Red River Dave Authentic Hillbilly Ballads and Topical Songs: Volume One (1954-1976)

Notorious for his 1970 song ‘California Hippie Murders!’ - a ghoulish, harrowing, yodelling retelling of the infamous (Charles Manson masterminded) Tate-La-Bianca slayings - Red River Dave was a genuine cowboy singing star turned tabloid balladeer.

While ‘California Hippie Murders!’ might seem chilling and bizarre, within the body of ‘Red River Dave’ McEnery epic saga songs (collected here for the very first time), it makes perfect sense.

The Moon landings, the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst, the Vietnam conflict, the assassination of JFK, the murder of young Emmett Till, Korean War ‘Manchurian Candidate’ brainwashing, patriotic tirades and Cold War dirges - all grist for the great Red River Dave Hillbilly song-mill.

Often cut within hours or days of the event and pressed as minuscule edition private 45s: the tall, flamboyant, ’Buffalo Bill’ bearded McEnery cut a dashing figure in his gold-sprayed cowboy boots and cracking lariat - as he hawked these handcrafted cuts from the boot of his steer-horned Cadillac.

Some sides presented here are so rare as to be near-mythical - you’ll hear Red River Dave wax about the death of Marilyn Monroe and the Bay of Pigs - in an eccentric and forgotten chronicle of the 20th century experience.