Vintage Vinyl - Shirley Field

Country singer/songwriter Shirley Field was born in Armstrong, B.C. and began singing in school operettas and local stampedes at the tender age of five. Her first recordings were with Evan Kemp and His Trail Riders, she had her own radio program (“The Cowboy’s Sweetheart Show”) on CFJC Kamloops, and she made appearances on both the CBC, CTV’s “Cross Country Barn Dance” and “The Grand Ole Opry Show.” Outside the studio she toured extensively across Canada and the U.S. as the leader of the Shirley Field Show (the back of this LP is autographed “To Pete – Shirley Field & The Country Casuals”) and with superstar Marty Robbins. According to this site (which also has some nice photos of her records and performances) she won an international yodelling award in 1993, marked 50 (!) years of performing in 1998 and currently lives in Alberta.

Two Sides Of Shirley Field was recorded, most likely in the mid-’60s, at Stereo Sound Studios in Montreal, released on Canadian label Banff Records, and is split into “country” and “yodeling” halves. “Shattered,” a classic weeper in the spirit of Patsy Cline or Kitty Wells, was also written by Field and kicks off the “country” half.