Hoot & Curley

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

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

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

The Austin American
January 4, 1956

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

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

Shreveport Journal
June 21, 1952

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

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

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

Recommended reading

• British Archive of Country Music

Sources

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

• Find a Grave entries for Hoot Rains and Curley Herndon

• Curley Herndon Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Discogs

• 45cat entry and 45cat/78rpm entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

Gene Williams & Band on Sound of Country Music

Gene Williams & Band - Don Picks the Banjo (Sound of Country Music 1501), ca. 1970

Gene Williams was one of Northeast Arkansas' most prolific country music promoters. From the early 1960s through the 1970s, 1980s, and well into the 2000s, he was active promoting concerts, shows, recordings, and its artists. He also diversified his business interests by investing in different other branches, including real estate and newspapers but people in Northeast Arkansas regions will probably remember him best for his country music shows.

Born in 1938 in the small town of Tyronza, Poinsett County, Arkansas, Williams' father moved the family to the Dyess colony just a bit southwest of Tyronza, in 1943. Dyess was a farming community built on swamp land. The Cash family was living in Dyess, too, and one of the Cashs, namely Johnny, would go on to have international fame of course. While in high school, Williams began organizing local concerts with singers from Memphis. When he graduated from high school in 1956, Johnny Cash was already becoming a star in Memphis and inspired by his success, Williams took a job at radio KWEM in Memphis in 1957. As Williams was not a musician himself (although he later liked to pose with guitars for photos), he chose upon a career in radio and promotion.

He went into partnership with co-worker Buford Cody to found the Co & Wi label in late 1960, then started the live stage show "Cotton Town Jubilee" in early 1962 and a few months later set up his next record label, the Cotton Town Jubilee label. This imprint released several singles and albums until around 1965 by artists that appeared regularly on Williams' show. He also set out on the road with the Jubilee cast and played shows across the whole Mid-South.

In late 1963, Williams replaced the Cotton Town Jubilee show, which also aired over KWAM, with a new TV show entitled "Gene Williams' Country Junction" on KAIT-TV from Jonesboro. During the next years, this show became popular with audiences not only in Arkansas but across the Mid-South in different states. Until 1970, Williams produced records by the artists of his shows to sell at concerts. He even produced two music movies called "The Sound of Country Music" (1969) and "Country Music Jamboree" (1970) plus accompanying records. For this purpose, he set up the short-lived Sound of Country Music label, also releasing selected album tracks on 45rpm discs. This was the case with today's selection "Don Picks the Banjo", an instrumental track by Williams' band spotlighting banjo picker Don Settlemoir. The flip side was "Parkin, Arkansas", a song sung by Country Junction cast member Charlie Fritts. Both songs appeared in the "Country Music Jamboree" movie.

Don Settlemoir around 1970 as a member of the Country Junction Band

Neither the movie nor the single became a hit. Williams continued to work in country music promotions but had diversified his interests by that point. The Country Junction show came to an end in 1978 and was replaced with the "Gene Williams Show". He suffered from health problems in his later years, much caused by his lifelong smoking, and Williams passed away in 2011.

See also

• The Cotton Town Jubilee label story

Sources

• This post is based on my article "The Cotton Town Jubilee Records Story", which appeared in American Music Magazine 145 in September 2017.

Jimmy Luke on Razorback

Jimmy Luke - Ruby Baby (Razorback 104, 1963)

Jimmy Luke was the recording alias for Jimmy Ray Paulman, a talented guitarist and singer from Arkansas. Paulman was a band member of both Harold Jenkins' and Ronnie Hawkins' bands but returned to Arkansas after leaving the Hawkins unit. Upon his return, he started a solo career and recorded for several local labels throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Born around 1937 and raised in Marianna, Arkansas, next to the Mississippi River, Paulman became a member of Harold Jenkins' House Rockers, a rockabilly combo from the same area. During 1956 and early 1957, the band made some demo recordings at Sun Records in Memphis, including their theme "Rock House" (which was reworked by Roy Orbison the same year), but nothing was released from those sessions. Jenkins signed with Mercury in 1957 and brought along his band, including Paulman. The outfit recorded several sessions in Nashville throughout the year and by then, Jenkins had become Conway Twitty. They also performed regularly in Canada during this time.

The Daily World, August 31, 1965

Paulman left the band in the fall of 1957 and, back in Arkansas, did some playing with Billy Lee Riley's Little Green Men before joining Ronnie Hawkins, who was about to put together a new band. With the addition of 15 years old Levon Helm on drums and Paulman's cousin Willard "Pop" Jones on piano, they became "The Hawks". At that time, many Arkansas rockabillies did like Conway Twitty and toured Canada, like Billy Lee Riley, eventually Bobby Brown, and Ronny Hawkins and the Hawks. Paulman went north again and in 1959 and was still part of the band when they gained a recording contract with Roulette Records. He stayed with the Hawks for much of 1959 but then left, returning to Arkansas again.

Around 1962, Paulman had his first solo release but favored to record under the name "Jimmy Luke". "Luke" had been his nickname since his days with the Twitty outfit so it seemed to be fitting. In 1963, he recorded for Bobby Crafford's Razorback label, cutting a version of "You Are My Sunshine" and today's selection, "Ruby Baby". Paulman had recorded that song already a few years earlier with Ronnie Hawkins for Roulette and now did his own rendition.

