Hoot & Curley

Hoot and Curley, early 1950s
This promo picture shows Curley Herndon (left) and Hoot Rains (right)

The duo of Thomas "Hoot" Rains and "Curley" Herndon were stars of the Louisiana Hayride out of Shreveport and also recorded a slew of singles for the Imperial and Starday labels during the 1950s. Though they did not have a real hit records on their hands, their recorded output is noteworthy nevertheless and worth listening to. My friend Marshal Martin recently went down the Hoot & Curley rabbit hole, finding some of their rare records and even relatives of them.

Thomas Houston "Hoot" Rains was born on September 15, 1914, in Many, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, a small town near Natchitoches. His parents, Justlyn Polk and Alice Ameralee Rains, had a total of nine children. Carnell Monroe "Curley" Herndon was quite a bit younger, being born on February 26, 1923, also in Many. Herndon began singing and playing the guitar at age seven, and had his first own band and radio program when he was 13 years old. Later, he attended a civl engineer's school in Kansas City, Missouri, where he also performed on local radio. In the meantime, Rains had become an accomplished musician in his own right, playing the steel guitar and leading bands at different clubs.

The Austin American
January 4, 1956

After engineer's school, Herndon moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he met again with Rains at KWKH's famed Louisiana Hayride, where both tried to make a name on their own. They also became members of country singer Slim Whitman's band around 1950, who also appeared regularly on the show. With Herndon on lead guitar and Rains on steel guitar, they played not only on live appearances but also on Whitman's recording sessions for Imperial. Hit songs like "Love Song of the Waterfall" and "Indian Love Call" bore their signature sound and supported Whitman's crystal-clear vocal style. It was especially Rains' lenghty, high notes on the steel guitar (called "shooting arrows" style by the band) that became a trademark of their sound. 

Around the same time, Rains and Herndon joined forces and began appearing as duo "Hoot & Curley", including regular performances on the Hayride but also with Whitman's band, now called the "Stardusters". The Whitman connection also secured them a recording contract with Imperial, which was a California based independent label but was a strong force in Texas and Louisiana country music. They held their first solo session around July 1952 in Dallas, Texas, supported by fellow Starduster Sonny James on fiddle and this combination produced four songs. Those were released by Imperial on two singles in late 1952. A second session followed which yielded another single in the fall of 1953. The same year, Rains and Herndon left the Whitman band to set out on their own.

Shreveport Journal
June 21, 1952

Their records for Imperial missed the charts but they remained a featured act on the Louisiana Hayride and in 1954, Rains and Herndon began recording for the Houston based independent Starday Records. They stayed with the label until 1957 and produced four more singles for this label. Herndon also had one solo release on Mercury in 1960.

Rains and Herndon continued to perform on the Hayride but also held down regular spots at local clubs such as the Lake Cliff. They eventually ceased their mututal music activities and returned to day jobs. Rains worked as a car salesman in Shreveport, subsequently operating his own car dealership, "Hoots' Trading Post". Herndon worked as a architectural draftsman for Demopulos & Ferguson Consulting Engineers. He passed away after a lenghty illness on February 15, 1992, in Shreveport. Rains had left this earth a few months earlier on October 12, 1991, in Shreveport at age 77.

The British Archive of Country Music has released a 25 tracks CD on Hoot & Curley in 2020.

Recommended reading

• British Archive of Country Music

Sources

• Paul Hazell: "Hoot and Curley" (liner notes) BACM, 2020

• Find a Grave entries for Hoot Rains and Curley Herndon

• Curley Herndon Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Discogs

• 45cat entry and 45cat/78rpm entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Gene Williams & Band on Sound of Country Music

Gene Williams & Band - Don Picks the Banjo (Sound of Country Music 1501), ca. 1970

Gene Williams was one of Northeast Arkansas' most prolific country music promoters. From the early 1960s through the 1970s, 1980s, and well into the 2000s, he was active promoting concerts, shows, recordings, and its artists. He also diversified his business interests by investing in different other branches, including real estate and newspapers but people in Northeast Arkansas regions will probably remember him best for his country music shows.

