Brush Creek Follies

Stage of the Brush Creek Follies, ca. 1947

The One...the Only...the Famous... Don't Miss the

KMBC Brush Creek Follies

KMBC's "Brush Creek Follies" was Kansas City's longest running and probably most imported country music show of all time. Kansas City was a music city. Jazz being the most prominent example but country music was very popular in the "Heart of America" as well. With clubs, radio stations, and record labels offering artists exposure, the city had a lively country scene for decades. Of course, there had to be a country music live stage show, which was a popular format in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, and Kansas City's own "Brush Creek Follies" became one of the nation's early radio favorite radio programs.

The Brush Creek Follies show originated from radio KMBC (Midland Broadcasting Company), which was located many years at the Pickwick Hotel in Kansas City. The station's founder and president was Arthur B. Church, Jr., who had programmed old-time folk and early country music since the early 1930s. He was well aware that KMBC also reached a rural audience outside of Kansas City. In 1938, he picked up the popular barn dance radio format for this market and launched KMBC's own live stage show, which became known as the Brush Creek Follies.

Kansas City Journal January 8, 1938
Ad for the first episode of the "Brush Creek Follies"

The first show took place on January 8, 1938, at the Ivanhoe Temple with portions being broadcast live on KMBC. This large auditorium would be the home of the show for many years, although the Follies were briefly staged at other locations as well. In usual manner, the stage was constructed to look like an old barn in order to create a rural atmosphere. The cast featured not only musicians but a variety of entertainers like comedian Jed Starkey, a blackface guy called George Washington White or magician Tim West. The show was emceed by Hiram Higsby, who had previously worked at WLS' National Barn Dance in Chicago. Singers and musicians included some of KMBC's mainstays such as Colorado Pete (real name George Martin), Kit and Kay, the Oklahoma Wranglers, Tex Owens (writer of "Cattle Call"), the Prairie Pioneers, Charlie Pryor, and many others. Of course, the cast would change over the years and featured many performers of local and national fame.

The show became an instant hit with the live audiences and radio listeners. During the early years of the Follies, the Columbia Broadcasting System carried portions of the show, beaming it out across the United States and thus making it the second most-popular show of its type right after the National Barn Dance. The Grand Ole Opry would not become the nation's number one country music show until after World War II.

The war affected the show's run, which was suspended for a brief time from March 1942 until November 1942 due to the US government's appeal to save tire rubber. Since many of the show's attandees came from rural areas outside of Kansas City and traveled far distances, manager Arthur B. Church decided it would be better to sign off until the situation improved. However, KMBC aired a studio version of the show without a live audience.

After returning to the big stage, the Follies were not broadcast by CBS anymore. The Follies were replaced another time with a studio version from November 1947 until January 1948 due to a conflict between the KMBC management and the American Guild of Variety Artists. A studio version replaced the live stage show but the Follies returned to its usual format on January 17 and remained a popular outlet for live country music in the next years.

In 1950, the Brush Creek Follies received competition in form of the Cowtown Jubilee, a similar format produced initially by WHB and soon thereafter by KCMO. The Cowtown Jubilee was staged at the Ivanhoe Temple, once the home of the Follies, which had moved to the Memorial Hall earlier. In 1951, KMBC moved to facilities on 11th and Central Street (formerly the Ararat Temple), where the station staged the Brush Creek Follies in their own auditorium from that point on.

The Kansas City Times December 8, 1950
Ads for Brush Creek Follies and Cowtown Jubilee

In September 1954, the Kansas City Star announced that both the Follies and the Cowtown Jubilee were held as one show at the Ivanhoe Temple, merging both casts into one. However, this fusion did not last long as KMBC discontinued the Brush Creek Follies at the end of the year due to another labor disput with the union, which demanded to double the performers' salary due to simultanous broadcasts for radio and TV. The station's management refused and ended the Brush Creek Follies. Regardless of the moral nature of this decision, the Follies ended shortly after the "Golden Age" of both radio and country music ended, too. TV and rock'n'roll would soon end a lot of similar shows all across the United States. 

There has been considerable effort put into the preservation and documentation of the Brush Creek Follies. The University of Missouri-Kansas City maintains a website for the show's history and several items are part of the ArchiveGrid database. Magazines have written about the long-time gone radio show and performers like Irene Diercks (one half of Kit and Kay) were interviewed. There are a few episodes available for listening on YouTube.

Recommended reading

• Midwest Geonology Center

• ArchiveGrid

• Charlie Pryor and the Brush Creek Follies

Sources

• University of Missouri-Kansas City Brush Creek Follies website

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• The Story Behind the Legendary Local Radio Show Brush Creek Follies (KansasCityMag)

• Fountain City Frequency

Ouachita Valley Barn Dance Jamboree

Over the years, there has been some interest in some of the better known and bigger barn dance shows, especially those from the 1930s-1950s period. The lesser known ones have mostly fallen into obscurity and those shows that were founded at an even later date are totally forgotten. I dug up such a show while researching something completely different - the Ouachita Valley Barn Dance from Arkansas.

The Ouachita Valley Barn Dance Jamboree began its life in June 1975 in Reader, Arkansas. The show was staged at the Reader Railroad Park, a tourist-only railroad line in Nevada and Ouachita Counties. The premiere show featured country star Red Sovine and a subsequent show on July 1975 was headlined by Claude King.

