Call us today at +321 123 456 7
or email us at info@example.com
If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means,
and if you find truth you will become invincible.
The people who have trusted us so far
I’ve always enjoyed going to clubs and watching the bands. There’s a lot of entertainment going on, up on the bandstand. This is one thing that I admired so much about Eddie Jackson and Frankie Meadows. These guys had the people out there dancing and they would involve their audience in the show. Guys like Eddie and Swanee Caldwell – they’re true entertainers, because they see someone come in the door and say, “Hi so-and-so” and call them by their names, “How are ya?” – Patti Lynn [1]
From the time she started singing in public, Patti Lynn’s vocal abilities, charm, and interest in all styles of country music attracted the support of Detroit musicians and bandleaders such as Ford Nix, Eddie Jackson, Billy Martin, and Frankie Meadows. Eddie Jackson wrote a song that graced her first record, on the Hi-Q label. A couple of years later, while Lynn worked bandstands with Frankie Meadows, Detroit producer Kit Wright signed her up with Indiana-based Glenn Records. Lynn quit performing for a few years to raise her children, then returned as Kelly Roberts during the 1970s. We’ll refer to her as Patti Lynn.
Born Patsy Waters and raised in Nantahala, North Carolina, in the state’s western mountains, Lynn arrived in Hazel Park, Michigan, with her parents and brother around 1954. She was 13 years old and had already been singing in church for most of her life. “My cousin and I sang together in church,” she said. “I was raised in a Baptist church, and we went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and every Wednesday night. My uncle led the choir … and as soon as he found out we could sing, we were into it.”
According to Lynn, Nantahala is a Cherokee name meaning “Land of the Noonday Sun.” Lynn claimed Cherokee ancestry as well. Because of the family’s somewhat isolated location, within the Nantahala National Forest where many areas don’t receive direct sunlight until midday, Lynn grew up listening to country music radio from neighboring Tennessee.
We lived down in the mountains and the only radio programs we could get were the “Midday Merry-Go-Round” out of WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee, at twelve o’clock every day. I remember Don Gibson singing “Sixteen Chickens And A Tambourine.” We would get the “Grand Ole Opry” on Saturday night. Back in those days, I grew up listening to the Maddox Brothers and Rose, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Carl Smith, Goldie Hill. … So it had been like a mix of bluegrass and country. And I was seeing country coming out of bluegrass with the electric instruments.
“The first rockabilly song I remember hearing was Marty Robbins doing ‘That’s All Right,’ covering Elvis,” said Lynn. “I left North Carolina shortly after Elvis was on the scene and came to Michigan. Elvis was popular up here, but I thought, ‘Where’d Marty go?’ [laughs] But there’s never been a solid definition between bluegrass, country and rockabilly. To me, it was like a big family growing. Thank God, because I made a lot of friends in bluegrass. … When I was growing up, there was little definition between what was country and what was bluegrass. I saw musicians coming up to the bandstands and trying new things, and if it was good, the music evolved naturally into what it is today. I love Mac Wiseman, Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, Flatt and Scruggs – all of them.”
Ford Nix and his tricks
Around 1958, Lynn attended a house party and met musicians Grady Sartane and J.O. Turner. After hearing Lynn sing, Sartane invited her to join them at some shows he had booked in local high schools. It was during one of these appearances that Lynn first met Ford Nix. “He just started dragging me around with him, introducing me to people, and getting me up every chance [he had],” said Lynn.
He took me to a bar down in Detroit called Taylor’s Bar. Ford said, “You’re gonna get up there and sing.” And I said, “No, I’m not.” He said, “Yes, you are!” They called Ford up, and Ford introduced me. I was shakin’ like a leaf, and a fellow by the name of Ray Taylor was working there. Anyway, I got up and did three or four songs, and I really liked it. The people applauded, and I thought, well, I lived through this and I think I can do it again!
“One time I was working with Ford down at the Pullman Bar [in Highland Park], and they had chicken wire up around the band. That Pullman had a really bad reputation,” said Lynn. “But no, I’ve never had any problems. … Which is really amazing, because I saw a lot of fights, but I always tried to keep my nose clean and be a lady. Normally, if trouble broke out, they had bouncers to put a stop to it pretty quick.”
Listen to: Same Old Blues – Patti Lynn
Ford Nix introduced Lynn to WPON Pontiac disk jockey Billy Martin, when he was assembling the cast for his TV variety show on WLIX Channel 10 in Jackson. Martin’s “Michigan Jamboree” aired in 1960 for 26 weeks. Besides Martin, Nix and Lynn, entertainers included Martin’s band, the Drifting Wranglers, and vocalists Arizona Weston, Billy Gill, and Jimmy Odell. “When I first met Jimmy, he was playing a flattop [guitar] and singing,” said Lynn. “He had an excellent voice. Red Lynch was playing steel for Billy, and Jimmy was playing flattop and singing. A couple of years after I worked on the Billy Martin show, I ran into Jimmy and he was sitting behind a steel guitar! … I still believe the Detroit area in Michigan has some untapped resources of talent.”
