Leon Fulgham's band, the Dealers, was founded in the late 1970s. Fulgham was a native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and came from a large family. He worked as a used car dealer and operated Fulgham Used Car Center in Fort Smith. He played music with friends for years until he put together his own band, the Dealers. He was also known as the "Singing Car Dealer".
The band consisted of Fulgham on rhythm guitar, bass, and lead vocals, Harold Van on steel guitar, Louis Lyles on vocals, lead guitar and fiddle, Ramona Lyles on bass, piano, and vocals, and Billy Wise on drums. Occasionally, Fulgham's wife Maxine appeared with the band on vocals. All of the members were said to hail from the Fort Smith area.
 |
| Leon Fulgham and the Dealers, 1979 (taken from the band's LP "First Time Around") |
In 1979, Fulgham and the Dealers went into Ben Jack's recording studio in Fort Smith to cut eleven songs. They probably performed those songs frequently at their shows and included a good cover of Jimmie Martin's bluegrass tune "Free Born Man", the bluesy "Poor Boy", or "The Devil and the Cowboy". All eleven songs were issued on the Bejay LP "First Time Around" and those last two songs, which were Fulgham's own compositions, were also released on a 45rpm disc by Bejay the same year.
Although many of his siblings already passed away, it seems that Leon Fulgham is still alive. His used car dealership has been closed down, as far as I can tell.
If somebody has more information on Leon Fulgham, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail through the formula at the top right of this website.
See also
• Ben Jack on Bejay
• Bobby Whittaker on Bejay
• Red Yeager on Bejay
• David & Darlene Robinson on Bejay
Sources
• Discogs
• 45cat entry
• Jimmy Fulgham Find a Grave entry
No comments:
Post a Comment