Bill Haley
View B-side label
ListenFour Leaf Clover Blues · 1948
B-Side: Vocal duet by Barney Barnard and Bill Haley. Listen on YouTube ↗
1948 · Cowboy Records
Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals / Four Leaf Clover Blues
Before “Rock Around the Clock,” Bill Haley led a western-swing band. This small-label Philadelphia release is his earliest confirmed commercial single: Tex King sings the A-side, while Haley shares the vocal on the reverse and co-wrote its song. The record catches a future rock-and-roll pioneer working within the country music world that shaped him. [1] [2]
| Accession | OMMA-0150 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Bill Haley and the 4 Aces of Western Swing |
| Release | August 1948 · United States |
| Label | Cowboy Records · CR-1201 |
| Format | 10-inch disc · 78 rpm |
| Issue | U.S. commercial issue · yellow Cowboy labels |
| Runouts | Not yet documented |
| Recorded grade | E- |
| Purchase date | 9 September 2026 |
Release history and significance
Issued on Cowboy Records in August 1948, CR-1201 places Haley’s name at the head of the 4 Aces of Western Swing. Billboard reviewed both sides on 14 August 1948, page 121; the chronology in Essex Records: A History independently places the Cowboy release in that month. This is the earliest confirmed commercial single in the Archive’s Haley discography. [1] [3]
Although Haley was credited as bandleader, “Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals” names Tex King as vocalist and Henderson, Rose and Dixon as writers. The B-side has Haley’s name all over it. “Four Leaf Clover Blues” credits a vocal duet by Barney Barnard and Bill Haley, with songwriting credits to Bill Haley and Shorty Cook. [2]
Western swing brought country music into conversation with dance-band rhythm and improvisation. Haley’s later work would draw country, swing and rhythm and blues into the music that reached a mass audience through “Rock Around the Clock.” This record preserves an earlier stage of that development, before the Comets and international fame. [4]
Physical Description
Ten-inch 78 rpm shellac disk with yellow Cowboy labels and dark lettering, with CR-1201-A and CR-1201-B as label identifiers. [2] [5]
Condition
Media shows good sheen with little wear. The labels have a strong yellow color and clear printing with noticeable but acceptable spindle wear on both sides.
Provenance
Purchased by OMMA from Ryan Mayers in a private sale on 9 September 2026. In an 18 August post to the Facebook group 78 rpm records & cylinders fan group, Mayers reported finding the record in a box of 78s at a yard sale the preceding weekend. [6]
Sources
- Billboard, 14 August 1948, p. 121. Contemporary review cited in the supplied accession research.
- Supplied photographs of both labels of OMMA-0150: printed artist, vocal and songwriting credits; side identifiers.
- Essex Records: A History, p. 2. Cowboy release chronology.
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Bill Haley. Career context and musical influence.
- Discogs, release 12091542 and 45worlds, Cowboy CR-1201. Release references supplied with the accession record.
- Ryan Mayers, Facebook sale post, 18 August.
Catalogue text reviewed 23 September 2026.