Leo Castleberry

Leo Castleberry in the late 1960s
(taken from his Torche LP "Riding the Range for Jesus)

The Star of Hot Springs, Arkansas
The Story of Leo Castleberry

Leo Castleberry was Hot Spring's country music entrepreneur, like there were so many back then in the United States. Memphis had Eddie Bond, Abilene had Slim Willet, Cleveland (Tennessee) had Gene Woods, Little Rock had Tommy Trent - and Hot Springs, Arkansas, had Leo Castleberry.

Leo Alexander Castleberry was born on August 21, 1931, to George W. and Mable A. Castleberry just outside of Hot Springs in the Ouachita Mountains. Castleberry developed a passion for music at an early age but owning a guitar was a distant dream for the poor Castleberry family. A local garden seed company once announced a contest, presenting a violin to the person that sold the most seed. Castleberry took part with determination and won the violin. After some time, his parents bought him a $ 5.00 guitar as they couldn't stand his nightly violin rendition of "Home Sweet Home" anymore. At that time, Castleberry was around twelve years old.

Religion was another strong influence on Castleberry. His grandfather, J.M.S. Merriott, was a traveling preacher and preached the gospel across the hills of Arkansas and eventually, Castleberry and his brother Dale accompanied him on many of his journeys. They rounded out the sermons with singing and guitar playing. Castleberry's deep faith, which was without a doubt shaped by his grandfather, was reflected in the high number of sacred songs he eventually recorded.

He began appearing on local radio stations at the age of 15 years and already had his own show about three years later. He formed the Jessieville Hillbillies while in high school, with whom he also appeared on radio, and after graduating, he started a Sunday morning gospel program in the early 1950s on KTHS that also featured his brothers and members of his future wife's family. They developed into a touring gospel group, playing countless churches in Arkansas and adjacent states.

Castleberry married Opal Whitfield in 1952 and the couple had a total of five sons (of which Bruce unfortunately died as an infant in 1957). His sons Leo Jr., Dennis, Ronnie and Richard ("Ricky") all were musically inclined and later joined his father's music act.

During the 1950s, Castlebery's popularity in and outside of Hot Springs grew. His Sunday morning program was carried by as much as 17 radio stations across the United States. He also appeared on the Grand Ole Opry as well as the Louisiana Hayride and over the years, shared the stage with some of the big names in country music, including Jimmie Davis, George Jones, Billy Grammer, David Houston, Sonny James, Tillman Franks, Slim Whitman, Martha Carson, and several more.

In 1959, Castleberry made his recording debut, a six track sacred material EP (custom pressed by Capitol) that was released on his own Leo label. The disc was credited to the "Leo Castleberry Singers, Hot Springs, Ark." which probably included his family. He followed that release with a rock'n'roll performance, surprisingly, but he jumped on that train a bit too late, it seems. "Teenage Blues" b/w "Come Back to Me" was first released on entrepreneur John Roddie's SPA label in 1960 and then became also the initial release on Roddie's new United Southern Artists label the same year. Castleberry also went on to work as an A&R scout for Roddie and his labels.

It was around that time that Castleberry became active as a business man, establishing Castleberry Riding Stables, Inc., in 1960. He did not only work as an A&R scout but reportedly also had his own recording studio (members of the band "Beau Hannon & the Mint Juleps" remember recording there) and set up more record labels: Torche Recording Company and its subsidiary Castletone Records plus Castletone Publishing, Leo Castleberry Enterprises, and L.A.C. Productions. He released his own music as well as other artists' recordings on both labels. In 1969, he even cut a whole album entitled "Riding the Range for Jesus".

Catalog of Copyright Entries 1976

In the following decades, he continued to work in local radio and TV business (including performing on KBHS and KBLO in Hot Springs  as well as other stationss as late as the 1980s). Castleberry's son Ronnie was a cast member of Hot Springs' Music Mountain Jamboree around the 1980s and 1990s and unfortunately, his son Richard had already died in 1984. Castleberry Riding Stables closed its doors in 2011. Leo Castleberry passed away on June 9, 2016, at the age of 84 years. He is buried at Mountain Valley Cemetery in Mountain Valley near Hot Springs. His wife Opal followed him in 2017.

Discography

45rpm Singles
Leo 10-101: Leo Castleberry Singers - I've Got My One Way Ticket to the Sky / Take My Hand Precious Lord / I'll Tell It Lord Wherever I Go / Way Down Deep in My Soul / Beautiful Life / Oh! What a Friend (1959)
SPA 100-10: Leo Castleberry - Teenage Blues / Come Back to Me (1960)
United Southern Artists 5-101: Leo Castleberry - Teenage Blues / Come Back to Me (1960)
Torche 689C-8373: Leo Lion and the Eagles - I Can't Forget You / Sugar Cane Time / Under the Double Eagle / Why (1964)
Torche 689C-8452: Leo Castleberry with the Plainsmen - My Journey to the Sky / Whatever the Future Holds / ? / ? (1964)
Castletone 689C-2183: AringTones - Great God / Leo Castleberry & Opal with the AringTones - Where Will I Shelter My Sheep / My Lord's So Good to Me / AringTones - Gotta Keep on the Move (1964)
Torche 689 C-4741: Leo Castleberry - Seeing Eye Dog / Bouquet of Roses (1967)

33rpm Albums
Torche 90325: Leo Castleberry with the Plainsmen Quartet - Riding the Range for Jesus (1969)

See also
• United Southern Artists Records
• Sammy Marshall on SPA
• The SPA label
• Music Mountain Jamboree

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Obituary
• Opal Castleberry obituary
• Rockin' Country Style and Gospel Jubilee entries
• Discogs

The Five Sounds on Lakeside

The Five Sounds - Clumsy Dragon (Lakeside 2001), 1964
The Five Sounds were an instrumental surf and garage rock band from Hot Springs, Arkansas. Not much is known about this group and I had puzzle together this feature from various snippets available on the internet. Some of the information given came from original Five Sounds bassist John Bostic.

Songwriter, lead guitarist and probably leader of the band was Larry Gill, who was likely William Larry Gill (1947-2020). His obituary stated he was an "accomplished musician", so that is probably our man. Gill was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, but probably lived in Hot Springs by the early 1960s. Other members of the group included Dan McKinney and Mike Nowell on rhythm guitars, John Bostic on bass, and Lynn Morgan on drums. Their manager was Ron Oberlag.

The Five Sounds, not to be confused with the Canadian band of the same name, cut at least two records. They recorded in 1965 for the Majesty label, comprising Gil's compositions "Explosion" and "Emperor Holiday". Strangely, the latter was credited to the "Commandoes with the Commandettes" and not to the band's actual name.

The Five Sounds recorded another song, "Clumsy Dragon", for the GalARK label. The other side was occupied by another group, Cecil Buffalo & the Prophets with their football tribute "Razorback Number One". Both songs were also released on the Hot Springs based Lakeside record label, which released a few singles during the mid 1960s. The Five Sounds release is probably from 1964 and the actual recording session was set up by DJ Doc Holiday at KAAY in Little Rock. The band's manager Ron Oberlag played tambourine on "Clumsy Dragon".

The fact that the Lakeside release exists on two different pressings suggests that it was - at least locally or regionally - a good seller. The Five Sounds enjoyed some regional popularity in the mid 1960s, as they opened for the Beach Boys and the Kingsmen in 1965.

"Clumsy Dragon" was reissued twice in Europe. The first time on Cees Klop's White Label LP "Early Rockin' in Arkansas" in 1989 and a second time on the Buffalo Bop Records CD "Strictly Instrumental, Volume 6" in 2001.

See also

• Lakeside Records discography

• GalARK Records discography

Sources

• 45cat entries for Lakeside Records and Cecil Buffalo

• Discogs entries for the Five Sounds, 

• William Larry Gill obtiuary

• YouTube video of Clumsy Dragon with memories by John Bostic

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

Jimmy Wakely on Decca

Jimmy Wakely - Mississippi Dreamboat (Decca 9-29756), 1955
Jimmy Wakely was a second generation singing cowboy, following the success of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and the Sons of the Pioneers. He made his way to Hollywood in the early 1940s and recorded steadily through that and the following decade. Although he became known as one of the silver screen cowboys and a country music star, his biggest charts successes became pop crossovers like "Slipping Around" (with Margaret Whitting) and the Christmas classic "Silver Bells".

James Clarence "Jimmy" Wakeley was born on February 16, 1914, in the small community of Mineola, western Arkansas. The family moved to Oklahoma at some point and as a teenager, Wakely started playing piano and singing in gospel groups. Following his move to Oklahoma City, he, Johnny Bond, and Scotty Harrell formed the Bell Boys in 1937 (named after their sponsor Bell Clothing) and appeared locally and on radio stations WKY (Oklahoma City) and KVOO (Tulsa).

Jimmy Waley, ca. 1940s

It was Gene Autry who discovered Wakely and the Bell Boys during a tour through Oklahoma and invited the group to join his new radio show, "Melody Ranch". They moved to California and besides his engagement with Autry's show, also signed a recording contract with Decca and started releasing discs in 1940. He and the band, which had changed its name to "Jimmy Wakely Trio" in the meantime, also began playing supporting roles in B western movies in the early 1940s.

In 1944, Wakely signed with Monogram Pictures and starred in a total of 28 westerns between 1944 and 1949. His contract with Decca lasted until 1947, followed by a short stint with Sterling and he then signed with Capitol, where he enjoyed his biggest commercial successes. His hits included "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)", "Slipping Around", and "Silver Bells". He got more national exposure through the CBS radio feature "Hollywood Barn Dance", which soon developed into the "Jimmy Wakely Show" and lasted from 1952 until 1958.

Today's selection "Mississippi Dreamboat" was recorded on November 9, 1955, at Decca's recording studio in Hollywood. It was a popcorn rock'n'roll exotica piece and, coupled with the Glorida Wood duet "Are You Satisfied?" from the same session, was rushed out on Decca #9-29756 in early December. Though Wakely adapted his sound to modern trends, this single failed to hit the charts.

Like many of his fellow cowboy actors, Wakely's popularity began to wane in the 1950s. He returned to recording for Coral/Decca in 1954 and founded his own label, Shasta Records, for which he recorded numerous singles, beginning in 1958. He also had his own recording studio on his ranch. He kept on performing as well as recording throughout the decades and in later years, appeared at western film conventions. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971 and the Western Music Association Hall of Fame in 1991.

Jimmy Wakely died on September 23, 1981, in Mission Hills, California. He was 68 years old.

Sources

• 45cat entry, 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Encyclopedia of Arkansas

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Sammy Marshall on SPA

Sammy Marshall - Kiss Me Good-Bye Tomorrow (SPA 25-1008), 1963

I became highly desperate when looking at Sammy Marshall's 45cat entry. 71 records and many of them seem to be from different artists of the same name. He was possibly the same artist who had a joint release with Les "Carrot Top" Anderson on the Springfield, Arkansas, based Patmar label. Maybe he was also the same who recorded for Allstar, K-Ark, Pleasant Valley or Belle Meade? I did not know until fellow blogger Bob pointed me towards his research. According to Bob, Sammy Marshall's real name was 1940 in Franklin, Kentucky, as Mark Stewart Simpson. He recorded for Hi and Judd as Mark Taylor, for the Globe Studio in Nashville as Sonny Marcell or Sammy Marshall, and as Ben Tate and Marc Stewart for other labels.

Since I cannot tell you anything substantial about the artist, we continue with the record label. Between 1960 and at least 1964, the label released several discs of various musical genres. There was rockabilly, country music, instrumental rock'n'roll, and pop music. And there was Sammy Marshall with "Kiss Me Good-Bye, Tomorrow", which I would call popular music, too. Marshall shared the disc with John Greer's take on the John Roddie song "(Oh, Ho, Ho, Ho) Heartaches".

If anyone has more information on Sammy Marshall or SPA Records, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me via e-mail.

See also
• The United Southern Artists label

Sources
• 45cat entries for Sammy Marshall and SPA Records
• SPA Records Rockin' Country Style 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

Gene Barnett on Wheel

Gene Barnett - Sittin' in the Bathroom (Wheel No.#), 1971

Gene Barnett played bass in Bobby Lee Trammell's band in the early 1960s, then joined Kenny Owens' band around the mid of the decade. He also appeared on Owens' local Jonesboro TV show and recorded for his Owens' ORK record label.

Barnett was born in 1942 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, but spent his early childhood in Bay, a small town outside of Jonesboro. The family then moved to Searcy but Barnett eventually returned to Jonesboro, where he graduated from high school and then pursued a career as the city's street superintendent.

Musically inclined, Barnett had learned to play bass and was also a solid vocalist. He started out around 1962 working with Bobby Lee Trammel and became acquainted with Kenny Owens at some point in the 1960s. Owens was a popular entertainer in Jonesboro and by the late 1960s, Barnett was appearing at Owens' TV show on KAIT. When Owens set up ORK Records, Barnett was among the artists that recorded for the label.

His debut "The Right to Love" b/w "Hey, Come On Now" appeared in April 1969 on ORK. Kenny Owens moved to Nashville in the early 1970s and he might have had a hand in Barnett's next release as well, which was issued on the Nashville based Wheel label. It featured "Wrong Line", Barnett's take on an Owens standard, and the Larry Donn written "Sittin' in the Bathroom". The record appeared in 1971 and is a nice blend of country and rock/rock'n'roll with some great fuzz guitar taking the solo on "Wrong Line". "Sittin' in the Bathroom" stayed more on the country side, genre-wise.

Barnett continued to perform locally. He retired from his job with the City of Jonesboro in 2004 and passed away in 2021.

More info on Barnett will be available in the booklet to Bear Family's double CD release of Kenny Owens, "Got the Bug!", which features Owens' complete recordings and in addition, many recordings from artists Owens worked with, including Barnett's cuts. The release is slated for this year.

Recommended reading
• Dead Wax blog: Wrong Line

See also
• ORK Records discography

Sources
• Gene Barnett obituary
• 45cat entry

Chuck Bell on Alley

Chuck Bell - I'm Gonna Get You Girl (Alley 1043), ca. 1968

Here we have a nice variation concerning the music style. Arkansas is best known for its contributions to the country and rock’n’roll music fields but this record proves that there were was other great music that came out of the state.

Chuck Bell’s 45 for Joe Lee’s Alley label out of Jonesboro is a great example. Joe Lee recorded a great variety variety of genres in his Variety Recording Studio during the decades, from rock’n’roll to folk, from soul to country. And Chuck Bell cut a great Soul record there. I’m not an expert on Soul music but I really like this one. He recorded “Summer Whispers” and “I’m Gonna Get You Girl” around 1968 at Alley and it saw release around the same time.

Unfortunately, my researchers turned up nothing substantial about Chuck Bell. There was a Charles W. Bell, Jr., that was born in 1946 and passed away in 2005. He is buried in Jonesboro, so this could be the same person. Chuck Bell had one more release a couple of years later on the Shelby Singleton version of Sun Records in 1981. This is all I could find about him.

Discography

Alley 1043: I'm Gonna Get You Girl / Summer Whispers (ca. 1968)
Sun 1161: Crazy Days / I Don't Live There Anymore (1981)

See also
• Alley Records discography

Sources
• 45cat entry
• Charles W. "Chuck" Bell, Jr., Find a Grave entry

Truman Lankford on Stockyard

Truman Lankford - Every Road Leads to Texas (Stockyard SR 102), ca. 1982

Truman Lankford was a longtime performer, from the 1960s until the 1980s and probably has traveled many highways through Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Texas. He played every roadhouse and honky tonk among those roads but in the end, never found the recognition that this talented singer deserved.

Truman McCoy Lankford was born on November 15, 1929, in Gentry, located in the northwestern corner of Arkansas near the growing metropolis of Bentovnville/Rogers/Fayetteville. By 1948, Lankford had married Elsie Jean "Jeanne" Montgomery and the couple had at least one daughter. Lankford served in the US Army during the Korean War.

Lankford was probably active as a musician before the mid 1960s but he did not record until 1965, when he was already 36 years old. He came to the attention of Skipper Records, founded the same year by Si Siman (who also co-owned Earl Barton Music with Ralph Foster and John B. Mahaffey) in Springfield, Missouri. Produced by M.A. Box, Lankford recorded the snotty country rocker "Arkansas Man" plus "Here-Comes-Heaven-Again" and both found release on Skipper #828S-1241 in 1965.

He had another three releases on local labels during the mid to late 1960s, including "Freightliner Fever" b/w "Watch Me" on the Big Orange label (#651) in 1968, which eventually became his claim to fame.Written by Lankford and L. D. Allen, "Freightliner Fever" was covered in 1970 by Red Sovine for Starday. It entered Billboard's Hot Country Songs in July that year and peaked at #54. Thought not a major hit, it became a minor classic among trucker country artists and was further covered by artists like Dave Dudley and Boxcar Willie. It also meant some welcomed income from the royalties for Lankford.

Lankford moved into a mainstream trucker country style himself in the 1970s and was a cast member of the 70s edition of the Louisiana Hayride. He continued to release singles on small labels well into the 1980s and had one of his few album releases in the late 1970s or early 1980s, "True Man" on the Louisiana Hayride label. He also appeared in the independent movie "Cody" in 1977, which was filmed in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Today's selection came from one of his early 1980s recordings that were released on the Stockyard label around 1982. The disc featured "Belly Up" and "Every Road Leads to Texas". While the A side was in a more 80s contemporary country style, "Every Road Leads to Texas" was a throwback to the old western swing days. Fiddle and steel guitar both take nice solos and Lankford supplies good, deep voiced vocals. Of course, it did not become a hit as country audiences had set their minds on other styles.

It seems this was Lankford's last release. He passed away November 17, 1987, at the age of 58 years. He is buried at Friendship Cemetery in Cale, Nevada County, Southwest Arkansas.

 Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• 45cat entry
• Discogs
• SecondHandSongs
• Internet Movie Database: Cody
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry
• Garage Hangover: Skipper Records history
• Locals Only
• Red Sovine - Freight Liner Fever 45cat entry

Jim Owens on Shock

Jim Owens - Two Shadows (Shock 1005), ca. 1972

Here were have a well-produced, early 1970s country performance from Memphis. Owens was already on the Memphis scene by the early 1960s. He had recorded "Davey Jones Locker" for Marshall Ellis' local Erwin record label, though I couldn't determine exact release information. This song later found its way on a 1986 Ace LP "Memphis Honky Tonk Hillbilly". Around the time Owens recorded for Erwin, he was also part of Gene Williams' Cotton Town Jubilee stage show that originated from Memphis in the early 1960s and also aired over KWAM. Unfortunately, I was not able to come up with more information about Owens.

Shock Records was owned by Jerry Lee "Smoochie" Smith, who came from Jackson, Tennessee, to Memphis in the mid 1950s as part of Kenny Parchman's band. He soon found work as a pianist with different bands, venues, and recording studios. He also recorded as a solo artist during the 1960s and 1970s without much success. He set up the Shock label in the early 1970s and apart from his own releases, recorded a few local Memphis artists, including Jim Owens.

See also
• Jerry Smith on Shock

Sources
• Discogs

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!"

Vern Pullens

Who was Vern Pullens?
The Story of the Pearl River Country Rocker

For decades, a sketchy biography of Vern Pullens has been floating around - but do we really know his story? I guess not. His claim to fame was the rockabilly double sider "Bop Crazy Baby" b/w "It's My Life" that he recorded for the Spade label, which began his decades spanning recording career. Pullens was a country singer first and rock'n'roll only second, though he occasionally recorded rockabilly throughout the years.

Right from the start, there is some sketchiness. Adam Komorowski sums it up in his biographical sketch on Pulles for the "Classic Rockabilly" CD box: "No exact date of birth is recorded for Vern Pullens but it is likely that it was in the late '20s. Also in doubt is his place of birth, variously cited as Bogalusa, Louisiana, and Picayne, Mississippi, but it is probable that it was Picayne." The place Komorowski mentions as "Picayne" is actually Picayune, which is less than half an hour away from Bogalusa. My intense research regarding this issue hailed no evidence to proof either assumption. I found a man named Monroe Paul Pullen, who turned out not to be Vern Pullens, however. It was my fellow researcher Volker Houghton who got me on the right track. He pointed me towards the grave of I.V. Pullens, which turned out to be the man I was looking for.

It is clear that Pullens hailed from the rural region known as the Pearl River Valley, Mississippi, which is also the border region to Louisiana. He was born there on March 9, 1931. His parents, Thomas Floyd Pullens, Sr., and Sarah Jane (Henley) Pullens were children of this rural and isolated region as well. Pullens came from a large family with at least ten siblings. By 1940, when he attended the local elementary school, the family was living in rural Pearl River County. Pullens' father earned a living as a farm hand but was also known to have been a reverend and therefore, the family was likely opposed to sacred music. Growing up in a rural area, Pullens was also likely influenced by the country sounds of the day.

It is possible that Pullens served his country during the late 1940s or early 1950s but no documents that would indicate a military service could be traced down so far. By the mid 1950s, Pullens was working as a bricklayer and a performer with a local country outfit on weekends. In 1956, label owner Bennie Hess was traveling the eastern Louisiana/southwestern Mississippi regions in search of local talent to record on his new label, Spade Records. Hess, a Texas born singer, producer and promoter (mostly a self-promoter, though), had started his musical career in the late 1920s and started recording in the 1940s. Following his contract with Mercury Records (which had ended abruptly as Mercury had found out Hess bootlegged his recordings for the company on his own small label), Hess started a string of labels to produce his own records. He went into partnership with Doyle Jones to form Spade Records in the latter part of 1956 and embraced the new rockabilly sounds on the label.

Pullens and Hess possibly came in touch through B.J. Johnson, a Picayune based singer, songwriter, and DJ. Hess was impressed enough with Pullens to arrange a recording session for him in September that year at radio KTRH in Houston. Pullens traveled the approximately 200 miles from Pearl River Valley to Houston to cut not only what was his first session but also Spade's debut release. He was backed by local session men, of which only bassist Lou Fresley's name has survived. Four tracks were recorded that day: "Bop Crazy Baby", "It's My Life", "Would You Be Happy", and a raved up rockabilly version of the old standard "Mama Don't Allow No Boppin'". The first two were chosen by Hess for single release on Spade #1927 around October. It was pressed on both 45rpm and 78rpm formats.

Hess released another single on Pullens, though they headed into another direction and tried out with a traditional country style that Pullens was used to. Spade #1930 featured Pullens' "Would You Be Happy", a rockaballad from the previous session with echo, slap bass, and spicy lead guitar, and a stone-hard country weeper "It Took One Moment". Released in late 1956 or early 1957, it shared the fate of its precursor and went nowhere. A third and last single was released on Spade around May 1957, featuring two country duets with B.J. Johnson, "What Am I to Do" and "Country Boys Dream" (#1935). It also showed that Pullens was a bit of a songwriter, too, as both songs were his originals. BMI lists a total of 38 compositions by him.

Billboard January 5, 1957

Apart from the rural stamp these recordings had, the biggest problem was the missing distribution network of Spade. Hess' only distributor was Pappy Daily of Starday, who nevertheless used his connections to rather promote his own biggest star at the time, George Jones. Speaking of Pappy Daily, he re-released "What Am I to Do" and "Country Boys Dream" on his own D record label (#1107 in the fall of 1959). This deal probably came into existence through B.J. Johnson again, who recorded for D during 1958-1959 as Byron Johnson.

However, the single failed to stimulate any greater success and it remained their only effort for the label. Pullens kept on performing in the Mississippi-Louisiana border region and in 1957, became a cast member of a local Saturday night live stage show, the Pearl River Valley Jamboree, which aired over WHXY from Bogalusa. He was lead guitarist for the show's house band and remained with the cast until 1959.

Pullens then began working with Hack Kennedy, who had founded Big Howdy Records in Bogalusa two years earlier. Two country singles appeared in the second half of 1960, including an answer song to Hank Locklin's big 1958 hit "Send Me the Pillow (That You Dream On)", written by Pullens "I Sent You the Pillow (That I Dreamed On)". Answer songs were popular in those days and at the same time, the Browns turned their version of the original into a moderate hit, so Hack Kennedy possibly took the chance to cash in on the success.

Though, a hit was not in sight for Pullens and he spent some time in Nashville, Tennessee, possibly hoping to get a better deal while being at the center of country music. He recorded a single for the independent Voice of Country label in 1968, "How Long Now" / "Just at Sundown" (Voice of Country #117) but was back at Big Howdy the next year, recording and working with both Hack Kennedy and B.J. Johnson again.

By the early 1970s, Bennie Hess had moved his operations to Nashville, too, and rockabilly music was gaining popularity among young British music lovers. This did not remained unnoticed by Hess and he reactivated his Spade label. Hess' first move was to lease "Mama Don't Allow No Boppin'", "Would You Be Happy", and "Bop Crazy Baby" to the British Injun label for release in 1972. In 1975, Pullens cut a new session for Hess that included the songs "Long Gone", "Rock On Mabel" and the first version of "You Don't Mean to Make Me Cry", all of which were issued by Spade in the UK.

Rockabilly remained popular and in the summer of 1979, Bill Kilgore approached  Pullens to make more recordings. Kilgore had a small record label in Deer Park, Texas, Rock-It Records, which specialized in rockabilly music and he arranged a session for Pullens at the birthplace of rock'n'roll, in Memphis, Tennessee. The session took place at American Sound Studio, engineered by Stan Kesler, and featured a line-up of legendary Memphis rockabilly musicians: Al Hopson on lead guitar, Jerry Lee "Smoochie" Smith on piano, Marcus Van Story on bass, and Jimmy Van Eaton on drums. It was a split-session with Memphis music stalwart Eddie Bond, who recorded a slew of tracks with the same band. From Pullens' songs, a new version of "You Don't Mean to Make Me Cry" and "Jitterbuggin' Baby" were released on single (Rock-It #105). These and more tracks from the session were released in Europe through Rockhouse Records in the mid 1980s.

