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Joe Allison - A true Music Legend
Dugg Collins
JOE ALLISON was a friend of mine. You say to yourself, "Now where do I know that name from?" Right off I'll tell you he wrote "HE'LL HAVE TO GO," the monster hit for Jim Reeves. That's just to give you something to relate his name to. Doesn't even begin to tell his story and I certainly don't have room here to tell the whole thing the way it should be told.

Joe Allison was a commercial artist before entering show-business as a radio broadcaster. He broke into Country Music when he went to work for Tex Ritter in 1945 as a performer. He traveled the United States with Tex, but soon found himself back in radio as one of the foremost Country Music Disc Jockeys in America. While working in San Antonio, Texas, he had his first chart success as a songwriter with "WHEN YOU LEAVE, DON'T SLAM THE DOOR," a song Tex Ritter took to number 3 in the nation in 1946.

1947 took him to Memphis, Tennessee and WDAI, but in 1949 he made the move to Nashville and WMAK. In 1950, he hosted his own daily show on WSM and WSIX. That show became a vehicle for many of the top names to come such as the Everly Brothers, Chet Atkins, Grady Martin, Brenda lee and Anita Kerr whom Joe stated many times to be one of the few musical geniuses he had met. She later formed the Anita Kerr singers, whom with the Jordanaires , handled the majority of vocal backing involved in the Nashville sound.

During the 50's, Joe had much success as a writer. "LIVE FAST, LOVE HARD, DIE YOUNG" and "IT'S A GREAT LIFE, IF YOU DON'T WEAKEN" for Faron Young. "TEENAGE CRUSH" for Tommy Sands in 1957 and of course the monster hit by Reeves which stayed on the charts for 34 weeks, 14 of those weeks at number one.

What does all this have to do with Western Swing you ask? Well, while on the West Coast, Allison ran Central Songs and was a talent scout and producer for Liberty Records. It was here he helped revive the careers of Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan by producing three outstanding albums on Bob, Tommy and The Texas Playboys. Later, he produced the great Hank Thompson on the DOT Label, brought Western Swing great and Cowboy Singer Red Steagall to Capitol and produced his old friend Tex Ritter on Capitol. He was responsible for "YESTERDAY, WHEN I WAS YOUNG" for Roy Clark.

He was a founding father of the Country Music Association and sold the networks on the concept of airing the CMA Awards Show on national television. He had the city of Nashville donate the land to build the first Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame. Joe earned their achievement award in 1964. In the late 70's, he was inducted into The Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

In 1999, I had the pleasure of sharing an award honor with him, Charlie Walker, Bill Mack, Ol' Mike Oatman, Paul Kallinger, Larry Scott and Tom Perryman in the Texas Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in Carthage, Texas. We lost Joe Allison August 2, 2002 to a long time illness.

He was my friend and a great leader in Country and Western Swing Music. One day soon I hope to see his plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the Western Swing Halls of Fame. We may never see the likes of Joe Allison again in our business.


Bobby Koefer - Steel Guitar Legend
Dugg Collins
BOBBY KOEFER and I were having a conversation in the Turkey Hotel during a Bob Wills weekend a couple years back, discussing a tune he had cut with Tom Morrell called "Stardust." During the course of that conversation, he said something that caught my ear. He stated Morrell was a genius on steel guitar and that he was nothing more than a salesman. Well, one could not disagree on the genius of Tom Morrell and one could not disagree that Bobby Koefer sells the steel guitar better than anyone I have ever seen on stage. If you have ever heard that version of "Stardust," you will quickly note that Bobby Koefer is much more than "just a salesman." He is an excellent musician all others in the business greatly admire.

A former band member of Koefer’s and a friend of mine of almost forty years, Eddie McAlvain introduced us in Turkey, Texas at one of the jam sessions Eddie loves to put together. Bobby was there strictly as an observer. He and Eddie once had the hottest band in Wichita, Kansas at the Hi-Ho Club where they called home for five years. After meeting this gentleman, I had to learn more about his history.

I learned he was born in Clay Center, Kansas August 18, 1928. I also learned from watching and talking to other musicians that he plays steel guitar in a very unusual style. Bobby uses one thumb pick and no finger picks and a flat rectangular bar instead of the round ones that most steel players use. I also learned that he was self taught and developed his unusual style because there was no one around to show him any other way of playing. That style was comfortable to him then and still is evidently. Bobby grew up listening to the radio which featured a lot of "live bands" back then. He heard a lot of western music, western swing and the popular "pop" bands of the era.

Bobby went to work for Bob Wills in 1950, replacing Billy Bowman who had been drafted into the Army. He left in 1952 to join the Pee Wee King Golden West Cowboys band. When Redd Stewart died last year, I sent the news to Bobby via E-Mail. He wrote back to let me know of his admiration for Redd and what a great time he had performing with that band. They performed on national television shows hosted by the likes of Milton Berle, Kate Smith and Perry Como.

Bobby went on to work with Billy Gray and "The Western Oakies." It was a really great band, lots of great experience, but very little money. By the time Rock & Roll took over, Bobby wanted off the road and took a job with "Hap" Peebles booking talent from "Hap’s" home base in Wichita, Kansas.

The time line may be blurred here because of space, But Bobby eventually ended up in Alaska employed as a construction worker in the Aleutian Islands, staying in that part of the world for a number of years. Bobby returned to the mainland when his Mother suffered a stroke at age 94 and after her passing, remained stateside. In 1987 he began contacting some fellow Texas Playboys so they would know he was available for playing gigs.

By no means have we told the complete story of this very talented man I greatly admire. Bobby makes his home in Bend, Oregon and all of us far removed from him certainly do not get to enjoy his wonderful steel guitar work nearly enough.

I love to lose myself in the sea of people who crowd the bandstand when the Texas Playboys are working. It’s interesting to note that a lot of the conversation happening around me concerns the fellow who considers himself "just a salesman." Bobby my friend, if only you knew how much you are loved and admired by the fans and your fellow musicians. Just keep on selling, cause there’s lots of us out here who are buying.


Mack Sanders - Radio Legend
Dugg Collins
Mack Sanders was a Country Music Radio Star long before most of the most famous radio stars ever started making noise anywhere. Mack Sanders began his Country Music career in Birmingham, Alabama in 1938 and later moved to Shenandoah, Iowa in the mid forties when he was in his early twenties. He broadcast a record show and a live band show on KFNF Radio.

Mack met and married Jeannie Pearson, a singer who had been part of the WIBW country music show in Topeka, Kansas. Mack found himself in Wichita, Kansas in 1951 and began to carve his name into the country music scene. He started as a Country Disc Jockey on KFH and formed a band known as The Ranch Boys, then moving to KFBI. There, Mack and The Ranch Boys did a daily noon time broadcast. By this time Sanders had already started his recording career and was becoming quiet popular.

Mack was much more than a radio Disc Jockey, band leader and singer. Mack Sanders was a salesman. He knew how to sell sponsors products with radio and soon applied that talent to television as well. Mack started his own television show, where he introduced Western Movies and during the breaks with his trusty dog Cactus by his side would perform, singing country ballads. He then progressed to his own music show on KTVH TV, the CBS affiliate in Wichita. This was around 1955. During this period, Mack also started booking talent by working with the Wichita based Hap Peebles. He booked county fairs, stage shows, night club dates and dances promoting the events through his radio and television show. Mack became very successful doing this.

Sanders then decided it was time to be a radio station owner. In 1958, he was able to get the license for KSIR AM Radio, a 1,000 watt station at 900 on the dial. It was Wichita’s first full time country music station and his business partner was Webb Pierce. The Corporation was known as PIER-SAN BROADCASTING. Mack started branching out and bought KOOO AM in Omaha, Nebraska. This was around 1961. This station was also full time country and the only one in Omaha. He also placed on the air a 100,000 watts FM station to compliment his AM station. He and the Ranch Boys appeared on television in Omaha with a host of country music hottest stars of the era. Kansas Mack soon became Nebraska Mack, enjoying the same radio success he enjoyed in Wichita.

During his career Mack Sanders created a radio empire that included Wichita, Kansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Nashville, Tennessee, Birmingham, Alabama, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Omaha, Lincoln and McCook Nebraska, Salina, Kansas, and Great Bend, Kansas. All his stations were full time country music facilities. He threw the biggest country music party ever held in the state of Kansas in 1973. He booked Roy Clark for the KFRM Country Fair in Great Bend, Kansas, a station he owned. An audience in excess of 70,000 came to see Roy Clark and Mack Sanders with his Ranch Boys. This one time gathering of country music fans has never been equaled since.

In 1975 Mack met and married singer Sherry Brice. In 1978 Mack Sanders made a decision he would regret for the rest of his life. He sold his Great American Broadcasting chain.

He moved to Nashville where he bought two radio stations and heavily invested in the Hank Williams mansion. Mack also started buying radio stations again. By the time 1991 rolled around, he owned nine radio stations. Two in Nashville, two in Arkansas and five in Kansas. By the time he greeted 1992 he then moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas where he made his home and still did a radio show on his station there until the time of his death.

Mack Sanders, a self described former disc jockey, guitar picker and one hell of a promoter departed this earth at age 80 after spending almost sixty years promoting what he loved best, country music. Mack Sanders was the best friend a country music singer could have back then. He knew ‘em all and was on a first name basis with each one. As a recording artist he was signed to Mercury Records. Mack also struck a deal with Acuff-Rose and Hickory Records to record his own stable of talent and to act as a talent scout for the label. His first project for the label was to record the Plainsman Quartet.

Even-though he held a great interest as an entertainer, his first concern was having successful radio stations, which he did. Radio guy first, entertainer second, but he knew they both worked hand in hand to reach the goals he set for himself. Whether he was using Kansas Mack, Nebraska Mack, Tennessee Mack, Arkansas Mack, or Oklahoma Mack, the country music audience knew who Mack Sanders was.

Mack Sanders was a fan, a promoter, a singer, band leader, recording artist, television star, a salesman and left his mark on the country music radio business like no one else. He was the original Mr. Big in country music radio. When the greats are discussed concerning our radio business, Mack Sanders will be the topic of conversation. Mack Sanders paved the way for the rest to follow.

In 2005, Mack was inducted into the Country Radio Broadcasters - "Radio Hall Of Fame" in Nashville, Tennessee. I am happy to say, he was my nominee.


Dale Emerson Noe
December 31,1927 - November 4, 2004
Dale E. Noe, of Mesa, Arizona, celebrated songwriter and musician, peacefully passed away on Thursday, November 4th, 2004, in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 76 years old. He was born on December 31st, 1927, in New Boston, Ohio to Howard Fisher Noe, and Elizabeth Josephine (Farra) Noe.

Dale was the writer of many great country songs. Among his more successful songs, “It’s Such A Pretty World Today” became the song of the year in 1967. Originally recorded by Wynn Stewart, the song went on to be recorded by over 200 major artists throughout the music industry. It was nominated for the prestigious Grammy Award, and is still being performed and recorded today. A lifetime member of The Academy Of Country Music, Dale was not only the recipient of numerous awards for his writing, but was named “Number One Guitarist In America, in 1958. Other songs penned by Dale include: “After The Storm,” recorded by Stewart, as well as Marty Robbins, Roy Clark, and many others. “Let The Whole World Sing It With Me” was another hit for Dale, sung by Wynn Stewart. Dale also had the distinction of writing more songs for country music legend, Jim Reeves, than any other single writer. Those immortal songs are: “Missing You,” “Missing Angel,” and “Angels Don’t Lie.”

Dale was a gentle man who would help anyone in need. He loved life. And had an unique ability to see beauty in things that most people might miss. Although his friends number in the thousands all across America, Dale was mostly well known around the Valley, having played in a number of popular bands, and show venues, as well as leading his own groups, since 1946. He will be deeply missed by his many fans and friends.

A veteran of the second world war, Dale was a survivor of a kamikaze attack aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Kitkun Bay, in the Pacific. He, and the other surviving shipmates, re-boarded the crippled ship, making enough repairs to bring her home. For this, Dale was the recipient of several medals, including the Bronze Star..