In the 1960s, Paulman recorded for labels like Big Country, UNI, Metromedia, Zone, and Twin but never enjoyed any chart success. According to Larry Donn, Paulman also performed for some time with the Pacers as their vocalist and guitarist. As of 2021, Paulman lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near Nashville.

Sources

• Rockin' Country Style

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rock'n'Roll Schallplatten Forum (German)

• Colin Escott: "Conway Rocks" (Bear Family Records), liner notes, 2003

• Ian Wallis: "Ronnie Rocks" (Bear Family Records), liner notes, 2007

Jim Harless on Shadow

Jim Harless and the Lonesome Valley Boys - Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me (Shadow 104), 1961 or 1962

The rise of rock'n'roll music created several "anti-songs" in country and bluegrass music, notably Denver Duke & Jeffrey Null's "Rock and Roll Blues" from 1956. Another prime example was Jim Harless' "Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me", which was recorded a few years later in the Bristol, Tennessee, area.

James Allen "Jim" Harless, Jr., was born on January 17, 1935, in Bristol, Tennessee, where he also grew up. Harless was a house-painter by day and eventually also ran his own paint contractor business but country and bluegrass music was his passion, which he enjoyed playing around Bristol in the 1950s and 1960s. Harless hosted his own popular radio show on WRKM in Carthage, Tennessee, during those years and led his own band, the Lonesome Valley Boys. By the early 1960s, the band consisted of Harless on vocals and acoustic guitar, Dean Millwood on acoustic guitar, Ray Kelly on electric guitar, Rhoda Kelly on mandolin, and Ray Jones on banjo.

This outfit made one record in either late 1961 or early 1962 for a local label from Bristol, Shadow Records. The disc featured "Banjo Bells", an instrumental number dominated by Jones' banjo, and "Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me". The latter is a nice banjo bopper with great vocals and moreover, it's an ode to bluegrass music when Harless sings "let that fiddle and banjo ring 'cause we still think that bluegrass is king / rock & roll fever ain't got me". It seems the record made some noise around Bristol, being played on local radio shows like "Rise and Shine Follies" and "Hillbilly Hit Parade" but didn't stand a chance on regional or national markets.

Jim Harless (center) and the Lonesome Valley Boys
early 1960s

By 1970, Harless had relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, where he led the house band at Panther Hall, a popular live music venue for years that was predominantly known for country music entertainment. Panther Hall hosted the Cowtown Jamboree on weekends, which featured Harless' group and many top-names from Nashville as guests. Also, Harless' eight years old nephew Charles Allen Bouton appeared at the Jamboree several times.

Harless continued to work as well as perform music in Fort Worth and lived there until his death on May 22, 2001, at age 66. He is buried in Fort Worth.

Discography

Shadow 104: Jim Harless and the Lonesome Valley Boys - Banjo Bells / Rock & Roll Fever Ain't Got Me 

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• Thanks to Jim Harless' daughter-in-law Brenda, who gave us a little insight into his career.

Adron Jumper on Landmark

Adron Jumper - I'd Hate to Be the Man (Landmark 45-102), 1962

Country, gospel, and rockabilly singer Adron Jumper is one of the great unknowns in rockabilly music. He orbited around Memphis for some time and worked with Eddie Bond a few years but he never broke out of the local scene.

Adron Claude Jumper was born on September 7, 1939, just east of Forrest City, Arkansas, in a little town called Palestine. His parents, Homer Dixon Jumper and Christine Grace Dover, had married a year earlier and he was the oldest of six children. Mother Christine was active as a minister in the local Twin Assembly of God Church and she passed on her faith to her children.

Adron Jumper

By the late 1950s, Jumper was active in Memphis, where he met Delores Chipman and married her in 1959. He was a salesman by day but performed music as a sideline. In the early 1960s, he performed frequently at Eddie Bond's Ranch and took also part in his touring shows sometimes. Possibly his first record was on the local Forrest City based Landmark label featuring two gospel songs, "Not a Landmark Left Behind" and "I'd Hate to Be the Man".

His best known disc came out on the vanity Forrest label (possibly his own) featuring "Crawdad Song" and "You Know That I Know". The songs were recorded in 1965 at Roland Janes' Sonic studio with his relatives Kevin and Gene Jumper in the backing band. "Crawdad Song", a reworking of the folk standard "Crawdad Hole", is Jumper's "claim to fame", as its rock'n'roll sound qualified it for release on two Buffalo Bop compilations in the 1980s and 1990s.

He then recorded for Eddie Bond's Stomper Time and G-Zackie labels in 1963, for Shack in 1967, and for another Forrest City label, Twin. Jumper lived all of his life in Palestine and, like his mother, was active in the Twin Assembly of God Church there. Tragic struck in 1966, when his infant daughter Andrea died.

Adron Jumper died on May 25, 2000, at the age of 60 years and is buried at Bell Cemetery in Palestine. A year later, Dave Travis released two of Jumper's Stomper Time recordings on a compilation CD.

