In the early 1960's, the PAMS company, famous for (among other things) radio jingles, offered up the "My Home Town" project. For a fee, a business could purchase the PAMS track "My Home Town", with lyrics written about the purchaser's town, perhaps containing a plug for the company paying for the song. Dozens of these songs were produced, mostly for radio stations, but I know of at least a few (including today's example) produced for other local businesses. Most were the exact same, 1:35 or so version (although a few have an extra, looped verse in the backing track), most were sung by a singer variously identified as Terry Lee, Terry Lee Jenkins, Claire Stewart and other names, and most featured an instrumental big band styled version of the tune on the flip side.
You can find dozens of examples of the song posted all over the place, including one version I particularly enjoy (due to some funny lyrics) that was posted to the original 365 days project in 2003.
Finding another one of these My Home Town records is hardly enough reason to post it - they're nearly all quite similar. But this one has a fun and interesting difference that I think makes it worth sharing. This record, "Lexington, My Home Town", is one of the few which was not produced on behalf of a radio station. Instead, local meat producers Elm Hill Meats paid for the record. But the difference here is that after the PAMS tune fades out, it is followed on the A side by a song called "Elm Hill Bill". The first-person aspect of this song is sort of destroyed by the fact that the singer is identified as George Morgan (a member of the Grand Ole Opry). The fact that it runs about 57 seconds makes me wonder if this was also a radio commercial.
The singer is NOT identified on this record, and she sounds a bit different to me than the standard singer (Terry Lee) heard on most of the My Home Town records). Because she's not named, I've just identified the artist as PAMS, and have also included the ubiquitous instrumental b-side.
Incidentally, Elm Hill Meats also paid for the My Home Town record representing Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the song was again paired with the Elm Hill Bill jingle. Can one have two home towns, and feel that both are the best place in the world?
PAMS - Lexington, My Home Town (Vocal) (MP3)
George Morgan - Elm Hill Meats (MP3)
PAMS - Lexington, My Home Town (Instrumental) (MP3)
Single A-Side Label (JPG) | Sing B-Side Label (JPG)
Elm Hill Meats, by the way, eventually merged with another company to form Family Brands, and has since become but one named brand owned by a larger corporation. You can read about that here.
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