In the early 1970s, Pullens had returned to rural Mississippi and settled in Carriere, a small town outside of Picayune. There, he set up his own record label Sun Down Records, on which he released country music by local artists throughout the 1970s and also had two releases under his own name on the label. Though he had returned to Mississippi, he retained his connections to Nashville and produced most of the Sun Down releases there. The label's most successful release became Roger Rainy's "Breaker, Breaker" from 1975, which became a Top 20 country hit.

On the performing side, Pullens continued to play locally in Mississippi but had given up recording after his 1979 Memphis session. He spent his last years in Mississippi and passed away on July 19, 2000, at the age of 69 years (although his death date is usually given as 2001). He is buried at Henleyfield Cemetery in Pearl River County. His 1950s and 1970s rockabilly recordings have been reissued over and over again since the 1970s but a quality re-release of his complete recordings is still missing. The Cramps, British psychobilly band, cited "Bop Crazy Baby" as one of their influences.

See also
• The Pearl River Valley Jamboree
• Spade Records story
• Penny Records

Recommended reading
• Bear Family Records

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• Various entries at 45cat and 45worlds: 45cat, 45worlds/CD albums, 45worlds/Vinyl albums
• Discogs
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entries (Beware of some wrong and inconsistent information)
• Bennie Hess at the Texas State Historical Association
• Adam Komowski: "Classic Rockabilly" (liner notes), Proper Records (2006)
• Official census records accessed through Ancestry.com

Johnnie Leach on Round Up

Johnnie Leach and the Country Gentlemen - Faded Love (Round Up No.#), 1971

Here we have some fine Tulsa western swing, from a local outfit Johnnie Leach and the Country Gentlemen. "Faded Love" is of course the 1950 Bob Wills hit, a standard in western swing and one of my favorites. Naturally I had to buy this record.

The Round Up label (no connection to a label of the same name from Nashville) had at least three releases, all of them by Leach. It was based in Catoosa, a suburb of Tulsa, and it seems all of its releases were manufactured by Rite Record Productions from Cincinnati.

I could not really find out much about Leach or the label. Judging from a fitting Find a Grave entry, he was probably Johnnie A. Leach, born on July 2, 1926, and passed away on February 5, 2002. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Claremore, also near Tulsa. I suspect him to be the leader of a local western swing act, the Country Gentlemen. Leach was not the vocalist but co-wrote at least two of their songs, "Home Maker" and "Three Empty Chairs". Vocalists in the group included Robert Hill and Bob Bintliff.

Discography

Round Up 28531/2: Johnnie Leach and the Country Gentlemen - Three Empty Chairs / Lone Star Rag
Round Up 28533/4: Johnnie Leach and the Country Gentlemen - Home Maker / Under the Double Eagle
Round Up 28535/6: Johnnie Leach and the Country Gentlemen - Faded Love / Maiden's Prayer

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Information on all three Round Up discs thanks to Western Red

Joe Manuel

Joe Manuel

Not to be confused with the more famous cajun musician of the same name, Joe Manuel was a popular country music entertainer of the 1940s and 1950s in Memphis. He played an important role in giving young Memphis musicians a stage to present their talents - his Saturday Night Jamboree hosted a number of later rockabilly artists and in addition, his radio show was popular all over the mid-south in the 1950s.

Born Joseph Manuel to Thomas and Arrie Manuel on March 26, 1912, he was from Northwest Alabama like fellow Memphis country entertainer Gene Steele. Joe's father was born in Texas but lived in Alabama when he married Arrie Wilburn in 1913. When Arrie died in 1938, Thomas married Willie B. Waldrep. The Manuel family hailed from the small community of Town Creek, Alabama, but relocated to the Arkansas delta region when Joe was a small boy. They lived the hard life of sharecroppers and Manuel and his brothers were raised on farms in the Mississippi River regions. As a teenager, he left Arkansas and joined a carnival, where he met comedian Dave Perkins. Perkins took the youngster under his wing and mentored him how to entertain people.

Manuel then took up the guitar and singing, becoming an entertainer in his own right. By the early 1930s, he was back in Arkansas and began appearing on local radio stations. He had made the move to the region's metropolis, Memphis, by 1933 and began performing on WNBR, which eventually became WMPS after it was acquired by the Memphis Press-Scimitar. The station was an affiliate of the Blue Network (which evolved into ABC) and for a while in the 1930s, Manuel's radio shows were beamed over the network into several states.

