Snuffy Smith

Snuffy Smith

The Bass Picking Chaperone from Miami

The name of Snuffy Smith is possibly known to many people in the United States - probably best known because of the movie and comic character Private Snuffy Smith. There were also a couple of musicians known as Snuffy Smith, including a bluegrass musician for North Carolina and an artist that recorded for the Star Talent and Tempwood V labels (could be two artists as well). And there was Snuffy Smith from Miami, who began his career in music in Miami's country and rockabilly scene but, as most of his fellow Miami musicians, eventually headed to Nashville.

Snuffy Smith, 1958

Raymond Carlisle "Snuffy" Smith was born in 1936 in Miami, Florida. At some point, he took up the guitar but eventually chose the bass to be his instrument. While in high school, he became acquainted with three years younger singer and guitarist Kent Westberry, who formed a band known as "The Chaperones" with Smith on bass on guitar, Wayne Gray on lead guitar, and Louie Stewart on drums.

The quartet made a couple of recordings at Harold Doane's ART recording studio, releasing their debut "My Baby Don't Rock" b/w "No Place to Park" on ART #172 on the summer of 1958. The songs were also released on the Trail label, owned by singer and promoter Ronald Killette alias Buck Trail, with whom the Chaperones also recorded a few titles that saw release on Trail as well.

Smith eventually dropped out of the band but remained friends with Westberry. Smith then played with several other Miami outfits, including the house band of Happy Harold Thaxton's Old South Jamboree stage show. Westberry, Smith, and other Miami musicians such as Charlie McCoy, Wayne Gray, and Bill Johnson made trips to Nashville and many of them eventually settled there. Such was the case with Smith, who recorded a single with Westberry as "Kent & Snuffy" for the MGM label, "Bye Bye Buddy" b/w "Billy Blue Eyes" (#K12883. early 1960), which went nowehere, however.

Smith played the clubs around Nashville and soon made himself a name in the Nashville country music scene. Following an engagement with Brenda Lee's backing band, the Casuals, he joined Marty Robbins' group as a bass player in the early 1960s. He later toured with Little Jimmy Dickens' Country Boys across the United States and finished his musical career with a stint in Tex Ritter's Boll Weevils (which also included at one time or another Kent Westberry and Wayne Gray).

While working with Ritter, Smith decided to quit the music business and stay at home to care for his family. He earned a living working with several car dealerships and spent his later life in Hermitage, Tennessee, a district of  Nashville. Smith passed away on June 18, 2012.

Sources

• Obituary

• Kent Westberry Rockin' Country Style entry

Jimmy Hartley

The Orange State Playboy

The Story of Jimmy Hartley

Miami offered an astonishingly high number of local country music singers during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. One of them was Jimmy Hartley, who managed to break into the circle of Miami's top country musicians of the 1950s.

James "Jimmy" Hartley was active in Miami as a musician as early as the early 1950s. Unfortunately, I was not able to come up with substantial information about his earlier life. In 1954, Hartley held two sessions in Miami for the DeLuxe label. DeLuxe belonged to Syd Nathan's King Records company in Cincinnati but had an office in Miami, which was headed by Henry Stone. During 1953 and 1954, Stone spotted several local Miami country singers and set up sessions for them. Hartley's first session took place on July 16 and produced a cover of Terry Fell's "Don't Drop It" and "Cold Moods", which appeared the following month on DeLuxe #2023.

A second session followed on August 10 and "Cinnamon Sinner" b/w "Jennie from Jamaica" (DeLuxe #2026, September 1954) was the result. None of the two discs seem to have sold in attractive quantities so Hartley was not called back into the studio.

Billboard November 23, 1956

In the mid 1950s, Hartley appeared regularly on stage, radio, and TV shows around Miami. He was a cast member of the Gold Coast Jamboree in 1956 and late that same year, local C&W DJ Cracker Jim Brooker started a new Saturday evening TV show on KITV entitled "Big Orange Jubilee" with Hartley being a featured performer on the show. He was also the leader of the house band, aptly named the Orange State Playboys. Both the show's and the band's name were references to the countless orange plantations in Florida. By 1958, there was a live show and dance called the Orange State Jamboree in Miami, also featuring Hartley and the Orange State Playboys.

Even after the show came to an end, Hartley kept the band name. I did not find any mention of him in the late 1950s and early to mid 1960s. In 1968, he had another record released on the Orange label, which was likely his own imprint. The disc featured "Telling It Straight in '68" part 1 and 2, a political comment about Lyndon B. Johnson, presidential candidates Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, the Vietnam War, and finally supporting ultra-conservative Alabama governor George Wallace.

What happened to Jimmy Hartley is not known to me. If anyone has more info on him, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via e-mail.

Discography

DeLuxe 2023: Don't Drop It / Cold Moods (1954)
DeLuxe 2026: Cinnamon Sinner / Jennie from Jamaica (1954)
Orange W-1968: Telling It Straight in '68, Part 1 / Telling It Straight in '68, Part 2 (1968)

Sources

• 45cat entry and 45worlds/78rpm entry

• A King Records Discography

Tex Dean

Tex Dean, the Carefree Cowboy

A Rodeo Rider in Miami

Tex Dean was a rodeo performer and country music artist that roamed the United States extensively. He made appearances on many radio stations and for some time, was a featured performer on Miami radio. He even managed rock'n'roll singer Wally Deane for some time.

Tex Dean was born in either Bivins or Midland, Texas, depending on which source you believe, and left the parental farm at age 13 to join a wild west rodeo show. Eventually, he led his own traveling show but sold the venture and became a professional trick and rodeo rider. Besides all this wild west entertainment, Dean was also musically inclined and would play guitar or sing a song once in a while.

