The Glenn label, a product of Mar-Vel Records, was run by a guy named Harry Glenn. He was born in 1917 in Bald Knob, Indiana, the son of a couple of poor farmers who had eight kids.  His love of poetry led him into the music business. His deal was to track down obscure local Country, Western Swing, and Rockabilly singers, record them, and then sell their records out of the back of his Rambler.  He drove that old car from one radio station to another, pushing his records on the dee jays. He even had a big speaker mounted on the car so he could let the whole countryside hear the songs while he drove past. Glenn managed to release over 140 recordings between 1949 and 1965, never giving up his day job as a welder!  He built his recording studio in Hammond, Indiana, just over the state line from Chicago. It was a steel town in the shadow of stinky Gary, Indiana, with a large working class population, many of whom were transplanted from southern states. Harry Glenn discovered Billy Hall, a country singer,  mainly, who had moved up from Metropolis, Illinois, and the two of them put together a string of singles. Billy wrote a lot of the songs himself, including this one, Good Bye Angel. But this is not a Country or Rockabilly song. This one can only be classified as a Teener, and a darn good one!

Now beyond what I’ve just told you, I don’t know anything else about Billy Hall.  I have no idea what happened to him after Harry Glenn called it quits with his record company. If you know any of that stuff, man I wish you’d tell me!  This kid would have been a big star, given the right promotion and exposure. That’s not to say that old Harry didn’t give it his best.

New Oldies – The Greatest Hits You’ve Never Heard is a radio format I’ve been perfecting for years. If you’re interested in more information about it, or you’d like to give it a try on your radio station or HD channel, please drop me an e-mail. I guarantee you it’s not what you think.