Lois Powell

Miss Lois Powell - Woo-Ee-Baby (Jaggars unreleased demo)
There was an astonishing amount of local Arkansas musicians in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of them made records - some of them very professional, some of them a bit more amateurish and some of them even crude. However, the majority of them are unpolished documents of local music history and a glimpse into a different, past world. Miss Lois Powell was one of those performers that never were known beyond the state borders. She recorded a couple of 45rpm singles and some of them even became known in rock'n'roll collector circles.

Virtually nothing was known about Powell until 2013, when the late Gary Corry posted both sides of her Velvet disc on his blog. A regular visitor to the blog, Bruce, immediately began research and tracked down Powell's brother Charles, who played lead guitar in their band. A telephone interview yielded some highly interesting information and background on Powell, her band, and her records.

Ima Lois Powell as well as her brothers Nicki and Charles (born around 1943) were playing in a band by the late 1950s. They hailed from Searcy, Arkansas. Nicki Powell had already performed in a band with Tex Denton and black drummer James "Cootie" Brown during the mid 1950s, playing mostly the black areas of Searcy. Charles Powell had unsuccessfully tried his hand at the drums and instead learned to play guitar. By the late 1950s, they all joined forces with Lois Powell on vocals, Charles Powell on vocals and guitar, Nicki Powell on guitar, and James Brown on drums.

Lois Powell was the leader of the group and they performed countless dance halls and clubs in the area, from Searcy to Jacksonville and back. They were regulars at the Tin Top in Jacksonville, a city in the North Little Rock area. In the early 1960s, Lois decided it was time to make a record and phoned a recording studio in Little Rock. A session was set up and they cut "I Can't Think of Nothing Baby" and "The Long Wait", which were released on the Twik label, according to Charles.  A couple of hundred copies were pressed to hand out to jukebox operators, radio stations and to sell to the audiences at the appearances. Though, no copy has been found so far. According to Charles, the disc got a lot airplay locally but never went beyond the region's boundaries. 

A little later, a man by the name of Lee Harold took over the management of Powell and the band. He suggested to re-record both songs and another session was arranged at J.R. Cheatham's studio in Dallas, Texas. On this occasion, Powell was accompanied by Charles on lead guitar, Brown on drums, and Willie Ghent on piano, an elderly woman who lived in the Powells' neighborhood.  These versions were in turn released in 1964 on the Velvet label, which was likely their own imprint (judging from the fact that it was based in Searcy and pressed by Rite Record Productions from Cincinnati, which did a lot of custom pressing).

Powell continued to work with Cheatham, who worked as a songwriter and singer around Dallas. He also owned the Cheatham label and Powell recorded a few more songs with his studio musicians, including two duets with Cheatham - "Wild Wild Stallion" and "Shiftin' Heart" (Cheatum #C-116, 1964). Two solo performances by Powell appeared two years later in 1966, "Good Bye Daddy" and "Honkey Tonk Town" (#C-125). Some more tracks were recorded, including "Skid Row Woman", "Fishin' in the Spring", "One of the Gunman", and "Juke Box Blues" but none of them were apparently released. 

What happened to Lois Powell and her band afterwards escapes my knowledge unfortunately. At the time of the interview, Charles Powell was a retired welder, picked his guitar occasionally, and enjoyed life with his family. By 2022, his sister Lois was living in a nursing home. I could not find any hints to the whereabouts of the other members.

In 2008, Dutch record collector Cees Klop issued a primitive demo tape of Powell's, singing "Woo-Ee-Baby", on his Collector Records CD "41 Years Collector Records). The demo, featuring only Powell's voice and a rhythm guitar, was recorded at Jaggars Recording Studio in Little Rock at some point during the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Discography

Twik no.?: The Long Wait / I Can't Think of Nothing Baby
Velvet No.#: The Long Wait / I Can't Think of Nothing Baby (1964)
Cheatham C-116: Wild Wild Stallion / Shiftin' Heart (1964)
Cheatham C-125: Good Bye Daddy / Honkey Tonk Town (1966)

