Loyal Records (Birmingham, Al.)

No, No Satan!

The Story of Loyal Records

Loyal Records was a long-lasting record label in the field of country gospel music. Operated by bluegrass and gospel singer Walter Bailes of the famous Bailes Brothers, Loyal produced estimated 700 records throughout its active years from 1960 until around 1971. Based in various locations, the label released the bulk of material out of its Birmingham, Alabama, offices.

Owner Walter Bailes was born on January 17, 1920, in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Musical talent rooted in the Bailes family as Walter and his brothers John ("Johnnie"), Kyle, and Homer all played instruments and sang. Raised in poverty, the brothers grew up with traditional old-time folk music and sacred hymns. In the late 1930s, the brothers appeared on radio stations across the state of West Virginia in various combinations, including WSAZ in Huntington but also stations in Charleston, Bluefield, and Beckley.

The Bailes Brothers live on stage of the Grand Ole Opry, mid-1940s

At the recommendation of Roy Acuff, who had witnessed them perform, Johnnie and Walter Bailes moved to Nashville in the mid-1940s, where they gained a recording contract with Columbia Records and became regulars on the WSM Grand Ole Opry. They later also recorded for King Records. The duo relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1946 and found work with KWKH. Two years later, the Bailes Brothers became cast members of the station's newly started Louisiana Hayride and developed into early stars of the show. Walter Bailes became a minister with evangelical churches in 1947 and in 1949 the duo act broke up. Homer would become a reverend, too, in Louisiana. The Bailes Brothers continued to perform solo and in various combinations but seldomly all four of them stood on stage. 

From his Shreveport home base, Walter Bailes set out to attend revivals and church meetings across the country. From 1953 until 1957, he worked with his brother Johnnie again but this time as a pure gospel act. By 1957, Bailes could be found managing Carl Butler and was working with WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a short time. 

By October 1960, Bailes had a country and gospel DJ show on KXAR in Hope, Southwest Arkansas, and around the same time, founded Loyal Records. Billboard reported that "Walter Bailes [...] has formed his own label, Loyal Records, to promote gospel songs and singers. Bailey also plans to launch his own publishing company, Wal-Fran, with headquarters for both firms at 1111 Rendall Street, Shreveport, La." Wal-Fran was likely an acronym for Walter and Frankie, his wife. From the same address, which was likely his home, he also sold "religious supplies" through newspaper ads, including bibles, sheet music, record players, and sacred records. 

Birmingham Post Herald 
October 26, 1962

Among the first acts Bailes recorded were Jimmie and Lillian Hall, the Sullivan Family (a South Alabama based group), Bill Franklin, and Rabe Perkins (another Alabama artist). The Alabama connection was already evident here, and soon, Walter would move his operations to this state. This might have been influenced by the fact that his brother Kyle was already living there.

However, before Bailes relocated to the deep south, he made a stop in another town. In 1961, he moved the label to Edwardsville, Illinois, a city located in the west of the state a few miles away from St. Louis, Missouri. However, this lasted only a short time as Bailes moved once more in early 1962, this time to Birmingham, Alabama, where Loyal Records had its headquarters until its closure in the early 1970s. 

By May 1962, he had begun working with WIXI, a local station, and the Birmingham News reported in December 1962 that Bailes had a weekday radio show known as "Gospel Request Time". He worked as the station's "religious director" eventually. It is possible that at least some of the Loyal releases were cut at this station. In addition, he taped his DJ shows for KXEN in Fort Worth, Texas, and XEG in Monterrey, Mexico, for broadcasting. It was especially the latter with its 100,000 watts that provided Bailes with a wide coverage and he probably sold a good batch of his Loyal releases through this channel.

Many of the Loyal recording artists were local bluegrass and country gospel artist. It is probable that many of the releases were custom pressings for those unknown singers and bands. This assumption is underlined by the fact that some Loyal releases from the 1969-1970 time period feature a Tylertown, Mississippi, address. Among the better known artists on the labels were Johnny Rion (from the St. Louis area), Jimmy Murphy, Walter Dixon (also known as "Tex" or "Mason" Dixon), Rabe Perkins, and the recordings of the Bailes Brothers.

Walter Bailes closed down Loyal Records around 1971 after more than 10 years of activity and several hundred singles, EPs, and LPs for local country gospel artists. For him, it might have been a business or a way to spread the Gospel (or perhaps both) but for record collectors and musicologists, he preserved unique and unfiltered documents of American music. While the Bailes Brothers' recordings have been reissued by labels like Cattle Records, Bear Family Records, and Old Homestead Records, the Loyal recordings still need to be reissued in an adequate way.

