I guess I'll suffer....

Just so ya'll know, this blog gets a fair amount of traffic. I have no idea how the numbers compare with other blogs short of presuming that they're probably pathetic by some standards and possibly glorious by others. Either way, they're about 30 to 50 times higher than I think I deserve, which no doubt says more about my expectations than the actual numbers.

Anyway, this past week was one of the two best weeks traffic-wise that the blog has ever had, and for that I'd like to thank Doug Schulkind for featuring The Singing Bones in his weekly "Mining The Audio Motherlode" post on WFMU's "Beware The Blog". Such a kind man. Such a very kind gesture.

While I'm at it, I'd also like to re-thank both Gyro and Ryp over at Twilightzone! for offering up collections of my 45s this past fall.....and also Derek See at Derek's Daily 45 for allowing me to guest post on his blog more than a year ago. Both of those events served to bring a whole new layer of folks to this blog. I'm very grateful for that even if I'm not always the best at expressing it.

Now, I'm not a total fool. I know the increase in numbers don't really mean a thing beyond the fact that a few new readers might stick around. If you consider that 75% of my traffic is some combination of bots along with folks who clicked here by mistake [never ever mention breasts in a post on Mardi Gras], and then consider that 75% of those remaining people probably don't actually like what I've posted on any given day....only then do you get close to the number my download figures suggest is real.

And beyond that, I'm quite sure only a tiny fraction of even the folks who like the tunes bother to read the nonsense I write. Which is fine, I often find "me" tedious too.

Anyway, I'd like to thank all 50 of you who do read my posts. Without your occasional comments and feedback, I'd def pack it in. I don't especially enjoy feeling lonely in a crowd.

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There are only eight known records by Billy Gayles [or Gales]. Of those, only six have his name on the label. All but one were recorded with Ike Turner. I say, "known" because there's a possibility I've found another. The investigators at Soul Detective may take up the case of that 45 in the future, but in the mean time the best guess is that it's Billy Gayles with some version of the Ike Turner crew.

This is not that mystery record. I plan on posting it next. This is the flip-side of Gayles' 1956 recording of "I'm Tore Up".....a less commonly heard side and one which, perversely enough, I've chosen precisely because it sounds nothing like what's coming up.

What an amazing voice....