“Let Me Go, Lover!”, a popular song, was written by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill, a pseudonym used by Fred Wise, Kathleen Twomey, and Ben Weisman. It is based on an earlier song called “Let Me Go, Devil”, about alcoholism. “Let Me Go, Lover” was first featured on the television program Studio One on November 15, 1954, and caught the fancy of the public. The episode was a murder mystery that revolved around a hit record and a disc jockey. Producer Felix Jackson asked Columbia Records’ Mitch Miller for a recording to use in the show, and Miller provided Joan Weber’s version of “Let Me Go, Lover”. Miller took advantage of the recording’s exposure on national television and sent copies of the record to 2,000 disc jockeys, who began to play it on their radio stations. Weber was pregnant when she recorded the song. A result of the program was to illustrate how efficiently a song could be promoted by introducing it to the public via radio or a TV production. Mitch Miller stocked national record stores the week before the program and because of its availability the record sold over 100,000 the first week of its release.
Songs with Banjo from Harold Hagler