Unfortunately, it is not known to me how long the show ran or if it was broadcast on radio. If anyone knows more about the Ouachita Valley Barn Dance Jamboree, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Sources

• "Reader Railroad adds night train for July 4-5" (Hope Star, July 2, 1975)

• Benton Courier, June 4, 1975

WOWO Hoosier Hop

1946 souvenir album/song folio cover from the Hoosier Hop

WOWO's Famous Hoosier Hop

Indiana's Most Popular Barn Dance Show

Country music was a popular music style in the state of Indiana, which was boosted by the fact that the state was widely populated by people coming from the South. As radio grew, barn dance live shows popped up all over Indiana, which housed quite a few of those. Among the most popular shows was WOWO's Hoosier Hop from Fort Wayne.

The roots of the Hoosier Hop show date back to 1932. That year, WOWO introduced a show of that name to its listeners and it proved to be popular enough to be carried through the CBS network for several months. It is not clear whether this show was a studio production or a live venue broadcast. However, the show soon came to an end - initially.

WOWO revived the Hoosier Hop in 1943, when they started the program anew on July 17 with a cast of about 15 folk and country music singers and musicians. At that early stage of the show's run, it was live broadcast from the studio. Again, the show became a favorite among the listeners and the cast grew to 30 performers. At that point, it moved from the WOWO studio to the Shrine Auditorium in Fort Wayne, which had a capacity of 4,000 seats. The first show at the new venue was staged on October 8 that year. The show was supervised by Harry K. Smythe of WOWO and his wife Eleanor.

The Shrine Temple (also known as Shrine Theatre or Shrine Auditorium) in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Beginning in 1944, the Hoosier Hop was carried nationally through the Blue network. Summer seasons brought the show to places outside of Fort Wayne, including Smythe's newly opened Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Indiana, with a capacity of 5,000 seats. The Hoosier Hop was on the air throughout the 1940s and by 1946, was part of the ABC network programming, which lasted until around 1948 (formerly Blue network). It remained popular throughout the decade and attracted a lot of different performers, both locally and nationally known.

Happy Herb Hayworth was the announcer of the show. Cast members included the Blackhawk Valley Boys, the Hoosier Cornhuskers, Billy Starr (alias Bill Stallard), Nancy Lee and the Hilltoppers, Judy & Jen, Dean Maxedon, Penny West, Kenny Roberts, and many others. By 1944, a group entitled the "Down Homers" had come to the Hoosier Hop. The group's bassist and yodeler was Kenny Roberts, who temporarily left in late 1944 for the US Navy. He was replaced by Bill Haley, who was still at an early stage of his career (though some sources claim Haley did not join the group until a year later). Haley remained with the Down Homers and the Hoosier Hop for about two years. In early 1946, several Hoosier Hop cast members made recordings for the Detroit based Vogue label, including Nancy Lee and the Oregon Rangers, Judy & Jen, and the Down Homers (probably without Haley). These recordings were released throughout 1946 and 1947 on Vogue Picture Discs.

The Hoosier Hop cast around 1946 as pictured in one of the show's souvenir albums

I found mentions of the Hoosier Hop as late as July 1947 but public mentions in Billboard end by that time. By then, some of the mainstay performers like Kenny Roberts and Fred Oliver had left WOWO and the cast. If anyone has additional information on the show or its ending, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email through the formula at the top right of this site.

Sources

• World Radio History: Hoosier Hop Souvenir Albums [1] and [2] 

• Vogue Records 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Otto Fuchs: "Bill Haley" (Wagner Verlag GmbH), 2011, page 62

• Bart Plantenga: "Yodel-AY-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World" (Routledge), 2004, page 198

Catahoula Country Music Show

Don Wiley and the Catahoula Playboys, 1960s
from left to right: Ruble Tendle Wright (piano), Gene King (guitar), Peggy Forman,
J.C. Henderson (guitar), Don Wiley (guitar), Sidney McLemore (guitar),
John Brown, Sr. (drums), Junior Trisler (bass), and Bill Landrum (steel guitar)

The Catahoula Country Music Show was a local country music stage and TV show, centered around local musician Don Wiley and his band. By the beginning of the 1960s, the golden age of American radio and the big radio barn dance shows was over. Casts of thirty or more acts were too expensive. However, on local basis, such shows were still in demand on a smaller scale. The Catahoula Country Music Show from Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, is such an example.

The Olla Tullos Signal, September 9, 1966

The house band of the show were the Catahoula Playboys, led by vocalist and guitarist Donald Ray "Don" Wiley, Sr. He was born on December 26, 1931, to Robert "Bob" and Myrtle Wiley in Catahoula Parish and married Ruthine Leola Book in 1951. She later appeared on her husband's shows as well. Wiley worked for the Lakeside Ford car dealership in Jonesville, Catahoula Parish, and also had a mobile home dealership in Ferriday. By 1962, he had also organized a band known as the "Catahoula Playboys" that played local dates and toured the Central Louisiana areas.

The Catahoula News,
September 12, 1963

The Catahoula Country Music Show developed out of a July 1962 charity event for infant Gary Wright, who was in need of a heart operation. Soon the funds were raised, which saved Gary's life, and the popularity of the show prompted Wiley and his band to organize it as a regular feature, beginning in September that year. The Catahoula Country Music Show was born. It was first held at the Fort Theater (sometimes also spelled Ford or Fout) in Harrisonburg, the parish seat. Eventually, the old theater building was demolished and the show moved to the former Keith Department Store on Front Street in nearby Jonesville. The building was later promoted as the "Catahoula Country Music Show Auditorium".

