The Story of "You Can't Have My Love"

History of a Song - 

The Story of

"You Can't Have My Love"

Another bobsluckycat post presented by Mellow's Log Cabin!

1954 was a watershed year in Country Music following the death of Hank Williams. At least 50% of the Billboard Hot Country Singles could now be considered what we call "Country Classics". This isn't one of them but was very popular at the time. The song is "You Can't Have My Love" and was in the Billboard charts for eight weeks starting on July 24, 1954, reaching a peak at number eight . It generated a lot of interest and airplay and was on the jukeboxes upon its release in May of 1954. It was 17 year old Wanda Jackson's first record release as well. Here's the whole story. At the beginning of 1954, Hank Thompson had discovered Wanda Jackson on an Oklahoma City radio station, where she had a program, and added her to his band on weekends as a featured vocalist as was Billy Gray, who also played lead guitar and was the bandleader of the Brazos Valley Boys for Hank. March 22 through 24, 1954, saw Hank and the entire band in the Melrose Avenue studios of Capitol Records in L.A. On the last day of the session, Thompson booked recording time with Capitol to make demo tapes of both Wanda Jackson and Billy Gray and the duet "You Can't Have My Love" to try and influence his producer at Capitol Records, Ken Nelson, to sign them to Capitol record contracts without success. Nelson demurred for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that Wanda Jackson being underage.

A short time later, Hank Thompson was in Nashville and took a meeting with Paul Cohen, then head of Nashville's Decca Records operations and upon hearing the demo tapes signed Billy Gray and Wanda Jackson to two year contracts on Decca Records. Decca Records, at the time was the leading recording company in the USA with hundreds of records of all kinds being cranked out of their factories constantly and generating millions in revenue giving Decca the opportunity to sign unknown and untested talent, and they did so frequently. Cohen, always looking for a way to sell more records had minor league artists record a cover version for Coral Records, a subsidiary label, on April 8, 1954, to sort of hedge his bets. He did this frequently with leased records that came to Decca, so it was nothing new. Texas Bill Strength, an itinerant but well know country music D.J. and sometime country singer on Coral since 1951 and Tabby West, a converted pop music vocalist, hyped as another Kitty Wells (which she wasn't) and being on Coral since 1952, recorded their version at Bradley's Barn in Nashville and held back as a "B" side, just in case. More on that version later.

Wanda Jackson and Billy Gray - You Can't Have My Love (Decca 29140)

Billy Gray had written "You Can't Have My Love" along with co-writers listed Hank Thompson and Chuck Harding (Yeah right. editorial comment) especially as a vehicle for him and Wanda Jackson, she with her tough-as-nails vocal and his smooth recitation as counterpoint struck a true chord with everybody, especially in Oklahoma and Texas, and soon the entire country was listening to it on the radio and more importantly buying copies for jukeboxes and homes. 

The Texas Bill Strength/Tabby West version (Coral 64177) was released shortly afterwards with "With Let's Make Love Or Go Home One" as the "A" side which didn't make much headway with such a risque title for the times. The Texas Bill Strength and Tabby West "A" side was cute and had a great banjo solo very much in the style of Joe Maphis, who may or may not have played on the record.

Tabby West & "Texas" Bill Strength - You Can't Have My Love (Coral 9-64177)

The "B" side, which was "You Can't Have My Love," was also somewhat different in that it changed the girl singer's state to Missouri and cities listed were all pretty much in the Mississippi valley - Dyersburg, Tennessee; Fort Smith, Arkansas; and Cairo, Illinois (pronounced K-Row) - and a small coda was added at the end which was humorous. I have no idea why this was done except that it might appeal to record distributors and D.J.'s in those areas. Decca marketing was ahead of the field most of the time and if they could sell a few more records they would. This version actually did nothing to further the careers of Strength or West. It was Strength's last release on the label. West had one more release and then let go, only to be signed to the big label, Decca, the following year after she joined the KWTO Ozark Jubilee. A little later both Tabby West and Texas Bill Strength recorded for Capitol Records to no success. By 1961, Tabby West had gotten out of the music business. Texas Bill Strength had an unsuccessful session with Sun Records which went nowhere, but he continued on as a successful D.J. and comedian and continued to record sporadically.

