Hammond Records (Baton Rouge)

Among the many small independent record labels of Louisiana, probably no company better embodied the sound of backwoods bayou country better than Hammond Records. Probably named after the city of the same name, Hammond Records was operated by bluegrass musician Luke Thompson. His own musical background was probably one factor that led to Hammond's focus on country, bluegrass, and stripped-down rockabilly.

Label owner Luther "Luke" Thompson, Jr., was born in 1928 in the small town of Natalbany, Louisiana, just north of Hammond. Although Louisiana is not a place known for bluegrass music, Thompson grew up with traditional old-time folk music as his grandfather was a fiddler. He eventually learned to play the fiddle, too - in addition to guitar, banjo, and mandolin, his favorite instrument. In the late 1940s, he began performing with his band, the Green Valley Boys, which changed its name to the Green Valley Cut-Ups in 1968 when Thompson found out that Carl Sauceman was already using the name for his band.

Thompson performed on and off throughout the 1950s, finally founding his own recording outlet in early 1959. He recorded mostly local talent from the Louisiana countryside but would not record under his own name until 1961. The first known release is Hammond #102 by Willie Goodson with "Put a Nickel in the Jukebox" b/w "Hand in Hand" in 1959. The top side was a rockabilly number, while the flip was in a more traditional vein. It was followed by Hunter Watts' "Wild Man Rock", which became a minor rockabilly classic, Bonnie Fussel's rock'n'roll "Too High Class", and Hollis Albin's "Vee Eight Ford Boogie". All of these numbers were rock'n'roll and rockabilly performances, which became collectors' items due to the rockabilly revival of the 1970s.

Then, in 1961, Thompson cut his first own record and his bluegrass and it seemed to be the total opposite direction the label was heading to. A throwback to ancient sounds, his "I'm Lost Between the Falling Snow" b/w "Mountain Sweetheart" did not go far commercial-wise but "the recording was seen as a success" as the Northwestern State University of Louisiana put it in a short profile about Thompson. 

"Opy Spotlight"
The St. Tammany Tribune January 19, 1968

The remainder of the 1960s saw Hammond Records releasing a few more singles, among them Jim Oertling's then-out-of-fashion rockabilly outings and Oertling's "Old Moss Back" became a another good seller in the southern Gulf regions of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The label's run ended in 1971 with a repress of Thompson's "I'm Lost Between the Falling Snow". A total of 13 releases are known to exist, issued between 1959 and 1971. During the first years, Hammond Records was officially based in Baton Rouge, located about 47 miles west of Hammond. At some point between October 1963 and October 1964, Thompson moved its headquarters to Nashville, although he continued to operate the label out of Louisiana.

"Hayride Hightlights"
The St. Tammany Tribune August 25, 1968

In 1968, Thompson opened a music store and recording studio in Ponchatoula, just south of Hammond. As Thompson was busy playing gigs in different parts of the country, the facility was operated by a staff for him. In fact, Thompson had become a respected bluegrass musician by then, having founded Louisiana Bluegrass Festival the same year, the Old South Jamboree in Walker, Louisiana, and working as emcee for Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival for ten years. He also began building mandolins. He passed away in 2019.

Sources

• Bluegrass Today obituary

• Northwestern State University of Louisiana profile page

• Luke Thompson Music Company website

• Obituary

• Hammond Records 45cat entry

Hoot & Curley

Hoot and Curley, early 1950s
This promo picture shows Curley Herndon (left) and Hoot Rains (right)

The duo of Thomas "Hoot" Rains and "Curley" Herndon were stars of the Louisiana Hayride out of Shreveport and also recorded a slew of singles for the Imperial and Starday labels during the 1950s. Though they did not have a real hit records on their hands, their recorded output is noteworthy nevertheless and worth listening to. My friend Marshal Martin recently went down the Hoot & Curley rabbit hole, finding some of their rare records and even relatives of them.

Thomas Houston "Hoot" Rains was born on September 15, 1914, in Many, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, a small town near Natchitoches. His parents, Justlyn Polk and Alice Ameralee Rains, had a total of nine children. Carnell Monroe "Curley" Herndon was quite a bit younger, being born on February 26, 1923, also in Many. Herndon began singing and playing the guitar at age seven, and had his first own band and radio program when he was 13 years old. Later, he attended a civl engineer's school in Kansas City, Missouri, where he also performed on local radio. In the meantime, Rains had become an accomplished musician in his own right, playing the steel guitar and leading bands at different clubs.

The Austin American
January 4, 1956

After engineer's school, Herndon moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he met again with Rains at KWKH's famed Louisiana Hayride, where both tried to make a name on their own. They also became members of country singer Slim Whitman's band around 1950, who also appeared regularly on the show. With Herndon on lead guitar and Rains on steel guitar, they played not only on live appearances but also on Whitman's recording sessions for Imperial. Hit songs like "Love Song of the Waterfall" and "Indian Love Call" bore their signature sound and supported Whitman's crystal-clear vocal style. It was especially Rains' lenghty, high notes on the steel guitar (called "shooting arrows" style by the band) that became a trademark of their sound. 

Around the same time, Rains and Herndon joined forces and began appearing as duo "Hoot & Curley", including regular performances on the Hayride but also with Whitman's band, now called the "Stardusters". The Whitman connection also secured them a recording contract with Imperial, which was a California based independent label but was a strong force in Texas and Louisiana country music. They held their first solo session around July 1952 in Dallas, Texas, supported by fellow Starduster Sonny James on fiddle and this combination produced four songs. Those were released by Imperial on two singles in late 1952. A second session followed which yielded another single in the fall of 1953. The same year, Rains and Herndon left the Whitman band to set out on their own.

Shreveport Journal
June 21, 1952

Their records for Imperial missed the charts but they remained a featured act on the Louisiana Hayride and in 1954, Rains and Herndon began recording for the Houston based independent Starday Records. They stayed with the label until 1957 and produced four more singles for this label. Herndon also had one solo release on Mercury in 1960.

Rains and Herndon continued to perform on the Hayride but also held down regular spots at local clubs such as the Lake Cliff. They eventually ceased their mututal music activities and returned to day jobs. Rains worked as a car salesman in Shreveport, subsequently operating his own car dealership, "Hoots' Trading Post". Herndon worked as a architectural draftsman for Demopulos & Ferguson Consulting Engineers. He passed away after a lenghty illness on February 15, 1992, in Shreveport. Rains had left this earth a few months earlier on October 12, 1991, in Shreveport at age 77.

The British Archive of Country Music has released a 25 tracks CD on Hoot & Curley in 2020.