Bailes eventually moved to Tennessee, where he operated White Dove Records out of Gallatin. This label released a few records by the Bailes Brothers and a few more LPs by other bluegrass groups but never reached the extent of his Loyal operation. He also continued to play gospel meetings and a few bluegrass festivals with Kyle. Walter Bailes passed away on November 17, 2000, in Sevierville, Tennessee.

Sources
• Gospel Jubilee Discography listings: Shreveport - Edwardsville - Birmingham - Tylertown
• Discogs (also entry for White Dove)
• Walter Bailes Find a Grave entry
• West Virginia Music Hall of Fame

Bobby Reed on Modco

Bobby Reed - Pipelining Man (Modco 1000-1), unknown year
(Courtesy of Western Red from "If That Ain't Country")
Among the several Bobby Reeds in the music business, this singer was presumably active in the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area. First because he recorded for several Arkansas based record labels, some of them even from the northwestern corner of the state, and second because one of the songs he wrote and performed was called "Fort Smith Arkansas Women".

However, Reed started his career in Texas. He was also quite a songwriter, as BMI lists 32 compositions by him. He made his debut in 1961 with a band called "The Vallants" on the Texas based Rainbow label with two songs, "Honey Bee" and "This Love of Mine". Both songs were published by Pappy Daily's Glad Music. At that time, Reed was performing rock'n'roll music. He followed up with two more singles on the Texas based Van and Cyclone labels in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Van was owned by Charles and Bobby Vanmeter and located in Lake Jackson near Houston, while Cyclone was based in Bryan or Houston.

It seems that Reed moved north at some point between 1965 and 1968 to the Fort Smith, Northwestern Arkansas, area. In 1968, he began recording for Wayne Raney's Rimrock label with a single disc and even an album in 1970. In between, he recorded for John Capps' K-Ark label from Nashville. This session produced his song "Fort Smith Arkansas Women".

Our selection was recorded for the Modco label from Lincoln, Arkansas, a small town that is located between Fort Smith and the Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers region. "Pipelining Man", produced by a certain R. J. Reed, is the top side from that single and features some nice fills by lead and steel guitar as well as piano. The flip side was "Battle at the Picket Line".

I don't know what happened with Bobby Reed after 1970. My research turned up a certain Bobby D. Reed who was born in 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona, and died in 2016 in Bald Knob, Arkansas (three hours away from Fort Smith). His obituary mentions that he "would spend his time visiting the nursing homes always taking his guitar so he could sing to the residents. His favorite song was 'God is Love.'" So this guy could be the same Bobby Reed.

If anyone has more information or recollections on Bobby Reed, please feel free to share them via e-mail or leave a comment!

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• BMI

• Bobby D. Reed Find a Grave entry

Ervin T. Rouse

Inventor of the Orange Blossom Special

Ervin T. Rouse

Among the old-time folk and country music performers in the Miami-Dade area, Ervin Rouse was possibly the earliest known, the most famous nationally, and one of the most bizarre. He is best remembered for writing "Orange Blossom Special", a fiddle tune that developed a life of its own, though Rouse was not instantly recognized with the fame.

Ervin Thomas Lidel Rouse was born on September 19, 1918, to Ernest Haywood and Eloise "Ella" Rouse  near Cove City, Craven County, North Carolina. One of 14 children, the family probably went through hard times in a rural area during the 1920s and certainly suffered even more when the Great Depression hit the United States. Among his brothers were Earl Bryan (born in 1911) and Ernest Gordon (born 1914), who eventually performed music with Ervin.

Rouse took up the fiddle as a child and left the family at a very early age - when he was eight years old - to perform with vaudeville shows around New York and Boston. He joined his brothers on the RKO Vaudeville Circuit in 1928 and remained with that outfit until 1933. At one point, he and his brother Gordon also traveled the country with an evangelist, supporting his preaching with their fiddling. Ervin even appeared with Glenn Miller's orchestra as a vocalist for a brief time later that decade. In June 1936, the Rouse brothers, consisting of Ervin and Earl on fiddles and Gordon on guitar, made their recording debut in New York City for the ARC label group. Several titles were cut in two sessions but only one disc was released on the infrequently used ARC imprint, "Pedal Your Blues Away" b/w "I'm So Tired" (#6-09-54).

Rouse settled in Miami in 1938, when he bought a house there, and continued to perform regionally. A year later, Rouse witnessed the christening of a new train that was operated by the Seaboard Air Line Railway. That train went from New York to Miami and back and was called "The Orange Blossom Special". It was the inspiration for Rouse's fast fiddle piece, originally titled "South Florida Blues" but then renamed it in honor of the train, and imitated the sounds of the Special and its speed. Rouse never rode that train actually but the song eventually became linked forever with his name.

