BILL CLIFTON signed 8x10 w/ Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday 2xLP FREE SHIP

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BILL CLIFTON autographed 8x10 w/ Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday 2xLP NEW. Condition is New. 
Along with new recordings by Bill Clifton and other stars of Starday Records on a limited edition 2xLP red vinyl set, this auction includes both an autographed Bill Clifton 8x10 and a digital download card.
Each of the 14 Stars of Starday signed an extremely limited number of promo pictures to be given away for free with the first 150 copies of the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday LP. Each 8x10 was autographed by the artist pictured and is stamped on the back, "Thank you for supporting Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday." These are being given away as a bonus for purchasing the limited edition red vinyl version. 
Brand New, Deluxe-Edition, Heavy Duty Tip-On Gatefold Cover, Red Vinyl, Double Album by Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday with Digital Download Code Included. 24 newly-recorded songs with the original Stars of Starday Records: Frankie Miller, Betty Amos w/ Judy & Jean, Sleepy LaBeef, Bill Clifton, Jesse McReynolds, Arnold Parker, Darnell Miller, LIttle Roy Lewis, Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell, June Stearns, Margie Singleton, and Wade Jackson. Backed by Marty Stuart, members of his Fabulous Superlatives band (Kenny Vaughan and Chris Scruggs), and many more talented musicians. 
The CD version with 56-page booklet and bonus track was released by Bear Family Records earlier this year. This 2xLP version was released by Gibson Records and is available on black vinyl or red vinyl. This is the Limted Edition red vinyl version and includes a signed 8x10 photo of a Starday Star with each order. LPs come in plastic sleeve (not shrink), with full color insert sleeves and download code inside.
The package is quite heavy. Media shipping in US is FREE. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I am unable to ship internationally at this time. When this changes, I will update my listings and look forward to shipping LPs anywhere in the world. In the meantime, if you are in Europe, I would recommend purchasing the CD or 2xLP via Bear Family Records.
About the project:
Starday Records was the largest independent country music record label in the 1950s and ‘60s, releasing a lot of incredible traditional country music, honky-tonk, rockabilly, bluegrass, gospel, and western swing. As my friends know, I’ve been obsessed with Starday Records for many years; I even wrote a book about the label called The Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built (University Press of Mississippi).
In recent years, I've wanted to shine an even brighter light on the music itself, specifically on the many Starday artists who are still alive and still making great music today. So I decided to travel around the country and make a record with some of my all-time favorite Starday artists. Along the way I worked with some incredible musicians including Marty Stuart, Kenny Vaughan, Chris Scruggs, and many more.
SO WHAT'S ON THE RECORD?
24 Starday songs recorded as duets with the original Starday artists:

• Betty Amos w/ Judy & Jean - Stars of the Louisiana Hayride and Wheeling Jamboree who were among the first women to write & record their own truck driving songs. Betty was just the second woman ever recorded playing Scruggs-style banjo.
• Bill Clifton - Bluegrass Hall of Famer and International Ambassador of Bluegrass Music
• Rudy “Tutti” Grayzell - Rockabilly Hall of Famer and Elvis Presley’s touring mate in the mid ‘50s
• Wade Jackson - Grand Ole Opry Road Show performer and author of “Don’t Be Angry,” a huge hit for his brother Stonewall Jackson 
• Sleepy LaBeef - Rockabilly Hall of Famer and rock and roll legend
• Little Roy Lewis - Bluegrass Hall of Famer, Gospel Music Hall of Famer, Georgia Music Hall of Famer, and also the most recorded Starday artist of all-time
• Jesse McReynolds - Bluegrass Hall of Famer and one of the longest tenured members of the Grand Ole Opry. Also 1/2 of the longest-lasting brother duet in country music history, Jim & Jesse.
• Darnell Miller - Star of West Virginia's Saturday evening Country Jamboree TV shows and the longest-tenured member of the Wheeling Jamboree
• Frankie Miller - The "Black Land Farmer" himself, star of the Louisiana Hayride and frequent Grand Ole Opry guest
• Arnold Parker - Rockabilly Hall of Famer and 2018 inductee into America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame
• Margie Singleton - Hit songwriter, renowned session vocalist, and the first woman to record a duet LP with George Jones 
• June Stearns - The last Smokey Mountain Girl in Roy Acuff’s band and frequent duet partner with Red Sovine, Johnny Duncan, Lefty Frizzell, and many more. She was also the first woman to duet with Pete Drake's Talking Steel Guitar
• What an amazing group of country music stars!! It’s a really fun record with a lot of traditional country music, bluegrass, rockabilly, western swing, honky-tonk, and gospel music legends from the 1950s and ‘60s! I love that all of these artists are still making great music today, 50-60 years after their Starday records first came out, and I'm super excited for their fans to discover these new recordings of their Starday classics!