Recommended reading

• British Archive of Country Music

Sources

• Paul Hazell: "Hoot and Curley" (liner notes) BACM, 2020

• Find a Grave entries for Hoot Rains and Curley Herndon

• Curley Herndon Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Discogs

• 45cat entry and 45cat/78rpm entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Gene Jones

Gene Jones & the Drifters - Pride (Mississippi Sound No.#), 1979
My friend Marshal and I have been into the careers of the Jones family, four siblings that made a few country records in the 1970s. Although being active in Louisiana, they originally hailed from Mississippi. Marshal found another part of their puzzle with a previously unknown recording of Gene Jones.

Gene A. Jones was born on August 11, 1935, in Waynesboro, Mississippi, to Luther Edward and Rose Elmedia Jones. Jones' middle name was Autry, so he was named after singing cowboy star Gene Autry. Gene grew up in a musical talented family, his brothers Luke and Devon as well as his sister Nancy became recording artists well. All of the siblings - eight in total - played music instruments and often they would gather to play music together. Although Mississippi born, many of the Jones siblings were drawn to Louisiana and so was Gene - at least for some time. In 1955, Jones married Carol Jean Glover on St. Charles, Louisiana. She was his lifelong wife. They later returned to Jones' Mississippi home.

The Joneses made music throughout their lives and performed under the name of the "Roseland Drifters", playing such venues as the Moose Lodge in Natchitoches Parish or the Rose Room in New Orleans. THeir repertoire consisted mainly of cover song by artists such as Kitty Wells, Faron Young, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and others. In the 1970s, they began making recordings. Devon and Nancy Jones had a record out in the early 1970s. One of the songs, "Set You Free", was later also recorded by Gene Jones. Both Gene and Luke Jones made recordings at Precision Recording Studio in Picayune, Mississippi, a small city just across the border from Louisiana. 

The recordings at Precision resulted in one single under Luke's name and another one under Gene's name, which included his version of his siblings' song "Set You Free" plus a twangy, steel guitar-drenched song entitled "Pride". It appeared on the small Mississippi Sound label from Picayune. This is the only known record of Gene Jones. We couldn't find any newspaper mentions of him except for his obituary, though he performed in public frequently.

Jones lived around New Orleans for many years but later moved to Kentwood, Louisiana, a small town just south of the state border to Mississippi. Gene Jones passed away on October 24, 1984, at the age of 49 years. He is buried at Ellis Cemetery in Franklinton, Louisiana.

Discography

Mississippi Sound No.#: Gene Jones & the Drifters - Set You Free / Pride (1979)

See also
• Devon & Nancy / Luke Jones

Sources
• Thanks to Shannon Possoit and Debbie Cagle for providing additional information on their family's career and for Marshal Martin conducting the interview.
• Find a Grave entry
• Obituary (The Daily Star, October 24, 1986)

Flame Records (New Orleans)

The Flame of New Orleans Rock'n'Roll

New Orleans will always be connected with jazz music. But the Bossier City became also a hotbed for rhythm & blues in the 1940s and subsequently rock'n'roll in the 1950s. Among the most influential people were producers Dave Bartholomew and Cosimo Matassa. And there were people like John F. English, entrepreneurs with much smaller businesses, which produced great music nonetheless.

English set up the Flame record label and its publishing arm, Emalf (Flame spelled backwards), in the fall of 1958. The first release came out around September, featuring "Road of Dreams" b/w "Tangle-Weed" by a New Orleans based combo called "The Saxons". Between 1958 and 1961, En  glish issued probably more than 30 records under the Flame imprint, though details on many releases are still unknown. There was a lot of rock'n'roll and pop on the label and even some blues. English sent out promo copies to both Cash Box and Billboard but I was not able to find any other mentions in magazines or newspapers.

John Furman English was born on October 29, 1929, and likely a resident or even a native of Louisiana. He and his wife Vita lived outside of New Orleans in Belle Chasse. English died on July 5, 1981, at the age of 51 years in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. He is buried at Lake Lawn Park Cemetery in New Orleans.

If anyone knows more about John F. English, Flame Records or the artists recording for the label, please feel free to leave a comment or sent an e-mail!

Discography
FL-101: John Weinman & the Saxons - Road of Dreams / Marty Roberts & the Saxons - Tangle-Weed (1958)
FL-102:
FL-103:
FL-104:
FL-105:
FL-106:
FL-107: Little Johnny Barron - I Lost a Bet / For Ever and for Ever Ever More (1959)
FL-108:
FL-109: The Leed Twins - Please Mr. Barber / Rock 'N Roll and Pizza Pie (1959)
FL-110:
FL-111: Shorty & Smokey Warren with Billie Willow - You're Gonna Grieve When I Leave / So Bad (1959)
FL-112:
FL-113: Jerry Cronin and the Flashes - A-Rock-a-Me-Baby / Give Me Your Answer (1959)
FL-114:
FL-115:
FL-116:
FL-117:
FL-118:
FL-119:
FL-120:
FL-121:
FL-122:
FL-123:
FL-124:
FLA 125: The Rock-Its - Rock-Indigo / Rockamotion (1959)
FLA 126:
FLA 127: Jerry Ladner and the Traveler's - Give Me Your Love / My One Desire (1959)
FLA 128:
FLA 129:
FLA 130:
FLA 131:
FLA 132:
FLA 133:
FLA 134:
FLA 135:
FLA 136:
FLA 137:
FLA 138:
FLA 139:
FLA 140:
FLA 141:
FLA 142:
45-FL-143: Al Lavorato - Tantalize Me / Goodbye My Love (1959)
144:
145:
146:
10147: Marty Lewis - Voo Doo Love / Satisfied with My Lovin' (1959)
10148: Sly Dell - Let Me Tell You Bout It / Burning Inside (1960)
10149: Mauricio - It Must Be Love / Male My Dreams Come True (1960)
10150: Marty Lewis - She's Got Everything / I Want to Know (1960)
10151: John F. English and the Tonettes - On with America / Song of the Army (1960)
10152: Walter Populist - Come On Back to Me / Oh Look at That Girl (1961)
45-FL-153: Johnny Rebb - You Know I Love You / My Body Can't Take It (1959)
FL-002: Billy Stepp - I Just Hope My Wife Don't Find Out / Going to the Dogs (1966 or later)

Sources

• 45cat entry

• John F. English Find a Grave entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

Myrl Recording Company - Dodge / Myrl / Lluvia labels

Music from Ferriday, Louisiana

The Story of Melvin Doge and Myrl Recording Company

The year 1961 was the starting point for the label group of Dodge Records, Myrl Records (probably the flagship company) and Lluvia Records. These labels were operated by local engineer Melvin Dodge (1907-1983) in Ferriday, Concordia Parish, Louisiana. All three labels were heavily active in 1961 but ceased activities afterwards with only very few singles being released in the following years.