In 1939, the brothers worked the infamous "Village Barn" in New York City, worked as songwriters for Bob Miller's publishing company and, that year in June, Ervin and Gordon, accompanied by brother Jack, recorded again, this time for RCA Victor's Bluebird label. At least six songs were cut that day, again in New York City, all of which saw release on Bluebird as well as the Montgomery Ward chain label. Among them were traditionals like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (made popular by the Carter Family) but also originals like "Craven County Blues" and, of course, "Orange Blossom Special". It was the beginning of a long list of recordings in the years to come. Rouse copyrighted the song in 1938, though, according to Kip Lornell in the book "Capitol Bluegrass", the first (though unreleased) version was recorded by Roy Hall's Blue Ridge Entertainers for Vocalion in November that year, followed by fiddler Walter Hurd (as "Train Special") for Bluebird in February 1939.

In the late 1930s, Rouse had met another young fiddler originally from Lake City, Florida. Robert Russell "Chubby" Wise had been born there in 1915 and met Rouse while living in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Wise, he helped Rouse to compose the melody, though other artists have uttered the theory that Rouse simply taught Wise the tune. Bill Monroe and his newly formed group, the Bluegrass Boys, recorded "Orange Blossom Special" in October 1941 with Art Wooten on fiddle. Bluebird released the result with "The Coupon Song" on #B-8893 in December that year. Monroe's frequent appearances at the nationally known Grand Ole Opry surely helped to boost the popularity of the song. Rouse himself was once invited to the Opry but turned down the offer in favor of staying in Florida.

UK sheet music cover of "Orange Blossom Special"

After World War II until the mid 1950s, several more artists recorded their version of "Orange Blossom Special", including Sleepy McDaniel & his Radio Playboys (D.C./Paragon, 1947), Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (Capitol, 1947), North Carolina Ridge Runners (Security, ca. 1947), Jerry & Sky (MGM, 1949), Preston Ward (Kentucky, 1952), Tommy Jackson (Dot, 1953), the Stanley Brothers (Mercury, 1955), among others.

Moon Mullican recorded Rouse's "Sweeter That the Flowers" for King Records in 1947 and it became another standard with nearly 30 different versions, including those by Shorty Long, Esco Hankins, Carl Story, the Stanley Brothers, or Bobby Bare. Rouse never recorded an own commercial version. His only surviving recording is a home tape from the 1970s, on which he played the song with his ex-wife's brother Virgil.

Maybe due to Mullican's hit version on King or maybe not, Ervin Rouse and his brothers became affiliated with the King label themselves in the early 1950s. They got to know Henry Stone, originally a record distributor who had turned to producing records. He owned a small record label, Rockin', on which the brothers' "Loan Me a Buck" and a new version of "Orange Blossom Special" was released in the fall 1953. When King Records bought out the Rockin' label, Stone became an A&R scout for King's DeLuxe label and headed its Miami office. He transferred the brothers to DeLuxe and reissued the single. The Rouse Brothers held a few more sessions for DeLuxe (engineered by Bob Miller, who worked as King exec bny then) until 1954 and two more singles resulted.

DeLuxe's flirtation with country music ended in the mid 1950s and the triumph of rock'n'roll sidelined the popularity of "Orange Blossom Special". It was not until Johnny Cash recorded his version of the song for Columbia in 1964 that the song started a second life. Cash recorded the song on December 20, 1964, at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Although it was a fiddle tune, Cash's version did not feature a fiddle but instrumental breaks by Charlie McCoy on harmonica and Boots Randolph on saxophone. Released in early January 1965, it peaked #3 on Billboard's C&W charts.

Sheet music cover of Johnny Cash's version

After Cash recorded it, he wanted to know the man who wrote it and made the connection to Rouse via Miami country DJ Cracker Jim Brooker. When Cash played a concert in Miami, he invited Rouse to come on stage and perform "Orange Blossom Special" with him. "I brought Ervin up to play the fiddle, and he absolutely killed it" remembered Cash decades later.

By then, Ervin and Gordon were living in the swamps in a small community in Collier County outside of Miami, keeping music as a sideline and performing locally at rough bars for the local fishermen and gator hunters. It was a stark contrast, from living in suburban Miami and working the city's resort hotels, to the hard, sweaty life in the Big Cypress swamps and its small though venues. In the 1970s, a few local journalists and just as few music scholars set out to visit Rouse in order to interview him, which failed in most cases as Rouse, although surely entertaining, rather told exaggerated stories and hokum instead of reliable facts. 

