Buddy Durham on Emperor

Buddy Durham - Precious Memories (Emperor 430-EM-H-5-60 Hymn Album 5), 1960

Fiddler Buddy Durham is probably best known today for his work with country and rockabilly artist Hardrock Gunter. But Durham had a career of his own, though he is not as good remembered as his fellow WWVA  Jamboree cast member. Durham was not only a musician but owned his own record label, through which he released numerous EPs and 45s.

Buddy Durham

James B. "Buddy" Durham was born in June 22, 1920. His birthplace is disputed. While Drew Beisswenger states that Durham was born in Dallas, Texas, in his book "North American Fiddle Music", author Ivan M. Tribe called him a "Mississippi-born" in his "The Jamboree in Wheeling" book. However, Durham took up music professionally at a very early stage. When he was eight years old, he joined the Durham family band that appeared across the United States on such stations as WLS in Chicago, WSM in Nashville, or WBZ in Boston. His sister Juanita would have a career on her own as well.

He was working in Texas radio but also could be heard on stations in other states, appearing on such shows as the Renfro Valley Barn Dance. In 1954, he came to Wheeling, West Virginia, and became a cast member of WWVA's Jamboree for the next ten years. His wife Marion appeared with him as well until 1959, when she became pregnant.

In 1954, Durham and Hardrock Gunter, who was working the WWVA Jamboree as well during that time, recorded "Fiddle Bop", which was first released on Cross Country and then on Sun Records in Memphis. In 1955, Durham set up Emperor Records, a label that mainly served as an outlet to release his own recordings. Over the next years, he issued countless, short fiddle renditions of traditional tunes, own compositions, gospel songs, or popular standards on single and extended play 45s. In between, he recorded for Cross Country and Ridgecrest as well.

Billboard July 18, 1960

Apart from his own works, he also recorded local talent such as the Wright Brothers, Lucky Rogers, Rudy Thacker, the Cook Brothers, Curly O'Brien, Ken Lighter, and others. Hardrock Gunter released his rockabilly novelty "Whoo! I Mean Whee!"on Emperor and he collaborated with Durham again on "Hillbilly Twist", which was released in the US first on Emperor, then on Starday and on Sparton in Canada. Durham would use the WWVA studio for recording probably all of the Emperor cuts.

Durham left the WWVA Jamboree in 1964 the same year, recorded a square dance album for Columbia. Durham passed away on March 14, 2005, at the age of 84 years. He is buried at Hendersonville Memorial Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near Nashville. The British Archive of Country Music released a 20-track CD in 2012 with the best of Durham's recordings.

Recommended reading

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Gospel Jubilee entry

• SecondHandSongs

• British Archive of Country Music

Sources

• Tony Russell: "Country Music Originals - The Legends and the Lost (Oxford University Press), 2010, p. 3

•  Drew Beisswenger: "North American Fiddle Music: A Research and Information Guide" (Routledge)

• Ivan M. Tribe, Jacob L. Bapst: "The Jamboree in Wheeling" (Arcadia Publishing), 2020, p. 43

• 45cat entry

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Find a Grave entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

Ray Prince

Ray Prince
Forgotten Louisiana Songster

Ray Prince was a local Louisiana singer, guitarist, and songwriter, who entertained audiences from the 1960s until his death in the early 2020s. In the 1960s, he was associated with legendary producer Eddie Shuler and although he submitted a few of his song works, he never recorded commercially.

Thomas Ray Prince was born on March 6, 1928, to Joseph Wilson Prince, Sr., and Josie Dees Prince in the small hamlet of Trout, LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. His mother was born in 1903 in Alabama and was said to have been a distant relative of another Alabama native: Hank Williams. Prince had an older sibling, which sadly died as an infant in 1924, a sister Rita and a younger brother Joseph Wilson Jr., who became a reverend eventually.

Prince was drafted during Word War II. Along the way, Prince took up music and learned to play guitar. By the early 1960s, he had established himself as a local singer and became a steady performer on Don Wiley's Catahoula Country Music Show in Catahoula Parish. Prince also played the local churches during the 1960s and 1970s.

