This month I've added about a dozen songs to the Swing City Radio Playlist by one of my favorite vocal groups of the 1940's, The Dinning Sisters.
All of these tracks were original aired on a very popular show called "National Barn Dance" which broadcasted from the city of Chicago from 1924 until 1968. "National Barn Dance" regularly featured Country/Western artists, but in the early 1940's with Swing Music reaching it's peak in popularity, artists like The Dinning Sisters would make appearances to add a little bit of "Swing" to the Country music.
The Dinning Sisters made their first appearances on "National Barn Dance" in 1940 and soon became regulars. They received national exposure and gained quite a following. By 1943, the group was signed by Capitol Records to be that label's answer to The Andrews Sisters, who exclusively recorded for the Decca Record label.
The "National Barn Dance" recordings I recovered were quite tough to work with. Many shows were originally recorded too loud causing a distortion that couldn't be fixed. Luckily, some were captured correctly and with the exception of a few "pops" here and there, they came out sounding pretty good.
Keep an ear out for their version of "San Fernando Valley", a song called "3,121 Miles" and the song I've included in this post - "Blue Jacket". Great stuff!