Escanaba Press August 9, 1948
(Escanaba, Michigan)

Dean closed down his rodeo show around 1947, gave up riding and and went into the music business. He started his own music traveling show and his own band, the Carefree Cowboys, which included also "Texas Cowgirl" Ginger Rody (stage name for Dean's wife Ruth), Cousin "Take-It-Away-Leon" (who might have been Leon McAuliffe), and others. Dean and the Carefree Cowboys appeared on many stations throughout the years. He made stops at WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia, KRLK in Little Rock, Arkansas, and by 1953 at KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana. In between, he could be heard on WWPB in Miami as well as WKAT in Miami Beach. He was on the latter station as early as March 1948 and Dean would return to the Miami area frequently throughout the 1950s.

In 1953, Dean began recording for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet record label from Jackson, Mississippi. Dean and his band recorded a session at ACA Studio in Houston, Texas, on February 23, 1953, which produced four tracks. "Dreamy Georgiana Moon" b/w "Naponee" was his debut release on Trumpet #202 in August that year but seems to have gone nowhere sales-wise. The two remaining tracks, "Moonshine in the North Carolina Hills" and "S.P. Blues" were paired for Trumpet #203 but in the end remained unissued. The band on these cuts included Dean on vocals and guitar, his wife Ruth on guitar, Herb Remington on steel guitar, Tommy Curter on fiddle, and George Clark on bass.

Probably in early 1955, Dean and his wife Ruth became acquainted with a young singer from Washington, DC, named Wallace Van Riper "Wally" Deane (the similar surname was a coincide). They discovered him when he was playing the Shoremeade Hotel in Miami and took a liking at him. Wally Deane was an aspiring rock'n'roll singer, trying to break into the music business, and Dean began managing him, probably hoping to get a bit of the cake as well.

Billboard June 20, 1953

A few months afterwards, Dean contacted Lilian McMurry, who liked what she heard and saw Wally Deane as a potential answer to Elvis Presley. Sessions for both artists followed in spring of 1955 at McMurry's Diamond Studio in Jackson, Mississippi, and a second single appeared under Tex Dean's name for Trumpet's follow-up label Globe, "I'm Sleepy (Show Me the Way to Go Home No.2)" b/w "Jealous Teardrops" on Globe #235 (a third song, "I'm Glad for Your Sake", remained in the vaults). Wally Deane would play music sticks on this record as well. Other group members included Ruth Dean on vocals, Billy Dear on guitar, Red Thomas on fiddle, David Campbell on piano, Johnny Porter on bass, and Johnny Laughlin on drums. Wally Deane in turn cut "Wabash Cannonball" and "I'm Losing You", which remained unissued, but a second session produced a rock'n'roll release out on Globe under his own name, "Cool, Cool Daddy" b/w "It Ain't Fair, Baby" (the B side being a duet with Ginger Rody, #238).

Apparently, none of the discs sold especially well and their stint with Trumpet/Globe ended. Dean's association with Wally Deane broke up and Wally went on to record in Miami for the Arctic label in the late 1950s and early 1960s as well as recording some unreleased demos. Tex Dean also made some more records with a vocalist named Buddy Main, recording at Harold Doane's ART studio but the songs "Is It Wrong?" and "It's Those Memories of You" disappeared in Doane's vaults.

Tex and his wife went to Virginia, where they continued to perform but dropped out of sight at some point. I found no info when or where Tex Dean passed away.

Discography

Trumpet 202: Tex Dean & the Carefree Cowboys - Dreamy Georgiana Moon / Naponee (1953)
Trumpet 203: Tex Dean & the Carefree Cowboys - Moonshine in the North Carolina Hills / S.P. Blues (unrel.)
Globe 235: Tex Dean & his Texans - I'm Sleepy (Show Me the Way to Go Home No.2) / Jealous Teardrops (1956)
ART No.#: Buddy Main with Tex Dean & his Band - Is It Wrong? / It's Those Memories of You (acetate, unrel.)

Sources

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• 45cat entry and 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Wally Deane website

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Cracker Jim Brooker

Cracker Jim Brooker - A Miami County Music Veteran

"Cracker Jim" Brooker was one of the most influential DJs in Miami country music. But his efforts were not limited only to South Florida, he was also one of the founders of the Country Music Association (CMA), one of the driving forces of country music business and industry to this day. Brooker was a stalwart in Miami from the  1940s until the 1960s, promoting country music in the area like no one else probably did. He brought many Grand Ole Opry acts to Miami, including Hank Snow, Webb Pierce, and Johnny Cash. He was also an avid salesman, selling goods of every kind on his radio shows.

Information on Brooker is scarce though he played an influential role in the history of country music. I reconstructed his full name James Earl Brooker from official census records that can be accessed at ancestry.com. Though, I cannot really determine which of the many men named James E. Brooker he is. Born probably around 1911 in Georgia, Brooker was living in Daytona Beach, Florida, with his wife Mabel by 1935 and worked as a salesman. 

Brooker came to Miami in 1943 but World War II interrupted his life. However, he had started his career as a disc jockey on WBAY by 1947. By December 1950, he had switched to WMIE, Miami's primary country music outlet at that time. He not only had his own DJ show, which broadcast live from a booth at Shell's City, but also put on live stage shows with local talent and even bigger shows featuring top Nashville stars at the Dade County and Dinner Key Auditoriums. He also dabbled in TV, hosting on Saturday afternoons "Cactus Jim's Talent Ranch" on WTVJ (which, at one time, featured a young Kent Westberry) and the Big Orange Jubilee for some time. Although Brooker had found his profession in the radio and TV business that did not mean he gave up being a salesman. He continued to sell all kinds of goods via his radio shows.