The show soon began to attract not only large crowds but also attention outside of Catahoula Parish. By September 1963, the show was carried by KVNV, a station from Ferriday. By February 1966, it was also featured on KALB-TV from Alexandria. The band also had a Sunday morning show on that station and KNOE from Monroe also televised the show at some point. Apart from the Playboys and other local talent like Tommie French, Rip Cannaday, Ray Prince, the Covington Trio, Penny Sue Franklin, Happy Fats, or Alex Broussard, the show regularly featured national stars like Freddie Fender, Jim & Jessie, Carl Story, Bill Monroe, and many others.

The Catahoula Playboys included Don Wiley on vocals and guitar, Gene King on electric guitar, J.C. "Catfish" Henderson on guitar, Bill Landrum on steel guitar, Ruble Tendle Wright on piano, Junior Trisler on upright bass, and Bobby Dan Massey on drums. Of course, the line-up varied over the years and some members came and others left. In their first years of existence, the Playboys played a mixture of country music, pop, cajun, bluegrass, and a bit of rock'n'roll. However, they developed more and more into a bluegrass band throughout the years, eventually featuring Frank Thompson on fiddle and an unknown banjo player. 

In 1966, the band made one 45rpm record for the local Catahoula label, which was followed by an album entitled "Voices of Catahoula" around 1968. They also made another LP around the same time on the Zundak label, "Catahoula Country Time". Several of the show's regulars made records as well. The Catahoula Country Music Show lasted well-into the 1970s, at least until 1973. Ruble Wright and Bill Landrum eventually had their own show in Colfax, the Louisiana Jamboree, which was much in the same style as Don Wiley's show. Wiley spent the 1980s and 1990s playing with his bluegrass band across the state. He was also a member of the Bluegrass Music Association.

J.C. Henderson died in 1995, while Wiley passed away on February 9, 2000. Ruble Wright died in 2010 and Billy Landrum in 2015.

We close this post now with the words that Wiley used to sign off his shows: "May you take a likin' to the lord... and he take a likin' to you. Bye cycle!"

Discography

45rpm
Catahoula 1001: The Bottle Let Me Down / Jambalaya (1966)

Albums
Catahoula No. ?: Voices of Catahoula (ca. 1968)
Zundak No.?: Catahoula Country Time (ca. 1968)

Sources

• Discogs

• Southern Music Research Center: Material on Rip Cannaday

• Don Wiley obituary
 • Don Wiley Find a Grave entry

• Musician Tommie French coming to CCF Coffee Hour

• Ruble Wright obituary

• 1970s Hippiebillie Country Albums

• Thanks to Marshal Martin, who brought the show to my attention and provided a lot of information and photo material!

Old Floridy Barn Dance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also

• Remembering Happy Harold - A Miami Country Music Pioneer

• The Old South Jamboree

Recommended reading

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

Sources

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

Pine Mountain Jamboree

The Pine Mountain Jamboree logo, taken from one of the show's cassette tapes

It appears that there have been quite a couple of family-friendly country music live stage shows in Arkansas that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. These were often non-radio shows, people could only experience the fun they promised when attending the shows. Sometimes recordings were made, like it is the case for Eureka Springs' Pine Mountain Jamboree.

The show was founded by the Drennon family, led by Dave and Deanna "Dee" Drennon. Mike and Mindy Drennon helped also but it is unknown to me how they were related. The show started in 1975 and became a popular one, as it continued for over four decades. It featured mostly country musicians, though the cast remains another blank spot in the show's history. Country and gospel classics were performed live on stage, mixed with comedy. The building housing the show was located on Highway 62 in East Eureka Springs and featured vacation homes, shops, and other entertainment as well.

Several recordings were made in the early 1980s. Two LPs appeared in 1981 and 1982 and at least two cassette tapes were issued, too, although it's not clear if the LP tracks differed from the cassettes. There appears to have been a CD in 2003 entitled "Thirty and Counting" (though the show's 30th anniversary would not have been until 2005), which suggests the show was still in existence at that time.

The Drennons retired from the show business eventually and leased the building to Mike and Dale Bishop, who continued to put on shows there for the next years under the name of "Pine Mountain Theatre". The Bishops discontinued their shows, however, and the Drennon family finally sold the estate and buildings to the local Pig Trail Harley-Davidson shop, who turned over management of the Pine Mountain Jamboree to Mark Wayne Beers.

The opening show under Beers' supervision took place in May 2015. During the following months, the show featured such acts as Walt Morrison, Kimberly Swatzell, the Brick Fields Band, Buster Sharp, as well as Beers himself. Beers was ambitious but had to close the show in late 2015 with the last show being on November 12 that year. The building on 2015 East Van Buren (Highway 62) is still standing but abandoned nowadays.

The Pine Mountain Jamboree building in recent years
Source: Google Street View

Sources
• Pine Mountain Jamboree Facebook page
• Locals Only: Arkansas Twang

Arkansas-Oklahoma Jamboree

Downtown Fort Smith, Garrison Avenue, 1950s

The Arkansas-Oklahoma Jamboree was held in Fort Smith, Arkansas, located (as the show's name suggests) in the Arkansas-Oklahoma border region. The show was the brainchild of wrestling promoter Jimmy Lott and we only find mention of this show in November 1956 in both the Billboard and Cash Box publications. Linda Flanagan, a local country music singer still in her teens, was slated to be the star of the show. It was held at the Sports Arena, sometimes also billed as Jimmy Lott's Sports Arena.

