At the age of 37 Gus Harden was embraced by the benevolent arms of the cartel known as the CMA and allowed to cut 25 tracks for RCA over a two year period. Despite reasonable success those arms promptly dropped her and she was designated-for-assignment and sent down to the Honky Tonk - County Fair League. She died in a car crash in her native Oklahoma in 1996.
To the best of my knowledge, the only recording that has seen release on CD in the ensuing years is the one on which Earl Thomas Conley sang. These are all vinyl transfers done by me.
The last half dozen or so tracks suffer from occasional sibilance in the right channel. I purchased two mint still-sealed copies of the Wall of Tears LP and did digital transfers of both. (The track More Or Less appeared on the first 1984 issue of the LP but was replaced by her 1985 duet with Dave Loggins, Just As Long As I Have You, on subsequent releases.) I found the same issues in the same exact places on both copies. I then played them on a different turntable with the same result. It appears to be a mastering issue. I do not have any software with de-essing filters......that I'm aware of.......so it is what it is.
Listening to these recordings again I can't help but think that a lot of them could have just as easily been done by Stevie Nicks or Cher or ? and been pop hits. Instead they remain mostly obscure, gathering dust in Lost Vinyl Land.
The mp3 (320) folder contains all tracks leveled to 92dB. The flac folder varies a bit.
