Walter "Arkie" Bittle & the Flying Saucers
Arkansas Country Boys Went Rock'n'Roll in Indiana
Many Arkansans moved west in the 1930s and 1940s, many moved east to Memphis in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s but few musicians moved to the northern states during that period. Walter Bittle was one of them. He lived in Indiana in the 1950s, where he cut a rare and little known rockabilly gem, "Jitterbug Drag". Like so many fellow rockabillies, Bittle later abandoned secular music and turned to the gospel.
Walter Thomas "W.T." Bittle, also known as Arkie Bittle or Reverend Walter Bittle, was born on January 13, 1931, in Prim, Arkansas, a rural area north of Heber Springs near Greers Ferry Lake. His parents, H. Gordon and Blanche D. Bittle, also gave birth to two daughters Georgia and Wanda as well as another son in 1935, Bittle's brother Loy Emery. At that time, the family was residing in an isolated place called Woodrow down the road from Prim.
Life was hard in the 1930s for rural Arkansans and Bittle worked on the farm and in the timber industry very early on. However, music was his passion and he learned to play guitar as a child. Bittle enjoyed playing and singing with family and friends; country and gospel music were likely his main influences. At age 17, he and his brother-in-law Wayne Harlan took part in a talent contest in Heber Springs and won.
By the advent of the 1950s, Walter and Loy Bittle were working with guitarist Glynn Hipp, who was also born in Woodrow but already in 1927, and played clubs along Highway 67, today known as the Rock and Roll Highway. They performed at such venues as the Oasis and the Wagon Wheel. Bittle joined the US Marine Corps in 1952 and served his country during the Korean War. Upon his discharge around 1954, Bittle took up music again with brother Loy and Hipp. They moved north to the Marion, Indiana, area, possibly in search of better working and living conditions than what they were used to in the rural South. On the personal side, he married Esther Shook in October 1954 in Marion.
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| Billboard September 17, 1955 |
Although they had started as a country music trio, Rock'n'Roll was the thing by then and naturally, the trio began performing in that style. Later in 1955, Bittle had assembled a band known as the "Sunny Slope Boys" and this group was heard over WMRI in Marion, Indiana, and the station's "Hoosier Barn Dance". The group also played on TV and in several local clubs. A year later, the Sunny Slope Boys had morphed into the Flying Saucers, adapting a more popular name for rock'n'roll audiences. By then, Loy Bittle had dropped out of the act. The group included Arkie Bittle on vocals and rhythm guitar, Hipp on lead guitar, Ray Smith on bass, and Bobby Johns on drums.
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| Arkie Bittle and Glynn Hipp, mid 1950s (taken from the front cover of Collector CLCD 4495) |
A second disc appeared the following year featuring "Teen Age Blues" and "Glynns Hopp", both composed by Hipp. While the A side was a vocal number sung by Bittle, the B side showcased Hipps skills on the guitar. It seems that Hipp was the driving force of the band - he was not only a talented guitarist but also wrote most of the song material. In addition, some band members of the Flying Saucers also played on other Claudra releases.
In 1958, Bittle dropped out of the group as he became a born again Christian. Hipp took over the band and renamed it "The Jokers", which later also included Larry Kinser on vocals and Harry Miracle on vocals and guitar. The band continued to perform well into the 1960s and had two records out - one on Claudra and another one on Cliff Ayers' Lincoln label from Fort Wayne (Ayers also owned the Emerald label that released several rock'n'roll discs).
In the meantime, Bittle had begun preaching in Indiana churches and the 1960s saw Loy Bittle becoming a converted Christian as well. Loy became a deacon at Marion General Baptist Church in Marion in 1964 until his return to Arkansas. Walter Bittle returned to Heber Springs as well, where he established Sunny Slope Church in the 1960s. Loy began his work as a deacon there in 1968. In 1973, Walter Bittle received a theological degree from the Oakland City University of Indiana. Bittle also claimed to have written the song "I Hold a Clear Title to a Mansion", although different sources suggest this gospel hymn dates back to the early 20th century. He also claimed to have a recording of his (first) version and that the song was stolen from him. Bittle tried to regain the legal rights to no avail. The song has been recorded under different titles by several gospel artists.
Dutch collector Cees Klop gathered a couple of Glynn Hipp recordings and released those on his White Label and Collector reissue albums, beginning in the early 2000s. Also "Jitterbug Drag" was released on a few European CD reissues in the 2000s, probably unbeknownst to Bittle.
Walter Bittle passed away on October 21, 2016, at the age of 85 years. His brother Loy died a few years later in 2021. Glynn Hipp stayed in Indiana, where he already passed away in 1995 at the age of 67 years.
Sources
• Find a Grave Entries for Walter Thomas Bittle and for Glynn Hipp as well as for Claude Jackson Nash, Sr. and Claud Jackson Nash, Jr.
• Rockin' Country Style Entries for Walter Arkie Bittle and for Glynn Hipp
• Obituary
• Robert Cochran: "Our Own Sweet Sounds - A Celebration of Popular Music in Arkansas" (University of Arkansas Press), 2005, page 53
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