Yep, that’s it. Gene Austin’s “Bye Bye Blackbird,” circa 1926. That must have been a HUGE seller. I’ve encountered copies of the record many times in numerous estate sales over the years.
Always seemed strange how Austin, who was one of the biggest record-sellers of his day, became so relatively forgotten. I have a copy of the little b-western he starred in for Grand National in the late-30s, when his fame was already on the wane. Always heard he had a record store in my hometown during his later years, but never pinned the info down. His daughter was an actress, Charlotte Austin, who appeared in some low-budget fare in the 1950s, including a notoriously bad horror film about a woman who thinks she’s the reincarnation of an ape... or something like that. “The Bride and the Beast” I think it’s called. A real howler. I think she’s still around, though.