The third version of this song was recorded at King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio, and produced by Henry Glover, probably after the other versions were starting to get attention by mid-July 1954 and the "Jack" in the title was probably Jack Cardwell, who recorded for King and was recording there at about the same time. It sounds like him. This is the 45 RPM recording I've owned since 1955.

Elaine Gay is something of a mystery to me. Henry Glover recorded her in 1954 and released a few records over the year on DeLuxe, a King label, including her last release of a tipid country version of "Rock Love" which was written by Henry Glover and recorded variously by Lula Reed, Little Willie John, and the big Pop version in early 1955 by the Fontane Sisters on Dot Records. A small Billboard magazine note deep in the pages of that mag, mentions that Elaine Gay was from Miami and the local Miami record distributorship was trying to make something happen for her and it just didn't happen. No other information on her has ever surfaced. Her version with Jack was a direct copy of the Wanda Jackson-Billy Gray version. Not a bad record for a cover.

Elaine Gay and Jack - You Can't Have My Love (DeLuxe 45-2022)

The song was in the Billboard charts into mid-September 1954 and was mentioned on the Billboard and Cash Box playlists on both radio and jukeboxes well into the fall.

Later on in 1954, Big 4 Hits, the mail order sound-alike EP record company also in Cincinnati, released this song as part of Big 4 Hits #98 by Eileen Nunn and Eddie Moore. This version was like the Texas Bill Strength - Tabby West version also with the coda. This was the first version I ever owned as I got a three speed record player for Christmas of 1954 and a package of 6 EP's from WCKY - also in Cincinnati - to play on the new player. That version has been long gone from me for several years, sorry to say. Early in 1955, I started buying 45 rpm records from my local distributor for the price of 10 cents apiece that never made it to his jukeboxes and started my, then, rather large 45 rpm collection, which was heavy on R&B and off-the-wall country music.

Elaine Gay

Miss Miami Juke Box
The Story of Elaine Gay (Rouse)

Elaine Gay made a couple of noteworthy recordings during the mid 1950s for Syd Nathan's DeLuxe label, a subsidiary of his King Records imprint. A blend of country music, pop, and rhythm and blues, Gay was a talented singer and astonishingly versatile considering the fact that she was an offspring of the famous Rouse family.

She was born Elaine Eloise Rouse in Greenville, Pitt County, North Carolina, on August 10, 1935. The daughter of Jack Rouse, she was born into a musical inclined family. Jack's brothers were Earl, Gordon, and the most famous of them all, Ervin Rouse. Together, they performed as the Rouse Brothers and made various recordings in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, including the famous and influential "Orange Blossom Special".

By the end of the 1930s, some of the Rouse Brothers had moved to Miami, Florida, including Elaine's family. She attended high school, where she took part in plays and operettas. Around 1952, when she was sixteen years old, she made her first public appearance at the Village Inn in Washington, D.C. It was her father Jack who encouraged her to start a career in music. By 1954, she appeared regularly on local WITV in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Billboard January 22, 1955

Miami music entrepreneur and head of DeLuxe's Miami office Henry Stone had already called her uncles into a recording studio in the early 1950s and he discovered that young a Elaine was a talent in her own right. A recording session for her was set up on February 20, 1954, in Miami, and four songs where recorded with accompaniment by Jerry Vaughn's orchestra. From this session, the two originals "Love" and "Deep Secret" were chosen for her debut single on DeLuxe #2021 the same year. Henry Stone, who had become her manager by then, made a deal with the AMOA (Amusement Machine Operators' Association) of Miami, containing a sponsorship of the association and promotion in Dade Country's jukeboxes. For that purpose, Elaine Gay was dubbed "Miss Miami Juke Box".

A second disc was released directly afterwards. The top side was a duet with her father Jack, a cover of the Wanda Jackson-Billy Gray hit "You Can't Have My Love", and the flip was a song co-written with sometimes-Miami-performer Buddy Starcher and country songwriter Mary Jean Shurtz entitled "Am I the One to Blame". Her recordings were not classic country style; her debut single was pure pop, while her second outing were

Two more records followed on DeLuxe - one in late 1954 or early 1955 featuring Elaine's cover of "Rock Love" (a hit for the Fontaine Sisters and written by King executive Henry Glover) and her last for the label, again featuring covers ("Blueberry Hill" and "Polly Wolly Doodle O-Day"). It was a usual strategy of King/DeLuxe label head Syd Nathan to let his country artists cover his R&B hits and vice-versa. This way, Nathan was guaranteed to keep money in-house.