After Martin’s TV show ended, Lynn tagged along with Ford Nix, Wendy Smith and their bluegrass band. Promoter Fay McGinnis booked them around the region.
Coming in Part Two: Patti Lynn meets Eddie Jackson, makes records
*************************
Notes
- Patti Lynn interviewed by Craig Maki in 1995.
Following the publication of “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies” at the end of 2013, last year was filled with truly golden times. From musical parties at Club Canton and United Sound Systems, to presenting at the International Country Music Conference in Nashville, Tennessee; from hosting programs at the Detroit Historical Museum and local public libraries to appearances at the Henry Ford; from nice reviews in the Detroit News, Metro Times, Hour Detroit, Bluegrass Unlimited, and Vintage Guitar to radio interviews and an appearance on Channel 4 TV, the reception of the book exceeded our expectations.
Thanks to everyone – and we mean EVERYONE – who wrote, called, met us, and paid any kind of attention to this project.
Visit the Press page for links and details on media coverage.
****************************
We were sad to hear Jimmy Dickens passed away Jan. 2, at the age of 94.
The man’s charisma, heart, and expression combined into a giant personality who everyone loved. When Keith Cady called Mr. Dickens to follow up a short interview he granted backstage at the “Grand Ole Opry” more than a dozen years ago, Dickens was out mowing his lawn. Mr. Dickens climbed off his tractor just to speak with Keith for as long as he pleased, contributing stories about Casey Clark, Buddy Emmons, and Okie Jones, and talking about his gigs with the Mel Steele band, and WKNX radio in Saginaw.
Our sympathies go out to his family, friends, and fans.
Last week, word finally came to us from University of Michigan Press that the book is at the printer’s. So here is the cover design, which includes a photo of Eddie Jackson and a slimmed-down lineup of his band the Swingsters, taken at an auto service station in Detroit, around 1958. Starting the year before, a recession hit the local entertainment business hard, and Jackson took a part-time job at this service station to supplement his income. He said he talked his boss into letting him entertain customers on the day of this shot. Herb Ivey played drums, and Billy Cooper the steel guitar. Ivey led his own bands in town, and also sang a good song. Besides Jackson, Cooper worked with Casey Clark in Detroit. Keith and I agreed that it was perfect for the cover of the book, with its “Car City” setting and country music performance by one of Detroit’s popular bandleaders.
Publication target is October 28. You may pre-order from U-M Press directly, or amazon.com. Watch this blog for an announcement about a book release party!
Speak with any steel guitar fan, and one name they always know is Buddy Emmons. On Saturday, Sept. 21, starting at 2:30 p.m., the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville will host a “concert and conversation” with “the Big E.” If you can’t make the scene in person, check out the live video stream on the Hall of Fame’s website. Although Emmons isn’t planning to perform, the great Duane Eddy, Dan Dugmore, and Hargus “Pig” Robbins will be there for the program.
In 1954, Casey Clark hired Emmons to play with his band in Detroit. Clark had seen him at Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Indiana, working with Joe Taylor and his Red Birds.
At that age, Emmons was “ready to play any time, anywhere,” he said. [1] Indeed, many veteran Detroit musicians recalled jamming with the teen-aged steel guitarist at jamborees, barn dances, and private homes throughout Detroit.
“I ended up living in Belle Isle park – or a place close to there, because that’s where I tipped a canoe over one time, and lost an expensive watch and rings and all that. So it was close to Belle Isle park,” said Emmons, who settled on the east side, near Clark’s home. “I lived a couple blocks from Casey, for a while. I guess I moved into a house where the tenants were going on vacation for a few months, so I had to stay there until I got on my feet and started looking for another place.”
Emmons lived in Detroit, working with the Lazy Ranch Boys, through mid-1955, when Jimmy Dickens hired him. Read all about the Lazy Ranch Boys, including other stellar steel guitarists such as Jim Baker, Terry Bethel, and Chuck Rich, in the book “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.”
Congratulations, Buddy!
********************************************
Notes
- Buddy Emmons interviewed by Keith Cady in 2007.
The following piece is presented at the request of Mr. Faulkner’s family. Our condolences to all Mr. Faulkner’s relatives and friends.
Lee Nolan Faulkner, 89, of Fancy Farm, KY (formerly of the Detroit area) passed away peacefully on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. He was born June 18, 1932 in Wolfe County, KY to John and Grace (Napier) Faulkner. Lee loved to tell jokes, watch U-K Wildcats Basketball, and talk with his friends. He was a proud Mason, and had a lifelong passion for playing the mandolin, and bluegrass music.
