Ronald Rip Cannaday

Rip Cannaday, mid-1970s

God and Country
The Story of Rip Cannaday

The South has produced a sheer unbelievable amount of musicians and entertainers. When record pressing became affordable in the mid-1950s, a vast number of these singers was recorded and preserved for future generations. One of them was Rip Cannaday, a country and gospel singer from Louisiana, who has entertained audiences for more than 60 years. 

On the Banks of Castor Creek
Ronald G. "Rip" Cannaday was born on January 17, 1937, on the banks of Castor Creek in Winn Parish, Louisiana, but grew up in Tullos outside of Jena, Louisiana. Like many people from this region, Cannaday comes from an oil field worker family. His father worked on the oil fields and in fact, Cannaday grew up in an oil camp. While his father went to work, his mother stayed home to take care of the children. Their home was a little shack, which initially had no electricity or running water. 

Music was a welcomed entertainment in a hard life and Cannaday grew up hearing country music from stations WSM out of Nashville and KWKH out of Shreveport. The barn dances and hoedowns were another source of music for the family. Cannaday's favorite singer became Jimmie Rodgers: "There was a man that lived on the other side of Castor Creek. I would wade through Castor Creek and go to his house. He had all of Jimmie Rodgers' 78s, I would lay on the floor and listen to him all day," Cannaday remembered in 2025 to Marshal Martin, who traced him down for several interviews. At age ten, he got himself a guitar and a songbook to learn.

The Country Boys
The Cannaday family moved to Harrisonburg, Catahoula Parish, when Cannaday was 14 years old and in school, he was extremely good in sports. But music was still on his mind, and with school friends Bud Brady and Marvin Tyler, he formed a band entitled "The Country Boys." Cannaday sang and played acoustic guitar while Brady played lap steel guitar and Tyler was on washtub bass. It was the mid-1950s and the boys took every possibility to play churches, auditoriums, and private gatherings. Their repertoire included country hits of the day, some of Elvis Presley's early rockabilly songs, as well as gospel hymns like "The Old Country Church" and "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea." 

Rip Cannaday in 1956

Black Land Soil
After graduating from high school, the Country Boys disbanded, and Cannaday married his high school sweetheart. He began working on the oil fields like his father. One time, his job took him to Yazoo City, Mississippi. However, his boss got so drunk there, Cannaday quit on the spot and hitch-hiked back to Louisiana. On his way back home, he wrote a song called "Black Land Soil", which he would record about ten years later. He became a regular cast member of Don Wiley's Catahoula Country Music Show in 1962 and had his own monthly morning show on KTCO in Columbia, Louisiana, which lasted for eight years. Cannaday was also heard regularly on KCKW in Jena, with his old friend Bud Brady hosting the show. 

Already in the mid-1960s, Cannaday had written many songs and together with fellow singer Ray Prince, went down to Lake Charles to audition for Eddie Shuler, owner of Goldband Records. Nothing came of it, although Shuler reportedly took some of Cannaday's compositions.

With the Catahoula Playboys, the house band for the Catahoula Country Music Show, Cannaday made his recording debut. The session took place at a radio station in Winnsboro and produced "Black Land Soil" and "I'm Just Laughing to Keep from Crying" for L.D. Knox's Delta label. The record became popular in the region and on local radio; Cannaday sold copies every week at the Catahoula Coutry Music Show as well. After the Delta single, Cannaday shifted from country to gospel music and began performing the church circuit in North Louisiana, South Arkansas, and West Mississippi.

God and Country
In the early 1970s, a gospel quartet came to Harrisonburg to perform at the local church. One of the members was Carlton Brown, who operated Herald Records in Brookhaven, Mississippi (not to be confused with the company of the same name from New Jersey). Brown offered Cannaday the chance to record a full-fledged album, which he did one day in 1976. Ten songs were laid down in Brown's recording studio that day, which saw release on the LP "God and Country": Again, the album proved to be popular and Cannaday would even produce 8-track tapes of it to meet the demand.