Jimmy Lott

James Newman "Jimmy" Lott was born on January 31, 1908, in Jefferson County, Alabama, and grew up in Birmingham. He was active in both football and boxing during high school and after graduating, he became a professional wrestler, known as "Kid" Lott in the early and mid 1930s. In the early 1950s, he relocated to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and gave up wrestling in favor of promoting. He promoted mostly for LeRoy McGuirk's Tri-State Wrestling organization and many of its events were held at the Sports Arena.

In 1956, he briefly branched out promoting other kind of events, including his Arkansas-Oklahoma Jamboree. However, it is not known if this show was a one-shot or if it became a regular feature in Fort Smith. It was neither mentioned if it aired on radio. The same year, there is mention of a show entitled "Saturday Night Radio Center Jamboree" on KWHN that could have been the successor of Lott's show. In 1958, Billboard told its readers about the "Country Music Jamboree" that took place on Thursday nights (eventually changed to Friday nights) at the Sports Arena. It aired live over KWHN and also featured Linda Flanagan as well as local artists like Little George Domerese, Jerry Roller, and Carl Blankenship. Though it is not clear if this was the same show, a successor or an entirely new program.

Lott retired from promoting in the early 1970s and passed away on January 3, 1979, in Panama City, Florida.

See also
• Linda Flanagan on Razorback

Sources
• Wrestling Data
• Jimmy Lott Find a Grave entry

Gathright's Saturday Night Jamboree

West Second Avenue in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, ca. 1910
Pine Bluff was home to "Gathright's Saturday Night Jamboree", one of Arkansas'
earliest live stage country music shows

One of the earliest, if not the earliest, live country music stage show took place in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, entitled "Gathright's Saturday Night Jamboree". At that time, Pine Bluff was a 21,000 residents city with an agricultural based economy, perfect surroundings for a weekly Saturday night country show.

The Saturday Night Jamboree grew out of a weekly, informal jam sessions by local musicians that took place at Gathright Van & Storage Transit Company. Beginning around 1942, the session soon attracted audience and became popular among the citizens, developing the informal meetings into shows. Local radio KOTN began broadcasting these shows on January 9, 1943, as "Gathright's Saturday Night Jamboree".

Soon, the attendants outgrew the capacity of the store and the show moved to another venue known as "Gathright's Hayloft". By September that year, larger station KARK out of Little Rock had added the show to its programming, which resulted in two broadcasts of the show: each Saturday the first segment aired state-wide over KARK and a second segment aired locally over KOTN.

Emcee of the show was Joe Wallace. The cast was made up of local talent, including such acts as Smokey Goodwin, Eva Pappas, Two Guys and a Gal, Gene Gray, Bill Dudley, the Original Tune Peddlars, Gathright's Quartet, Fanny Evans, and the house band of the show, the Troubadors. This band also featured local fiddler and singer M.T. "Fiddlin' Rufus" Brewer, who later joined the Louisiana Hayride along with Sammy Barnhart.

It is not known to me when the show ended its run. Any info is highly appreciated!

Sources
• The Day the Music Died - by Bob Brewer (son of M.T. Brewer)
• Jimmy Cunningham, Jr., Donna Cunningham: "Delta Music and Film: Jefferson County and the Lowlands" (Arcadia Publishing), 2015, p. 61

Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance / Barnyard Frolic

Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium in Little Rock, Arkansas,
where both the Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance and the Barnyard Frolic
staged from 1946 until 1960

Live from the Rock

Barn Dance Shows from Little Rock, Arkansas

Of the few known country music live stage shows airing out of Arkansas, the "Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance" was one of the better known examples. The show originated out of Little Rock and enjoyed some years of success in the 1940s. It was the creation of female country music singer Alma "Little Shoe" Crosby, who was responsible for the show in its early years. Later on, the Barn Dance was replaced by another show of the same format, the "Barnyard Frolic".

Little Shoe was already a veteran performer by the time she set up the Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance. Born in 1910, Crosby had worked with Frankie More's Log Cabin Girls and Boys before founding her own group, the Cowboy Sweethearts. Like many other country music performers of her era, Crosby moved from radio station to radio station during the 1930s and 1940s. By 1946, she had performed on such stations as KMBS in Kansas City, KMOX in St. Louis, WJBC in Bloomington, Indiana, and WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia (where she also appeared on WWVA's famed Jamboree).

Billboard April 6, 1946

Crosby and her band came to KLRA in Little Rock, Arkansas, likely in late 1945. She had the idea of directing a live stage show in mind for some time by then but none of the stations she had appeared on or auditioned for saw enough potential in it. Then, she persuaded the KLRA executives and on January 1, 1946, the Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance premiered at the Robinson Auditorium. The show was held on Saturday nights and portions of it aired live on radio at 10:30 pm. In addition to the Saturday night live shows, Crosby also hosted a weekday studio version on KLRA. Cast members of the show included Crosby, who also acted as emcee, and the Cowboy Sweethearts, the Armstrong Twins, the Union County Boys, Frank Dudgeon, the Stamp Baxter Rainbow Quartet, the Crystal Mountain Boys, among others.