Discography

Landmark 101/2: Adron Jumper - Not a Landmark Left Behind / I'd Hate to Be the Man (1962)
G-Zackie GZ-3565: Adron Jumper - The Joker /  Sammy Ardell - If I See You Tomorrow (1963)
Stomper Time ST-101: Adron Jumper - Just a Waste of Time / Someday I Will (1963)
Forrest 101: Adron Jumper & the Wheels - Crawdad Song / You Know That I Know (1965)
Shack 45-201: Adron Jumper - Who Am I / Satisfied / Remind Me Dear Lord / One Day Nearer Home (1967)
Twin TR103: Adron Jumper - The Suns Coming Up in  the Morning / He's Coming Closer Now Than It Has Ever Been

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Gospel Jubilee entry

Rockin' in Akron, Ohio

Skyline of Akron, Ohio, looking from the viaduct
Ca. 1960s-1970s

Rockin' in Akron, Ohio

Rock'n'Roll in Rubber City

Long before the Cramps or the Black Keys came into existence, the city of Akron, Ohio, was home to rock'n'roll music already in the 1950s and 1960s. In the summer of 2025, after visiting a concert of the Akron based band Black Keys, whose fusion of blues rock, lo-fi, garage and indie rock I truly adore, I wondered what Akron sounded like in the 1950s. This is the result of my research.

Located in the north of Ohio about 40 miles south of Cleveland and Lake Erie, the city has long been associated with the rubber industry. Once nicknamed the "rubber capital of the world", Akron already profited from this economical boost in the 1930s. Thus, a lot of work could be found in the city and a large part of the city's inhabitants came from other places. Following World War II, a lively club scene developed and southern immigrants searched for entertainment in those venues. Naturally, country music became part of it. 

Bobby Rutledge and his band, the Cimarrons, playing a date
in the 1950s at unknown location

One of the earliest country music performers on the scene was "Fiddlin'" Bobby Rutledge, who was active for several decades. He and his band played clubs around town and was also heard on radio. They also incorporated polkas in order to serve Middle European immigrants' tastes. By the mid 1950s, a new sound was coming and Rutledge did two up-tempo country numbers on record in 1956: "Southern Fried Chicken" and "Waitin' in Line". With a thumping bass, these songs foreshadowed the rockabilly sound that was already coming out of the south and was soon to reach Northeast Ohio as well. A year later, Rutledge went straight over to rockabilly with "Go Fatso Go" and "Borrowed Love". Especially the former became a minor classic. All of those recordings were made for the local Zipp record label, which was owned by Cliff Rodgers, who had a band as well and often performed with Rutledge.

News Journal July 23, 1960

Rutledge's recordings were the first in Akron to feature the new rock'n'roll sound. Though most of the recordings were done in the 1960s, probably several bands were playing rock'n'roll in the city's clubs by the late 1950s. One of these combos were the Jive Kings, who laid down a great double sider in 1959, "Preacher Man" b/w "Johnny Machine" on the LU label. Vocalist for the band was Billy Smith. They had another record out on White Star from nearby Hudson, Ohio, featuring a remake of "Johnny Machine" backed with "A Young Heart", which was released in 1960. The Jive Kings were the house band of the Catalina Club in Mansfield, about 60 miles southwest of Akron.

Radio WAKR produced a rock'n'roll record on Wes Hopkins and Jack Ryan in 1962, the "WAKR Twist", which saw release on the parent company's (Summit Radio Corp.) local WACKER label. Harvey Russell's Janie Records had the Pacers (not to be confused with Sonny Burgess & the Pacers) and the Decades recording some rock'n'roll for the label in 1964.

Local singer Bobby Boyle also recorded for that label the same year, although his cuts were country music. Boyle had also made several recordings for the Brite Star/Roy label group from Newbury, Ohio, and by 1965 he recorded for Alpine Records, a label based in Akron and Cleveland at various times. He and his band, the Revenuers, cut "I Couldn't Care Any Less" and "Bartender" with Tom Conley in 1965. The Alpine label also released "Louisville at Night" b/w "The Story of My Love" by local teen pop singer Andy Lauren.

By the mid 1960s, the rock'n'roll craze was over and the British invasion now shaped the teenager's music tastes. People like Bobby Rutledge stuck with country music, while others turned to more modern sounds like Andy Lauren. Akron housed a numerous other record labels over the years, producing garage rock, soul, funk, gospel, and country music well into the 1970s.

Sources:

• Rockin' Country Style entries

• Ohio Valley 45s entries

• Bobby Rutledge (Buckeye Beat)

• Label entries for Zipp, Alpine, and Jive Kings on 45cat

• Akron, Ohio, Wikipedia entry

The Sabers

The Fabulous Sabers

"For Your Dancing Pleasure"

The Sabers, sometimes also known as "The Fabulous Sabers", was a Northeast Arkansas based rock'n'roll band. They are predominantly known for recording with Sonny Deckelman but also had records out in their own right. The Sabers were rock'n'rollers of second generation: born in the 1940s, they grew up to hearing the music of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and locals like Sonny Burgess and Billy Lee Riley in their formative years, and didn't begin performing until the early 1960s.