Catahoula News, December 19, 1963

Prince was a talented and very busy songwriter, sometimes working with his mother. It is said he wrote several hundreds songs during the decades, though the majority of them have never been registered or properly documented. Story goes that Prince and his mother Josie were the original composers of "Wings of a Dove", a smash country and pop hit for Ferlin Husky in 1960. "Ray told me that story several times. He said that he and his mother wrote the song and sent it to a Nashville publishing company from an ad that was in a country music magazine. I absolutely believe him, I never knew of Ray to lie about anything. Back in the day Nashville publishing companies were known for stealing songs," Rodney Hutchison, a local Catahoula Parish resident, recalls. This story have been brought up by different people who knew Prince. The songwriting credit on Husky's record release went to Bob Ferguson, who claimed to write it in 1958.

Prince regularly worked with another local singer, Rip Cannaday. Both men contacted producer Eddie Shuler, owner of Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the mid 1960s to pitch their songs to him and maybe even to land a recording contract of their own. However, nothing happened. Shuler took four of Prince's songs and registered them with BMI (adding his name as a co-writer), though no recordings by him or other artists surfaced. Those songs included "Diddly Daddily Doo", "I'm Putting Her Picture Away", "Not Much Love Anymore", and "Sands or Arabia". However, one of his songs was recorded - by Luke Jones, a local Natchitoches Parish country singer.

While Cannaday recorded several albums throughout the decades, Prince never recorded commercially. However, Cannaday taped many home recordings of him and Prince singing songs together, sometimes even with Prince's mother Josie. Some of these tapes were recently submitted to the Southern Music Research Center through the efforts of Marshal Martin.

Prince was married to Esther Bradford, meeting her late in his life. Esther also sang, and she can be heard on some of Prince's home recordings as well. Prince spent all his life around Harrisonburg, Louisiana, and continued to play churches and at nursing homes even as an elderly man. Ray Prince passed away on January 4, 2021, at the age of 92 years in Pollock, Louisiana. He is buried at Belah Cemetery in Trout, La Salle Parish. Many people in both Catahoula and LaSalle Parishes still remember Prince very fondly.

See also

• Catahoula Country Music Show

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• BMI search

• Offical records accessed through Ancestry.com

Westport Records (Kansas City)

Westport Records

The Wagon Wheel Label from the Port of the West

Kansas City had never the reputation as a big recording center but in the late 1940s, the 1950s and early 1960s, there were a lot of country and rock'n'roll artists in the city. Clubs and bars gave artists countless oportunities to entertain audiences on stage, radio stations like KCMO and its live programs boosted local talents popularity and small record labels were willing to release locally recorded music. One of those labels was Westport Records, which issued a string of more than 20 singles between 1954 and 1962.

Westport Records was formed in 1954 by Dave Ruf and his brothers as an outlet to record both their children's family band known in Kansas City as the Westport Kids. The first single released by the new label was Westport 125 by the Westport Kids called "Right Or Wrong" / "Hold Me My Darling". Westport started out as a country label, recording also such artists as local radio performers Milt Dickey and Jimmy Dallas. The label's headquarters was located in West Port, once an indepentend town but by the 1950s already a city district of Kansas City.

Westport Kids promo card

Rockabilly singer Alvis Wayne came to the label in September 1956. He became the label's most successful artist, though he never visited Kansas City. Wayne was Texas based and recorded all his sessions in Corpus Christi and Houston. The recording contract was set up by Tony Wayne, who was Alvis Wayne's mentor and background musician along with the Rhythm Wranglers. Alvis Wayne's first record on Westport was "Swing Bop Boogie / Sleep Rock-a-Roll Rock-a-Baby", which got only little airplay in Texas and sold about 2,000 copies. Wayne's next record, also recorded in a little studio on Corpus Christi, was Westport's and also Wayne's biggest record. "Don't Mean Maybe Baby" was issued in 1957 and got good reviews by Cashbox and charted in South Texas at #1, leaving behind Elvis Presley. Though, the national top 100 charts were still far far away.

Billboard March 9, 1959

Wayne's last record on Westport came out in September 1958 on Westport 140, the slightly pop oriented "Lay Your Head On My Shoulder" / "You're the One". During the years of 1956, 1957 and 1958, Westport had continued to release singles by Milt Dickey, one record by Alvis Wayne's back-up band Tony Wayne & the Rhythm Wranglers, the Westport Kids, Big Bob Dougherty, and Jimmy Dallas. The label releaed another rockabilly single in early 1959 with Lee Finn's "High Class Feelin'" / "Pour Me a Glass of Wine" (#141), which became a local hit in Kansas City.

