Interview: Guitarist Tommy Odom, part 2

Second part of a 2001 conversation with Detroit country guitarist Tommy Odom. During 1940s to 1970s, Odom played take off guitar on western and swing records in Detroit by Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys, among others.

Tommy Odom, 2001.
Tommy Odom, 2001. Photo by Keith Cady

Click here to read part one. Harold Thomason Harry Thomas Odom was born in Paris, Tennessee, in 1923. A gifted guitarist, his take off (or lead) playing on records was comparable to the best western swing pickers on recordings. He learned his licks from local jazz guitarist Bob Mitchell, playing jazz standards and country throughout his career. Although he played guitar in Detroit for more than three decades (1940s through 1970s), younger generations recognized Odom for his vocal on a risqué novelty called “She Won’t Turn Over For Me,” which first appeared as a jukebox single on Fortune Records subsidiary Renown, performed by Floyd Compton’s Western Troubadours in 1951 (see discography below). In 2001, when this interview was done at his apartment in Detroit, Odom had suffered a stroke and no longer played guitar. He died in September 2010. The following features excerpts from a lengthier conversation. [1]

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Do you remember making those records with Roy Hall?

Yeah. There was a studio and a guy with the records. I played there sometimes with Roy Hall, and sometimes with Freddie Bach. We made some good records. Five or six, and I just heard them. I never did get one of them, for some reason or another. I never did know what happened to them. There was a woman and a man. That woman, she played them for me. He died first.

Fortune Records.

Yeah, down there on Third Street. …

Listen to: Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mtn Boys, feat. Tommy Odom – Freckle Face Gal

Your playing on some of those records was really hot. It had a lot of punch, and it was clean.

I played different with every band. Every band has different music. You gotta learn … The band where I played better was when I was playing twin guitars with Tommy Craig. Boy, we had some good ones. … I worked every damn bar all over. On Third, Second, Woodward. I used to work that bar over there, where Eddie Jackson used to play a lot.
"My Freckle Face Gal" by Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys, Fortune 139 B

The Roxy?

Yeah. His bass player was …

Bob Norton?

Bob Norton. I went down there to stay with him one night, and two or three days later … Bob Norton used to play with me, over at the West Fort when I was playing over there. … He went to the theater and fell dead. [2]

At the movie theater.

Yeah. It was just two or three days [later]. … I knowed Bob Norton’s younger brother. He used to play sax. But he never did work some. He worked at that big company down there … He was an electrician. He made good money. I used to work with Chief [Redbird], he used to work down there. I used to play down on Third with a guy who went back to Texas. His name was … There was so many guys I played with, I just can’t remember all of them.

You sang on one record, “She Won’t Turn Over For Me.” Do you remember that?

Probably that’s me and Frankie [Brumbalough] singing on that.

It was on a guy’s record named Floyd Compton and his Western Troubadours. It was on Renown Records.

Floyd Compton. I remember that name, but I can’t place what he looks like. …

Listen to: Floyd Compton, feat. Tommy Odom – I Can’t Get Her Started

Another guy that played in Detroit for years and years … He played fiddle and steel. Roy Hall played with him, too. I’ll think of it. A car fell on him, out in the garage, when he was working on it.

Oh, Eddie Jackson told me about him, too.

… Well, his wife put her boyfriend up to it. He pulled the … car off onto him. … They never did prove it, but they knew damn well it was so. She’d go out and stay about eight hours, and you know if she’s going out for eight hours, she ain’t “going out.” It was a put-up job. What the hell is his name? I almost said it. He played all over. He played fiddle at first, then he played steel. He played on 8 Mile. He was playing in Detroit when I was still working at White Castle. That’s how long ago. [3]

Jazz guitarist Bob Mitchell, 1950s. Syndicated Press Photo
Tommy Odom’s mentor, Detroit jazz guitarist Bob Mitchell, mid-1950s. Source: Keith Cady
Danny Richards used to tell me about him, too.