Sheet music for "Rock Love" as recorded by Elaine Gay,
1954 or 1955

Charts success eluded her singles and no more sessions followed. Some of her discs were released in the UK on Parlophone, though DeLuxe dropped her from its roster.

Afterwards, her trail grows cold. If anyone has more information about Elaine Gay, please feel free to leave a comment or sent an e-mail!

Discography

DeLuxe 2021: Love / Deep Secret (1954)
Parlophone MSP 6140: Love / Instantly (1954)
DeLuxe 2022: Elaine Gay and Jack - You Can't Have My Love / Elaine Gay - Am I the One to Blame (1954)
DeLuxe 2027: My Dearest Darling / A Little Bit of Love
DeLuxe 2029: Ebony Eyes / Rock Love (1955)
DeLuxe 2037: Blueberry Hill / Polly Wolly Doodle O-Day (1955)

See also
• The Story of "You Can't Have My Love"

Sources
• Discogs
• 45cat entry
• Rockin' Country Style entry
• King Records Discography

Blake Records story

John Cook's Blake Records

A Memphis Country, Bluegrass and Gospel label

498 Lundee Street in Memphis in September 2011, where
John Cook would first operate Blake Records from.

The Cooks probably moved to 3291 Park Avenue later.

The Blake record label out of Memphis, Tennessee, has never been spotlighted in its full glory. Though the label has an extensive discography that could take years to research in detail, the label's history has been largely obscure since its demise sometimes in the 1970s.

Blake was founded by John Cook, a country and gospel musician originally from Arkansas. Similar to Arlen and Jackie Vaden from Trumann, Arkansas, Cook and his wife Margie would sing harmony gospel duets on radio and also made the occassional record during their career. John was born and raised in Cord, Arkansas, a small town about 20 miles east of Batesville and 25 miles north of Newport. He came from a musical family and started playing guitar and singing at the age of ten. He met his future wife Margie at a camp meeting and married her three months later. Margie hailed from Melbourne, Arkansas, and was also born into a musical inclined family. Together, they began to sing gospel and country duets with John on guitar as well as vocals and Margie joining him.

The Cooks began their professional career in 1947 on the radio. They soon appeared on different stations, including border town stations like XEG (Fort Worth, Texas), XERF (Del Rio, Texas), XERB (San Diego, California) and also did a couple of TV appearances. Probably their first recording was released in either late 1958 or early 1959 on the Volunteer label. A Starday custom press, it featured two of the couple's originals, "The Love I Have for You" / "Do I Have to Stay Alone" (Volunteer #737), credited to "John and Margie Cook and the White River Boys." The name of the band drew probably from the White River in Arkansas, which is located south of Cord and west of Melbourne. The label already showed a Memphis adress (1745 Lamar Avenue), so the Cooks likely lived in Memphis at that time.

Another record of John and Margie appeared in 1965 on the Dot label, coupling "River of Love" b/w "I'll Take Down Your Shingle." It was around that time that John founded Blake Records in Memphis. The initial release on the label had Hershel Jeanes, accompanied by Dotye Dee and her Rhythmaires, with "Let Me Start with You" b/w "Guess Tonight I'll Make the Bars Downtown" (Blake #2-200). Interestingly, this very first release had a completely different, simpler, label design than waht would follow. Jeanes had a second single out with Dee on Zone as well as further releases on Blake. Dee also recorded for Yesteryear Records in her own right. Billboard reported in January 1965, that Jeanes and Dee took part in a benefit show that was held at the Linden Circle Theater (then known as the "Mid-South Opry House"). Other artists included Eddie Bond, Roland Eaton, the Davis Brothers among others. Jim Wells acted as the show's emcee.

The next known release on Blake was by Roland Eaton, "Married in Church" b/w "My Baby Walks All Over Me" (Blake #2-202). Eaton was a country singer from Arkanas. Born in 1935 in Ravenden, Northeast Arkansas, he was the emcee of the Mid-South Jamboree in the 1960s, appeared with Gene Williams' Country Junction show in 1968 and also had his own show on KAIT in the late 1960s. He would go on to record for Capitol 1968-1971 but later quit the music business.

Roland Eaton during an appearance on Ernest Tubb's
Midnight Jamboree in June 1967.

However, a release date for neither Jeanes' nor Eaton's single is not known. It is Sue Simpson's "The Great Tornado" (Blake #2-216) which can be dated as 1966; all releases prior to her single have to be issued around 1965/1966. Due to missing reliable sources such as Billboard reviews or matrix numbers, it is difficult to date early releases on Blake. By 1970, John Cook was using Precision's pressing plant in Nashville, which makes it easier to estimate the release dates because of the plant's matrix code.

John and Margie also released their own recordings on Blake. The first was "Till You Come Home" / "You Were Not Around" on Blake #2-211. During the next years, they would cut another five records plus an entire album. Early Blake labels show 498 Lundee Street in Memphis as adress but soon after, the label would move to 3291 Park Avenue (as seen on Blake #2-215). Both streets are located in residential zones, thus it is likely John ran the label from their home. It is also likely he didn't operate his own studio but rented other facilities in Memphis. In any event, the business seems to have been more a custom label than a professional record business. Nevertheless, Cook had his own publishing firm "John Cook Music" (whereby most of the recorded material was published) as well as another label, Marble Hill Records, which came into existence in 1968. According to Colin Escott, Marble Hill was co-owned by Memphis singer Howard Chandler, who also had the debut release on the label.

The label's output was similar to what John and Margie were singing: gospel, bluegrass, country, and some upbeat country music thrown in from time to time. There were at least 123 45rpm records on Blake and the Cook's album. A short Billboard mention in its November 18, 1972, issue, describes Blake as "one of the mainstays in country in Memphis." The last known single is "Country Waltz" b/w "Golden Slippers" by Dusty Ray Sawyer on Blake 2-232 in 1977.

John and Margie, however, had another record out in the 1970s on the Sardis label, "I'll Take Down Your Shingle" / "River of Love" (Sardis #5 5716). The picture sleeve of the record stated it was recorded at Arthur Smith's studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, so this was possibly a re-recording of their earlier Dot single. 

John Cook died in 1983 and was buried at Memorial Hill Gardens in Memphis. By the time of his passing, the Cooks lived in West Memphis, Arkansas.

 Discography

Release dates are estimated from pressing plant matrix numbers and stampers on record labels.

2-200: Hershel Jeanes - Let Me Start with You / Guess Tonight I'll Make the Bars Downtown

2-201: John & Margie Cook - Oh God, Please Bring My Daddy Back / Cabin in the Mountain

2-202: Roland Eaton – Married in Church / My Baby Walks All Over Me

2-203: Paul Cecil – Brink of Tears / Melba from Melbourne

2-204: Wayne Raney – I'm in Love /My Beautiful Bouquet

2-205: Ray Arnold – Blues in My Heart / Ballad of Lefty Bill

2-206: Glen Chandler – Soft Lips / Glen & Margie Chandler - Heart Breaker

2-207: Don Osment – Honky Tonk & Booze / I'll Take You Back Again

2-208: Clyde & Marie Denney - Little Kentucky Mountain Home / Johnny's Breakdown

2-209: Wilma New – It’s Too Late Now / Wilma New / Mack Self – It’s Time to Cry

2-210: Bud & Joyce Murry – I'm Stuck in Jackson / Joyce Murry – I'll Keep on Loving You

2-211: John & Margie Cook - Till You Come Home / You Were Not Around

2-212: Audrey Maupin - God Calls His Children Each By Name / Precious Lord

2-213: Clyde & Mary Denney with Blue Grass Mountain Boys – What’s Wrong with You, My Darlin / Sally Is a Dandy

2-214: Lloyd Arnold - Million Miles to Nowhere / Time Enough to Die

2-215: Bud and Joyce Murry - Tiny Raindrops / Ain't Gonna Worry

2-216: Sue Simpson –  Soldier in Viet Nam / The Great Tornado (1966)

2-217: Hershel Jeanes – Tonight I’ll Join the Crowd / Loves Come Back

2-218: Frank Milam - The Big Ole Jug of Wine / Money in My Pockets (Money in My Shoes)

