The Harden Trio on Columbia

The Harden Trio – Husbands and Wives (Columbia 4-43844), 1966

The Harden Trio, comprising Bobby, Robbie, and Arlene Harden, were a rather well-known Arkansas music act. They had a string of country hits in the 1960s but today, we’re taking a look at one of their B sides. In this case, it’s the song “Husbands and Wives” which was the flip side to their hit “Seven Days of Crying”.

The Harden family came from the small town of England, Arkansas, a little southwest of Little Rock. Bobby was born in 1935, followed by sisters Arlene in 1945 and Fern Harden, who was nicknamed “Robbie”. As teenagers, they formed a trio and began performing on national known shows like the Ozark Jubilee and the Louisiana Hayride.

It was Robbie that moved to Nashville first to fill in for Bonnie Brown in The Browns, another country music family act from Arkansas. Both groups had also worked the Ozark Jubilee. Bobby and Arleen followed their sister and the trio was reunited. In 1964, they signed with Columbia Records and released their debut single “Poor Boy”, followed by “Tippy Toeing”, which became a #2 country music hit and also crossed over to the pop charts, reaching #44.

The Harden Trio in the mid 1960s at the time of their hit "Tippy Toeing"

In the wake of their success, more singles appeared on Columbia and today, we’re featuring a song from their fourth release, “Husbands and Wives”. The song was composed by country star Roger Miller and became the B side of their Top 30 country hit “Seven Days of Crying”. Both songs were recorded in August 1966 at the Columbia Studio in Nashville and probably featured, apart from the Hardens, top studio musicians – although the exact line-up is unknown. The single was releases two months later in October. “Husbands and Wives” had been previously released by Miller and it had become a #5 country hit for him, thought it didn’t chart for the Hardens at all.

The Harden Trio released more singles for Columbia until 1968, scoring a few more moderate hits, but disbanded afterwards. All of them pursued their own careers. Bobby and Arlene both had chart success in their own right and also scored hits as songwriters. Robbie went on to tour with Johnny Cash. Bobby Harden died in 2006 in Nashville.

Sources
• Wikipedia entry
• 45cat entry
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry
• Bobby Harden Find a Grave entry