The Catahoula News Booster September 18, 1975

When the Catahoula Country Music Show ended its run, Cannaday focused solely on the church circuit and became a popular performer. He worked again with Carlton Brown in 1987, recording a bluegrass-tinged album with such musicians as Emmet Sullivan on banjo, Steve Myers on bass, and Joe Cook on mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. He kept on performing but would not record again until 2010, when he made his third album for Lighthouse Records. The label was owned by Gary Cater, a Vietnam veteran from Saint Joseph, Northeast Louisiana, who also played rhythm guitar on the album. It was followed by two more CDs in 2015 and 2019. Cannaday remained an active entertainer until 2020, then the Covid pandemic hit and he called it a day. 

Rediscovery
Rip Cannaday resides in Jonesville nowadays. He has been interviewed several times by Marshal Martin in 2024 and 2025 and has donated several recordings and pictures to the Southern Music Research Center. "In September 2024 I was in Jena for the first time. I went to a flea market and one of the vendors had a bunch of records in the middle of the stack. I pulled out 'God and Country' by Ronald 'Rip' Cannaday," Marshal recalls how he learned of him. "I said to myself 'This looks interesting' so I paid $0.50 and went on my way. I brought it home and looked at it closely and realized that all the songs are originals. Some of the songs are pretty good and I wanted to learn more. So to Google I went. The first thing that popped up was a newspaper article by him written in February 2024 so that gave me hope that he was still alive. About a month later, I called the Jena Times and they gave me his contact information. So later that evening, I called him and the rest is history. Without Rip, we wouldn’t know about the Catahoula Country Music Show or we wouldn’t know how rich Catahoula Parish is in music history."

Discography

Singles
Delta 0008: Ronald "Rip" Cannaday - Black Land Soil / I'm Just Laughing to Keep from Crying (1966)

Albums
Herald HLP-7651: Ronald (Rip) Cannaday - God and Country (1976)
Cap [unknown #]: Rip Cannaday - These Memories (1986)
Lighthouse [unknown #]: Rip Cannaday - Fond Memories and the Old Washtub (2010)
Unknown label: Rip Cannaday - In My Time (2015)
Unknown label: Rip Cannaday -  Rip Cannaday Sings True Stories (2019)

See also
• The Catahoula Country Music Show
• Ray Prince: Forgotten Louisiana Songster

Sources
• Craig Franklin: "Rip Cannaday Featured in SMRC" (The Jena Times), 2025
• Southern Music Research Center
• Discogs
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg9iqPpwtCHiDOMLCYrkv-kc4jzJFtDUq

Dub International / Stylo Records (Little Rock)

"The Hits Are on Dub!"

The Story of Foster Johnson's Dub International and Stylo labels

The Dub International and Style record labels were operated by local Little Rock bookseller Foster Johnson. Johnson recorded and released a slew of noteworthy rockabilly and rock'n'roll singles during the late 1950s, including the original hit version "Rama Lama Ding Dong" by the Edsels. Some of his productions achieved enduring popularity among the rockabilly fan scene. Johnson is not to be confused with another music business personality of the same name, who owned Cap City Records.

Foster David Johnson was born on February 15, 1915, to Robert Edward Lee and Lula T. Johnson. He had one brother and two sisters, all of them being several years older than him. In 1920, the Johnson family lived in Little River County, Arkansas, but Johnson eventually moved to Saline County southwest of Little Rock. There, he married Lurline Rice in 1936.

At some point, he opened a bookstore and also worked as a radio distributor. Johsnon eventually added a record shop to his repertoire as well. His shop may have been on the corner of 5024 Club Road and Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Heights district of northern Little Rock. This may also have been the location of Johnson's recording studio, which he built when he entered the recording business.