The company's last issue came out on Westport 145 by Gene Chapman, probably in 1962. After that, the label was closed down by the Ruf brothers. Westport never gained a national hit, just releasing singles for the local market and having fair success with it during the 1950s. The total output were only about 22 singles in seven years. There has been two unofficial CD reissues with the complete Westport catalogue so far.

See also

• Tony Wayne on Westport

• Alvis Wayne on Westport

• Jimmy Dallas on Westport

Sources

• 45cat entry and 45cat/78rpm entry

• various Billboard issues

Doyal Ruff on Melody

Doyal Ruff and Nancy Eason - Jackson (Melody M 45-101)

Here we have a cover of the Johnny Cash-June Carter hit "Jackson", which was originally released in February 1967 on Columbia and peaked at #2 in Billboard's Hot Country Songs. Doyal Ruff was a local Georgia singer and musician, who entertained audiences for decades.

Born on June 24, 1935, in Dallas, Georgia, Ruff started his career with singing bluegrass music on an East Point, Georgia, radio station with Grover Hilliard (1931-2024). It was the start of a rather professional career in music but family obligations forced him to limit his music activities. He eventually became a locksmith at the State of Georgia Capital in Atlanta. He and his wife Mary Jo raised two children, a daughter and a son.

Though maintaining a daytime job, he continued to play music in North Georgia for the next four decades. He founded a group, the Melody Boys, which performed bluegrass and country music. With Nancy Eason, Ruff cut this disc probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s and it seems that it his own private label. I cannot tell at which pressing plant it was manufactured and I don't have an exact release date either.

Around 1994, Ruff changed the name of his group to the Melody Makers and switched to gospel music. Musicians included his son Donnie on bass, Ruff's co-worker Dallas "Lightin'" Day on lead guitar, and Walhalla, South Carolina, native Charles Wesley "Sonny" Lusk on vocals. The band continued to perform around Dallas and Cartersville at least until 2011.

Doyal Ruff passed away on September 10, 2018, in Cartersville, Georgia, at the age of 83 years.

Doyal Ruff and the Melody Makers perform in Dallas, Georgia, in January 2011

Sources

• Obituary

• Internet Archive (incl. download for "Swing Low")

Bill Johnson alias Sky Johnson

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson's "A Wound Time Can't Erase" was not only one of the most successful songs sung by Stonewall Jackson, it was also one of his most beautiful hit tunes. Johnson, as the composer of the song, remained in the shadow of Jackson's success. Before he made his way to  Nashville, Johnson was an active performer in the Miami music scene.

Born William Donald Johnson, he was a steel guitarist, singer, and songwriter. By 1954, he had begun performing locally around Miami. He was part of Tommy Spurlin & the Southern Boys until around 1956, leaving when the band decided to take their style more towards rock'n'roll. He was also part of Happy Harold Thaxton's local live stage show "Old South Jamboree" as the house band's steel guitarist.

December 12, 1959
Source: Volker Houghton

Johnson made a lot of connections during these years. Kent Westberry, Snuffy Smith, Wayne Gray, Charlie McCoy, Bill Phillips, and many more were working in the area and some of them eventually found enduring success in Nashville. He started writing songs with guitarist Wayne Gray, who in turn performed with Kent Westberry's Chaperones locally, including "Cute Chick" and "Initials in the Tree". Johnson made his way to Nashville already in 1957. There, he recorded as "Sky Johnson" for the small Cactus label his own composition "A Wound Time Can't Erase" and the George Dumas song "If My Love Had Wings". Dumas was a half-brother of the aforementioned Tommy Spurlin and played bass with the Southern Boys.

Released on Cactus #1501 around summer 1957, it was soon picked up by the bigger independent label Dot (#15620) and also saw release in New Zealand on London and in Canada on Quality. Though, the single did not make the charts. It was not until 1961 when Stonewall Jackson covered the tune that it got recognition. His version was released late that year on Columbia and it entered the charts the following January, peaking eventually at #3.

Jackson would record another song of Johnson's, "How Many Lies Can I Tell", in 1969. Marty Robbins had another hit with Johnson's "The Best Part of the Living" in 1971, which reached #6 on both the American and Canadian country charts. Johnson has a total of 26 songs registered with BMI, although only "A Wound Time Can't Erase" and "The Best Part of the Living" became hits.

