Here’s Gene Autry, Blues Singer of Note : GENE AUTRY “Blues Singer 1929-1931” Columbia/Legacy (*** 1/2)

Here’s an album guaranteed to elicit a double-take from anyone who knows Autry only as the most popular of all the movie singing cowboys, and one of the hottest singers in country music in the ‘40s, when he scored 25 straight Top 10 singles.

Thanks to such hits as the nostalgic “Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine” and the holiday novelty “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Autry, the son of a Texas tenant farmer, also frequently broke into the national pop charts.

But none of his movies or recordings gave a clue that Autry could--or in fact ever did--sing the blues.

So where did “Blues Singer 1929-1931” come from?

Born in 1907, Autry started singing pop standards as a youngster, accompanying himself on a mail-order guitar that his mother bought and taught him to play. Even after he got a job as a railroad telegrapher in 1925, Autry continued to dream of a career as a pop singer.

While visiting New York on a railroad pass years later, he was urged by a friend to forget pop music and start singing in the blues style of Jimmie Rodgers, the celebrated “Singing Brakeman” who combined country, blues and folk into a unique “blue yodel” style that became the foundation for modern country music.

Autry was so enthusiastic about Rodgers’ approach and the commercial possibilities of following in the singer’s footsteps that he tried to imitate his style.

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The American Record Co. (later Columbia Records) was apparently looking for a singer to compete with Rodgers, who recorded for RCA Victor, and signed Autry to a contract.

Autry started off singing Rodgers songs, including “Blue Yodel No. 5,” and he did a good job of capturing the spirit and style of his model. He was also backed on these 23 blues-related tracks by some exceptional instrumentalists, including steel guitarist Roy Smeck.

Autry was equally adept at applying the Rodgers style to his own originals (such as the playful “Dallas County Jail Blues”) and material by other writers.

In 1931, Autry stepped away from the blues briefly to record “Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” which would eventually become his first monster pop hit. That success--along with the movie career--would redirect Autry’s music toward cowboy and western tunes.

“Blues Singer 1929-1931” stands, however, as an engrossing demonstration of Autry’s brief but invigorating embrace of the blues.

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