Credited on the record as Rusty Diamond with Maryanne Mail.
The Lonely Sentry
1966 · Starday 747 · Madison, Tennessee
- Artist
- Rusty Diamond
- Credited on the record as
- Rusty Diamond with Maryanne Mail
- Title
- The Lonely Sentry
- Release
- The Lonely Sentry / I Guess I'd Better Get Up and Go Home
- Year
- 1966
- Label
- Starday # 747
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Madison, Tennessee, USA
- Songwriter
- Fenner, Blanchard
- Genre
- Country · Honky Tonk
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
Lonely Sentry, The (Diamond, Rusty & Maryanna Mail) Featuring vocalist Maryanne Mail (Misty Morgan), from the country duo Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan. Recorded in Florida, US. Released on Nashville, Tennessee record label. Song also featured on the 1966 various artist compilation Country Music Goes to War which included several Vietnam songs. Composed by Jack Blanchard, who wrote: "In 1965 I wrote a war song, inspired by our entrance in to the Viet Nam conflict. It wasn't intended to be for or against this particular war, but was an attempt to make war in general more personal...not just death counts in the news. We recorded it at Criteria Studios in Miami, with Rusty Diamond singing lead, and Misty Morgan singing harmony under the name Maryanne Mail. The result was a sound and feeling unlike anything we'd ever heard. The lead instrument in this record is an electric pedal banjo, the invention of the great banjo player Henry Cook, who looked like a younger Henry Fonda. Henry had cables going down from his banjo to a row of pedals on the floor, so he could get the slide and sustain of a steel guitar and keep the funkiness of the banjo. Paul McLaughlin (sax and Harmonica) was a regular member of our Miami band. On this cut Paul plays harmonica, and Misty plays the bells. The instrumental break features this odd combination: Electric pedal banjo, harmonica, and church bells. The recording was first released on our own Zodiac Records, and later on Nashville's Starday Records."1Sources1birdwalk2.tripod.com: The Lonely Sentry (archived copy)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Starday 747 (7884), white label marked "Promotion Copy" and "Not for Sale", 45 RPM; "The Lonely Sentry" (Fenner / Blanchard), 2:56, Starday/BMI; credited to Rusty Diamond with Maryanne Mail (vocal), arranged and conducted by Jack Blanchard. "From Nashville, Tennessee—The Musical Heart of America". Starday company sleeve: "Founded 1952", "Authentic Custom High Fidelity Recording", "Country & Gospel International", with an offer of a free catalogue of country and gospel singles, EPs and LPs from Starday Records, Box 115, Madison, Tenn. [From the record sleeve and labels]