Cracker Jim Brooker, ca. 1954

Contrary to many other Miami country DJs like Happy Harold, Uncle Harve, Uncle Martin Wales, Dale Wasson, or Buddy Starcher, Brooker was not a musician. Though, he was so popular in Dade County that Nashville and other parts of the country got notice of him. He was a featured act on the first Hank Williams memorial day held in Alabama in 1954. In addition, he attended Country Music DJ Conventions there as early as 1954 (they had not begun until 1952) and connected with the scene there, becoming acquainted with many of the influential people. Brooker was a member of the Country Music DJ Association and also its president at one time. The association held its annual meeting in the winter of 1957 in Miami at the Gay's Everglades Hotel but was slowly dying, however, and it was decided to form a new organization that was not only for DJs but for every aspect of the business. The Country Music Association came into existence in September 1958 and Brooker served on the first board of directors.

Though Brooker left the board eventually, he retained close connections to the CMA throughout the years. He continued to spin records on WMIE but added another show five days a week on WEDR in the summer of 1963. A year later, when WMIE was sold and changed programming, he switched to WIII and WQAM. He continued to promote country music concerts in the Miami-Dade area, including those by Johnny Cash, whom he knew since the 1950s and who came frequently to South Florida.

It was Brooker who connected Cash with Ervin T. Rouse, composer of "Orange Blossom Special". Cash would record it and made it a part of his routine live set. Cash remembered in an interview for "Life Magazine" in 1994: "I recorded 'Orange Blossom Special' in the mid '60s, and in those days everybody that recorded it claimed the 'arrangement' because no one knew who wrote it. But Mother Maybelle Carter was at the session, and I asked her, 'Do you know who really wrote 'Orange Blossom Special?' She said, 'Sure I do. Ervin Rouse and his brother Gordon.' And I said, 'Where are they?' She said, 'Last time I heard, they were in Florida.' It was the only clue I had. I called a disc jockey down there named Cracker Jim Brooker, and I asked Cracker Jim, 'Did you ever hear of Ervin Rouse?' And he said, 'Aw, I know Ervin. He lives with the Seminoles out in the swamp, and he makes swamp buggies for a living.' I said, 'You got any idea how I could talk to him?' And he said, 'Sure. I'll announce it on the air: 'Ervin, call me and I'll give you Johnny Cash's number.' It wasn't an hour till Ervin Rouse called me from some little settlement in the swamps. I said, 'Ervin, I happen to be coming to Miami on tour. Would you come to my show and do 'Orange Blossom Special' with me?' He and Gordon came in the clothes they worked in. I brought Ervin up to play the fiddle, and he absolutely killed them. At the end of the song, they were applauding and he literally got down on his knees. He was such a sweet, humble man. Gordon's still living. I still see him every time I'm down there."

"Another Cracker Jim Promotion" - Brooker promoted country music events
at the Dade County and Dinner Key Auditoriums with great success

By the mid 1960s, Brooker dropped out of the picture. If anyone has more information about Brooker or memories concerning his shows, please feel free to contact me.

Sources
• The Montgomery Advertiser (September 30, 1954)
• Country Music Association: CMA Honors Its 60th Anniversary (see also Randy Noles' book "Orange Blossom Boys")
• Entries by Don Boyd on PBase.com: [1], [2]
• Bluegrass Messengers: Orange Blossom Special - Version 2, Johnny Cash
• Ancentry.com
• Kent Westberry: "I've Got a Song to Write" (Dorrance Publishing Co), 2020, page 6

Uncle Martin Wales

Uncle Martin Wales in the WBAY studio (Coral Gables, Florida),
ca. late 1940s or early 1950s

The First Hillbilly of Florida

The Story of "Uncle" Martin Wales

Uncle Martin Wales was one of the mainstays of Miami country music, possibly being the most enduring radio personality of the area.

Martin Smyth Wales was born on August 12, 1912, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Charles Elliot and Sarah B Wales. Wales' ancestors had been living in Minnesota since the mid 19th century. Music and performing was an early passion of young Martin Wales, as he entertained soldiers at a gathering at his family's house at the early age of six years.

By 1930, Wales had taken up singing and playing guitar professionally and set out on his own. He started his career in 1930 in Billings, Montana, where he "combined announcing with hillbilly singing" according to his obituary in the Palm Beach Post. He then spent some time in a Canadian logger camp and as a beachcomber on South Pacific islands.

In 1934, Wales spent his holidays in Miami, Florida, and liked it so much he stayed for the rest of his life. He married Vivian M. Stanton in 1938 and started appearing on Miami radio in the 1940s. In 1941, he was a performer on WKAT in Miami Beach. It was at that time that he invented the character of "Uncle Martin", singing old-time songs with a fake beard. He became station manager of WIOD but retained his show on WKAT (where he hosted the "Frosty Martin Show") and in 1947, introduced "Uncle Martin's Square Dance" on WBAY in Coral Gables. In 1951, he divorced from his first wife and married Betty M. Carson the same year.

He also made the transition to television in the early 1950s. In 1953, WITV was started in Fort Lauderdale with a country music show entitled "Sunset Ranch", hosted by Wales and Miss Molly Turner (who later became a popular newscaster in Miami). In contrast to many other early TV shows, it was not filmed in a studio but outdoor on what looked like a ranch (or, on rainy days, from a small cabin). The show featured a lot of local talent, including Eddie Thorpe, Happy Harold Thaxton, Buddy Starcher, and Elaine Rouse, among others.