Johnson's record shop had a hard time competing with rival shops in the city. His competitor, Moses Melody Shop, furnished drug stores across the city with racks of records, which sold them for him. One of those drugs stores was right across the street from Johnson's store. Therefore, Johnson decided to found his own record label, opting for a hit and thereby opening a new profitable business for him. His first record label, Dub International, came into existence in late 1957. At that time, rock'n'roll had been on the charts for about three years and it seems that Johnson wanted to take advantage of the new music. Indeed, he was just one of countless entrepreneurs that founded independent record labels to find their own Elvis. To retain control of the original song material, he also set up J&W Music. The name of this publishing company indicates that Johnson had a partner for this venture. This might have been singer Jimmy Williams, who did not only record for Dub International but also married Johnson's daughter Sarah. Both contributed song material to the J&W catalogue as well as Foster Johnson himself, who registered a couple of songs with BMI.

The Batesville Guard reported in October 1957 that Bobby Fudge and the Rhythm Rockers had recorded two songs for the new label. However, no release of these cuts has ever appeared. The first known release on Dub International came approximately in November 1957 featuring the Martin Sisters, a local act that recorded two rockabilly songs, "Don't Run and Hide" b/w "Voodoo" (#2837). On many of Johnson's early releases, Arkansas rock'n'roll pianist Teddy Redell was featured in the background band. Redell would go on to record for Vaden Records and find worldwide acclaim in the rockabilly community for his songs decades later. Several of the Dub singles became minor rockabilly classics, including those by Jimmy Williams, Chuck Brooks, and Don Head. 

Advertisement of Don Head's Dub Int. single "Going Strong"
Cash Box March 8, 1958

Johnson seems to have been serious about his recording business, as he mailed out promo copies to radio stations as well as both Billboard and Cash Box, placed ads with those magazines, and struck a deal with Apex Records, which released and distributed Dub International and Stylo material in Canada. Those included releases by Jimmy Williams, Don Head, and Jimmy Ford. His studio was also available for custom recordings, although it is not known to which extend. The Jokers, a local group from Batesville, Arkansas, recorded "Little Mama" at Johnson's studio in the late 1950s.

In 1959, Johnson issued a song called "Rama Lama Ding Dong" by a black vocal group, the Edsels. The song did not become a hit until it received radio airplay by a New York City DJ. Johnson leased the song to Twin Records, which re-released it in April that year. "Rama Lama Ding Dong" (initially released by mistake as "Lama Rama Ding Dong" by Johnson) became the Edsels' biggest hit, reaching #21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

By then, Johnson had been out of business for about a year. In 1959, he had replaced Dub International  with a new label, Stylo Records, which released singles until 1960. None of them became hits, though Jimmy Ford's two releases for the label was a strong contender and became an in-demand rockabilly collectors items as well. Stylo closed down at some point in 1960 after having one last release with Bobby Towers' "Gone, Gone, Gone Dreams" b/w "Bondage of Love" (#2108).

Johnson had been also active in local politics since at least 1952, wanting to run for congress but he was not nominated by the Democratic Party, however. In 1966, Foster ran for US Senator for the Democratic Party of Arkansas but his election campaign yielded only little attraction and he lost to veteran politician John McClellan. Johnson passed away October 8, 1997, and is buried at Pinecrest Memorial Park and Gardens in Alexander, Saline County, Arkansas.

In the 1970s, the rockabilly and rock'n'roll recordings from Johson's labels resonated with a young audience in Europe. Orignal copies were collected by music fans around the world and reissue albums began appearing. The Redia Records LP "The Sound of Rockabilly" (1973) from the Netherlands was the first two feature two cuts from Johnson's catalog, Jimmy Williams' "I Belong to You" and "You're Always Late". Next up another Dutch LP by Knockville Records, "Rock and Roll for Collectors, Vol. 2" (1975) featuring Jimmy Ford's Stylo recording of "Don't Hang Around Me Anymore", and finally, Germany's Bison Bop Records released a whole collection of Dub Int./Stylo productions on the 1980 LP "The Bop  That Never Stopped, Vol. 6". Since then, material from both labels has appeared on numerous reissue LPs and CDs. If Johnson was aware of those re-releases though a proper licensing process or if the were done without his knowledge remains unknown. 