Born in 1938 in the small town of Tyronza, Poinsett County, Arkansas, Williams' father moved the family to the Dyess colony just a bit southwest of Tyronza, in 1943. Dyess was a farming community built on swamp land. The Cash family was living in Dyess, too, and one of the Cashs, namely Johnny, would go on to have international fame of course. While in high school, Williams began organizing local concerts with singers from Memphis. When he graduated from high school in 1956, Johnny Cash was already becoming a star in Memphis and inspired by his success, Williams took a job at radio KWEM in Memphis in 1957. As Williams was not a musician himself (although he later liked to pose with guitars for photos), he chose upon a career in radio and promotion.

He went into partnership with co-worker Buford Cody to found the Co & Wi label in late 1960, then started the live stage show "Cotton Town Jubilee" in early 1962 and a few months later set up his next record label, the Cotton Town Jubilee label. This imprint released several singles and albums until around 1965 by artists that appeared regularly on Williams' show. He also set out on the road with the Jubilee cast and played shows across the whole Mid-South.

In late 1963, Williams replaced the Cotton Town Jubilee show, which also aired over KWAM, with a new TV show entitled "Gene Williams' Country Junction" on KAIT-TV from Jonesboro. During the next years, this show became popular with audiences not only in Arkansas but across the Mid-South in different states. Until 1970, Williams produced records by the artists of his shows to sell at concerts. He even produced two music movies called "The Sound of Country Music" (1969) and "Country Music Jamboree" (1970) plus accompanying records. For this purpose, he set up the short-lived Sound of Country Music label, also releasing selected album tracks on 45rpm discs. This was the case with today's selection "Don Picks the Banjo", an instrumental track by Williams' band spotlighting banjo picker Don Settlemoir. The flip side was "Parkin, Arkansas", a song sung by Country Junction cast member Charlie Fritts. Both songs appeared in the "Country Music Jamboree" movie.

Don Settlemoir around 1970 as a member of the Country Junction Band

Neither the movie nor the single became a hit. Williams continued to work in country music promotions but had diversified his interests by that point. The Country Junction show came to an end in 1978 and was replaced with the "Gene Williams Show". He suffered from health problems in his later years, much caused by his lifelong smoking, and Williams passed away in 2011.

See also

• The Cotton Town Jubilee label story

Sources

• This post is based on my article "The Cotton Town Jubilee Records Story", which appeared in American Music Magazine 145 in September 2017.

Jimmy Luke on Razorback

Jimmy Luke - Ruby Baby (Razorback 104, 1963)

Jimmy Luke was the recording alias for Jimmy Ray Paulman, a talented guitarist and singer from Arkansas. Paulman was a band member of both Harold Jenkins' and Ronnie Hawkins' bands but returned to Arkansas after leaving the Hawkins unit. Upon his return, he started a solo career and recorded for several local labels throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Born around 1937 and raised in Marianna, Arkansas, next to the Mississippi River, Paulman became a member of Harold Jenkins' House Rockers, a rockabilly combo from the same area. During 1956 and early 1957, the band made some demo recordings at Sun Records in Memphis, including their theme "Rock House" (which was reworked by Roy Orbison the same year), but nothing was released from those sessions. Jenkins signed with Mercury in 1957 and brought along his band, including Paulman. The outfit recorded several sessions in Nashville throughout the year and by then, Jenkins had become Conway Twitty. They also performed regularly in Canada during this time.

The Daily World, August 31, 1965

Paulman left the band in the fall of 1957 and, back in Arkansas, did some playing with Billy Lee Riley's Little Green Men before joining Ronnie Hawkins, who was about to put together a new band. With the addition of 15 years old Levon Helm on drums and Paulman's cousin Willard "Pop" Jones on piano, they became "The Hawks". At that time, many Arkansas rockabillies did like Conway Twitty and toured Canada, like Billy Lee Riley, eventually Bobby Brown, and Ronny Hawkins and the Hawks. Paulman went north again and in 1959 and was still part of the band when they gained a recording contract with Roulette Records. He stayed with the Hawks for much of 1959 but then left, returning to Arkansas again.