By 1954, Wales had switched to radio WINZ. Like many of his fellow radio performers, Wales did not record much during his long career. One session by him is documented for King Records' DeLuxe subsidiary label, which had a Miami office headed by Henry Stone and therefore cut sessions on a couple of local performers. On January 1, 1954, Wales recorded two songs, "Sweeter Than the Flowers" and "If You Haven't Written Your Mother", which stayed unreleased, unfortunately.

Wales went out of the business in the 1960s or 1970s, after 30 years of Miami broadcasting. He passed away on March 28, 2003, in Hobe Sound, Florida, at the age of 90 years.

See also

• Remembering Happy Harold - A Miami Country Music Pioneer

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Donn R. Cole, Jr.: "Towers in the Sand: The History of Florida Broadcasting" (North Loop Books)

• Sales Management, Vol. 48 (Rutgers University), 1941

• "Hearings" (United States Congress), page 1145

• "Broadcasting, Telecasting", Broadcasting Publications (1947)

Buddy Starcher

The Wandering Boy from West Virginia
The Story of Buddy Starcher in Miami

Probably nobody embodied the rambling 1930s country radio singer better than Buddy Starcher. The West Virginia native appeared on dozens of different radio stations from the late 1920s up to the 1960s. In the early to mid 1950s, Starcher was living and working in Miami, where he appeared on different radio stations and was part of the city's music scene. While we'll look on his whole career, we'll also focus on his Miami years in this post.

Early Life
Born on March 16, 1906, near Ripley, Jackson County, West Virginia, Oby Edgar Starcher was widely known as "Buddy" from an early age. Reportedly, he did not even knew his real first name until he was a young man. His family were longtime residents of the area and one of his ancestors was the founding father of Ripley. He grew up in adjacent Nicholas County and soon learned to play banjo and guitar, accompanying his father Homer Francis Starcher, who was a fiddler, at local dances.

First Steps and Wandering Years

Smiley Sutter and Buddy Starcher,
late 1930s

Starcher enjoyed his first taste of music business when he won a talent contest in Baltimore, Maryland, and won a spot on the city's WFBR station. This marked the beginning of a long career as a radio entertainer and Starcher would criss-cross the country, hopping from one radio stations to another. Frequent stints included those at WCHS in Charleston, West Virginia, where he also appeared on the Old Farm Hour, WMMN in Fairmont, West Virginia, where he started the Sagebrush Roundup, and WSVA in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Until 1937, he appeared solo on radio and personal appearances but founded a band in 1937, the Mountaineers, to enhance the act. Lee Moore and Smiley Sutter were early members of this outfit.

World War II took many of the members overseas, which broke the band up, but Starcher stayed behind and continued his career. During this time, he moved west to KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa, and KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa. By 1944, he had returned to West Virginia and started recording transcriptions the following year. This enabled him to appear on multiple stations simultaneously, a practice he would continue well into the 1950s.

1948 advertisement for Gretsch guitars
featuring Buddy Starcher

In June 1946, he married band mate Mary Ann Estes. Around the the same time, he operated his own country music park, a venue format that was popular during these years in the northern and eastern states. His popularity had grown so much that a recording contract with Bill McCall's California based 4 Star Records was the result. During his time with 4 Star, he scored one hit with his own "I'll Still Write Your Name in the Sand", reaching #8 on Billboard's Best Selling Folk Records chart. He also went into partnership with songwriter Marion Goddard to found the Dixie and Autograph record labels, on which he recorded such artists as the Franklin Brothers, Big Slim the Lone Cowboy, Rusty Gabbard, and Bobby Cook. However, Starcher and Goddard failed to built up a distribution network and the labels folded eventually.

Starcher had enjoyed a drink from the time he had appeared on barn dances with his father but during the 1930s and 1940s, he became more and more dependent on alcohol. A radio pastor took care of him and finally, in 1948, he overcame his addiction and became a newborn Christ. Though, he continued his work in radio and music business but often enriched programs and appearances with religious material and topics. In 1949, he signed with Columbia and recorded mostly sacred material but despite his popularity on air, failed to achieve another hit record.

In Miami
While he was working in Philadelphia on two stations in late 1950, a year later he had relocated to Miami Beach, Florida, where he worked as program director of WMBM and also had his own DJ show there. Also on the station at that time was the comedy duo of Salt and Peanuts, whom Starcher knew for some 20 years by then since all three of them had worked at WCHS in the early 1930s.

Starcher's continuing religious inspiration found express in the fact that he was part of a committee that organized a special service held in January 1953 by Reverend Billy Graham at Miami's Orange Bowl, which drew about 25,000 people. Until the end of 1952, Starcher could be heard over WMBM but left as the new year began and started working with WMIE.

The station was a driving force in Miami's country music scene in the 1950s and Starcher was in good company there as luminaries such as Cracker Jim Brooker, Happy Harold Thaxton, and Uncle Harve Spivey were working the same station. Although he had left Miami by March 1954 to work at WESC in Greenville, South Carolina, where he also managed the station, Starcher obviously split his time between Miami and Greenville.

In July 1954, he held a session for the DeLuxe record label, a subsidiary company of King Records from Cincinnati, Ohio. The Miami office was headed by Henry Stone, who was an influential and well-connected music business man. Stone scouted several Miami singers for the label, including Starcher. Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies lists the session for July 19, 1954, at the WMBM studio, though it seems more probable to me that the session was done at WMIE. Four songs were recorded, "String of Broken Hearts", "We Won't Be Wed", "I Was Crying Then (But You're Crying Now)", and "Don't Call No More", of which the last two saw release on DeLuxe #2025 in September 1954. It remained Starcher's only disc for the label.

By late 1954, Starcher was general manager of WLBS in Birmingham, Alabama, but was heard over different stations at that time, also including WMIE. Being the wandering boy he ever was, he had left Miami for good by May 1956 and became station manager at KCUL, Fort Worth, Texas, where he directed the station's new Cowtown Hoedown live stage show, working with such acts as Jackie Lee Cochran, the Callahan Brothers, Charlie Adams, and Frankie Miller. He would not return to Southern Florida again - at least not for radio work.

The Starday and Boone Years
In 1959, Starcher began recording for Starday Records, which had become a home for many older, traditional country musicians like him. The following year, he returned to West Virginia and started his own morning TV show on WCHS-TV in Charleston. This show lasted until 1966 and held Starcher's popularity in West Virginia and in some parts of Ohio high.

In 1961, Starcher had founded another record label, B.E.S. Records, which released a string of singles until 1965. One of those was Starcher's own "History Repeats Itself" b/w "Sniper's Hill" (B.E.S. #45-91) in 1965. The disc was successful enough that it was picked up by the bigger Boone label and it was  "History Repeats Itself," a spoken word number recounting the parallels between the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, which finally reached #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and #39 on Billboard's Hot 100. The accompanying album of the same name peaked at #37. It was Starcher's second and last big hit.

Starcher's newly found fame led to a few releases on Decca but none could repeat the success. His cover of Johnny Sea's "Day of Decision" went to #131 in June 1966. He eventually ceased recording and went into retirement in 1976 and moved to Craigsville, Nicholas County, West Virginia. Though, he remained active and partly worked as a car salesman and performed occasional reunions of old live stage show casts, like the Old Farm Hour and Sagebrush Roundup reunions.

At age 92, Starched moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to be in the range of medical facilities and passed away on November 2, 2001. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Sources
• Buddy Starcher entries at 45cat and 45worls/78rpm
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entries
• Hillbilly-Music.com entry
• West Virginia Music Hall of Fame
• Hul Herald obtiuary
• Ivan M. Tribe: "Live Country Music on TV!"

Old Floridy Barn Dance

The Old Floridy Barn Dance of Uncle Harve's Ragtime Wranglers

The "Old Floridy Barn Dance", also called "Old Florida Barn Dance" at times, was a live stage show centered around and promoted by Miami western swing band leader "Uncle" Harve Spivey. His band, the Ragtime Wranglers, were the main act of the show and provided musical and comedy entertainment for the audiences.

Spivey came to Miami in the early 1940s and by the end of World War II, he had found entrance into the city's country music scene. By early 1948, he had assembled the Ragtime Wranglers. Although it was big band and popular dance music that was much more popular in Miami, there was an appetite for rural music as well. Spivey and the band quickly became a popular act in this field and started appearing at different venues in the area.

Soon, Spivey developed his own stage show, the Old Floridy Barn Dance. This show took place on friday nights at the Dade County Armory in Miami. Portions of the show aired over WWPB. The Ragtime Wranglers played a mixture of straight country music and hot western swing to the audiences. Bass player "Happy" Harold Thaxton also entertained folks with a comedy routine "Happy and Slappy", which he performed with other members of the group. Following the stage show, a barn dance took place that was called by Spivey, who was also a "champion square dance caller".

In 1950, Spivey added the singing Webb Sisters to his act (one of them, June Webb, would find moderate success in Nashville). Sometimes, the show also featured other local singers such as Rusty Pennynail and even popular music bands like Chet Springer's Popular Dance Orchestra. At times, the Old Floridy Barn Dance set out to appear at other venues such as the Biscayne Palace. 

It is hard to determine how long the Old Floridy Barn Dance lasted. It began likely in around May 1948 but by July 1949, Spivey had signed a contract with the local Wometco Theater chain, which presented him and the Ragtime Wranglers five nights a week at its different theaters of the area. In addition, they had switched to WGBS in May that year. In 1954, the Ragtime Wranglers disbanded and their busy performance schedule came to an end.

If anyone has memories of attending Old Floridy Barn Dance shows, of Uncle Harve and the Ragtime Wranglers or of Miami country music in general, please feel free to leave a comment or send an email.

Dade County Armory, prob. 1940s, with military vehicles in front of the building

See also

• Remembering Happy Harold - A Miami Country Music Pioneer

• The Old South Jamboree

Recommended reading

• "A Music Revolt in Southern Florida - the Story of Uncle Harve and Mida Records" (American Music Magazine #144, April 2017)

Sources

• Thanks to Bill Spivey for providing a wealth of information on his father's activies in Miami during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Rit Corso on Perfect

Here is an addition to the Perfect label history courtesy of Joe Schmidt. Perfect was part of Harold Doane's little recording empire in Miami and is best known for releasing Tommy Spurlin's country and rockabilly sides. Doane also released a couple of Latin Jazz recordings on Perfect.

BUT: does anyone out there have info on this release? My search came up with nothing about the artist, Rit Corso. The release date of it must be around 1956-1957 (which would be the latest release on the label). I haven't heard the songs either, so this is quite a mystery. The songwriter on both sides was Nellie Bonita Beulke (1896-1973), who was a professional composer from Idaho, it seems. The earliest effort I found was "Love's Question" from 1948. She also penned "Beat, Beat, Beat It" from 1954. "Sweetest Voice on Earth," one of the songs on the Perfect single, was also released by Larry Reed on the Nashville based Deb Records in 1960 (Deb #11760). Beulke co-wrote the song in 1955 with Ted G. Ax, with whom she also wrote "My Cuddle Up Huddle Up Lovin' Baby." Ax also penned "It's Heaven to Be Loving You" in 1955. Beulke also co-wrote "I am a Failure at Everything But Love" with Quincy S. Spann. She died in 1973 and is buried at Gamlin Lake Cemetery in Sagle, Idaho.

See also
• The ART record label
• The (short) Story of Perfect Records
• Miami's AFS label

Catalog of Copyright Entries

Billboard June 5, 1948

More from Bey Ireland

 Bey Ireland - My Bimini Baby (Panama P108), 1959

Following my recent post, in which I explained the general facts about the flip side of this disc, regarding song titles, songwriter, artists and record label - we will go deeper into the history of one of the artists, Bey Ireland namely.

The man with the strange sounding name was apparently a South Florida resident in the 1950s. He first appeared on Prom Records, which was part of Henry Lapidus' Synthetic Plastics record empire out of Newark, New Jersey. The budget label, which featured cheap versions of the actual hits of the day, was renamed "Promenade" in 1956. Ireland cut a few songs for the label in late 1955, including a cover of Georgie Shaw's hit "No Arms Can Ever Hold You." The recording was paired on Prom #1133 with "Dogface Soldier" by Maury Laws and his Orchestra on the slip side. It was also released on a Prom EP #701 at the same time. In 1956, he appeared with a version of "To You My Love" on Prom EP #714.

About three years later, Ireland began recording for Harold Doane. Doane ran the American Recording and Transcription Service (often shortened to ART) in Miami and had made himself a name with the first commerical recordings of goombay and calypso music in the early 1950s. By the mid to late 1950s, Doane also recorded local rock'n'roll as well as country acts and released the results on his three small record labels: Art, Perfect, and AFS. Ireland first cut a disc for AFS, featuring "Old Chuck Wagon" b/w "A Stocking Full of Love" (AFS #304, 1958), accompanied by the Stardusters. Likely that same year, he followed up on Art with "Snap, Crackle and Rock" b/w "Baby Sitter's Rock." Both songs were written by Ruth Hardt (see the previous post for more info on her) and Ireland's versions were rollicking rock'n'roll performances. He was again backed by the Stardusters as well as the Tommy Miles Trio. As Doane's companies had no financial means to put behind the releases, both records stood no chance on the national market. If at all, they were good local sellers.

About a year later, Ireland recorded Ruth Hardt's "My Bimini Baby" and "Popcorn and Candy Bars." They were issued on Herb Wolff's Panama label in Miami. However, success eluded Ireland again and at some point afterwards, he made the move to Nashville, epicenter of the country music industry. Or, at least, he recorded exclusively for Nashville record labels from that point on. It is likely that his extensive tour activies also began around this time.

In 1964, Ireland appeared on the RIC label with one single, followed by "You Gotta Have That Feeling" b/w "Someday I'm Gonna Go Back Home" for the Newport label in 1966, a snarky rock'n'roll and country flavoured garage outing. While Ireland had relied on other people's song material previously, he had begun recording his own compositions by then. All in all, he registered a total of 13 songs with BMI over the years. Also in 1966, he cut "All I Want for Christmas is a Go-Go Girl" for Newport, which developed some underground fame in present times due to the its lyrics and the rocking garage sound. He had another disc on Newport, one on JED and possibly his last one on the country label NSD in 1981.

Ireland toured extensively with his band across the south during the 1970s and 1980s. We last find mention of him in the Alabama Journal on December 31, 1985, as he played a dance on New Year's Eve in Montgomery. By that time, he had possibly settled in Alabama, as he was also billed as "The Alabama Flash" on the picture sleeve of his JED single. What happened to him afterwards has not been revealed yet. There are hints that he already passed away.

Discography

Prom 1133: Bey Ireland - No Arms Can Ever Hold You / Maury Laws & his Orchestra - Dogface Soldier (1955) (also on Prom EP #107 + 3 tracks by other artists)
Prom 714: Bey Ireland - To You My Love (+ 3 tracks by other artists)
AFS 304: Bey Ireland and the Stardusters - Old Chuck Wagon / The Stardusters - A Stocking Full of Love (1958)
Art 177: Bey Ireland with the Tri-Tones & the Stardusters - Snap, Crackle and Rock / Baby Sitter's Rock (1958)
Panama 108: Bey Ireland - Popcorn and Candy Bars / My Bimini Baby (1959)
RIC S 120-64: Bey Ireland - It's Love / Don't Let It Happen to You (1964)
Newport 101: Bey Ireland and the Emeralds - You Gotta Have That Feeling / Someday I'm Gonna Go Back Home (1966)
Newport 102: Bey Ireland - All I Want for Christmas Is a Go-Go Girl / Christmas Without You (1966)
Newport 103: Bey Ireland - Hello Pillow / You Better Take Me Home
JED 3-79: Alabama Rose / Lady I Care (1979)
NDS 112: Bey Ireland - Midnight Barroom All Alone Miss'n You Blues / Devil (1981)

See also 45cat and discogs for details.

Bey Ireland & Ruth Hardt on Panama

Bey Ireland - Popcorn and Candy Bars (Panama P108), 1959

I was interested in this record mainly because of the song titles and their songwriter instead of the actual performance. The reason why "Popcorn and Candy Bars" and "My Bimini Baby" looked so interesting for me, is the fact that Miami rockabilly artist Kent Westberry and his band, the Chaperones, also cut a version on both titles. The songs were penned by amateur songwriter Ruth Hardt, the wife of a local Miami doctor. She approached Harold Doane, who owned the American Recording and Transcription Service and its record labels Art, Perfect, and AFS. Doane in turn called one of his artists, Kent Westberry, who had cut a record on Art before. Backed by studio musicians including guitarist C.W. Keith, Westberry recorded the aforementioned two songs plus another of Hardt's compositions, "Turkish Doghouse Rock." Doane surprisingly released "Turkish Doghouse Rock" along with "Popcorn and Candy Bars" on Art #174 in 1959, although they were intended to be demo tapes. "My Bimini Baby" stayed in the vaults and the whereabouts of the tapes are unknown, unfortunately.

Also in 1959, Ruth Hardt managed that her songs were recorded on a second occassion, this time for the local Panama label, owned by Herb Wolff. The record featured "Popcorn and Candy Bars" b/w "My Bimini Baby" and on both sides, Bey Ireland took over the vocals, another local singer who performed rock'n'roll at that time. Ireland also had a great release on Art in his own right, "Snack, Crackle and Rock" / "Baby Sitter's Rock" (Art #177, ca. 1958). Also, these songs were written by Ruth Hardt. He later went to Nashville, where he cut several country singles on local labels including RIC, Newport, and JED. He toured the south at least until the early to mid 1970s.

Herb Wolff, Jr., was a National Airlines pilot until 1959, when he set up Panama Records. He regularly flew the New York-Miami line. The adress of the label was Box 146 at Airport Station in Miami, which makes it probable that Wolff still held his job as a pilot when founding Panama. The first record that appeared was by Buddie Satan (Panama #106) in June 1959. He found a business partner in the Compo Company based in Canada, which not only pressed his records but also handled the distribution. Cash Box announced the release of two LPs on the label by Buddy [!] Satin ("Satin Take's a Holiday") and Alan Dean ("Music to Bawl by") on June 20, 1959. The magazin gave the headquarter of the firm as Coral Gables, Florida. Alan Dean, "one of Panama's stars" as decribed by Cash Box in November 1959, went on a promotion tour in Australia after the release of his single "Don't Do It" b/w "The Come Back" (Panama #111). 

The Cash Box, June 20, 1959

The last disc of Panama was released early in 1960. Then, Wolff discontinued the label and instead founded another firm called Artistas Panamenos, which was indeed located in Panama. Billboard reported on November 14, 1960, that Wolff was searching for pressing plants at that time to manufacture his discs. Thereafter, Wolff vanished from the radar. There was a Herb Wolff, Jr., who appeared on October 18, 1971, in the Kingston Daily Freeman as the secretary-treasurer of the Cornell Hose Company, a volunteer fire company in Kingston, New York. If this is the same man, is not known.

More records on the Panama label can be found at 45cat.

Billy Eldridge on Vulco

Billy Eldridge - It's Over (Vulco VL1508), 1961

Billy Eldridge was a member of the Fireballs, a local rock'n'roll band from Fort Pierce, Florida. They were recording for Vulco Records, a small label operated by Irvin Vulgamore, who also owned a small record shop that had opened in early 1956. The Fireballs were founded in 1958 or earlier and were led by Pat Richmond. Members included Jim King, Pat Richmond (vocals), Vern Strickland (lead guitar), Billy Eldridge (vocals/guitar), Jim Sanders (guitar), Leo Law (piano), and Jac Morris (drums). Discovered by Vulgamore while playing a club date in 1958, they were asked by Vulgamore to record for him. At Criteria Studios in Miami, the band cut a staple of songs, including the famous "Let's Go Baby." Written by band member Jim King, the song wasn't more than an idea when they decided to record it during the session. On that same session, the Fireballs backed up local DJ Doug Dickens with Eldridge on lead guitar. Dickens recorded "Raw Deal" and "Lucy's Graveside."

"Don't Stop the Rockin'" / "Honey Bee Baby" by the Fireballs with Pat Richmond on vocals made up both the label's and the band's first release (Vulco #1500) in 1958. It was followed by "Let's Go Baby" with vocals by Billy Eldridge (Vulco #1501) in early 1959. The songs were published by Henry Stone's Sherlyn-Pent publishing company and "Let's Go Baby" was received well locally. Stone was possibly responsible for bringing it to the attention of the United Artists label, which issued the single nationally on its subsidiary Unart.

Billy Eldridge and the Fireballs built up quite a reputation locally, performing at clubs and bars around Fort Pierce. They also appeared several times on Uncle Martin Wales' "Sunset Ranch" and Happy Harold's shows, both originated from the Miami-Dade area.

After another single ("Take My Love" / "Half a Heart", Vulco #1506), they recorded today's pick in 1961. While "There's a Reason" was a typical ballad from those days, the flip "It's Over" is an haunting performance by the band, although it is considered to be inferior to "Let's Go Baby" by collectors. The disc was arranged and produced by Fireballs member Vern Strickland and both songs were Eldridge originals. One more record appeared ("Sneaky" / "Maria Elena", Vulco #1510) but soon after, the Fireballs probably disbanded.

Eldridge then embarked on a solo career. He joined up with another Fort Pierce resident, Gary Stewart, and they began writing songs. After they managed to get their composition ""Poor Red Georgia Dirt" recorded by Stonewall Jackson, the duo moved to Nashville, where they successfully settled as a songwriting duo. Eldridge recorded for Kapp in 1969 but he and Stewart returned to Fort Pierce in the early 1970s. Stewart took another approach in 1973 and went on to national fame as a country singer. Eldridge continued to play at bars on weekends in Fort Pierce. Eldridge died on March 16, 2021.

The Story of Perfect Records

The (short) Story of Perfect Records

(Miami, Florida) 

According to researcher John Miller, Perfect Records "made its appearance during the early 1950s and was devoted exclusively to Country and Western music." A sentence which might bear some inaccuracies. Maybe Miller did not knew better when he wrote these words in 1979 for the first volume of the "Miami Rockabilly" LPs but Perfect issued not only country material but also latin jazz. But the label did made its first appearance on the market in the early 1950s.