Lee was internationally respected in the bluegrass music world for his artistry on the mandolin, and for his songwriting ability. He initially played with groups such as the Powell County Boys, and the Kentucky Troubadours in his home state, before moving to Brighton, Michigan, in the 1950s. There, he played and recorded with Red Ellis, who was a radio host on WHRV Ann Arbor, for the Pathway and Starday record labels. He served as a mentor to many musically-inclined University of Michigan students who played in his band, the Big Sandy Boys, including Doug Green (“Riders in the Sky”), and Andy Stein (“Commander Cody”). In the early 1970s, Lee began to play with Kentucky transplants Earl, James, and Charlie Miller – the Miller Brothers – in the Detroit area, and he maintained an especially close personal and musical friendship with James Miller throughout the rest of their lives. The band recorded for Jessup Records of Jackson, Michigan, and Old Homestead Records of Brighton.
Lee’s mandolin style, strongly influenced by Bill Monroe and the blues, was highlighted on the 1976 album “The Legendary Kentucky Mandolin of Nolan Faulkner,” which consisted almost entirely of original songs and arrangements. He was in great demand locally for studio recording, and he appeared on albums by Lee Allen, Wade Mainer, Bob Smallwood, Larry Sparks, Joe Meadows, Clyde Moody, Charlie Moore, John Hunley, and others. He continued to play locally throughout the 1980s and 1990s with John Hunley and his Lost Kentuckians at their home base of Jack Daniel’s Lounge in Lincoln Park, and he traveled and recorded with Roy McGinnis and the Sunnysiders, Robert White and the Candy Mountain Boys, and James Miller. His musical career was featured in an article published in the September 2021 edition of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine.
Lee was preceded in death by five children: Shawn, Timmy, and Jimmy Faulkner, Penny Faulkner Rose, and Gail (Carl) Faulkner Rogers. He is survived by three children: Wanda Faulkner Underwood, Brent (Robin) Faulkner, and Tony (Laura) Faulkner; 9 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.
Per Lee’s wishes, no services were held.
The family requests that any memorial contributions be made to “KCTCS Foundation,” at 300 North Main Street, Versailles, KY 40383, directed to the “Hazard Community and Technical College – Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music” in Lee’s honor.
It’ll be down-to-earth music the boys will want, and there’ll be longing in the hearts of everyone for the simple, restful melodies of our land. – Smilin’ Red Maxedon [1]
Born August 31, 1910, and originally from Illinois, Maxedon spent some of his youth in Washington State. [2] Surrounded by a family that included six brothers and four sisters who played guitar, fiddle, and banjo, Maxedon performed at community functions for many years, before leaving home during his teens.
He first broadcast over KFLV radio Rockford, Illinois, northwest of Chicago. From there, he breezed into the Windy City – first at WCFL radio, and then at clear channel WLS, home of the “National Barn Dance” Saturday night jamboree. Maxedon specialized in western songs, inspired by early singing cowboy stars who appeared on the “National Barn Dance” such as Gene Autry, Eddie Dean, Rube Tronson, and Max Terhune. A left-handed musician, Maxedon taught himself to play left- or right-handed guitar and often switched mid-performance for his audience.
Mountain Pete’s Mountaineers
By 1940 the Mountaineers performed daily over WJBK radio Detroit, and every night at restaurants and showcases. Maxedon’s brother Roy, ten years his junior, visited him for a couple of weeks around that time. [4]
“Me and John worked at some tavern in some suburb there. … South of the Border was the name of the tavern. We played there … must have been every night. … We just went around, table to table, singin’. We didn’t have a band or anything. We’d do requests,” he said. [5]
Maxedon, his wife, and their two young boys lived in an apartment downtown. On Thanksgiving Day, 1941, the red headed baritone joined WJR staff with a fifteen-minute solo program that aired mornings at quarter-past five. (Mountain Pete and his Mountaineers remained at WJBK.) By fall 1944, Maxedon also sang with long-time WJR favorites Tim Doolittle and his Pine Center Gang over the radio, three times a week. [6] Perhaps the first folk music singer in Detroit radio, Doolittle had performed on WJR since 1924, when the station’s call letters were WCX. [7]
Listen to: Smilin’ Red Maxedon – I Fell In Love (Arcadia AO-600)
Goodwill Frolic
In October 1944, WJR “the Goodwill Station” introduced “The Goodwill-Billies,” another early morning program. Along with several musicians recently arrived from the South, Maxedon performed Monday through Saturday from five to six o’clock. The group included vocalist Ernie Lee, Bronson “Barefoot Brownie” Reynolds on bass, steel guitarist Jerry Byrd, and fiddler Casey Clark. Lee, Reynolds and Byrd came directly from the Renfro Valley show in Kentucky. Clark moved from WIBC radio Indianapolis, Indiana. WIBC vocal duo the Blue Mountain Girls also joined the show. [8]
In 1945, the Goodwill-Billies started a Saturday night program called the “Goodwill Frolic,” adding “Pee Wee” Linden on accordion. While working with the Goodwill-Billies, Maxedon created a female alter ego, Melba, who appeared in comedy routines with Reynolds’ female alter ego, Barefoot Bonnie.
The Goodwill-Billies proved a popular draw to radio listeners and for personal appearances at fairs and showcases across Michigan. When WJR ended the show in September 1946, Ernie Lee left Detroit for Cincinnati’s WLW radio and its “Midwestern Hayride” Saturday night barn dance. Reynolds and Byrd joined Red Foley’s Cumberland Valley Boys at the “Grand Ole Opry” at WSM radio Nashville, and Clark retired back home to Kentucky. (Clark returned to Michigan the following year.) Maxedon, who began making records for the Arcadia company of Detroit in 1946, returned to WJBK radio.
Next week in part two: Red Maxedon’s recordings, and we answer the question, “What ever happened to Smilin’ Red?”
**********************
Notes
- “John ‘Smilin’ Red’ Maxedon” Mountain Broadcast and Prairie Recorder (September 1944. New Series, No. 1) 23. “The boys” refers to active U.S. soldiers.
- Ibid.
- “Detroit’s WXYZ Wins Showmanship Award” LIFE (December 27, 1937. Vol. 3, No. 26) 50. Original photo cutline read: The WXYZ Mountaineers are heard from coast to coast. No hillbillies, they are city-bred musicians. Director Pete Angel (left) is a former concert violinist, was born in France. His mates hail from Canada, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Russia.
- Mountain Broadcast and Prairie Recorder (September 1940. Vol. 2, No. 1) 11. Maxedon’s early career was documented in a letter he wrote to the magazine.
- Roy “Smiley” Maxedon interviewed by Keith Cady in 2001.“American Folk Tunes” Billboard (Sept. 20, 1947. Vol. 59, No. 37) 121. Mountain Pete’s brother Al played bass. World War II broke up the band, but according to the September 20, 1947, edition of Billboard, “Mountain Pete and His Country Cousins returned to WJBK, Detroit, September 15, and are heard five times weekly …” Band included guitarist, clarinet/saxophone player, accordionist, pianist and vocalist.
- See note 1.
- “American Folk Tunes” Billboard (September 2, 1944. Vol. 56, No. 36) 62. After his original group broke up in 1942 (due to the draft), Tim Doolittle’s Pine Center Gang in 1944 included Al Sager, bass, organ (for hymns) and fifteen other instruments; Paul Henneberger and Joe Pullin, fiddles; and Pete Baltrusz, accordion.
- A more complete story of the WJR Goodwill-Billies appears in the book “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.”
One of the most talented musicians in Detroit during the 1950s, the dynamic, charismatic – and some say enigmatic – Chuck Hatfield played the fire out of a standard (non-pedal) steel guitar. His story, as well as that of his wife, Boots Gilbert, and their group the Treble-Aires, is finally told in the book “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.”
After leaving his home in Flint, Michigan, in 1948, Hatfield worked in the Southwest with Texas-based musicians such as Bob Manning, Billy Gray, and Hank Thompson, before returning to Detroit, where he played in nightclubs, radio, and TV. Here is a discography, compiled with the help of Kevin Coffey, listing the titles of records Hatfield is known to have played on.
Bob Manning and his Riders of the Silver Sage
“Lola Lee” b/w “Old Folks Boogie” Dude 1605 (1948)
Bob Manning and his Riders of the Silver Sage
“The Green Light” b/w “I Left My Heart In Texas” Dude 1606 (1948)
Texas Rhythm Riders (all recorded for the Royalty label, ca. 1948-49)
“I Turned And Slowly Walked Away”
“A Handful Of Kisses”
“The Green Light”
“Tennessee Saturday Night”
“12th Street Rag”
“Red Sails In The Sunset”
“I’m A Fool To Care”
“Blues In My Heart”
Davis Sisters
“Your Cheatin’ Heart”
“Cryin’ Steel Guitar Waltz”
“Rag Mop”
Previously unissued WJR radio transcription (ca. 1953) / Bear Family Records BCD 15722 (1993)
Davis Sisters
“You’re Gone” (swinging version)
“Sorrow And Pain” (fast version)
Previously unissued studio recordings (1953) / Bear Family Records BCD 15722 (1993)
Davis Sisters
“Sorrow And Pain” b/w “Kaw-Liga” Fortune 174 (1953)
Note: Band erroneously credited to Roy Hall
Davis Sisters
“Heartbreak Ahead” b/w “Steel Wool” Fortune 175 (1953)
Note: “Steel Wool” credited to Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
Listen to: Steel Wool – Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
Boots Gilbert and Bob Sykes with Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
“Take It Or Leave It” b/w “Man! Turn Me Loose” Fortune 176 (1954)
Note: Different takes of “Man! Turn Me Loose” were issued on 78rpm and 45rpm records.