Discography
Dub Int. 2837: Martin Sisters - Don't Run and Hide / Voodoo (1957)
Dub Int. 2838: Buddy Childress - My Lovin' Arms / Two Young True Hearts (1957)
Dub Int. 2839: Teenos - Love Only One / Alrightee (1957)
Dub Int. 2840: Don Head - Goin' Strong / Never Before (1958)
Dub Int. 2841: Kirmet Phillips - Walking Alone Tonite / I Caught You Slippin' Round (1958)
Dub Int. 2842: Jimmy Williams - You're Always Late / I Belong to You (1958)
Dub Int. 2843: The Edsels - Lama Rama Ding Dong / Bells (1958)
Dub Int. 2844: Chuck Brooks & the Sharpies - Spinning My Wheels / You Make Me Feel Mean (1958)

Stylo 2102: Jimmy Ford - You're Gonna Be Sorry / Don't Hang Around Me Anymore (1959)
Stylo 2103: 
Stylo 2104: Paul Babbitt - Shade Blue / Ooo Yah Yah (1959)
Stylo 2105: Jimmy Ford - We Belong (Together) / Be Mine Forever (1959)
Stylo 2106: Little Cameron - Kansas City Dog / She's Leaving (1959)
Stylo 2107: Johnny Roberts - My Lovin' Arms / When We're Alone (1959)
Stylo 2108: Bobby Towers - Gone, Gone, Gone, Dreams / Bondage of Love (1960)

See also

• Dub International Records Discography on Arkansas45rpm Records

• Stylo Records Discography on Arkansas 45rpm Records

Sources

• Foster Johnson Find a Grave entry

• 45cat entries for Dub International and Stylo

• BMI

• 1966 United States Senate election in Arkansas Wikipedia entry
• Unknown: "Arkansas Rockabilly" (Spade Records), liner notes, unknown year

Harry Blanton on Sherwood

Harry Blanton - Footsteps (Sherwood 42704), 1974

The city of Sherwood was home to a few small record labels in the 1970s, including the Sherwood record label. One of artists on that label was Harry Blanton, a local singer from Gurdon, Arkansas.

The song were featuring today, “Footsteps”, is probably one of Blanton’s earliest recordings, done in 1974 at the Browns Recording Studio in Sherwood. This studio was operated probably by Bonnie and Maxine Brown (of The Browns country group fame), who produced both sides of Blanton’s Sherwood single. Both songs were written by Dan Emory, a fellow Sherwood label artist.

Afterwards, Blanton had his own band, aptly named the Footsteps, toured with Don Gibson and reached out for Nashville. There, he recorded a few singles for the Starcrest and Firecracker labels but never enjoyed any national chart success. Blanton was still active as late as 2023, performing on the Pam Setser Show in Mountain View, Arkansas.

Recommended videos

• Video of the Pam Setser Show (Mountain View, Arkansas)

Sources

• 45cat entry

Devon & Nancy / Luke Jones

Devon & Nancy - Set You Free (Velvet Ear 45-41072), 1972
The duo of Devon & Nancy was a local act from Marthaville, a tiny community in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. We know a bit about Devon Elburn Jones. He came from a musical family, his brother Luke was a musician, too, and Luke made at least two records under his own name. They also had a sister named Nancy and it could possibly be her singing on this primitive but charming country performance. This Velvet Ear release was made in 1972 and was probably a vanity pressing made through Houston Recorders. It seems to have been their only release. 

