961 (2022)

Bill Carter was born in 1929 in Eagleton, Arkansas, moved with his family to Oklahoma in 1937 and six years later to Indio, California. His family encouraged the teenager's interest in music and paid for his singing lessons. Before joining the U.S. Air Force in 1949, he had already performed on several local radio stations. During his military service in California, he formed his first C&W bands and performed in the San Francisco area and at a radio station in San Antonio, Texas.

After completing his military service in 1953, Carter joined Jim DeNoone's country band as a vocalist and performed at the 'California Hayride' in San Francisco and elsewhere. The band's recordings for Gilt-Edge Records, produced that same year, feature Bill Carter as a singer for the first time. He eventually formed his own trio, with whom he worked regularly over the next five years, aiming to become known beyond the local area. During the 1950s in California, he and his band accompanied numerous big names in country music such as Marvin Rainwater, Lefty Frizzell, Freddie Hart, T-Texas Tyler and Buck Owens on tour on the West Coast.

Between 1956 and 1961, Carter recorded under his own name for small and mid-sized labels such as 4-Star, Republic, Tally, Black Jack, Honey B, 'D', Rural Rhythm and Ozark. The 1957 up-tempo number I Wanna Feel Good, produced in Bakersfield, California for Tally, became his biggest hit and opened the doors to the 'Louisiana Hayride' and the 'Grand Ole Opry'.In the years after 1961 Carter followed a new personal orientation and produced Christian Country Music from then on.

With this double CD Bear Family Records® delivers the comprehensive work show on the career of the versatile Bill Carter. Of the total of 67 tunes, only the ten best rockers were previously released on Bear Family's 10"LP 'Cool Tom Cat' (BAF14010). So Carter's complete commercial recordings from the years 1953-61 are united on this double album!

The detailed liner notes are written by Michael Hurtt, who together with Billy Miller, deceased five years ago, wrote the great book 'Mind Over Matter' about the history of Detroit's Fortune label!