See also

• Velvet Records Discography on Arkansas 45rpm Records

Sources

• Discogs

• 45cat entry

• That's All Rite Mama

• France's Favorite 45s incl. Bruce's interview with Charles Powell

• France's Favorite 45s (the other side)

Roy Cagle

Roy Cagle around 1963

Roy Cagle - Natchitoches Country Soul Man

I have recently dived into the local music scenes of Louisiana much due to a Bear Family CD project I curated and researched. It is always amazing how much local music you discover when you dive a bit deeper. Accidently, while looking for something different, I stumbled across Roy Cagle, who was a local singer from Natchitoches Parish in Northwest Louisiana. Cagle recorded a few singles during the 1960s and 1970s for different labels and was adept at different styles, including country, soul, and rock'n'roll. My local Louisiana correspondent and fellow record collector Marshal Martin found out that Cagle enjoyed some popularity in the region: "My dad worked out there [Robeline] for almost 20 years. [...] I mentioned him [Roy Cagle] to my dad and he said people talked about him a good bit while he was out there. He said he lived out in Marthaville, which is about 15 minutes outside of Robeline."   

Glyn Roy Cagle, Sr., was born on December 3, 1941, in Robeline, a tiny community in Natchitoches Parish. Born to Herbert and Mary Jordan Cagle, he had a sister, Thelma, and a brother, Vernon. Cagle was musically talented and learned to play different instruments. He was taught piano by his friend Leonard Parker and it later became his main instrument.

He likely began to perform in the late 1950s, when rock'n'roll was still big but eventually changed his style towards country and soul music. It is likely, however, that he incorporated different genres into his repertoire to meet the demands of his audiences. In 1962, he had founded a band which could be seen on local TV station KALB from Alexandria, Louisiana. For some time around 1963, Cagle worked with the Parker Brothers from nearby Natchitoches. While the brothers' band disbanded at some point, he continued to work with Jesse Parker on and off during the 1960s and 1970s. Interviewed about Cagle by Marshal Martin, Parker remembered that Cagle had a big old Hammond organ and they "dragged that thing everywhere. Dragged it through the snow, climbed it upstairs. Wherever Roy went, that organ went, too."

The Natchitoches Enterprise, September 6, 1962

Throughout the years, Cagle also made a few records. Probably his first was for the Ville Platte based Hi-Lite label, featuring "Reelin' & Rockin'" b/w "I Need My Baby". I would place this into the early 1960s time frame, though there is really no hint to a date. On this disc, Cagle is in fine rock'n'roll mood with a Chuck Berry cover and an original song. At that time, Cagle was associated with Floyd Soileau's Ville Platte based Flat Town Music publishing company - Soileau owned the legendary JIN label - and Cagle co-wrote the songs "Love Me" and "Stay with Me", which were recorded by Rufus & Roscoe on the R&R label. At one point, Cagle also auditioned at Paula Records, one of Louisiana's biggest record labels, but the owner turned him down as he said Cagle's songs sounded too much like the material they already issued. After that, Cagle never tried to get on a bigger label.

Around 1971, Cagle cut two soul records with (probably) different studio bands for the Graham Cracker and Soul Train labels. "I Can't Find It", from Soul Train #RFM-411, became a worthy collectors item in soul music circles. In 1978, he and bassist/guitarist/vocalist Tim Murphy were members of the country rock band "Snuff Ridge" and the combo cut an album of country covers in Shreveport, though details escape me. Finally, Cagle had a record out on J.D. Miller's Showtime label in 1981.

Cagle kept on performing locally throughout the years. He had married Shelia Pleasant in 1971 and they had six children. He suffered from declining health in 2021 and passed away on December 21, 2021, in Shreveport at the age of 80 years. 

See also

• RFM - The Mysterious Record Company

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• Rockin' Country Style

• Discogs entry for Roy Cagle and for Flat Town Music Company

• Timmy Murphy Band
• Special thanks to Marshal Martin for researching a good bit on the spot!

