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on 3 separate LPs, all entitled “Presenting The Country Blues”. Actually, the Johnson recording
was one of a number of titles leased from Bobby Robinson’s Fire and Fury labels, which Vernon
had achieved, not without some difficulty, as Robinson was not the easiest person to deal with!

The Bukka White recordings were not considered suitable for release as part of that series,
essentially because he brought into the studio a number of local musicians, and recorded as a
band. However, these efforts saw the light of day under the title “Memphis Hot Shots”.

Returning to the Fire and Fury lease arrangement, the highlight of that deal was being able to
release a double album of the great Elmore James, which represented his entire recorded output
with Robinson, plus plenty of studio chat, most of which had yet to be released. In the opinion of
Mike Vernon it was one of the most outstanding releases on Blue Horizon. James, who was a big
influence on British blues, had died in 1963, without ever making it to these shores. I have no
doubt he would have been a sensation if
he had been able to tour the UK.
Sidney "Guitar Crusher" Selby
Whilst in the US that Summer of ‘68 Mike
Vernon nearly managed to sign Johnny
Winter to Blue Horizon, but there was a
lot of competition for his signature, and
he eventually went to CBS.

Most of Vernon’s free time was spent
touring the music venues of New York,
looking for suitable acts to record. This
resulted in the laying down of tracks by
a gentleman by the name of Guitar
Crusher(!), and a previously unrecorded
vocalist called Garfield Love, which
resulted in singles by both of them. The
backing band on both occasions was The
‘Wild’ Jimmy Spruill Orchestra. Spruill
was a guitar player who had appeared on
many recordings, including the original
version of ‘Kansas City’, by Wilbert
Harrison. The ‘Orchestra’ were in fact
augmented by 10 Years After, who were
on tour in the country, and happy to do a
bit of session work. Also included in the
session were brass players and stalwarts
of the UK session scene, Alan Skidmore,
Terry Noonan and Bud Parks. I have no
idea what they were doing in New York
that Summer, other than to lend their skills to the 2 recordings.

In spite of all that was being achieved by Blue Horizon Records, in 1968 the total staff number
was 2 - the Vernon brothers! However, upon his return to the UK Mike Vernon swiftly increased
the staff role to 5.

In October 1968 Fleetwood Mac went into the CBS studios in New Bond Street to record
‘Albatross’, which was a very significant change of direction from the usual hard driving blues of
their first 2 albums (although when I accidentally played it at 78rpm one day I thought it sounded