2-219: Margie Griffin – More Than My Heart Could Understand / Fine Feathers Do Not Make a Fine Bird

2-220: Audrey Laird - Blues in My Heart / Jambalaya (on the Bayou)
2-221: John Daniel - Walk Right Through the Door / I Still Do
2-222: Marlon Grisham - Queen of the City / You're the Rose for Me
2-223: Bobby Joe Boyels - The Wedding Is Over / You're Gonna Hate Yourself
2-224: John & Margie Cook - Mama and Papa / You, the Judge and Me
2-225: Edith Caviness - I'm Not Here / Too Wet to Plow

2-226: Hershel Jeanes & Dotye Dee – The Gentle Judge / Stronger Than Pride

2-227: John & Margie Cook – Wire My Grave with Country Music / ?

2-228:

2-229: Charlie (Slim) Knight – The Outcast / Money Can’t Buy True Love

2-230: Ray Arnold - The Old Man's Outlook on Life / Why Must Man Love Woman

2-231: Sharon Peel - The Gossip Line / It's All Over Now

2-232: The Peggy Carey Story (Interviewed by Jim Wells) / ?

2-233: Marie Roberson – The Patriot / Shadow Path

2-234: Ronnie Parnell – I’m a Fool for Loving You / Everything Changes

2-235:
2-236: Joe T Gibson - Meet Me on the Other Side of Town / Arkansas Boy
2-237:
2-238: Sam & Kay Neal - I Can't Feel the Pain / Dear Angel (1971)
2-239: Martin K. Neal, Jr. - Please Forgive Me / I'll Die Ten Thousand Times (1971)

2-240: Babe Sanders – Last Glass of Wine / Ballad of Ma and Pa

2-241 
2-242: Sam & Kay Neal - If I'm Not Here / Etty Bitty Josephine (1971)
2-243:
2-244:
2-245: Hershel Jeanes - Will There Be Beer Joints in Heaven / Just Because
2-246: Clyde & Marie Denney and the Kentuckians - Southbound / Forty Years Ago
2-247: Kay Neal - I'll Take the Stand Tomorrow / Sam & Kay Neal - (Answer to) Hello Darling

2-248: Joe T. Gibson – Team of Mules / Television (1971)

2-249: Ross Lewis - Right As Rain / After I'm Gone
2-250: John Cook - Old Maids Can Love You / A Soldier in Vietnam
2-251: Sam & Kay Neal - My Love Is Gone / We're Gonna Live with Him Someday (1971)
2-252:
2-253: Lloyd Baker - The Song About Jesus / The Endless Time of Eternity
2-254: Sam & Kay Neal - Dozen Red Roses / Sam Neal - Tear Drops in Her Eyes (1971)
2-255: Willie Eiland - Do What You Want to Do / Shoveling (1971)

2-256: Martha Panell – Mister D.J. / Sad Movies

2-257: Sam & Kay Neal - Let's All Party / I've Got a Bobcat By the Tail

2-258: Clyde & Marie Denny and the Kentuckians - Clinging Vine / Ann

2-259: Sam & Kay Neal – They Call Me Orphan / Cold Lonely Heart

2-260: Sam & Kay Neal - I Need You for Real / Springtime in Mississippi

2-261: Sam Neal - Don't Call My Name / Lifetime of Sorrow

2-262: Marion D. Brewer – Too Much to Lose / She’s Been Asking About Me

2-263: Sam & Kay Neal – She's an Angel to Me / I'm Disowned

2-264: Sam and Kay Neal - Sweetheart, My Queen / Pay Day on the Country Road

2-265: Alvie Addison, III – Sanlorsa / Never Forget Mama

2-266: Farrell Dunkin - 8 to 12 / I Turned Her Heart to Stone

2-267: Stewart Douglas – Pass Me By / It’s Not Love But It’s Not Bad

2-268: Farrell Dunkin - Me and Loniless / Fire, Wind and Rain

2-269: James “Juicy” Joel – I Bought the Blues / Crying on the Inside

2-270: Billy Joe Mack – Loneliness / Hold Back Tomorrow

2-271: Southern Ramblers – Our Love Has Ended (vocal by Jean Wilkinson) / Letting Her Love Destroy My Mind (vocal by David Seal)