May Hawks with Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
“Meet Me Down In Nashville (At The Opry Tonight)” b/w “Wasted Years” Fortune 178 (1954)
Boots Gilbert and Bob Sykes with Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
“Fickle Heart” b/w “Please Mister Bartender” Fortune 181 (1954)
May Hawks and Lester Thomas with Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
“Straighten Up And Fly Right” b/w “Baby You’re A Bygone Now” Fortune 182 (1954)
Boots Gilbert and Bob Sykes with Chuck Hatfield and his Treble-Aires
“Sadie And The Cop” (a.k.a. “The Club Song (Nite Club Song)”) b/w “When The Senorita Comes To Hear The Senor Play” Fortune 184 (1955)
Note: “When The Senorita Comes To Hear The Senor Play” was reissued with “You Can’t Stop Me From Loving You”
Boots Gilbert
“He’s A Mighty Good Man” Fortune LP 3001 (recorded ca. 1955)
One of the best voices associated with country-western music in Detroit, Ricky Riddle was a singer’s singer. His records give out flawless vocal performances, and an easygoing style one recognizes as soon as Riddle begins to sing. A couple of years ago I drafted a biography for Riddle’s nephew Danny, also a talented musician, who posted it online here. I’ve since updated the piece, but for now I’d like to add the following (read the bio, then return here).
Riddle’s last commercial effort was a 1971 single for Dixie Records, with two self-penned numbers. Riddle returned to the mix of honky tonk and western music he made previously for the Rio Grande label, featuring piano, steel, guitar, bass, and drums. Freddie Vel, co-writer of “You’re The Reason,” a hit song for Mickey Gilley (released on Dixie under Vel’s name), produced the session.
Riddle’s “Sweet Lucy” described finding the cure to all worries in a bottle of wine. With the Vietnam War raging, Riddle dedicated the other side, “Hang On Bill,” to Lieutenant William Calley, who was tried and convicted for the role he played in the 1968 My Lai Massacre.
Just a few weeks prior to the release of his Dixie single, Shelby Singleton’s Plantation label issued “The Battle Hymn Of Lt. Calley” by Terry Nelson and C-Company, which charted in pop and country lists. Its sales buried Riddle’s tribute.
…
One humid August day in 2009, I spent the afternoon running around Fraser, Michigan, with Ricky Riddle’s ebullient sister-in-law Laura Riddle, trying to find the location of his grave. She knew it was at the top of St. John Cemetery, but the marker was gone. Ms. Riddle proceeded to take me on a whirlwind tour of Fraser. St. John Lutheran Church couldn’t inform us; the Fraser Public Library had no records; and Faulmann & Walsh, the funeral home where Riddle received his last rites in 1988, couldn’t help.
Upon our return to the cemetery, we met a woman doing landscape work. We discovered she and her husband were new owners of the property. Laura and the woman rehashed an old tale of a thunderstorm that overturned a tree, damaging several markers on the hill, including Riddle’s missing stone. [Update: As of May 2014, when I revisited the site, Riddle’s extended family has replaced his grave marker in St. John’s Cemetery.]
If, by circumstance, you find yourself in Fraser, Michigan, take Mulvey Road north from 14 Mile and enter the cemetery from the north driveway. As you head south, keep to the right and climb up the hill. Riddle’s grave lies among the first lawn of markers you’ll find on the right-hand side. The plots reside high above the rest of the park, beneath the open sky. If this circumstance also caused you to travel with a guitar, why not pick and sing an old a western song?
Friends, it’s with an abundance of goodwill and happiness that I write this post. The University of Michigan Press has begun fulfilling online orders for the book, and delivering review copies. The press received so many pre-orders and review requests that they could give Keith Cady and me only a couple of copies each, last week.
Here’s a snapshot of me standing in the Press archive, holding the hardcover version. Let me tell you, it was a sweet moment. Years of research and writing finally came together in an exceptional presentation we all can be proud of. As I held the book, two decades of memories from working on this project rattled my mind. Some musicians I wrote about had to wait a lifetime for their stories to be shared like this, and … we did it – with the help of many, many good people.
Thank you to all who ordered the book ahead of its publication. I was told nearly 250 orders had been placed online, which was a pleasant surprise. Here’s a link to the book’s page at the U of M Press website. It’s available in hardcover, softcover, and an e-book.
