The 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett 50 Guitars Go South of the Border, Vols. 1 & 2

Tommy Garrett was the real name of Liberty Records' whizz-kid record producer Snuff Garrett, the man behind the pop success of singers Bobby Vee, Johnny Burnette, Gene McDaniels, Buddy Knox, Jan & Dean, The Crickets, Vicky Carr, The Johnny Mann Singers and many more. The '50 Guitars' project was Garrett's entrée to the lucrative US MOR albums' market, conceived as a cross between The Ventures and The Ray Conniff Singers but with an appeal to younger, R&R record buyers. His guitar orchestra featured the cream of America's session guitarists, including Barney Kessel, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Pitman, Laurindo Almeida, Bob Bain, Howard Roberts, Tiny Timbrell, Jose Barroso, Al Viola, Rene Hall, Milt Norman, George Smith, Tony Rizzi etc. The first LP in the series 'Go South Of The Border' featuring a dozen well known Latin songs arranged to evince a strong Mexican feel, was released in the summer of 1961 and made the US LP charts. The similarly styled follow up volume 'Go South Of The Border Vol 2. was released the following year.