Sold Date: October 2, 2023
Start Date: May 2, 2020
Final Price: £13.00 (GBP)
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GREAT STUFF FROM THE ORIGINAL HOOSIER HOT SHOTS....

"AMERICA'S HILL-BILLY ACES"

SENTIMENTAL GENTLEMAN FROM GEORGIA

b/w   MEET ME BY THE ICEHOUSE, LIZZIE

The Hoosier Hot Shots were an American quartet of madcap musicians who entertained on stage, screen, radio, and records from the mid 1930s into the 1970s. The group initially consisted of players from the U. S. State of Indiana. Beginning on local Indiana radio in the early 1930s, the Hot Shots went on to a successful national radio career on National Barn Dance on WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois and a successful and prolific recording career, before moving to Hollywood to star in many feature-length western movies.

The Hot Shots' core personnel were multi-instrumentalists, playing brass band instruments as well as their standard instrumentation of guitar (Ken), clarinet (Gabe), string bass (various), and a strange, homemade instrument known both as the "Wabash Washboard" and "the Zither," played by Hezzie. It consisted of a corrugated sheet metal washboard on a metal stand with various noisemakers attached, including bells and a multi-octave range of squeeze-type bicycle horns. Trietsch constructed this instrument himself as well as a series of slide whistles he played in addition to the washboard. The washboard, along with other artifacts from the band, is now in the collection of the Indiana State Museum.

The Hot Shots' repertoire focused on swing and jazz standards and originals, especially those with a comedic element. Powered by a frantic and seemingly freewheeling instrumental virtuosity, grounded in the musical comedy of vaudeville, the Hot Shots were nevertheless able to cover both comic and more serious material, although some of their more serious recordings retain whimsical ornamental elements, capable of evoking a subtle musical irony.

The original lineup consisted of Ken Trietsch (September 13, 1903 - September 17, 1987), Hezzie Trietsch (born Paul Trietsch, (April 11, 1905 - April 20, 1979), and Gabe Ward (born Charles Otto Ward, November 26. 1904 - January 14, 1992). Supporting players (as the decades passed) were Frank Kettering (January 1, 1909 - 1973), Gil Taylor, Nate Harrison, and Billy Keith Milheim.

Recordings of songs made by the Hoosier Hot Shots often include the signature spoken (by Ken Trietsch) intro, "Are you ready, Hezzie?" followed by the sound of the bustle of the musicians preparing to play their instruments. However, the tightly-rehearsed skill of the performers lets the listener in on the joke as soon as the song actually begins. Their producer avoided recording too many takes of their performances, preferring a spontaneous sound: according to one member, the producer would record at most two takes of a particular song, and use the one that sounded worse.

SUPERB STUFF FROM ONE OF MY FAVOURITE COMEDY GROUPS!  

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