Ouachita Valley Barn Dance Jamboree

Over the years, there has been some interest in some of the better known and bigger barn dance shows, especially those from the 1930s-1950s period. The lesser known ones have mostly fallen into obscurity and those shows that were founded at an even later date are totally forgotten. I dug up such a show while researching something completely different - the Ouachita Valley Barn Dance from Arkansas.

The Ouachita Valley Barn Dance Jamboree began its life in June 1975 in Reader, Arkansas. The show was staged at the Reader Railroad Park, a tourist-only railroad line in Nevada and Ouachita Counties. The premiere show featured country star Red Sovine and a subsequent show on July 1975 was headlined by Claude King.

Unfortunately, it is not known to me how long the show ran or if it was broadcast on radio. If anyone knows more about the Ouachita Valley Barn Dance Jamboree, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Sources

• "Reader Railroad adds night train for July 4-5" (Hope Star, July 2, 1975)

• Benton Courier, June 4, 1975

Willie Gregg

Willie Gregg

Country King of the Golden Triangle

Willie Gregg came to my attention in 2013, when I purchased his Waterflow 45 featuring a superb cover of Merle Haggard's "If You Want to Be My Woman". The recording is pure country bop with a great steel guitar break. The song prompted my to look out for more Gregg records and over the years, I managed to add four more discs to my collection. Looking for the next swinging country bopper, I learned that Gregg specialized more in tearjerkers like his signature song "You Fool". For years, I chased down every hint to find information on him but in most cases, was left without any substantial details. This has now changed thanks to an extensive search in the newspaper.com archives.

Willie Clyde Gregg was born on February 20, 1940, to John D.  and Evelyn Gregg in Port Arthur, Texas. At that time, the family was living on West 18th Street. Located on the banks of Sabine Lake, Port Arthur is part of a metropolitan area that also includes the cities Groves, Beaumont, and a bit more east, Orange, also known as the "Golden Triangle". This area is the far southeastern corner of Texas next to Louisiana. Apparently, the Gregg family name is quite common in this area so it was not an easy task to track down the right family. 

As a young man, Gregg began working as a butcher, a profession would also occupy in later years. In 1961, Gregg enlisted in the US Army and was sent overseas for service in Europe. His military time included a long-time stint in Germany and it was there that he started singing and playing the guitar. Called "the best singer on the post", he quickly organized a band and played the German taverns around the post for three years. 

He returned to the US and civilian life in 1965 and it seems, right after his return, threw himself into the Southeast Texas music scene. He joined Bertis Savoy's band, the Velvetones, and performed with this outfit regularly at the Club 87 outside of Orange on Highway 87. Savoy was a disc jockey on KHGM, a musician and also emceed shows in the area. Gregg would work with Savoy for several years.

The Orange Leader, January 12, 1966

During this time, Gregg had the chance to make his first record. Billy Thompson, a western swing musician who had performed with the likes of Hank Thompson and the Miller Brothers Band, owned the Kay-Bar-Dane record label in Orange and released Gregg's "You Fool" b/w "I'll Find You" in 1966 (#044). He was backed by the Velvetones on this disc and both songs turned out as soft country ballads. The Orange Leader newspaper mentioned on December 21, 1966, that "You Fool" was "popular in the immediate area and is among the top rated recordings of country-western music in Alabama". Indeed, "You Fool" became THE song of Gregg's career, as he would record another three versions of it throughout the years. 

Gregg stayed with the Velvetones through 1967 but formed his own band around 1968, the Country Kings, and landed a spot at Bendy's Danceland (later called the High Chaparral), a club in Bridge City, halfway between Groves and Orange. The same year, he released two more singles. For Bridge-Way Records, a local Houston imprint, he recorded "Rebel" b/w "A Heart Afraid to Break", and Gregg re-cut "You Fool" along with "How Long" for J.D. Miller's Ringo label in Crowley, Louisiana. All of them were in the same vein as his debut - soft, slow country ballads but without any hints of Nashville overproductions. With Gregg's calm singing voice and slight steel guitar fills, these recordings feature a down-to-earth charm.