Around 1962, Paulman had his first solo release but favored to record under the name "Jimmy Luke". "Luke" had been his nickname since his days with the Twitty outfit so it seemed to be fitting. In 1963, he recorded for Bobby Crafford's Razorback label, cutting a version of "You Are My Sunshine" and today's selection, "Ruby Baby". Paulman had recorded that song already a few years earlier with Ronnie Hawkins for Roulette and now did his own rendition.

In the 1960s, Paulman recorded for labels like Big Country, UNI, Metromedia, Zone, and Twin but never enjoyed any chart success. According to Larry Donn, Paulman also performed for some time with the Pacers as their vocalist and guitarist. As of 2021, Paulman lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near Nashville.

Sources

• Rockin' Country Style

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rock'n'Roll Schallplatten Forum (German)

• Colin Escott: "Conway Rocks" (Bear Family Records), liner notes, 2003

• Ian Wallis: "Ronnie Rocks" (Bear Family Records), liner notes, 2007

Jim Harless on Shadow

Jim Harless and the Lonesome Valley Boys - Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me (Shadow 104), 1961 or 1962

The rise of rock'n'roll music created several "anti-songs" in country and bluegrass music, notably Denver Duke & Jeffrey Null's "Rock and Roll Blues" from 1956. Another prime example was Jim Harless' "Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me", which was recorded a few years later in the Bristol, Tennessee, area.

James Allen "Jim" Harless, Jr., was born on January 17, 1935, in Bristol, Tennessee, where he also grew up. Harless was a house-painter by day and eventually also ran his own paint contractor business but country and bluegrass music was his passion, which he enjoyed playing around Bristol in the 1950s and 1960s. Harless hosted his own popular radio show on WRKM in Carthage, Tennessee, during those years and led his own band, the Lonesome Valley Boys. By the early 1960s, the band consisted of Harless on vocals and acoustic guitar, Dean Millwood on acoustic guitar, Ray Kelly on electric guitar, Rhoda Kelly on mandolin, and Ray Jones on banjo.

This outfit made one record in either late 1961 or early 1962 for a local label from Bristol, Shadow Records. The disc featured "Banjo Bells", an instrumental number dominated by Jones' banjo, and "Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me". The latter is a nice banjo bopper with great vocals and moreover, it's an ode to bluegrass music when Harless sings "let that fiddle and banjo ring 'cause we still think that bluegrass is king / rock & roll fever ain't got me". It seems the record made some noise around Bristol, being played on local radio shows like "Rise and Shine Follies" and "Hillbilly Hit Parade" but didn't stand a chance on regional or national markets.

Jim Harless (center) and the Lonesome Valley Boys
early 1960s

By 1970, Harless had relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, where he led the house band at Panther Hall, a popular live music venue for years that was predominantly known for country music entertainment. Panther Hall hosted the Cowtown Jamboree on weekends, which featured Harless' group and many top-names from Nashville as guests. Also, Harless' eight years old nephew Charles Allen Bouton appeared at the Jamboree several times.

Harless continued to work as well as perform music in Fort Worth and lived there until his death on May 22, 2001, at age 66. He is buried in Fort Worth.

Discography

Shadow 104: Jim Harless and the Lonesome Valley Boys - Banjo Bells / Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me 

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• Thanks to Jim Harless' daughter-in-law Brenda, who gave us a little insight into his career.

Gene Jones

Gene Jones & the Drifters - Pride (Mississippi Sound No.#), 1979
My friend Marshal and I have been into the careers of the Jones family, four siblings that made a few country records in the 1970s. Although being active in Louisiana, they originally hailed from Mississippi. Marshal found another part of their puzzle with a previously unknown recording of Gene Jones.

Gene A. Jones was born on August 11, 1935, in Waynesboro, Mississippi, to Luther Edward and Rose Elmedia Jones. Jones' middle name was Autry, so he was named after singing cowboy star Gene Autry. Gene grew up in a musical talented family, his brothers Luke and Devon as well as his sister Nancy became recording artists well. All of the siblings - eight in total - played music instruments and often they would gather to play music together. Although Mississippi born, many of the Jones siblings were drawn to Louisiana and so was Gene - at least for some time. In 1955, Jones married Carol Jean Glover on St. Charles, Louisiana. She was his lifelong wife. They later returned to Jones' Mississippi home.