Melvin D. Dodge was born on August 18, 1907, in Louisiana and was a longtime resident of Concordia Parish. He was the oldest child of George Warren Dodge, no information has turned up on his mother so far. By 1937 he had married Myrl Foreman and their daughter Juanita was born the same year. Son Percy followed in 1940. 1940 census documents list his occupation as "farming" in Wildsville, Louisiana (between Jonesville and Ferriday). Dodge served during World War II and possibly acquired his knowledge in electronics in the military. Dodge, Myrl and their children still lived with his father and his siblings  in 1950. He eventually became an engineer and had become president of B & D Electronics as well as DEB Electronics, Inc. by 1961. It seems he specialized in inventing electronic motors for space craft and cars.

By the early 1960s, Dodge had become interest in music business and went into partnership with LaCharles Harper. Harper, also listed as LeCharles Harper or simply Charles Harper, was a blues, R&B and soul songwriter. He was active around Houston, Texas, in the 1950s and 1960s but obviously also had connections to Ferriday. He composed such songs as "Barefoot Rock" (Little Junior Parker, 1958) or "Little Boy Blue" (Bobby "Blue" Bland, 1958) and founded his own publishing firm Star-Flite in the 1950s. Harper became the main songwriter for Dodge's labels in 1961.

Dodge Records was of course a reference to Melvin Dodge and Myrl Records was named after Dodge's wife. Both labels started in July 1961. R&B singer Artie Golden and the Mighty Trojans with "If I Could See My Baby (One More Time)" b/w "Goodbye My Love" (Dodge #801) made the start on Dodge, while rock'n'roll singer Earl Cupit had the debut release on Myrl with "Don't Touch Me" b/w "I Always Do" (Myrl #401). Myrl also had a short-lived "Spiritual Series" and its first disc also appeared in July by the Original Soul Revivers, "Lord, I've Done You Wrong" b/w "Lord, Don't Turn Me Away" (Myrl #1201). The Lluvia label came into existence a few months later with its earliest known disc, "She Don't Cry in Vain" b/w "Dizzee" (Lluvia #5051, October 1961) by Percy & his Rockin' Aces (which involved singer Wayne Prince and possibly Dodge's son Percy, who was an avid guitarist). On July 22, 1961, Cash Box reported: "Melvin Dodge, Myrl Records exec, thrilled with reaction to all 4 releases of the newly-formed diskery. Included are Little Shirley Jean’s 'I’ll Get Even With You,' Earl Cupit’s 'Don’t Touch Me,' Sonny Hodges’ 'The Flame' and the Original Soul Revivers’ 'Lord I’ve Done You Wrong.'" 

Billboard December 18, 1961

Dodge put considerable money into promotion, publishing several ads in Cash Box and Billboard (even a BB one-page ad). He also sent out promo copies to radio stations as well as aforementioned magazines and his labels gained frequent mention in Cash Box and Billboard. Several releases enjoyed airplay in different areas of the market and Dodge's strategy was probably to lease those records to labels. And it worked. A lot of releases were taken over by bigger labels and even overseas based companies. The Megatons' Dodge disc (ex-Sun rockabillies Billy Lee Riley & His Little Green Men) was nationally released by Checker Records (Chess subsidiary). Riley also recorded under another alias, "Darron Lee", for Myrl and those recordings were released through Top Rank in Israel and Belgium as well as through Triola in Norway. Material by Dee-Dee Gaudet, the Mighty Trojans (both Dodge) and Percy & the Rockin' Aces (Lluvia) was re-released by Starlite in the UK.

Billboard March 3, 1962

Numerous records appeared on all three labels throughout 1961 but release frequencies ceased drastically afterwards. It seems that Lluvia did not survive past 1961, having only four releases in total - the last one in December 1961 by 'Enry (Henry) Moore. The Dodge label released a few more discs in 1962, 1963, and even 1973 but seems to have been mainly dormant. The same applies to the Myrl label with a few discs appearing as late as 1964. Harper moved his publishing company Starflite to New York City in 1963, ending his association with Dodge, and he continued to work in the music business with Bobby Robinson. On the other hand, Dodge relocated to nearby Natchez, Mississippi, around 1962 and it seems that the label group became more or less inactive. Dodge also ran a short-lived label entitled Global Records when moving to Natchez, and two of three releases featured material from the Dodge or Myrl labels catalogue. Myrl Dodge was involved in her husband's business affairs as well, heading a North Carolina publishing company. She also penned "Evening Shadows", recorded by Shirley Jean Wiley on Myrl.

However, newspaper articles paint a different picture. The Sentinel reported on July 17, 1968, that Dodge planned to built a new recording studio and pressing plant for his Myrl Recording Company in Ferriday. The facility was said to be in business by September 1968 but the News Star carried the same text on December 7, 1968, implying that construction had not begun yet. It was reported in 1970 that Dodge visited the Old South Jamboree, a Louisiana based country stage show, to discover new female talent for Myrl Records. However, no discs are known to have been released in this time period.

Melvin Dodge passed away on May 7, 1983, at the age of 75 years in Natchez. He is buried there at Greenlawn Memorial Park.

Recommended reading

• Myrl Records Discography

Sources

• 45cat entries for Dodge Records, Myrl Records, Lluvia Records, and Global Records

• Melvin Dodge Find a Grave entry

• Discogs entry for Myrl and Luvia
• Official census records accessed through ancestry.com

Sho-Biz (New Orleans)

Sho-Biz in New Orleans

The Sho-Biz Corporation and record label was based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Operated by local DJ Jim Stewart, Sho-Biz released a string of 45rpm singles between 1959 and 1966. Stewart was working on WWOZ and WNOE during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He is best remembered today for interviewing Elvis Presley on July 10, 1956, while Elvis stopped in New Orleans. The interview was re-released three times in the 2000s.

James Orton "Jim" Stewart, Jr., was born on November 11, 1925, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Following high school, he joined the US Navy in 1944, serving in the South Pacific. Upon his discharge, he enrolled at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and later at North Texas State University in Denton. Receiving a bachelor's degree, he taught in a New Orleans school but headed to Oklahoma, where he had accepted a position at Lake Murray Lodge. While there, he met his future wife and they married in 1954. It was around this time he became involved in radio and worked for WBYE.

Louisiana Weekly, March 11, 1961
Stewart's "Big Show of '61",
incl. Sho-Biz artist Bobby Mitchell

Following his return to New Orleans, he started working with WNOE in 1956 and by the end of the decade, had become the station's program director. His on-air personality soon made him a broadcasting legend due to his unusual style of announcing and hosting a show. One might say, show business was his passion. Accordingly, he started the Sho-Biz Corporation (sometimes also called Sho-Biz Productions) and his record label Sho-Biz. The first record release was produced with a local band, Allen Collay and the Satellites, and their single "Last Chance" b/w "Little Girl Next Door" (Sho-Biz #1002) was released in late 1959. A huge hit in New Orleans, the disc was picked up by Bill Lowery's National Recording Corporation (NRC) for distribution and finally reached #82 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The success of the Collay single promted Stewart to sign more artists, including veteran New Orleans R&B singer Bobby Mitchell. Stewart managed to continue the deal with NRC and the next Sho-Biz releases until 1960 saw national distribution by NRC as well. However, chart success eluded all subsequent releases. After release #1006 from 1960, the label fell dormant for some years. Stewart reactivated Sho-Biz in 1964 with a new numerical series, beginning with Joe Barry's "Can't Do Without You" b/w "Can't Live With You" (Sho-Biz #2001). He operated the label until 1966 or later, producing a few more releases.