The Sabers originally consisted of Kenny Trigg on vocals and saxophone, Don Trigg on lead guitar, Bob McPherson on bass, and Gary Lynn Creason on drums. Eventually, the group also included such musicians as Dub Phelps on bass, Jim Murray on drums as well as Noel Key and Dennis Morgan, although it is unclear which instrument they performed. Creason was the older brother of Sammy Creason, who also became a drummer and later found fame as a studio musician himself. The members came from the Jonesboro region - McPherson hailed from Bay but lived in Trumann most of his life and Creason was born in Jonesboro.

The Jonesboro Sun, September 21, 1970

The Sabers came to the attention of local country and rockabilly singer Sonny Deckelman, who had founded his own record label Van-Deck Records in Harrisburg in 1959. The Sabers recorded their debut release for his label the next year, coupling "Streets of Laredo", a band original, with "Walk Softly" (Van-Deck #114). There was a Memphis based group who recorded for Co & Wi and RCT in the 1960s called "Le Sabres", which was a different group altogether. However, the Sabers also recorded in Memphis in 1965 at Slim Wallace's Fernwood studio. The results, "I'll Fly High" and "Oh What'd I Do", were released on the Silver-Dollar label from Memphis.

The second half of the decade saw the Sabers working with Sonny Deckelman, backing him up on his own recordings as well as on productions by other Van-Deck artists (including Chuck Bell, Bill Urfer, and Paul Ellzey). They also appeared frequently with Bobby Lee Trammell and as a solo act at such venues as the Cotton Club (Trumann), the C&R Club (Trumann), the P&L Club (Paragould), and Benny's Club (Paragould). They also performed at fairs and other events. In 1972, the band had another record out on the Jonesboro based WHAM label, which was credited to the band's drummer at the time, Jim Murray, who had joined in 1964.

The Sabers continued to perform locally into the 1980s. Drummer Gary Creason died in 2001 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Bob McPherson in 2025 in Jonesboro. Jim Murray still resides in Jonesboro and the Trigg brothers seem to be still around, too. A couple of their recordings have been reissued, including "I'll Fly High" on the 2011 "Lost Souls, Vol. 3" compilation.

Discography

Van-Deck 114: Sabers - Streets of Laredo / Walk Softly (1960)
Silver-Dollar 1003: Sabers - I'll Fly High / Oh What'd I Do (1965)
Van-Deck 119: Paul Ellzey / Music by the Sabers - How's the World Treating You / There Stands the Glass (1968)
Van-Deck 120: Chuck Bell / Music by the Sabers - High as a Mountain / Oh What a Feeling (1968)
Van-Deck 122: Sonny Deckelman / Music by the Sabers - Lonely Weekends / I'll Be Alright (1968)
WHAM WRS-1967: Jim Murray - Longhair / Wipeout - 72 (1972)

See also
• Jim Murray on WHAM!

Sources

• 45cat entry

• Gary Creason Find a Grave Entry

• Bob McPherson Find a Grave Entry

• Discogs

• Rock'n'Roll Schallplatten Forum (German)

Charley Maybee on Rimrock

Charley Maybee - It's Lonely Out Tonight (Rimrock 208), 1966)
In a time when it seems all of the great rockabilly recordings have been discovered, the "country hick" sound is getting more prominent as the next big thing. A music field that has not been explored by thousands of collectors and researchers with lots of great unknown and undiscovered records. Charley Maybee probably belongs into this field, his "Little Judy" became one of those "country hicks" favorites.

Charles Edward "Charley" Maybee was born on August 23, 1941, in Alpena, Boone and Carroll Counties, Arkansas, to Garvin E. and Amie Pearl Sneed Maybee. Maybee had an older brother, J.R., and a sister, Lucille. He grew up in Alpena, a small town of 300 people near Harrison. 

As a young man, Maybee worked as a pipeliner and as a traveling furniture installer, mostly furnishing  churches for Turney Wood Products of Harrison. He was also a talented musician and had his own band for many years. He cut a few unreleased songs, including covers of "Night Train to Memphis" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", and recorded in the 1960s for Wayne Raney's Rimrock Records out of Concord, Arkansas.

His debut "Little Judy" b/w "I'm Writting You a Letter" (Rimrock #202) was released in 1966 as one of the label's earliest discs and became a favorite with European rockabilly collectors since the late 1990s. Maybee had a second release on Rimrock from the same year, "It's Lonely Out Tonight" b/w "I'm Putting the Collar on You" (#208). With his band, he traveled the country and played shows with many different artists.

Maybee married Barbara Auman in 1971 and the couple gave birth to a son, Kavan Brooks. This ended his traveling days and he concentrated in building his businesses. He had a full-service gas station in Alpena, purchased the Snack Shack, then operated the first supermarket in Alpena and finally ran Maybee Family Corp., a road construction business. After 20 years, he called it a day and retired to simple farming life. 

Charley Maybee passed away on January 18, 2022, at the age of 80 years in Alpena, where he is also buried. 

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• 45cat entry

Vernon Stewart

The Vernon Stewart Story

Vernon Howard Stewart was born on March 31, 1927, to John O. and Mabel Stewart. For a while, the family lived in Pottawatomie, Oklahoma, but by the advent of the 1940s, had returned to Yell County, Arkansas. Stewart served his country during World War II in the US Army as a technician. He had married by 1950 and lived with his first wife, his son, and his daughter in adjacent Pope County. He later married Betty Abernathy.