Tracklist

Credits

• 5-String Banjo, Acoustic Guitar – Little Roy Lewis
• Acoustic Guitar – Mike Lee
• Acoustic Guitar, Double Bass – Nate Gibson
• Double Bass – Dave Roe, Kevin Smith (17)
• Drums – Bobby Trimble, John McTigue III, Kevin Kathey, Tim Moore
• Drums, Steel Guitar, Electric Guitar, Dobro, Double Bass – Chris Scruggs
• Electric Bass – Lonnie Spiker
• Electric Guitar – Tom Umberger
• Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Kenny Vaughan (2)
• Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Dobro, Mandolin – Jerry Miller (5)
• Electric Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar – Steve Hinson
• Fiddle – Dena El Saffar, Lizzy Long
• Liner Notes – Frankie Miller (2), Marty Stuart, Nate Gibson
• Mandolin – Jesse McReynolds, Marty Stuart
• Pedal Steel Guitar – Pete Finney
• Piano – Carl Sonny Leyland, Tim Atwood
• Steel Guitar – Bobby Horton (2)

If you attend a bluegrass festival, thank Bill Clifton for having the idea to present the very first one. Clifton was not the most famous of the first generation of bluegrass artists, but he did much to establish the idea of bluegrass as a preserver of half-forgotten songs and styles. Clifton's background was hardly a typical one for bluegrass -- although the players who would populate the distinctive Washington, D.C., bluegrass scene often shared Clifton's professional background. He was born William Marburg to a wealthy family in Riverwood, MD, in suburban Baltimore County. As a child, he became fascinated by country music he heard on the radio. A folk-music enthusiast, he made the obligatory trip to New York to visit Woody Guthrie. Attending graduate school in business at the University of Virginia, he formed a trio called the Dixie Mountain Boys with folksingers Paul Clayton and Dave Sadler, adopting the stage name Bill Clifton because his family objected to his musical activities. In 1952, the group made their first recordings and enjoyed some regional success. The trio then added banjoist Johnny Clark and began playing more traditional bluegrass music. After signing with Blue Ridge Records, they appeared on the Wheeling Jamboree radio barn-dance program. While there, Clifton made the acquaintance of the Stanley Brothers and A.P. Carter. In 1955 he published a songbook, 150 Old-Time Folk and Gospel Songs, which circulated widely among bluegrass musicians. After a stint in the military, he began recording in the late '50s, releasing five albums over the next seven years. They were suffused with the sentimental imagery of old-time songs, and several singles, including "Little Whitewashed Chimney," became bona fide hits and bluegrass standards.

On July 4, 1961, Clifton organized an outdoor "Bluegrass Day" concert at Oak Leaf Park in Luray, VA, featuring a reunion of Bill Monroe's original bluegrass boys, the Stanley Brothers, the Country Gentlemen, Jim & Jesse, and several other top bluegrass acts. Although it was only an all-day rather than weekend-long event, the concert is generally recognized as the first bluegrass festival, as the progenitor of the hundreds of grassroots campground gatherings that flourish annually all over the U.S. and Canada. Clifton's concert didn't make much of a splash with the general public at the time, but key figures in the folk-music world were paying close attention. Clifton himself was hired as one of the organizers of the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, and Carlton Haney, one of the attendees at Clifton's Luray concert, went on to organize a larger event in Roanoke in 1965. From that point on, the modern bluegrass-festival movement grew rapidly.

In 1963, Clifton and his family moved to England; he played in local clubs and other small venues around Europe. In 1967 he joined the Peace Corps and spent three years in the Philippines. While there, he visited New Zealand, recording an album with the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band. Clifton occasionally returned to the U.S. to record, and also kept recording in Europe. In 1972, he returned briefly to America to play his first bluegrass festival circuit. Encouraged by the experience, he began visiting the U.S. more frequently and recorded more regularly, signing with County Records. For his third album on the label, he formed the First Generation with mandolinist Red Rector and banjoist Don Stover. After the album's release, the trio toured the bluegrass circuit for the remainder of the 1970s. In the early '80s, Clifton and his family moved to Virginia, where he worked as a businessman. However, Clifton continued to perform at bluegrass festivals and occasional concerts into the '90s.