Acting like restoring transcriptions is something unique in the music industry is downright stupid. This is routinely done by labels in addition to VoiceMasters.
The engineer who pompously describes his approach to dealing with old transcription disks as if it's rocket science has a very uninformed captive audience amidst the reporters asking questions. My God. They cover music and they don't know this stuff is common?
I had to laugh when the guy said he will sometimes work on a track up to "eight hours." Wow! He must be exhausted.
Here's a news bulletin: VoiceMasters has unearthed and released scores of rarities on Jim Reeves over the past 12 years and our team not only restores old audio (ETs, acetates, tapes, vinyl) to perfection, but goes one giant leap beyond that by OVERDUBBING a lot of our music.
We aren't alone. Peruse Amazon and you'll be amazed at the list of artists whose long-forgotten catalogs are being brought back for fans to enjoy, by a plethora of indie labels. This includes one company that has released some new material on Patti Page. The list goes on and on.
So why does this peculiar little release of Hank's deserve a Grammy? When we tried to find a copy last week we were told it was out of print.
The label that released it is based in LA, the producer has worked for big labels and obviously has connections within the industry, and we know that heirs to Williams -- including one viperous woman and friend of a former unscrupulous eBay seller who plundered the Reeves estate -- has powerful connections in Nashville, thanks to her shark of a husband who's a lawyer.
Frankly, the whole thing reeks of politics. It really cheapens the realm of the coin to treat that Hank release as anything spectacular enough to warrant a Grammy, when I could give you a list a mile long of other deserving releases that I have purchased from other labels that have done very impressive work perpetuating the memories of great artists.
I bet those of us who own indie labels are all a bit stunned by this ridiculous accolade, and Colin Escott's involvement in the project only heightens the disdain, because he too is a big award winner but sadly, a sloppy historian, who has made MANY errors in his writing about Jim Reeves. It wouldn't surprise me if Colin probably has a beer now and then with Mike Streissguth. They are cut from the same cloth, though Colin is a far better writer (but not necessarily a better researcher).
Just my humble opinion. I'm frankly sick of Jim Reeves getting overlooked all the time but even Mary used to grouse about that.
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