By 1940, Manuel had married Elizabeth A. Van Hooser, with whom he had a daughter, Dotty. Manuel was married several times, a fact that he also incorporated into his songs (like "Alimony Blues"). In 1942, he was married to Margaret Mary "Elsie" Keywood, which gave birth to another daughter Sylvia.

Following World War II, Manuel worked a radio station in Dallas, Texas, for a short time but despite the good offer from the station, he returned to Memphis due to family responsibilities (which also included his son Larry by then). Upon his return to the city, he hooked up with WHBQ, which transferred his show to an early morning slot. As Manuel's show matched perfectly with many farmers' breakfast time in the surrounding Memphis areas, it became a huge success among the rural audiences. As WHBQ was a 5,000 watts station, Manuel was heard as far away as Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Kentucky.

In 1948, television reached Memphis but Manuel did not transfer to the new medium. His popularity ceased and his radio show came to an end in 1950. He stayed out of radio business for about two years but returned to the airwaves in 1952, then appearing on KWEM in West Memphis, where he started a daily broadcast. By then, an idea had grown on Manuel. He noticed the many young, talented singers in the city and wanted to create a possibility for them to present themselves. He introduced a live stage show patterned after the Grand Ole Opry, which he called the Saturday Night Jamboree. The show started in 1953 and took place at the Goodwyn Institute in Memphis. It quickly drew crowds and became successful enough that KWEM began airing the shows live. Apart from his own band (which also included his son Larry on accordion), acts like Johnny Cash, Eddie Bond, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Marcus Van Story and band, Charlie Feathers, and others who became known as rockabilly legends appeared on Manuel's stage.

Despite his popularity, Manuel made only few recordings and none of them were released in a commercial way. Probably in 1954, he and his band laid down a couple of recordings at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service. Some of them were jingles for bread companies and found release on 78rpm discs released by the Action Advertising Agency credited to "Dreamy Joe". Those included "Hardin's Bread Boogie" and "Holsum Boogie" and as the titles reveal, they were hot country boogie numbers. His "Holsum Boogie" became so popular with listeners in South Illinois that Manuel and his band were once invited by the Holsum Bread Company to perform in front of a 11,000 audience in Anna, Illinois.

Advertisement sign for Holsum Bread

It was especially lead guitarist Lee Adkins' playing that foreshadowed the rockabilly sounds, which would evolve about two years later in Memphis. There was a third boogie number called "Daisy Bread Boogie" as well as "Alimony Blues", a song written by Manuel already in the early 1940s with its lyrics bearing a lot of self-reference. It featured yodeling in the style of Jimmie Rodgers by Manuel and enjoyed great popularity among his radio and live audiences. Those two recordings were apparently not released at the time. Apart from Manuel on vocals and rhythm guitar and Adkins on electric lead guitar, the line-up also included Danny Chambers on bass.

The Saturday Night Jamboree ended in 1954 as the Goodwyn Institute's auditorium was closed down for remodeling and a year later, Manuel was sidelined by Sun Records' young rockabilly artists. He continued to broadcast on and off for KWEM but did not make recordings anymore. His son Larry recorded for Eddie Bond's Stomper Time label in 1959.

Joe Manuel died on July 16, 1959, at the age of 47 years from melanoma cancer. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Memphis. His daughter Sharon was born shortly after his passing.

Discography

Label No.#	Artist Credit	A / B side	Date
Action Prod. 101	Dreamy Joe	Holsum Boogie / You’ve Done Me Wrong
Action Prod. 101/2	Dreamy Joe	You’ve Done Me Wrong / Hardin’s Bread Boogie

See also
• Gene Steele - The Singing Salesman of Memphis

Recommended reading
• Hillbilly-Music.com
(note: this side is mixing up "Cajun" Joe Manuel and Memphis' Joe Manuel)
• Larry Manuel collection at Wilson Special Collections Libraries
• Photo of Joe and Larry Manuel with Marcus Van Story (Memphis Public Libraries)

Sources
• Biography on "Remembering the Shoals"
• Ancestors page
• Find a Grave entry
• 45worlds.com/78rpm entry
• Colin Escott, Martin Hawkins, Hank Davis: "The Sun Country Boy" (Bear Family Records), liner notes, 2013