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

The Sabers

The Fabulous Sabers

"For Your Dancing Pleasure"

The Sabers, sometimes also known as "The Fabulous Sabers", was a Northeast Arkansas based rock'n'roll band. They are predominantly known for recording with Sonny Deckelman but also had records out in their own right. The Sabers were rock'n'rollers of second generation: born in the 1940s, they grew up to hearing the music of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and locals like Sonny Burgess and Billy Lee Riley in their formative years, and didn't begin performing until the early 1960s.

The Sabers originally consisted of Kenny Trigg on vocals and saxophone, Don Trigg on lead guitar, Bob McPherson on bass, and Gary Lynn Creason on drums. Eventually, the group also included such musicians as Dub Phelps on bass, Jim Murray on drums as well as Noel Key and Dennis Morgan, although it is unclear which instrument they performed. Creason was the older brother of Sammy Creason, who also became a drummer and later found fame as a studio musician himself. The members came from the Jonesboro region - McPherson hailed from Bay but lived in Trumann most of his life and Creason was born in Jonesboro.

The Jonesboro Sun, September 21, 1970

The Sabers came to the attention of local country and rockabilly singer Sonny Deckelman, who had founded his own record label Van-Deck Records in Harrisburg in 1959. The Sabers recorded their debut release for his label the next year, coupling "Streets of Laredo", a band original, with "Walk Softly" (Van-Deck #114). There was a Memphis based group who recorded for Co & Wi and RCT in the 1960s called "Le Sabres", which was a different group altogether. However, the Sabers also recorded in Memphis in 1965 at Slim Wallace's Fernwood studio. The results, "I'll Fly High" and "Oh What'd I Do", were released on the Silver-Dollar label from Memphis.

The second half of the decade saw the Sabers working with Sonny Deckelman, backing him up on his own recordings as well as on productions by other Van-Deck artists (including Chuck Bell, Bill Urfer, and Paul Ellzey). They also appeared frequently with Bobby Lee Trammell and as a solo act at such venues as the Cotton Club (Trumann), the C&R Club (Trumann), the P&L Club (Paragould), and Benny's Club (Paragould). They also performed at fairs and other events. In 1972, the band had another record out on the Jonesboro based WHAM label, which was credited to the band's drummer at the time, Jim Murray, who had joined in 1964.

The Sabers continued to perform locally into the 1980s. Drummer Gary Creason died in 2001 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Bob McPherson in 2025 in Jonesboro. Jim Murray still resides in Jonesboro and the Trigg brothers seem to be still around, too. A couple of their recordings have been reissued, including "I'll Fly High" on the 2011 "Lost Souls, Vol. 3" compilation.

Discography

Van-Deck 114: Sabers - Streets of Laredo / Walk Softly (1960)
Silver-Dollar 1003: Sabers - I'll Fly High / Oh What'd I Do (1965)
Van-Deck 119: Paul Ellzey / Music by the Sabers - How's the World Treating You / There Stands the Glass (1968)
Van-Deck 120: Chuck Bell / Music by the Sabers - High as a Mountain / Oh What a Feeling (1968)
Van-Deck 122: Sonny Deckelman / Music by the Sabers - Lonely Weekends / I'll Be Alright (1968)
WHAM WRS-1967: Jim Murray - Longhair / Wipeout - 72 (1972)

See also
• Jim Murray on WHAM!

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Gary Creason Find a Grave Entry

• Bob McPherson Find a Grave Entry

• Discogs

• Rock'n'Roll Schallplatten Forum (German)

Charley Maybee on Rimrock

Charley Maybee - It's Lonely Out Tonight (Rimrock 208), 1966)
In a time when it seems all of the great rockabilly recordings have been discovered, the "country hick" sound is getting more prominent as the next big thing. A music field that has not been explored by thousands of collectors and researchers with lots of great unknown and undiscovered records. Charley Maybee probably belongs into this field, his "Little Judy" became one of those "country hicks" favorites.

Charles Edward "Charley" Maybee was born on August 23, 1941, in Alpena, Boone and Carroll Counties, Arkansas, to Garvin E. and Amie Pearl Sneed Maybee. Maybee had an older brother, J.R., and a sister, Lucille. He grew up in Alpena, a small town of 300 people near Harrison. 

