Eddie Carter

A true sign of obscurity in genres such as rockabilly are the artists whose total number of recordings is less than the number of compilations these songs or in this case song appear on. This is the trademark of regional artists whose lone escapades in recording studios, sometimes released with a number by a different artist on the flipside, become fodder for labels releasing compilations with titles such as Rockabilly Hoodlums, Vol. 2 or Rebel Rockabilly Romp, Vol. 6. Either of these sets is where a listener would find "Railroad Stomp," originally cut by Eddie Carter & the Sunset Ramblers for the Preview label on a single so rare that rockabilly scholars aren't even sure what is on the flipside, other than droplets of greasy kid's stuff.

If this Eddie Carter has anything to do with several other musicians with this same name from the gospel music scene, it would indicate not only the usual cultural flow between secular and religious music, but the presence of chagrined ministers. After all, what religious leader would want musically talented members of the congregation showing up on compilation albums with songs such as "Ten Horned Devil"? "Lies, Lies, Lies" and "I Laugh When I Should Have Been Listenin'," recorded by Norman Bullock and Jerry Carr, respectively, could also be taken as negative reactions to sermons. "Railroad Stomp" is at least only mildly raucous by the standards of this genre, and has no relation to another song of the same name recorded by a> artists Lucille Bogan and Walter Roland.

There is also speculation that there is no such person as Eddie Carter at all, at least in terms of a rockabilly recording artist. The Preview label's specialty was the "poems set to music" racket in which the use of pseudonyms was rampant. Rodd Keith was the label's most prolific artist and eventually became quite legendary. No such honors have been bestowed upon Carter, whose name and backing band show up on one other Preview single credited to Chick Sandone. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi