Bill Logsdon & the Royal Notes

Bill Logsdon and the Royal Notes, ca. early 1960s
Pat Logsdon on guitar behind the microphone

Come to My House Rock!

The Story of Bill & Pat Logsdon and the Royal Notes

The Royal Notes was an Ohio based band led by Bill Logsdon. The band started out as a rock'n'roll band, than transformed into a Top 40 group and finally morphed into a country and bluegrass act. The Royal Notes played in the Lorain, Amherst, and Sandusky areas, which are part of the Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area.

William Carlos "Bill" Logsdon was born on June 26, 1937, to William Hampton and Cornelia Logsdon. He grew up with six siblings. In the 1950s, Logsdon met Patricia Ann "Pat" Jarvis from Amerst, who was born in 1937 in Sandusky. Love blossomed and the twosome married, giving birth to their son William D., nicknamed Billy. The made their home in Amherst.

Both Bill and Pat Logsdon were talented musicians. Bill played guitar, bass, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, while Pat was an adept bass player and sang. Around 1959, the couple founded their own band, the Royal Notes, which also included Mike Hunter on drums and probably Boyd Rogers on guitar. They began playing teen dances in area. In 1960, they got in touch with Jon Ryan, who operated the Athena record label in Lorain. Ryan produced a primitive rock'n'roll single with the Royal Notes, featuring a sparse brushed drum, aggressive lead guitar, and powerful vocals by Pat Logsdon. The results were a vocal number, "Come-To-My-House-Rock", and an instrumental called "Spitfire".

The Sandusky Register
November 21, 1961

Released on Athena at some pout during 1960, the single was soon re-released by Bob Sellers on Destiny Records, also based in Lorain. This release featured the complete version of "Come-To-My-House-Rock", which included a short guitar intro that was cut off in the Athena version. The Destiny single saw mention in Billboard at the end of the year and was perhaps a solid seller locally but did not caught any attention outside of the area it seems.

Billboard November 21, 1960, pop review

The Royal Notes continued to play around town, including a regular stint at the Radio Inn in Sandusky. In 1964, another record of the band appeared on Athena, comprising "Come Dance with Me" featuring Pat's vocals backed with the instrumental "Cool It". It may have been Bill that played the lead guitar parts on their recordings. By then, they had added a sax player to their line-up.

Throughout the 1960s, the Royal Notes played the region's club circuit - everything between Cleveland and Lorain. They added a bit of country music to their top 40 repertoire as the years went by and landed a spot on radio WWIZ in May 1967, having a regular show there for several months. At that time, the Royal Notes included - apart from Bill and Pat Logsdon - Boyd Rogers on guitar and Ralph Jenkins on drums. 

In 1977, the Logsdons and their Royal Notes recorded a single in Cincinnati for the Queensgate label called "Turning Back the Pages" / "Big Black Train". By then, the Royal Notes had developed into a fulltime country/bluegrass band and featured the Logsdons' son Billy on drums. They performed well into the 1980s but Bill and Pat eventually divorced. Pat left the band and married Dennis B. Jarvis in 1984. She spent her final years in Vermillion and passed away in Cleveland in 1996 at the age of 59 years.

Bill Logsdon continued to play music with different bands, bringing the Royal Notes to an end after Pat dropped out. He had been a member of the Gospel Echos in the late 1970s and also performed with the Bear Mountain Boys in Red Lick, Kentucky, in the early 1990s. Logsdon reformed the Royal Notes in 1993. Sadly, he died on May 20, 1994, in Estill, Kentucky at the age of 56.

Discography

Athena 729: Come to My House Rock / Spitfire (ca. 1960)
Destiny 501: Come-to-My-House-Rock / Spitfire (1960)
Athena ARCO201: Come Dance with Me / Cool It (1964)
Queensgate 7112Q15: Turning Back the Pages / Big Black Train (1977)

Sources
• Buckeye Beat
• Bill Logsdon Find a Grave entry and Pat Logsdon Find a Grave entry
• 45cat entry
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• Discogs

Bob Flower on Rose

Bob Flower and his Star Dusters - Draw Three (Rose R110), ca. 1968

Country music singer Bob Flower had a couple of records out in the 1960s but my research has only turned up vague information on him. So I do what I usually do in those cases: hoping that someone passes by that knows more than I do and leaves a comment or an email!

Robert John "Bob" Flower was probably born on March 8, 1927, and hailed possibly from Arkansas, as a digital compilation entitled "Arkansas Country Boy" by Stomper Time and Smith & Co., suggests. However, comments on YouTube videos indicate that he lived in the Cuba, New York, area by the 1960s and worked as chief of the local police department while he also enjoyed his career as a singer. A search on ancestry.com revealed that he already lived in Caneadea, Allegany County, New York, by 1950. Flower had previously served in the US Army during Word War II and left in the rank of a corporal.

Promo sheet for Flower's Rose release

Flower was first associated with Nashville music personality Murray Nash and his Do-Ra-Me label, releasing a total of four singles and one album on the label between 1963 and 1965. Initially, his songs were published by Cotton Town Music, a company from West Memphis, Arkansas, and operated by radio and TV host Gene Williams. Among the songs Flower recorded was "It Was Sweet While It Lasted", written by Arkansas DJ and sales manager of Williams' Cotton Town Jubilee label Chuck Comer. The song was recorded around the same time by Cotton Town Jubilee recording artist Sonny Williams.

Probably his final release on Do-Ra-Me was a full-length and self-titled album that featured mostly cover versions of country standards. On all of his releases, he was backed by his band, the Star Dusters, which consisted of Jimmy Clemons on lead guitar, Jerry Steadman on rhythm guitar, Kenny Lee on steel guitar, and Ivan Wilson on bass with female singer Dody Lynn providing some of the vocals as well.

In the late 1960s, Flower had another release on another Nashville label, Rose Records. This imprint was possibly owned by Ray Petersen, who produced all of the releases. Flower recorded "Draw Three" b/w "Rainbows" and both titles were written or co-written by Roy Lowe, who had previously produced Flower's album on Do-Ra-Me.

Bob Flower died on September 11, 1992. 

If anyone out there has more information on Bob Flower, please feel free to share it!

See also
• The Do-Ra-Me label

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• 45cat entry
• Discogs
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry
• Bob Flower & the Star Dusters - Draw Three (YouTube video; see comments)
• Ancestry.com

Gene McKown

Gene McKown, 1950s

Does anyone ever attempted to tell the whole story of singer Gene McKown? The man who was responsible for such rockabilly favorites as "Rock-a-Billy Rhythm" and "Ghost Memories"? I don't think so. He is the kind of artists that, although being featured constantly on compilations, has been forgotten. Little did I know when first posting a very brief sketch about his career but now, I am happy to present a detailed look on McKown and his music career.