Stewart took over Ched's Club on Canal Street for a while in the late 1960s, renaming it "Jamie's", where a lot of well-known acts performed, including Eric Burdon & the Animals. He remained a popular DJ on WNOE well into the 1970s. In 1986, he and his wife moved to Oklahoma City and retired to Houston two years later. Jim Stewart died on September 13, 2023, in Houston at the age of 97 years.

Sources

• Discogs

• 45cat entry

• Jim Stewart obituary

• 1972 aircheck of Jim Stewart WNOE show

• Bob Walker's New Orleans Radio Gold Facebook group

• http://www.neworleansradioshrine.com/email_12.html

• Tony Rounce: "Tommy Ridgley & Bobby Mitchell - In the Same Old Way: The Complete Ric, Ron and Sho-Biz Recordings" (Ace Records), liner notes, 2015

Ernest & Donald Thibodeaux on Lanor

Ernest & Donald Thibodeaux - Robert Special (Lanor 1000), 1982

I found this record in New Orleans in 2023 and got me some real fine, original cajun music. Ernest Thibodeaux performed with one of cajun music's stars, Nathan Abshire, and had a career in music on his own for more than half a century.

Ernest Joseph Thibodeaux was born on October 9, 1925, in the small community of Mermantau near Jennings, Louisiana. Music was a part of his life early on, as his father Clobule played cajun music, too. Thibodeaux started playing at the age of 10 years and taught himself to play guitar, fiddle, bass, and drums. At the age of 13, he met fiddler Will Kegley and the Lake Charles Playboys and began performing with them.

Following World War II, Kegley and Thibodeaux regularly played the local Pine Grove Club dance hall in Evangeline. In 1948, Kegley's sister Oziet joined on drums, making it a trio. Dance hall owner Telasfore Esthay suggested including an accordion. Thibodeaux found  an accordionist in Nathan Abshire, who joined as well. The Pine Grove Boys were born. The next year, Jim Baker and Atlis Frujia on steel guitar made the band complete. Thanks to the owner of the Avalon Club, Quincy Davis, the band was signed to a recording contract with George Khoury and Virgil Bozeman and their various labels that same year. However, in May 1949 Abshire and Thibodeaux held a session at a Lake Charles radio station backed by Earl DeMary's band. This session produced the first version of "Pine Grove Blues", which became a regional hit.

Thibodeaux recorded with Abshire and various line-ups until 1955. Credited not only to the Pine Grove Boys but to various band names, the results were released on Khoury and Bozeman's various labels: Oklahoma Tornado (OT), Lyric, Khoury's, and Bob Tanner's Hot Rod label. Many of those discs were good sellers regionally but the band did not saw much money from it. Thibodeaux remained with the Pine Grove Boys until the late 1950s, then left the group but continued performing locally.

He regularly played Fred's Lounge in Mamou in the decades to come. Today's selection came into existence not until 1982, recorded for the Jennings based Lanor label's custom series. It featured Ernest Thibodeaux plus Donald Thibodeaux on accordion and Robert Thibodeaux on vocals. As far as I can tell, all three men were not (or not directly) related. Both "Robert Special" and "Hilda's Waltz" are fine examples of traditional cajun music. Ernest and Donald Thibodeaux, the latter also played at Fred's Lounge, eventually recorded the album "Fred's Hot Step" for Arhoolie with Ernest on drums.

In 1996, Ernest Thibodeaux was inducted in Fred's Lounge Wall of Fame and became a member of the French Cajun Music Association Hall of Fame in 1999. He passed away on August 18, 2006, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at the age of 80 years.

Recommended reading

• Ann Savoy Collection (Interview with Ernest Thibodeaux)

Sources

Ernest Thibodeaux

• This Week in Cajun Music Facebook post

• Find a Grave entry

• Nathan Abshire Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

• 45cat entry and Nathan Abshire 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Discogs

Donald Thibodeaux

• Downhome Music: Fred's Hot step by Donald Thibodeaux and Cajun Fever

L. J. Foret on Ciro

L. J. Foret and the Country Boys - Fille de Houma (Ciro 1005), 1965

Here's one of the finds I brought back home when I visited Louisiana in 2023. I think I found this disc in a record shop on Magazine Street in New Orleans.  L. J. Foret was a cajun musician from Houma, Louisiana, area, where the Ciro label was also located. Houma is located southwest of New Orleans, about an hour away.

Lawrence Joseph "L. J." Foret was born on June 30, 1930, in Houma, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Foret was born in a time when it was common to speak French instead of English and many of his songs later reflected that. He started his career in music at the age of 14 years in 1944, when he joined his father's band, the Town Serenaders, a group that played the dance halls of the region. Foret learned to play guitar, fiddle, drums, and sang. By 1949, he had his own radio show on KCIL but had to interrupt his career when Uncle Sam came calling in 1952 and Foret had to serve in the Korean War. That same year, he had married Beverly Babin, with whom he had two sons. During his military service, he hosted a radio show for fellow soldiers and entertained the troops with personal appearances as well.

Upon his discharge, he formed his own band, "L. J. Foret and the Country Boys", and returned to hosting his Sunday morning show on KCIL. He didn't record commercially until the 1960s. His debut single appeared in 1965 on the Arelro label, comprising "Someone Who Didn't Care" b/w "Don't Scatter the Pieces of My Heart" (#450). The same year, he started recording for the local Ciro label and we feature his label debut on Ciro #1005, "Fille de Houma (Girl from Houma)" b/w "Pas Christmas Poor les Pauvre (No Christmas for the Poor)" (note that it is correctly spelled "Pas Christmas Pour les Pauvre"). Although both songs were sung in French by Foret, the musical arrangement is rather country than cajun. The songwriter on both sides was probably Donald Babin, Foret's wife's brother.

Foret releases a few more singles on Ciro during 1965 and switched to other local labels throughout the years, including Houma, Ajae's, Starbarn, and La Louisianne. He recorded his only full-fledged album on La Louisianne in the 1970s. In 1972, he started his own local TV show on KHMA, which lasted for two years. In 1970, his son Ronnie joined his band, followed in 1975 by Foret's younger son Bobby. During his career, Foret opened for such country stars as Loretta Lynn, Mel Tillis, Minnie Pearl, Jack Greene, Jimmy C. Newman, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ernest Tubb, Stonewall Jackson, and Conway Twitty.