As a young man, Maybee worked as a pipeliner and as a traveling furniture installer, mostly furnishing  churches for Turney Wood Products of Harrison. He was also a talented musician and had his own band for many years. He cut a few unreleased songs, including covers of "Night Train to Memphis" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", and recorded in the 1960s for Wayne Raney's Rimrock Records out of Concord, Arkansas.

His debut "Little Judy" b/w "I'm Writting You a Letter" (Rimrock #202) was released in 1966 as one of the label's earliest discs and became a favorite with European rockabilly collectors since the late 1990s. Maybee had a second release on Rimrock from the same year, "It's Lonely Out Tonight" b/w "I'm Putting the Collar on You" (#208). With his band, he traveled the country and played shows with many different artists.

Maybee married Barbara Auman in 1971 and the couple gave birth to a son, Kavan Brooks. This ended his traveling days and he concentrated in building his businesses. He had a full-service gas station in Alpena, purchased the Snack Shack, then operated the first supermarket in Alpena and finally ran Maybee Family Corp., a road construction business. After 20 years, he called it a day and retired to simple farming life. 

Charley Maybee passed away on January 18, 2022, at the age of 80 years in Alpena, where he is also buried. 

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• 45cat entry

Vernon Stewart

The Vernon Stewart Story

Vernon Howard Stewart was born on March 31, 1927, to John O. and Mabel Stewart. For a while, the family lived in Pottawatomie, Oklahoma, but by the advent of the 1940s, had returned to Yell County, Arkansas. Stewart served his country during World War II in the US Army as a technician. He had married by 1950 and lived with his first wife, his son, and his daughter in adjacent Pope County. He later married Betty Abernathy.

Vernon Stewart, late 1950s

Musically inclined, Stewart started out as a singer and musician around 1949, performing in and around Russellville, Arkansas. He became a DJ on KXRJ in 1956 and by 1958, was associated with the likes of Carl Blankenship and "Little" George Domerese, two popular performers in the areas around Russellville, Clarksville, and Fort Smith. Blankenship had recently started his own label, Razorback Records in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Stewart got the chance for a release. "I'm Tired of Making Believe" b/w "I'll Still Love You" (Razorback #102), both his own compositions, were two country performances that appeared around May-June 1958.

Like Blankenship and Domerese did, Stewart organized a new country stage show in Dardanelle, Arkansas, which started around March 1959. The same year, he and his band, the Skyliners, started recording for the Illinois based Blue J record label, which resulted in two singles in 1959. Stewart followed up with two more singles for Peach Records from Georgia. His Peach recordings included a remake of "I'm Tired of Making Believe" (1960) and "Mean Mean Baby" (1961); the latter was included on a few rockabilly compilations. 

He transferred from Peach to the Nashville based Chart imprint in 1962 and it was this recording deal that bestowed him with his first and only hit record. "The Way It Feels to Die" reached #17 in Billboard's Hot Country Singles in February 1963 and was picked up by Vee-Jay in March. Another record appeared in September on Vee-Jay, which could not repeat the success of its precursor. 

Stewart kept working for KXJR through 1963 and became a member of the Country Music Association a year later. However, he took a long break from recording and apparently, rather set his mind on producing records. As far as I'm concerned, Stewart got involved in a local record company from his home Yell County in Arkansas, the Tagg label. The company had several releases in 1964 and 1965 but folded afterwards. He had another shot at the record market with a single on Rimrock in 1966.

Stewart cut a single for his own Vernon label in 1974, which seems to be his last record issued. Vernon Stewart died on September 23, 1981, at age 54. He is buried at Rest Haven Memorial Park in Russellville.