Around 1949, Crosby left KRLA. She died in 1988. If the Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance came to end or if it was continued is not known to me. By late 1954, KRLA had a replacement entitled the Barnyard Frolic, which was staged at the Robinson Auditorium in Little Rock. Chick Adams produced the show while Sammy Barnhart, who had already performed with his own band and with the Cowboy Sweethearts on the Arkansas Jamboree Barn Dance, served as the shows' emcee. It seems that there was also a TV version of the Frolic.

Billboard September 10, 1955

The Barnyard Frolic lasted until 1960 and apart from local talent, also included many better known names such as Sandy and Alvadean Coker, "Texas" Bill Strength, Tommy Trent, Nita Lynn, Lonnie Glosson, the Venables, and others. Also, many of the Memphis rockabilly artists made guest appearances on the show, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Sonny Burgess, Slim Rhodes, and Lloyd McCollough. Reportedly, Presley's performance was received so badly by the rural audience that he had to stop performing and leave the stage.

Most of the information of the "Barnyard Frolic" came from Arkansas record collector Gary Corry, who was based in Little Rock and did some research on the show's history.

Sources

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Little Shoe Hillbilly-Music.com entry

North La. Hayride

The North La. Hayride, ca. 1960s
Tom Ruple (drums), Brian Ritter (steel guitar), Governor Jimmie Davis (vocals),
Coy Bohannon (guitar)

Rural Entertainment in Louisiana

The North La. Hayride

My record collecting friend from Southwest Arkansas, Mark Keith, has brought the spotlight to another local stage show. After he brought the Columbia County Hayride and the Arkansas Hayride to my attention, we now spotlight the North Louisiana Hayride (always spelled North La. Hayride) from Homer, Lousiana. Mark, who is also a multi-instrumentalist and still plays shows today, started playing the North La. Hayride in the late 1970s.

The show was started by musicians Coy Bohannon, Durwood Gathright, and Omar Volentine and its first show staged at the American Legion building in Homer in November 1962. By then, the original Louisiana Hayride from Shreveport, which is actually also located in the northwestern corner of Lousiana, had ended. For the North La. Hayride's first show, country music star Margie Singleton was brought in as a special guest. Singleton's aunt was living in Homer then and through her, the show's management was able to book Singleton.

The show featured music from a variety of acts every Saturday night. The first portion of the show featured the stage show, lasting for an hour to an hour and a half. After a break, during which the chairs were removed, a dance began which usually lasted until midnight. "There was no drinking, it was a family show," remembers Mark. "I only saw one fight there and it was people in their 70s - and it was wild," he adds with a grin.

Carl Lowe on stage

About a year after its inauguration, Volentine left the show and was replaced by Theron "Chief" Deloach, who became the emcee and booking agent. Coy Bohannon functioned as the house band's leader, a position he held for about 24 years. The early line-up of the house band included Carl Lowe on bass, whose family was a regular act on the show from 1964 until the late 1970s. Mark Keith started playing the Hayride in 1977 and appeared with the show on and off until its end. Carl Lowe quit playing bass the same year, followed by Kenny Shelton, who in turn was replaced by Mark in 1978. In the 1970s up to the 1990s, the house band consisted of musicians like Wayne Mattox, Sammy Lawrence, Jerry White (all three piano), David Butler and Larry Taylor (both on saxophone), Perry Moses, Brian Crittenden, and Shelia Lynn (all on drums), Brian Ritter (steel guitar), Larry Mozingo, Benny Shelton, and Tom Ruple.

Regulars and guest artists throughout the early years included Bill Bohannon, Ray Langston, Ginger Kelley, Ray Frushay, Gene Wyatt (of "Lover Boy" fame), Joe Stampley (drawing a crowd of approxiamtely 1,200 people), and Johnny Russell . Performers during later years included Jackie Martin, Cathy Denmon, Benny Shelton and the Shelton family, Angela Allen, Ken Lewis, among others. Regarding Johnny Russell's appearance on the show, Mark recalls: "Years ago, I interviewed Johnny Russell and I asked him if he remembered playing it [the North La. Hayride]. He said he sure did. He said the guy that booked him, 'Dearwood Gaythright' (that's how he pronounced it) told him 'now nobody will come in until I go out and sing a couple of songs'. Russell said there was virtually no one inside but Durwood sang and people poured in!"

Larry Monzingo, Billy Lowe, and Coy Bohannon
on stage

Although the Hayride never hit the airwaves, it was a major source of entertainment in the area and popular not only among the artists but also among the audiences. "It was a big deal. It was a step up from the Columbia County Hayride and it was a going Jessie. I played in the staff band from 1978 to 1980, then played with someone else, came back and played from 1982 to 1989. Then, after I joined the Sounds of Gold in 1990, we played there every four to six weeks until Claiborne Country opened in 1995. It was a major part of my life."

In 1972, local entrepreneur Dooley Peterson decided to built a hall for the North La. Hayride and rented it out to the show's management. Deloach retired from managing the show in the early or mid 1980s, a few years prior to his passing, and Coy Bohannon left in 1986 or early 1987, leaving Durwood Gathright as the sole manager of the show. He operated it during the show's last ten years of existence.