A stroke in 1983 limited his possibilities to perform but Foret didn't give up music, playing occasionally with family and friends around Houma. He was inducted into the Cajun Hall of Fame in 2000 and passed away on September 12, 2002, due to cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the Westbank Musicians Hall of Fame in 203.

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Westbank Musicians Hall of Fame (Facebook page)

• Wikipedia entry

• Find a Grave entry

• "LocalCajun musician L.J. Foret succumbs to cancer" (Houma Today)

Big Howdy Records

Big Howdy Records

Country Sounds from the Pear River Valley

Big Howdy Records was a local record label from the Louisiana-Mississippi border region. Based in different towns of the Pearl River Valley, the label released numerous singles between 1959 and 1977. The man behind this operation was Hack Kennedy, who mostly relied on country material for his releases.

Daily News, December 19, 1958

Big Howdy Records came into existence in the first half of 1959 and was the brainchild of Hastel Joseph "Hack" Kennedy (1915-1994). Kennedy was born in Washington Parish, Louisiana, and by the 1930s, had made the move to New Orleans. He had acquired basic skills on the guitar and joined the city's thriving music scene. He also developed a sense for a profitable business during those years and eventually began promoting country music shows. By then, he had relocated to the Pearl River Valley in the Louisiana-Mississippi border region.

There was, maybe, another man involved in the  Big Howdy label, too, namely country radio engineer and DJ Hardin Leon "Red" Smith (1928-1995). Smith had built up a reputation as a popular radio disc jockey by then, having worked at WBOK in New Orleans and WCKY in Cincinnati, among smaller stations in Texas and Kansas. By late 1958, he was at WHXY in Bogalusa and hosted the "Big Howdy Show" weekdays, which he had already aired over WBOK. In December 1958, he added a Saturday night live stage show called the "Big Howdy Jamboree" from the Redwood Theatre in Bogalusa and this show was broadcast over WHXY, too.

When WHXY changed owners in February 1959 and became WBOX, Smith and the show moved to WIKC. Already in January 1959, Smith had reinstalled the "Big Howdy Show" on local WARB in Covington, Louisiana. It was around that time that Hack Kennedy started Big Howdy Records in Bogalusa and the label was seemingly intended as an outlet to release recordings by the Jamboree's regular cast members. The name of the record label came almost certainly from Smith's shows. When Dave Travis purchased Big Howdy Records in 1990s, he spoke extensively to Hack Kennedy but in his memory, no one talked about neither Red Smith nor the radio shows being part of the company cosmos. In case Smith was a part owner of the Big Howdy label, he dropped out at an early age, leaving Kennedy as the sole owner.

The debut release went to Jeff Daniels alias Luke McDaniel, a Mississippi born country and rockabilly singer. McDaniel had just split with Sun Records from Memphis, an unsuccessful collaboration, and appeared on the Big Howdy Jamboree frequently during late 1958 and early 1959. His record, "Switch Blade Sam" b/w "You're Still On My Mind", appeared in May 1959 on Big Howdy #777 credited to "Jeff Daniels". While "You're Still On My Mind" was the country ballad that enjoyed some success after its original release, the rock'n'roll side "Switch Blade Sam" became the sought-after song during the rockabilly revival. McDaniel was accompanied by the Hicks Sisters on vocals, another Jamboree act.

While the Big Howdy Jamboree probably did not survive past April 1959, the Big Howdy record label did. The early and mid 1960s saw releases by such artists as B.J. Johnson, another local DJ, and Vern Pullens (both performed at the Pearl River Valley Jamboree, also staged at the Redwood), while later that decade Kennedy pulled talent from the Hayride, another Southeast Louisiana stage show. The majority of the releases featured country music with the occasional rockabilly side by McDaniel.

Kennedy and B.J. Johnson built a small recording studio in the early 1960s in Angie, some 13 miles north of Bogalusa. With the Angie Sound Studio being finished, Big Howdy Records moved to this location as well. Johnson, due to his DJ profession an expert for running a studio control board, engineered many of the sessions at the studio during the 1960s. Around 1971, Kennedy and his record label moved one more time, just across the border to Picayune, Mississippi.

Kennedy released discs on Big Howdy and short-lived off-shot/custom labels like Big B and Angie Ville until 1977. Dave Travis bought the label in 1994 and reissued a good portion of Big Howdy's recordings in 2017 on a 33-track CD entitled "Rockabillies, Hillbillies, and Honky Tonkers from Mississippi and Louisiana - The Big Howdy Recording Company Story".

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Hack Johnson Find a Grave entry

• Dave Travis: "Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers from Mississippi and Louisiana - The Big Howdy Recording Company Story" (Stomper Time Records), liner notes, 2017
• Thanks to Dave Travis for additionally answering my questions and sharing his memories with me.

Tex & Cliff Grimsley

The Louisiana Show Men

The Story of Tex and Cliff Grimsley

Tex Grimsley and his brother Cliff had many occupations: entertainer, fiddle maker, songwriter, recording artist. During their career, they participated in many historical music events but their legacy is buried under bright stars of their more famous companions like Webb Pierce.

Ennis Marcel "Tex" Grimsley was born on January 17, 1921, in the small town of Logansport, DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, on the western border of the state. He was the older brothers - Willie Clifton "Dizzy Fingers" Grimsley followed on October 18, 1922. The brothers came from a musically talented family; her mother had a total of 10 siblings, all but one played an instrument. Tex learned to play the fiddle from his uncle Butch Spraggins at the age of seven years and began building fiddles at the age of 14. Cliff also learned different instruments but eventually settled with the steel guitar.

Tex Grimsley, prob. early 1940s
during his military service

Tex and Cliff Grimsley became members of Jimmie Davis' election campaign band around 1943-1944, when he was running for the position of Louisiana governor. In 1946-1947, Tex Grimsley was part of Jim Hall's Radio Rangers that played in Richmond, Virginia. This band played more jazz-leaning arrangements and Grimsley "cut my teeth on that stuff", as he later remembered in a newspaper article. He returned to Louisiana, and in 1947, Grimsley made his recording debut, having one release on Deb Dyer's Red Barn label out of Chicago, "Sorry for You" b/w "It's All Coming Back to You".

Around the same time, the Grimsley brothers had begun working around Shreveport (about an hour north of their birthplace) and had a band known as the "Uncle Tex and his Texas Showboys". They appeared on radio KWKH and were one of the first acts to appear on the first broadcast of the station's Louisiana Hayride in April 1948. During these years, the brothers played at the Hayride with such artists as the Bailes Brothers, Johnnie & Jack and Kitty Wells, the Mercer Brothers, and Hank Williams.

