Transcription Mystery Disc #78

Mr. George C. Strange recorded two old country songs, "You Are My Sunshine" and "South of the Border." It is a 78 rpm transcription most likely in the 1940s by a totally unknown musician. Audiodisc blanks of this make were available for years before and after the songs were first published.
The first, You are my Sunshine, was written in 1939 by Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. The second, South of the Border, was written by Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr but best known for it's 1939 performance by Gene Autry in a film by the same name.


The convergence of the two dates probably dates this disc to 1940 or as late as 1942. I considered that it might be a recording by George Glenn Strange, an old black& white western movie villain. I have confirmed that he did play guitar. But I can find no record of recordings, not even novelty records. It may also be George Strange & His Memory Ranch Boys, a Hillbilly artist who recorded between 1946 and 1956. These are all possibilities.. nothing is certain. The recordings are in rough shape... the first 20 seconds of each suffer from a crease in the thin aluminum blank beneath the black acetate.