Rouse had to battle declining health and alcoholism in later years. He passed away on July 8, 1981, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, at the age of 62 years. He is buried at Southern Memorial Park in North Miami. His brother Gordon died in 1995.

Recommended reading

• Lonesome Lefty's Scratchy Attic

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45worlds/78rpm entry

• 45worlds/78rpm list of "Orange Blossom Special" releases

• Praguefrank Country Music Discographies entry

• Chubby Wise hillbilly-music.com entry

• SecondHandSongs

• NCpedia

• Randy Noles: "Orange Blossom Boys - The Untold Story of Ervin Rouse, Chubby Wise and the World's Most Famous Fiddle Tune" (Centerstream Publishing), 2002 

• Tony Russell, Bob Pinson: "Country Music Records" (Oxford University Press), 2004, p. 815

• "The Encyclopedia of Country Music" (Rouse brothers biography by Charles K. Wolfe) (Country Music Foundation), 1998, p. 460-461 

• Kip Lornell: "Capitol Bluegrass - Hillbilly Music Meets Washington, D.C." (Oxford University), 2020, p. 32

Brown's Recording Studio

Brown's Recording Studio

Sherwood, Arkansas

Recently, I stumbled across a recording studio in Sherwood, Brown's Recording Studio. This name was printed on several 1970s singles and albums with producing credit sometimes going to Maxine Brown. No doubt, this was the same Maxine Brown who was part of the country family group the Browns (along with her sister Bonnie Brown and Jim Ed Brown). The studio was obviously operated by her and possibly by Bonnie Brown as well, who also sometimes appears as a producer.

Early promo picture of the Browns, mid 1950s

Maxine Brown was born in 1931 in Campti, Louisiana, but her family moved to a farm near Sparkman, Arkansas when she was very young. Brown would later call Arkansas her home state. The family later moved to Pine Bluff. In the early 1950s, she and her brother James Edward, nicknamed Jim Ed, started singing, having their first appearance at the Barnyard Frolic in Little Rock, and signed a recording contract with the Fabor label in 1954 as a duo. They enjoyed early success with "Looking Back to See" the same year, then signed with RCA-Victor and, in 1955 with the addition of sister Bonnie, became "The Browns". They appeared on the Louisiana Hayride and the Ozark Jubilee and had more hits throughout the 1950s, most notable "The Three Bells".

After Jim Ed started recording solo, the group disbanded in 1968. Maxine Brown had a brief solo career in the late 1960s, signing with Chart Records and having a hit with "Sugar Cane County". She then recorded for Plantation in 1970 but stopped releasing records afterwards.

There is not but information available on the internet what Brown then did. She returned to Arkansas and obviously started Brown's Recording Studio around 1972 in Sherwood, a city north of Little Rock. The studio had an in-house label, Sherwood Records, which had at least two releases by Harry Blanton and Dan Emory. The label was active in 1974 but there were earlier recordings custom produced for other labels as well (including Charles Saulsberry II, Seventh House, the El Dorados, and the Gospel Tones).

It seems that Brown's Recording Studio was out of business by 1975. Brown went out of the music business and passed away in 2019 in Little Rock. 

Recommended reading

• The Gospel Tones on The Good, Bad & Ugly Gospel Record Barn

Sources

• The Browns and Maxine Brown Wikipedia entries

• Encyclopedia of Arkansas

• Maxine Brown 45cat entry

• Sherwood Records 45cat entry

• Discogs

Ernest & Donald Thibodeaux on Lanor

Ernest & Donald Thibodeaux - Robert Special (Lanor 1000), 1982

I found this record in New Orleans in 2023 and got me some real fine, original cajun music. Ernest Thibodeaux performed with one of cajun music's stars, Nathan Abshire, and had a career in music on his own for more than half a century.

Ernest Joseph Thibodeaux was born on October 9, 1925, in the small community of Mermantau near Jennings, Louisiana. Music was a part of his life early on, as his father Clobule played cajun music, too. Thibodeaux started playing at the age of 10 years and taught himself to play guitar, fiddle, bass, and drums. At the age of 13, he met fiddler Will Kegley and the Lake Charles Playboys and began performing with them.