Mr. Noe is survived by his daughter, Ramona, 15 nieces, and 9 nephews. A military graveside service, with honors, was be held at National Memorial Cemetery Of Arizona, 23029 N. Cave Creek, Phoenix, AZ at 12:30PM on Monday, the 15th of November, 2004.


"Pappy" Dave Stone
November 11, 1913 - February 18, 2004
"PAPPY DAVE STONE", always an innovator and creator of the very first full time Country Music Format at KDAV in Lubbock, Texas in 1953. "Pappy" made his home in Colorado Springs where he managed his small, but very powerful country music chain of radio stations for many years. KDAV Lubbock, Texas, KPEP San Angelo, KPIK AM/FM Colorado Springs and the second station that would be full time country music, KZIP Amarillo, Texas.

He was born Dave Pinkston November 11, 1913 in Post, Texas. His family moved to a farm in Lubbock County, Texas in 1916. Dave graduated from high school in Slaton and attended Texas Tech University. He and Violet Martin of Plainview, Texas were married October 11, 1933 and have two children. James Pinkston of Colorado Springs and Carolyn Graves of Portland, Oregon. Three grandchildren and two great grandchildren round out the family.

"Pappy" Dave worked on a farm in 1934-1935, was a teacher at Draughons Business College 1936 - 1938 and was employed as an Office Manager for a chemical plant in Brownfield, Texas from 1939 - 1945. Still searching for a career I suppose, he joined the staff of KSEL, a new station just getting started in Lubbock, as traffic manager. In 1947 he became a Disc Jockey for the "Western Roundup," a daily 30 minute program. This experience no doubt let him know he had finally discovered what it was in life he was supposed to do.

In 1949 "Pappy" was named General Manager of KSEL and increased his 30 minute show to several hours. The owners of the radio station let him know they thought it was beneath the dignity of a General Manager to be a disc jockey on a hillbilly radio station. He took that advice for awhile but soon realized how silly it was and went back on the air where he stayed even as he began buying stations in conjunction with real estate friend Leroy Elmore.

In 1953 "Pappy" Dave had an opportunity to fulfill a life long dream, to put on the air for listeners a radio station that programmed nothing but country music. Working with his partner, they received licenses for and built the following radio stations. KDAV, known as K-DAVE Lubbock 1953 - 1979, KPEP San Angelo 1954 - 1978, KZIP Amarillo 1955 - 1977, KPIK-AM Colorado Springs 1957-1978, KPIK-FM 1966-1978. In 1962, "Pappy" Dave bought out his partner and took sole ownership of all the Dave Stone Stations.

"Pappy" Dave started the very first "Country Music Club," complete with membership card and all the perks that go along with it. Membership at K-DAVE alone was over 8,000. A full time secretary had to be hired to oversee the Country Club."Pappy" Dave was also one of the very first to use window decals to promote his call letters. He was one of the very first radio station owners who began booking country music shows, booking all the major stars into the Lubbock, Texas area. He was also a mentor to new talent and helped many young stars who would become major super-stars in the music business. People like Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings who started his career as one of "Pappy’s" deejays.

"PAPPY" DAVE STONE, because of his innovative ideas in Country Music Radio, soon became the most copied programmer/owner in Country Music history. It didn't take long for the story to circulate that this man in Lubbock, Texas saw the potential of a full time country format and acted on it. It just simply wasn’t done in those days of radio. Most stations relied on block programming to fill their broadcast day.

His on air style soon became the thing with those who copied what he did. His voice was as welcome and familiar as a member of the family. This is substantiated by the thousands of letters he received each month. In content they range from a record request to those seeking advice on personal matters. "Pappy" Dave had tremendous loyalty to his beliefs and principles plus an unfailing abundance of energy. He was "Mr. Country Music" to the thousands of radio listeners in the great plains area of Texas and an inspiration to hundreds of radio programmers who followed his lead.

"Pappy" Dave Stone was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Texas Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 2000. His name has been on the ballot many times for the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and I hope one day soon, his plaque will hang in that hallowed hall with all the other country music greats. He set the standard for country music programming. My dear friend Ol’ Mike Oatman admitted to me upon my arrival in Wichita in 1999 that he had borrowed many, many ideas from "Pappy" Dave Stone which he used to create his Great Empire Broadcasting. He smiled when he said,"If you’re gonna steal in this business, steal from the best."

I met "Pappy" Dave for the first time in 1977 when he was in the process of selling KZIP in Amarillo. I was on a competing station, but he didn’t treat me like a competitor, he treated me like a friend he had known for thirty years. That big smile of his could put anyone at ease from the very first meeting. He must have been one hell of a salesman in his day. I doubt any advertiser could say no to that personality.

He and I really started talking a lot via the telephone in 1999. I called just to say hello and he was always happy to hear my voice. Being someone who really appreciates the pioneers in my business, I asked him to re-live those glory days on radio at K-DAVE in Lubbock, which he was happy to do.

In 1999, when I was inducted into the Texas Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame, the first thing that caught my attention was the absence of his name from the list of inductees. When I returned home, I called back to find out why to discover that there had been a mistake. They thought because he lived in Colorado Springs, he didn’t qualify. That problem got fixed and his plaque now graces the wall in the brand new building in Carthage, Texas.

I have been so very lucky to have known just about every hero I have ever had in radio and music. That’s one of the perks of this business. My friendship with "Pappy" Dave Stone has been one of the highlights of my many years in show-business. I will miss him for sure, but his influence on country music radio will live on forever.

Dugg Collins


Uncle Art Satherley
Arthur E. Satherley
b. Bristol, England, October 19, 1889; d. February 10, 1986
Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame® 1971
“He tried to do a job and he did do a job. He was the recording genius for Columbia Records for a good number of years. . . . He was a good judge of what the market needed.”

Such was one record-business pioneer’s—Ralph Peer’s—estimate of another: Arthur Edward “Uncle Art” Satherley. Producer, talent scout, and salesman, Satherley easily ranks among early country music’s half-dozen essential businessmen. Like his fellow pioneer Peer, he was equally important to the early recording of blues (then called “race music”) in the years before World War II, as he was to the recording of country music (then known as “hillbilly”).

An Episcopal minister’s son born in Bristol, England, young Satherley shared turn-of-the-century Europe’s fascination with the American West. In his midtwenties, he came to the United States and went to work grading lumber for the Wisconsin Chair Company in Port Washington, Wisconsin. When Thomas Edison purchased a subsidiary of Wisconsin Chair, Satherley spent a brief period as one of the inventor’s secretaries. In 1918 Satherley joined Wisconsin Chair’s new record label, Paramount, first in manufacturing, then as a salesman. By the mid-1920s, after earning a reputation as an expert in the infant genres of hillbilly and race music, Satherley was spending more time scouting and recording talent than working as a salesman.

He left Paramount in 1929 for the American Record Corporation (ARC); when Columbia Records bought ARC in 1938, he became Columbia’s country and race music A&R chief. “What I was interested in,” he would recall, “was the acceptance of the public. Does the public want it? Not what I want, or the artist wanted. Would the public want it?”

The leitmotif in Satherley’s self-appraisals is a fierce pride in his empathy, despite his English rearing, with rural Americans. “I was brought up on the farm,” he recalled. “I said my prayers on a sheepskin at night on a stone floor [under] a thatched roof. I have shucked wheat with my hands, and oats and barley. I have done much around the farmyard. So you see, I have understood country music from my early childhood days.”

Country artists Satherley recorded include the Pickard Family, Carson Robison, Vernon Dalhart, the Allen Brothers, the Callahan Brothers, Cliff & Bill Carlisle, Doc Roberts, Asa Martin, Al Dexter, Roy Acuff (whom Satherley called a “pure, unadulterated country person, a pure, unadulterated country American”), Bill Monroe, Tex Ritter, Red Foley, George Morgan, Spade Cooley, Ted Daffan, and Johnny Bond (whose records were Satherley’s final productions). He recorded race artists Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Alberta Hunter, Ida Cox, Big Bill Broonzy, Josh White, Leroy Carr, Memphis Minnie, and others.

Two country stars with whom Satherley worked especially closely were Gene Autry and Bob Wills. Satherley was largely responsible for Autry’s recording success—he produced Autry’s early hit “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine.” Satherley’s persistent lobbying among his movie-business acquaintances helped get the young singer started in films. Satherley also played a large role in securing Autry’s cowboy image in radio. Satherley was introduced to Wills in 1935 by his assistant Don Law (his eventual successor as Columbia Records’ country A&R chief) and produced hundreds of Wills’s records (and always took credit for naming the bandleader’s signature tune, “San Antonio Rose”). Late in life, Wills called his departure from Satherley’s stewardship—Wills left Columbia for MGM in October 1947—the worst decision of his career.

Satherley resigned from Columbia as a vice president in 1952, spent a long retirement primarily in Southern California, and died February 10, 1986. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1971.

“I’m the only living man who’s been through this business with his hands,” Satherley said in the late 1970s, “running the factories, making the records, making the formulas, finding the material, seeing that the pressing’s done, selling [the records], and finding the artists. Nearly fifty years at it. And always of no fixed abode, just traveling, finding country people to make these recordings. And now considered the daddy of it all. That’s what they call me, the daddy of all recordings country: country black, country white.”

—Tony Scherman

Adapted from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press


Billy Byrd
Born: William Lewis Byrd Feb 17, 1920 in Williamson County, TN Died Aug 7, 2001
Styles Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan, Honky Tonk
Instruments Guitar
Labels Warner Brothers (3)
Billy Byrd was among the first musicians to make the electric guitar "sing" in a country voice, and make the public love it. He was also one of the first country players to make a name for himself with the electric guitar. He was also that rarity in country music, a bandmember who was allowed to "co-star" alongside the singer for whom he was working. As lead guitarist in Ernest Tubb's band from the end of 1949 until 1959, his playing was among the most widely heard in country music, and Tubb always made a point of featuring Byrd prominently in his stage act and on his records, and introducing him by name wherever possible.

William Lewis Byrd was born in Nashville. Whatever the city's musical inclinations, however, his family didn't want to see him become a country musician. A guitarist from age ten on, he displayed an impressive level of skill and technique, and his parents hoped he would pursue a career in classical music. He began playing with his older brother James, and made his radio debut on WLAC in Nashville in 1935. At age 18, he was hired as a backup musician on the Grand Ole Opry, and began working that same year with the Tennessee Valley Boys. Toward the end of the 1930s, he also worked in various dance bands in the Nashville area.

Byrd served in the U.S. Navy as a cook on a destroyer escort. He resumed his career in Nashville after the war, initially as a member of Wally Fowler & His Georgia Clodhoppers, where he remained until 1948. That year he went to Louisiana, joining the Louisiana Hayride and playing with Curly Williams & the Georgia Peach Pickers.

During the fall of 1949, Byrd joined Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours, succeeding Tommy "Butterball" Page as lead guitarist on the single "Tennessee Border No. 2." It was as a member of the Texas Troubadours that Byrd became a star, Tubb mentioning Byrd by name ahead of each solo, and his solos were among the prettiest, most fluid, and memorable in country music. Byrd appeared on hundreds of songs, among them "Two Glasses Joe," "Jealous Loving Heart," "Answer the Phone," and "Letters Have No Arms," from 1949 until 1959, and was also prominently featured as part of Tubb's appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and other television shows. His playing made the electric guitar a popular instrument among country audiences, and in 1950 he collaborated with Hank Garland in the design of the Byrdland guitar for Gibson. While in Tubb's band, he played a customized instrument that included the name "Billy Byrd" prominently embossed on the neck.

Byrd also played a considerable number of sessions with other artists, including Tex Ritter, Webb Pierce, Burl Ives, Cowboy Copas, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Eddy Arnold, and shuttled between Tubb's and Red Foley's bands. In addition to the electric guitar, Byrd was also renowned for his skill on the mandolin, the banjo, and the bass. In 1959, Byrd, who didn't enjoy touring, left the Texas Troubadours to pursue a solo recording career with the newly formed Warner Bros. label — where he recorded three albums through 1964 — and he moved to California to join fiddle player Gordon Terry.

