Here’s a Few 78s by Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys from the 1940s:

Streamlined Cannonball b/w Mule Skinner Blues (1940) Columbia 20038

There’s a Big Rock in the Road b/w Po’Folks (All The Time) (1947) Columbia 37345

This World Can’t Stand Long b/w It’s So Hard To Smile (1947) Columbia 20454

Here’s a record I found recently. Apparently the Edison company only produced these “Needle type Electric” records for a couple months in 1929 before getting out of the record business all together.

The Hotel Commodore Dance Orchestra (Under the Direction of Bernhard Levitow)
Where the Sweet Forget-Me-Nots Remember (Edison 14041L) b/w Smiling Irish Eyes (Edison 14041R)

And here’s what it sounds like on an acoustic player:

I just got back from Waikiki, and you can’t come away from there not hearing about Duke Kahanamoku. There’s a big statue of him there next to the beach. He was a legendary surfer from the early 20th century. Maybe the most famous surfer ever. Anyway,  while I was there I found a Sol Hoopii record on ebay with a  song about Duke that I didn’t know existed! What Luck! So I’ll share that with you below (as well as the B side of that record and another record I bought from the same seller).

Incidentally, no one there seemed to know Sol Hoopii or play his style of music there at all. No compilations at the record shops. No bands (that I saw down in the tourist areas anyway) playing Hot jazz at all. I wish there were more bands at the hotels etc playing 1930s style hawaiian music rather than the newer easy-listening singer-songwriter style… maybe that’s just what the tourists want now. Well, EXCEPT I did find a great radio show, Territorial Airwaves, that does play a LOT of the great old historical Hawaiian music from the 78 era. You can listen to Territorial Airwaves online from anywhere at anytime here! (it’s also broadcast on all Hawaiian Airlines flights). They did a whole show about Sol Hoopii (where he played the Duke Kahanamoku track and gave a little more context than I have here) and released a nice collection of his music on CD a while back which you should buy. It contains a very nice biography of Sol in it.

So here’s 2 78 records from Sol Hoopii and His Novelty Quartet:

Duke Kahanamoku

Opelu (Feast Song)

Orange Grove In California

Ten Tiny Toes – One Baby Nose (That’s all I’m Living For)

Little Jimmy Dickens just passed away yesterday. Very sad.. He was one of the last of the old Western swing artists. Someone who’s history, as the linked article notes, reached back to the era of Hank Williams and Roy Acuff. He was 94 years old.

Here’s a 78 I have of one of his hits:

Take an Old Cold ‘Tater and Wait b/w Pennies for Papa, 1948