Eugene Edward McKown was born on July 16, 1932, in Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. He was the only surviving child of Thomas Rothwell and Virginia M. McKown, his older sister Shirley died at the age of two a month before McKown's birth. He attended North Kansas City High School in Clay County and, by 1950, McKown worked as an filling station attendant but was drafted shortly thereafter, serving in the US Navy on the USS Essex from ca. 1950 or 1951 until ca. 1955. He spent much of his time with the troops in California and reached the rank of a Sergeant. 

McKown made brief trips to Missouri during this time, already playing local dates there, but continued to make his home in San Gabriel, California, a part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. He was managed by his friend Nate Ryan during those years and had a band called the Tune Twisters. Those included guitarists like Don McFarland, Agnes Coates and names like Bill Wilburn. 

Valley News
April 13, 1958

It was in California when McKown made his first record. For Fable Records, a Los Angeles based company owned by local music business man Sandy Stanton, McKown and his band recorded "I'm Still Wondering Why", a duet with band member Fiddlin' Slim, and "My Heart Belongs to You" (#F-571/2) and both sides were composed by McKown and Coates. At that time, they were still playing country music, which is clearly hearable on this record, and it was released in 1957 by Fable.

By then, however, rockabilly and rock'n'roll music had taken over and McKown switched to this style for his next record. He and the Tune Twisters recorded again two Coates-McKown compositions, "Rock-a-Billy Rhythm" and "My Dream Girl", which were released on newly founded Aggie Records in very early 1958 (#1001). The South San Gabriel, California, based label was partly owned by McKown's manager Nate Ryan and might have also involved songwriter and record label owner Les Kangas, who also owned the Kangaroo label and his own publishing arm. Aggie Records was possibly named after Agnes Coates.

During those years, McKown performed on some of California's top shows, including "Town Hall Party" and "Country America", and shared the stage with such well-known names as Wynn Stewart, Wade Ray, Tex Ritter, Freddie Hart, Joe and Rose Lee Maphis, and others. He also appeared on Aggie label-mate Dick Miller's KXLA radio show and in a lot of clubs in the area, including the Palomino in North Hollywood.

"My Dream Girl" reached the regional Cash Box charts in February, so the record sold good enough to secure McKown another release, "Little Mary" and "You and I" (#1003). Two more rockabilly boppers, the A side was another joint effort of McKown and Coates, while the flip was supplied by James Karney (who had recorded for Fable as well). Released at some point in 1958 or 1959, it was the last release on Aggie under McKown's name. However, there were two more records on Aggie that probably bore his involvement. Don McFarland, a guitarist and singer with whom McKown worked at the time, recorded two Agnes Coates written gospel numbers for Aggie entitled "Jesus Is Coming" and "He Showed My the Way" (#1005, 1959). He was accompanied by the Tune Twisters. The band also backed Joe Sterling, who waxed two more Coates gospel songs for Aggie, "I'm Gonna Talk to My Lord" and "Rain Rain Rain" (#1006, 1960).

It seems that McKown and the Tune Twisters resolved their association with Aggie in 1960. The same year, he had a job at the Esquire Ballroom in Houston, Texas, playing in a band with Jimmy Dry, Pee Wee Davis, and a young Willie Nelson. While Dry went on to be Jack Green's guitarist, there is no introduction needed for Willie Nelson. McKown returned to Kansas City in the early 1960s and resumed playing local bars and taverns. He played the Frontiers Club in early 1963 with a band known as the Western Swingsters but re-established the Tune Twisters a year later. Also in 1963, he went into partnership with George Hodges, Jr. of the Pier Brass Company in Kansas City. Hodges had founded the Brass record label as an outlet for local talent. McKown not only released two singles under the Brass imprint but also carried out other functions for the label. The first of those two discs featured two great country cuts, "Oh Sorry Me" b/w "My Get Up and Go" (#205) from 1963, followed by "Ghost Memories" b/w "Incidentally" (#238) a year later. The minor-key "Ghost Memories" became one of McKown's best known songs eventually.

Kansas City Star
May 1, 1965

McKown continued to perform around Kansas City in such venues as the Starlite Club, Howard's Bar, the Silver Spur, and others. At the Starlite, McKown once performed a show with Ray Price. He also recorded for small independent labels throughout the 1960s and 1970s. During the mid- and late 1960s, he had a constant connection to Nashville, recording for Music City indies like Sims, Rich, Bilin, Castle, Rose, and Totem. He had a local hit with his song "Charlie O the Mule" on the Bilin label, produced by Bobby Sykes in Nashville. Another of his locally popular songs was "The Kansas City Royals Are on the Go" from 1977, a tribute to the successful baseball team of the same name. As a talented songwriter, McKown composed hundreds of songs and some of them ended up being recorded by Nashville artists like Autry Inman ("Six Rounds of Love and Hate"), Earl Scott, and Ken Springer (both "Tearin' My Head Up Again"). Local artists cut his tunes as well, including Jim Mansell & Sandy West ("My One for the Road"), Lee Holeman ("Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Mr. Bandleader"), and his old buddy Jimmy Dry ("No One Else").

Around 1978, rockabilly lover and musician Rockin' Ronnie Weiser reissued "Rock-a-Billy Rhythm" and "Dream Girl" on his Rollin' Rock label. "Ghost Memories" appeared on the Redita LP "Kansas City Country Rockers" around the same time and his rockabilly recordings were reissued numerous times in the following decades, securing McKown a place in the world of rockabilly music.

Gene McKown in 1993

He continued his performances in the Kansas City area well into the 1980s, then spent some time in St. Jospeh, Missouri, and stayed with his old friend Nate Ryan in Arizona between 1990 and 1992 following a depression. The following year, McKown and Ryan's family moved to Osceola, Missouri, where McKown continued working as a performer. He played the Two Mug Saloon regularly there. McKown was an active member of the local Friends of Jesus Christian Church and went into gospel music a few years later, recording hundreds of cassette tapes with his gospel songs. Music was not only a hobby for KcKown, it was a passion and occupation at the same time and he carried it out throughout his whole life.

McKown was married only for a short time in the 1950s and left behind no close relatives when he passed away on May 18, 2011, in Osceola from a heart attack. He was 78 years old. His final years had been troublesame as he suffered from a stroke in 2006, which ended his musical activities. He also had a gambling problem and in addition, he had to move out of his apartment shortly before his death as the building was demolished.

Discography

Fable 571: Gene McKown & Fiddlin' Sam - I'm Still Wondering Why / Gene McKown - My Heart Belogs to You (1957)
Aggie A-1001: Gene McKown & the Tune Twisters - My Dream Girl / Rock-a-Billy Rhythm (1958)
Aggie A-1003: Gene McKown & the Tune Twisters - Little Mary / You and I (1959)
Brass 205: Gene McKown - Oh Sorry Me / My Get Up and Go (1963)
Brass 209: Gene McKown - Ghost Memories / Incidentally (1964)
Brass 238: Gene McKown - Ghost Memories / Incidentally (1964)
Rich 106: Gene McKown - I'm Out on the Town / That Don't Make Her a Bad Girl (1965)
Sims 228: Gene McKown - Peace Corps / Keeper of Heartaches (1965)
Bilin BS-2200: Gene McKown - Charlie-O-The-Mule / Bobby Sykes - The Legend of a Mule (1965)
Peak P-103: Sandy & Gene - Stop, Look and Listen / River of Shame (ca. 1965)
Rose 101: The Little Green Men & Ray Petersen - U.F.O. / Happy as a Lark (1968)
Totem T-9: Gene McKown - U.F.O. / Happy as a Lark (1968)
Castle CR-2076/7: Gene McKown - Please Mr. Editor / Take It on the Chin (1972)
Column One: Gene McKown - The Kansas City Royals Are on the Go / Jim Martin - The Kansas City Royals Are on the Go (Instr.) (1977)
Rollin' Rock 45-042: Rockabilly Rhythm / Dreamgirl (ca. 1978)

Sources

• Find a Grave entries for Gene McKown and Thomas R. McKown

• Richard Sunderwirth: "Osceola's Candy Man Was the World's Music Man" (St. Clair County Courier), May 27, 2011

• Official census records accessed through ancestry.com

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rockin' Country Style entry

Jimmie Skinner on Blue Grass Special

Jimmie Skinner - Doin' My Time (Blue Grass Special 45-EP-604), 1961

Jimmie Skinner was an artist of his own. Neither strictly bluegrass, neither mainstream country, Skinner developed his very own sound. Bear Family once said, if the term "alternative country" had been already invented in the 1950s, Skinner would have fitted it 100 percent. Although Skinner was not part of the Nashville establishment, he graced the world with a few classic, like "Doin' My Time". This song has been covered numerous times, including both well-known and obscure versions by Flatt & Scruggs, Johnny Cash, Jeff Johnson, Red Allen, Sherwin Linton, Bill Flagg, Jimmy Martin and others.

James "Jimmie" Skinner was born on April 27, 1909, in Blue Lick, Kentucky, near the town of Berea to William and Emma Skinner. When Skinner was a teenager, the family moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where he began performing on local radio and with his mother and grandmother on the streets. By the early 1930s, Skinner had become an accomplished musician, deeply rooted in the traditional mountain folk music of Kentucky and Ohio. With his older brother Esmer, who was born in 1906, he auditioned unsuccessfully at Gennett Records in 1931.

The brothers tried again in 1941 with the folks at Bluebird to no avail. Skinner had his first success as a songwriter in 1946, when Ernest Tubb recorded his "Let's Say Goodbye (Like We Said Hello)". Afterwards, Skinner's career really took off. He began recording for Red Barn Records in 1947, having two singles released on the small independent label, then signed a management contract with Lou Epstein and switched to Radio Artists Records, the E. T. Herzog Studio in-house label from Cincinnati. This association provided Skinner with his first success, a cover of Jimmy Work's "Tennessee Border". In those years, Skinner was often accompanied on record by his brother Esmer on fiddle or banjo and Ray Lunsford on electric mandolin, which gave many tracks a distinct bluegrass feel. It was a sparse line-up that melted with Skinner's recognizable voice into a sound of its own. 

Jimmie Skinner, 1950s

In the early 1950s, Skinner opened the Jimmie Skinner Music Center, a mail-order and retail record story in Cincinnati. The store was heavily advertised on the powerhouse WCKY radio station and Skinner also hosted a rad show out of his shop that was carried by WNOP from Newport, Kentucky. In 1950, Skinner signed with Capitol Records and switched to Decca in 1953. His most successful phase began when he began recording for Mercury in 1956, scoring such hits as "Will You Be Satisfied That Way", "Dark Hollow", and "I Found My Girl in the U.S.A.". He made another change when he joined Starday Records' roster in 1963.

In the early 1960s, Skinner produced some mail-order EPs on his Blue Grass Special label, including today's selection. These sides were recorded at the King Recording Studio in Cincinnati with Rusty York and the Kentucky Mountain Boys, including Willard Hole, Curley Tuttle, Harold Kress on fiddle, and Billy Thomas on bass.

In 1963, Skinner's manager Epstein died, which led to a downfall of his career. He resurrected it by becoming a regular on bluegrass festivals and continued to record for small labels, including Rich-R-Tone. Skinner moved to Nashville in 1974 and passed away on October 28, 1979, at the age of 70 years.

Recommended reading

• Country Music Hall of Fame

• Bear Family Records 6CD set

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Bear Family Records page

• Grit - Rural American Know-how

• SecondHandSongs

• 45cat entry / 45wporlds/78rpm entry

• Discogs

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Smokey Reason

Smokey Reason, late 1940s or early 1950s
From the collection of the Reason family via John Horton

Smokey Reason was a country music singer and songwriter from the Birmingham, Alabama, area. He had a rather short career, from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s, then dedicating his life to Christianity. Reason had a connection to Walter "Tex" Dixon, working not only in the same city and probanly knowing him therefore, but he also recorded Dixon's "Honky Tonk Swing" in 1949. 

Hiram Blair "Smokey" Reason was born on June 30, 1920, in LaGrange, Georgia, only a few miles away from the Alabama state border, to John and Mary Jane Reason. When World War II began, Reason had already married Dorothy Nell Doss, with whom he had a daughter, Sandra Elaine. However, the war interrupted family life and Reason had to serve in the US Army. 

He eventually divorced from Dorothy and after his discharge, moved to Birmingham, Alabama, for radio work. Around January 1947, Reason and his band, the Rainbow Range Riders, accompanied singer Rubert McClendon on a recording session for DeLuxe Records, which produced six tracks. Four of those were released by DeLuxe, including "Honky Tonk Swing", a song written by fellow Bimingham artist Walter "Tex" Dixon that was later recorded by both Reason and Dixon as well.

The Centreville Press
October 27, 1949

Part of the recording session were also Revin "Rebe" Gosdin and J.C. "Rabe" Perkins, two musicians that worked around Alabama as "Rebe & Rabe". Reason worked regularly with them and by 1949, all three men were broadcasting regularly over WVOK out of Birmingham. It is probable that Reason was also part of the station's Dixie Jamboree, a live stage stage show that originated from the Birmingham National Guard Armory and featured a lot of local talent.

In April 1949, Reason recorded his take on "Honky Tonk Swing", probably at WVOK, but it remained unreleased. Dixon would release his own version two years later for the local Bama record label. Reason spent some time in California and this may have been in the early and mid-1950s. He had a business association with Gene Autry, though details are unknown, and was also acquainted with such stars as Ferlin Husky and Little Jimmy Dickens. Word has it that Reason recorded with both of them, although there is no verification of this rumour.

Reason had two singles out in 1954. He recorded two of his own compositions, "A Boy and a Girl" and "Little Miss Muffet", and ordered his own custom pressed records under the S R label through 4 Star's OP series. 4 Star Records was an independent record company based in Pasadena, California, and the label re-released Reason's songs on 4 Star #X-90. Reason also recorded "Hoot Owl Melody" and "You Danced on My Heart" for two 4 Star various artists EPs.

In 1952, Reason had married Nancy Ellen Laney in Bentonville, Arkansas, and made his home in the nearby Joplin, Missouri, area. By late 1952, Smokey Reason was heard on WMBH out of Joplin and performed around town with different bands until ca. late 1954.

Though, in 1953, Reason had enough of the music business and decided to turn his life around and became a born-again Christian, dedicating his life to God. He stayed in Missouri during the 1950s but moved to Sallisaw, East Oklahoma, at some point in the 1960s. He opened a Baptist Church in in nearby Vian and founded "Camp Joy" in Oklahoma on Lake Tenkiller, a free Chrisian summer camp for underprivileged children. Reason continued his dedication throughout the years and in 1992, received the "Sacred Degree of Doctor of Divinity" from the Great Commission Theological Seminary of Bowling Green, Kentucky, for his enduring service.

Hiram Blair "Smokey" Reason passed away on December 21, 2001, at the age of 81 years in Porum, Oklahoma. He is buried at Coleman Cemetery in Porum. He left behind his wife, who passed away a year later, and their five daughters and 33 grandchildren. His daughter from his first marriage had already passed away in 1996.

Smokey Reason and his Southerners - Honky Tonk Swing (unissued)

Recommended listening

• "The Lost Child" Podcast, Episode 564: Alabama Country Acetates

Sources

• Thanks to Marshal Martin, who pointed me towards Smokey Reason and supplied valuable information. Thanks also to John Horton, who discovered Reason's acetate of "Honky Tonk Swing", donated it to the Southern Music Research Center and interviewed Reason's family.

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Southern Music Research Collection

• Rebe & Rabe entry at Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

Johnny Nace on Rimrock

Johnny Nace - Blue Notes (Rimrock 271), 1968

Johnny Nace was a Missouri based artist that enjoyed a long career in country music during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He was regionally well-known and had a few records that sold good regionally. He is also known to rockabilly audiences for his 1950s and early 1960s singles.

John Percy "Johnny" Nace was born in Knob Noster, Missouri, in 1934, and grew up on a farm outside of nearby Warrensburg. His father was a musician, as had his grandfather and great-grandfather been, so music was rooted deeply in the family. Naturally, Nace started playing guitar and got his first job at age 15, playing square dances with a fiddler. He then became part of the radio show “Hillbilly Jamboree” in Sedalia, Missouri. Nace also worked as a DJ on KOKO in Warrensburg, on KDRO in Sedalia, and later hosted the "Circle Six Ranch" on KMOS-TV.

By 1956, Nace was part of the Missouri Valley Boys that performed on KSIS in Sedalia. The group also included Joe Lender, Goodson Merriott, and F.D. Johnson, who became a recording artist in his own right. Nace, Johnson and the band recorded their first singles in 1958 for the local Marshall, Missouri, based Jan record label. From that point on, Nace continued to record for various labels throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Johnny Nace and the Midnighters, 1960s
with Nace (guitar) and Joe Greene (steel guitar)

In the early 1960s, he formed his band called “The Midnighters” and began recording for Nashville Records in 1962, a subsidiary of Starday Records. He then switched to Topic, another Nashville company, and had a regional hit in 1966 with his first release on the label, “Midnight Train to Georgia”, selling about 20,000 copies. Country Song Round-Up called him a "promising vocal talent" in 1965: "Johnny is one of country music's most promising vocal talents. He is a former star of central Missouri's very popular television show 'The Circle Six Ranch', which was originated from the studios of KMOS-TV, channel six [...]." The promising sales also got him a guest spot on Ernest Tubb's Midnight Jamboree on WSM.

In 1968 he recorded two songs that eventually wound up on Wayne Raney’s Rimrock Records from Concord, Arkansas. Nace recorded both tracks in Kansas City with the Woodchoppers, a band that he had founded earlier that year and included Nace on vocals and guitar, Doug Mastin on steel guitar, Bill McCanally on piano, Bill Acres on bass, and Chuck Addleman on drums. The two songs were “Blue Notes” and “The Kind You Find Tonight”, which were initially released on C.A.R.S. Records – a Kansas City based label. The tracks were then leased to Rimrock and issued again the same year on that label. "Blue Notes" was co-written by Delores (or Dolores) Tolbert, who recorded around the same time for Sonny Deckelman's Van-Deck label out of Harrisburg, Arkansas. She later managed the Jonesboro, Arkansas, bluegrass band "Shady Hill".

His 1969 single on Throne Records, "Sherry Ann", was a good seller as well and Billboard predicted it to reach the Hot Country Songs - which it did not, unfortunately. Nevertheless, Nace continued to perform and record throughout the next decades. By the 1970s, his band was again called the Midnighters and performed in Missouri. His sons Dave and Jimmy also became musicians, leading a rockabilly band in the 1980s that sometimes included their father. Johnny Nace passed away from a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 56 years. 

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Show Me the History - Johnson County-West Central Missouri History

• Nace Brothers website

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Ramon Maupin

Rocking Rufus from Memphis
The Story of Ramon Maupin

This text is based on an excerpt from American Music Magazine #152 (December 2019)

I wrote about Memphis singer and songwriter Ramon Maupin back in 2019 for American Music Magazine as part of my extensive look on Fernwood Records. However, as my focus was not set on Maupin but on the record label, I now feel his story can be extended as well. And, moreover, I want to correct a few false statements I made back then.

A native of Memphis, Ramon Maupin was a mainstay in the city’s music scene without causing a stir. He left behind three singles on Memphis labels and a couple of songs recorded by other artists. Maupin also had the honor to have the first release on Fernwood after Billy Lee Riley switched to Sun.

Maupin was a vocalist and guitarist with the Dixie Ramblers in 1956 when Wallace was searching for a singer to replace Riley. He found compensation in Maupin, who recorded his "No Chance" / "Love Gone" inn 1956 in Wallace’s tiny garage studio. Asked by Steve Kelemen, Maupin remembered his record as follows: "I remember it played on a jukebox down in Memphis for over a year and sold a few thousand copies. I remember someone saying ‘That song of yours ain’t country. It ain’t R&R. It ain’t nothing.’ It kind of hurt my feelings a little bit. Then I got to thinking about it and said well that makes it different, don’t it. So I didn’t feel bad about it later on." For "No Chance", this was definitely the case but "Love Gone" was a strictly country cut with dreamy steel guitar fills by Bud Deckelman.

Maupin, however, proved that he could rock with two more records on Fernwood (1958) and the Buford Cody/Jody Chastain owned Memphis imprint (1961). Regarding his second Fernwood single "Rocking Rufus" / "What's the Use", recording and release date information is disputed. It was reportedly recorded in November of 1957 and released by Wallace at the tail end of the year in December. There are copies which have "JAN 24 1958" stamped on the label (which was usually done at radio stations when they were receiving their copy), which supports the December 1957 release date. Though, the song wasn’t copyrighted until March 12, 1958. Both "Rockin’ Rufus" and "What’s the Use" are great examples of late 1950s Memphis rock ’n’ roll, with a solid drum beat and a shuffling and tickling piano in the back ground. The faster side, "Rockin’ Rufus", featured the help of sax man Ace Cannon, who was the inspiration for the song, as Maupin recalled: […] He [Ace Cannon] made an impression on me because he was such a good player. I said well, I’m going to write a song about this sax player and I got him to play on it." Apart from Maupin and Cannon, the line-up included Scotty Moore on guitar, Stan Kesler on bass, and unknown musicians on piano and drums.

In a letter to the local Midland, Texas, record shop owner Cecil "Pop" Holifield dated February 22, 1958, Fernwood label manager Scotty Moore explained about Maupin’s record: "Ramon Maupin’s #105 ‘What’s the Use’ has been slowly picking up speed here. I just signed a release on it to Sparton of Canada." Concrete numbers of sales for this release are not documented but obviously, the disc did not sell too much outside the Memphis area, although Moore must have put faith in it, as his comment in this letter emphasizes. The Canadian release carried the number Sparton #4-552R.

Maupin's third and last single release came in 1961 for the newly founded Memphis record label. Again, Maupin provided the debut release for this company, comprising the rocker "Hey Rena", written by Memphis artist Fuller Todd, and the slower paced "(Maybe) Tomorrow We'll Know", a Fuller Todd-Jody Chastain work. Maupin had already signed with Memphis in October 1959, after his second Fernwood single had not clicked, but the recording and release process was evolving slowly. A session was set up not until the next year, using the Fernwood studio on North Main Street, with an unknown line-up of musicians. The two songs weren't released by Cody and Chastain until early 1961, when they finally hit the market on Memphis #101. Again, the record sold only locally. As an interesting side note, Harold Jenkins alias Conway Twitty heard "Tomorrow We'll Know" and covered his for MGM Records, although his version remained unreleased, unfortunately.

Billboard February 27, 1961, C&W review

Catalog of Copyright Entries

However, Maupin continued his music career, although he made no more commercial recordings under his own name. He was a close associate of Charlie Feathers, who became some kind of a mentor to him. Maupin played rhythm guitar for about 15 years in Feathers’ background band, performing with Tommy Tucker for a time in a West Memphis club. Rumor goes that Maupin joined Feathers’ Musical Warriors for a short time in 1956 as a drummer, a claim that likely can only be cleared by Maupin himself.

Maupin was not only a good vocalist but also a talented songwriter, He had penned all of his Fernwood material by himself and some of his composition were also recorded by other artists. Already in 1958, Jimmy Pritchett recorded Maupin's "Nothing On My Mind" for Stan Kesler's Crystal label. With former Sun recording artist Sonny Wilson, Maupin wrote "Troubled Times", which was recorded by Wilson and saw release on the Plaza and Candix labels in 1961. Charlie Feathers also recorded their joint composition "Jungle Fever" for Charlie Kahn’s Kay label in December 1958 at radio WHBQ. With Roland Janes on lead guitar, Maupin remembered performing rhythm guitar on some of the takes, though he was not sure if the issued take featured his playing. "Jungle Fever" song became Maupin's most covered song with versions by the Cramps, the Wild Wax Combo, Tav Falco, the Nomads, and others. Maupin took also part in one of Feathers’ sessions held in 1968 at the Select-O-Hits studios in Memphis as a rhythm guitarist. With Feathers, Maupin also penned "Why Pretend I Can Win" and Feathers recorded Maupin's "It's Just That Song" in 1976 for Vetco.

In later years, Maupin recorded mostly privately at home with his family and kept music as a hobby. Some sources stated that Maupin passed away in the 1980s, which is not true. In the 2000s, he made his home in Starksville, Mississippi and made a short appearance in 2008 on a WFMU Charlie Feathers special broadcast. In February 2011, Maupin performed at the opening of the exhibition "Roots of Rockabilly" at the Rogers Historical Museum in Rogers, Arkansas. The exhibit dealt with Slim Wallace (who was from nearby Paragould, Arkansas) and his Fernwood record label. This is the last time we heard of Ramon Maupin.

If anyone knows about Ramon Maupin's whereabouts or has more information on him, please feel free to contact me.

See also
• The Memphis label

Sources
• Dave Travis: "Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers, Volume 4" (2004), Stomper Time Records, liner notes
• Ronald "Slim" Wallace Exhibit (arkansasonline.com)
• Charlie Feathers Tribute radio show on WFMU with special guests Billy Miller, Bubba Feathers, and Ramon Maupin
• Obituary of Ramon Maupin's mother
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• 45cat entry
• Discogs
• Sonny Wilson 45cat entry

Lee Carzle on Erwin

Lee Carzle with Bobby Mizzel and the Le-Bow's - I'm askin' But I'm Not Gettin' (Erwin E-77), 1957 (or 1959)
Lee Carzle Hood was born on October 7, 1935, to Sim Andrew and Dollie L. Hood in Alabama. He grew up with five siblings. In the late 1940s, Hood served his country and spent time overseas in Saudi Arabia around 1949. Upon his return in 1950, he lived in Mississippi but eventually returned to Alabama. In November 1956, Hood married Shirley Oral Lane in Jefferson County, Alabama (which includes the state's capital Birmingham). The couple had two daughters.

Lee Carzle Hood, late 1950s

Hood was also a singer and musician. In the mid- to late 1950s, he linked up with local Birmingham musician, songwriter, and manager Leon Bowman, who in turn organized a deal with Marshall Ellis' Erwin record label from Memphis, Tennessee. As Lee Carzle, Hood recorded "I'm Askin' But I'm Not Gettin'" and "What's In Store for Me" and both Bowman originals. He was backed by local Birminham pianost Bobby Mizzell as well as the Le-Bow's, probably Bowman's own group. 

Terry Gordon of the excellent "Rockin' Country Style" discography project gives the release date as December 1957 (estimated) and it seems that most others, including Adam Komorowski in his liner notes for the Proper Records box set "Rocking Memphis", adapted this date. However, a Birmingham News article from September 13, 1959, mentions that "Lee Carzle has gone on record for Erwin [...] both sides of which were written by Leon Brown [!]." So this means the record either did not come into existence until 1959 or it indeed came out in late 1957 but did not get any recognition from the local press until two years later.

Come 1961, Hood had signed a deal with the Starday subsidiary Nashville Records and recorded two singles for the label. "Doorway to Your Heart" b/w "Two Eyes, Two Arms, Two Lips" was released that year on Nashville #5032. Again, both songs were composed by Leon Bowman. A second single followed three years later in 1964 with two songs Hood had penned with his sister Euell, "I'll Go to the Jumping Off Place with You" and "I've Never Made a Hit" (Nashville # 5193). It seems that this was his last release.

In the 1980s and in the 2000s, European rockabilly collections started featuring Carzle's "I'm Askin' But I'm Not Gettin'". Hood passed away on February 8, 2008, at the age of 72 years in Walker County, Alabama. He is buried in adjacent Marion County.

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Familysearch.org

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• 45cat entry

Don McKinnon on Sound Stage 7

Don McKinnon - Country Guitar (Sound Stage 7 45-2529), 1964

Not a household name in country music history, Don McKinnon was a songwriter in the late 1950s and 1960s, having made the majority of his work in the Nashville music scene. Besides that, he also recorded occasionally, including this gem of mid 1960s Nashville country. He is not to be confused with the west coast radio personality of the same name, who was killed in the 1960s.

Donald Ladson "Don" McKinnon was born on December 30, 1933, to Willie Ladson and Mary Grace McKinnon in Eastman, Georgia, where he grew up on a farm. McKinnon became interested in music at an early age and eventually became a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, guitar, bass, steel guitar, and harpsichord. One day, McKinnon was at a farmer's market in Atlanta, sitting on a bulk of watermelons, singing and playing his guitar. As it happened, country singer Red Sovine witnessed the young singer and advised him to try his luck in Nashville.

By 1959, McKinnon was under contract with Blanche Carter's music publishing in Augusta. At that time, he had already written about 150 songs. However, he followed Sovine's advice and went to Music City, U.S.A. in the early 1960s, where he soon became acquainted with some of the big names in country music.

McKinnon's debut single was released in 1961 on the Beltone label and he followed up with a single on the newly founded Sound Stage 7 label, a subsidiary of Monument Records. "Country Guitar" b/w "Sing Me a Sad Song, Willie" were of course McKinnon originals and produced by Hank Cochran, who worked for Pamper Music. Despite guest spots on the Grand Ole Opry and in Las Vegas, none of his singles really caught on and McKinnon enjoyed a rather quiet life - first in the Augusta, Georgia, area and since 1960 in Beech Island, South Carolina. He had another more release on the Antenna label in 1966 and two more singles out on the Soundwaves label in the 1980s. Although he was also an accomplished singer, he never found the big break as a performer, recording only sporadically, but enjoyed success as a composer.

Billboard June 1, 1963

In 1963, Hank Snow had recorded his "Town of Laredo" and Snow obviously took a liking at McKinnon, supporting him and possibly making him acquainted with Hal Smith. Smith, who worked with Pamper Music, signed him to a songwriter's contract the same year. In 1966, Johnny Cash cut his version of McKinnon's "Bottom of a Mountain", which was also recorded by Tex Williams two years later. In 1970, Carl Phillips recorded his "Such a Short Time (to Forget So Much)". Many lesser known artists cut his songs during the 1960s and 1970s as well.

In the 1980s, his career was boosted one last time, as he shot a music video with his song "Crippled Cowboy", inspired by a Vietnam veteran he had met, and he released the video under his nickname of "Tracker" (he got that name because of his hunting passion). The moderate success in turn led to several appearances on Nashville TV network. He also operated a very short-lived record label in the late 1980s, Tracker Records.

McKinnon retired from music and his day job in 1993 and spent his time with his family, with his part-time leather holsters business, hunting, and quick-draw pistol shooting, taking part in several contests. His wife Mary, who was also a songwriter, died in 2013. Don McKinnon followed her on June 15, 2016, in Aiken, South Carolina, at the age of 82 years. He is buried at First Baptist Church of Beech Island Cemetery in his adopted hometown of Beech Island.

Discography

Beltone 1013: Should I Kiss You / I See In the Paper (1961)
Sound Stage 7 2529: Country Guitar / Sing Me a Sad Song Willie (1964)
Antenna 6442: Blues / Fat, Fat, Fat (1966)
Soundwaves 4805: If I Die Tomorrow / Roses (and Other Lovely Things) (1988)
Soundwaves 4809: Bottom of a Mountain / Such a Short Time to Forget (1988)

See also
• New Star and Gaylor / Pamper Music and Its Labels

Sources
• Don Rhodes: "McKinnon was everyday man who wrote country hits" (2016), Augusta Chronicle
• Obituary
• Find a Grave entry
• 45cat entry
• Discogs

Leon Bowman

Black Widow Spider

The Story of Leon Bowman

The Birmingham, Alabama, music scene had close connections to its bigger counterpart in Memphis during the 1950s and early 1960s. Several country and rock'n'roll singers from Birmingham recorded for Memphis labels, including Tex Dixon, Hoyt Johnson, Sherry Crane, among others. In addition, there was a group of singers like Lendon Smith, Junior Thompson and Buddy Bain & Kay Wayne out of Florence, Alabama, that recorded for Meteor Records in Memphis in the mid-1950s.

Alabama native Leon Bowman never recorded for a Memphis label but he was responsible for getting some Birmingham talent onto labels like Stomper Time Records. Although he recorded a single under his own name, Bowman was more of a songwriter and manager.

Born Leon Fleming Bowman on June 3, 1917, to Noah Arthur and Lillie Getrude (Hardin) Bowman, he was raised likely in Calhoun County or St. Clair County, Alabama, northwest of Birmingham. Bowman grew up in a large family with nine siblings, four sisters, and nine brothers, and many of them later settled in Birmingham. As a young man, he moved to Decatur, Alabama, took up the profession of a barber and worked at Herman Hinz' barber shop on 2nd Avenue.

World War II interrupted Bowman's plans and he was drafted, serving in the US Navy. He was stationed in Memphis, Tennessee, possibly developing early ties to the city during this time, and spent 18 months on sea as a ship's service man. He was discharged around November 1945 and returned to Decatur, taking up his job with Hinz again. In 1950, Bowman was appointed by Alabama Govenor "Big Jim" Folsom to serve honorably as a lieutenant colonel in the state militia. This duty lasted five years.

In the meantime, Bowman had married Norma Chatham and the couple would raise three daughters and four sons. At some point in the 1950s, Bowman moved his family to the Birmingham area, where, by 1958, he had become manager of the Arcadia Barber Shop located in the Five Points West Shopping Center. At least a year earlier, Bowman had found his way into the local music scene of Birmingham, playing guitar and writing songs. 

Leon Bowman
(bad quality copy from WLP 8873)

Alabama boy Lee Carzle Hood was probably the first to record Bowman's songs. As Lee Carzle, he recorded "I'm Askin' But I'm Not Gettin'" and "What's In Store for Me", both Bowman originals, for the Memphis based Erwin label. The deal with Erwin Records, owned by Marshall Ellis, was set up by Bowman possibly with the help of Jim Atkins, an Alabama based DJ, promoter, and singer, who had recently brought Hoyt Johnson, another local, to the attention of Marshall Ellis. Terry Gordon of the excellent "Rockin' Country Style" discography project gives the release date as December 1957 (estimated) and it seems that most others, including Adam Komorowski in his liner notes for the Proper Records box set "Rockin' Memphis", adapted the date. However, a Birmingham News article from September 13, 1959, mentions that "Lee Carzle has gone on record for Erwin [...] both sides of which were written by Leon Brown [!]." So this means the record either did not come into existence until 1959 or it did not get any recognition from the local press until 1959.