Devon's brother Luther Lenwood "Luke" Jones was born February 11, 1945, and spent his service with the US Army in Germany. Coming from a musically inclined family, Luke and Devon played in the family band that performed locally in clubs and lounges. Luke Jones had at least two records out during his lifetime. One of them was on the Lou Anna label in 1979, recorded at Precision studio in Picayune, Mississippi. The disc coupled "This Feeling Deep Inside Is Killing Me", written by nearby Catahoula Parish singer Ray Prince, and a Johnny Cash cover, "Folsom Prison Blues". The other one was on Roseland Records, a small imprint from Bridge City, a New Orleans suburb. Luke Jones eventually moved to Northport, Alabama. He passed away from cancer on January 25, 2024, in Natchitoches.

Devon Jones nowadays resides in Keithville, south of Shreveport.

Discography

Velvet Ear 45-41072: Devon & Nancy - Set You Free / He'll Walk Right Out on You (1972)
Lou Anna 101: Luke Jones & the Drifters - This Feeling Deep Inside Is Killing Me / Folsom Prison Blues (1979)
Roseland 1001: Luke Jones & the Roseland Drifters - The Best I Have / House of Blue Lovers (1982)

Sources
• Luke Jones 45cat entry
• Luke Jones Find a Grave obituary
• Official records accessed through Ancestry.com
• White Pages

Jimmy Stewart on Step Rock

Jimmy Stewart & the Southern Country - Whose Heart Are You Breaking Now (Step Rock SRS 101), 1972

This is some slow, typical 1970s local country music. The Step Rock label was based in Sherwood, a little north of Little Rock but I couldn’t find any other releases but this label. The actual record label mentions that the songs were recorded at Rogers-Brown Studios, which was probably Brown's Recording Studio, operated by Maxine and Bonnie Brown of The Browns fame.

Jimmy Stewart is a common name and there were many recording artists of that name. One of the songs was written by Jackie Stewart and I first thought this might have been Jimmy’s wife. However, after a little online research, I did find a guy named James Alvin Stewart, whose brother was named Jackie Stewart. In addition, James Alvin was born in 1942 in Lonoke, Arkansas, and passed away in 2023 in Cabot, Arkansas, and both towns are less than 20 minutes away from Sherwood, the label’s location. So that might be our man but still, I’m not sure.

Today’s selection is “Whose Heart Are You Breaking Now”, which was written by a man named Huey P. Long (probably not Louisiana governor Huey Pierce Long, who was killed in 1935).

See also

• Step Rock discography on Arkansas 45rpm Records

Sources

• James Alvin Stewart obituary

• Find a Grave entry

Buddy Durham on Emperor

Buddy Durham - Precious Memories (Emperor 430-EM-H-5-60 Hymn Album 5), 1960

Fiddler Buddy Durham is probably best known today for his work with country and rockabilly artist Hardrock Gunter. But Durham had a career of his own, though he is not as good remembered as his fellow WWVA  Jamboree cast member. Durham was not only a musician but owned his own record label, through which he released numerous EPs and 45s.

Buddy Durham

James B. "Buddy" Durham was born in June 22, 1920. His birthplace is disputed. While Drew Beisswenger states that Durham was born in Dallas, Texas, in his book "North American Fiddle Music", author Ivan M. Tribe called him a "Mississippi-born" in his "The Jamboree in Wheeling" book. However, Durham took up music professionally at a very early stage. When he was eight years old, he joined the Durham family band that appeared across the United States on such stations as WLS in Chicago, WSM in Nashville, or WBZ in Boston. His sister Juanita would have a career on her own as well.

He was working in Texas radio but also could be heard on stations in other states, appearing on such shows as the Renfro Valley Barn Dance. In 1954, he came to Wheeling, West Virginia, and became a cast member of WWVA's Jamboree for the next ten years. His wife Marion appeared with him as well until 1959, when she became pregnant.

In 1954, Durham and Hardrock Gunter, who was working the WWVA Jamboree as well during that time, recorded "Fiddle Bop", which was first released on Cross Country and then on Sun Records in Memphis. In 1955, Durham set up Emperor Records, a label that mainly served as an outlet to release his own recordings. Over the next years, he issued countless, short fiddle renditions of traditional tunes, own compositions, gospel songs, or popular standards on single and extended play 45s. In between, he recorded for Cross Country and Ridgecrest as well.

