Tony Wayne's name is mostly associated with rockabilly singer Alvis Wayne, who coincidentally shared half of the same stage name. From today's point of view, Tony Wayne stands in the shadow of Alvis Wayne, who in turn is often overlooked due to other bigger names in Texas rockabilly music. Tony Wayne was a local Texas based country music band leader, who mentored the young, aspiring Alvis Wayne for some time in the 1950s. In contrast to his protégé, Tony Wayne sunk into oblivion after the 1950s.
He was born Anthony Wayne Guion on January 1, 1924, in Rule, Texas, a small town located in the northern part of the state. By the age of twelve, Guion had taken up the guitar and modeled his style after the great Jimmie Rodgers, who had died just a few years earlier. He finished school in 1940 and became a National Guardsman afterwards, followed by a stint in the US Army. However, he was discharged from the service due to troubles with his ears. Upon leaving the military, he started a career in law enforcement and worked as a deputy sheriff nad as chief of police, among other occupations.
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| Tony Wayne (Westport promotional photo), 1956 |
However, music had always been on his mind. By the 1950s, Guion had made the move to Corpus Christi in South Texas. By 1955, he had taken up music on a professional base and founded a country music band, the "Rhythm Wranglers." He adopted the name "Tony Wayne" for performing purposes. In early 1956, he made connections with a 13 years younger singer named Wayne Samford, who was playing also bars around town. Guion had greater plans to go out on the road and invited Samford, who would change his name to Alvis Wayne eventually, to join the Rhythm Wranglers. Alvis Wayne, interviewed by John Kennedy in the early 2000s, remembered: "My mom and dad were not very happy about me going out on the road, but I had an opportunity to do so with a band, which was the only thing I ever wanted to do. As I said they weren't very happy about it at all and we talked about it for several days but I just had to go and they eventually went along with it all and didn't hold me back."
But life on the road wasn't as successful as they had imagined. The band played in a couple of spots that Guion had booked previously, though their commodations were far from being luxurious. In addition, payment was low and after some time, the band decided to quit touring and returned to Corpus Christi. Upon their return, Alvis Wayne left the Rhythm Wranglers and joined Al Hardy's Southernaires. Though, he stayed in contact with Guion.
By summer 1956, Guion had connected with Dave Ruf in Kansas City, Missouri, who owned a little record label called Westport Records there with his brother. The label had been originally started in 1955 as an outlet to release their children's music, known as the Westport Kids. However, the label developed into an outlet to release local talent. Alvis Wayne recollected: "Tony got, I don't know how, but he got in touch with them and he came up to me and said 'Hey I got us a recording contract with Westport Records in Kansas City, Missouri, and they want some rock'n'roll records. He said I got five songs already written for you and all you gotta do is go in there and sing. As far as I know Tony never sung or performed those songs on stage, he wrote them just for me. I had to sit down and drum them into my brain and learn them. I think it was probably Tony who suggested that I change my name from Wayne Samford to Alvis Wayne because he said Elvis has already got this thing going and your name is Alvis and all that. I said OK whatever, you know more about this than I do so let's go for it."
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| Alvis Wayne, ca. 1956-1958 |
Dave Ruf released "Swing Bop Boogie" b/w "Sleep Rock-a-Roll Rock-a-Baby," both composed by Guion, on Westport 132 around September 1956, credited to "Alvis Wayne / Accompaniment by Tony Wayne and his Rhythm Wranglers." However, Alvis Wayne had recorded the songs in July 1956 in a little local backyard studio with a totally different band, namely Al Hardy's.
The name mentioning on the label was possibly due to some contractual agreements that Guion had signed with Ruf or he simply masqueraded the band on the record as the Rhythm Wranglers when he sent the tapes off to Kansas City. Guion also had a release on his own on Westport, "Many Ways" b/w "Together Forever" (Westport 134), released at some point between September and November 1956. It were two straight country music performances as Guion likely never performed any rock'n'roll. Substantial recording date and location info on this release has been lost over the decades, unfortunately.
Alvis Wayne had another two records on Westport and although he didn't perform with Guion's Rhythm Wranglers anymore, they remained in contact and it was Guion who organized the last Westport session in 1958 in Houston: "[...] Tony had phoned over to Houston and arranged a recording session. James Bacon had written 'Lay Your Head On My Shoulder', offered it to me and said he would back me up on the record and that's what he did," Alvis Wayne recalled. The song came out in September 1958 but was not a hit, although Wayne's previous disc, another Guion song entitled "Don't Mean Maybe Baby," had proofed to be a strong seller in South Texas a year earlier. It even sold so good that it saw release in the summer of 1958 in Australia on the Bell label, wrongly issued under the name "Tony Wayne." Desillusioned with the music business, Alvis Wayne left the music business and in 1960, entered the US Air Force. By then, he had lost contact with Guion.
It is likely that Guion continued to perform around Corpus Christi with his band, as he had done the previous years, although no such activies are documented for the 1960s. In 1970, he cut a single at Cutler's studio in Corpus Christie, "An Angel Next Door" b/w "Our Dog Named Charlie," which was released on the local Billdale label in 1970. This is the last hint we find on Guion.
Tony Wayne Guion died on December 12, 1997, at the age of 73 years and is buried at Palms Memorial Garden in Portland, Texas. His personal life is even more hazy than his musical career: a 1956 Westport promotional text stated, Guion was living with his 74 years old mother in Corpus Christi but a 1954 newspaper snippet found in the Corpus Christi Times suggests that he was already married and gave birth to a daughter in April that year. Guion was definitely married to Helen Georgia at the time of his passing.
Guion's fellow musician Alvis Wayne enjoyed some popularity during the Rockabilly Revival and played several gigs in Europe and the US from the late 1990s onwards as well as recorded two albums. He died in 2013.
Discography
Westport
134: Tony Wayne - Many Ways / Together Forever (1956)
Billdale
BD-1007: Tony Wayne - An Angel Next Door / Our Dog Named Charlie (1970)
Sources
• Tony Wayne 45cat entry
• Tony Wayne Find a Grave entry
• Alvis Wayne Rockin' Country Style entry
• Alvis Wayne biography/interview by John Kennedy (Rockabilly Hall of Fame)
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