The age of the crooners began in 1925 when recording technology changed from acoustical recording, where artists would sing into conical horns that fed into a cutter that etched sound waves onto wax, to electronic recording using microphones and amplification. The amplification allowed singers to sing smoothly and intimately. Austin was one of the very first crooners and a giant influence on Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. He was a singer, songwriter and pianist who sold well over 80 million records during his career and wrote the jazz standards “When My Sugar Walks Down The Street,” “How Come You Do Me Like You Do?” and “Five Pennies.” He had hits with definitive early versions of such standards as “My Blue Heaven,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “Ramona” and “Carolina Moon.” His son is ‘70s country star David Houston. On a personal note, my first came contact with this 1933 gem came from my grandfather who used to sing it all the time when I was a little kid.