In 1994, a snow and ice storm damaged the roof of the show's building so much that it couldn't be used anymore. Gathright moved the North La. Hayride into the American Legion building in Minden, a little southwest of Homer. Dooley Peterson was reluctant to reconstruct the building but gave in in the end. It then featured shows known as "Claiborne Country" for some time, becoming a rival to the Hayride, which ended its run finally in 1995. The original building in Homer is abandoned nowadays.

Sources
• Thanks to Mark Keith for sharing his memories, information and photo material for this post.

Music Mountain Jamboree

Music Mountain Jamboree cast, 1980s or 1990s
From the autographs, I can only read Ron Castleberry
(possibly a relative of Hot Springs singer Leo Castleberry?)

The Music Mountain Jamboree in Hot Springs, Arkansas, was one of many, local, family-friendly music shows that were held all around the United States. Following the golden age of radio and the demise of big live stage shows that aired over radio, many smaller shows emerged. These were often operated by a single person or a family, often held at small theaters, and were not broadcast over radio. One of those later shows was the Music Mountain Jamboree in Hot Springs.

The actual founding and persons behind the shows are unclear to me. There was Ted Mullinax, entrepreneur and politician, who claims to have founded the Music Mountain Jamboree in 1982. Also, there were Tony Rex and Geraldine Crabtree from Hot Springs, a couple who also dabbled in various business affairs, who claimed to have opened the Music Mountain Jamboree. It is unclear to me at the moment, who of them were the first or if these were even separate shows.

There are several hints to artists that appeared on the Jamboree. David Ray Altom, "Granny" Messenger, Bruce Allen Smith, Ronnie Neighbors, and Ted Mullinax himself pop up as musicians that have performed on the show. The theater was located on 1555 East Grand Avenue (U.S. Highway 70) in Hot Springs.

According to Mullinax, he operated the show for two decades, which means it came to an end around 2002. If anyone has more info on the Music Mountain Jamboree or can set things straight, feel free to leave a comment!

Sources
• Obituaries for Geraldine Crabtree and Tony Rex Crabtree
• Interview and article on Ted Mullinax
• David Ray Altom obituary
• Ronnie Neighbors obituary
• Bruce Allen Smith obituary
• Granny Messenger Find a Grave entry

Columbia County Hayride

Rural Entertainment in Southwest Arkansas

The Story of the Columbia County Hayride

Among the countless live stage shows that were held throughout the United States, the Columbia County Hayride was a lesser known example. When the Hayride started, the golden age of American radio had been over for about twenty years by then and many of the Hayride's role model shows had gone off the air. However, the show was one of about a dozen known live stage shows that were held throughout Arkansas and eventually became the longest running show of its kind in Arkansas.

My introduction to the Columbia County Hayride came through Mark Keith, a sometimes performer on the show and fellow record collector. Mark was of great help during some of my Arkansas music researches and when the Hayride finally came to an end in 2023, I took it as an inducement to write down its history.

The Mount Holly Jamboree
The founders of the Hayride were Johnny Sprayberry and Troy Wyrick, two musicians who met in the early 1970s and took a liking to each other when they found out they had common relatives in Texas. They started to play music in their back yards. What started as jam sessions of two musicians developed soon into something bigger. People came by to watch them play and other musicians gathered and sat in. They found an old building in Mount Holly, located roughly between Magnolia, Smackover, and El Dorado in South Arkansas, and fixed it up in order to play live shows there. This was in 1971. The forerunner of the Columbia County Hayride was born.

The early incarnation of the show, when it was still known as the "Mount Holly Jamboree".
Johnny Sprayberry can be seen behind the microphone.

Initially, the show was called "Mount Holly Jamboree" and was not aired live over radio. "All was well for a year or two until the Arkansas State Police pretty much closed it down because people were parking on the sides of the state highway, there was virtually no parking at the building," told me Mark, who got his start at the show later on. Sprayberry and Wyrick held a few shows at the Magonolia fairgrounds in an open air pavilion, though this was not a  proper replacement for the Mount Holly hall. 

Moving to Columbia County
They kept on searching and found another old building, an abandoned school, in nearby Calhoun. Again, the building needed some repair and fixing but in the end, was ready to stage live country music shows again. It was probably at that point when the name "Columbia County Hayride" was designated to the show. The show was held live but was still not broadcast on radio.

Betty Sprayberry on drums, Henry Matthews in front

The original house band of the show, known as the Country Cousins, comprised Johnny Sprayberry on vocals, rhythm guitar, and steel guitar, Troy Wyrick on lead guitar, Don Kennedy on rhythm guitar, Kay Jacks on rhythm guitar, Dorothy Roden on autoharp and mandolin, Vic Reynolds and then Curt Cannon on bass, and Betty Sprayberry on drums. Some of the members also stepped up to the front light, including Sprayberry. Other bands on the show during this time included a rock'n'roll band known as "The Rock & Roll Express", the Shine-Ons, a bluegrasss group fronted by Mary Pate, and the Cox Family that joined around 1972 or 1973, as well as a group called "Night Train", among others.

Some of the artists that appeared on the Hayride became major country music stars. Tracy Lawrence, who was raised in Foreman, Arkansas, and performed on the show, had several hit albums and singles in the 1990s and early 2000s and might be the most successful artist that worked the Hayride stage. Linda Davis was another singer that appeared on the show and eventually found success in the 1990s as a country music singer. The Cox Family became a well-known bluegrass group, working with Allison Krauss, among others, and had a highly acclaimed album out in 2015, "Gone Like the Cotton".