Following World War II, Kegley and Thibodeaux regularly played the local Pine Grove Club dance hall in Evangeline. In 1948, Kegley's sister Oziet joined on drums, making it a trio. Dance hall owner Telasfore Esthay suggested including an accordion. Thibodeaux found  an accordionist in Nathan Abshire, who joined as well. The Pine Grove Boys were born. The next year, Jim Baker and Atlis Frujia on steel guitar made the band complete. Thanks to the owner of the Avalon Club, Quincy Davis, the band was signed to a recording contract with George Khoury and Virgil Bozeman and their various labels that same year. However, in May 1949 Abshire and Thibodeaux held a session at a Lake Charles radio station backed by Earl DeMary's band. This session produced the first version of "Pine Grove Blues", which became a regional hit.

Thibodeaux recorded with Abshire and various line-ups until 1955. Credited not only to the Pine Grove Boys but to various band names, the results were released on Khoury and Bozeman's various labels: Oklahoma Tornado (OT), Lyric, Khoury's, and Bob Tanner's Hot Rod label. Many of those discs were good sellers regionally but the band did not saw much money from it. Thibodeaux remained with the Pine Grove Boys until the late 1950s, then left the group but continued performing locally.

He regularly played Fred's Lounge in Mamou in the decades to come. Today's selection came into existence not until 1982, recorded for the Jennings based Lanor label's custom series. It featured Ernest Thibodeaux plus Donald Thibodeaux on accordion and Robert Thibodeaux on vocals. As far as I can tell, all three men were not (or not directly) related. Both "Robert Special" and "Hilda's Waltz" are fine examples of traditional cajun music. Ernest and Donald Thibodeaux, the latter also played at Fred's Lounge, eventually recorded the album "Fred's Hot Step" for Arhoolie with Ernest on drums.

In 1996, Ernest Thibodeaux was inducted in Fred's Lounge Wall of Fame and became a member of the French Cajun Music Association Hall of Fame in 1999. He passed away on August 18, 2006, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at the age of 80 years.

Recommended reading

• Ann Savoy Collection (Interview with Ernest Thibodeaux)

Sources

Ernest Thibodeaux

• This Week in Cajun Music Facebook post

• Find a Grave entry

• Nathan Abshire Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

• 45cat entry and Nathan Abshire 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Discogs

Donald Thibodeaux

• Downhome Music: Fred's Hot step by Donald Thibodeaux and Cajun Fever

Hank Williams on MGM

Hank Williams with his Drifting Cowboys - I Won't Be Home No More (MGM K11533), 1953

I'm always fond of some Hank Williams! I can really feel why so many people loved his music and why he was an inspiration for so many singers and musicians. His music and his voice have something you can't find anywhere else. Here is one of my favorite Hank songs, "I Won't Be Home No More". I won't go into detail here on his career - there has been written so much about him - but let me give you a bit of background info on this particular recording.

"I Won't Be Home No More" was recorded on July 11, 1952 at the Castle Studio, located in the Tulane Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Apart from Williams on vocals and rhythm guitar, the line-up included Jack Shook on acoustic guitar, Chet Atkins on electric lead guitar, Don Helms on steel guitar, Jerry Rivers on fiddle, and Ernie Newton on bass. Also recorded that day were "Be Careful of Stones That You Throw", "Why Don't You Make Up Your Mind", and the mega hit "You Win Again".

Billboard July 11, 1953, C&W review

Coupled with "My Love for You (Has Turned to Hate)", a song originally recorded by Williams already in 1947 for Sterling, "I Won't Be Home No More" was released in July 1953 (MGM #11533) on both 45rpm and 78rpm format. By then, Williams had been dead for seven months but MGM still turned out recordings of him frequently and many of those posthumous released songs became hits and standards. "I Won't Be Home No More" was no exception, reaching #4 on Billboard's best selling country singles.

Similar to "You Win Again", the song is believed to cover the relationship and break-up with Williams' wife Audrey. In fact, both were legally divorced the day before Williams recorded it.

Sources
• 45cat entry
• 45worlds/78rpm entry
• Wikipedia entry
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Dave Hillhouse & Ellis Mize - the Runabouts

The Runabouts, early 1960s. From left to right (prob.):
Stan Hopkins, Bobby Davis, Chuck Booker,
unknown sax player, Ellis Mize

The Runabouts

During the 1950s and 1960s, many groups performed and recorded in and around Memphis, Tennessee. One of those groups was the Runabouts, a name that was used several times by different combos across the early 1960s United States.

The Memphis based Runabouts were centered around David "Dave" Hillhouse and Ellis Mize, both vocalists and guitarists. Hillhouse was born in 1937 and probably hailed from Memphis. James Ellis Mize was probably born around 1936. By 1958, Mize was bassist with Eddie Bond's Stompers and took part in several recording sessions. The first of these took place in April 1958 at the Sun Studio, recording "This Old Heart of Mine" and "Show Me", which remained unreleased, however.