2-272: Jimmy “Red” Wiggins – Don’t Burn the Bridges / The Ache of a Fool

2-273: Ray Mitcham – You’re Welcome Once More / They Say Today’s Thanksgiving

2-274: Ray Mitcham – Wish I Had a Nickel / Winds of Change

2-275:
2-276:
2-277: Ronnie Hughes - Nashville, You Got a Hold on Me / Six Nights in Vegas
2-278: Jimmy "Red" Wiggins – Roadsigns of Your Heart / When I Hear Your Name (1973/74)
2-279:
2-280: John Cook - Corn Stalk Annie / John and the Water Moccasin (1974)

2-281: Sue Neal – The Image of Me / Truck Driver’s Sweetheart

2-282: Sam Higdon - Dear Mr. President / Courage to Try (1974)

2-283: Sue Neal – Our Rig / Only One True Love

2-284:

2-285: Jessey Higdon – Pay Telephone / Polk Salad Time on the Mississippi

2-286: John & Margie Cook – Eight Miles from Home / Because We Cheated

2-287: Gene Stilley – Angels Play Guitars / It’s Hard to Get Up Once You’ve Been Down

2-288: Bud Rateliff – I’m Not Gonna Be Your Fall Guy Any More / You Left a Stain on My Heart

2-289:

2-290: Clinton McKinney - My Only Reason to Stay / I Throwed It All in a U-Haul

2-291: John Cook – John and the School Teacher / Margie Cook – Kiss Me Love (1974/75)

2-292: John Cook - John and the Billygoat / Margie Cook - Sitting in a Bar Room for the First Time

2-293: Farrell Dunkin – Broadway Flower / 8 to 12

2-294: Lisa Adams - Ain't It Good to Be in Love Again / Benny, the Bald Knob Buffalo

2-295: Wilson Brothers – Trail of the Lonesome Pine / Let Me Live One More Time (1975)

2-296: Con Brewer – Loving You / Dreams

2-297: Merv Landon - Me and Bobby McGee / Four in the Morning

2-298: Scotty Day – No Pickin in the Corner / What Would I Give

2-299: Gary Abbott – Bar Room Angel / Living in a World of Miseries

2-300: Dee Proctor – As the World Keeps on Turning / Walk with Me

2-301: Scotty Day - Baby I'm Crying / Scotty & Rachel Day - Gonna Jump, Drown or Hang (3 Ways to Go)

2-302:

2-303: John & Margie Cook – Would You Call Jesus Hippie / Mama and Papa

2-304: Sue Neal - Trying to Forget You / Clouds to Glory

2-305:

2-306:

2-307: Jim McKee – She Makes Me Glad That I’m Alive / I’ve Got Heartaches and Trouble on My Mind

2-308: Jim McKee - If It Hadn't Been for You / Yours and Mine
2-309:
2-310:
2-311:
2-312: Joe T. Gibson - I'm the Loving Kind / It Hurts
2-313: Sue Neal - If She Can't Go to You / You'll Be Sorry
2-314:
2-315: Lucille Vandiver - Nestle in the Arms of Jesus / Just Let Me Make It Home Lord
2-316:
2-317: Southern Comfort - A Light in Her Eyes / Let's Talk It Over
2-318:

2-319: Paulette Cruzon – Yesterdays, Darling, Are Gone / One You Left So Blue
2-320:
2-321:
2-322: Dusty Ray Sawyer – Shannon Waltz / Joys of Quebec (1977)
2-323: Dusty Ray Sawyer – Country Waltz / Golden Slippers (1977)

Thanks to DrunkenHob, Peter, Jack Hill, Mark C., Eric, Bayou Bum

Hap Records

The Story of Hap Records

Happy Herbert and the Mountain City Recording Studio

The city of Chattanooga, located in Southeast Tennessee on the banks of the Tennessee river, has been home to radio stations and local country musicians from the 1930s up to the 1950s. Radio stations like WDOD, WDEF, and WAPO featured country music acts - WGAC even hosted the "Tennessee Hayloft Jamboree" in the mid-1950s. By 1960, there had been some small record labels but none of them were professional companies. Herbert Schleif's Hap record label was likewise semi-professional but its recorded output was - compared to other labels - immense.