Billboard July 18, 1960

Apart from his own works, he also recorded local talent such as the Wright Brothers, Lucky Rogers, Rudy Thacker, the Cook Brothers, Curly O'Brien, Ken Lighter, and others. Hardrock Gunter released his rockabilly novelty "Whoo! I Mean Whee!"on Emperor and he collaborated with Durham again on "Hillbilly Twist", which was released in the US first on Emperor, then on Starday and on Sparton in Canada. Durham would use the WWVA studio for recording probably all of the Emperor cuts.

Durham left the WWVA Jamboree in 1964 the same year, recorded a square dance album for Columbia. Durham passed away on March 14, 2005, at the age of 84 years. He is buried at Hendersonville Memorial Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near Nashville. The British Archive of Country Music released a 20-track CD in 2012 with the best of Durham's recordings.

Recommended reading

• Rockin' Country Style entry

• Gospel Jubilee entry

• SecondHandSongs

• British Archive of Country Music

Sources

• Tony Russell: "Country Music Originals - The Legends and the Lost (Oxford University Press), 2010, p. 3

•  Drew Beisswenger: "North American Fiddle Music: A Research and Information Guide" (Routledge)

• Ivan M. Tribe, Jacob L. Bapst: "The Jamboree in Wheeling" (Arcadia Publishing), 2020, p. 43

• 45cat entry

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Find a Grave entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

Ray Prince

Ray Prince
Forgotten Louisiana Songster

Ray Prince was a local Louisiana singer, guitarist, and songwriter, who entertained audiences from the 1960s until his death in the early 2020s. In the 1960s, he was associated with legendary producer Eddie Shuler and although he submitted a few of his song works, he never recorded commercially.

Thomas Ray Prince was born on March 6, 1928, to Joseph Wilson Prince, Sr., and Josie Dees Prince in the small hamlet of Trout, LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. His mother was born in 1903 in Alabama and was said to have been a distant relative of another Alabama native: Hank Williams. Prince had an older sibling, which sadly died as an infant in 1924, a sister Rita and a younger brother Joseph Wilson Jr., who became a reverend eventually.

Prince was drafted during Word War II. Along the way, Prince took up music and learned to play guitar. By the early 1960s, he had established himself as a local singer and became a steady performer on Don Wiley's Catahoula Country Music Show in Catahoula Parish. Prince also played the local churches during the 1960s and 1970s.

Catahoula News, December 19, 1963

Prince was a talented and very busy songwriter, sometimes working with his mother. It is said he wrote several hundreds songs during the decades, though the majority of them have never been registered or properly documented. Story goes that Prince and his mother Josie were the original composers of "Wings of a Dove", a smash country and pop hit for Ferlin Husky in 1960. "Ray told me that story several times. He said that he and his mother wrote the song and sent it to a Nashville publishing company from an ad that was in a country music magazine. I absolutely believe him, I never knew of Ray to lie about anything. Back in the day Nashville publishing companies were known for stealing songs," Rodney Hutchison, a local Catahoula Parish resident, recalls. This story have been brought up by different people who knew Prince. The songwriting credit on Husky's record release went to Bob Ferguson, who claimed to write it in 1958.

Prince regularly worked with another local singer, Rip Cannaday. Both men contacted producer Eddie Shuler, owner of Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the mid 1960s to pitch their songs to him and maybe even to land a recording contract of their own. However, nothing happened. Shuler took four of Prince's songs and registered them with BMI (adding his name as a co-writer), though no recordings by him or other artists surfaced. Those songs included "Diddly Daddily Doo", "I'm Putting Her Picture Away", "Not Much Love Anymore", and "Sands or Arabia". However, one of his songs was recorded - by Luke Jones, a local Natchitoches Parish country singer.