In 1960, Mize joined forces with Dave Hillhouse to form the Runabouts. They became acquainted with Buford Cody and Gene Williams, who started their Co & Wi record label around the same time. Pianist Jerry Lee "Smoochie" Smith, who had come from Jackson, Tennessee, with Kenny Parchman's band to Memphis in 1957, joined as well. With the addition of Stan Hopkins on bass and Chuck Booker on drums, the Runabouts were chosen to back up Bobby Davis on his Co & Wi single "Run Don't Walk" b/w "Standing at Her Door", released in 1961.

Also in 1961, the Runabouts held their solo session for Co & Wi. With the same line-up at Stan Kesler's Echo studio, they recorded "The Prom" and "When I Get the Blues" (Co & Wi #114, 1961). According to UK music enthusiast Dave Travis, who eventually bought the Co & Wi label, this single was the best seller for Buford Cody's labels. This probably caught the attention of the bigger Jubilee label, which released the group's "Train" b/w "Bring Back My Baby" in October 1961, being the first release in the label's new (and short-lived) country & western series. At the same time, the group was a featured act on Gene Williams' Cotton Town Jubilee in Memphis, which also aired over KWAM. Although Williams set up his record label of the same name in 1962 to record many of the show's performers, the Runabouts never had a release on it.

Billboard October 23, 1961, C&W review

The Jubilee disc became the Runabouts' last single. By 1964, Mize had returned to performing with the Stompers and recorded a few more sessions with them during this year as their lead guitarist. He remained associated with Bond, recording two duets with Kay Campbell in the early 1970s for Bond's Tab label. Around the same time, Mize was a country music DJ on KWAM FM (his colleagues included Bond and Chuck Comer). He was not only a good musician but also a bit of a songwriter, penning most of the Runabouts' material as well as songs for other artists (including "Hole In My Pocket" for Jim Morgan, another singer who was associated with Bond).

Dave Travis managed to track down both Hillhouse and Mize in the 1980s. Apparently, both still performed together. At a gig in Millington, a suburb of Memphis, in the winter of 1986, they performed a version of "The Prom" for Travis (much to the surprise of the rest of the audience, which was rather accustomed to country music). Sadly, Hillhouse lost his battle with cancer the following year. Ellis Mize continued to perform occasionally and, as far as I could find out, still resides in Millington.

Cees Klop's White Label Records released two different takes on "The Prom" and "When I Get the Blues" on his 1987 LP "Memphis, Rock and Roll Capital of the World, Vol. 4". The released versions had been already re-issued by Klop in 1973 on "Rare Rock-a-Billy". In 1988, the Sunjay label from Sweden released those versions as well on "Memphis Rockabilly, Vol. 2" plus the unreleased "Glad We Talked It Over".

Discography

Co & Wi C-112: Bobby Davis - Walk Don't Run / Bobby Davis and the (Runabouts) - Standing at Her Door (ca. 1961)
Co & Wi C-114: The Runabouts - The Prom / When I Get the Blues (1961)
Jubilee 9-1000: The Runabouts - Train / Bring My Baby Back (1961)

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Memphis Radio 1971

• Eddie Bond entry on Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• David Hillhouse Find a Grave entry

• Official census records accessed through ancestry.com

• Dave Travis: Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers, Vol. 4: The Memphis Records Story" (2004), Stomper Time Records

Rudy Gaddis on Custom

Rudy Gaddis - Wild Train (Custom 121), 1965

Rudy Gaddis' influence and fame was limited to the East Texas regions around Tyler but his name will always be linked with one song, "Uranium Fever", which he composed and recorded in the mid 1950s. The song, which bears more than just a little similarity to Hank Williams' "Kaw-Liga", was an expression of atomic war's impact on the US society and became a much cited example of it eventually.

Rudolph Joe "Rudy" Gaddis was born on September 3, 1926, in Ben Wheeler, Van Zandt County, Texas, to Joe Marlin and Mattie Henry Gaddis. Though born in Van Zandt County, he spent much of his life in adjacent Smith County. Gaddis served his country during World War II in the US Navy. He married Ella Jane Smith in 1951, with whom he had three children. The marriage was eventually divorced.

By the mid 1950s, Gaddis had taken up music and was performing in the honky tonks of Tyler, Smith County, with his band, the Lone Star Rangers. He had developed a vocal style similar to Hank Snow and released his debut single "Girl from Mars" b/w "Garden of Roses" for the Liberty label in 1954.