The Joneses made music throughout their lives and performed under the name of the "Roseland Drifters", playing such venues as the Moose Lodge in Natchitoches Parish or the Rose Room in New Orleans. THeir repertoire consisted mainly of cover song by artists such as Kitty Wells, Faron Young, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and others. In the 1970s, they began making recordings. Devon and Nancy Jones had a record out in the early 1970s. One of the songs, "Set You Free", was later also recorded by Gene Jones. Both Gene and Luke Jones made recordings at Precision Recording Studio in Picayune, Mississippi, a small city just across the border from Louisiana. 

The recordings at Precision resulted in one single under Luke's name and another one under Gene's name, which included his version of his siblings' song "Set You Free" plus a twangy, steel guitar-drenched song entitled "Pride". It appeared on the small Mississippi Sound label from Picayune. This is the only known record of Gene Jones. We couldn't find any newspaper mentions of him except for his obituary, though he performed in public frequently.

Jones lived around New Orleans for many years but later moved to Kentwood, Louisiana, a small town just south of the state border to Mississippi. Gene Jones passed away on October 24, 1984, at the age of 49 years. He is buried at Ellis Cemetery in Franklinton, Louisiana.

Discography

Mississippi Sound No.#: Gene Jones & the Drifters - Set You Free / Pride (1979)

See also
• Devon & Nancy / Luke Jones

Sources
• Thanks to Shannon Possoit and Debbie Cagle for providing additional information on their family's career and for Marshal Martin conducting the interview.
• Find a Grave entry
• Obituary (The Daily Star, October 24, 1986)

Flame Records (New Orleans)

The Flame of New Orleans Rock'n'Roll

New Orleans will always be connected with jazz music. But the Bossier City became also a hotbed for rhythm & blues in the 1940s and subsequently rock'n'roll in the 1950s. Among the most influential people were producers Dave Bartholomew and Cosimo Matassa. And there were people like John F. English, entrepreneurs with much smaller businesses, which produced great music nonetheless.

English set up the Flame record label and its publishing arm, Emalf (Flame spelled backwards), in the fall of 1958. The first release came out around September, featuring "Road of Dreams" b/w "Tangle-Weed" by a New Orleans based combo called "The Saxons". Between 1958 and 1961, En  glish issued probably more than 30 records under the Flame imprint, though details on many releases are still unknown. There was a lot of rock'n'roll and pop on the label and even some blues. English sent out promo copies to both Cash Box and Billboard but I was not able to find any other mentions in magazines or newspapers.

John Furman English was born on October 29, 1929, and likely a resident or even a native of Louisiana. He and his wife Vita lived outside of New Orleans in Belle Chasse. English died on July 5, 1981, at the age of 51 years in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. He is buried at Lake Lawn Park Cemetery in New Orleans.

If anyone knows more about John F. English, Flame Records or the artists recording for the label, please feel free to leave a comment or sent an e-mail!

Discography
FL-101: John Weinman & the Saxons - Road of Dreams / Marty Roberts & the Saxons - Tangle-Weed (1958)
FL-102:
FL-103:
FL-104:
FL-105:
FL-106:
FL-107: Little Johnny Barron - I Lost a Bet / For Ever and for Ever Ever More (1959)
FL-108:
FL-109: The Leed Twins - Please Mr. Barber / Rock 'N Roll and Pizza Pie (1959)
FL-110:
FL-111: Shorty & Smokey Warren with Billie Willow - You're Gonna Grieve When I Leave / So Bad (1959)
FL-112:
FL-113: Jerry Cronin and the Flashes - A-Rock-a-Me-Baby / Give Me Your Answer (1959)
FL-114:
FL-115:
FL-116:
FL-117:
FL-118:
FL-119:
FL-120:
FL-121:
FL-122:
FL-123:
FL-124:
FLA 125: The Rock-Its - Rock-Indigo / Rockamotion (1959)
FLA 126:
FLA 127: Jerry Ladner and the Traveler's - Give Me Your Love / My One Desire (1959)
FLA 128:
FLA 129:
FLA 130:
FLA 131:
FLA 132:
FLA 133:
FLA 134:
FLA 135:
FLA 136:
FLA 137:
FLA 138:
FLA 139:
FLA 140:
FLA 141:
FLA 142:
45-FL-143: Al Lavorato - Tantalize Me / Goodbye My Love (1959)
144:
145:
146:
10147: Marty Lewis - Voo Doo Love / Satisfied with My Lovin' (1959)
10148: Sly Dell - Let Me Tell You Bout It / Burning Inside (1960)
10149: Mauricio - It Must Be Love / Male My Dreams Come True (1960)
10150: Marty Lewis - She's Got Everything / I Want to Know (1960)
10151: John F. English and the Tonettes - On with America / Song of the Army (1960)
10152: Walter Populist - Come On Back to Me / Oh Look at That Girl (1961)
45-FL-153: Johnny Rebb - You Know I Love You / My Body Can't Take It (1959)
FL-002: Billy Stepp - I Just Hope My Wife Don't Find Out / Going to the Dogs (1966 or later)