Gregg continued to perform in the area and had at least two more records released. In 1969, he and the Country Kings cut the Merle Haggard song "If You Want to Be My Woman" - a great country shuffle - with a ballad, "She's No Good". Both songs appeared on Tee Bruce's Waterflow label (#702). Bruce was a producer based in the same area as Gregg and was instrumental in bringing Cajun music onto Texas radio. Gregg's records were solid sellers in his home regions but did not break out of the regional scene. Though, he would soon be rewarded with another shot at the market.

Fellow Texan Tommy Hill, who had been a chief engineer and producer at Starday Records, led the Stop label in Nashville around this time and Gregg was given the chance to record one single for the company in 1971. Along with a third version of "You Fool", he also cut the Larry Kingston composition "The Girls in Milwaukee" and both were released on Stop #1532. Again, it failed to chart and his trip to the bright lights of Music City USA seems to have ended afterwards.

Gregg kept on performing throughout the 1970s in such spots as the Sparkle Paradise in Bridge City, the Cotton Cay in Orange, or the Club 88. In fact, he and his band held down a regular gig at the Cotton Cay for six consecutive years. In December 1969, Gregg had renamed his band "The Fools" in reference to his signature song. The group included Gregg on vocals and rhythm guitar, Johnny Husband on lead guitar, Bobby Tyler on bass, and Gene Edgerly on drums.

The Orange Leader, January 12, 1973

He stopped performing in 1980 and began working as a carpenter, operating his own shop on Melcer Road with the help of his father-in-law, manufacturing cabinets of all kinds. By then, he was living in Little Cypress north of Orange. However, he had returned to occasional performing two years later. In the late 1980s, Gregg led a band called the Honky Tonk Cowboys, which included himself on vocals and rhythm guitar, his old friend Bertis Savoy on lead guitar, Elton Brently on fiddle, Marvin Walston on bass, and Tommy Wolford on drums.

Willie Gregg was married (and divorced) at least three times and had a total of five children. He eventually returned to working as a butcher. Gregg lived in Buna, Texas, north of Orange, in the early 2000s and passed away on September 10, 2005, at the age of 65 years.

Discography

Kay-Bar Dane KBD-044: Willie Gregg and the Velvetones - You Fool / I'll Find You (1966)
Ringo 2001: Willie Gregg - You Fool / How Long (1968)
Bridge-Way 1003: Willie Gregg - Rebel / A Heart Afraid to Break (1968)
Waterflow 702: Willie Gregg and the Country Kings - She's No Good / If You Want to Be My Woman (1969)
Stop ST 1532: Willie Gregg - You Fool / The Girls in Milwaukee (1971)

See also

• Willie Gregg on Stop

• Willie Gregg on Bridge-Way

• Willie Gregg on Kay-Bar Dane

• Willie Gregg on Waterflow

Sources

• Discogs

• 45cat

• Various issues of the Orange Leader 1961-2005

• Official census records accessed through Ancestry.com 

Merlin Bee on Razorback

Merlin Bee - Watching Grandma Twist (Razorback 106), 1963

Merlin Bee was a longtime performer in the DeWitt/Stuttgart area in Arkansas County, Central-East Arkansas. He was born Merlin Bee Bullock on June 2, 1936, in DeWitt to Bee and Mildred Bullock as the oldest of two children. His father owned a farm, so country living and agricultural knowledge were no strangers to Bee, who later worked in that field, too. He graduated from DeWitt High School in the early 1950s and attended Arkansas Polytechnic College in Russellville, Arkansas, afterwards (now Arkansas Tech University).

Following his graduation from Arkansas Tech in 1961, he moved back to Arkansas County, where he worked as a farmer and also as a field reporter for the Arkansas County ASCS (now Farm Service Agency). Bee was a passionate musician and had already played trumpet in DeWitt's high school band. He began appearing as "Merlin Bee" and founded his first band, the Knights, in 1961. This band changed name to "The Stingers" eventually.