We’re planning some events, including an official book launch party in Detroit, and another at a legendary C&W nightclub. I’ll share more information when I can, so keep checking in, won’t you?
Perhaps the most popular country singers in Detroit during the 1940s and 1950s, the York Brothers, George and Les, made the most important country music records in Detroit during the early 1940s. By 1942, the Yorks created a rocking sound with two guitars and bass, about a dozen years before artists such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash recorded with the same instrumentation at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. The York Brothers story appears in the book “Detroit Country Music – Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.”
Here is a discography of the York Brothers’ recordings on Detroit labels. The amount of music they produced 1939 to 1944 is staggering, and gaps of information in the list below suggest this may not be all the Yorks recorded in Detroit. Thanks to Cappy Wortman, John Morris, Tony Russell, Bob Pinson, Dick Grant, Al Turner, Prague Frank, and Dave Sax for research that contributed to this list.
1939, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, acoustic take off guitar
Universal 105 “Hamtramck Mama” (Leslie York)
Universal 106 “Going Home”
Note: Universal 105 and 106 issued on a single disk together.
Listen to: York Brothers – Hamtramck Mama
ca. 1940, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, acoustic take off guitar; unknown (possibly Les York): Hawaiian steel guitar
Universal 107 “Highland Park Girl”
Universal 108 “Detroit Hulu Girl”
Note: Universal 107 and 108 issued on a single disk together.
ca. 1940, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, acoustic take off guitar
Universal 126 “Conscription Blues” (York Bros.)
Hot Wax 127 “That Nagging Young Husey” (York Bros.) (backed with “Hamtramck Mama”)
Note: Universal 126 and 402 (below) issued on a single disk together.
ca. 1940, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, acoustic take off guitar; unknown (possibly Les York): Hawaiian steel guitar
Universal 402 “Gamblers Blues” (York Bros.)
Universal 404 “Sweetheart Darling” (York Bros.)
Universal 405 “It Taint No Good” (York Bros.)
Note: Universal 405 appeared on Hot Wax and Mellow labels backed with Universal master 105, as well as Mellow backed with Mellow master 1105 (see below).
[In 1941, the York Brothers cut three records for the Decca company in Chicago, and spent most of the year in Portsmouth, Ohio.]
1942, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, electrically amplified take off guitar
Mellow 1619-A “Blue Skies Turned To Gray” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1619-B “I Don’t Want No Part Of You” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1620-A “I’ll Be Happy Again” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1620-B “Goodbye And Luck To You” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1621-A “Long Gone” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1621-B “Just Wanting You” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1622-A “Hail, Hail Ol’ Glory” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1622-B “Riding And Singing My Song” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1623-A “Hillbilly Rose” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1623-B “If I Would Never Lose You” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1624-A “Going Back To The Sunny South” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1624-B “Life Can Never Be The Same” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1625-A “We’re Gonna Catch That Train” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1625-B “It Makes Me Jealous Hearted” (George York)
1942, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, electrically amplified take off guitar, *acoustic guitar; unknown (poss. Johnnie Lavender), bass
Mellow 1105 “Hamtramck Mama” (version 2)
Mellow 1629 “In Old Tennessee” (Leslie York)* [one-sided disk?]
Mellow 1633-A “Memories Of You” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1633-B “New Trail To Mexico” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1634-A “Rose Of The Rio Grande” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1634-B “York Brothers Blues” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1635-A “Kentucky’s Calling Me”* (Leslie York)
Mellow 1635-B “Got To Get Rid Of My Worried Mind” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1636 “I Told The Moon About You” (Leslie York) [one-sided disk?]
Mellow 1637 (-A?) “Maybe Then You’ll Care” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1637 (-B?) “You Stayed Away Too Long” (Leslie York)
Listen to: York Brothers – A Merry Christmas To The Boys Over There
1942, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, electrically amplified take off guitar; Johnnie Lavender, bass
Mellow 1638-A “Going To The Shindig” (York Bros.)
Mellow 1638-B “Mother’s Sunny Smile” (York Bros.)
Mellow 1640-A “A Merry Christmas To The Boys Over There” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1641-B “Not Over Thirty-Five” (Leslie York)
Mellow 1642-A “I’ve Got My Eyes On You” (George York)
Mellow 1642-B “You’ll Pay For It All” (Leslie York)
Note: Mellow 1640-A and 1641-B issued together on one disk.
ca. 1942, Universal Recording Studios, 12942 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan
George York: vocal, acoustic guitar; Leslie York: vocal, electrically amplified take off guitar; * unknown (possibly Les York): Hawaiian steel guitar; Johnnie Lavender, bass
Mellow 1662-A “The Stars In Heaven”
Mellow 1662-B “The Execution”
Mellow 1664-A “There’s No Stars In Heaven”
Mellow 1665-B “Hula Girl Wobble” (instrumental)*
Mellow 1666-A “You Lied To Me”
Note: These sides turned up as one-sided 78rpm disks with white paper labels and hand-written information (the matrix numbers were also etched into the deadwax of the records). It isn’t known if they were issued on Mellow as commercial records.