Vernon Stewart, late 1950s

Musically inclined, Stewart started out as a singer and musician around 1949, performing in and around Russellville, Arkansas. He became a DJ on KXRJ in 1956 and by 1958, was associated with the likes of Carl Blankenship and "Little" George Domerese, two popular performers in the areas around Russellville, Clarksville, and Fort Smith. Blankenship had recently started his own label, Razorback Records in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Stewart got the chance for a release. "I'm Tired of Making Believe" b/w "I'll Still Love You" (Razorback #102), both his own compositions, were two country performances that appeared around May-June 1958.

Like Blankenship and Domerese did, Stewart organized a new country stage show in Dardanelle, Arkansas, which started around March 1959. The same year, he and his band, the Skyliners, started recording for the Illinois based Blue J record label, which resulted in two singles in 1959. Stewart followed up with two more singles for Peach Records from Georgia. His Peach recordings included a remake of "I'm Tired of Making Believe" (1960) and "Mean Mean Baby" (1961); the latter was included on a few rockabilly compilations. 

He transferred from Peach to the Nashville based Chart imprint in 1962 and it was this recording deal that bestowed him with his first and only hit record. "The Way It Feels to Die" reached #17 in Billboard's Hot Country Singles in February 1963 and was picked up by Vee-Jay in March. Another record appeared in September on Vee-Jay, which could not repeat the success of its precursor. 

Stewart kept working for KXJR through 1963 and became a member of the Country Music Association a year later. However, he took a long break from recording and apparently, rather set his mind on producing records. As far as I'm concerned, Stewart got involved in a local record company from his home Yell County in Arkansas, the Tagg label. The company had several releases in 1964 and 1965 but folded afterwards. He had another shot at the record market with a single on Rimrock in 1966.

Stewart cut a single for his own Vernon label in 1974, which seems to be his last record issued. Vernon Stewart died on September 23, 1981, at age 54. He is buried at Rest Haven Memorial Park in Russellville.

Discography

Razorback 45-102: I'm Tired of Making Believe / I'll Still Love You (1958)
Blu-J BJ-303: Stay In My Arms As You Stay In My Heart / Once to Many Times (1959)
Blu-J BJ-304: Christmas Tree in Heaven / Down to the Blues (1959)
Peach 740: I'm Tired of Making Believe / I'll Still Love You (1960)
Peach 751: Mean Mean Baby / Heal This Old Heart (1961)
Chart Y-501: The Way It Feels to Die / You're Not All Here (1962)
Vee Jay VJ 488: The Way It Feels to Die / You're Not All Here (1963)
Vee Jay VJ 559: Tarnished Angel / Up on the Hill (at the Big Mans House) (1963)
Rimrock 214: Wondering If I Should Call You / If Someone (Don't Get in the Way) (1966)
Vernon LH 12741/2: Even Our Little Girl Knows / You Found Someone Else to Love (1974)

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• Rockin' Country Style

• Rocky-52.net page

• Discogs

• Official census records access through Ancestry.com

Sandy Coker on Decca

Sandy Coker with the Coker Family – Rock Island Ride (Decca 9-30051), 1956

The Coker family is unknown outside of the rockabilly scene and even within this circle, is a rather little known act. However, they were responsible for one of my favorite rockabilly recordings of 1956, “Don’t Go Baby (Don’t Go)”. However, today, we’re focusing on another song from the Coker Family, “Rock Island Ride”, done by Sandy Coker.

The Coker family originated from Conway, Faulkner County, Arkansas, where Alvis “Al” Coker, Sr. was born in 1918. In Faulkner County, he married Francis Murlean Allen in 1934 – when Alvis was tender 16 years old (Francis was five years his senior). The marriage didn’t last long and when he was 18, Alvis Coker decided to leave Arkansas and relocated to California – like many other people from the south did back then.

Moving to Bakersfield around 1936, he soon fell in love with Geraldine Lindley, married her and in 1938, their daughter Alvidine (Alvadean) was born, followed in 1940 by their son Alvis Jr., nicknamed Sandy. Both Al and Geraldine were musically talented but didn’t pursue a career until their children did. Sandy had taken up the fiddle at the age of ten and a year later, in 1951, he won a local fiddle contest and repeated this success the next year with support from his singing sister, Alvadean. Soon, Al on guitar and Geraldine on bass joined their children and the Coker Family was born. In addition, daughters Caroline on drums and Linda Ann on piano augmented the group.

The Coker Family in 1956

The Coker group gained a spot on KTRB radio in Modesto and it was during one of their radio shows that they were spotted by talent scout, promoter, and label owner Fabor Robinson. He signed Sandy and Alvadean to his Abbott label in 1954. It was especially Alvadean who had a string of releases on the label, including her proto-rockabilly song “I Wanna Bop” and a duet with Jim Reeves, “Are You the One”, which was also released in Canada and the UK. One of the singles that saw release under Sandy’s own name was also released in the UK.