Byrd later moved back to Nashville to continue as a session musician, and was also featured throughout the early and mid-'60s as a guitarist on the local morning television program The Eddie Hill Show. He briefly rejoined the Texas Troubadours — who sorely missed his playing — at the end of the 1960s, but touring had never agreed with Byrd, and he left once again in 1970. He returned again in the early '70s, before leaving for the last time in 1973, although he played on one last single with Tubb in 1974. He also later participated on Pete Drake's Ernest Tubb tribute album, The Legend and the Legacy.

Byrd's best work, apart from his solo albums, can be heard on any Ernest Tubb record cut between 1949 and 1959. The two Bear Family Ernest Tubb boxes covering this period are virtually a celebration of Billy Byrd's playing.


Chet Atkins
AKA Chester Burton Atkins
Born Jun 20, 1924 in Luttrell, TN Died Jun 30, 2001 in Nashville, TN
Genres Country
Styles Country Boogie, Instrumental Country, Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan, Country-Pop, Traditional Country
Instruments Producer, Vocals, Guitar (Electric), Arranger, Guitar, Fiddle
Tones Reserved, Complex, Rollicking, Refined/Mannered, Happy, Laid-Back/Mellow, Cheerful, Organic, Amiable/Good-Natured, Sophisticated
Labels RCA (60), RCA Victor (18), Camden (12), One Way (10), Columbia (7), Pair (6), CBS (5)

Without Chet Atkins, country music may never have crossed over into the pop charts in the '50s and '60s. Although he has recorded hundreds of solo records, Chet Atkins' largest influence came as a session musician and a record producer. During the '50s and '60s, he helped create the Nashville sound, a style of country music that owed nearly as much to pop as it did to honky tonks. And as a guitarist, he is without parallel. Atkins' style grew out of his admiration for Merle Travis, expanding Travis' signature syncopated thumb and fingers roll into new territory.

Interestingly, Chet Atkins didn't begin him musical career by playing guitar. On the recommendation of his older brother, Lowell, he began playing the fiddle at a child. However, Chet was still attracted to the guitar and at the age of nine, he traded a pistol for a guitar. Atkins learned his instrument rapidly, becoming an accomplished player by the time he left high school in 1941. Using a variety of contacts, he wound up performing on the Bill Carlisle Show on WNOX in Knoxville, TN, as well as becoming part of the Dixie Swingers. Atkins worked with Homer and Jethro while he was at the radio station. After three years, he moved to a radio station in Cincinnati.

Supporting Red Foley, Atkins made his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1946. That same year, he made his first records, recording for Bullet. Atkins also began making regular performances on the WRVA radio station in Richmond, VA, but he was repeatedly fired because his musical arrangements differed from the expectations of the station's executives. He eventually moved to Springfield, MO, working for the KWTO station. A tape of one of Atkins' performances was sent to RCA Victor's office in Chicago. Eventually, it worked its way to Steve Sholes, the head of country music at RCA. Sholes had heard Atkins previously and had been trying to find him for several years. By the time Sholes heard the tape, Atkins had moved to Denver, CO and was playing with Shorty Thompson and His Rangers. Upon receiving the call from RCA, he moved to Nashville to record.

Once he arrived in Nashville, Chet recorded eight tracks for the label, five of which featured the guitarist singing. Impressed by his playing, Sholes made Atkins the studio guitarist for all of RCA studio's Nashville sessions in 1949. The following year, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters hired him as a regular on the Grand Ole Opry, making his place in Nashville's musical community secure. While he worked for RCA, he played on many hit records and helped fashion the Nashville sound. RCA appreciated his work and made him a consultant to the company's Nashville division in 1953. That year, the label began to issue a number of instrumental albums that showcased Atkins' considerable talents. Two years later, he scored his first hit with a version of "Mr. Sandman; " it was followed by "Silver Bell," a duet with Hank Snow. By the late '50s, Chet Atkins was known throughout the music industry as a first-rate player. Not only did his records sell well, he designed guitars for Gibson and Gretsch; models of these instruments continued to sell in the '90s.

Steve Sholes left for New York in 1957 to act as head of pop A&R, leaving Atkins as the manager of RCA's Nashville division. However, the guitarist didn't abandon performing, and throughout the early '60s his star continued to rise. He played the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960; in 1961, he performed at the White House. Atkins had his first Top 5 hit in 1965 with a reworking of Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax," retitled "Yakety Axe; " in addition to being a sizable country hit, the song crossed over to the pop charts. Atkins' role behind the scene was thriving as well. He produced hits for the majority of RCA's Nashville acts, including Elvis Presley and Eddy Arnold, and discovered a wealth of talent, including Don Gibson, Waylon Jennings, Floyd Cramer, Charley Pride, Bobby Bare, Connie Smith, Dottie West, Jerry Reed, Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davis, Roger Miller, Steve Wariner, Ronnie Milsap and so many other great artist. Because of his consistent track record, Atkins was promoted to vice-president of RCA's country division when Steve Sholes died in 1968.

The following year, Atkins had his last major hit single, "Country Gentleman." In the late '60s and early '70s, several minor hits followed, but only one song, "Prissy" (1968), made it into the Top 40. Instead, the guitarist's major musical contribution in the early part of the '70s was with Homer and Jethro. Under the name the Nashville String Band, the trio released five albums between 1970 and 1972. Following Homer's death, Atkins continued to work with Jethro.

Atkins continued to record for RCA throughout the '70s, although he was creatively stifled by the label by the end of the decade. The guitarist wanted to record a jazz album, but he was met with resistance by the label. In 1982, he left the label and signed with Columbia, releasing his first album for the label, Work It Out With Chet Atkins, in 1983. During his time at Columbia, Atkins departed from his traditional country roots, demonstrating that he was a bold and tasteful jazz guitarist as well. He did return to country on occasion, particularly on duet albums with Mark Knopfler and Jerry Reed, but by and large, Atkins' Columbia records demonstrated a more adventurous guitarist than was previously captured on his RCA albums.

Sadly, Atkins was diagnosed with cancer, and in 1997 doctors removed a tumor from his brain. In his last months, the cancer had made Atkins inactive, and he finally lost the battle on June 30, 2001 at his home in Nashville. Throughout his career, Chet Atkins earned numerous awards, including 11 Grammy awards and nine CMA "Instrumentalist of the Year" honors, as well as "Lifetime Achievement Award" from NARAS. Although his award list is impressive, they only begin to convey his contribution to country music.


Fred Rose
Born Aug 24, 1897 in Evansville, IN Died Dec 1, 1954 in Nashville, TN
Genres Country
Publishing, Vocals, Composer

"Name me a song that everybody knows/And I'll bet you it belongs to Acuff-Rose" sings Uncle Tupelo's Jeff Tweedy in his 1994 tribute "Acuff-Rose," and it's not much of an overstatement. In tandem with publishing partner Roy Acuff, composer Fred Rose contributed some of the most enduring songs in the annals of country and popular music, in the process nurturing the careers of numerous aspiring writers and performers, including the legendary Hank Williams. Born in Evansville, IN, on August 24, 1897, Rose studied piano as a child and was playing professionally by the age of ten; five years later, he traveled to Chicago to pursue a singing career, performing in nightclubs and recording player-piano rolls for the QRS company alongside future jazz titan Fats Waller. Making his debut recordings for Brunswick during the 1920s, Rose also launched his career as a songwriter, scoring early success with "'Deed I Do," "Honest and Truly," and "Doo Dah Blues." He briefly played piano behind Paul Whiteman before returning to Chicago to form the Tune Peddlers with singer/whistler Elmo Tanner; the duo soon landed a regular radio spot on WKYW and with Tanner's departure, Rose hosted his own weekday program, Fred Rose's Song Show.

After moving on to CBS affiliate WBBM, Rose — smarting from the breakup of his second marriage — relocated to Nashville in 1933, bringing the Song Show with him to local station WSM. His stay in Music City lasted less than a year, however, and he bounced around from Chicago to New York before finally settling in Hollywood and writing songs for Gene Autry, netting an Academy Award nomination for his "Be Honest With Me" from 1941's Ridin' on a Rainbow. Around that time, Rose returned to Nashville and WSM, becoming the station's staff pianist; in the fall of 1942, he teamed with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff to form Acuff-Rose Publishing, the first music publishing firm centered in Nashville and the first devoted to country songs.

As administrative duties began eating away at Rose's creative energies, in 1945 he relinquished day-to-day operations to son Wesley and returned to songwriting, reeling off a string of hits, including "Pins and Needles," "No One Will Ever Know," "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," "Roly Poly," "It's a Sin," "Texarkana Baby," "Waltz of the Wind," "We Live in Two Different Worlds," and "Afraid."

In 1946, Hank Williams arrived at the Acuff-Rose offices and after a brief audition, Rose signed the singer on the spot, initially adding him to a stable of staff writers that included Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart. A pair of singles for the Sterling label soon followed and when Williams signed to MGM in 1947, Rose became his manager and producer, also co-writing classics including "A Mansion on the Hill," "Kaw-Liga," "Crazy Heart," "Settin' the Woods on Fire," "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," and "Take These Chains From My Heart." Rose also possessed an extraordinary gift for placing Acuff-Rose material with pop singers and among the crossover hits the company administered were "You Belong to Me," "Tennessee Waltz," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Slow Poke," and "Hey Good Lookin'."

Rose died of a heart attack on December 1, 1954, at the age of 57. In 1961, he was posthumously honored (along with Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers) as one of the first three inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.


Lefty Frizzell
AKA William Orville Frizzell
Born Mar 31, 1928 in Corsicana, TX Died Jul 19, 1975 in Nashville, TN
Lefty Frizzell was the definitive honky-tonk singer, the vocalist that set the style for generations of vocalists that followed him. Frizzell smoothed out the rough edges of honky tonk by singing longer, flowing phrases — essentially, he made honky tonk more acceptable for the mainstream without losing its gritty, bar-room roots. In the process, he changed the way country vocalists sang forever. From George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson to George Strait, John Anderson, Randy Travis, and Keith Whitley, hundreds of artists have emulated and expanded Lefty's innovations. Frizzell's singing became the foundation of how hard country should be sung.

Despite his influence, there was a time when Lefty Frizzell wasn't regarded as one of country's definitive artists. Unlike Hank Williams — the only contemporary of Lefty that had greater influence — he didn't die young, leaving behind a romantic legend. After his popularity peaked in the early and mid-'50s, Frizzell continued to record, without having much success. However, his recordings continued to reach new listeners and his reputation was restored by the new traditionalists of the '80s, nearly 10 years after Lefty's death.

Lefty Frizzell (born William Orville Frizzell) was born in Corisicana, TX, in 1928, a son of an oiler; he was the first of eight children. During his childhood, his family moved to El Dorado, AR. As a child he was called Sonny, but his nickname changed to Lefty when he was 14, because he won a schoolyard fight; it was later suggested that he earned his nickname after winning a Golden Gloves boxing match, but that was eventually proven to be a hatched publicity stunt by his record company. Initially, Lefty was attracted to music through his parents' Jimmie Rodgers records. He began singing professionally before he was a teenager, landing a regular spot on KELD El Dorado.

Frizzell spent his teenage years playing throughout the region, singing on radio shows, in nightclubs, for dances, and in talent contests. He travelled throughout the south, playing in Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, and even Las Vegas. During this time, he was refining his style, drawing from influences like Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb, and Ted Daffan. Lefty's career was going fine until he was arrested in the mid-'40s, serving a jail sentence for statutory rape.

Frizzell's run-in with the law led him away from music, as he temporarily worked in the oil fields with his father. However, his time as an oiler was brief and he was soon performing in clubs again. By 1950, he had landed a regular job at the Texas club Ace of Clubs, where he developed a dedicated following of fans. At one of his concerts at the Ace of Clubs he caught the attention of Jim Beck, the owner of a local recording studio. Beck recorded music for several major record labels, and he also had connections within the publishing industry. Impressed with Lefty's performance, he invited the singer to make some demos at the studio. In April of 1950, Frizzell cut several demos of his original songs, including a new song called "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time," which Beck took to Nashville. Beck intended to pitch the song to Little Jimmy Dickens, but Dickens disliked the song. However, Columbia record producer Don Law heard the tape and liked Frizzell's voice. After hearing Lefty live in concert, Law signed the singer to Columbia; within a few months, he had his first recording session.

