Bob Pauley wrote - well, he rather played - rockabilly history when he performed lead guitar on Tommy Lam's "Speed Limit" for Indianapolis based Nabor Records. Not only the song but Pauley's guitar work is still cherished by fans around the world. "Great record, and I always loved the guitar breaks on it," says Detroit music expert Craig Maki and adds: "Bob Pauley was quite the take-off guitarist." Maki documented some rare information on Pauley in his book "Detroit Country Music". For a musician that turned out such wild licks on a late 50s rockabilly record, Pauley began his career well before rockabilly was even developing. He had spent many years on the road before finally settling in Indiana. This is the attempt to retrace Pauley's path in music.
Early Years
Harold Edward "Bob" Pauley was born on January 5, 1922, in West Virginia to Andrew and Ruth Pauley. By 1938 at age 16, Pauley had mastered the guitar and was part of Mel Steele's Oklahoma Ramblers. This band traveled across West Virginia and adjacent states, appearing on various radio stations, including WCHS in Charleston, WJLS in Beckley, WING in Dayton, Ohio, WMMN in Fairmont, WWVA in Wheeling, and even WOPI in Bristol, Tennessee. Pauley patterned his style after Harry C. Adams, guitarist with Eldon Baker and his Brown County Revelers, a popular act on powerful station WLW. The Oklahoma Ramblers played western swing influenced country music like Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats or, the idol of them all, Bob Wills.
Traveling with Casey Clark
While with the Ramblers, Pauley became acquainted with fiddler Casey Clark, who joined the group in 1938. Another young singer from West Virginia came to the group while they were working in Beckley. It was future star Little Jimmy Dickens, who joined the group at the recommendations of Clark and Pauley. "Bob Pauley was the guitar player, a big old husky guy, and Casey was a big guy, and I slept between 'em!" Dickens later remembered with a laugh.
The Oklahoma Ramblers disbanded in 1940 and both Clark and Pauley wound up in Indianapolis afterwards. Clark and Dickens performed on WIBC and its Hoosier Barn Dance by 1943. Pauley worked the same station, too, during those years, though we have no detailed documentation of Pauley's activities. By 1945, he had married Thelma E. Brooks, whose family had moved to Indiana in the 1930s. They would go on to have two sons and three daughters and made their home in Indianapolis, though Pauley worked as a musician in different places until the early 1950s.
In 1947, Pauley returned to work with Casey Clark in Saginaw, Michigan. There, Clark had assembled the first version of his Lazy Ranch Boys for the newly formed WKNX. Pauley was also working with Dickens' band, who was working on the station as well. Clark and Pauley would also work a comedy routine known as "Nat and Les". In 1948, Pauley was also part of the Lazy Ranch Boys' first recording session held at WKNX, which produced "Prisoner's Plea" b/w "Cigarettes, Whiskey, and Wild, Wild Women" for the PhonoCraft label. The latter, of course, was a cover of the Sons of the Pioneers song sung by Clark and Pauley as "Nat and Les, the Kentucky Boys".
The first edition of the Lazy Ranch Boys disbanded around September 1948, leaving Saginaw. After a short stint in Centralia, Illinois, Clark and Pauley resurfaced on WVLK in Lexington, Kentucky, where the Lazy Ranch Boys were reborn. This lasted until June 1950, when Clark and band mate "Brownie" Reynolds moved on to WRFD in Ohio and finally settled in Detroit, where they became local country stars. Pauley did not move with them and instead took a job with the Dixie Playboys on WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia. He briefly rejoined Clark in 1951 at WIMA in Lima, Ohio, but returned to Indianapolis afterwards.
Indianapolis Years
There, he formed the Plantation Playboys and played the night clubs and bars of the booming city. By then, Pauley's family already included three little children and he was probably searching for a more steady lifestyle and income.
His next recordings came not until 1958, when his brother-in-law Earl Brooks recorded his debut release. Brooks was a local country singer and had teamed up with guitarist Jerry Lee Williams and Stan Cox to try their luck in the record business, founding different record labels. From the session with Brooks, which took place probably in late summer or fall 1958, two of Brooks' own compositions were released on Nabor (one of the labels Williams, Cox, and Brooks had set up), "Open Up Your Heart" and "Restrained". These recordings featured a slight western swing feel, which is no surprise considering Pauley's background, and featured some jazzy lead guitar by him.
A little later, Pauley and the Plantation Playbos were called back into the studio to back up local rock'n'roll singer Tommy Lam on his debut. The results were "Speed Limit", which became a favorite years later among young rockabilly fans, and "A Teenage Birthday", released on Nabor in January 1959. In the wake of the recording, Lam probably also appeared with the Plantation Playboys at local night clubs and other venues.
The Plantation Playboys backed up Earl Brooks on two more Nabor country singles in the mid 1960s, though it's not known if Pauley was still part of the group as there is no mention of him on the records. He was also part of the Indianapolis Barn Dance show at one time but I could not determine any details. Pauley probably continued to perform locally but retired from music at some point and settled in Plainfield, an Indianapolis suburb where his wive's family was also living.
A few country songs written by a Bob Pauley were recorded by Nashville artists in the 1970s and 1980s, including "It's So Hard" (recorded by Jerry Naill for Americountry) as well as "Christmas Time in Heaven" and "Goldenrod" (both recorded by Jimmy Kish, the Flying Cowboy, for Pyramid), though I'm not sure if this is the same Bob Pauley.
Pauley died on July 26, 1997, at Community Hospital East in Indianapolis at the age of 75 years. He is buried at Maple Hill Cemetery in Plainfield. His wive Thelma died in 2003.
• Find a Grave entry
• Different 45cat entries
• Craig Maki, Keith Cady: "Detroit Country Music - Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies" (University of Michigan Press), 2013, pages 79-89
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