The term “lost masters” is often used in referring to master recordings that basically were put on shelf and forgotten over time only to be discovered again in the future. Over a decade ago John Mathis Jr acquired over 100 copyrights into his Avid Group Publishing/BMI catalog of his father, Country Johnny Mathis.
During that time he also acquired dozens of reel-to-reel tapes of master recordings of his father’s music, primarily from the 1960’s and 1970’s. As was the practice during those time periods, tapes were spliced onto to various reels to hold for future use with labeling practices of the boxes not necessarily indicating fully what may be on the reel.
Fast forward to over 5 decades later and the delicate process of transferring 1/4 inch reel-to-reel tape to a digital format and some amazing treasures have been discovered!
Such has been the case in a recent round of tape transfers that have led to never-before-released recordings of Country Johnny Mathis. Two new discoveries have been made: “Everything But Love And A Future” and “I’ll Hurt A Lifetime”.
The “lost masters” have been included on a new 8 song album release of Country Johnny Mathis recordings entitled, ‘American Dream’, on the Avid record label. For a complete track listing and streaming links, visit ClassicCountryRevival.com.
Country Music fans will enjoy the vintage sound from the late 60’s on these recordings as well as the preservation of some Country Music history. The songs have also been made available for the Tunecore Creative services division who have previously placed Country Johnny Mathis recordings in documentaries and recently in the CBS TV show, ‘Young Sheldon’.
Country Johnny Mathis began his recording career in 1948, was a regular performer on the Louisiana Hayride during the 1950’s, and had 10 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees record his songs. He garnered two BMI Citations of Achievement during his career and his songs were on multiple Billboard charting albums and Gold Records, covered by artists such as Ray Price, Johnny Horton, Webb Pierce, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Charley Pride, Elvis Costello and many others.
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