Either way, Bowman made his way into the local music scene. He became involved in Homer Milan's Birmingham based Reed record label in some way, spending time in its studio, managing some of its artists, and supplying song material. Bowman also had a release out on Reed under his own name, his sole commercial record. Released in 1958, it was an extended play disc featuring four tracks: "Searching for Love", "Rocking the Blues", "Black Widow Spider", and "Looking For My Rib". For 41 years old Bowman, these tracks were surprisingly rocking. There were also a few unreleased tapes that did not see the light of day until the 1980s.

Bowman began managing rock'n'roll singer Ronnie Moore and they made use of the Memphis connection again, securing a release of "You Have This and More" b/w "Take a Look at the Moon" on Eddie Bond's Stomper Time label in 1959. Bond, who went on to become Memphis' top country music star, was friends with Marshall Ellis. Ellis also manufactured Bruce Brakefield's "Rain Boy" b/w "In Your Heart" on Bowman's own L-Flem-Bow label.

This label only lasted for the one Brakefield release but in 1960, Bowman was back at it with a brand new label, the aptly named Teen's Choice Records. The first known release was devoted to Ronnie Moore again, "Time for School" b/w "Sweet Shop Doll" (#TC-7). The catalogue numbers suggest that there were earlier releases prior to this but none have been found so far. It was #TC-8 that secured the label its place in rockabilly history. Tiny Tim & the Tornadoes recorded "I've Gotta Find Someone", a rip-roaring guitar driven rockabilly number, backed with "My One Desire", released in 1960. Tiny Tim's real name was Tim Bowman, a cousin of Leon Bowman. A third release in 1960 featured Jerry Lee Johnson & the Roulettes. It seems Bowman's Teen Choice label went out of business afterwards.

During the early 1960s, Birmingham artists like Othell Sullivan, Walter "Tex" Dixon (alias Mason Dixon), and Lee Carzle continued to record Bowman's songs for different labels. But by the middle of the decade, his activies in music had ceased. He continued to live in Birmingham until his death on January 13, 1977, at the age of 59 years. He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.

The European rockabilly revival brought unknown artists like Bowman to the attention of music fans and collectors. In the 1980s, Dutch record collector Cees Klop visited Alabama and tracked down Bowman's family. Apparently, Bowman had buried unsold copies of the Tiny Tim release in his garden on Pleasant Grove Road and shortly after his widow had told Klop the story, both found themselfes digging out those records in the garden. You can see a lot of those copies being sold now on ebay, discogs, or in sales lists. Klop introduced both Leon and Tiny Bowman's recordings as well as many other associated music through his White Label LPs to young, European audiences and made them household names among rockabilly record collectors.

High resolution version of the picture shown above
(made with AI)

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Discogs

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• 45cat entry

• Official records access through ancestry.com

• Several Birmingham News articles 1944 - 1963

Bill Haley on Decca

Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie (Decca 9-29713), 1955

This record was one of my acquisitions last year and although I was very familiar with the songs on it, having them on CD and in digital format, I thought it was nice to have them on original 45rpm record. You can't go wrong with Bill Haley and the Comets. I consider him being the first real star of rock'n'roll music.

"Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie" was recorded on September 22, 1955, at Decca's recording studio at the Pythian Temple in New York City. Present that day were Haley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Franny Beecher on lead guitar, Billy Williamson on steel guitar, Rudy Pompillli on saxophone, Johnny Grande on piano, Al Rex on bass, and Cliff Leeman on drums. It was the first session for Rex and Pompilli as Comets, as they replaced bassist Marshall Lytle and sax player Joey Ambrose. Rex had performed earlier with Haley when he was still playing more  country music oriented material. Studio drummer Cliff Leeman was brought in for Dick Richards, who had left as well. Also recorded that day was the song "R-O-C-K" and, the next day with the same line-up, "The Saints of Rock'n'Roll" and "Burn That Candle".

Billboard October 22, 1955, pop review

Billboard November 12, 1955

Sound-wise, all four recordings followed the pattern of Haley's big 1954 hit "Rock Around the Clock". "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie" had been written by Haley three years earlier for his former guitarist Danny Cedrone, who had his own version released in September 1954 with his Esquire Boys on Guyden Records. Haley's own version was coupled with "Burn That Candle" on Decca #29713 in November 1955. It became a #16 Billboard pop best sellers hit in the US and #4 hit in the UK for Haley and the Comets. 

Bill Haley and the Comets, mid 1950s

Sources

• German Wikipedia entry / English Wikipedia entry

• 45cat

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Bobby Reed on Modco

Bobby Reed - Pipelining Man (Modco 1000-1), unknown year
(Courtesy of Western Red from "If That Ain't Country")
Among the several Bobby Reeds in the music business, this singer was presumably active in the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area. First because he recorded for several Arkansas based record labels, some of them even from the northwestern corner of the state, and second because one of the songs he wrote and performed was called "Fort Smith Arkansas Women".

However, Reed started his career in Texas. He was also quite a songwriter, as BMI lists 32 compositions by him. He made his debut in 1961 with a band called "The Vallants" on the Texas based Rainbow label with two songs, "Honey Bee" and "This Love of Mine". Both songs were published by Pappy Daily's Glad Music. At that time, Reed was performing rock'n'roll music. He followed up with two more singles on the Texas based Van and Cyclone labels in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Van was owned by Charles and Bobby Vanmeter and located in Lake Jackson near Houston, while Cyclone was based in Bryan or Houston.

It seems that Reed moved north at some point between 1965 and 1968 to the Fort Smith, Northwestern Arkansas, area. In 1968, he began recording for Wayne Raney's Rimrock label with a single disc and even an album in 1970. In between, he recorded for John Capps' K-Ark label from Nashville. This session produced his song "Fort Smith Arkansas Women".

Our selection was recorded for the Modco label from Lincoln, Arkansas, a small town that is located between Fort Smith and the Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers region. "Pipelining Man", produced by a certain R. J. Reed, is the top side from that single and features some nice fills by lead and steel guitar as well as piano. The flip side was "Battle at the Picket Line".

I don't know what happened with Bobby Reed after 1970. My research turned up a certain Bobby D. Reed who was born in 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona, and died in 2016 in Bald Knob, Arkansas (three hours away from Fort Smith). His obituary mentions that he "would spend his time visiting the nursing homes always taking his guitar so he could sing to the residents. His favorite song was 'God is Love.'" So this guy could be the same Bobby Reed.

If anyone has more information or recollections on Bobby Reed, please feel free to share them via e-mail or leave a comment!

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• BMI

• Bobby D. Reed Find a Grave entry

Ervin T. Rouse

Inventor of the Orange Blossom Special

Ervin T. Rouse

Among the old-time folk and country music performers in the Miami-Dade area, Ervin Rouse was possibly the earliest known, the most famous nationally, and one of the most bizarre. He is best remembered for writing "Orange Blossom Special", a fiddle tune that developed a life of its own, though Rouse was not instantly recognized with the fame.