Sources

• 45cat entry

• John F. English Find a Grave entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

Myrl Recording Company - Dodge / Myrl / Lluvia labels

Music from Ferriday, Louisiana

The Story of Melvin Doge and Myrl Recording Company

The year 1961 was the starting point for the label group of Dodge Records, Myrl Records (probably the flagship company) and Lluvia Records. These labels were operated by local engineer Melvin Dodge (1907-1983) in Ferriday, Concordia Parish, Louisiana. All three labels were heavily active in 1961 but ceased activities afterwards with only very few singles being released in the following years.

Melvin D. Dodge was born on August 18, 1907, in Louisiana and was a longtime resident of Concordia Parish. He was the oldest child of George Warren Dodge, no information has turned up on his mother so far. By 1937 he had married Myrl Foreman and their daughter Juanita was born the same year. Son Percy followed in 1940. 1940 census documents list his occupation as "farming" in Wildsville, Louisiana (between Jonesville and Ferriday). Dodge served during World War II and possibly acquired his knowledge in electronics in the military. Dodge, Myrl and their children still lived with his father and his siblings  in 1950. He eventually became an engineer and had become president of B & D Electronics as well as DEB Electronics, Inc. by 1961. It seems he specialized in inventing electronic motors for space craft and cars.

By the early 1960s, Dodge had become interest in music business and went into partnership with LaCharles Harper. Harper, also listed as LeCharles Harper or simply Charles Harper, was a blues, R&B and soul songwriter. He was active around Houston, Texas, in the 1950s and 1960s but obviously also had connections to Ferriday. He composed such songs as "Barefoot Rock" (Little Junior Parker, 1958) or "Little Boy Blue" (Bobby "Blue" Bland, 1958) and founded his own publishing firm Star-Flite in the 1950s. Harper became the main songwriter for Dodge's labels in 1961.

Dodge Records was of course a reference to Melvin Dodge and Myrl Records was named after Dodge's wife. Both labels started in July 1961. R&B singer Artie Golden and the Mighty Trojans with "If I Could See My Baby (One More Time)" b/w "Goodbye My Love" (Dodge #801) made the start on Dodge, while rock'n'roll singer Earl Cupit had the debut release on Myrl with "Don't Touch Me" b/w "I Always Do" (Myrl #401). Myrl also had a short-lived "Spiritual Series" and its first disc also appeared in July by the Original Soul Revivers, "Lord, I've Done You Wrong" b/w "Lord, Don't Turn Me Away" (Myrl #1201). The Lluvia label came into existence a few months later with its earliest known disc, "She Don't Cry in Vain" b/w "Dizzee" (Lluvia #5051, October 1961) by Percy & his Rockin' Aces (which involved singer Wayne Prince and possibly Dodge's son Percy, who was an avid guitarist). On July 22, 1961, Cash Box reported: "Melvin Dodge, Myrl Records exec, thrilled with reaction to all 4 releases of the newly-formed diskery. Included are Little Shirley Jean’s 'I’ll Get Even With You,' Earl Cupit’s 'Don’t Touch Me,' Sonny Hodges’ 'The Flame' and the Original Soul Revivers’ 'Lord I’ve Done You Wrong.'" 