Perfect Records was one of Harold Doane's labels, owner of the American Transcription and Recording Service, later shortened to ART. Much has been written on this blog about about his other labels Art and AFS. During my intense research over the last few years, I assumed for a long time that Perfect was likely established by Doane in 1955. No records dated earlier than 1955 had surfaced until September 2022, when I discovered that he re-released old-time recordings by the Carter Family, the Coon Creek Girls and Roy Acuff on green labeled 78rpm records in 1953 (how he got hold of these recordings is unknown so far). Therefore, Miller's statement that Perfect was solely intended for country & western material, which I believed to be a falsity, was actually true - at least at the beginning of the label's life. However, the fact that latin jazz records by Machito & his Afro-Cuban Orchestra were released as early as 1955, shows that Doane soon broadened Perfect's repertoire.

After the re-issue of those old-time recordings, Doane set up another 100 series that seem to be country recordings without exception. The 100 series was issued only in the US - or South Florida to be precise. Other discs with different catalog numbers were likely produced for markets outside the US, including Panama and Costa Rica.

By 1956, rockabilly entered the repertoire of Perfect, as it was the case with so many labels in those days. The first recordings in this new style were those by Tommy Spurlin and the Southern Boys, a local Miami country outfit that had developed their own rockabilly tunes by then. West Palm Beach singer Wesley Hardin followed up with two recordings of hits of the day, "Honky Tonk Man" (Johnny Horton) and "Cry! Cry! Cry!" (Johnny Cash). The last known rockabilly release on Perfect was by Mike Shaw, once a member of radio and TV personality Happy Harold Thaxton's popular country band (who also had a release on Perfect). Shaw laid down two rasping recordings of "Long Gone Baby" and "Frankie and Johnnie," which became local hits.

The Perfect label was, however, a rather short-lived affair. After Shaw's record, the last known was by Rit Corso. By 1956 or 1957, the label vanished from the local music scene. In 1957, Doane replaced it with AFS Records, which operated well into the early 1960s.

If anyone can contribute to the discography or can share memories of Harold Doane's operations, artists, or the Miami country music scene in general, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me via e-mail. 

Read more about Miami's musical past:

• ART Records

• AFS Records

• Gold Coast Jamboree

• Old South Jamboree

• The Roxsters

• Happy Harold Thaxton  

 

Discography

16-101
The Carter Family
The Homestead on the Farm (A.P. Carter)

P-49176
Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys
Will the Circle Be Unbroken (n.c.)
P-49179
July 1953

16-102
Coon Creek Girls
Pretty Polly (n.c.)
P-49177
The Carter Family

Beautiful Isle O'er the Sea (A.P. Carter)
P-49178
July 1953

Perfect 100

Perfect 101

Perfect P-102

Harold Donelson with the Buckeroos

Hillbilly Waltz (Harold Donelson)

ART-126 A

Eddie Thorpe with the Buckeroos

Rose of San Antone (Bob Wills)
ART-126 B

Perfect 103

Perfect P-104

Happy Harold and his Dixie Millers

Queen of the Smokeys (Cecil Carbonell)

Art 136-A

Mary Peck with Happy Harold and his Dixie Millers

Broken Hearted (Cecil Carbonell)

Art 136-B

Perfect 105

Perfect 106

Perfect 45-C-107

Tommy Spurlin and the Southern Boys

Danger! (Spurlin) / Ain't Had No Lovin' (Since the Last Time It Rained) (Spurlin)

A / B

1955

Billboard C&W review on October 22, 1955

Perfect 45-C-108

Tommy Spurlin and the Southern Boys

There Might Have Been a Love Song (Spurlin) / Tomorrow I'll Be Gone (Spurlin)

A / B

Perfect 45-109

Tommy Spurlin and the Southern Boys

Hang Loose (I've Gotta Rock) (Spurlin; Frost) / One-Eyed Sam (n.c.)
A / B

1956

Billboard C&W review on August 4, 1956

Perfect 45-C-110

Wes Hardin with the Southern Boys

Cry Cry Cry (Cash) / Honky Tonk Man (n.c.)

1 / 2

1956

Perfect 45-C-111

Mike Shaw with Sons of the Drifting Sands

Long Gone Baby (Shaw) / Frankie & Johnny (arr. by Shaw)

1 / 2

1956

Billboard C&W review on October 27, 1956

Perfect 112

Perfect 113

Perfect 114

Perfect 45-115
Rit Corso
I Like You (Beulke-Houseman) / Sweetest Voice on Earth (Beulke-Ax)
45-115-1 / 45-115-2

Perfect TR 45-4000
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Holiday Mambo (Chico O'Farrill) / Si Si - No No (Rafael Blanco Suazo)
ZTSP 24603 / ZTSP 24604 (Columbia)
1955

Perfect 45-4001
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra
with Graciella & the Rigual Brothers
Hay Que Recordar (Piloto-Vera)
ZTSP 24518 (Columbia)
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Negro Nanamboro (Mariano Merceron)
ZTSP 24519 (Columbia) 
1956  

Perfect No.#
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Adios (Woods-Madriguera)
ZTSP 24093 (Columbia)
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra / Vocal: The Skylarks
Mambo a la Savoy (Fuller-Machito) 
ZTSP 24094 (Columbia) 
1956 

Perfect No.#
Machito and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Bella Mora (Menita Caron) / Sambia (Rene Hernandez)
P 52219 / P 52220