He got the chance to record for Beaumont, Texas, based Starday Records in 1955. A session was arranged for him in October that year, which produced "Uranium Fever" and "My Tears Are a Measure" (Starday #217). The recording place is sometimes given as Gold Star Studio in Houston, Texas, but more often as a radio station in Shreveport, Louisiana. Although "Uranium Fever" later gained some popularity in the record collectors scene - especially among those who explored the cultural phenomenons of the cold war and atomic era - it was no hit for Gaddis back then.

Rudy Gaddis in the early 1960s
(taken from the back of his Custom LP)

Around that time, Gaddis was managed by Texas DJ Art Roberts. He continued to release 45s on small, local labels in the 1950s and early 1960s, including Kathy, Faith, and Flash. In 1963, he began his work with record producer and label owner Curtis Kirk, who ran the Custom Sound Studio in Tyler and his own label, Custom Records. This resulted in one album and several singles on the label. Today's featured single, "Small Boy and his Dog" b/w "Wild Train", also resulted from Gaddis' association with Kirk and was released on Custom #121.

Gaddis continued to record without much success. Throughout the years, Gaddis was also heard on local radio and television. His "Rudy Gaddis Lone Star Rangers Show" was the first TV show to air on KLTV. His last record, "Bass Fishermen", appeared on the G.M. label in 1983. Some of Gaddis' songs have also been recorded by other artists, including Joe Paul Nichols, the Redmon Brothers, Presten Bodin, Shirl, Lexie Johnson, among others.

Gaddis ceased musical activities in the 1980s. His second wife Paulette died in 2006, Rudy Gaddis followed her a few months later on November 11, 2006, at the age of 80 years. He is buried at Overton City Cemetery in Overton, Texas.

Billboard May 15, 1982

Discography

Singles
Liberty 103: Girl from Mars / Garden of Roses (1954)
Starday 217: My Tears Are a Measure / Uranium Fever (1955)
Kathy 2614: Stranger with a Colt 45 / A Young Boy and a Teenage Girl
Faith 3618: Lost in the Mountains / He Is Watching, Watching, Watching (1962)
Flash 100-9: Winona Hoedown / Old Ely
Custom 105: Hard Luck-Double Trouble / Don't Take the Rap (1963)
Alta 103: Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette / Old Ely, the Big Texas Steer (1964)
Custom 121: Small Boy and his Dog / Wild Train (1965)
Custom 126: Everybody Wants Somethin' / I've Been There Once (1966)
Love 781: Sandy Land Farm / How Much Is a Memory Worth
Love 783: Countryville / My Love
Country America: A Boy Named Texas / Big Sandy Opry (1980)
G.M. 183: Big Bass Fishermen (Stereo) / Big Bass Fisherman (Mono) (1983)

Albums
Custom 115: Garden of Roses (1963)

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Entries at 45cat and 45worlds/78rpm
• Discogs
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• Gospel Jubilee entry
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry
• Atomic Platters (Wayback Machine)
• Tim Smolko, Joanna Smolko: "Atomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music" (Indiana University Press), 2021

Leon Starr

Leon Starr - Back in the USA (Stomper Time unissued)
Memphis pianist Leon Starr recorded steadily throughout the 1960s and 1970s, though he managed to leave behind no trace. My attempt to gain some more knowledge about his live through Findagrave.com and Ancestry.com was unsuccessful. However, it is Dave Travis who has some information for us in his booklet to his Stomper Time Records CD reissue.

Leon Starr

Leon Starr became a member of Eddie Bond's Stompers in 1958 or 1959. At the same time, Bond established his own Stomper Time record label (after his two-year term with Mercury and a short stint with Pappy Daily's D label). Starr was the pianist of the band but also a versatile singer. Bond gave him the chance to cut a few covers of rock'n'roll songs: "Back in the USA", "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "My Baby Left Me", and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On". No info concerning the recording date, location, and line-up has survived, although it seems probable that Starr is playing piano on those tracks with backing by the Stompers. Although fine recordings, Bond did not release them at the time.

Starr left the Stompers around 1962 or 1963 but remained associated with Bond. He held down a steady gig at Bond's Western Lounge in Memphis and recorded for his Millionaire label in 1966. By then, Starr played country music. He continued to release solo singles in the years to come for small Memphis labels: a country single for Style Wooten's Allandale Records (1968), a fuzz garage guitar gem with the Fire Birds on Clyde Leoppard's VU Records (1968), country duets on John Cook's Blake Records with a female performer named "Little Sis" (1974), and more country music on the Bachelor and III label.

