Log Cabin Stories: Joe Manuel

Joe Manuel

Not to be confused with the more famous cajun musician of the same name, Joe Manuel was a popular country music entertainer of the 1940s and 1950s in Memphis. He played an important role in giving young Memphis musicians a stage to present their talents - his Saturday Night Jamboree hosted a number of later rockabilly artists and in addition, his radio show was popular all over the mid-south in the 1950s.

Born Joseph Manuel to Thomas and Arrie Manuel on March 26, 1912, he was from Northwest Alabama like fellow Memphis country entertainer Gene Steele. Joe's father was born in Texas but lived in Alabama when he married Arrie Wilburn in 1913. When Arrie died in 1938, Thomas married Willie B. Waldrep. The Manuel family hailed from the small community of Town Creek, Alabama, but relocated to the Arkansas delta region when Joe was a small boy. They lived the hard life of sharecroppers and Manuel and his brothers were raised on farms in the Mississippi River regions. As a teenager, he left Arkansas and joined a carnival, where he met comedian Dave Perkins. Perkins took the youngster under his wing and mentored him how to entertain people.

Manuel then took up the guitar and singing, becoming an entertainer in his own right. By the early 1930s, he was back in Arkansas and began appearing on local radio stations. He had made the move to the region's metropolis, Memphis, by 1933 and began performing on WNBR, which eventually became WMPS after it was acquired by the Memphis Press-Scimitar. The station was an affiliate of the Blue Network (which evolved into ABC) and for a while in the 1930s, Manuel's radio shows were beamed over the network into several states.

By 1940, Manuel had married Elizabeth A. Van Hooser, with whom he had a daughter, Dotty. Manuel was married several times, a fact that he also incorporated into his songs (like "Alimony Blues"). In 1942, he was married to Margaret Mary "Elsie" Keywood, which gave birth to another daughter Sylvia.

Following World War II, Manuel worked a radio station in Dallas, Texas, for a short time but despite the good offer from the station, he returned to Memphis due to family responsibilities (which also included his son Larry by then). Upon his return to the city, he hooked up with WHBQ, which transferred his show to an early morning slot. As Manuel's show matched perfectly with many farmers' breakfast time in the surrounding Memphis areas, it became a huge success among the rural audiences. As WHBQ was a 5,000 watts station, Manuel was heard as far away as Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Kentucky.

In 1948, television reached Memphis but Manuel did not transfer to the new medium. His popularity ceased and his radio show came to an end in 1950. He stayed out of radio business for about two years but returned to the airwaves in 1952, then appearing on KWEM in West Memphis, where he started a daily broadcast. By then, an idea had grown on Manuel. He noticed the many young, talented singers in the city and wanted to create a possibility for them to present themselves. He introduced a live stage show patterned after the Grand Ole Opry, which he called the Saturday Night Jamboree. The show started in 1953 and took place at the Goodwyn Institute in Memphis. It quickly drew crowds and became successful enough that KWEM began airing the shows live. Apart from his own band (which also included his son Larry on accordion), acts like Johnny Cash, Eddie Bond, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Marcus Van Story and band, Charlie Feathers, and others who became known as rockabilly legends appeared on Manuel's stage.

Despite his popularity, Manuel made only few recordings and none of them were released in a commercial way. Probably in 1954, he and his band laid down a couple of recordings at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service. Some of them were jingles for bread companies and found release on 78rpm discs released by the Action Advertising Agency credited to "Dreamy Joe". Those included "Hardin's Bread Boogie" and "Holsum Boogie" and as the titles reveal, they were hot country boogie numbers. His "Holsum Boogie" became so popular with listeners in South Illinois that Manuel and his band were once invited by the Holsum Bread Company to perform in front of a 11,000 audience in Anna, Illinois.

Advertisement sign for Holsum Bread

It was especially lead guitarist Lee Adkins' playing that foreshadowed the rockabilly sounds, which would evolve about two years later in Memphis. There was a third boogie number called "Daisy Bread Boogie" as well as "Alimony Blues", a song written by Manuel already in the early 1940s with its lyrics bearing a lot of self-reference. It featured yodeling in the style of Jimmie Rodgers by Manuel and enjoyed great popularity among his radio and live audiences. Those two recordings were apparently not released at the time. Apart from Manuel on vocals and rhythm guitar and Adkins on electric lead guitar, the line-up also included Danny Chambers on bass.

The Saturday Night Jamboree ended in 1954 as the Goodwyn Institute's auditorium was closed down for remodeling and a year later, Manuel was sidelined by Sun Records' young rockabilly artists. He continued to broadcast on and off for KWEM but did not make recordings anymore. His son Larry recorded for Eddie Bond's Stomper Time label in 1959.

Joe Manuel died on July 16, 1959, at the age of 47 years from melanoma cancer. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Memphis. His daughter Sharon was born shortly after his passing.

Discography

Label No.#	Artist Credit	A / B side	Date
Action Prod. 101	Dreamy Joe	Holsum Boogie / You’ve Done Me Wrong
Action Prod. 101/2	Dreamy Joe	You’ve Done Me Wrong / Hardin’s Bread Boogie