The Dome Building in Chattanooga

"Happy" Herbert Schleif, a clothing store owner and part-time country music promoter in Chattanooga, established the "Mountain Recording Studio" in early 1960. He was living outside of Chattanooga in a house near Daisy, Tennessee (renamed Soddy Daisy in 1969). His studio was located on the corner of East 8th Street and Georgia Avenue in Suit 3 of the Dome Building, which was built in 1892 for the Chattanooga Times and it seems that it later housed also offices by other businesses. Billboard reported on April 25, 1960, that Schleif had just "launched the Mountain City Recording Studio there in partnership with Carl Allen." Who Carl Allen was remains unknown at this point. Schleif was friends with local musicians Peanut Faircloth and Norman Blake, who performed in a bluegrass band called "The Dixieland Drifters" since the mid-1950s. The Dixieland Drifters would become Schleif's first act to record.

At the same time Schleif started his studio, he also set up his own in-house label Dub Records and his own publishing firm Mountain City Publishing Company. The Dixieland Drifters, then consisting of Howell Culpepper, Charlie Evans, Norman Blake, and Peanuts Faircloth, had recorded previously an unissued session for Sun Records in Memphis and several discs for Murray Nash's BB label in Nashville. The group was approached by Schleif and recorded "I Can't Do Without You" and "Cheating Love" at his studio. Both recordings made up the initial release on the Dub label (Dub #1001) in June 1960. It is interesting to note that Schleif did press the record on both 45 and 78 rpm format. At that time, most companies stopped pressing the ancient 78 format and concentrated on 45 and 33 rpm records. Also, be aware that this is not the same Dub label owned by Foster Johnson in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Dixieland Drifters, 1961: Howell Culpepper, unidentified,
Houston "Buck" Turner, Norman Blake

Dub seems to have been only a short-lived venture. No other singles appeared and by June, Schleif had already formed a new outfit he called Hap Records. Schleif was said to "[...] always [have] a delightful grin on his face," hence his nickname "Happy" and the label's name. Raif Faircloth, Peanut Feaircloth's son, however, remembered it was a acronym for Herbert and Peanut. According to him, Faircloth was involved in the Hap label and was a co-owner. He remembers regarding the Dixieland Drifters: "[...] My memories of the Dixieland Drifters were mainly going way out Lookout Mountain, past Plum Nelly to the Blake home place when they'd rehearse. It was dad, Hal, Charlie and Norman at that time."

Hap's first release was by female vocalist Gloria Ramsey, whose "Good Poppin' Daddy" b/w "My Love" (Hap 7998-5/7999-6) appeared approximately in May 1960. Probably recorded at Schleif's studio, its record number yet escaped the later chronologial numerical system of the label. The next three releases, to all accounts released during that same year, are still unknown to me. Hap #1003 was by country music singer Kirk Hansard, who recorded Peanut Faircloth's "Johnny Collins" and the Webb Pierce/Danny Dill song "Two Won't Care." Billboard reviewed the single on August 29, 1960, in the C&W field. Born in Flatrock, Alabama, Hansard had recorded earlier for Dot in 1956 and continued his work as a recording artist for Bethlehem (1962), Columbia (1963-1967), Chart (1968-1969), and Kapp (1970). While recording for Hap, he was based in Knoxville and worked the Mid-Day Merry Go-ROund show on WNOX as well as the WWVA Jamboree out of Wheeling, West Virginia.

Gene Woods, who appeared on WBCA in Cleveland, Tennessee, recorded for Schleif "Afraid" / "The Ballad of Wild River" (Hap #1004, 1960). For the label's next release, Schleif coupled "You Won't Fall in Love" / "Will Angels Have Sweethearts" (Hap #1005) by the Dixieland Drifters, who had recorded both titles likely in summer or early fall that year at Mountain City studio. The record appeared around October. "You Won't Fall in Love" was a song composed by Fletcher Bright and his wife Marshall, while the flip was a band's original. Bright performed with the band at that time occasionally. He recalled that "[...] it was an old 45 single. I think Norman Blake was on the dobro, Peanut Faircloth was singing. My late wife Marshall wrote the words, borrowing heavily from a Jimmy Van Heusen tune ('It Could Happen to You'), and I supplied the melody. I was playing with the Dixieland Drifters at the time."