"If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time," Lefty's first single, climbed to number one upon its release. It was a huge hit — its B-side, "I Love You a Thousand Ways," even hit number one — with other artists hurrying into the studio to cut their own versions; over 40 performers wound up recording the song. Within 17 days of the single's release, Columbia had Frizzell record another single. The result, "Look What Thoughts Will Do"/"Shine, Shave, Shower (It's Saturday)," wasn't as big a hit, but it did reach the Top Ten.

By now, the Lefty Frizzell sound was being perfected by the vocalist and Don Law. Frizzell was working with a core group of Dallas-based studio musicians, highlighted by pianist Madge Sutee. In the beginning of 1951, he formed the Western Cherokees, which was led by Blackie Crawford. Soon, the Western Cherokees became his primary band for both live and recording situations. Lefty was in the studio frequently, recording singles. His third single, "I Want to Be with You Always," was number one for 11 weeks and its follow-up, "Always Late (With Your Kisses)" spent 12 weeks at number one. At one point in early 1951, he had a total of four songs in the country Top Ten, setting a record that was never broken. Frizzell was a popular concert attraction, playing shows with the Louisiana Hayride and the Grand Ole Opry. He had three more Top Ten hits in 1951 — "Mom and Dad's Waltz," 'Travelin' Blues," and the number one "Give Me More, More, More (Of Your Kisses)."

The hits continued throughout 1952, as "How Long Will It Take (To Stop Loving You)," "Don't Stay Away (Till Love Grows Cold)," "Forever (And Always)," "I'm An Old, Old Man (Tryin' to Live While I Can)" all went to the Top Ten. Even though he was at the peak of his popularity, things began to unravel for Lefty behind the scenes. Frizzell fired both his manager and his band. He joined the Grand Ole Opry, but he decided he didn't like it and left almost immediately. Lefty was earning a lot of money but he was spending nearly all of it. He worked with Wayne Raney, but the sessions were a failure. In early 1953, he moved from Texas to Los Angeles, where he got a regular job on Town Hall Party. That year, he had only one hit — the Top Ten "(Honey, Baby, Hurry!) Bring Your Sweet Self Back to Me."

Early in 1954, he reached the Top Ten with "Run 'Em Off," but it would be his last Top Ten record for five years. During the mid-'50s, Frizzell felt burned out and he didn't have the energy to invest in his career. He had a total of two hits between 1954 and 1959 — "I Love You Mostly" in 1955, "Cigarettes and Coffee Blues" — because he decided to stop recording. Lefty was frustrated that Columbia wasn't releasing what he believed to be his best material, so he simply stopped writing and recording songs. However, he did tour sporadically, occasionally with his brother, David Frizzell.

Deciding it was time for a change, he began working with Jim Denny's Nashville-based Cedarwood publishing company in 1959. Cedarwood gave him "The Long Black Veil," a song written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin that had overt folk music influences. Lefty recorded the song and it became a surprise Top Ten hit in the summer of 1959. Encouraged by its success, Frizzell moved to Nashville in 1961, after Town Hall Party closed in 1960. He began touring and recording at a more rapid rate, although it only resulted in a couple of minor hits. Lefty's last big hit arrived early in 1964, when "Saginaw, Michigan" climbed to number one and spent four weeks on the top of the charts. After that, he came close to the Top Ten with 1965's "She's Gone Gone Gone," but he usually struggled to have any of his songs break the Top 20 for the next decade.

Frizzell didn't stop recording, but he did develop a debilitating alcohol problem that came to plague him throughout the late '60s and '70s. However, alcohol wasn't the only thing holding his career back — Columbia was only releasing handfuls of albums and singles, though Lefty was recording an abundance of material. Since his records weren't as successful, he drastically cut back the number of concerts he performed. In 1968, he cut some songs with June Stearns under the name Agnes and Orville, but none of the tracks became hits. The lack of success helped him sink deeper into alcoholism.

In 1972, Lefty left Columbia, signing with ABC Records. Though the change in labels helped revitalize him artistically, he didn't sell that many more records. However, he did have the enthusiasm to record albums, as well as play concerts and television shows. Frizzell's alcohol addiction worsened and he developed high blood pressure, but he wouldn't take the medication because he thought it would interfere with his drinking. As a result, he looked older than his 47 years when he died of a stroke in 1975.

Years of mediocre and mis-marketed records had diminished Lefty Frizzell's reputation, but after his death, a new generation of artists hailed him as an influence and an idol. Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and George Jones had all sung his praises before, but in the mid-'80s, the kind words of George Strait and Randy Travis were supported by a series of reissues, beginning with Bear Family's 14-LP set, His Life — His Music (later replaced by the 12-CD Life's Like Poetry). In 1982, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, but the greatest testament to his music remains the fact that his voice can be heard in every hard country singer that followed.


Merle Travis
Born Nov 29, 1917 in Rosewood, KY Died Oct 20, 1983 in Tahlequah, OK
Merle Travis was virtually without peer as a guitarist and songwriter. A unique stylist, he was respected and prominent enough to have an instrumental style ("Travis picking") named after him, and only Chet Atkins even comes close to the influence that Travis had on the way the guitar is understood and played in country music. (Indeed, Atkins was initially signed to RCA to be that label's Merle Travis.) As a songwriter, he wasn't far behind, with originals such as "Sixteen Tons" crossing over as popular standards in the hands of other artists. He even played two different vital and indirect roles in the development of rock & roll, and was no slouch as a recording artist, with his own share of chart hits and novelty songs.

Merle Robert Travis was born on November 29, 1917, in Rosewood, KY. His father was a coalminer, and the family lived on the bare edge of poverty; eventually this experience, coupled with a phrase that Travis' father used to describe their lives, became the basis for the song "Sixteen Tons." His very first instrument was a five-string banjo, but when he was 12 year old his older brother gave him a homemade guitar. Travis was lucky enough to have as neighbors Ike Everly, later the father of Don and Phil, and Mose Rager, who played in a unique three-finger guitar style that had developed in that area of Kentucky. Travis learned this approach as a teenager and grew astonishingly proficient in a repertory that included blues, ragtime, and popular tunes. It wasn't enough to earn a living, and he survived by working in the Civilian Conservation Corps as a teenager.

His first break came during a visit to his brother's home in Evansville, IN, in 1935, where his chance to entertain at a local dance resulted in membership in a couple of local bands and a chance to appear on a local radio station. By 1937, he was a member of Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats, and a year later he'd moved on to the Drifting Pioneers, who found a permanent broadcasting gig at Cincinnati's WLW. The Boone Country Jamboree radio show kept the group busy until World War II came along and forced it to disband. While a member of the Drifting Pioneers, Travis acquired a national following, and also began playing with Grandpa Jones and the Delmore Brothers in a gospel quartet called the Brown's Ferry Four. He later teamed up with Jones as "the Shepherd Brothers" as the first artists to record for the newly founded King Records label in 1943. He and Jones even exchanged songs and found the sources for a few songs together — it was while out with Jones one day at a black church in Cincinnati that Travis heard the sermon that became the song "That's All."

Travis spent a short stint in the Marines, but was quickly discharged and returned to Cincinnati. During the late winter of 1944, he headed for Los Angeles, where he began making appearances in Charles Starrett's Western movies and playing with Ray Whitley's Western swing band. With guidance from Tex Ritter and bassist Cliffie Stone, in 1946 he released the topical song "No Vacancy" — dealing with the displacement of returning veterans — along with "Cincinnati Lou," and earned a double-sided hit. His next major project was a concept album, Folk Songs of the Hills, which was intended to compete with Burl Ives' successful folk recordings. The record, released as a set of four 78-rpm discs, was a failure at the time it was released in 1947 (it wasn't even transferred to long-playing disc until nearly ten years later). However, it yielded several classics, among them the Travis originals "Sixteen Tons," "Dark as a Dungeon," and "Over by Number Nine," as well as introducing such standards as "Nine Pound Hammer"; it also became a unique document, depicting a beautiful all-acoustic solo guitar performance by this master virtuoso.

The initial failure of the folk album aside, 1947 began a boom period in Travis' career. In addition to writing the million-selling hit "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" for his friend Tex Williams, he had a half-dozen Top Ten records himself, including "Divorce Me C.O.D.," "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed," and "Three Times Seven." Travis also devised the first solid-body electric guitar, coming up with a model which, when perfected by Leo Fender, would become a key element in early rock & roll. The string of hits didn't last, but Travis' career continued uninterrupted, with performances on stage, television, and record. Beginning in 1953, he landed a fairly visible movie role in one of the biggest films of the year, From Here to Eternity, where he performed "Re-Enlistment Blues," and it was around that same time that he began playing on all of his friend Hank Thompson's records. In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford had his crossover hit with "Sixteen Tons," and it was around that same time that Travis acolytes such as Atkins were making a major impact on music themselves. Scotty Moore, who'd first been influenced by Travis from his radio performances, had become Elvis Presley's lead guitarist, and a year after Elvis hit nationally, the Everly Brothers (themselves Atkins disciples) started topping the charts.

Travis was one of those musical figures who was referred to constantly, either musically or literally, by dozens of major figures, but he was never able to ascend the charts himself again. Much of the problem lay in his personal life. Along with a reputation as one of country music's top axemen, Travis also became known as a wildman, especially when he drank. He was arrested more than once for public intoxication and drunk driving — on his motorcycle — and in 1956 there was a highly publicized report of police surrounding his home after he assaulted his wife.

Then, during the early '60s, he was hospitalized briefly after being arrested while driving under the influence of narcotics. He managed to pull his professional life together in the mid-'60s to do one new folk-style album, Songs of the Coal Mines, which, like its predecessor Folk Songs of the Hills, failed to sell on its original release. His other albums — mostly instrumental, such as Walkin' the Strings — proved much more significant and influential at the time as standard acquisitions for aspiring guitarists. He still played occasionally and became something of a star on the college folk circuit, teaming with Atkins for the Grammy-winning Atkins-Travis Traveling Show in 1974.

Travis finally seemed to settle down after he married his fourth wife, Dorothy — the former wife of his longtime friend Hank Thompson — and focused once again on music. He recorded tribute albums to the Georgia Wildcats and began working again with old associates like Grandpa Jones, and it looked like Travis was to enjoy a resurgence of musical and public acclaim. At age 65, however, he suffered a massive heart attack and died the following morning.


Owen Bradley
Born Westmoreland, Tennessee, October 21, 1915 - Died. January 7, 1998
Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame® 1974
William Owen Bradley produced the hits of numerous Country Music Hall of Famers. He built the first music business on Music Row and was nominated for an Academy Award. In addition, Bradley is an architect of the Nashville Sound.

The Bradley family moved to Nashville when Owen was a boy. He was fascinated with music and learned harmonica, steel guitar, trombone, piano, vibraphone, and organ. He was working professionally as a musician by age fifteen.

By the late 1930s Bradley was leading his own band, which eventually included future pop stars Snooky Lanson and Kitty Kallen as vocalists. He broadcast on WLAC during 1937–1940, then became a regular on WSM. Decca executive Paul Cohen noted Bradley’s studio skills during his recording visits to Nashville, and in 1947 he hired Bradley to lead the label’s sessions there.

In addition to those duties and co-writing songs like Roy Acuff’s 1942 hit “Night Train to Memphis,” Bradley found time for his own recording career. “Zeb’s Mountain Boogie,” issued as by “Brad Brady and His Tennesseans,” launched Bullet Records in 1946. Bradley’s group had additional hits on Coral in 1949 (“Blues Stay Away from Me”) and in 1950 (“The Third Man Theme”).

One of Bradley’s first big production successes was Red Foley’s 1950 million seller “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy,” which shot to #1 on both the country and pop charts. That same year Bill Monroe signed with Decca and Bradley began producing a string of bluegrass classics. He started working with honky-tonk masters Ernest Tubb and Webb Pierce in 1947 and 1952, respectively. He also led the session yielding a recording that revolutionized the place of women in country music, Kitty Wells’s 1952 blockbuster “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”

Following the example of the Castle Recording Laboratory, where Bradley led many early Nashville sessions, Owen and his brother Harold Bradley were among the first to build independent recording studios in Nashville. Paul Cohen was contemplating relocating Decca’s country headquarters to Dallas, but in 1955, Bradley promised him a Nashville recording facility in an old house at 804 16th Avenue South; the Bradleys later added an army Quonset hut film and recording studio behind it.