Danny Richards. Is he still living? … When I played over at the Roosevelt Lounge, Danny was playing there. And this [other] guy who was playing steel guitar, when he died, we went to his funeral. His brother, he came over here …

Was it Whitey Franklin?

Yeah. He died [in 1974]. I played with him. He was a nice guy. …

[About pianist Freddie Bach …] He really got good on that piano. He could play every damn thing … modern songs. … When we first started at Rose’s Bar, he was playing there and we just couldn’t keep him. And then, later on I saw him, and he was like Liberace. It’s like me. Bob Mitchell taught me all them runs and everything. But his fingers was twice as long as mine. Bob would make a chord, and my fingers could make just half of it. Bob, he’d make them long reaching chords, and I’d have to jump back and forth [on the frets]. I couldn’t play it like him, ’cause he could reach it all. But I could reach some of them. I learned to stretch my fingers.

Last five years, I’d go to [my brother’s] and he’d say, “You can strum on my guitar.” I hurt my fingers when I tried to mash the strings down. I said, “That guitar ain’t no good.” He said, “I can play it.” He could play it okay, and he could mash ’em down. He plays some every day. I couldn’t play it like I wanted to, so I said, “To hell with it.” I could play anything I wanted until that damn stroke. …

Tommy Odom and Frankie Brumbalough, ca. 1950
Tommy Odom (left) and Frankie Brumbalough, around 1950. Source: Craig Maki, courtesy Tommy Odom
For how long did you play with Frankie Brumbalough? Did you guys play together for a few years?

We played together … We went to work at that … eventually it was the Caravan, but it used to be another place out there. I used to go up Livernois and turn right. … They got that highway there.

The Davison?

Davison. There used to be a bar down there. That’s where a lot of them used to play. I think that’s where Eddie Jackson played.

Six Mile and Davison.

Yeah. I played out there. … A brother of mine (he’s dead now), he went in there one time, and he told the [bartender], “Tommy told me to come by here and get fifty dollars.” “Okay.” He didn’t know my brother, but he just give it to him. I didn’t know a thing about it. When he complained to me, “I’m short fifty dollars,” I said, “What the hell are you talking about?” He said, “You sent your brother out here after it.” I said, “My brother? Who?” He said, “Lewis.” I said, “Lewis? I didn’t send him.” I didn’t say a thing, but I knew what was up. He needed fifty dollars [to take a woman out for a date]. And he knowed where to get it. [laughs]

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Discography

Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys “The Dirty Boogie” b/w “No Rose In San Antone” (Fortune 126, 1949)
Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys “The Dirty Boogie” b/w “Okee Doaks” (Fortune 126, 1949) [4]
Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys “Never Marry A Tennessee Gal” b/w “We Never Get Too Big To Cry” (Fortune 133, 1949)
Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys “Five Years In Prison” b/w “My Freckle Face Gal” (Fortune 139, 1950)
Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys “Mule Boogie” b/w “Old Folks Jamboree” (Bullet 704, 1950)
Roy Hall and his Cohutta Mountain Boys “Turn My Picture To The Wall” b/w “Ain’t You Afraid” (Bullet 712, 1950) [5]
Floyd Compton and his Western Troubadours “She Won’t Turn Over For Me” (vocal by Tommy Odom) b/w “Careless Lover” (vocal by Floyd Compton) (Renown 5002, 1951) [6]
May Hawks “Jealous Love” b/w “Year After Year” (Fortune 173, 1953) [7]