Bee started recording for Bobby Crafford's Razorback label in 1963 and cut a total of three singles until the next year. The first one is featured today, "Baby" b/w "Watching Grandma Twist" (#106). He later switched to Grand Prairie Records, a vanity label from DeWitt, which could have been his own venture (along with Robin Hood Bray). Bee mostly relied on cover versions of recent hits or standards, including "Baby" (Little Richard), "What Am I Living For" (Jack Scott), "You Don't Love Me" (Willie Cobbs), "Tennessee Stud" (Jimmie Driftwood) or "Tore Up (Over You)" (Hank Ballard). He did compose two songs, "Share My Dreams" and "Big Red Root On" (co-written with Butch Carter) that he recorded for Grand Prairie.

Merlin Bee and the Stingers played for 25 consecutive years, performing well into the 1980s. Bee married Mary Louise Reiger in 1982. Merlin Bee Bullock passed away at the age of 74 years on November 1, 2010, at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried at Lone Tree Cemetery in Stuttgart. 

Sources

• April Hanson: "Merlin Bee Bullock Bandleader's Life Ruled by Music" (Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

• Find a Grave Entry

• 45cat entry

Carolyn Dixon on Billups

Carolyn Dixon - This Man of Mine (Billups 104), 1964

The Billups record label was based in Dallas, Texas, and possibly featured the involvement of Irvin Russ, who did not only write this particular song but also other songs for the label and even recorded for Billups, too. He also co-wrote songs with James Massey, who also released two singles on the label. Both Massey and Russ also collaborated with local songwirter J.R. Cheatham for songs on his Cheatham record label. Cheatham composed the flip side of this record, "King of the Highway".

Cheatham and Russ produced records in Dallas independently in the 1960s, which they either released on their own or leased the masters to other labels according to Billboard. Billups Record was located on Circlewood Drive on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas, and active from 1962 until around 1965.

There was a Carolyn Dixon who had two released on Little Rock, Arkansas based labels, Luck and Tommy Trent's T Bar T label. If she is the same singer who recorded for Billups is a question still to answer.

Sources

• 45cat entry

• SecondHandSongs

Gene Mooney on Merit

Gene Mooney - A Place Where Broken Hearts Can Go (Merit No.#), 1977

We have already featured a detailed post on Mooney, so this won't be as detailed but I'll give you some detailed information on this disc nevertheless. Mooney was a Tulsa based country and western swing band leader who recorded a couple of local 45s during the years. This is my second Gene Mooney single (the other one being his Rocket 45).

Mooney was a longtime performer in Tulsa, from the 1950s until the 1970s - at least that is what my research brought up. He sometimes even performed at legendary Cain's Ballroom but left after there were some discrepancies. Judging from the Southern Plastic matrix numbers, this single was pressed (and likely released) around 1977. All three Merit releases are by Mooney and feature songs from his "Gene Mooney Music" publishing firm, so I suppose it was also his own record label.

See also
• Gene Mooney on Rocket

Sources
• 45cat entry
• Discogs

Gene Champlin - Amanda

Gene Champlin - Amanda (No label #SPS-5018)

One of the visitors asked for Gene Champlin's version of "Amanda" due to my recent post on him. The original post contained his cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain".

Madison County Record July 14, 1977

Written by Nashville songwriter Bob McDill, "Amanda" was first recorded by country singer Don Williams, whose version was released in April 1973 on the JMI label (for which McDill also recorded). It peaked at #33 on Billboard's Country singles chart as the flip side of Williams' hit "Come Early Morning". Waylon Jennings recorded "Amanda" the following year and it appeared on his album "Ramblin' Man" but was not released at the time as a single.

It was not until 1979 that "Amanda", now edited with overdubs, that Jennings' version reappeared on a greatest hits album and saw release on single as well. It became a smash #1 country hit for him that year in the US and in Canada. It also crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 at #54.

There were a few cover version by no-name artists, too, but the song was been recorded by surprisingly few artists. One of those was Gene Champlin.