Interestingly, the earliest hits from Bradley Studios weren’t all Decca recordings, though hits by Decca artists such as Pierce, Wells, Tubb, the Wilburn Brothers, and Bill Anderson abounded. Rented to other labels and their producers, the studio became the birthplace of Sonny James’s “Young Love” and Gene Vincent’s “Be-Bop-a-Lula” (both Capitol, 1956), Marty Robbins’s “Singing the Blues” (Columbia, 1956), Ferlin Husky’s “Gone” (Capitol, 1957), Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe” (MGM, 1958), Mark Dinning’s “Teen Angel” (MGM, 1959), and Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans” (Columbia, 1959), to name but a few.

Owen Bradley was named head of Decca’s Nashville division in 1958, from which position he helped shape the evolution of the Nashville Sound. Like Chet Atkins, his counterpart at RCA, Bradley put singers out front, using rhythm sections consisting of guitars, bass, drums, and piano to provide basic support and adding background harmony parts or string sections as needed. The resulting music was easily accessible to a wide range of listeners. In addition to turning out hits by Decca’s country acts, Bradley also produced a Grammy-winning record for folk star Burl Ives (1962) and attracted Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain and pop organist Lenny Dee to Nashville. Bradley himself scored pop hits for Decca in 1957 (“White Silver Sands”) and 1958 (“Big Guitar”).

Many consider Bradley’s productions with Decca female vocalists to be his finest. He produced numerous Top Ten hits with Kitty Wells, and his collaborations with Patsy Cline remain the standard against which female country records are measured to this day. Brenda Lee had twelve Top Ten pop hits produced by Bradley in the early 1960s, and he also produced the fifty-plus hits that made Loretta Lynn a country legend.

By the early 1960s Bradley’s studio was hosting 700 sessions annually and had been joined by similar businesses in a district that would come to be known as Music Row. Columbia Records bought the studio from Bradley in 1962 and built the label’s Nashville headquarters around it. Columbia continued to use that studio for recording until 1982.

In 1965, Bradley converted a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, barn into another studio. “Bradley’s Barn,” as it was called, was used by Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, the Beau Brummels, and other pop acts, as well as dozens of country artists. Meanwhile, Bradley continued to sign important artists to Decca, most notably Conway Twitty.

Bradley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974. He stepped down as a label head late in 1976,(by which time Decca had been completely absorbed into MCA) to become an independent producer and work with his publishing firm, Forest Hills Music. He built yet another studio after Bradley’s Barn was destroyed by fire in 1980.

Actress Sissy Spacek portrayed Loretta Lynn in the 1980 movie Coal Miner’s Daughter; the soundtrack, produced by Bradley, received an Academy Award nomination. In 1985 Jessica Lange portrayed Patsy Cline in the film Sweet Dreams; again, Bradley produced the soundtrack. Canadian k. d. lang came to Nashville in 1987 to record Shadowland: The Owen Bradley Sessions. The album sold 1 million copies.

In the 1990s, Bradley produced records for Marsha Thornton, Brenda Lee, and Pete Fountain, and went into semi-retirement. The Recording Academy gave him its Governors Award at a 1995 gala, and the (temporarily) reactivated Decca label saluted him with a 1996 compilation called The Nashville Sound.

Bradley fathered a musical dynasty. Son Jerry led RCA’s Nashville operations for a time, then took the reins of the Opryland Music Group for a number of years. He is now president of the Forrest Hills Music publishing firm. Daughter Patsy is an executive at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) in Nashville, and grandson Clay is a recording executive at Sony Music’s Nashville operation. Nephew Bobby Bradley Jr. is a studio engineer. Daughter-in-law Connie is the head of Nashville’s ASCAP office. Younger brother Harold became one of the world’s most recorded session guitarists, and the president of the Nashville chapter of the American Federation of Musicians.


Roger Miller
Born Jan 2, 1936 in Fort Worth, TX Died Oct 25, 1992

Roger Miller is best known for his humorous novelty songs, which overshadow his considerable songwriting talents as well as his hardcore honky tonk roots. After writing hits for a number of artists in the '50s, Miller racked up a number of hits during the '60s which became not only country classics, but popular classics as well.

Miller was born in Fort Worth, TX, but raised in the small town of Erick, OK, by his aunt and uncle, following the death of his father and his mother's debilitating sickness. Initially, he was attracted to music by hearing country over the radio as well as by his brother-in-law, Sheb Wooley. By the time he was ten, he earned enough money picking cotton to buy himself a guitar. At the age of 11, Wooley gave him a fiddle and encouraged him to pursue a performing career. Miller completed the eighth grade and left school to become a ranch hand and rodeo rider. Throughout his adolescence, he played music in addition to working the ranch. Soon, he was able to play not only guitar and fiddle, but also piano, banjo, and drums.

He enlisted in the Army during the Korean war and was stationed in South Carolina, where he met the brother of Jethro Burns who arranged an audition at RCA Nashville for him. Early in 1957, Miller left the army and auditioned for Chet Atkins at RCA. The session was unsuccessful, and he spent a year as a bellhop at a Nashville hotel. While in Nashville, Miller met George Jones and Pappy Dailey, who introduced him to Don Pierce, an executive at Mercury Records. Pierce signed Miller and had him cut three songs. His first single, "Poor Little John," disappeared without a trace. Following the failure of his first single, Miller continued to work at the hotel and tour with other musicians — he played fiddle with Minnie Pearl for a short time, then he became the drummer for Faron Young. After a few months, he was signed as a songwriter for Tree Music Publishing and stopped performing as a supporting musician. Instead of playing music, he became a fireman in Amarillo, TX. The abandonment of performing was short-lived, however — within a few months, he became the drummer for Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys.

In 1958, Price recorded Miller's "Invitation to the Blues," and it went to number three. It was soon followed by three other successful versions of his songs — Young's "That's the Way I Feel" and Ernest Tubb's "Half a Mind" both went Top Ten, while Jim Reeves had a number one hit with "Billy Bayou." That same year, Jones recorded "Tall Tall Trees" and "Nothing Can Stop My Love," which he had written with Miller; neither of the songs were hits. The following year, Reeves had a hit with another one of Miller's songs, "Home."

Since his songwriting career was flourishing, Miller decided it was again time to try to become a performing artist as well. He recorded a few tracks for Decca which weren't successful, and then he signed to RCA Records. "You Don't Want My Love," one of his first singles for the label, reached number 14 in early 1961, followed by the Top Ten "When Two Worlds Collide" later that summer.

Miller wasn't able to immediately follow the songs with another hit single. Two years later, "Lock, Stock and Teardrops" scraped the charts, and he left the record label.

Around that time, Miller moved to Hollywood began appearing regularly on The Jimmy Dean Show and The Merv Griffin Show, two of the most popular television programs in the country. His guest spots showcased his new style — instead of concentrating on hardcore country, he had developed a willfully goofy persona, singing silly novelty songs. He signed a record contract with Smash Records and released his first single for the label, "Dang Me," in the summer of 1964. It was an immediate smash, vaulting to number one and spending six weeks at the top of the charts; it also crossed over into the pop charts, peaking at number seven. "Chug-a-Lug" followed a few months after it, reaching number three on the country charts and nine on the pop charts. At the end of the year, "Do-Wacka-Do" was released, becoming a number 15 hit.

Miller began 1965 with his best-known song, "King of the Road." The single spent five weeks at the top of the country charts and became his biggest pop hit, peaking at number four. Its accompanying album, The Return of Roger Miller, was another crossover success, also peaking at number four on the pop album charts and going gold. Miller was at his peak in 1965. Every song he released that year — "Engine Engine #9," "One Dyin' and a Buryin'," "Kansas City Star," "England Swings" — reached the country Top Ten, and at the end of the year, his Golden Hits album went Top Ten; it would eventually go gold. In the summer of 1965, he released The Third Time Around, a record that leaned toward his honky tonk roots; it peaked at number 13.

After the watershed year of 1965, Miller's career dipped slightly. Although other artists were still having hits with his songs — Eddy Arnold took "The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me" to number two — Miller had trouble breaking the Top 40 following the number five hit "Husbands and Wives" in early 1966. He continued to record throughout the late '60s, but fewer and fewer of the songs were becoming hits. Occasionally, he would record the songs of emerging songwriters, whether it was Bobby Russell's "Little Green Apples" (number six, 1968) or Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" (number 12, 1969). Toward the end of the decade and beginning of the '70s, he began to concentrate on honky tonk, although he still made his trademark novelties.

During the '70s, he recorded sporadically, preferring to concentrate on his hotel chain, appropriately called King of the Road. "Tomorrow Night in Baltimore," released in the spring of 1971, was his biggest hit of the decade, climbing to number 11. Early in the decade, he wrote songs for Walt Disney's animated adaptation of Robin Hood — he also provided a voice for the rooster in the film — as well as the movie Waterhole Three. In 1973, he left Smash/Mercury for Columbia Records. He spent four years at Columbia and only his debut single for the label, "Open Up Your Heart," was a hit, peaking at number 14.

Miller didn't record much during the '80s — his biggest hit was "Old Friends," recorded with Willie Nelson and Ray Price. In the mid-'80s, he wrote the music for Big River, a Broadway adaptation of Mark Twain's works. Both the play and Miller's music were critically acclaimed and enormously popular. Big River won seven Tony Awards and two of those went to Miller, for Best Musical and Outstanding Score.

Big River would be the last major work of Miller's career. In 1991, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and died a year later. After his death, his legacy remained strong, as each new generation of country singers found songs in his catalog to cover and reinterpret.


Sam Phillips
Born- Florence, Alabama, January 5, 1923; Died. July 30, 2003
Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame® 2001
One of the most important non-performers in American music, producer Samuel Cornelius Phillips founded Sun Records and introduced the world to Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, B. B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, and many others. In so doing, he played a lead role in determining many of the directions popular music has taken through the years in the wake of those artists’ inspired work.

A blues fan, originally from the Florence-Muscle Shoals region of Alabama, Phillips got involved in radio when he was young and wound up at WREC in Memphis in 1945. In October 1949, he decided to supplement his income as a disc jockey for WREC and so signed a lease on a building at 706 Union Avenue, where he was to open his Memphis Recording Service studio. From the beginning, in January 1950, he balanced creative concerns with more pressing worldly ones; he needed to cover the $150 monthly rent, so he focused on for-hire recording rather than the untamed music he loved.

Phillips soon tired of the wedding and Bar Mitzvah circuit and began documenting the city’s tough blues scene. In August 1950 he started the short-lived Phillips label, but soon found a calling in recording blues artists performers and turning the masters over to r&b labels like RPM and Chess. Phillips often had to stop these artists from trying to smooth their sounds for white producers, insisting—as he did throughout his career—that direct, unfussy presentation was all that mattered. After Howlin’ Wolf moved to Chicago, where he would record directly for Chess, Phillips began another label, Sun Records, and scored many regional and national r&b hits with the likes of Rufus Thomas and Little Junior’s Blue Flames.

By early 1954 Phillips was delivering his message of straightforward, soulful presentation to country performers as well as blues singers, and he helped develop rockabilly out of this country-blues mix. For Phillips, wild rockabilly and polite country were part of the same continuum; in either category, he wanted a mood to be established the second a song began, and then for it to intensify and ignite.

His method reached its apotheosis in 1954 and 1955, when Phillips discovered and shepherded Elvis Presley. Phillips sold Presley’s contract to RCA for $35,000, which he used to sustain a label whose cash flow was never as solid as its musical grounding. By the early 1960s Phillips supervised fewer and fewer of Sun’s day-to-day recordings and made a fortune as an early investor in the Holiday Inn Hotel chain. On July 1, 1969, Phillips sold the Sun label to Shelby Singleton and effectively retired, resurfacing only for the very rare public appearances and production assignments (he helped out on the 1979 John Prine album Pink Cadillac, because his sons Knox and Jerry were producing it).

