Mary Ford

[cheering] [instrumental music]

Let's Go to Town, starring Ralph Flanagan, his great band, and our song stars of the month, Les Paul and Mary Ford.

Hello there.

This is Martin Block inviting you to join us in town, your hometown, with your friends and your neighbors who are proud to say, "We belong to the National Guard." Now, here's Ralph Flanagan.

[gentle music]

[gentle music][upbeat music] [audience cheering] Say, how about a stroll down memory lane? Our National Guard song stars of the month have a real old favorite to go along and keep you company.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Capitol's great recording stars Les Paul and Mary Ford.

[cheering]

So just visually, I had a kind of a frame of reference for something, but also, and probably more importantly, about six years earlier, summer of 1986, which is also when I happened to start taking bass guitar lessons at age like 11.

I got into Les Paul and Mary Ford.

And there was a documentary that my father had taped for me on the Night Flight TV series.

And you can actually pull this up on YouTube.

Like

my grandparents' music, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter, all that.

So getting to the MBV connection, besides impressionism, the other frame of reference I had for Belinda Butcher's vocals was Mary Ford.

The very, I don't know if you're familiar with her sound, very close to the mic, soft and multi-tracked, you

So we had all sorts of stuff.

Well, and of course, a big part of that listening experience was Les Paul, Mary Ford.

I know Tiger Rag, of course, how high the moon were favorites and obviously influenced your later work.

Oh, yeah.

The grooves turned gray.

They really did on 78s.

And I see Tiger Rag, Capitol, Les Paul, Mary Ford, and it was a dime.

And I knew the Tiger Rag already from other artists, because Dad had it at Louis and somebody else.