Sources

• 45cat entry (Sky Johnson)

• BMI search

• Kent Westberry: "I've Got a Song to Write" (Dorrance Publishing Co.), 2020, page 5

Jimmy Ganzberg on Jet

Jimmy Ganzberg with the Sound of the Crowns - Rebel Yell (Jet No.#), 1958
Among the numerous Indianapolis rock'n'roll artists, Jimmy Ganzberg is one of the lesser known nowadays. He recorded a couple of 45s for a local label, Jet Records, and is still active musically to present day.

Born James Leroy Ganzberg around 1940 in Indianapolis, he attended Arsenal Tech High School and afterwards studied music at Indiana University. He became a proficient piano player during his early years and, in the late 1950s, achieved popularity in Indianapolis for his wild, Jerry Lee Lewis styled playing and showmanship. He regularly appeared on local TV show "Teen Twirl".

It seems that Ganzberg had no own band but relied on other local outfits. He first recorded in 1959 for Charles E. Howard's Jet label, a local Indy company that had only small distribution. "Hang-Out" b/w "White Saddle Shoes" were recorded with local black saxophonists Jimmy Coe and Pooksie Johnson, Ganzberg's usual guitarist Jerry Lee Williams (who also dabbled in record production) plus additional unidentified musicians. His second Jet single, also released in 1959, came from the same session and comprised "Jo-Ellen" and "Ring and Wedding Veil".

At third single was released in 1960 featuring "Twilight and Tears" and "Rebel Yell", which were recorded on a different occasion with the Sound of the Crowns featuring Larry Goshen on drums. The band had been formerly known as the Crowns and played for some time with Jerry Lee Williams as well. None of Ganzberg's singles broke out of the regional market and he ceased from recording in the following years.

Ganzberg eventually moved to Alabama and is a member of the Alabama Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He toured the country with the Alabama Blues Brothers Band as a keyboarder since 1998. A few of his recordings have been reissued due to the rock'n'roll revival, for example on the 1980 Wendi LP "Dig That Rock & Roll from Indiana" from Australia and the 1997 Buffalo Bop CD "Strictly Instrumental, Vol. 3" from Germany.

Sources
• Jimmy Coe Discography
• Rock'n'Roll Schallplatten Forum (German)
• Indiana Music Makers
• Discogs
• 45cat entry

Delmore Brothers in Memphis

Good Times in Memphis
The Delmore Brothers in Bluff City

The 1940s and early 1950s saw a lot of country music talent passing through the city of Memphis. Although it became well-known as the "home of the blues" and the "birthplace of rock'n'roll", country music had been always present in the city. Since the late 1920s, it had been a center for the major label's field recordings for blues, jazz, gospel, and old-time folk music as well. 

I have featured several Memphis country artists before, including Doc McQueen, Shelby Follin, Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys, Joe Manuel, among others, but the Delmore Brothers were probably the most popular and successful (commercial-wise) among those performers. Alton and Rabon Delmore were heard over Memphis radio on and off during the 1940s, spreading their blues and boogie-branded kind of country music across the Mid-South.

From the Hills of Alabama...
The Delmores hailed from northern Alabama, from Elkmont, to be precise, where Alton was born on December 25, 1906, and Rabon on December 3, 1916. The brothers grew up listening to folk and gospel music (her mother composed shaped-note gospel songs) and started singing as a duo at local fiddlers contests. The new medium of radio seemed to be perfect for their soft voices and their rising popularity led to a first record release on Columbia in 1931 ("Got the Kansas City Blues" b/w "Alabama Lullaby", #15724-D).

...to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville
This first record went nowhere, much due to the economic depression and the Columbia label's demise, but they landed a job on WSM's Grand Ole Opry in 1933. Although the Opry was just one of several barn dance shows back then, WSM's strong signal beamed their voices into the listeners' homes within a wide radius. They started recording for RCA Victor's Bluebird label the same year and stayed with the label into the early 1940s. Many of their sides were also released on the warehouse chain Montgomery Ward's in-house label, therefore enjoying even wider distribution, and some saw distribution in Canada, Australia, South Africa, and even India.