While Cannaday recorded several albums throughout the decades, Prince never recorded commercially. However, Cannaday taped many home recordings of him and Prince singing songs together, sometimes even with Prince's mother Josie. Some of these tapes were recently submitted to the Southern Music Research Center through the efforts of Marshal Martin.

Prince was married to Esther Bradford, meeting her late in his life. Esther also sang, and she can be heard on some of Prince's home recordings as well. Prince spent all his life around Harrisonburg, Louisiana, and continued to play churches and at nursing homes even as an elderly man. Ray Prince passed away on January 4, 2021, at the age of 92 years in Pollock, Louisiana. He is buried at Belah Cemetery in Trout, La Salle Parish. Many people in both Catahoula and LaSalle Parishes still remember Prince very fondly.

See also

• Catahoula Country Music Show

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• BMI search

• Offical records accessed through Ancestry.com

Westport Records (Kansas City)

Westport Records

The Wagon Wheel Label from the Port of the West

Kansas City had never the reputation as a big recording center but in the late 1940s, the 1950s and early 1960s, there were a lot of country and rock'n'roll artists in the city. Clubs and bars gave artists countless oportunities to entertain audiences on stage, radio stations like KCMO and its live programs boosted local talents popularity and small record labels were willing to release locally recorded music. One of those labels was Westport Records, which issued a string of more than 20 singles between 1954 and 1962.

Westport Records was formed in 1954 by Dave Ruf and his brothers as an outlet to record both their children's family band known in Kansas City as the Westport Kids. The first single released by the new label was Westport 125 by the Westport Kids called "Right Or Wrong" / "Hold Me My Darling". Westport started out as a country label, recording also such artists as local radio performers Milt Dickey and Jimmy Dallas. The label's headquarters was located in West Port, once an indepentend town but by the 1950s already a city district of Kansas City.

Westport Kids promo card

Rockabilly singer Alvis Wayne came to the label in September 1956. He became the label's most successful artist, though he never visited Kansas City. Wayne was Texas based and recorded all his sessions in Corpus Christi and Houston. The recording contract was set up by Tony Wayne, who was Alvis Wayne's mentor and background musician along with the Rhythm Wranglers. Alvis Wayne's first record on Westport was "Swing Bop Boogie / Sleep Rock-a-Roll Rock-a-Baby", which got only little airplay in Texas and sold about 2,000 copies. Wayne's next record, also recorded in a little studio on Corpus Christi, was Westport's and also Wayne's biggest record. "Don't Mean Maybe Baby" was issued in 1957 and got good reviews by Cashbox and charted in South Texas at #1, leaving behind Elvis Presley. Though, the national top 100 charts were still far far away.

Billboard March 9, 1959

Wayne's last record on Westport came out in September 1958 on Westport 140, the slightly pop oriented "Lay Your Head On My Shoulder" / "You're the One". During the years of 1956, 1957 and 1958, Westport had continued to release singles by Milt Dickey, one record by Alvis Wayne's back-up band Tony Wayne & the Rhythm Wranglers, the Westport Kids, Big Bob Dougherty, and Jimmy Dallas. The label releaed another rockabilly single in early 1959 with Lee Finn's "High Class Feelin'" / "Pour Me a Glass of Wine" (#141), which became a local hit in Kansas City.

The company's last issue came out on Westport 145 by Gene Chapman, probably in 1962. After that, the label was closed down by the Ruf brothers. Westport never gained a national hit, just releasing singles for the local market and having fair success with it during the 1950s. The total output were only about 22 singles in seven years. There has been two unofficial CD reissues with the complete Westport catalogue so far.