Sandy and Alvadean Coker appeared regularly on Town Hall Party, one of the west coast’s most influential country music TV and radio shows during the 1950s. They also did guest appearances on the Louisiana Hayride. In 1956, the Coker Family signed with Decca Records and traveled to Nashville in July 1956 for a two-day session at the Music City Recordings studio produced by Paul Cohen. This session resulted in enough material for one release each for Alvadean, Sandy, and Al Coker. “Rock Island Ride” is an instrumental number showcasing Sandy's talent on the guitar.

The three Cokers had one more release each on Decca in late 1957/early 1958 but stopped recording afterwards. The family stopped touring at some point and Alvadean raiser her children, moving to Fresno eventually. However, they kept music as a sideline. Al Coker died in 1970 at the age of 52 years, bringing the original act to an end. His wife Geraldine passed away in 2011, Alvadean in 2023 and also Sandy has already passed away. In 1992, the family was inducted into the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame. In 2025, Bear Family released a CD entitled "I Wanna Bop" with their complete recorded output.

Sources
• Find a Grave entry for Al Coker and Alvadean Coker
• 45cat entries for Al Coker, Sandy Coker, Alvadean Coker
• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry
• Adam Komorowski: "Classic Rockabilly" (Proper Records), liner notes, 2006

Billy Ray Reynolds on Epic

Billy Ray Reynolds - "I'd Rather Be Your Fool" (Epic #5-10360), 1968

Country music guitarist and songwriter Billy Ray Reynolds is probably best remembered as a guitarist in Waylon Jennings' band, the Waylors, in the 1970s. Though, he left his mark in many different fields of the entertainment business.

Reynolds was born on October 6, 1940, in Saratoga near Mount Olive, Mississippi. His parents were farmers and Reynolds grew up singing church hymns. He became fascinated with country music when he and his parents watched a Grand Ole Opry package tour and Hank Williams was on the bill. Reynolds was nine years old and soon after, picked up the guitar.

He started his career in the 1960s and played bass with folk-rock band "Yankee Dollar" for a short time. The group recorded one album in 1968 for Dot Records. The same year, Reynolds started recording solo for Epic but none of his singles charted. His "I'd Rather Be Your Fool" is featured today and the first of those three records, released in 1968 with "A Real Good Year for Wine" on the flip side. Two more records followed, produced by Glenn Sutton, but success eluded him.

In 1966, Reynolds had first met country singer Waylon Jennings, who was making a name for himself in the Nashville scene at that time. Reynolds joined Jennings' band, the Waylors, and first took part in a session on December 7, 1970, as a rhythm guitarist. Among the songs recorded that day was Kris Kristofferson's "Loving Her Was Easier". Reynolds became an integral part of Jennings' sound and the outlaw country movement. 

Waylon Jennings with Billy Ray Reynolds in the background,
ca. 1973

Reynolds wrote several songs that were recorded by different artists. "Atlanta's Burning Down" was originally recorded by Jennings, although it remained unreleased, and then by Dickey Betts & Great South (Betts was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band). Other hit songs written by Reynolds included "Working Man" (John Conlee, 1985), "Don't Believe My Heart Can Stand Another You" (Tanya Tucker, 1975), or "It'll Be Me" (Tompall Glaser, 1982).

In 1976, Reynolds left the Waylors and continued to work behind the scenes as a songwriter. In the 1980s and 1990s, Reynolds worked as an actor, too, and released his first album in 2002. He moved back to Mount Olive, Mississippi, in 2006, where he continued to record albums. Billy Ray Reynolds passed away on November 29, 2019, at the age of 79 years. After his death, the "Billy Ray Reynolds Country Music Museum" opened in Mount Olive, displaying countless items and memorabilia from his decades-long career.


Waylon Jennings (Billy Ray Reynolds on rhythm guitar): Medley (Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line / Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Loving Her Was Easier) (TV show "That Good Ole Nashville Music", August 1971)


Waylon Jennings (Billy Ray Reynolds on rhythm guitar): "Me and Bobbie McGee" (TV show "Hee Haw", 1972)


Waylon Jennings (Billy Ray Reynolds on rhythm guitar): Medley (Loving Her Was Easier / Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues / Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line) (TV show, 1973)

Sources

• 45cat entry

• International Movie Database

• Robert K. Oerman: "Noted songwriter/guitarist Billy Ray Reynolds passes"  (Musicrow.com, 2019)

• SecondHandSongs

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

• Find a Grave entry

• Rebecca Turner: "Mt. Olive opens museum to honor country great Billy Ray Reynolds" (Our Missisippi Home, 2022)

• Billy Ray Reynolds - Remembers Waylon Jennings

Bill Wimberly on Mercury

Bill Wimberly and the Country Rhythm Boys - At the Old Town Hall (Mercury 70900X45), 1956

In the mid 1950s, Bill Wimberly was a successful and popular western swing band leader. He recorded for Mercury with his band, the Country Rhythm Boys, and fronted the house band of the Ozark Jubilee, one of the nation's top country music TV shows. However, his own demons caused a dramatic fall down of his music career.

William Leroy "Bill" Wimberley was born in Avant, Oklahoma, on June 29, 1924, and began his career in Tulsa, a hat bed for western swing music. Wimberly (he would drop the "e" in his last name) began working with Bob and Johnnie Lee Wills in the early 1940s. He served during World War II and upon his discharge, resumed his music career.