The Delmores had a bluesy style and concentrated on their own material instead of covers or standards. Their popularity grew and by 1936, the Delmore Brothers were the most popular Opry act. They began a shorter stint with Decca in 1940 which ended due to World War II. Following a disagreement with the management, they left the Opry and, like it was common for many country entertainers back then, roamed the country in search of radio station work. They came to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1943, where they began broadcasting on powerhouse WLW and signed with Syd Nathan's independent King record label - their first record was released in late 1944.

Memphis Down in Dixie
Rabon left the act for a short time, working a defense job, and Alton continued to perform solo on WLW. Near the end of World War II, the station refused to hire Rabon again (probably due to his alcohol abuse) and the brothers left Cincinnati. After a short stop in Indianapolis, they ended up in Memphis. There, they began appearing on WMC, one of the city's oldest radio stations that carried a lot of other country performers as well, including Slim Rhodes' Mountaineers and Gene Steele. 

The Delmores at WMC in Memphis

The Delmores' act at that time also included harmonica player Wayne Raney, who hailed from Wolf Bayou, Arkansas, and was living in Memphis by then. Raney had worked in Covington, Kentucky, south of Cincinnati across the Ohio River but somehow, the threesome had never met. In Memphis, Raney decided to approach them and went over to the Delmores' house in West Memphis. After a good jam on the front porch, he was in. As a trio, they also worked personal appearances around Memphis and across the Mississippi in West Memphis and surrounding Arkansas areas. Their blues drenched sound fitted perfectly to Memphis and was completed by Raney's harmonica. Sometimes, they were augmented by another harmonica wizard, Lonnie Glosson. The Delmores began experimenting with boogie elements, too, a trend in country music that just had started, and in May 1946, "Hillbilly Boogie" (King #527) was released. It was the beginning of a series of country boogie songs that foreshadowed the development of rockabilly. However by late 1946, the brothers left Memphis for the first time because they had "burned the area out" and started another trip of radio station hopping. 

By November 1947, they were back in Memphis at WMC but left again only to return for some time in 1948. In 1949, they were working in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when their "Blues Stay Away from Me" climbed the Billboard country & western charts and eventually hit the #1 spot. They were back in Memphis in the early 1950s, rubbing shoulders with another, younger brother act - Ira and Charlie Loudermilk, better known as the Louvin Brothers, who had come to Memphis as part of Eddie Hill's band in 1946 or 1947.

According to Charlie Louvin, as cited by Charles K. Wolfe in his book "In Close Harmony", the Delmores were performing on smaller stations in Blytheville, Arkansas (probably KLCN), and some in West Memphis, during this time (though they would live in Memphis). "Alton and Rabon had the identical, the same setup as Ira and I. One teetotaller and one who couldn't stay sober" Louvin recalled. One time the Louvins and the Delmores were playing a ballpark stage with Raney and Glosson: "At the time, Arkansas was dry, and Rabon, he absolutely had to have a drink, so Ira said he'd ride with him. They went all the way back to Memphis, ten or twelve miles, to get some booze. Even with Ira drinkin' a little bit, Rabon scared him to death coming back through West Memphis at a very high rate of speed."

Billboard June 1, 1946

Billboard November 22, 1947

Leaving Memphis
The Delmores left Memphis for good around 1951 and hopped from station to station, ending their career in Houston, Texas. There, Alton decided to go full-time into songwriting while Rabon had been unreliable either way due to his alcoholism. In addition, he was diagnosed with cancer and an operation in 1952 could not bring any improvement of his health. He passed away the same year a day after his 36th birthday on December 4.

Ira and Charlie Louvin were heavily inspired by the Delmores sound and they would even record a Delmore Brothers tribute album some years later. During their Memphis days, the Delmores also inspired other future stars. Elvis Presley was probably used to listen them and lots of other, future rockers and country singers would. Alton fell into oblivion after his brother's death and went out of the music business, bitter and disillusioned. He moved back to Alabama and gave it one last shot in 1959, recording his sole solo record, "Good Times in Memphis" b/w "Thunder Across the Border" for Ernie Tucker's Linco label across the border in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He passed away on June 8, 1964.