As Phillips told journalist David Halberstam, “I have one real gift and that gift is to look another person in the eye and be able to tell if he has anything to contribute, and if he does, I have the additional gift to free him from whatever is restraining him.” More than merely creating a sound, Phillips initiated a sensibility.


Tommy Jackson
Born Mar 31, 1926 in Birmingham, AL Died Dec 9, 1979 Nashville, Tennessee
Session Musician, Fiddle
If there was a Jimi Hendrix of country fiddlers, it was Tommy Jackson. And if square dance music had its Eric Clapton, then it was Tommy Jackson. Would-be stars on the country fiddle snapped up his records as fast as he could release them during the late '50s and early '60s. This makes it a special tragedy that Jackson isn't very well remembered today, except by his fellow musicians. In his time, from the end of the 1940s until the beginning of the 1960s, he was the first important session fiddle player in Nashville, and the best and busiest violinist in country music, working on records by Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, and George Jones, among numerous others. One of the sad ironies of his career was that his influence led to Jackson's own forced retirement — so many younger players followed in his footsteps that he found precious little work during the final decade of his life and died in relative obscurity.

Thomas Lee Jackson was born in Birmingham, AL, but his family moved to Nashville before he was a year old, and he grew up there listening all of the best country music that local radio and the Grand Ole Opry had to offer. Among his favorite groups growing up were George Wilkerson and the Fruit Jar Drinkers and Arthur Smith's Dixieliners. His father was a barber, not a musician, but he encouraged the boy — by age seven, Tommy was playing fiddle tunes at local bars for nickels and dimes, and at 12 he was going on tour with Johnny Wright and Kitty Wells. He formed a group called the Tennessee Mountaineers and became a regular guest on Nashville's WSIX. By 17, he was playing on the Opry with Curly Williams and His Georgia Peach Pickers. A year later, however, his budding musical career was interrupted when Jackson joined the U.S. Army Air Force — he spent 1944 and 1945 as a tail gunner in a B-29 flying missions in the Pacific, earning four Bronze Stars and an Air Medal.

When Jackson returned to civilian life, he re-entered the music world immediately, touring with various stars of the Opry. He didn't like life on the road, however, and in 1947 he hooked up with producer Milton Estes, who had a radio show on WSM in Nashville. Jackson became a member of Red Foley's band, the Cumberland Valley Boys, and was regularly featured on his broadcasts.

His fiddle playing was in demand, and with the other members of the Cumberland Valley Boys, he began working recording sessions. Jackson played on Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light" in 1947, providing the distinctive fiddle introduction, and later appeared on such records as "Lovesick Blues." He also played sessions with Red Foley "Satisfied Mind" was one of the resulting singles. The session work only increased after the group moved to Cincinnati, OH, becoming regular participants on recordings at King Records. Jackson played on records by Grandpa Jones, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins, among others. In the early '50s, he made his first records for Mercury, which sold well, and in 1953 he signed to Dot Records.

Over the next ten years, Jackson cut 11 albums and 30 singles, hooking into the burgeoning square dance boom. The recordings all sold well and were swept up eagerly by aspiring fiddle players, for whom Jackson rapidly became a major inspiration. In 1954, he left Foley and began playing sessions with Ray Price and Faron Young, and Jackson virtually invented the standard modern fiddle accompaniment.

During the 1960s, Jackson was one of the busiest fiddle players in country music, appearing on hundreds of recordings apart from his own solo sides. The end of the square dance boom saw a slackening off of his own records' sales and production, but he continued to be one of the Nashville session musicians most heavily in demand.

Jackson became a victim of his own success during the 1970s, as the growing number of session fiddlers — their career inspired by him — made it difficult to find work. He'd stopped playing by the middle of the decade, and he was virtually forgotten at the time of his death in 1979, outside of the Nashville music community and the ranks of Opry musicians, among whom he'd once been a star.

Jackson is remembered today primarily by country music scholars.


Hank Penny

While he never achieved the kind of success enjoyed by fellow bandleaders like Bob Wills or Spade Cooley, during the late '40s and early '50s Hank Penny ranked as one of the foremost practitioners of the Western swing sound. Born Herbert Clayton Penny on August 18, 1918, in Birmingham, AL, his father was a disabled coal miner who inspired young Hank with his skills as a guitarist, poet, and magician before his death in 1928. By the age of 15, Penny was performing professionally on local radio; in 1936, he moved to New Orleans, where he first fell under the sway of Western swing pioneers like Wills and Milton Brown. A friendship with steel virtuoso Noel Boggs only served to further his enthusiasm for the swing form.

After a few years with New Orleans' WWL as a solo performer, Penny returned to Birmingham, where he formed the group the Radio Cowboys, which featured guitarist Julian Akins, steel guitarist Sammy Forsmark, tenor banjo player Louis Damont, bassist Carl Stewart, and vocalist, guitarist, and fiddler Sheldon Bennett. In 1938, the group (minus Akins) first entered the studio under the guidance of legendary producer Art Satherly to record numbers like "When I Take My Sugar to Tea" and Penny's own "Flamin' Mamie." After the Radio Cowboys joined the cast of the Atlanta-based program Crossroad Follies, Forsmark left the group, to be replaced by Noel Boggs; at the same time, they also welcomed a new fiddle player by the name of Boudleaux Bryant.

After turning down offers to take over vocal chores for both Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys and the Light Crust Doughboys, Penny moved the group to Nashville in 1939, where they again recorded with Satherley. Shortly after, Boggs left the group to join Jimmy Wakely and was replaced by Eddie Duncan. After recording songs like "Tobacco State Swing" and "Peach Tree Shuffle" in Chicago in mid-1940, the band was forced to dissolve after most of its members were drafted. Penny remained in Chicago working as a disc jockey before assembling a new group for a 1941 session in North Carolina, which generated the songs "Why Did I Cry" and "Lonesome Train Blues."

After signing on with the Cincinnati station WLW's programs Boone Country Jamboree and the Midwestern Hayride, Penny formed a new band called the Plantation Boys, which included Radio Cowboy Carl Stewart on fiddle along with guitarist/bassist Louis Innis, fiddler Zed Tennis, and lead guitarist Roy Langham. In addition to work with the Delmore Brothers, Merle Travis, Bradley Kincaid, and Grandpa Jones, they also backed WLW's pop singer Doris Day. After the departure of Langham, in 1944 the band toured with the USO before Penny traveled to California at the urging of Travis. There, he became enamored with the music of Spade Cooley and met Cooley's onetime manager Foreman Phillips, who offered Penny work as a bandleader. After a brief return to Cincinnati which led to a brief recording date, Penny returned to California to assemble another band which included Boggs; however, when Phillips began ordering Penny how to play, the bandleader balked and the group promptly disbanded.

Soon, he was fronting an all-girl band at a Los Angeles club but was quickly approached by Bobbie Bennett, Cooley's then-manager, to lead one of several groups formed to play at the bookings Cooley and his orchestra were themselves too busy to fulfill. While Tex Ritter led one band and Travis led another, Penny fronted the Painted Post Rangers, which scored a pair of significant chart hits with "Steel Guitar Stomp" and "Get Yourself a Redhead." When the Painted Post Club went bankrupt, he moved to lead the large house band at the Riverside Rancho. In 1946, he joined Slim Duncan's ABC network show Roundup Time as a comedian. After moving first back to Cincinnati and then to Arlington, VA, he returned to California and took a disc jockey position. He also formed yet another new band, the Penny Serenaders, which included guitarist Speedy West as well as accordion player Bud Sievert, fiddler Billy Hill, and bassist Hank Caldwell. Together with club owner Amand Gautier, Penny also opened his own dancehall, which featured Bob Wills on its opening night.

In June 1948, Penny joined Cooley's massively popular television program, where he performed as a comedian best known for his backwoods character "That Plain Ol' Country Boy." A year later, he entered the studio to record a number of songs, among them "Hillbilly Bebop," the first known bop effort cut by a country act, and the 1950 hit "Bloodshot Eyes." After he and Gautier opened another club, the legendary Palomino, he reformed the Penny Serenaders, which included singer Mary Morgan, later known as Jaye P. Morgan. The group issued "Remington Ride" and "Wham Bam! Thank You, Ma'am" before calling it quits and then reforming again, this time with guitarist Billy Strange and steel guitar whiz Joaquin Murphy. In 1952, Penny left Cooley to join Dude Martin's program; after first stealing Martin's wife, singer Sue Thompson, he began hosting his own series, The Hank Penny Show, which was canceled after only seven weeks.

By 1954, Penny had moved to Las Vegas, where he began a seven-year run as a performer at the Golden Nugget Casino, fronting a band which included the likes of Roy Clark. He also continued to record, even cutting a jazz record in 1961. After divorcing Thompson, he also recorded a comedy album before moving to Carson City, NV, in 1970 to begin performing with his protégé, Thom Bresh, the son of Merle Travis. After leaving his band to Bresh, Penny moved to Nashville, where he was in the running for a slot hosting Hee Haw but lost out, ironically enough, to Clark. After a tenure on radio in Wichita, KS, working for radio legend Mac Sanders, he and fifth wife Shari returned to California in the mid-'70s, and for the most part he retired. Penny died of a heart attack on April 17, 1992.


The Father Of The Grand Ole Opry...
"The Solemn Old Judge" George D. Hay

An entity unto itself. A phenomenon that has lasted through generations. And one that continues today. The Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running live radio program, shows no signs of slowing. Millions of Americans have been entertained through live radio and television with the best country music has to offer.

On November 2, 1920 KDKA in East Pittsburgh became the first radio station with a regular broadcasting service. By 1924, more than 2,500,000 radios were in American homes. And by October of 1925, Nashville, Tennessee was making radio history of its own. That's when the first program to be broadcast over National Life & Accident Insurance Company's new radio station was aired. The station's call letters were WSM, and abbreviation for the insurance company's motto, "We Shield Millions."

The Opry was born on the fifth floor of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company building. The date was November 28, 1925 and legend has it that the featured performer for that show was Uncle Jimmy Thompson, an 80-year-old fiddler who had the reputation of knowing a thousand fiddle rounds. George D. Hay, one of America's pioneer radio showmen, was the announcer. He proclaimed himself "The Solemn Old Judge" (even though he was merely 30 years old) and launched the WSM Barn Dance, a spin-off of his National Barn Dance program from a previous Chicago radio station. Three years later, he gave it the new name - one that would stick - "The Grand Ole Opry."

The show became very popular and soon even the studio couldn't accommodate the hordes of fans flocking to see the show performed live. The Opry was moved into a succession of three venues, each larger than the next. The Hillsboro Theatre, the Dixie Tabernacle and then the War Memorial Auditorium were all home to the Opry. A 25-cent admission fee was even charge in hopes of curbing the large crowds, but it was to no avail. The numbers continued to average 3,000 or more and the move to the Ryman Auditorium in 1943 was a welcomed necessity. The Ryman, built in 1892, had perfect acoustics and would become the Opry's most famous home. In 1974, the Opry relocated to the 4,400 seat Grand Ole Opry House where it now remains.

NBC Radio carried the Opry for the first time in 1939. Its sponsor was Prince Albert cigars and the featured artists were Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff, Little Rachel, the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, and the Solemn Old Judge. Through the years, hundreds of artists have entertained as Opry cast members. With cast members that include new stars, superstars and legends, the Opry is poised to take country music into the new millenium.

Annually, hundreds of thousands of Opry fans travel over oceans and from all 50 states to Nashville to see the weekend performances in person. Through the Opry, WSM created the musical family that inspired former WSM personality, David Cobb, to dub Nashville "Music City, USA."

The Grand Ole Opry is an omnipresence in the world of country music. It is entertainment, pageantry, comedy and America's music, bundled into one package. The connection between the Opry artists and the audience is unlike anything in the world. Whether part of a live performance at the Opry House, tuning into WSM's cross-country Clear Channel Frequency (650 AM), or watching "Grand Ole Opry Live" on the cable channel GAC, fans are entertained by this show called the Opry...a phenomenon that will continue as long as the world lends an ear.


