Sonobeat Artists
Arma Harper
A short long story
Folk singer/songwriter Arma Preston Harper recorded at Sonobeat’s Blue Hole Sounds studio, on the outskirts of Liberty Hill in the Texas Hill CountryThe Texas ”Hill Country” is that portion of Central Texas sitting on the Edwards Plateau and featuring beautiful rolling hills and grasslands. The 31,000 square mile region is considered the geographic border between the American Southeast and Southwest. during 1975 and 1976. He performed his compositions Just One Too Many Times and Plea for Freedom for Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single PF-121, produced by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. Arma was an accomplished guitarist and clever wordsmith. Both songs were well crafted and solidly performed if not a little melancholy. An unidentified flutist accompanied Arma on Plea for Freedom. Although recorded in ’74, the single was’t released until 1975 to provide time for Bill and Arma to record enough material for a coordinated album release. Finally, in early March ’75, Bill ordered a test pressing of the single, but he and Arma disagreed as to which song should be the “A” side. Bill prevailed with his choice of Just One Too Many Times, which he believed would be more successful and attract radio airplay because of its more commercial melody and lyrics. At the same time, Arma began questioning a sound design that he and Bill had spent weeks plotting out for Arma’s proposed album; Arma already had recorded the basic tracks for 12 of the proposed 14 songs. Bill envisioned the album as using the talents of a dozen or more additional musicians overdubbing their instruments to build out a commercial product, but after Arma changed his mind about the additional instrumentation, preferring instead to sing accompanied only by his Gibson standard guitar, Bill abandoned the album in frustration.
The Sonobeat archives are imprecise regarding the date Arma’s single was released, but Bill’s private notes indicate that on March 27, 1975, he gave Nashville Records the “OK” to press a short run of 200 copies, which made a late April release of the single likely. This was Arma’s only release on the Sonobeat label, Sonobeat’s only commercial release in 1975, and Sonobeat’s only folk release, although Sonobeat had recorded unreleased material by other folk artists, including Allen Damron and Cody Hubach. Arma’s was one of two Sonobeat releases in which the artist was listed on the label only by first name; the other is Jeannine Hoke, listed on her 1976 release as “Jeannine”, and whose single was Sonobeat’s final release.
Although hailing from Itta Bena, Mississippi, about 450 miles east of Dallas, Texas, by the time Arma recorded with Sonobeat, he’d relocated to Round Rock, Texas, just a few miles north of Austin on Interstate 35. In 2011, Arma performed his original composition The Liberty Hill Song for a video entitled Looking Back that chronicles Liberty Hill’s history, in which Arma was accompanied on vocals by Michele “Mike” Murphy, who at the time the video was made was serving as Liberty Hill&rsqip's mayor.
In addition to gigs at intimate venues throughout Central Texas, among them The Roadside Cafe in north Austin and Bastrop Station, while a student at Southwest Texas State University in Georgetown, Arma was appointed to the position of Constable in Precinct 3 of Williamson County (the Texas county in which Sonobeat’s Liberty Hill studio was located) but in 1978 resigned to become a deputy sheriff in the same county.
Just One Too Many Times
Recording and release details
45 RPM stereo single
- “A” side: Just One Too Many Times (Arma Harper) • 2:21
- “B” side: Plea for Freedom (Arma Harper) • 2:05
Catalog number: PF-s121
Generic sleeve
Released in April 1975*
*Release date is approximated using best information available from the Sonobeat archives and public records Produced and engineered by Bill Josey Sr. Recorded at Sonobeat’s Blue Hole Sounds studio, Liberty Hill, Texas, on unknown dates in late 1974 Recorded using... 200 copies pressed Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Nashville Records, Nashville, Tennessee Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas In the dead wax... All songs composed by Arma Harper
Unreleased recordings