Discography

Razorback 45-102: I'm Tired of Making Believe / I'll Still Love You (1958)
Blu-J BJ-303: Stay In My Arms As You Stay In My Heart / Once to Many Times (1959)
Blu-J BJ-304: Christmas Tree in Heaven / Down to the Blues (1959)
Peach 740: I'm Tired of Making Believe / I'll Still Love You (1960)
Peach 751: Mean Mean Baby / Heal This Old Heart (1961)
Chart Y-501: The Way It Feels to Die / You're Not All Here (1962)
Vee Jay VJ 488: The Way It Feels to Die / You're Not All Here (1963)
Vee Jay VJ 559: Tarnished Angel / Up on the Hill (at the Big Mans House) (1963)
Rimrock 214: Wondering If I Should Call You / If Someone (Don't Get in the Way) (1966)
Vernon LH 12741/2: Even Our Little Girl Knows / You Found Someone Else to Love (1974)

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• Rockin' Country Style

• Rocky-52.net page

• Discogs

• Official census records access through Ancestry.com

Homer Monroe on Silvia

Homer Monroe and the Country Drifters - It's Many a Mile from Me to Yoou (Silvia 1161), 1966
Homer Nathaniel Monroe was born to Odis C. and Lona Mae Monroe in 1925. The family hailed from DeKalb County, northeastern Alabama, and Monroe grew up in different towns of that county. By 1935, the family was living in Rural, five years later the family had moved to Blue Pond. Monroe had a total of four siblings. He served during Word War II and by 1950, was married and had a son. However, the marriage with his first wife Betty did not last long and he eventually married Lois E. Shelton.

Fort Payne Journal May 13, 1958

In the 1950s, Monroe went into partnership with Herbert C. Mitchell and operated the DeSoto Theatre in Valley Head, Alabama. The DeSoto had been opened in 1941 as a movie theatre. However, Monroe and Mitchell went separate ways in 1958 and Monroe went on to operate it on his own (which probably did not last very long, unfortunately).

Monroe was also a local singer, musician, and was adept at songwriting, too. He had his debut record out on the Spann label from nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1960. This single featured "Headin' On Down the Line" and "Tell Me" (Spann #1764). The top side was a light-hearted country mover, while the flip side contained a slow, pop influenced ballad. It wasn't until 1966 that he recorded again, this time for his own Silvia label that was manufactured through Starday's custom pressing division. The songs were "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" and "It's Many a Mile from Me to You" (#1161). It was the latter that was discovered by European rockabilly collectors and saw reissue on the CDs "Rock-a-Billy Party" (Buffalo Bop Records, 1997) and "Rock & Roll with Piano, Vol. 3" (Collector Records, 1998). 

Monroe's band, variously called the "Country Drifters" or the "Sylvia Boys", were a popular act in the area, performing for large crowds during the late 1960s. They were the host of the "Section Talent Show", a regular competition that once featured a band called "Young Country", which won first prize and later became the hit-making group "Alabama". In fact, Alabama's Jeff Cook played with Monroe's band 1967 before he joined "Young Country" in 1969. Cook was replaced by Wonnie C. Johnson.

Monroe spent his whole life in DeKalb County and he passed away in Rainsville on October 18, 2018, at age 92. He is buried at Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery in Sylvania.

Discography
Span SPA-1764: Headin' On Down the Line / Tell Me (1960)
Silvia 1161: Don't Tell Me You Love Me (Unless You Do) / It's Many a Mile from Me to You (1966)

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• 45cat

• Official census records accessed through Ancestry.com

• DeSoto Theatre on cinematreasures.com

Jemm Records

The Jemm record label from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, was a small imprint operated by brothers Marlin (1926-2001) and James L. "Jim" Eubanks (1930-1988). Their father Albert McKinley Eubanks had been born in Madison County in the northwestern corner of Arkansas and apparently spent his life in the Arkansas-Oklahoma border region. At least three sons were born in Oklahoma: Everett McKinley in 1923 in Stilwell, Marlin 1926 in Rose, and Jim in 1930. There was also a fourth son, Robert.

During World War II, Marlin served in the US Navy and Jim in the US Army after the war. It was Jim who became involved in radio business, becoming an announcer in different states. He also worked for XEG in Monterrey, Mexico, and XERF in Del Rio, Texas. By the late 1950s, both brothers lived around Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

There, they met Montie Jones, a country & western singer who had started his career as a kid. By 1957, he was a DJ on the local Siloam Springs station KUOA and about two years later, Jones and the Eubanks brothers started their association. It seems that they set up the label primarily for Jones, who had not only the debut release ("The Girl with the Poney Tail" / "Your Just That Kind", Jemm #100) in early 1960 but also had a total of three releases on Jemm.