Listen to: York Brothers – I’ve Got My Eyes On You
1949, using “Rialto” as its label, Fortune Records reissued Universal master 402 “Conscription Blues” as “Calling Me,” with another act on the flip side.
Rialto R-118 B “Calling Me” York Brothers [Note: Same as “Conscription Blues” Universal/Hot Wax 402]
Rialto R-118 A “You Are My Sunshine” Cliff and his Cowboys [No evidence of the York Brothers playing on this track.]
1949, Fortune Records reissued Universal masters 105 and 107 together, apparently using the same metal stamper originally used for 105 on Universal and Hot Wax releases.
Fortune 120 “Hamtramck Mama”
Fortune 120 “Highland Park Girl”
1953, Fortune Records reissued Universal masters 106 and 108 together, apparently using the same metal stamper originally used for 106 on Universal release.
Fortune 180 “Detroit Hula Girl”
Fortune 180 “Going Home”
On Sunday, October 14, before dawn, Ford Nix passed away in his sleep. A popular and personable man, Nix played a prominent role in Detroit’s 20th century country music scene.
Born in Blairsville, Georgia, in 1932, Nix was a young teen-ager when he discovered the music of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. His humorous nature was pretty well developed, so he picked up a banjo and combined picking and comedy in his act. After working with Ramblin’ Tommy Scott’s medicine shows in the region, at age 17 he moved to Detroit, where he hired into a Chrysler factory. In Michigan he made the rounds of barn dances and nightclubs, including Casey Clark’s shows. At the time, Nix’s bluegrass style presented a unique sound among the western swing and honky tonk played by most groups in town.
Nix entered the air force in 1953, spending most of his deployment in Japan. He played music with air force buddies, including Harold Jenkins, later known as Conway Twitty. Four years later, Nix picked up where he left off in Detroit, returning to Chrysler and jamming with Ray Taylor and others. By then, bluegrass in Detroit was attracting crowds in nightclubs, with the likes of Jimmy Martin, Curly Dan, Buster Turner, Jimmy Lee Williams, and Marvin Cobb leading groups and cutting records.
In 1959 Nix made his first record for Jim Henson’s Clix label in Troy, Michigan. In 1960 he joined the cast of Billy Martin’s “Michigan Jamboree,” a country music variety show on Jackson television. While keeping his job at Chrysler, Nix toured with stars from Nashville through the 1960s. He performed on Ernest Tubb’s “Midnight Jamboree” at WSM radio Nashville. He recorded with Wendy Smith at Fortune Records, and with the Supremes at Motown, where he cut some unreleased music (check out Robb Klein’s comment at the previous link). He also made his own albums, including one with Frank Buchanan, one of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, along with Roy McGinnis and the Sunnysiders.
Nix traveled quite a bit, and became a well-known and respected entertainer in both country and bluegrass circles. He retired from Chrysler in 1981, and concentrated on several business ventures besides playing music. I tell a lengthier tale in the Detroit country music book, which includes plenty of quotations from the inimitable Ford Nix.
Versatile singer/musician Jimmy Franklin, originally from West Liberty, Kentucky, landed in Detroit with his brother Whitey around 1949-50 during the city’s postwar country music boom. Click here to read Part 1.
Sons of the West
Danny Richards had just begun fronting the house band at Detroit’s Roosevelt Lounge (located at Mack and Montclair) when the bartender took a phone call from Yankton, South Dakota, one summer evening in 1952. Steel guitarist Johnnie White was on the line. White had found work at WNAX radio Yankton, and he needed a bass player. He remembered Richards in Detroit. Richards respectfully declined, and recommended Jimmy Franklin for the job. Franklin joined White and accordionist Billy Grey the following week. [1]
A feature in the September 1954 Country Song Roundup noted Johnnie White and the Sons of the West was the first musical group to broadcast from KVTV Channel Nine in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1952. [2] Franklin, Grey, and White broadcast daily radio programs from WNAX, and performed on the WNAX Missouri Valley Barn Dance every Saturday night.
In the following issue of Country Song Roundup, Franklin’s image appeared among a page of snapshots titled “Spotlight On The Stars.” Dressed as “Cousin Clem,” he wore the rags of a rube, with blackened teeth and exaggerated freckles dotting his face, as he held the neck of an upright bass and kicked a bare foot into the air. [3]
When the WNAX gig ended, Franklin and his wife Dimples entertained together through the Midwest, before returning to Michigan.