Another early star of the Louisiana Hayride was Webb Pierce, who made himself a name in the Shreveport scene as well. Pierce set up Pacemaker Records in 1950, a small label that released discs by local artists. At that time, the Texas Showmen included Tex on fiddle, Sunny Harville on fiddle, Cliff on vocals, steel and standard guitar, and Don Davis on bass. The band recorded two records for Pacemaker, including their original version of Tex and Cliff's composition "Walking the Dog".Vocals duties were taken over by Cliff on this song and its flip side, "Teardrops". In 1951, both songs were also leased to Ivin Ballen' Gotham label from Philadelphia.

Webb Pierce signed with Decca Records in 1951 and found initial success with the label. In 1953, he covered "Walking the Dog" and his version was released as the flip side of his #1 hit "There Stands the Glass". The Pierce version of "Walking the Dog" reached #3 on Billboard's C&W as well and secured Tex and Cliff Grimsley with a good batch of royalties. The song became a minor standard in country music, being covered by at least 18 different artists over the years. They also co-wrote "The Glass That Stands Beside You" with Pierce, a reference to Pierce's earlier hit. The song was recorded by Jean Shepard for Capitol Records in 1954.

Pierce invited Cliff (and possibly also Tex) to join his band and embark on a tour across the world but the Grimsleys declined. They rather stayed in Louisiana and never regretted it. Music was only a part-time adventure for both. Tex worked as a safety and claims officer, building and repairing fiddles in addition. However, both kept on performing throughout the decades and although they did not make any recordings under their own name beyond 1951, they recorded occasionally with other artists. 

Tex and Cliff Grimsley settled in Bossier City, where both continued to perform locally. Tex also continued to build and repair fiddles. He married in 1979, teaching his wife Mary how to play the fiddle and she became a talent in her own right.

Shreveport Journal November 4, 1975

Tex and his then-current band, the Red River Boys, were often featured on the Keithville Jamboree, a local stage show out of Keithville south of Shreveport. Tex became Louisiana State Fiddling Champion in 1977, 1980, and 1982, and was also inducted into the Hall of Master Folk Artists at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in the 1980s. He kept on performing with his wife Mary well into the 1990s. Tex had taught her how to play the instrument.

Tex Grimsley around 1975

In recent years, two acetates by Tex Grimsley have turned up in online auctions, featuring the songs "Don't Forget Your Mother", "He Set the World Free", "Every Body's Blues", and "Sweetheart Divine". In 2025, my good friend Marshal Martin unearthed another acetate by Grimsley featuring early 1950s live performances.

Tex Grimsley died in 2002 in Shreveport, Louisiana. His brother Cliff died 20 years later on December 3, 2022, at the age of 100 years.

Sources
• Find a Grave entry for Tex Grimsley and for Cliff Grimsley
• SecondHandSongs
• Hillbilly-Music.com entry
• The Intelligencer obituary
• 45cat.com/78rpm entry

Ronald Rip Cannaday

Rip Cannaday, mid-1970s

God and Country
The Story of Rip Cannaday

The South has produced a sheer unbelievable amount of musicians and entertainers. When record pressing became affordable in the mid-1950s, a vast number of these singers was recorded and preserved for future generations. One of them was Rip Cannaday, a country and gospel singer from Louisiana, who has entertained audiences for more than 60 years. 

On the Banks of Castor Creek
Ronald G. "Rip" Cannaday was born on January 17, 1937, on the banks of Castor Creek in Winn Parish, Louisiana, but grew up in Tullos outside of Jena, Louisiana. Like many people from this region, Cannaday comes from an oil field worker family. His father worked on the oil fields and in fact, Cannaday grew up in an oil camp. While his father went to work, his mother stayed home to take care of the children. Their home was a little shack, which initially had no electricity or running water. 

Music was a welcomed entertainment in a hard life and Cannaday grew up hearing country music from stations WSM out of Nashville and KWKH out of Shreveport. The barn dances and hoedowns were another source of music for the family. Cannaday's favorite singer became Jimmie Rodgers: "There was a man that lived on the other side of Castor Creek. I would wade through Castor Creek and go to his house. He had all of Jimmie Rodgers' 78s, I would lay on the floor and listen to him all day," Cannaday remembered in 2025 to Marshal Martin, who traced him down for several interviews. At age ten, he got himself a guitar and a songbook to learn.

The Country Boys
The Cannaday family moved to Harrisonburg, Catahoula Parish, when Cannaday was 14 years old and in school, he was extremely good in sports. But music was still on his mind, and with school friends Bud Brady and Marvin Tyler, he formed a band entitled "The Country Boys." Cannaday sang and played acoustic guitar while Brady played lap steel guitar and Tyler was on washtub bass. It was the mid-1950s and the boys took every possibility to play churches, auditoriums, and private gatherings. Their repertoire included country hits of the day, some of Elvis Presley's early rockabilly songs, as well as gospel hymns like "The Old Country Church" and "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea." 

Rip Cannaday in 1956

Black Land Soil
After graduating from high school, the Country Boys disbanded, and Cannaday married his high school sweetheart. He began working on the oil fields like his father. One time, his job took him to Yazoo City, Mississippi. However, his boss got so drunk there, Cannaday quit on the spot and hitch-hiked back to Louisiana. On his way back home, he wrote a song called "Black Land Soil", which he would record about ten years later. He became a regular cast member of Don Wiley's Catahoula Country Music Show in 1962 and had his own monthly morning show on KTCO in Columbia, Louisiana, which lasted for eight years. Cannaday was also heard regularly on KCKW in Jena, with his old friend Bud Brady hosting the show. 

Already in the mid-1960s, Cannaday had written many songs and together with fellow singer Ray Prince, went down to Lake Charles to audition for Eddie Shuler, owner of Goldband Records. Nothing came of it, although Shuler reportedly took some of Cannaday's compositions.

With the Catahoula Playboys, the house band for the Catahoula Country Music Show, Cannaday made his recording debut. The session took place at a radio station in Winnsboro and produced "Black Land Soil" and "I'm Just Laughing to Keep from Crying" for L.D. Knox's Delta label. The record became popular in the region and on local radio; Cannaday sold copies every week at the Catahoula Coutry Music Show as well. After the Delta single, Cannaday shifted from country to gospel music and began performing the church circuit in North Louisiana, South Arkansas, and West Mississippi.

God and Country
In the early 1970s, a gospel quartet came to Harrisonburg to perform at the local church. One of the members was Carlton Brown, who operated Herald Records in Brookhaven, Mississippi (not to be confused with the company of the same name from New Jersey). Brown offered Cannaday the chance to record a full-fledged album, which he did one day in 1976. Ten songs were laid down in Brown's recording studio that day, which saw release on the LP "God and Country": Again, the album proved to be popular and Cannaday would even produce 8-track tapes of it to meet the demand.