Don Williams singing "Amanda" in 1979 on TV

See also

• Gene Champlin

Sources

• Wikipedia entry

• 45cat entries for Don Williams version and Waylon Jennings version

Jim Stanton and Rich-R-Tone Records

Jim Stanton and Rich-R-Tone Music

The Forgotten Pioneer of Bluegrass Music

Bluegrass music evolved in the late 1930s in the Appalachians as an answer to the progressive new country music sounds of western swing and honky tonk music. This era produced the styles we generally consider as country music today. In contrast to these styles, bluegrass music sounded rather old-fashioned and therefore, was highly embraced by rural people from such Appalachian states as Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Carolinas. A mixture of the old-time mountain folk music from the south, blues, and even some jazz, bluegrass music was more innovative as people back then thought and soon, spread across the country.

The father of bluegrass was, of course, Bill Monroe from Kentucky, who became a driving force in the development of the style. His band, the Blue Grass Boys, gave the music its name, and their appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, one of the nation's best known country music radio programs, gave the style important exposure. However, Monroe was not the only artist that took part in this development.

One of the first, if not the first, independent record producer that recorded bluegrass music was Johnson City, Tennessee, music entrepreneur James Hobart "Jim" Stanton. Previously, bluegrass music had been recorded of course but only by major labels, which naturally were mainly interested in sales numbers and therefore only recorded artists that sold. Stanton, on the other hand, did not chose his artists under commercial aspects - at least not mainly - but recorded them on his Rich-R-Tone label because he liked the way they performed music. Thus, he preserved local artists' music and culture, giving us even today an idea what bluegrass music sounded like in places such as Piney Flats, Tennessee, or Grassy Creek, North Carolina, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

While Stanton kept on recording bluegrass and country music throughout the decades, he began working with black gospel groups in the 1960s and released numerous discs on his Champ record label. Indeed, he was not tied to one music style but recorded what he either considered appropriate or, the business man he was, if someone paid for it.

James Hobart Stanton was born in 1918 in Johnson City in Washington County, Tennessee, to Dana G. Stanton and his wife Ida Bell (née Yates). Both his father's and his mother's families were longtime residents of the coal mining region of Washington County, which biggest town is Johnson City.

Stanton was still a boy when the city became the place of an important event in country music history: in October 1928 and October 1929, Columbia Records set up a mobile recording studio and, headed by Columbia's Old Familiar Tunes department chief Frank Walker, conducted countless sessions of regional old-time folk and gospel musicians. Besides the Bristol sessions (during which RCA discovered Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family) and the Knoxville sessions, the Johnson City sessions are today regarded as one of the most important events in old-time music and early country music. If Stanton took actually notice of what was going on in downtown Johnson City at that time is not known. But it cemented the city's status as a regional music center.

By the mid 1930s, while still being a teenager, Stanton was working for a jukebox operator, traveling the Appalachians and selling discs for jukebox playing. His long and extensive journeys throughout the Appalachians probably gave him a better understanding of the music culture and its artists. Though, it still took him some years to recognize the potential and to finally set out on his own.

In 1937, his sister Myrtle passed away at the young age of just 20 years. However, around the same time, Stanton married Mary K. Flaherty, whose family was also from Johnson City. In 1939, he took over the company he was working for and spent the war years working his jukebox disc salesman job. He sold the business in 1942 and moved to Cincinnati, where he worked for Wurlitzer jukeboxes and became acquainted with Syd Nathan, who was about to start King Records. Stanton then went into partnership with Tommy Grinnell, forming a jukebox business with him in 1944 in Richmond, Virginia, but sold his share two years later. Inspired by Nathan and his independent record company, Stanton had decided to try his luck as an independent record producer by fall 1946. Previously, Stanton had watched the major labels turning out disc after disc and assumed that he could do it just as good.