Tex Williams
Born Sol Williams Aug 23, 1917 in Ramsey, Fayette County, IL Died Oct 11, 1985
Although not nearly as well known as figures like Bob Wills, the Maddox Brothers, and Merle Travis, Tex Williams was an important western swing performer. Like all of the aforementioned musicians, he helped develop country music from its rural, acoustic origins to a more danceable, citified, and electrified form with a much wider popular appeal. At his peak in the late '40s, he also recorded some of the most enjoyable country swing of his time, distinguished by his talking-blues vocal delivery. Much of his style can be heard in the western swing-influenced recordings of revivalists like Asleep at the Wheel and Commander Cody.

The singer and guitarist caught his first big break after moving to Los Angeles in 1942. At that time California was populated by many former Texans and Oklahomans working in the defense industry, creating a need for western swing entertainment in a region not noted for country music. One of the musicians on this circuit was fiddler Spade Cooley, who nicknaming him "Tex" to ensure easy identification by the many Texans in their audiences. Several of Cooley's mid-'40s Columbia singles featured Tex on vocals.

Capitol offered a contract to Williams as a solo artist, which strained the relationship between Tex and the tempestuous Cooley to the breaking point. Cooley fired Williams in June 1946, a move which backfired badly, as most of Cooley's band opted to follow Tex rather than remain with their difficult boss. Cooley achieved his greatest subsequent notoriety when he was convicted of beating his wife to death in a drunken fit in 1961 in front of his daughter. He died in prison.

Tex's renamed backing band, the Texas Caravan, was one of the best units of its kind. Numbering about a dozen members, it attained an enviable level of fluid interplay between electric and steel guitars, fiddles, bass, accordion, trumpet, and other instruments (even occasional harp). At first they recorded polkas for Capitol, with limited success. They found their true calling when Williams' friend Merle Travis wrote most of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" for him, emphasizing Tex's talking-blues delivery and heavier boogie elements. The song was a monstrous commercial success in 1947, and indeed one of the biggest country hits of all time, making #1 on the pop charts.

That set the model for several of Williams' subsequent hits: hot western swing backup, over which Tex would roll his deep, laconic, easygoing narratives of humorous, slightly ridiculous situations. As enjoyable as these were, they were just one facet of the Texas Caravan's talents. The outfit were also capable of generating quite a heat on boogie instrumentals and more straightforward vocal numbers in which Williams actually sang rather than spoke.

Williams' commercial success began to peter out in the early '50s, and he left Capitol in 1951. He continued to record often in the 1950s, mostly for Decca, without much success; in 1957, the Western Caravan disbanded. He pressed on, however, returning to Capitol in the early 1960s, and recording a live album that included Glen Campbell on guitar. He had one final country hit, titled "The Night Miss Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down," which entered the Top 30 in 1971. Tex Williams died October 11, 1985.


Bob Wills
Notes by Dugg Collins
I first heard Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys when I was about four years old. I grew up during the age of radio and listened to all forms of music in my home out in Memphis, Texas, in Hall Country where the Wills Family made their home for a number of years. One of our closest family friends was James Francis Ogden, owner of the Ogden Ranch, where the Wills Family made their home for a short period of time after arriving in West Texas. As a child, I visited the site of where the Friendship School stood, the place where Bob received an early education. The old school house was torn down many years ago, but the foundation is still there. If you take the Friendship Highway out of Memphis and follow it five miles to the end, you will see where the school once stood on your right. If you turn right, you will find a farming community called Plaska. If you turn left on the dirt road, at least is was still dirt last time I was there, you will be smack dab in the middle of the Ogden Ranch. I spent many hours on an old Case tractor when I was a youngster keeping the land free of weeds because most of the property was in the soil bank back then.

Uncle John Wills, Bob’s father, was a share cropper when they worked the Ogden Ranch. That only lasted for a short period of time because Uncle John wanted his own place. That’s when they moved down between the rivers, between the Little Red and The Big Red River. Their farm was about a mile off the highway that connects the small towns of Turkey and Lakeview. I’m told the old abandoned farm house still stands. Weeds grow all around it. In front, grass covers the old highway that was once the proud thoroughfare to Memphis. If you stand in the deep sand where cotton once grew, and you know the history of that farm, it’s easy to imagine what life must have been like for the wills family in those early days in Hall County.

Bob was born March 6, 1905 in Kosse, on a farm in Limestone County, Texas, the first of ten children born to John Tompkins Wills and Emmaline Foley Wills. Bob was of the third generation of Willses born in Texas. The Wills family migrated from England to America in the colonial period and George Wills was one of the first settlers in Tennessee. Bob’s Great- Grandfather, Dr. Saladin H. Wills moved to East Texas in 1845. Bob came from a family of fiddlers and of course, he was expected to play the fiddle as well when he grew older. To his family’s disappointment, Jim Rob showed no interest in any musical instrument early on. His Dad thought perhaps a new place to live would call out that latent talent for music.

In the fall of 1913, the Wills Family loaded all their possession into two covered wagons and moved five hundred miles northwest to Hall County, near Memphis, Texas. John Wills half brother Saladin Wills was already living near Memphis, Texas and had written letters about the opportunities for farmers in West Texas. When the family left Limestone County in 1913, they already had four children. James Robert,{Jim Rob} as he was known, Ruby, Eloise and Johnnie Lee. John Wills Dad, Tom Wills also moved to Hall County with Bob and his family. Bob was eight years old when the family set out on this journey for a better life in Hall County.

It took the Wills wagon train two months to make the journey and they stopped along the way at various farms to pick cotton. Some of the time they slept in or under the wagons, but most of the time they lived in little shacks provided by the farmers for whom they picked the cotton. They supplemented their meager income by playing dances. Uncle John on the fiddle and Bob playing mandolin. You can see from this account that the Wills family were dirt poor people who barely had enough to eat at times. This made a great impression on the younger Wills and he knew from an early age there must be a better way to make a living.

Playing music in those cotton camps as they were called, Bob learned a different type of music from the many Negro families. Their music added a new dimension to Bob’s early musical training. He had heard the black music since the time he was old enough to remember, from black neighbors near the farm where he was born. Above all, it was the horn music these musicians used that fascinated him the most. They always had trumpets and guitars and Bob remembered how well they played the instruments.

Even after the Wills family ceased to live in the cotton camps, Bob was always around Negroes. They were by all accounts, in the same socio-economic level as these blacks. Both were trying to survive by picking cotton at so much per hundred. After the Wills family rented or bought their own farms, they still hired blacks to do a lot of the work.

Speaking of those old cotton camps. They were far from being romantic. For the most part, they were just labor camps, housing entire families and all who were old enough were expected to be in those hot cotton fields to harvest the cotton crops. I remember those camps from my childhood there in Memphis, Texas. We never had to live in one, but there were many, usually situated near the cotton gins on the South side of town. Entire families lived in those things, which usually consisted of rows of tin buildings, one room shanties with no water or toilet facilities. Conditions such as this would not be tolerated today. Entire families would try to make do in these horrible conditions and I’m talking about big families, ten to twelve children and their parents, sleeping on those cold concrete floors on pallets consisting of quilts and no padding on the floor. Why were families so large back then? I ask that question as well and finally figured out that it was cheaper to grow your own field hands if you were to make it as a farmer. That sounds cruel, but it’s the absolute truth. My Mother came from a family of fourteen and all the kids were expected to work in the fields from the time they were big enough to drag a cotton sack. The kids were expected to help support the family and those who suffered most were the oldest in those families.

Can you imagine working the cotton fields all day, then travel forty miles by buggy or horseback at night to play house dances? Bob Wills did just that. Not because he loved the music, but simply because it was a way to get more money for twelve hungry people in the family. By the early 1920's, Bob bought a Model T Ford to make such trips.

Bob wanted out of those cotton fields. He tried his hand at barbering at Ham’s Barber Shop on Main Street in Turkey. He then went to Amarillo and took a job for six dollars a day doing construction work on the Amarillo Smelting Plant while living with his Sister Ruby and her husband. The job lasted for six months and he as earning more money than he thought possible, allowing him to pay all his debts. He bought new clothes and sent money home to help the family on the farm. During that time he made his radio debut on two Amarillo radio stations.

In 1925 Bob left his job at the smelter for the second time and started playing ranch dances when he returned to the farm. In that Model T. Ford, they traveled as much as sixty miles or more to make music. In the summer of 1925 he ended up in East Texas, playing honky tonks and almost lost his life to a club owner who cut him badly with a knife.

It was during this time of uncertainty in his life that he felt the Lord wanted him to preach and he tried that. He was torn between that and playing music. He also suffered tremendous guilt from being away from his family and the farm life. He was very frustrated and never found contentment until he quit everything else and became a full time musician.

Bob married and started a family, but the urge to roam came again and he ended up in Roy, New Mexico in 1927. It was here he wrote a piece of music which would later be known as "The Spanish Two Step." Then it was back to Turkey, Texas and really started making a name for himself by entering fiddle contest. Between himself and his Father, they took most of the honors in these competitions. There was one fiddler he could never beat and that was the legendary Eck Robertson, but that did not diminish his popularity in the Turkey, Memphis area.

In the fall of 1929, Wills broke into show business when a medicine show came to Turkey and challenged the fiddler on that show to a contest, which he won. The manager of the show offered him a job and two weeks later, he was back in Turkey, broke and ashamed of his failure. It was then he felt he could do better in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, so on a fall day in 1929 he said goodbye to his wife, daughter and family and left the place of his youth for a bigger dream. When he left that day, he never returned there to live again, but it was here, that he got the most important lessons of his life, that influenced his music for as long as he lived. It was on those farms down between the rivers in Hall County, Texas that Western Swing music was born.

Many hard days lay ahead of Bob Wills when he went to Dallas/Ft. Worth, but he survived. You know the story of how he hooked up with Burris Mills and how the Light Crust Dough Boys were formed and how he and W. Lee O’Daniel could not work together. Then it was off to Waco, Texas where the Texas Playboys name was born. On to Oklahoma City where O’Daniel got him thrown off the air. Bob had the determination to beat this man and he did when Bob and his Texas Playboys moved on into Tulsa and KVOO Radio.

It was Tulsa, Oklahoma and his broadcast from Cains Ballroom over the powerhouse KVOO that brought him his greatest fame. He knew after he started there that he had to improve the band and he did that by hiring the best musicians he could find. More than anything else, Bob looked for men who had the right attitude. In many cases he took mediocre musicians and turned them into professional players.

Tulsa provided Bob with a strong base from which to work. His popularity brought him to the attention of Art Satherly, an Englishman who was hired to produce music for the Columbia Record label. Bob never considered himself to be a country music band leader. For the record, they called that kind of music hillbilly back then. Bob Wills was far removed from that kind of music. He was by all accounts a Big Band Leader in the same category as the Dorseys, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and the like. At one time the Texas Playboy Band numbered twenty two pieces, which included a full horn section to compliment his fiddle players and other band members. His music was first and foremost made for dancing. You have to remember that Wills greatest accomplishments came during those awful years of the depression. I’m not even sure the term Western Swing was born at that time and I really don’t know who hung that title on the music.

It was in 1935 that Bob got his opportunity to test his music far beyond the confines of the Southwest where KVOO Radio had it’s strongest signal. He would see if a broader audience would accept the music they were doing that was born in the cotton field of Hall County, Texas. This opportunity to record is really what forced Bob Wills to build a better band. He had to have more and better musicians if he were to compete on the world stage, which is where he was headed, whether he knew it or not. Brother Al Strickland was the last musician hired before they went to Dallas to record.

When it was all said and done, the band reads like this. There was thirteen men and one woman on the band. Bob Wills, leader and violin, Tommy Duncan, vocalist, Johnnie Lee wills, Son Lansford, Everette Stover, Zeb McNally, Herman Arnspiger, Art Haines, Jesse Ashlock, Ruth Masters, Leon McAuliffe, Sleepy Johnson, Smokey Dacus and Al Strickland. These are the players which Bob Wills would turn into the greatest Texas Playboy Band of his career. O.W. Mayo, who managed the band also went with them to Dallas. Now, you know from these names there were a lot of horn players on this band. Bob didn’t want a fiddle band, he wanted to capture that big band sound and he did.