At that time, singer and songwriter Houston "Buck" Turner had joined the group. Turner had performed and recorded with Tani Allen's band in the 1950s and also played the clubs in the region with his own band. He secured a songwriting contract with Murray Nash's Ashna Music Publishing in Nashville and used the Dixieland Drifters for his recordings. The first record with Turner's recognizable participation was "Bongos and Uncle John" / "How Big A Fool" (Hap #1009) in the spring of 1961. While "Bongos and Uncle John" was penned by Charlie Evans, Norman Blake, and Howell Culpepper, "How Big a Fool" was a Buck Turner/Gene Woods song. 

This particular record surrounds some inconsistencies. The song was re-released in June 1962 by Murray Nash on his Do-Ra-Me label (Do-Ra-Me 1412) under the name of "Uncle John's Bongos" with a different flip side, "Walk Easy." The latter song had been recorded and released by the Dixieland Drifters already in 1958 on Nash's B.B. label. Likely due to promising sales, the 20th Fox label picked it up and issued it again in late 1961. The fact that it was first released on Hap suggests that it was also cut at Schleif's Mountain City studio. Murray Nash, however, claimed that all of the Dixieland Drifters recordings he was connected with were done at his studio, Sound of Nashville. It adds to the confusion that a guy called Norm, nephew to a woman called Marylove Matthew, claimed his aunt was the owner of the studio and that he was present at the recording session in Nashville. His memory on this issue was probably a bit weak. But who was Marylove Matthew? And how was she involved in running the studio? Further research on her remains abortive.

Buck Turner and the Dixieland Drifters, however, stayed with Nash to produce their following records. Nash gave "Uncle John's Bongos" one last try in the spring of 1962, coupled with "The Best Dressed Beggar in Town." The Drifters broke up around 1963, while Turner kept on performing around Chattanooga. Schleif continued Hap well into the 1960s, recording and releasing at least some 70 records, mostly country and bluegrass. One of the Hap singles featured his wife Viola with "The Voice of the Americans." Both Herbert and Viola are now deceased but their descendants remember them still today with fondness. Buck Turner died in 1999, Peanut Faircloth in 2010.

"Happy" Herbert Schleif's recorded legacy still has to be unearthed and reissued in a proper way. Many of the recordings still have to be found, a detailed research has to be made. I promise I'll do my best to give Schleif the recognition he deserves.

Discography

7998-5/7999-6: Gloria Ramsey and Sound Dealers Orchestra - Good Poppin' Daddy / My Love (1960)  
1000:  
1001:  
1002:  
1003: Kirk Hanserd - Johnny Collins / Two Won't Care (1960)
1004: Gene Woods - Afraid / The Ballad of Wild River (1960)
1005: Dixieland Drifters - You Won't Fall in Love / Will Angels Have Sweethearts (1960)  
1006: Alan Marlo - Sleepy Time Girl / ? (1960)  
1007:
1008: James Padgett - Gonna Rock the Ocean Waves / ? (1960)  
1009: Dixieland Drifters - Bongos and Uncle John / How Big a Fool (1961)
1010: Wally Hester - Rock'n Roll Jump-Stick / ? (1961)
1011:  
1012:  
1013:  
1014:  
1015: Sand Mountain Playboys - Wild Bill / ? (1961)  
1016: Chuck Cain - Blue are the Tears I Cry / ? (1961)  
1017: Arlie & Charlie - Johnny Reb Get Your Gun / ? (1961)
1018: Earl Scott - Opal Lee / ?  
1019:
1020: Lonnie Smith - Jonah / ? (1962)
1021: Warrior River Boys - My Love Song for You / Five String Ramble  
1022:  
1023:  
1024: Yellow Jackets - There's No Telling / ? (1962)
1025: Jim Taylor and the Yellow Jackets - Zemo / ?  
1026-1059:  
1060: Viola Schleif & Cathy Chapman - The Voice of the Americans / ?

801: Arnold Sanford - I Know How Lonesome (Old Lonesome Can Be) / You Can Do Allright with Me (1968)
802:
803:
804:
805: Marvin Thomas and the Playwrights - Call of th Whippoorwill / (The Legend of) Johnny Collins (1969)
806:
807:
808:
809:
810: Ron Gordy & the Nashville Tennesseans - Boogie Woogie All Night Long / ?