He had moved back to Johnson City, where he opened a record store on West Main Street and a record label, Rich-R-Tone Records. The first artist Stanton recorded was a local country music singer, Buffalo Johnson, who was 20 years old at that time and just about to start his career. "I'll Always Find a Way", written by Johnson, and "Come Back Again", credited to Stanton as composer (though it's questionable if Stanton was the actual writer) were recorded around fall of 1946 at WOPI and released on December 20 by Stanton (Rich-R-Tone #401). At the beginning, Stanton had to sell the records out of the trunk of his car but soon found distributors that were willing to support his releases. He also placed ads on local radio to advertise new releases and to sell via mail-order.

Local radio was an important tool for Stanton. He did not only use it as a sales channel but also to find new, promising talent to record. During 1947, Stanton recorded and released several discs on local artists. One of the most influential steps in his career was the addition of Ralph and Carter Stanley to his Rich-R-Tone label. Billed as "Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys", the Carters and their band were already popular within a 100 miles radius around Norton, Virginia, and appeared on local WNVA there. It was their performance of "Little Glass of Wine" that won over Stanton, so he arranged a recording session for the Stanley Brothers in September 1947 at radio WOPI in nearby Bristol, Tennessee. Their debut was released later that year but it was their third disc, "The Little Glass of Wine" b/w "Little Maggie" (Rich-R-Tone #423) from March 1948 that became their first regional hit. Carl Sauceman, a young bluegrass musician who would also record for Rich-R-Tone eventually, worked part-time as a distributor for both Mercury and Stanton, hauling thousands of Stanley Brothers discs to record shops in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Kentucky, (West) Virginia, and the Carolinas.

Other notable bluegrass acts that eventually became famous were Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, the Bailey Brothers, Curly King and his Tennessee Hilltoppers, among other more regional acts. He also set up the Folk Star label in the late 1940s. But Stanton was not tied to one musical style. He also recorded mainstream country music, proto-rockabilly country boogie, gospel, and even some rhythm & blues during those years. Among all those artists, Buffalo Johnson remained the most prolific one, recording in nearly every of the aforementioned style from the 1940s well into the 1970s on Rich-R-Tone.

Stanton moved his operations to Campbellsville, Kentucky, where he merged Rich-R-Tone with the equally influential Acme record label. Rich-R-Tone ceased operations in 1953 and Stanton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, which had developed into a center for country music business by then. He started Champ Records in 1965, which had offices in both Nashville and Johnson City, and produced all kinds of music on this label. Though, black gospel albums became the company's main product, releasing numerous LPs until the early 1980s. Stanton's work with black gospel groups is largely unknown today, although he produced a large quantity of records for these bands. He also reactivated Rich-R-Tone during the 1960s, releasing country music on it, and worked for United Music World of West Columbia, South Carolina, from 1974 until 1976. 

Jim Stanton passed away on July 15, 1989, in Nashville, Tennessee. He is buried at Monte Vista Memorial Park in Johnson City. Stanton's influence on American roots music is hard to ignore but until recent years, his legacy remained commonly unrecognized. In 2022, the state of Tennessee erected a historical marker on Johnson City's West Main Street to honor Stanton. Since then, the awareness of Stanton's efforts has increased. Bear Family Records released a 12-CD box set entitled "The Rich-R-Tone Folk Star Story" in September 2025, containing all surviving recordings from the period 1946 - 1954. Dr. Ted Olson from East Tennessee State University and Matteo Ringressi, Italian bluegrass musician, collector, and researcher, were instrumental in putting this box together.

Recommended reading

• The Rich-R-Tone Folk Star Story (Bear Family)

• Dialogue: Celebrating the Legacy of Rich-R-Tone Records (interview with Dr. Ted Olson)

• Rich-R-Tone Facebook Discography page

• The Rich-R-Tone Records Archival Project Youtube page

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Rich-R-Tine 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Discogs

• Ted Olson: "A pioneering 'bluegrass label': The achievement of James Hobart Stanton and Rich-R-Tone Records" (Appalachian Place)

• The Johnson City Sessions (Bear Family)

• Neil V. Rosenberg: "Bluegrass: A History" (University of Illinois Press), 2005, p. 81-83 

The Tragic Case of Misty Bonner alias Barbara Kelly

The Tragic Case of Misty Bonner alias Barbara Kelly

Many collectors and researchers believed for years that Misty Bonner was a pseudonym for Bobby Lee Trammell. This was due to the facts that both songs she recorded were actually written by Trammell and that she recorded those for Atlanta Records, a label that otherwise released only Trammell material. It added to the thesis that she sounded like Trammell's voice pitched high enough to sound like a female singer. But it was not. Misty Bonner was a real person and her case is one of the most tragic and intriguing I ever found.