The original line-up of the Country Cousins

Radio broadcasts, another move and the End
In the early to mid 1990s, the Columbia County Hayride finally hit the airwaves. Local Magnolia radio station KVMA taped the show to broadcast it. Around the same time, the show made one more move into Magnolia, switching from the old school house into a former furniture store on West Union Street. The owner of the store, who was a big Hayride fan, had moved his business into a bigger place and gave over his old building to the show management. The Hayride show now housed up to 250 people every third Saturday night at the new place, known as the Union Street Station. The house band changed their name to "Union Street Band" to underline the movement.

Around 1998, the show switched from KVMA to more powerful KZHE, licensed in Stamps, Arkansas, but actually located in Union Street Station. It was quite an improvement for the Hayride to jump from a 1,000 watt daytime station to a 50,000 watt station, serving a radius of 75 miles around Magnolia. In addition, the show began to air live on the station instead of taped shows.

The show continued to draw crowds once a month until Covid hit the world and the Hayride was paused during these years. In 2021, the Hayride celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special show and KZHE conducted an interview with founder Johnny Sprayberry. After the pandemic, the show resumed but made its final run in 2023 after a history of 52 years. This probably made her Arkansas' most enduring country music live stage show.

"I very much loved the Hayride and hate to see it go away... but that's how things go," attests Mark, who has been a performer on the show in the mid 1970s and prior to its end. He still performs in the Magnolia region and appears frequently on KZHE's Gospel Hour show, another live music show in the region.

Sources

• My special thanks to Mark Keith, who provided me with all the details necessary for this write-up. 

Cowtown Jamboree - Panther Hall

Panther Hall was probably the most popular venue for live country music in Fort Worth, Texas, during the 1960s and 1970s. It was not only a hotbed for popular local and regional acts but also featured national known stars regularly. Moreover, it was home to Fort Worth's "Cowtown Jamboree", a live stage show that also aired on TV.

The list of talent and stars that performed on stage in front of sold-out crowds is long and prestigous. Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Little Jimmy Dickens, and countless other top names of the day stopped by to play Panther Hall.

The story of Fort Worth's heart of country music entertainment began in 1961, when brothers Bill and Corky Kuykendall built Panther Hall, originally as a bowling arena, envisioned by the Kuykendalls' investor as the new home of Fort Worth's professional bowling league. However, audiences were not ready for a major league bowling team and soon, the Kuykendalls were left with a building nobody wanted.

A night club owner suggested they should convert Panther Hall into a dance hall and so they did. This was in 1963. In July, the grand opening featured local Billy Gray and the legendary Bob Wills to appear on stage of Panther Hall. Within a few years after its opening, the building's reputation as a live music venue grew. The Kuykendalls soon also hosted acts out of the country music field on Friday nights, the first being Bobby Vinton.

Panther Hall developed into a popular live music place and put Fort Worth on the map for music fans. This was mostly due to the presence of the Cowtown Jamboree, a live stage show that was televised on KTVT as part of the station's Saturday night programming, which also included syndicated shows from different country music stars. Emceed by Bo Powell or Bill Mack, soon, many of the stars of the 1960s appeared on Cowtown Jamboree and played concerts right after the TV show had ended. Such names included Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Johnny Bush, George Jones, Ray Price, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and many others. Both Jerry Lee Lewis and Willie Nelson cut live albums at Panther Hall in 1966 as did Charley Pride in 1969.

Waylon Jennings at Panther Hall during Cowtown Jamboree, 1971

Apart from the national known stars, also many local acts appeared on Saturday nights at Panther Hall. Popular Texas country music bandleader Jimmy Heap and his band were regular visitors to the venue and also Curley Jim Morrison, who enjoyed some local popularity in Fort Worth with songs like "Little John" and "Ace in the Hole", appeared there. In addition to country music acts, there were also many pop and rock bands over the years to appear at Panther Hall. ZZ Top, Savoy Brown, Canned Heat, the Grateful Dead, the Ramones, and other chart busting popular bands entertained the crows there.

Advertisement for UK blues rock band Savoy Brown at Panther Hall
March 20, 1970

Although being popular well into the 1970s, the live music fun came to an end in 1978. The Kuykendalls had sold Panther Hall in 1973 and the new owners remodeled it in 1975. However, the concerts' popularity ceased and in 1978, Panther Hall closed as a live music venue. Among the last country music singers to perform there was Tony Douglas, a local who had been a regular at Panther Hall. A year later, the hall housed a disco but soon, it came all to an end.

In 1979, Texas Wesleyan University bought the hall. During the years, the building fell apart and was finally demolished in early 1997, destroying a piece of American music history.

Above: front and back cover of a Cowtown Jamboree LP featuring many of the show's house musicians

Sources
• Elvia Limon: "What Happened to Fort Worth's Panther Hall, home of TV's Cowtown Jamboree?" (Dallas Morning News)
• Panther Hall at Texas State Historical Association
• Panther Hall Collection
• Panther Hall historical concert dates
• Bo Powell obituary
• Story of Panther Hall on "Hometown by Handlebar"
• Shirley Jinkins: "Fort Worth's country music roots run deep" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Alabama Hayloft Jamboree

Birmingham News March 3, 1956

The Alabama Hayloft Jamboree was another barn dance type show that entertained rural audiences across the United States. It was aired over WAPI out of Birmingham, Alabama, and featured Ralph Rogers as its emcee and local country music acts for the entertainment. One of these acts were Happy Wilson and the Golden River Boys, a group that was quite popular in the 1940s and 1950s in the Alabama areas. One of the members was Hardrock Gunter, who later found historical acclaim with his significant recordings in the country and rockabilly music genres.