However, the brothers also recorded one record in their own right for the label (#104) and possibly had other discs issued as well. However, Jemm Records was a rather short-lived operation and had ceased activity by 1961. Jim Eubanks later owned Arkoma Music Pub. and a label called Big Sound. he was also a BMI and CMA member. Jim Eubanks passed away in 1988 in nearby Watts, Oklahoma, and Marlin died in 2001 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

If someone knows of more releases on the label, please feel free to share them with me!

Discography

100: Little Montie Jones - The Girl with the Poney Tail / Your Just That Kind (1960)
101: Montie Jones and the Revin Robbin's - Moonshine / Mary Sue (1960)
102:
103:
104: Marlin and Jim - Slipping Away / I've Lived a Lot Within My Time
105:
106:
107: Montie Jones - Walking Around in Circles / Black Cat's Chasin' Me (1961)

Sources

• Jim Eubanks and Marlin Eubanks Find a Grave entries
• Montie Jones Rockin' Country Style entry
• 45cat entry

Johnny Rion on Open Road

Johnny & Ann Rion - Sweat On My Brow (Open Road 17770), 1972

I haven't been familiar with Johnny Rion at all until I purchased this record. I was surprised to see that he had a long and rather successful career in country music, though it was mostly limited to the states of Missouri and Illinois.

Johnny Rion was born on May 20, 1916, in Farmington, Missouri. One of his early influences was Jimmie Rodgers and at the age of 12 years, he bought himself a guitar and learned to play it. Soon, he was appearing at school houses, dances, and other venues. One of his earlier engagements were at KFVS in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1937. Rion also began writing songs which he send to KMOX in St. Louis, hoping to get them performed by the station's radio stars. Later, he could be heard over this station as well and appeared on many of the station's shows, including Pappy Cheshire's National Champion Hillbillies and the Old Fashioned Barn Dance stage show. Rion's "Hit the Trail" became the show's theme song. 

He was also heard on St. Louis' KWK in the 1940s and began recording around 1948, releasing his first singles on the Local Artists label. Then, Rion signed a recording deal with King Records, having his first records issued by August 1949 on this imprint. However, his stint with King did not last long and from that point on, Rion recorded for a great variety of smaller and bigger labels, including Embassy, Coral, ABC-Paramount, Blue Ribbon, New Life, and Open Road. Some of those were his own companies.

Rion wrote songs for many of the better known names in country music, including Rex Allen, Ernest Tubb, the Wilburn Brothers, Benny Martin, Johnnie Lee Wills, Cal Shrum, Skeets Yaney, and others. By 1953, he was a popular disc jockey on KSTL in St. Louis and worked with the station until May 1964. In addition to his radio work and personal appearances, he also operated his own Johnny Rion Hillbilly Park in St. Louis and Illinois from 1950 to 1958. Rion was a local St. Louis country music institution in the 1940s and 1950s. When Elvis Presley came to town in 1955 as part of a Colonel Tom Parker package show, Rion promoted and emceed the show. Rion and his wife Ann soon became friends with the future king of rock'n'roll. They met him again in 1956 at another of his appearances in St. Louis and visited the Elvis Presley Day celebration in Tupelo.

Johnny Rion and his wife Ann with children Priscilla and Danny, 1950s

While he spent much of his earlier career west of the Mississippi River in Missouri, he moved his family to the Illinois side of the area following his departure from KSTL in 1964. He had become a faithful Christian in 1957 and started as a traveling reverend in the 1960s. Rion recorded several gospel albums during his later career. Today's selection comes from one of Rion's own labels, Open Road Records, from the year of 1972 when he was recording mostly sacred material. It features him and his wife Ann on "Sweat on My Brow" with its flip side, "A Faded Gardenia".

He and his wife had a "Cowboy Church Radio Program" on KFMO in Park Hills, Missouri, in the 1980s and 1990s. Johnny Rion passed away on December 31, 1996. Following his death, his wife and his son continued the Cowboy Church programs. Ann Rion passed away in 2006 in Illinois. The British Archive of Country Music has released a 25-track CD entitled "Sunny Tennessee" featuring many of Rion's works.

Recommended reading

• British Archive of Country Music

• Discogs

• SecondHandSongs

• Iron County, Missouri, Historical Society (material by Johnny Rion)

Sources

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Ann Rion obituary

• 45cat entry / 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Gospel Jubilee entry