Advertisement for a mid 1950s appearance
of Wimberly, Tex Ritter, and Smiley Burnette at the
Hitchcock County Fair in Culberson, Nebraska

By 1950, he was the leader of a band that regularly performed over KGNO in Dodge City, Kansas. By 1953, he had switched to KFH in Wichita, Kansas, heading the station’s house band, the Arkansas Valley Boys. This band had been on the station as early as 1939 but the original band had been long gone. However, KFH maintained the rights to the name and kept the group running as their house band. The line-up changed several times over the years but under the leadership of Wimberly, included top-western swing musicians of the time.

Wimberly and the band made their first recordings in 1954 for Morton Levand's independent Tex Records. By the time of their last Tex disc in 1955, the band had been renamed the "Country Rhythm Boys" and switched to Mercury in early 1956. By then, the band had been renamed Country Rhythm Boys and had become part of the Ozark Jubilee from Springfield, Missouri, an ABC televised show hosted by Red Foley. Until then, Wimberly and the band had been of regional fame but the Ozark Jubilee put them on the national scene.

They recorded several fine sides for Mercury, including the hot swinging “At the Old Town Hall” with Bill Taylor (real name Bill Tanner) on vocals. The song was written by Hugh Ashley, a songwriter and musician from Harrison, Arkansas. It was released in the summer of 1956 but did not crack the charts, as western swing's popularity had already faded then. Wimberly and the Country Rhythm Boys made their last recordings for Mercury in October 1956, which were released on an album.

Bill Wimberly and the Country Rhythm Boys
(taken from a 1956 Ozark Jubilee souvenir book)

Though, they kept on appearing at the Ozark Jubilee, alternating with Grady Martin's group as the show's house band. In 1957, Wimberly came in conflict with the law, which included his involvement in a fake Pat Boone concert in Illinois. His troubles caused him to leave the Jubilee (being replaced by Merl Lindsay) and his career was virtually over. A few recordings appeared in 1958 on Starday but those were the last he ever made. Little is known about the years after 1958 apart from the fact that he continued to be a band-leader but without much recognition.

He died largely unnoticed on June 11, 1998, in Tulsa. BACM released a 23 track CD with Wimberly's complete recordings in 2010.

Sources

• Hillbilly-Music-com entries for the KFH Arkasas Valley Boys and the Country Rhythm Boys 

• 45cat entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

• Find a Grave entry

• Kevin Coffey: "At the Old Town Hall" (2010), liner notes, British Archive of Country Music

Jimmie Logsdon on REM

Jimmie Logsdon - My Son Calls Another Man Daddy (REM 45-501), 1963

Jimmie Logsdon, sometimes also spelled as "Jimmy", is best remembered nowadays for his short but intense time at Roulette Records as a rockabilly singer, though this only represents a rather short and small portion of his career. He was deeply rooted into gospel and country music, an admirer of Hank Williams, and his music clearly shows that.

James Lloyd Logsdon was born on April 1, 1922, in a small place called Panther, Northeast Kentucky, to Reverend Lloyd Oscar Logsdon and his wife Rosa Lee. He had several older half-siblings, as his father's first wife had died in 1920. He had a younger sister named Martha Jean, born in 1926. His father's occupation as a minister caused the family to move a lot within the state of Kentucky. During the first 15 years of his life, Logsdon was exclusively exposed to gospel music but later discovered secular country music and blues while living in southeastern Kentucky. He also became aware of rhythm & blues later on.

Logsdon graduated from high school in Ludlow, Kentucky, in 1940 and married his first wife. Contrary to many other of his fellow musicians, Logsdon did not learn to play guitar as a child and did not play in a band at first. He worked a day job during most of the 1940s and served during World War II on an Air Force base in Texas. Upon his return in 1946, he opened a radio shop in La Grange, Kentucky, and his business included selling used records. At this point, he decided to try his luck in the music business. He bought a guitar and learned to play it.

Billboard December 27, 1952

His first spot was a fifteen-minutes show on WLOU in Louisville from 1950 to 1952, then switching to WINN as an announcer. During this time, he recorded a few demo tapes and in late 1951, his first record appeared on the Harvest label, financed by local entrepreneur Art Rhodes. By then, Logsdon had founded his own band. He opened a show for his idol Hank Williams when he came to Louisville in 1952. Williams was impressed enough to recommend Logsdon to Paul Cohen, Decca Records' Nashville head and soon Logsdon found himself recording for the major label.

His first session was held in October 1952 at the Castle Studio with some of the Nashville top studio musicians. This session yielded his first single on Decca, "That's When I'll Love You the Best" b/w "I Wanna Be Mama'd" (#28502). He got a popularity boost in 1953 when he started his own television show on WHAS-TV and several more singles followed until late 1954, but none of them became a hit. Decca dropped him and the divorce from his first wife added to the following downfall, which resulted in drug abuse and a six-month-stay in hospital. His manager Vic McAlpin got him on Dot for a single in 1955 and another one for Starday in 1957 but these did not catch on either. It was McAlpin's idea to change music styles. In 1957 and 1958, Logsdon recorded rockabilly for Roulette as "Jimmy Lloyd", which became his best-known sides. "Where the Rio de Rosa Flows" (later covered by Carl Perkins), "I Got a Rocket in My Pocket", and "You're Gone, Baby" became classics of the genre. 