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Notes

  1. Tommy Odom interviewed by Keith Cady and Craig Maki in 2001.
  2. Eddie Jackson said he thought that Norton had a heart problem that caused his death.
  3. The musician’s name was Taft “Rosebud” Blevins.
  4. Fortune 126 was issued twice, with different songs backing “The Dirty Boogie.”
  5. In Keith Cady’s 2001 interview with Bud White, White said Odom traveled with the Roy Hall band to Nashville for the recording session for Bullet.
  6. It sounds as though Tommy Odom also played guitar on the Compton record, when he wasn’t singing (between verses, and on the song by Floyd Compton). Around 1941 the Detroit-based Universal label issued “She Won’t Turn Over For Me” (masters 114/115 together on one 78 rpm disc) by local pop singer Chick Fowler, backed by a hot jazz band. The guitarist on Fowler’s record sounded very much like Odom’s friend Bob Mitchell, who may have introduced the song to him. Bob Mitchell’s story is included in the book, “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.
  7. Due to his association with Roy Hall at the time, Odom could have played on Fortune 173. The band sounds like Hall’s.

9 Comments. Leave new

  • I don’t remember Tommy telling me about this interview, but his name wasn’t what you have above, it was Harry Thomas Odom, but everything else sounds about right. I glad after all these years that a little bit of info comes out about him. Unless you had the chance to listen to him in person, you’ll never know just how talented he really was. I have my home recordings that I made with him also some with our family. The brother with whom he was referring to about the guitar was me. Anyway, I just wanted to set the record straight about his name, Thanks

    Reply
    • Thank you, Jerry! Keith and I both visited with Tommy for this interview. He was a very talented guitarist, and some might say that’s an understatement. I made sure to include some passages about him in the chapter about Roy Hall in the book.

      Reply
  • That’s a great interview. I met Tommy through my dad, Jerry Meador. They played at the West Fort Tavern in the early ’70s. Tommy lived close to Michigan Avenue & Livernois, back then. I ended up playing bass. My dad wanted Tommy to teach me his style, but I was into more chicken picking. Wished I’d learned Tommy’s great jazz links. I played at the Caravan off of 6 mile & Davidson, Buckboard on Fort St., West Fort Tavern in Ecorse, the Hurry Back & Continental Inn. In Wayne, I jammed with Paul Webb at the Red Door, I jammed with Billy Clark, steel player, and Hank Van Vleet, lead guitar, at The Ranch on Telegraph. Jessie Collins was a great steel player, also. Played in Redford also. Rusty Rhoads and Jack Rainwater were great guitarists then. We played in Wayne on Michigan Ave. Thanks for sharing the great memories of Tommy Odom.

    Reply
  • Thanks Craig. By the way, I moved up to Harrison, Michigan in the late 70’s and jammed with Jack Luker in Gladwin at the Club 30. Never realized how blessed I was to know Jack Luker and Tommy Odom. I knew them separately. When I found Car City Country is when I was informed they played together; funny I never knew that. I appreciate these interviews from the past.

    Reply
    • Thanks for the comments, Dave. It is funny, but not surprising. That generation of musicians usually invited other musicians who attended their gigs to jam with them on stage, whether it was the night of an open jamboree, or not. Among many bandleaders, it was a common thing. I also heard a lot of stories of bandleaders scrambling to find guys to fill in, when their regular players couldn’t make a show. I heard a lot of folks say things like, “I reckon I played with just about every picker in town.” It seemed like a very supportive community of players — and still is, just not as big as that of 60 years ago.

      Reply
      • DAVE MEADOR
        May 1, 2022 4:36 pm

        Hi Craig, just wondering if there’s anything about Billy Clark? He was a steel guitar player I had the chance to jam with. Casey Clark was his dad. Also Eddie Lee & Doug Jones who played at Grant’s Bar on Northline & Pelam. Thanks for the blogs

        Reply
        • Hi Dave – I wrote a little about Billy Clark in the book. I’ve heard he was an amazing steel guitarist. Not familiar with Eddie Lee and Doug Jones.

          Reply
  • Christie Mitchell
    June 5, 2022 3:24 pm

    Bob Mitchell is my dad, thank you all for remembering his talent, picking like no other. Miss him so much

    Reply

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