The Alabama Hayloft Jamboree was on air as early as January 1940 but it back then, it was a 30-minutes afternoon show. By December that year, the show had moved to an early morning slot with Clint Blakely as the emcee. Such artists as J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers, the Delmore Brothers, and Fiddlin' Arthur Smith appeared during this time regularly on the show. It stayed on the air throughout World War II but was taken over at some point by Joe Rumore, developing into an afternoon DJ show. By 1946, the show was hosted by Ralph Rogers (with Joe Rumore filling in sometimes in 1948) and included "cowboy favorites and hillbilly tunes".  

Happy Wilson in 1948

Around 1951, the show transformed into a live stage show, broadcasting from different locations on WAPI. A year later, the show was centered Happy Wilson and his band, the Golden River Boys. However, the Alabama Hayloft Jamboree was not the only live stage show that aired on WAPI. During 1954, there was also the Alabama Jamboree from the Bessemer City Auditorium featuring a cast of various performers.
We find last mention of the show in 1956. In the 1950s, WAPI turned to a popular music programming, probably ending the show at that time. The station features a talk radio format today.

If someone out there knows more about the Alabama Hayloft Jamboree, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via the contact form.

Sources
• Hillbilly-Music.com
• Andre Millard: "Magic City Nights: Birmingham's Rock'n'Roll Years" (2017), Wesleyan University Press, page 36
• The Decatur Daily, December 15, 1952
• The Birmingham News, November 14, 1953

WIBW Round Up

The Country Voice of Kansas
The WIBW Round-Up from Topeka

The WIBW Round-Up was one of the hundreds of thousands country music live stage shows that were held all over the United States during the golden age of radio, the 1920s until the 1950s. The WIBW Round Up seems to be one of the longer running and bigger shows than many of its competitors.

Radio stationWIBW, "The Voice of Kansas", was based in Topeka, Kansas, and went on the air in the 1920s. With its signal, the station served areas in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri. During this time, programming of radio stations was mostly done live and it proved that live country music entertainment on Saturdays was successful and popular with the listeners. It appears that there is not an exact date reported when the WIBW Round-Up first aired but a forerunner of the show was on the air as early as 1936, judging from a promotional picture from that year. Apparently, the show was called intially "Kansas Round-Up" at that time and the name was later shortened to simply "Round-Up".

Cast of the WIBW Kansas Round-Up, postcard from the mid 1930s

It seems that World War II interrupted the Round-Up but at the end of the war in 1945, the show was soon on the air again. Billboard reported on June 16 that "Doc and Esther Embree are still at WIBW, Topeka, and Doc is editor of the station's new mag, WIBW Round-Up." This magazine was published by the station in uniform with the show and included stories and interviews by the artists, reports from the studio, plus programming of the station. It was published once a month.

Photo story of "Uncle Ezra" Hawkins in the WIBW Round-Up magazine,
August 1947 issue

The show was held live on Saturday nights in Topeka and WIBW carried portions of the show from 8.30 pm to 10 pm. The cast of the show also went out in the country and appeared at fairs. Like the National Barn Dance from Chicago, the WIBW was not strictly limited to country music but was more of a variety show and featured also performers of other genres. Dude Hank, though being also a country singer, was noted for being a trumpet player and his wife, Miss Maudie, was a longtime performer on the station, often accompanying other acts on the piano.

Artists of the show included at one time or another Colonel Combs, Uncle Ezra Hawkins, the Holden Brothers, Emory Martin, Al Clauser and the Oklahoma Outlaws, Jimmie Pierson and his Novelty Boys, and many more. The radio station also set up its own record label in 1947, WIBW Round Up Records, which recorded many of the artists featured on the show. I was able to determine a couple of these records (see discography below).

1955 was the year that brought an end to the Round-Up, a show that apparently has lasted for nearly 20 years. Music tastes and radio were changing. TV was becoming more and more popular, DJs were taking over airwaves and the show closed even before rock'n'roll music came along and shocked the country music world. The last Round-Up magazine was published in March 1955. WIBW featured country music well into the 1970s and is now a talking format. Its sister station, WIBW-FM features a country music programming nowadays.

WIBW Round-Up Records Discography

1072: Holden Bros. featuring Emory Martin - Mother's Not Dead, She's Only Sleeping / I'm Doing My Time (1947)
1073:
1074: Edmond Denny - Rainbow of Happiness / A Song - a Dream and You
1075: (Miss Maudie) Maudie Carlson - Holliday Polka / Escapades
1076: Dude Hank - Cry Baby / Corn Cob Schottische
1077:
1078:
1079: Holden Bros. featuring Emory Martin - Dust on the Bible / Parcel of Love (1947)

Sources:
• WIBW Wikipedia entry
• Hillbilly-Music.com entry
• various Billboard issues, see depicted article

Recommended reading
• World Radio History (monthly WIBW Round Up magazine issues)
• Kansas Historical Society (picture of 1941 WIBW Round Up calendar)