Music for Easter from Autry, Stoki and Many Others

The headline above is slightly misleading. I have nothing new for the holiday; instead I am resurrecting (forgive the terminology) a few posts from so long ago I barely remember them. The records are newly shined up and dressed in their best Easter finery.

These two varied items define the limits of what can be considered Easter music, because they range from Gene Autry records to the compositions of Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Details follow, along with links to several other, more recent posts of a seasonal nature.

Gene Autry - Easter Favorites

Singing cowboy Gene Autry didn't confine his holiday warbling to the Christmas season; he also produced enough Easter material to fill a Columbia 10-inch LP, which I duly offered in the early days of this blog.

Gene's big gun, so to speak, was "Peter Cottontail," which was a hit in 1950 for Autry and song authors Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins.

The rest of the bunny litter isn't wasn't as successful, but the songs are still enjoyable if you have a taste for kiddie material, or have young ones who enjoy such fare. The titles are "Funny Little Bunny," "Easter Mornin'," "Sonny the Bunny," "Bunny Round-Up Time" and "The Horse with an Easter Bonnet."

Good sound here, and the performances are just what you would expect - Western swing with kiddie sound effects.

LINK to Gene Autry Easter Favorites

Stokowski Conducts Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov

You may notice that the cover doesn't herald the appearance of Leopold Stokowski - odd, considering he was one of the most famous conductors of the 20th century. Nor does it mention the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he led for many years, as he does on this record.

RCA Victor's budget Camden label used pseudonyms on its classical reissues for a few years in the 1950s, I suppose to avoid pulling sales from the Red Seal line. So for this outing, Stoki and the Philadelphians were dubbed the Warwick Symphony.

Stoki in full flow

Under whatever name, these are enduring performances. The Russian Easter Overture from Rimsky-Korsakov comes from as long ago as early 1929, yet sounds splendid.

Even better are the excerpts from Wagner's Parsifal, an opera that takes place on Good Friday. The conductor programmed the usual extracts - the Prelude and "Good Friday Spell." The excellent performances and recordings come from late 1936.

LINK to Leopold Stokowski - Music for Easter

More Music for Easter

Here are links to some of the other Easter items I've shared over the years.

An Easter Bouquet from Buster: This encompasses 32 numbers, everything from Duke Ellington to the Brown's Ferry Four. Also an alternative version of "Peter Cottontail" by Jimmy Wakely, for those who dislike Gene Autry.

Robert Shaw's Treasury of Easter Songs. A seasonal program from the august choir director - Bach, Brahms, traditional songs of many countries, and a bonus of "Easter Parade." No "Peter Cottontail," though.

An Easter Symphony from Czech Composer Josef Foerster. A highly attractive Romantic symphony from a lesser known composer, with the Prague Symphony under Václav Smetácek.

Bach for Easter with Robert Shaw. Shaw returns with a program of Bach's profound Cantata Christ lag in Todensbaden (Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death). Fine performance from 1946.

Music from Handel's Messiah from Christopher Hogwood. Finally, a post from last year presenting the exceptional performance of excerpts from Messiah with Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy of Ancient Music, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and several splendid soloists.

A Country Christmas Collection from 1949

My friend Lee brought this 10-inch LP to my attention not long ago, after I had expressed admiration for Ray Smith's recording of "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas," which it contains.

I'm glad I acquired the album - it's very enjoyable and the sound came up nicely.

Ray Smith

Half the LP is devoted to Gene Autry, one of the best known Christmas troubadors and one of the stars of Columbia's artist roster. But let's first discuss the relatively obscure Ray Smith, who despite his talent was with the label only for a year or two. Born in California, Smith was working in New York when he managed to get a contract with Columbia Records in 1949. He had already produced a few sides for National the year before.

Columbia had Smith record "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "An Old Christmas Card" in one of his first few sessions for them. The former tune dates from the 19th century, while the latter was a new item by Vaughn Horton. The single did relatively well, but Smith only had a few more dates for the label and, as far as I can tell, never recorded another Christmas song.

Smith was from the Eddy Arnold school of singing, but when I first heard his voice, it put me in mind of Jim Reeves, a later artist. Reeves in fact remade "An Old Christmas Card" in 1963, and his version is the one that is heard today, if the song is heard at all.

The label of Smith's 78 says he is accompanied by string band, but it sure sounds like organ and chimes on "An Old Christmas Card" and guitar and organ on "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas."