The Swingsters
By the spring of 1956, Franklin traded in Cousin Clem’s old-fashioned rags for modern duds, playing with Eddie Jackson and the Swingsters at Dutch’s Log Cabin in Port Huron. The most popular country nightclub in the Blue Water region, Dutch’s attracted hundreds of patrons every night of the week – many from Sarnia, in Canada just across the St. Clair River.
Jack Brown of Fortune Records invited Jackson to cut a rock and roll record, and he whipped up a bopping number called “Rock And Roll Baby,” with Franklin singing backup. On the flipside, Franklin led “You Are The One,” a heart song that revealed his vocal style had matured into a pop sound not unlike Frankie Laine or Guy Mitchell. In fact, Franklin’s singing helped Jackson book better-paying gigs in nightclubs known for pop music.
Listen to: Jimmy Franklin – You Are The One
The Wanderers
After Jackson left Port Huron for a more lucrative booking in Detroit, steel guitarist Tommy Durden (author of Elvis Presley’s first RCA hit “Heartbreak Hotel”), Dee and Vic Cardis worked at Dutch’s. Franklin returned to Port Huron in 1957, joining the Wanderers – Durden, pianist Pete DeBree, and drummer Larry Green – at Colby’s Bowling Alley lounge. That year the band cut an Elvis Presley tribute record, “Hey, Mr. Presley,” in which Franklin wove titles of Presley’s hit records into the lyrics. [4]
Well, he took the crazy rhythm and he set it to the blues
Started into rocking with his “Blue Suede Shoes”
“Heartbreak Hotel” brought fame to his name
He got ’em all shook up with his “Mystery Train”
Hey, hey, Mr. Presley
Where you gonna rock tonight?
At the session, Franklin updated “My Long Tall Gal From Tennessee” (hear it in Part 1) to “Long Tall Lou (From Louisville).” Ten years before in Dayton, Franklin boasted of a “honky tonkin’ gal” who “never uses peroxide” in her hair. By 1957 she was a “rock and roll gal” – and in an alternate take from the session, she wore “one streak of peroxide.” [5] The band’s shouting made for a party atmosphere, and Franklin sang as if these were the last songs he’d ever sing.
Listen to: Jimmy Franklin – Long Tall Lou (From Louisville)
When the Wanderers moved north for bookings in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and at the Sand Bar near Houghton Lake, Franklin followed. Durden eventually settled down near Houghton Lake, where he played music, wrote songs, and made recordings until his death in 1999. Franklin continued performing in restaurants and nightclubs across Michigan, leading his own groups.
The Roman Emperors
Around 1963, Franklin started a trio called the Roman Emperors. They combed down their pompadours and performed in Roman-styled togas in nightclubs around Phoenix, Arizona. “They were booked to play the ‘Tonight Show’,” said Langley Franklin, a cousin. “On their way out to California, they got into a real bad car accident, and they missed being on TV.” [6]
After Franklin’s recovery, he made his way to Detroit, by way of Nashville, Tennessee, where he cut “You Took The Wind Out Of My Sails” and “Is It Christmas Time In Vietnam,” issued by JED International Records (no. 0017) in 1965. Franklin penned the latter as “Is It Christmas Time In Korea” while he lived in Detroit, during the 1950s. The arrangements and Franklin’s vocals combined for a radio-friendly record, but he wound up selling most copies from the bandstand.
Franklin’s next efforts took place at Guido Maresco’s “GM” recording studio (now the Recording Institute of Detroit), located next to Maresco’s auto repair shop in the suburb of East Detroit. He cut several country tunes, including sentimental fare such as “My Dad,” and social commentary in “Remember Youth,” but the performances were never released. The band included steel guitar, banjo, and organ. Franklin seemed capable of doing whatever he wished with his powerful and emotive voice; from recitations to melodic improvisation, he seemed at the top of his game.
However, in 1971 Franklin returned to West Liberty, Kentucky, for good.
Coming in Part 3: Jim Franklin’s West Liberty legacy.
*******************************************
Notes
- Danny Richards interviewed by Keith Cady in 2000, and by Craig Maki in 2005, 2006, 2007. Whitey Franklin worked in the band at the Roosevelt Lounge when Richards received the call from Johnnie White.
- “Hillbilly Harmony” Country Song Roundup (September 1954. No. 34), 20.
- “Spotlight On The Stars” Country Song Roundup (November 1954. No. 35), 9.
- Franklin even included the title of Janis Martin’s record “My Boy Elvis.”
- The original (1957) Fortune record label featured a misprint of the title as “Long Tall You.” During the 1970s, Fortune re-issued “Hey, Mr. Presley” backed with an alternate take of “Long Tall Lou” (black labels with silver print). Franklin hired Al Allen to play electric guitar at the session.
- Langley Franklin interviewed by Craig Maki in 2013.