The Catahoula News Booster September 18, 1975

When the Catahoula Country Music Show ended its run, Cannaday focused solely on the church circuit and became a popular performer. He worked again with Carlton Brown in 1987, recording a bluegrass-tinged album with such musicians as Emmet Sullivan on banjo, Steve Myers on bass, and Joe Cook on mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. He kept on performing but would not record again until 2010, when he made his third album for Lighthouse Records. The label was owned by Gary Cater, a Vietnam veteran from Saint Joseph, Northeast Louisiana, who also played rhythm guitar on the album. It was followed by two more CDs in 2015 and 2019. Cannaday remained an active entertainer until 2020, then the Covid pandemic hit and he called it a day. 

Rediscovery
Rip Cannaday resides in Jonesville nowadays. He has been interviewed several times by Marshal Martin in 2024 and 2025 and has donated several recordings and pictures to the Southern Music Research Center. "In September 2024 I was in Jena for the first time. I went to a flea market and one of the vendors had a bunch of records in the middle of the stack. I pulled out 'God and Country' by Ronald 'Rip' Cannaday," Marshal recalls how he learned of him. "I said to myself 'This looks interesting' so I paid $0.50 and went on my way. I brought it home and looked at it closely and realized that all the songs are originals. Some of the songs are pretty good and I wanted to learn more. So to Google I went. The first thing that popped up was a newspaper article by him written in February 2024 so that gave me hope that he was still alive. About a month later, I called the Jena Times and they gave me his contact information. So later that evening, I called him and the rest is history. Without Rip, we wouldn’t know about the Catahoula Country Music Show or we wouldn’t know how rich Catahoula Parish is in music history."

Discography

Singles
Delta 0008: Ronald "Rip" Cannaday - Black Land Soil / I'm Just Laughing to Keep from Crying (1966)

Albums
Herald HLP-7651: Ronald (Rip) Cannaday - God and Country (1976)
Cap [unknown #]: Rip Cannaday - These Memories (1986)
Lighthouse [unknown #]: Rip Cannaday - Fond Memories and the Old Washtub (2010)
Unknown label: Rip Cannaday - In My Time (2015)
Unknown label: Rip Cannaday -  Rip Cannaday Sings True Stories (2019)

See also
• The Catahoula Country Music Show
• Ray Prince: Forgotten Louisiana Songster

Sources
• Craig Franklin: "Rip Cannaday Featured in SMRC" (The Jena Times), 2025
• Southern Music Research Center
• Discogs
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg9iqPpwtCHiDOMLCYrkv-kc4jzJFtDUq

Devon & Nancy / Luke Jones

Devon & Nancy - Set You Free (Velvet Ear 45-41072), 1972
The duo of Devon & Nancy was a local act from Marthaville, a tiny community in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. We know a bit about Devon Elburn Jones. He came from a musical family, his brother Luke was a musician, too, and Luke made at least two records under his own name. The Joneses originally hailed from Wayne County, Mississippi, but some of the siblings were drawn to Louisiana, like Devon. Their sister Nancy (1939-2025) was a good singer as well and reportedly, she sang "Crazy" just as good as Patsy Cline. You can hear her singing on this primitive but charming country performance. This Velvet Ear release was made in 1972 and was probably a vanity pressing made through Houston Recorders. It seems to have been their only release. 

Devon's brother Luther Lenwood "Luke" Jones was born February 11, 1945, and spent his service with the US Army in Germany. Coming from a musically inclined family, Luke and Devon played in the family band that performed locally in clubs and lounges. Luke Jones had at least two records out during his lifetime. One of them was on the Lou Anna label in 1979, recorded at Precision studio in Picayune, Mississippi (recorded probably simultaneously with his brother Gene's record). The disc coupled "This Feeling Deep Inside Is Killing Me", written by nearby Catahoula Parish singer Ray Prince, and a Johnny Cash cover, "Folsom Prison Blues". The other one was on Roseland Records, a small imprint from Bridge City, a New Orleans suburb. 

Devon Jones performed regularly at the 1970s version of the Louisiana Hayride. In the 1980s, he also had a radio show in Shreveport and played James Burton's club frequently. The Jones family also made a lot of private recordings which are still in the possession of family members.

Both Devon and Luke Jones were "wanderers", living in different places across the South. Luke Jones eventually moved to Northport, Alabama. He passed away from cancer on January 25, 2024, in Natchitoches. Devon Jones nowadays resides in Keithville, south of Shreveport.

Discography

Velvet Ear 45-41072: Devon & Nancy - Set You Free / He'll Walk Right Out on You (1972)
Lou Anna 101: Luke Jones & the Drifters - This Feeling Deep Inside Is Killing Me / Folsom Prison Blues (1979)
Mississippi Sound No.#: Gene Jones & the Drifters - Set You Free / Pride (1979)
Roseland 1001: Luke Jones & the Roseland Drifters - The Best I Have / House of Blue Lovers (1982)

Sources
• Luke Jones 45cat entry
• Luke Jones Find a Grave obituary
• Nancy (Jones) Lauw Find a Grave entry
• Official records accessed through Ancestry.com
• White Pages

Ray Prince

Ray Prince live on stage with his mother Josie

Ray Prince
Forgotten Louisiana Songster

Ray Prince was a local Louisiana singer, guitarist, and songwriter, who entertained audiences from the 1960s until his death in the early 2020s. In the 1960s, he was associated with legendary producer Eddie Shuler and although he submitted a few of his song works, he never recorded commercially.

Thomas Ray Prince was born on March 6, 1928, to Joseph Wilson Prince, Sr., and Josie Dees Prince in the small hamlet of Trout, LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. His mother was born in 1903 in Alabama and was said to have been a distant relative of another Alabama native: Hank Williams. Prince had an older sibling, which sadly died as an infant in 1924, a sister Rita and a younger brother Joseph Wilson Jr., who became a reverend eventually. The family was poor and picked cotton to earn a living. Prince bought his first guitar for $2, saving up his earnings from picking cotton one fall. He also learned to play fiddle.

Prince was drafted during Word War II and served in the US Army. By the early 1960s, he had established himself as a local singer and became a steady performer on Don Wiley's Catahoula Country Music Show in Catahoula Parish. Prince also played the local churches during the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, Prince put on solo shows at the Fort Theatre in Harrisonburg and they sometimes developed into jam sessions as everyone who could play or sing could join him on stage. Some of the musicians he performed with included Emmet Haywood on bass, Altlee Grantham on harmonica, and his brother Joseph Wilson on guitar. Prince sometimes also performed on radio and TV, being invited to KNOE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana, one time with Grantham.