Art Satherly just hit the roof when he saw this band Wills brought with him to record. I guess he figured he was getting a fiddle band and took Bob to task over it. Wills let him know that he got along just fine before he met them and he would get along just fine again if they didn’t want to record him. He said, "You hired Bob Wills didn’t you?" "This band is what I do and if you don’t like it, we’ll just head back to Tulsa." Needless to say, Uncle Art didn’t like it, but he let them record anyway. Good decision on his part. His most famous quote from that was, "Ok, but it won’t sell."

The first selection they recorded that day was a tune called "OSAGE STOMP,"a piece learned from a race record called "Rukus Juice Stomp."

During the session Bob started his hollering, directed at Jesse Ashlock, Leon McAuliffe, making reference to Zeb as "Mama’s little man." Art came into the studio and said, "Someone is hollering out here and it’s got to stop. It’s coming in over the music." This was the second time Bob told the band to pack up, were going home. Satherly once again had to calm him down and Bob told him in no uncertain terms that "You want Bob Wills, you got Bob Wills. I sing when I want to, I talk when I want to and I do what I want to do." End of conversation.

After that confrontation, the sessions went off without a hitch. They recorded twenty six sides between September 21st and 24th. These session, more than anything else he ever recorded, brought together the two music forms Bob knew best. That was fiddle music and Negro music. A majority of that session was dedicated to jazz, recorded in a dixieland style. ST. LOUIS BLUES, WANG,WANG, BLUES, SITTIN’ ON TOP OF THE WORLD, I AIN’T GOT NOBODY and FOUR OR FIVE TIMES. It wasn’t until 1938 that Bob really stared recording fiddle tunes and he really turned them out.

Wills soon became the hottest thing on radio with his records and then Hollywood started calling. "TAKE ME BACK TO OKLAHOMA," with Tex Ritter was his first movie and many more followed. I was talking with Bob one time about his movies and he just laughed. He never considered himself an actor. He referred to them as shorts, of which he made 36 in his career. Bob called them "seven day wonders."

He went on to rule the music world like no one else. He was outselling every artist Columbia/Brunswick had at the time. I think Bob made a decision in 1949 that would haunt him for the rest of his career. It was then that he had Eldon Shamblin fire Tommy Duncan from the band. He could never find another singer that brought to the Texas Playboys what Tommy Duncan had. The best singer Bob had on the band other than Tommy was when he hired Leon Rausch much later in his career. Today, nobody sings the music better than Leon. He and Tommy did get together one last time in 1960 to record three of Wills best works, but the producer, Joe Allison told me there was a lot of friction between the two even then. By the time it was completed, neither man spoke to the other.

By the mid 60's rolled around, ill health started taking a toll on Bob. He suffered several strokes, but made it through and had to keep working no matter the cost. In October of 1968 an event happened he never thought he would see. His induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Sam Gibbs just insisted he go to the show. Bob didn’t have any interest in that at all. In fact, he had booked a date at Cains the very night of the show, but Sam cancelled it and drove him to Nashville.

I believe the first Bob Wills celebration in turkey, Texas was held in 1972. Bob was there in a wheel chair and just could not believe his adopted home town would do something like this. He never knew how great he really was. That’s the honest truth. In 1973 Bob again got to lead his Texas Playboys for the last time in a historic recording session that ended where it all started, in Dallas, Texas. I’m told he was in a great mood that night as he directed the band. He was thrilled to once again be in charge and making music.

Betty took him home that night, put him to bed, he had a major stroke that put him in a coma from which he never came out. Bob left this world in 1975. His music has been recorded by many artist over the years, but nobody ever captured the spirt of the music like Bob Wills did.

His favorite recordings of "MAIDENS PRAYER," and "FADED LOVE," were done by Felix Slatkin’s orchestra featuring the fiddle of Gordon Terry and a 30 piece orchestra. Slatkin was the director of 20th Century Fox Symphony Orchestra. My great friend Johnny Western played guitar on those historic sessions.

Of all the words written or spoken about Bob Wills, his own, from his classic "San Antonio Rose," best summarize his life and career. Betty Wills had them engraved on the plaque that marks his grave in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"DEEP WITHIN’ MY HEART, LIES A MELODY"


Boxcar Willie - King Of The Hobo's
AKA Lecil Travis Martin
Born Sep 1, 1931 in Sterret, TX
Died Apr 12, 1999

Boxcar Willie is perhaps the most successful invented character in the history of country music. With his kitschy persona and stage act highlighted by his amazingly accurate impersonation of a train whistle Willie played into the stereotype of the loveable, good-natured hobo that spent his life riding the rails and singing songs. Since his popularity had more to do with his image than his music, it makes sense that he was massively successful in England, where he personified Americana. Willie's English success carried him over to American success in the early 80's, where he ironically was perceived as carrying the torch for traditional country, because he kept the stereotypes alive.

Born Lecil Travis Martin, Boxcar Willie never worked on the railroads his father did. However, Willie loved the railroads and kept running away to ride the trains when he was a child. He also loved country music, particularly the songs of Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, and Ernest Tubb.

As a teenager, Boxcar Willie would perform under his given name, eventually becoming a regular on the Big D Jamboree in Dallas, Texas. In his early 20s, he served in the Air Force. After he left the service, he continued to sing in clubs and radio shows. In the late 50's, he began performing as Marty Martin, while working blue collar jobs during the day. Marty Martin released an album, Marty Martin Sings Country Music and Stuff like That, around 1958, but it was ignored.

In the mid-'60s, Martin wrote a song called "Boxcar Willie," based on a hobo he saw on a train. Martin continued to struggle in his musical career until the mid-'70s. By that time, he had become a DJ in Corpus Christi, TX. In 1975, he decided to risk everything he had on one final chance at stardom. He moved to Nashville and developed the Boxcar Willie character, using his song as the foundation.

Initially, Boxcar Willie wasn't very successful, but he had a lucky break in 1976 when he was called in to replace a sick George Jones at a Nashville club. During that performance, he was spotted by Drew Taylor, a Scottish booking agent. Taylor brought Boxcar Willie over to England for a tour, where he was enthusiastically received. Later that year, he released his first album which was a moderate success in the U.K. Through the rest of the '70s, Willie toured Britain and every tour was more successful, culminating in a performance at the International Country Music Festival at Wembley in 1979. After his Wembley show was finished, he received a standing ovation the performance established Boxcar Willie as a star. His next album, King of the Road, became a humongous success in England, reaching number five on the album charts; the record was helped immeasurably by its accompanying television advertisements, which sold the record through the mail.

By the end of 1980, Willie had become the most successful country artist in England and his American success had just begun. King of the Road was available through an American television advertisement. "Train Medley" was a minor hit on the country charts, and he was becoming a popular attraction on U.S. concert circuits. In 1981, he received a spot on the Country Music Hall of Fame's Walkway of the Stars and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Boxcar Willie enjoyed his time in the spotlight, becoming a regular on the television show Hee Haw in 1982 and turning out albums as fast as he could make them. "Bad News" became his only American country Top 40 hit in 1982. In 1985, he played a hobo in Sweet Dreams, a film about Patsy Cline. By the mid-'80s, his star had faded, but he remained a popular concert attraction, particularly in England, into the '90s.


Carson Robison
Born Aug 4, 1890 in Oswego, Labette County, Kansas
Died Mar 24, 1957 in Pleasant Valley, NY


Carson Robison, known in some circles as "the granddaddy of the hillbillies," has mysteriously missed the recognition that has come the way of such contemporaries as Vernon Dalhart, not to mention successors such as Gene Autry and Merle Travis. A singer, guitarist, whistler and actor, the sheer diversity of his talent, coupled with the relatively early beginning of his recording career, may have harmed him in terms of posterity.

Robison's father was a champion fiddler while his mother was a singer and pianist, and by the time he was 14 years old, he was already playing guitar professionally. A year later he was playing in bands and singing, and by his 20's was proficient on a range of instruments, as well as an accomplished whistler. It was in the latter capacity that Robison first came into the recording studio, as part of backing groups behind Vernon Dalhart and Wendell Hall. Ultimately he teamed with Dalhart, and the two recorded and toured together from 1924 until 1928. Robison also worked with the Crowe Brothers, and co-wrote songs with Frank Luther Crowe ("My Blue Ridge Mountain Home," "Barnacle Bill The Sailor"). Other artists with whom Robison performed and recorded include singers Gene Austin and Frank Crumit and guitarist Roy Smeck.

In 1931, Robison formed his own group, the Pioneers, later rechristened the Buckaroos, which included John and Bill Mitchell, Frank Novak, and Pearl Pickens. The first country & western group to tour England, they had a considerable recording and broadcast career abroad as well as America before World War II. Robison had a hit in 1942 with the old standard "Turkey in the Straw," and wrote songs on behalf of the war effort, including "We're Gonna Have to Slap That Dirty Little Jap." As late as 1948, he had a chart entry with "Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It?" and the year before his death, he recorded the novelty rock & roll number "Rockin' and Rollin' with Grandmaw."

A fine technician as well as a good judge of songs, Carson Robison was perhaps too sophisticated to be grouped with hillbilly singers, cowboy singers, or country music in general. His music had a veneer of pop sophistication that, in some ways, made it at times closer in spirit to Bing Crosby, or even Eddie Cantor (check out "Everybody's Goin' But Me") than to Gene Autry, while also lacking the honest directness (as well as the extraordinary harmonies) of the Sons of the Pioneers. Under other circumstances, he might've made a name in movies providing musical backgrounds, but media exposure beyond the radio eluded him.

In November, 2001, Carson Robinson was inducted into The Western Music Hall of Fame in Tucson, Arizona along with Johnny Western, Carolina Cotton and Monte Hale.


LEO FENDER - The Guitar Man
Born 1909- Died 1991

Clarence Leo Fender was born in Anaheim California in 1909. As a teenager Leo had an interest in radios, which eventually led to his interest in amplifiers and other electrical gadgets. Leo began to formulate the idea of a solid body guitar, he first built one in 1943 or 1944 which proved popular when hired out to local musicians.

In the mid 1940s he established the K&F company with "Doc" Kauffman, who had helped design some of Rickenbacker Electro's electric guitars. K&F produced chiefly electric steel guitars and amplifiers, and lasted until 1946, when Leo formed The Fender Electric Instrument Company in nearby Fullerton, continuing the K&F lines. George Fullerton joined Fender in 1948. The two men designed the solid electric "Broadcaster." It was quickly changed to "Telecaster," when Gretsch pointed out their prior use. Some rare models known as "No-Casters" have no name at all on the headstock.

After more guitar innovations, Leo Fender became ill and the company was sold to CBS in 1965 for $13 million. Leo's health improved and he rejoined CBS/Fender briefly before resigning in 1970. He went on to make instruments for Music Men and G&L. Leo Fender died in 1991.

The Fender Broadcaster

The Fender Broadcaster, launched around 1950, was the world's first commercially available guitar with a solid wooden body and bolt-on neck. Leo Fender's whole design was geared to mass production and to a simple, yet effective electric instrument. After George Fullerton joined Leo's Fender Electric Instrument company in 1948, the two men set about devising their production solid-bodied electric guitar, the Fender Broadcaster. The principle advantage being the ability of the solid body to deliver a clean amplified version of the strings inherent tone. Even if Leo Fender had only built this one guitar (thank god he didn't!!) his company's place in the history of the electric guitar would be assured.

The Fender Telecaster

1955 Telecaster
The fender Telecaster is the longest-running solid electric guitar still in production, a brilliantly simple piece of design which works as well today as it did when it was introduced in 1951. The Telecaster was fender's original Broadcaster electric. the company was forced to change it when Gretsch claimed prior rights to the name. But Leo fender and is small workforce in Fullerton, California must have been delighted with the new Telecaster name, is thoroughly modern reference to the emerging medium of television just right for an equally innovative device like the Telecaster, the first commercially marketed solid electric guitar.

The Telecaster usually referred to as 'Tele' is known for its bright, cutting tone, and straightforward, no-nonsense operation. The guitar has been used by also sorts o