Ervin Thomas Lidel Rouse was born on September 19, 1918, to Ernest Haywood and Eloise "Ella" Rouse  near Cove City, Craven County, North Carolina. One of 14 children, the family probably went through hard times in a rural area during the 1920s and certainly suffered even more when the Great Depression hit the United States. Among his brothers were Earl Bryan (born in 1911) and Ernest Gordon (born 1914), who eventually performed music with Ervin.

Rouse took up the fiddle as a child and left the family at a very early age - when he was eight years old - to perform with vaudeville shows around New York and Boston. He joined his brothers on the RKO Vaudeville Circuit in 1928 and remained with that outfit until 1933. At one point, he and his brother Gordon also traveled the country with an evangelist, supporting his preaching with their fiddling. Ervin even appeared with Glenn Miller's orchestra as a vocalist for a brief time later that decade. In June 1936, the Rouse brothers, consisting of Ervin and Earl on fiddles and Gordon on guitar, made their recording debut in New York City for the ARC label group. Several titles were cut in two sessions but only one disc was released on the infrequently used ARC imprint, "Pedal Your Blues Away" b/w "I'm So Tired" (#6-09-54).

Rouse settled in Miami in 1938, when he bought a house there, and continued to perform regionally. A year later, Rouse witnessed the christening of a new train that was operated by the Seaboard Air Line Railway. That train went from New York to Miami and back and was called "The Orange Blossom Special". It was the inspiration for Rouse's fast fiddle piece, originally titled "South Florida Blues" but then renamed it in honor of the train, and imitated the sounds of the Special and its speed. Rouse never rode that train actually but the song eventually became linked forever with his name.

In 1939, the brothers worked the infamous "Village Barn" in New York City, worked as songwriters for Bob Miller's publishing company and, that year in June, Ervin and Gordon, accompanied by brother Jack, recorded again, this time for RCA Victor's Bluebird label. At least six songs were cut that day, again in New York City, all of which saw release on Bluebird as well as the Montgomery Ward chain label. Among them were traditionals like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (made popular by the Carter Family) but also originals like "Craven County Blues" and, of course, "Orange Blossom Special". It was the beginning of a long list of recordings in the years to come. Rouse copyrighted the song in 1938, though, according to Kip Lornell in the book "Capitol Bluegrass", the first (though unreleased) version was recorded by Roy Hall's Blue Ridge Entertainers for Vocalion in November that year, followed by fiddler Walter Hurd (as "Train Special") for Bluebird in February 1939.

In the late 1930s, Rouse had met another young fiddler originally from Lake City, Florida. Robert Russell "Chubby" Wise had been born there in 1915 and met Rouse while living in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Wise, he helped Rouse to compose the melody, though other artists have uttered the theory that Rouse simply taught Wise the tune. Bill Monroe and his newly formed group, the Bluegrass Boys, recorded "Orange Blossom Special" in October 1941 with Art Wooten on fiddle. Bluebird released the result with "The Coupon Song" on #B-8893 in December that year. Monroe's frequent appearances at the nationally known Grand Ole Opry surely helped to boost the popularity of the song. Rouse himself was once invited to the Opry but turned down the offer in favor of staying in Florida.

UK sheet music cover of "Orange Blossom Special"

After World War II until the mid 1950s, several more artists recorded their version of "Orange Blossom Special", including Sleepy McDaniel & his Radio Playboys (D.C./Paragon, 1947), Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (Capitol, 1947), North Carolina Ridge Runners (Security, ca. 1947), Jerry & Sky (MGM, 1949), Preston Ward (Kentucky, 1952), Tommy Jackson (Dot, 1953), the Stanley Brothers (Mercury, 1955), among others.

Moon Mullican recorded Rouse's "Sweeter That the Flowers" for King Records in 1947 and it became another standard with nearly 30 different versions, including those by Shorty Long, Esco Hankins, Carl Story, the Stanley Brothers, or Bobby Bare. Rouse never recorded an own commercial version. His only surviving recording is a home tape from the 1970s, on which he played the song with his ex-wife's brother Virgil.

Maybe due to Mullican's hit version on King or maybe not, Ervin Rouse and his brothers became affiliated with the King label themselves in the early 1950s. They got to know Henry Stone, originally a record distributor who had turned to producing records. He owned a small record label, Rockin', on which the brothers' "Loan Me a Buck" and a new version of "Orange Blossom Special" was released in the fall 1953. When King Records bought out the Rockin' label, Stone became an A&R scout for King's DeLuxe label and headed its Miami office. He transferred the brothers to DeLuxe and reissued the single. The Rouse Brothers held a few more sessions for DeLuxe (engineered by Bob Miller, who worked as King exec bny then) until 1954 and two more singles resulted.

DeLuxe's flirtation with country music ended in the mid 1950s and the triumph of rock'n'roll sidelined the popularity of "Orange Blossom Special". It was not until Johnny Cash recorded his version of the song for Columbia in 1964 that the song started a second life. Cash recorded the song on December 20, 1964, at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Although it was a fiddle tune, Cash's version did not feature a fiddle but instrumental breaks by Charlie McCoy on harmonica and Boots Randolph on saxophone. Released in early January 1965, it peaked #3 on Billboard's C&W charts.

Sheet music cover of Johnny Cash's version

After Cash recorded it, he wanted to know the man who wrote it and made the connection to Rouse via Miami country DJ Cracker Jim Brooker. When Cash played a concert in Miami, he invited Rouse to come on stage and perform "Orange Blossom Special" with him. "I brought Ervin up to play the fiddle, and he absolutely killed it" remembered Cash decades later.

By then, Ervin and Gordon were living in the swamps in a small community in Collier County outside of Miami, keeping music as a sideline and performing locally at rough bars for the local fishermen and gator hunters. It was a stark contrast, from living in suburban Miami and working the city's resort hotels, to the hard, sweaty life in the Big Cypress swamps and its small though venues. In the 1970s, a few local journalists and just as few music scholars set out to visit Rouse in order to interview him, which failed in most cases as Rouse, although surely entertaining, rather told exaggerated stories and hokum instead of reliable facts. 

Rouse had to battle declining health and alcoholism in later years. He passed away on July 8, 1981, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, at the age of 62 years. He is buried at Southern Memorial Park in North Miami. His brother Gordon died in 1995.

Recommended reading

• Lonesome Lefty's Scratchy Attic

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45worlds/78rpm entry

• 45worlds/78rpm list of "Orange Blossom Special" releases

• Praguefrank Country Music Discographies entry

• Chubby Wise hillbilly-music.com entry

• SecondHandSongs

• NCpedia

• Randy Noles: "Orange Blossom Boys - The Untold Story of Ervin Rouse, Chubby Wise and the World's Most Famous Fiddle Tune" (Centerstream Publishing), 2002 

• Tony Russell, Bob Pinson: "Country Music Records" (Oxford University Press), 2004, p. 815

• "The Encyclopedia of Country Music" (Rouse brothers biography by Charles K. Wolfe) (Country Music Foundation), 1998, p. 460-461 

• Kip Lornell: "Capitol Bluegrass - Hillbilly Music Meets Washington, D.C." (Oxford University), 2020, p. 32