Log Cabin Stories: Roy Sneed on Valley

Roy Sneed - I'll Be So Blue Tomorrow (Valley V-111), 1954

Today, we feature a lesser known artist that had a couple of records out in the 1950s. He was active out of Knoxville, Tennessee, and his name was Roy Sneed. I was familiar with his name for a couple of years but have not researched his story until recently while working on my Vaden Records cover story for American Music Magazine.

Roy Lee Sneed was born August 1, 1924, in Mendocino County, California, to Roy Robert and Marie Sneed. Although he was born in California, his family hailed from Tennessee and Sneed's acestors lived there from the 1820s onwards. By 1945, Roy Sneed had returned to the Sneeds' home state in Meigs County, Tennessee, where he married Ruth Fern Bolen on February 4 that year.

Sneed's musical career likely began in the late 1940s, when he became a member of William Moore's Country Cousins around 1949. Moore, who recorded for Acme and 4 Star during the years 1949-1950, also saw two of his original Acme recordings released on Arlen Vaden's Vaden record label out of Trumann, Arkansas. While researching a little on Moore, I spotted the connection with Roy Sneed.

With the Country Cousins, Sneed made his debut on record. He wrote a couple of songs for the band, namely "My Heart is Filled with Tears" and "Come Along to Tennessee," which he co-authored with William Moore and took over the vocals on the band's recording for Acme in 1949 or 1950. The outfit also recorded a single for Dot in 1950, on which Sneed appeared with "Chattanooga Stomp." By 1950, Sneed was also working regularly on WROL in Knoxville, Tennessee, and became a member of the Playhouse Gang, the house band for Archie Campbell's TV Show "Country Playhouse."

In 1951, Sneed made connections with the Chicago based blues label Job Records and had his first solo disc out. "Don't Make Me Go to Bed (and I'll Be Good)" b/w "Too Young for Love" was one of the label's earliest releases and one of the few country 45s turned out by the company. However, Sneed still made Knoxville - or, more precisely, Decatur - his homebase and a year afterwards, joined another Knoxville act, Bill Carlisle's new band: the Carlisles. Sneed played guitar and sang bass with the group that recorded for Mecury and started making hits with such country bop recordings as "No Help Wanted," "Knot Hole" and "Is Zat You, Myrtle?". 1953 saw Sneed joining WNOX and he became a regular on different programs of the station. He became part of the popular Tennessee Barn Dance, a live stage show out of Knoxville, as well as the Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round.

Cash Box February 6, 1954

Sneed's next recording came in 1954, when he recorded for local Knoxville label Valley Records, owned by Jack Comer and Dave Garrison. The label had earlier releases with hot country boogie discs by Reece Shipley, for example. Sneed's "Turn Around Boy" b/w "I'll Be So Blue Tomorrow" was released on January 20, 1954, and soon proofed to be a top seller for the label. Cash Box spotlighted Sneed in early February and a deal was arranged, which made the songs also available through the London label in Great Britain, issued in May. Sneed also made guest appearances on two of the country's leading country music shows, the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride.

To Sneed's disadvantge, the Valley label became dormant afterwards, so a follow-up to his promising single never materialised. Sneed would not record again until 1956, when two discs appeared on the Scenic label, a small scale custom imprint manufactured by 4 Star Records. They likely saw only little distribution and brought Sneed no success. It would take another two years before Sneed had a new release out, this time again on the reactived Valley label, "That Same Old Dream (About You)" b/w "Maverick." The latter is often described as rockabilly, although it is rather a country-pop styled number.

Likely in 1965, Sneed had another record out on the Miami Beach, Florida, based Alta label. How Sneed ended up on this far away located company is another riddle to solve. He had two more records on Hala (1967) and Potts (1968), before he would turn out what would be his final record, a live album entitled "Roy Sneed and the Western Gentlemen" in 1971 on the Custom Fidelity label.

In later years, Sneed moved to Merritt Island, Florida, where he passed away on June 6, 2005, at the age of 80 years. He was buried at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church Cemetery in Meigs County, Tennessee.

If somebody out there has more info on Roy Sneed, William Moore's Country Cousins or any another act mentioned here, please feel free to send me a message.

Additional sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Hillbilly-Music.com entry
• WikiTree entry
• Charles K. Wolfe - Classic Country: Legends of Country Music (2002), Routledge