Misty Bonner alias Barbara Kelly was born Bobbie Lee Bonner on September 10, 1946, to George Hargrove, Jr., and Beverly Bonner. She was born and grew up in the small town of Gillett, Central-East Arkansas. The family had to bear a tragic loss when Bonner's younger brother George Hargrove III died as an infant in 1952. Singing was an early interest of Bonner and she gained experiences in local church groups and her high school Glee Club. 

Around 1962, Bonner got acquainted with rockabilly singer Bobby Lee Trammell, who had written two songs, "I Can't Sit Still" and "Watch Me Do the Twist". In the spring of that year, Trammell had a hit with "Arkansas Twist" on Joe Lee' Alley Records and it is likely that he set up a session for Bonner at Lee's studio in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She recorded both songs much in the style of Trammell's own recordings: non-sense, stomping and roaring rock'n'roll. The songs were released on Wayne McGinnis' Atlanta record label as the debut single (#1500, approx. fall 1962).

McGinnis, who also hailed from Northeast Arkansas and had recently set up his own recording company Santo Records, signed Bonner to a recording contract and there were certainly plans to release her material on one of his labels. Though sessions were scheduled in Memphis, nothing came of it in the end and Bonner was left without a second release by the mid of the 1960s.

By January 1965, Bonner's family had moved to Santa Cruz, California, where she continued her singing career. Following some show dates around town she performed several times in Las Vegas and ended up singing dixieland jazz regularly in Dick O'Kane's "The Warehouse" night club on Monterey's Cannery Row. The leader of the club's house band, the Warehousemen, had discovered her during one of her performances at Big Al's Gashouse in 1966 and signed her on the spot. It was at that time that she began appearing as "Barbara Kelly". With the Warehousemen and other groups she also appeared on other events such as the Monterey Dixieland Jazz Festival. Besides her performing career, Bonner was attending Monterey Institute of International Studies.

She had been married to Martin Theodore Oberto for a very brief time in 1971 and married Michael Simeone the following year. Her siblings got some public attention as her brother Greg was known as a talented surfer in Santa Cruz and her sister Joy who also sang.

Bonner opened up her own nigh club on Cannery Row in 1974, which was open to the public for a brief time, however. She continued to perform at the Warehouse until 1977, when she moved to the Los Angeles area, and moved in with her sister Joy in Whittier. She wanted to to take her career to a higher level. However, she reportedly performed on a cruise ship as remembered by one of the Warehouse's regular attendees. She also performed on several TV shows, including frequently on KABC-TV's "Hurdy Gurdy Show" and "The Gong Show".

Her life found a tragic and way too soon end. On October 20, 1977, Bobbie Lee Bonner was murdered in the laundry room of her apartment complex. A local newspaper wrote: "Police said that on Wednesday, Miss Kelly, who had been staying at her sisters's apartment in Whittier, went to the apartment complex garage area to do the laundry. Apartment complex residents reported hearing a loud noise and went to the garage area where they found Miss Kelly lying on the garage floor. A young man was seeing fleeing the area." Tragically, her case was never solved and it is still one of those "cold cases" that gains attention from time to time.

Discography

Singles
Atlanta 1500: Misty Bonner - I Can't Sit Still / Watch Me Do the Twist (1962)

Albums
Fly-By-Nite No.#: Barbara Kelly and the Warehousemen - Exporse Yourself! To the Music of

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• City-Data (Memories of the Warehouse) 

• Barbara Kelly Cold Case Facebook page 

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Expose Yourself To the Music of Barbara Kelly and the Warehousemen (YouTube)