There are also two tracks by Starr that found its way onto a 2015 Stomper Time CD, "Memphis Country Favorites and Rarities, Vol. 4". The tracks are "Last Date" (an instrumental probably featuring Starr's piano playing) and a cover of Faron Young's 1950s hit "Alone with You". However, I have no release and label information on these tracks. What happened to Starr afterwards is a mystery. If someone can point me towards more information, please feel free to contact me.

Discography

Millionaire MM-120
Leon Starr
Honey Child (B. Huskey; J. Surber) / Have I Wasted My Time (A. Kyle; R. Needham)
1966

Allandale 3684

Leon Starr

Just Like That (Joe B. Cartwright) / That Kind of Living (Joe B. Cartwright)

W4KM-0883 / W4KM-0884 (RCA)

1968

"Producers: Style Wooten & Sam Neil"

VU 45-101

Leon Starr and the Fire Birds / The Fire Birds

Little Live Wire (Arthur Kyle) / Endless Dream (A. Kyle; H. Hunton)
1968

Blake 2-276

Leon Starr & Little Sis / Little Sis

Common Law Wife (A. Chipman) / The Lord Knows You're Drinking (A. Chipman)
1974

Blake 2-276
Little Sis / Leon Starr
Red Rover (N. Cooper) / The Town of Love (D. Cooper, Jr.)
1974

Bachelor and III 1101

Leon Starr

My Name's Trouble (Don Miller) / I Can't See My Way (to Go On Living) (Don Miller)
"Produced by Nonconnah"

Recommended reading
• Some Local Loser

See also
• That Million Dollar Memphis Sound

Sources
• Discogs
• 45cat entry
• Dave Travis: "Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers: The Stomper Time Records Story" (2001), liner notes, Stomper Time Records

L. J. Foret on Ciro

L. J. Foret and the Country Boys - Fille de Houma (Ciro 1005), 1965

Here's one of the finds I brought back home when I visited Louisiana in 2023. I think I found this disc in a record shop on Magazine Street in New Orleans.  L. J. Foret was a cajun musician from Houma, Louisiana, area, where the Ciro label was also located. Houma is located southwest of New Orleans, about an hour away.

Lawrence Joseph "L. J." Foret was born on June 30, 1930, in Houma, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Foret was born in a time when it was common to speak French instead of English and many of his songs later reflected that. He started his career in music at the age of 14 years in 1944, when he joined his father's band, the Town Serenaders, a group that played the dance halls of the region. Foret learned to play guitar, fiddle, drums, and sang. By 1949, he had his own radio show on KCIL but had to interrupt his career when Uncle Sam came calling in 1952 and Foret had to serve in the Korean War. That same year, he had married Beverly Babin, with whom he had two sons. During his military service, he hosted a radio show for fellow soldiers and entertained the troops with personal appearances as well.

Upon his discharge, he formed his own band, "L. J. Foret and the Country Boys", and returned to hosting his Sunday morning show on KCIL. He didn't record commercially until the 1960s. His debut single appeared in 1965 on the Arelro label, comprising "Someone Who Didn't Care" b/w "Don't Scatter the Pieces of My Heart" (#450). The same year, he started recording for the local Ciro label and we feature his label debut on Ciro #1005, "Fille de Houma (Girl from Houma)" b/w "Pas Christmas Poor les Pauvre (No Christmas for the Poor)" (note that it is correctly spelled "Pas Christmas Pour les Pauvre"). Although both songs were sung in French by Foret, the musical arrangement is rather country than cajun. The songwriter on both sides was probably Donald Babin, Foret's wife's brother.

Foret releases a few more singles on Ciro during 1965 and switched to other local labels throughout the years, including Houma, Ajae's, Starbarn, and La Louisianne. He recorded his only full-fledged album on La Louisianne in the 1970s. In 1972, he started his own local TV show on KHMA, which lasted for two years. In 1970, his son Ronnie joined his band, followed in 1975 by Foret's younger son Bobby. During his career, Foret opened for such country stars as Loretta Lynn, Mel Tillis, Minnie Pearl, Jack Greene, Jimmy C. Newman, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ernest Tubb, Stonewall Jackson, and Conway Twitty.

A stroke in 1983 limited his possibilities to perform but Foret didn't give up music, playing occasionally with family and friends around Houma. He was inducted into the Cajun Hall of Fame in 2000 and passed away on September 12, 2002, due to cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the Westbank Musicians Hall of Fame in 203.

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Westbank Musicians Hall of Fame (Facebook page)

• Wikipedia entry

• Find a Grave entry

• "LocalCajun musician L.J. Foret succumbs to cancer" (Houma Today)