See also

• Tony Wayne on Westport

• Alvis Wayne on Westport

• Jimmy Dallas on Westport

Sources

• 45cat entry and 45cat/78rpm entry

• various Billboard issues

Doyal Ruff on Melody

Doyal Ruff and Nancy Eason - Jackson (Melody M 45-101)

Here we have a cover of the Johnny Cash-June Carter hit "Jackson", which was originally released in February 1967 on Columbia and peaked at #2 in Billboard's Hot Country Songs. Doyal Ruff was a local Georgia singer and musician, who entertained audiences for decades.

Born on June 24, 1935, in Dallas, Georgia, Ruff started his career with singing bluegrass music on an East Point, Georgia, radio station with Grover Hilliard (1931-2024). It was the start of a rather professional career in music but family obligations forced him to limit his music activities. He eventually became a locksmith at the State of Georgia Capital in Atlanta. He and his wife Mary Jo raised two children, a daughter and a son.

Though maintaining a daytime job, he continued to play music in North Georgia for the next four decades. He founded a group, the Melody Boys, which performed bluegrass and country music. With Nancy Eason, Ruff cut this disc probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s and it seems that it his own private label. I cannot tell at which pressing plant it was manufactured and I don't have an exact release date either.

Around 1994, Ruff changed the name of his group to the Melody Makers and switched to gospel music. Musicians included his son Donnie on bass, Ruff's co-worker Dallas "Lightin'" Day on lead guitar, and Walhalla, South Carolina, native Charles Wesley "Sonny" Lusk on vocals. The band continued to perform around Dallas and Cartersville at least until 2011.

Doyal Ruff passed away on September 10, 2018, in Cartersville, Georgia, at the age of 83 years.

Doyal Ruff and the Melody Makers perform in Dallas, Georgia, in January 2011

Sources

• Obituary

• Internet Archive (incl. download for "Swing Low")

Bill Johnson alias Sky Johnson

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson's "A Wound Time Can't Erase" was not only one of the most successful songs sung by Stonewall Jackson, it was also one of his most beautiful hit tunes. Johnson, as the composer of the song, remained in the shadow of Jackson's success. Before he made his way to  Nashville, Johnson was an active performer in the Miami music scene.

Born William Donald Johnson, he was a steel guitarist, singer, and songwriter. By 1954, he had begun performing locally around Miami. He was part of Tommy Spurlin & the Southern Boys until around 1956, leaving when the band decided to take their style more towards rock'n'roll. He was also part of Happy Harold Thaxton's local live stage show "Old South Jamboree" as the house band's steel guitarist.

December 12, 1959
Source: Volker Houghton

Johnson made a lot of connections during these years. Kent Westberry, Snuffy Smith, Wayne Gray, Charlie McCoy, Bill Phillips, and many more were working in the area and some of them eventually found enduring success in Nashville. He started writing songs with guitarist Wayne Gray, who in turn performed with Kent Westberry's Chaperones locally, including "Cute Chick" and "Initials in the Tree". Johnson made his way to Nashville already in 1957. There, he recorded as "Sky Johnson" for the small Cactus label his own composition "A Wound Time Can't Erase" and the George Dumas song "If My Love Had Wings". Dumas was a half-brother of the aforementioned Tommy Spurlin and played bass with the Southern Boys.

Released on Cactus #1501 around summer 1957, it was soon picked up by the bigger independent label Dot (#15620) and also saw release in New Zealand on London and in Canada on Quality. Though, the single did not make the charts. It was not until 1961 when Stonewall Jackson covered the tune that it got recognition. His version was released late that year on Columbia and it entered the charts the following January, peaking eventually at #3.

Jackson would record another song of Johnson's, "How Many Lies Can I Tell", in 1969. Marty Robbins had another hit with Johnson's "The Best Part of the Living" in 1971, which reached #6 on both the American and Canadian country charts. Johnson has a total of 26 songs registered with BMI, although only "A Wound Time Can't Erase" and "The Best Part of the Living" became hits.

Sources

• 45cat entry (Sky Johnson)

• BMI search

• Kent Westberry: "I've Got a Song to Write" (Dorrance Publishing Co.), 2020, page 5