Billboard December 18, 1961

Dodge put considerable money into promotion, publishing several ads in Cash Box and Billboard (even a BB one-page ad). He also sent out promo copies to radio stations as well as aforementioned magazines and his labels gained frequent mention in Cash Box and Billboard. Several releases enjoyed airplay in different areas of the market and Dodge's strategy was probably to lease those records to labels. And it worked. A lot of releases were taken over by bigger labels and even overseas based companies. The Megatons' Dodge disc (ex-Sun rockabillies Billy Lee Riley & His Little Green Men) was nationally released by Checker Records (Chess subsidiary). Riley also recorded under another alias, "Darron Lee", for Myrl and those recordings were released through Top Rank in Israel and Belgium as well as through Triola in Norway. Material by Dee-Dee Gaudet, the Mighty Trojans (both Dodge) and Percy & the Rockin' Aces (Lluvia) was re-released by Starlite in the UK.

Billboard March 3, 1962

Numerous records appeared on all three labels throughout 1961 but release frequencies ceased drastically afterwards. It seems that Lluvia did not survive past 1961, having only four releases in total - the last one in December 1961 by 'Enry (Henry) Moore. The Dodge label released a few more discs in 1962, 1963, and even 1973 but seems to have been mainly dormant. The same applies to the Myrl label with a few discs appearing as late as 1964. Harper moved his publishing company Starflite to New York City in 1963, ending his association with Dodge, and he continued to work in the music business with Bobby Robinson. On the other hand, Dodge relocated to nearby Natchez, Mississippi, around 1962 and it seems that the label group became more or less inactive. Dodge also ran a short-lived label entitled Global Records when moving to Natchez, and two of three releases featured material from the Dodge or Myrl labels catalogue. Myrl Dodge was involved in her husband's business affairs as well, heading a North Carolina publishing company. She also penned "Evening Shadows", recorded by Shirley Jean Wiley on Myrl.

However, newspaper articles paint a different picture. The Sentinel reported on July 17, 1968, that Dodge planned to built a new recording studio and pressing plant for his Myrl Recording Company in Ferriday. The facility was said to be in business by September 1968 but the News Star carried the same text on December 7, 1968, implying that construction had not begun yet. It was reported in 1970 that Dodge visited the Old South Jamboree, a Louisiana based country stage show, to discover new female talent for Myrl Records. However, no discs are known to have been released in this time period.

Melvin Dodge passed away on May 7, 1983, at the age of 75 years in Natchez. He is buried there at Greenlawn Memorial Park.

Recommended reading

• Myrl Records Discography

Sources

• 45cat entries for Dodge Records, Myrl Records, Lluvia Records, and Global Records

• Melvin Dodge Find a Grave entry

• Discogs entry for Myrl and Luvia
• Official census records accessed through ancestry.com

Sho-Biz (New Orleans)

Sho-Biz in New Orleans

The Sho-Biz Corporation and record label was based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Operated by local DJ Jim Stewart, Sho-Biz released a string of 45rpm singles between 1959 and 1966. Stewart was working on WWOZ and WNOE during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He is best remembered today for interviewing Elvis Presley on July 10, 1956, while Elvis stopped in New Orleans. The interview was re-released three times in the 2000s.

James Orton "Jim" Stewart, Jr., was born on November 11, 1925, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Following high school, he joined the US Navy in 1944, serving in the South Pacific. Upon his discharge, he enrolled at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and later at North Texas State University in Denton. Receiving a bachelor's degree, he taught in a New Orleans school but headed to Oklahoma, where he had accepted a position at Lake Murray Lodge. While there, he met his future wife and they married in 1954. It was around this time he became involved in radio and worked for WBYE.