Gene Autry's records, in contrast, feature his version of a Western swing band, with trumpet and twin fiddles prominent. The big hit on this LP was "Here Comes Santa Claus," released in 1947. On 78, that tune was coupled with "An Old Fashioned Tree," also included here.

The other Autry songs, "Santa, Santa, Santa" and "He's a Chubby Little Fellow," date from 1949. Although less familiar than some of Autry's fare, they are no less enjoyable.

Columbia really didn't have much of a country artist roster. The back cover of this LP shows that its early long-playing catalog could offer only albums by Bob Wills, Roy Acuff, Bob Atcher, Al Dexter, George Morgan and Spade Cooley.

To fill out its country Christmas collection, Columbia had to reach back to its predecessor ARC, whose catalog it acquired in 1938. Fortunately, the two items it chose from that source are good ones, even though one is in no way countrified.

The Hoosier Hot Shots

First, we have the wonderful Hoosier Hot Shots with a rollicking version of "Jingle Bells," with the conceit that they are playing the tune while riding in the sleigh. The Hot Shots recorded the number in 1936, relatively early in their recording career. ARC issued it on Melotone, Conqueror and perhaps other labels.

The earliest item on the LP, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" dates from 1934, and was originally issued on Melotone and Conqueror as by the American Novelty Orchestra. ARC used that orchestra name as a pseudonym for a variety of bands, including Victor Young, Johnny Messner, Jack Shilkret and Joe Green. Discographer Brian Rust shows Johnny Messner's brother Dick as having recorded "Jingle Bells" in 1935 for ARC, which issued the title under the American Novelty Orchestra name, so his band is another possibility. (UPDATE: Allan Sutton's Pseudonymns on American Records, which I recently acquired, confirms my surmise that this was Dick Messner's orchestra.)

Whatever the case, it's a spirited rendition with a reedy vocal entirely characteristic of the period, and great fun - as is the whole LP.

The Billboard ad below shows the Columbia Christmas issues for 1948, which included four of the numbers from this LP. Also included are the wonderful Sinatra holiday records from that period, and a set by the Lyn Murray Singers, which appeared on this blog in 2013 and is still available. Unfortunately, the Country Christmas Collection does not include the Korn Kobblers' "Don't Give Me No Goose for Christmas, Grandma," which either has to do with poultry or tickling, not sure which.

Follow @BusterBig10Inch

Gene Autry - Easter Favorites

I posted the EP version of this material last year before remembering that I also have this 10" LP. Not that it makes a heck of a lot of difference - six songs versus four. Columbia wasn't terribly generous with its House Party series of LPs from the mid-50s. This is one of the first in the children's edition, called the Playhouse Party Series.

The LP is from 1956, but Autry began making Easter records as early as 1950, with the big seasonal hit, Peter Cottontail. It was almost as big as his Christmas records, which started with Here Comes Santa Claus in 1948 and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1949.

Like many of us in a certain elevated age range, I had these records as a young sprout. I remember being confused by both Here Comes Santa Claus and Peter Cottontail. (I realize this does not speak well for my intelligence.) Gene tells us that Santa is coming "right down Santa Claus Lane." I did not get that. Santa is flying around in a sleigh. What's with this Santa Claus Lane? And Peter Cottontail, he's "hopping down the bunny trail." To me, this was even more mysterious than Santa Claus Lane. The "bunny trail"? I still don't get that one.

If you listen to these records now, what stands out is the use of flute and clarinet to connote the bunny's sprightly activities, and the incessant sound of wood blocks to signify its hopping. Frankly, because similar sounds are often used to depict horses' clip-clopping, I can't shake this mental picture of Gene on a mincing Champion the Wonder Horse, hopping down the bunny trail, hippity-hoppity.

This comes into focus on the final song, The Horse with the Easter Bonnet, where the sound of temple blocks stand in for the horses' gait. The effect is not much different.

As you can perhaps tell, I was quite the critic even newly out of the womb. As soon as I got a record player and a few kiddie records, I was ready with opinions.

I probably would have been disillusioned then to learn that many of these beloved songs were spawned through a marketing tie-in with Macy's, including Funny Little Bunny in 1951 and the horse with the hat in 1954. Today it just strikes me as a clever idea. Ah, my lost innocence!

LINK (2026 remaster)

Eastern Fun with Gene Autry

Gene Autry's big Easter hit was 1950's Peter Cottontail. This EP collects that tune with three other rabbit tales to produce this Easter Fun EP from the mid-50s.

It wasn't until after I prepared this post that I remembered having Autry's 10-inch Easter LP. That one will have to wait until next year.

LINK