Tony Burrello (1 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Original first edition sheet music. Six pages (including covers), illustrated color front cover with promotional photograph of child vocalist Brucie Weil, noted as recorded on Barbour Records (BN-1006). Cover price 50c. An attractive example of early-1950s American devotional popular music, combining postwar family values with commercial sheet music publishing. Written by lyricist Tom Murray and composer Tony Burrello, the song is arranged for voice and piano with guitar chord diagrams throughout and alternates between "Mother's Voice" and "Child's Voice" before concluding in a communal refrain. The lyrics extend blessings to parents, the postman, neighbors, and loved ones, reflecting the optimistic domestic themes that characterized much American popular music during the early Cold War era. Issued jointly by Brewster Music Publishing, Inc. and Chappell & Co., Inc., one of the world's oldest and most influential music publishers, this piece illustrates the transitional period when sheet music increasingly served as a companion product to commercial recordings rather than the primary vehicle for introducing new songs. The striking blue-and-black cover illustration depicts a praying child beneath a beam of heavenly light and is signed by the noted commercial illustrator Albert Barbelle (1887-1957), who worked under the professional name "Barbelle." One of the most accomplished and prolific sheet music cover artists of the twentieth century, Barbelle produced thousands of covers for major American music publishers and helped define the visual style of popular music publishing from the 1910s through the 1950s. The illustration is paired with a publisher's promotional photograph of child performer Brucie Weil, whose Barbour Records recording was used to promote the composition. Condition: Very Good. Complete and firmly bound at the fold with no detached pages. Front cover retains strong, vibrant color with light edge wear, minor corner creasing, a small chip along the lower edge, and a tiny upper-edge nick. Interior pages are clean and bright with only light handling wear and gentle corner creases. Rear cover is blank as issued with moderate age toning, light surface impressions from storage, and minor edge wear. An attractive, well-preserved example of uncommon mid-century American religious sheet music. This publication captures a fascinating moment in American music publishing history. By 1953, radio, records, and television were becoming the principal means of introducing new songs, while sheet music increasingly functioned as a souvenir and home-performance edition. The pairing of an expressive commercial illustration with a publicity photograph of Brucie Weil exemplifies this marketing shift. Albert Wilfred Barbelle (illustrator).…