Louisiana Weekly, March 11, 1961
Stewart's "Big Show of '61",
incl. Sho-Biz artist Bobby Mitchell

Following his return to New Orleans, he started working with WNOE in 1956 and by the end of the decade, had become the station's program director. His on-air personality soon made him a broadcasting legend due to his unusual style of announcing and hosting a show. One might say, show business was his passion. Accordingly, he started the Sho-Biz Corporation (sometimes also called Sho-Biz Productions) and his record label Sho-Biz. The first record release was produced with a local band, Allen Collay and the Satellites, and their single "Last Chance" b/w "Little Girl Next Door" (Sho-Biz #1002) was released in late 1959. A huge hit in New Orleans, the disc was picked up by Bill Lowery's National Recording Corporation (NRC) for distribution and finally reached #82 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The success of the Collay single promted Stewart to sign more artists, including veteran New Orleans R&B singer Bobby Mitchell. Stewart managed to continue the deal with NRC and the next Sho-Biz releases until 1960 saw national distribution by NRC as well. However, chart success eluded all subsequent releases. After release #1006 from 1960, the label fell dormant for some years. Stewart reactivated Sho-Biz in 1964 with a new numerical series, beginning with Joe Barry's "Can't Do Without You" b/w "Can't Live With You" (Sho-Biz #2001). He operated the label until 1966 or later, producing a few more releases.

Stewart took over Ched's Club on Canal Street for a while in the late 1960s, renaming it "Jamie's", where a lot of well-known acts performed, including Eric Burdon & the Animals. He remained a popular DJ on WNOE well into the 1970s. In 1986, he and his wife moved to Oklahoma City and retired to Houston two years later. Jim Stewart died on September 13, 2023, in Houston at the age of 97 years.

Sources

• Discogs

• 45cat entry

• Jim Stewart obituary

• 1972 aircheck of Jim Stewart WNOE show

• Bob Walker's New Orleans Radio Gold Facebook group

• http://www.neworleansradioshrine.com/email_12.html

• Tony Rounce: "Tommy Ridgley & Bobby Mitchell - In the Same Old Way: The Complete Ric, Ron and Sho-Biz Recordings" (Ace Records), liner notes, 2015

Adron Jumper on Landmark

Adron Jumper - I'd Hate to Be the Man (Landmark 45-102), 1962

Country, gospel, and rockabilly singer Adron Jumper is one of the great unknowns in rockabilly music. He orbited around Memphis for some time and worked with Eddie Bond a few years but he never broke out of the local scene.

Adron Claude Jumper was born on September 7, 1939, just east of Forrest City, Arkansas, in a little town called Palestine. His parents, Homer Dixon Jumper and Christine Grace Dover, had married a year earlier and he was the oldest of six children. Mother Christine was active as a minister in the local Twin Assembly of God Church and she passed on her faith to her children.

Adron Jumper

By the late 1950s, Jumper was active in Memphis, where he met Delores Chipman and married her in 1959. He was a salesman by day but performed music as a sideline. In the early 1960s, he performed frequently at Eddie Bond's Ranch and took also part in his touring shows sometimes. Possibly his first record was on the local Forrest City based Landmark label featuring two gospel songs, "Not a Landmark Left Behind" and "I'd Hate to Be the Man".

His best known disc came out on the vanity Forrest label (possibly his own) featuring "Crawdad Song" and "You Know That I Know". The songs were recorded in 1965 at Roland Janes' Sonic studio with his relatives Kevin and Gene Jumper in the backing band. "Crawdad Song", a reworking of the folk standard "Crawdad Hole", is Jumper's "claim to fame", as its rock'n'roll sound qualified it for release on two Buffalo Bop compilations in the 1980s and 1990s.

He then recorded for Eddie Bond's Stomper Time and G-Zackie labels in 1963, for Shack in 1967, and for another Forrest City label, Twin. Jumper lived all of his life in Palestine and, like his mother, was active in the Twin Assembly of God Church there. Tragic struck in 1966, when his infant daughter Andrea died.

Adron Jumper died on May 25, 2000, at the age of 60 years and is buried at Bell Cemetery in Palestine. A year later, Dave Travis released two of Jumper's Stomper Time recordings on a compilation CD.