See also
• Good Times in Fayetteville - Ernest Tucker and the Preservation of Rock'n'Roll
• Wayne Raney - King of the Talking Harmonica

Sources
• Country Music Hall of Fame
• Hillbilly-Music.com entry
• Alton Delmore 45cat entry
• Jeffrey J. Lange: "Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly" (University of Georgia Press), 2004, page 236
• Charles K. Wolfe: "In Close Harmony - The Story of the Louvin Brothers" (University Press of Mississippi), 1996, p. 100-102
• Charles K. Wolfe: "Classic Country - Legends of Country Music" (Routledge), 2001, p. 115
• Alton Delmore: Truth Is Stranger Than Publicity" (Country Music Foundation Press), 1977

Shady Hill on Alley

Shady Hill - Old Porch Swing (Alley 2001), 1982

Shady Hill was a local bluegrass band from Jonesboro, Arkansas. I was fortunate enough to make contacts with one of the original members, Norma Meredith. She is still living in Jonesboro and was so kind to present me with a copy of the band's Alley record "Old Porch Swing" b/w "Ida's Shoe".

The band was formed in 1981 and included Ricky Lane on guitar and vocals, Norma's husband Tommy Meredith on banjo, Bill Shoe on fiddle, Carrol Lane on mandolin and vocals and Norma on bass and vocals. Norma told me that she and Carrol actually did not play bass or mandolin but it was Ricky Lane that taught them the instruments. Norma had played piano before so musical talent was there and she soon became a solid bass player and the band got a "pretty decent sound".

Their first public appearance was at a local senior citizen center and Norma remembers that they had rehearsed only four songs - they played them several times for the crowd, which enjoyed it nevertheless. In the years to come, Shady Hill played countless shows and festivals in the northeastern corner of Arkansas. They even had a tour bus that they converted into living quarters by themselves.

In 1982, the band recorded a 45rpm single for Joe Lee's Alley record label in Jonesboro. At that time, the band was managed by Dolores Tolbert, a local songwriter who had recorded for Sonny Deckelman's Van-Deck label in the 1960s. Tolbert was the one who organized the recording session at Joe Lee's Variety Recording Studio. The band cut "Old Porch Swing", written by Tolbert, and "Ida's Shoe", a fiddle number written by Bill Shoe. As far as I can tell, this remained their only 45.

During the 1980s, Shady Hill held a couple of sessions at Raney Recording Studio in Drasco and issued the results on cassette tapes. The band disbanded in 1989. Unfortunately, Carrol Lane and Norma are the only surviving members of the band.

Sources
• Thanks to Norma Meredith for providing information on her band and the record.

Elsa (Al) Robinson

Al Robinson, late 1940s

Elsa "Al" Robinson - The Friendly Hill Billy

My good friend Marshal pointed me towards another local Louisiana musician and sooner than later, I found myself researching the story of Elsa "Al" Robinson, the "friendly hill billy". He seems to have been one of those persons that were larger than life. Among his many occupations, he was an insurance salesman, a songwriter, singer, radio announcer, politician, and probably more. He worked on local radio in both Arkansas and Louisiana, although the latter became his adopted home. He is not to be confused with several showmen of the same name: he is neither blues singer Alvin "Al" Robinson from New Orleans, nor Jamaican reggae artist Al Robinson nor ventriloquist Al Robinson.

From the research I did, it seems to me that Robinson was not only quite a "talker" but also a very conservative man. Therefore, I'd like to point out that much information used here came from the liner notes of his sole album, which he wrote himself, or from newspaper advertisements or published political statements that also used his own words.

Born Elsa Boyd Robinson on November 30, 1910, in West Tennessee, he grew up on a farm learning about and working in live stock and farming at daytime and practicing on his guitar at night. In the late 1920s, he was intrigued by the music of America's blue yodeler, Jimmie Rodgers, who became his main influence. By his own account, he graduated from high school (although census documents indicate he left elementary school after completing the 7th grade) around the same time.

He moved to Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, in 1931, and began broadcasting on KALB in Alexandria four years later. On those early shows, he appeared solo with his guitar but was not paid for his appearances. For some time, Robinson worked on a drag line on the banks of the Red River, where wrote many a song along the way. By 1940, he lived in a rented house in Alexandria with his first wife Jessie Edna and worked as an insurance salesman.

World War II interrupted his career. Robinson intended to join the US Navy in February 1942 but was rejected. A year later, he began serving in the US Army for a short time but was honorably discharged due to disability in September 1943. Robinson then became involved in local politics, running unsuccessfully for the Rapides Parish house of representatives. This setback ended his political ambitions or some years but he kept on supporting other local politicians if he considered them worth it. He continued his profession as an entertainer as well.

