Ray Bourbon had a recording career that lasted thirty years, from the early 1930s through the mid-1960s.
Over the past three years, I’ve made a systematic effort to restore Ray’s recordings from original pressings of his 78 rpm and album releases. This was necessary because the original master plates of Ray’s 78s were destroyed long ago, as was the usual practice by pressing plants with contract works such as this. And it appears that the master tapes for Ray’s lp-era albums were destroyed or discarded.
However, there is still a chance that the tape masters for Ray’s albums, and perhaps other tape recordings by Ray might survive. If you are a tape collector or deal in processing tape collections, you might be able to discover these lost masters.
If you run into any of these tapes or discs – or any recorded material featuring Ray not listed in my discography, please contact me.
Ray had a unique voice and performing style – you can get an idea of what he sounded like, in case you spot a possible recording by him, by sampling some of his material at archive.org.
The Missing UTC Masters
Ray’s main run of lp record albums, originally recorded in the 1950s and sold through the early 1970s, were on the UTC label, pressed under contract by Music Minus One, a firm in Westchester, New York that mostly offered record albums for musicians to practice jazz or classical works.
I verified that Music Minus One still had the master tapes of Ray’s albums as late as the early 2000s.
In 2016, the company was purchased by the Hal Leonard Corporation. I discovered soon after that that the new owners, during an inventory of the Music Minus One holdings and intellectual property, either discarded or destroyed those master tapes – MMO did some other contract work, in addition to Ray’s albums, and, since the company didn’t own the copyright on the material, decided to dispose of it. (One of the non-Ray contract albums MMO released was by actor and comedian Brother Theodore, btw.)
I do not know if the tapes were physically destroyed or simply tossed out – they could turn up on eBay or with a collector.
If you want to look for these tapes, they will probably be 10.5” NAB-hub reels with the material recorded at 15 inches per second. The original albums were first pressed in the early to late 1950s, so will likely be Scotch or Audiotape branded on metal reels. They could turn up on eBay, auction sites, or estate sales and might be sold as reusable, blank vintage tapes.
Examples of Scotch and Audiotape professional reels and boxes from this period are shown below.
The Missing “Lasses” Masters
In 1957, Ray recorded eight sides that were released on 45 rpm singles under the “Lasses” label. According to an interview I ran into a few years ago, the master tapes supposedly still existed in the late 1990s, but I’ve turned up nothing in trying to follow the leads.
The recordings were made and pressed in New Orleans and could turn up there.
I’m not sure of the tape format of the masters, but the all might be spliced on one 10.5” metal reel, similar to the Music Minus One tapes noted above. Or the tracks for individual singles might be located on separate reels.
The 45s in this series are extremely rare – I have a complete set and only know one or two other collectors that have all of them. The pressings aren’t that great, so would really benefit from remastering from the source tapes.
Missing Personal Recordings
People who knew Ray recalled that he was always carrying a tape recorder with him to rehearse and record routines. After his arrest, the personal belongings in his Saint Louis, Missouri, apartment were tossed out by his landlord.
We don’t know if the belongings were thrown out in the trash or given to junk dealers. Regardless, there may be a chance that some of these tapes might still be floating around somewhere.
These would likely be consumer tapes manufactured in the 1950s or early 60s, on three-inch, five inch, or seven inch reels.
While in prison on the murder charge, someone gave Ray a small cassette recorder that he used to listen to religious tapes. There aren’t reports of Ray recording anything, but he might have. These cassettes might turn up in Brownwood, Texas or the surrounding area or in southern Florida from the estate of Ray’s lifelong friends, composters Bob Wright and Chet Forrest, who took care of arrangements after Ray passed away in 1972.
Missing 78 rpm Test Pressings
In the 1990s, David Diehl documented some test pressings of recordings by Ray that have never turned up. You can read about these on the Miscellaneous 78s page at this site under the “Anonymous White Label” heading.
These test pressings will be either 10” or 12” 78 rpm records probably pressed on vinyl. Some might be single-sided with an Allied Recording blank side design on the back.
Don't Call Me Madam 