Catahoula News, December 19, 1963

Prince was a talented and very busy songwriter, sometimes working with his mother. It is said he wrote several hundreds songs during the decades, though the majority of them have never been registered or properly documented. Story goes that Prince and his mother Josie were the original composers of "Wings of a Dove", a smash country and pop hit for Ferlin Husky in 1960. "Ray told me that story several times. He said that he and his mother wrote the song and sent it to a Nashville publishing company from an ad that was in a country music magazine. I absolutely believe him, I never knew of Ray to lie about anything. Back in the day Nashville publishing companies were known for stealing songs," Rodney Hutchison, a local Catahoula Parish resident, recalls. This story have been brought up by different people who knew Prince. The songwriting credit on Husky's record release went to Bob Ferguson, who claimed to write it in 1958.

Prince regularly worked with another local singer, Rip Cannaday. Both men contacted producer Eddie Shuler, owner of Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the mid 1960s to pitch their songs to him and maybe even to land a recording contract of their own. However, nothing happened. Shuler took four of Prince's songs and registered them with BMI (adding his name as a co-writer), though no recordings by him or other artists surfaced. Those songs included "Diddly Daddily Doo", "I'm Putting Her Picture Away", "Not Much Love Anymore", and "Sands or Arabia". However, one of his songs was recorded - by Luke Jones, a local Natchitoches Parish country singer.

While Cannaday recorded several albums throughout the decades, Prince never recorded commercially. However, Cannaday taped many home recordings of him and Prince singing songs together, sometimes even with Prince's mother Josie. Some of these tapes were recently submitted to the Southern Music Research Center through the efforts of Marshal Martin.

Prince was married to Esther Bradford, meeting her late in his life. Esther also sang, and she can be heard on some of Prince's home recordings as well. Music never became his main income and the Prince family lived a poor but happy life. When a guitar string broke, he either used old strings his friend Rip Cannaday or other broken strings to fill in.

Prince spent all his life around Harrisonburg, Louisiana, and continued to play churches and at nursing homes even as an elderly man. Ray Prince passed away on January 4, 2021, at the age of 92 years in Pollock, Louisiana. He is buried at Belah Cemetery in Trout, La Salle Parish. Many people in both Catahoula and LaSalle Parishes still remember Prince very fondly.

See also

• Catahoula Country Music Show

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• BMI search

• Offical records accessed through Ancestry.com

Elsa (Al) Robinson

Al Robinson, late 1940s

Elsa "Al" Robinson - The Friendly Hill Billy

My good friend Marshal pointed me towards another local Louisiana musician and sooner than later, I found myself researching the story of Elsa "Al" Robinson, the "friendly hill billy". He seems to have been one of those persons that were larger than life. Among his many occupations, he was an insurance salesman, a songwriter, singer, radio announcer, politician, and probably more. He worked on local radio in both Arkansas and Louisiana, although the latter became his adopted home. He is not to be confused with several showmen of the same name: he is neither blues singer Alvin "Al" Robinson from New Orleans, nor Jamaican reggae artist Al Robinson nor ventriloquist Al Robinson.

From the research I did, it seems to me that Robinson was not only quite a "talker" but also a very conservative man. Therefore, I'd like to point out that much information used here came from the liner notes of his sole album, which he wrote himself, or from newspaper advertisements or published political statements that also used his own words.

Born Elsa Boyd Robinson on November 30, 1910, in West Tennessee, he grew up on a farm learning about and working in live stock and farming at daytime and practicing on his guitar at night. In the late 1920s, he was intrigued by the music of America's blue yodeler, Jimmie Rodgers, who became his main influence. By his own account, he graduated from high school (although census documents indicate he left elementary school after completing the 7th grade) around the same time.

He moved to Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, in 1931, and began broadcasting on KALB in Alexandria four years later. On those early shows, he appeared solo with his guitar but was not paid for his appearances. For some time, Robinson worked on a drag line on the banks of the Red River, where wrote many a song along the way. By 1940, he lived in a rented house in Alexandria with his first wife Jessie Edna and worked as an insurance salesman.

World War II interrupted his career. Robinson intended to join the US Navy in February 1942 but was rejected. A year later, he began serving in the US Army for a short time but was honorably discharged due to disability in September 1943. Robinson then became involved in local politics, running unsuccessfully for the Rapides Parish house of representatives. This setback ended his political ambitions or some years but he kept on supporting other local politicians if he considered them worth it. He continued his profession as an entertainer as well.

In 1944, it was reported that he performed on KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas, followed by a stint on KLCN in Blytheville, Arkansas. According to Robinson, he worked with such artists as Wayne Raney, Ray Duke, the Wilburn Brothers and Eddy Arnold while at KLCN. In 1945, Robinson returned to Louisiana and began singing over KALB in Alexandria from 1945 until 1946. At the same time, he revamped his act by founding a band, the Red River Ramblers. Robinson was then heard on KWKH in Shreveport from 1946 until 1948, again on KALB around 1950 and early 1951, and later that year, appeared on KVOB. Along the way, he also spent time on WNOE and WWL in New Orleans, WFAA in Dallas, and on WREC in Memphis. In those early years, he often appeared as "Elsa Robinson, the friendly hill billy" whereas he would later change his stage name to Elsa (Al) Robinson and finally to "Uncle Al" Robinson. He began a longtime association with KSYL in 1952, which would last until 1960 when the station's manager shortened Robinson's airtime, who in turn left the station. 

By 1950, he had married his second wife Clara and was living with her and their three sons in Tangipahoa Parish. Apart from entertaining, Robinson remained active in politics throughout the years and in 1952, he ran for Congress. His political agenda was ultra-conservative, to say the least, and he supported racial segregation as much as he wanted to stop immigration and supported outlawing communism. He entered the race of the House of Representatives again in 1955 and for the Congress in 1958 but apparently success eluded him.

Billboard April 24, 1962

Instead, he concentrated on his music and radio work. By April 1962, he was manager of KWCL in Oak Grove, Louisiana, a small country station in the tri-state area of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. A year later, he had a show on KVOP in Bastrop, Louisiana, in the same region. In 1966, he purchased a small, "flat broke" station in Centreville, Mississippi, and "made it pay off within a short time" (as Robinson put it in his own words). However, "two years later the Civil Rights people, in rioting from Baton Rouge to Memphis, over the route I was on, I was wiped out, my station was completely destroyed. A thorough job was done, they wrecked all equipment and had it on fire when I reached there to open up in the early morning [...]."

After this incident, Robinson mostly concentrated on writing and performing music. In the 1970s, he released what seems to be his only commercial record, an album entitled "Funny Facts and Songs" on the Slidell, Louisiana, based independent One-Way Records. It seems it sold in good quantities around Alexandria as Marshal Martin found five copies of it in just one year.

Elsa "Al" Robinson passed away on September 3, 1993.

Sources

• Official cencus records accessed through Ancestry.com

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Several newspapter items from the Alexandria News Talk
• Al Robinson: "Funny Facts and Songs" (One-Way Records), liner notes