Jimmie Logsdon at WCKY (Cincinnati, Ohio)

He took a break from recording in the years to come and instead concentrated on his radio work, mostly in Cincinnati. He recorded a couple of country and gospel EPs for his own label in 1962. Today's selection was part of a 1963 EP that was released on the Kentucky based REM label. "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy" was - of course - a cover version of the Hank Williams song. The record contained more Williams numbers as well as gospel songs.

The same year, Logsdon signed with King Records, releasing a few more singles and an album. He continued to work in radio in Kentucky and Alabama as well. Another EP on Rusty York's Jewel label and a last 45 single on Clark Country followed, before Logsdon decided to quit music business in 1972 and took a job with the Kentucky Labor Department the following year. He recorded his last album in 1981 for Jewel and spent his last years working in his brother-in-law's swimming pool business, performing in clubs in his spare time. He passed away on October 7, 2001, in Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of 79 years.

Since the late 1970s, his Roulette recordings have been consequently reissued, providing him a place in the heart of European rockabilly fans, but his other work remained largely unknown. Bear Family released his complete 1950s output on a CD entitled "I Got a Rocket In My Pocket" in 1993. BACM has dedicated a 23-tracks CD to his country and gospel work.

Recommended reading

• Bear Family Records

• British Archive of Country Music

• SecondHandSongs

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entry

• 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

• This Is My Story biography

George Kent

George Kent, ca. early 1960s

"Hello, I'm a Jukebox" by George Kent was one of my favorites when I started listening to country music. The song was written by legendary composer Tom T. Hall, and became Kent's biggest record, reaching #26 in Billboard's Hot Country Songs early in 1970. It was recorded in 1969 with the wonderful background voice of Diana Duke.

George Olen Kent, Jr., was born on June 12, 1935, to George Olen, Sr., and Edna Kent in Dallas, Texas, where he was raised with his brother Roland and his siter JoAnne. In the 1950s, he joined the Army Reserves, serving for four years, and afterwards began working with the Dallas Police Department.

However, music had been a passion for Kent for some time and in the late 1950s, he started his career as a country music singer. He began performing around Dallas and joined the Big D Jamboree, a nationally known live stage show that originated from the Dallas Sportarium and aired over KRLD. In the early 1960s, Kent also appeared on the Cowtown Hoedown and the Cowtown Jamboree from Fort Worth. 

Fort Worth Star Telegram
September 8, 1961

In 1959, Kent began recording for Maverick Records, a Dallas based label that also recorded such artists as Ronnie Dawson. Kent cut a total of four singles for the label, of which the third "Hall of Shame" enjoyed some local success. He held two demo sessions in 1961 and 1962 and one of the songs was "How Can I Write On Paper What I Feel In My Heart", which he co-wrote. The demo made it to Nashville and was pitched to Jim Reeves, whose version became #7 Billboard country hit in 1961. His "Forget Me Not", co-written with Eddie McDuff, was recorded by Bruce Chanel, Margie Singleton, and J. Frank Wilson.

This opened doors for him in Music City USA and he signed with the Dial label having his two singles for the label produced by Buddy Killen. The 1960s saw Kent hopping from one Nashville indie label to another, recording for Dial (1962-1963), Rice (1964-1967), Roulette (1965), Starday (1966-1967), Athena (1968), and Plantation (1968). Finally, in 1969, Kent signed with Mercury Records and enjoyed his most successful time with this label.

In August 1969, he cut "Hello, I'm a Jukebox", a recitation with Diana Duke's "Tonight, the Juke Box Plays for Me" in the background. The song was released by Mercury in November that year and it became #26 country hit for Kent early the following year. It also got Diana Duke a Mercury recording contract on her own, waxing a new version of "Tonight, the Juke Box Plays for Me". A few more singles followed on Mercury, though Kent could not repeat the success of "Hello, I'm a Juke Box". During the 1970s, he had a few more low-charting singles and returned to the Rice label in 1971 for four singles. He switched to Shannon Records for three years, beginning in 1973. His last records came out on the Cin Kay and Soundwaves labels in 1977. 

George Kent in the mid-1970s
Shannon Records promotional picture

In 1980, Kent and his wife Jeanne left Nashville and purchaed the Cow Palace in Fort Collins, a popular live music venue in Fort Collins, Colorado, north of Denver. Kent also performed on the Palace's stage and a former member of his band remembered in 2014: "George was quite the writer in his own right and taught us a lot. He allowed musicians to grew and was always there with an ear." The Kents sold the Cow Palace in 1997. They purchased land to raise horses. George Kent passed away on August 12, 2010, at McKee Medical Center in Loveland, Colorado. He was 75 years old.

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• SecondHandSongs

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies entry

• From the Vaults Boppin' Bob

Bill Logsdon & the Royal Notes

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

Come to My House Rock!

The Story of Bill & Pat Logsdon and the Royal Notes

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

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

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

The Sandusky Register
November 21, 1961

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

Billboard November 21, 1960, pop review

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

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

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

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

Discography

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

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