Discography

Landmark 101/2: Adron Jumper - Not a Landmark Left Behind / I'd Hate to Be the Man (1962)
G-Zackie GZ-3565: Adron Jumper - The Joker /  Sammy Ardell - If I See You Tomorrow (1963)
Stomper Time ST-101: Adron Jumper - Just a Waste of Time / Someday I Will (1963)
Forrest 101: Adron Jumper & the Wheels - Crawdad Song / You Know That I Know (1965)
Shack 45-201: Adron Jumper - Who Am I / Satisfied / Remind Me Dear Lord / One Day Nearer Home (1967)
Twin TR103: Adron Jumper - The Suns Coming Up in  the Morning / He's Coming Closer Now Than It Has Ever Been

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Gospel Jubilee entry

Rockin' in Akron, Ohio

Skyline of Akron, Ohio, looking from the viaduct
Ca. 1960s-1970s

Rockin' in Akron, Ohio

Rock'n'Roll in Rubber City

Long before the Cramps or the Black Keys came into existence, the city of Akron, Ohio, was home to rock'n'roll music already in the 1950s and 1960s. In the summer of 2025, after visiting a concert of the Akron based band Black Keys, whose fusion of blues rock, lo-fi, garage and indie rock I truly adore, I wondered what Akron sounded like in the 1950s. This is the result of my research.

Located in the north of Ohio about 40 miles south of Cleveland and Lake Erie, the city has long been associated with the rubber industry. Once nicknamed the "rubber capital of the world", Akron already profited from this economical boost in the 1930s. Thus, a lot of work could be found in the city and a large part of the city's inhabitants came from other places. Following World War II, a lively club scene developed and southern immigrants searched for entertainment in those venues. Naturally, country music became part of it. 

Bobby Rutledge and his band, the Cimarrons, playing a date
in the 1950s at unknown location

One of the earliest country music performers on the scene was "Fiddlin'" Bobby Rutledge, who was active for several decades. He and his band played clubs around town and was also heard on radio. They also incorporated polkas in order to serve Middle European immigrants' tastes. By the mid 1950s, a new sound was coming and Rutledge did two up-tempo country numbers on record in 1956: "Southern Fried Chicken" and "Waitin' in Line". With a thumping bass, these songs foreshadowed the rockabilly sound that was already coming out of the south and was soon to reach Northeast Ohio as well. A year later, Rutledge went straight over to rockabilly with "Go Fatso Go" and "Borrowed Love". Especially the former became a minor classic. All of those recordings were made for the local Zipp record label, which was owned by Cliff Rodgers, who had a band as well and often performed with Rutledge.

News Journal July 23, 1960

Rutledge's recordings were the first in Akron to feature the new rock'n'roll sound. Though most of the recordings were done in the 1960s, probably several bands were playing rock'n'roll in the city's clubs by the late 1950s. One of these combos were the Jive Kings, who laid down a great double sider in 1959, "Preacher Man" b/w "Johnny Machine" on the LU label. Vocalist for the band was Billy Smith. They had another record out on White Star from nearby Hudson, Ohio, featuring a remake of "Johnny Machine" backed with "A Young Heart", which was released in 1960. The Jive Kings were the house band of the Catalina Club in Mansfield, about 60 miles southwest of Akron.

Radio WAKR produced a rock'n'roll record on Wes Hopkins and Jack Ryan in 1962, the "WAKR Twist", which saw release on the parent company's (Summit Radio Corp.) local WACKER label. Harvey Russell's Janie Records had the Pacers (not to be confused with Sonny Burgess & the Pacers) and the Decades recording some rock'n'roll for the label in 1964.

Local singer Bobby Boyle also recorded for that label the same year, although his cuts were country music. Boyle had also made several recordings for the Brite Star/Roy label group from Newbury, Ohio, and by 1965 he recorded for Alpine Records, a label based in Akron and Cleveland at various times. He and his band, the Revenuers, cut "I Couldn't Care Any Less" and "Bartender" with Tom Conley in 1965. The Alpine label also released "Louisville at Night" b/w "The Story of My Love" by local teen pop singer Andy Lauren.

By the mid 1960s, the rock'n'roll craze was over and the British invasion now shaped the teenager's music tastes. People like Bobby Rutledge stuck with country music, while others turned to more modern sounds like Andy Lauren. Akron housed a numerous other record labels over the years, producing garage rock, soul, funk, gospel, and country music well into the 1970s.

Sources:

• Rockin' Country Style entries

• Ohio Valley 45s entries

• Bobby Rutledge (Buckeye Beat)

• Label entries for Zipp, Alpine, and Jive Kings on 45cat

• Akron, Ohio, Wikipedia entry