What you get with this CD is thirty-one rockabilly (and rockabilly-ish) sides from the vaults of Dot Records, a small indie label which flourished for a few short years in Gallatin, Tennessee before being bought out by Paramount in 1957. None of these sides were hits but, hey, there's lots to enjoy here.
As well as a number of straight rockers, there are some real fun sides like Lloyd Copas' 'Circle Rock' which might be described as... well, circle-dancing, fast rocka-doo-wop-abilly (Hysterical!). There's the seriously orgasmic Marty Lott (aka The Phantom) with 'Love Me' (two versions - the earlier take recorded before he'd worked himself up to full .....) There's a love-lorn Loy Clingman with 'I'm Low, Low, Low', more folk than 'billy, and Sandford Clark with 'Lonesome for a Letter' delivered in his disengaged style. There are a couple of wild boogie-woogies from Mickey Gilley, the man who grew up improvising duets on the piano with his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis. There are also a couple of sides from Bob Denton including the teenage-fantasy, 'Playboy' (a great, laid-back, feel-good version this, with ultra-smooth vocals.)
There is 'billy a'plenty on this CD, some good boogie-woogie and, here and there, a strong whiff of the blues. As with all the 'That'll Flat Git It!' series, you get lots of variety and lots of surprises. Not one track is a dud or lacking in interest. There are a couple of well-known names and tunes on this disc (Mac Wiseman with 'Step it up and go', for example) but most of the performers and sides were new to me. The recording is crisp and as clean as 1950s original recordings are ever going to be. And it comes with an informative 48 page booklet.