In 1944, it was reported that he performed on KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas, followed by a stint on KLCN in Blytheville, Arkansas. According to Robinson, he worked with such artists as Wayne Raney, Ray Duke, the Wilburn Brothers and Eddy Arnold while at KLCN. In 1945, Robinson returned to Louisiana and began singing over KALB in Alexandria from 1945 until 1946. At the same time, he revamped his act by founding a band, the Red River Ramblers. Robinson was then heard on KWKH in Shreveport from 1946 until 1948, again on KALB around 1950 and early 1951, and later that year, appeared on KVOB. Along the way, he also spent time on WNOE and WWL in New Orleans, WFAA in Dallas, and on WREC in Memphis. In those early years, he often appeared as "Elsa Robinson, the friendly hill billy" whereas he would later change his stage name to Elsa (Al) Robinson and finally to "Uncle Al" Robinson. He began a longtime association with KSYL in 1952, which would last until 1960 when the station's manager shortened Robinson's airtime, who in turn left the station. 

By 1950, he had married his second wife Clara and was living with her and their three sons in Tangipahoa Parish. Apart from entertaining, Robinson remained active in politics throughout the years and in 1952, he ran for Congress. His political agenda was ultra-conservative, to say the least, and he supported racial segregation as much as he wanted to stop immigration and supported outlawing communism. He entered the race of the House of Representatives again in 1955 and for the Congress in 1958 but apparently success eluded him.

Billboard April 24, 1962

Instead, he concentrated on his music and radio work. By April 1962, he was manager of KWCL in Oak Grove, Louisiana, a small country station in the tri-state area of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. A year later, he had a show on KVOP in Bastrop, Louisiana, in the same region. In 1966, he purchased a small, "flat broke" station in Centreville, Mississippi, and "made it pay off within a short time" (as Robinson put it in his own words). However, "two years later the Civil Rights people, in rioting from Baton Rouge to Memphis, over the route I was on, I was wiped out, my station was completely destroyed. A thorough job was done, they wrecked all equipment and had it on fire when I reached there to open up in the early morning [...]."

After this incident, Robinson mostly concentrated on writing and performing music. In the 1970s, he released what seems to be his only commercial record, an album entitled "Funny Facts and Songs" on the Slidell, Louisiana, based independent One-Way Records. It seems it sold in good quantities around Alexandria as Marshal Martin found five copies of it in just one year.

Elsa "Al" Robinson passed away on September 3, 1993.

Sources

• Official cencus records accessed through Ancestry.com

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Several newspapter items from the Alexandria News Talk
• Al Robinson: "Funny Facts and Songs" (One-Way Records), liner notes

Jerry Hopper on Royle

Jerry Hopper - St. Louis Airport (Royle No.#), 1985-1986

Jerry Hopper was a local Arkansas country singer that tried to break through into the national music business in the 1980s. I got this record from fellow collector Sean Hickey and it is a bit out of my timeline but the Arkansas location got me hooked.

Hopper hails from Flippin, Arkansas, near Mountain Home. He grew up listening to country music and some rock'n'roll, too, and learned to play guitar at an early age and eventually also mastered other instruments like piano. He began playing with his dad and later also set out as a solo performer.

He started recording in the early 1980s, having his first record out in 1981 on the Ranger label from Flippin. In the early 1980s, Nashville songwriter Ron Peterson came to Flippin to pick up a boat. The owner called Hopper and connected him with Peterson, who in turn took him to Nashville. In 1983, Hopper released his first album entitled "My Kind of Country" and continued to record throughout the 1980s on small labels, which were likely his own.

We feature Hopper's recording of "St. Louis Airport", a song written by John Dillon (probably of Ozark Daredevils fame), Monroe Davenport, and Santiago Torres. I suspect the recording was made in Nashville but it was released on the Royle label from Flippin, thus probably Hopper's own label. It was released in 1985 or 1986.

In 1986, Hopper opened his own private night club, "Hopper's" (which continued as a restaurant into the next century), and in the mid 1990s, had his own public night club where he performed regularly. He was also active as a boxing promoter and organized fights in his club. Hopper today resides in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and still performs as far as I can tell.

Sources
• Flippin Online / The Mountain Echo
• Facebook profile
• Discogs
• 45cat entry