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Today is opening day in Detroit, and the Detroit Tigers are playing the New York Yankees at Comerica Park. In honor of the excitement, we present a tribute to the ol’ “Yankee Killer” Frank Lary. During the pitcher’s years in Detroit, 1954 to 1964, Lary sometimes sat in with country-western groups in nightclubs and showcases around town.
Here’s a snapshot of Lary on stage with Swingsters bandleader Eddie Jackson (at left, singing his heart out), and guitarist Tracey White in back. Jackson remembered Lary by his nickname “Taters,” but announcer Ernie Harwell graciously helped us identify Lary by his regular handle. Probably from around 1960, this photo may have been shot at Caravan Gardens in Detroit. (Source: Keith Cady, courtesy Harvey White)
Casey Clark’s daughter Evelyn also stated that Lary sometimes performed a song or two with Clark’s Lazy Ranch Boys during weekend barn dances at the U.A.W. hall at 12101 Mack Avenue.
Go Tigers!
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Update
Tigers beat the Yankees 8 to 3!
In 1939 and 1940, Detroit residents witnessed a spectacular rise in popularity of a hillbilly novelty record. Les York reportedly wrote his song “Hamtramck Mama,” based on an old blues, while working the assembly line in a local automobile plant. He and his older brother George (born in 1910) performed as the York Brothers in local cafes and taverns that booked entertainment for crowds of fellow Appalachians who had come north looking for jobs. Born in Louisa, Kentucky, on August 23, 1917, Leslie York took up lead guitar, Hawaiian lap steel, and mandolin, and teamed up with George at WPAY radio in Portsmouth, Ohio, before they both headed to the Motor City.
The success of “Hamtramck Mama” also shook up the local music and entertainment industry. Never mind that it was country-western, a genre that typically achieved marginal success compared to big band jazz at the time — the 78 rpm disks sold like hotcakes at a church breakfast, eventually reaching juke boxes across the Midwest and Deep South. It represented the first time a piece of music written, recorded and manufactured in Detroit by an independent label, by people living in Detroit, sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
Listen to: York Brothers – Hamtramck Mama
Les and George quit their automotive jobs and played nightclubs and vaudeville theaters. They mixed comedy routines in their programs, with Les sometimes playing a slapstick routine as a backwards country hick he named Charles Muggleduck. The record’s notoriety drove local politicians to denounce it and threaten legal action, and the Detroit Free Press didn’t hesitate to reproduce samples of the song’s “hot” lyrics in its pages. [1]
After completing a short-lived deal with major label Decca, the York Brothers signed to one of the first — if not the first — independently-owned record companies in Detroit: Mellow Records. Within a couple of years, Les wrote and recorded dozens of songs that covered popular country-western styles, such as cowboy songs, heart songs, and blues. The addition of a bassist who could slap the strings provided many of the York Brothers’ early 1940s sides with a raucous rockabilly sound that other musicians capitalized on during the rock’n’roll craze of the mid-1950s.
Les and George left Detroit to join the U.S. Navy in 1944. After the end of World War II, they joined WSM radio’s “Grand Ole Opry” in Nashville, Tennessee, and signed contracts with the Bullet and later, King, record companies. In 1949, their fans in Detroit welcomed them back fulltime. Besides records, George and Les continued making music on stage, radio, and television in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana until 1953, when they moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas.
For several more years, through the mid-1960s, Les returned to Detroit each summer to entertain with local musicians Danny Richards and his Gold Star Cowboys. “Hamtramck Mama” remained a longtime favorite of Detroit audiences. In the end, Les, a prolific writer and imaginative musician, recorded several dozen original songs during his career — with and without George, who died in 1974. Les York passed away in 1984.
Click here to view a Detroit discography of the York Brothers’ earliest records. For a more detailed overview of Les and George York’s career, see the book “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies” by Craig Maki with Keith Cady.
Listen to: York Brothers (feat. Les York) – River of Tears (live)
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Notes
- “‘Hamtramck Mama’ Getting the Deaf Ear in Hamtramck” Detroit Free Press (Saturday, April 10, 1940. Vol. 109, No. 352) 1.
This post is inspired by a recent meeting with the late guitarist Happy Moore’s family. Moore earned mentions in the book, as well as in this website (see the Jimmy Franklin story). Many thanks to Robert, Candace and Liz for getting in touch and sharing the story.
Percussive guitar
Before the late 1950s, the managers of the WSM Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, did not allow the use of drums in its broadcasts. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys ignored this rule in 1944 when they made their only appearance on the show. Until rock’n’roll changed the musical environment, the use of drums in country acts across North America was a novelty, and more common in western swing bands. (In Detroit, Casey Clark was the first country bandleader to hire a drummer, in 1952.)
So what did bands do for rhythm? Bass players hit their strings on the beat. When a rhythm guitarist came into the mix, emphasizing the same beat as the bass player, this usually filled out the sound. A great rhythm guitar player, perhaps someone influenced by jazz music such as Happy Moore, could make a guitar sound like a snare drum.
Modern Mustangs
Born in 1920, Emerson “Happy” Moore inherited his nickname from his dad, and grew up near Dayton, Ohio. By age twelve, he played rhythm guitar and sang at public shows in pop bands. It wasn’t until he met lead guitarist and singer Chuck Oakes in Dayton, when Moore began his association with country music. Moore, Oakes, Jimmy Franklin, and his brother Whitey participated in the Dayton music scene during and after World War II, working nightclubs with their own quartet, as well as with bassist Jimmie Saul and his Prairie Drifters, and guitarist Roy Lanham and the Whippoorwills.
By the late 1940s, Moore and the gang were working restaurants and clubs in Detroit as the Modern Mustangs, playing and singing cowboy music, western swing, and boogie woogie. “My dad didn’t drink,” said daughter Candace. “He just loved to play music. And when he played, his face would light up, just beam with joy. His guitar playing added so much, just filled out any group’s sound.” [1]
Moore music
Happy Moore worked in Detroit, Bay City, and traveled the region as a full-time musician with Chuck Oakes, singer Danny Richards, the Franklin Brothers, and guitarist Chuck Carroll. In 1954, Moore took a day job with the Burroughs company. He continued to gig on weekends for the rest of his life.
Listen to: Tumbling Tumbleweeds – WXYZ Motor City Jamboree
Aside from Chuck Oakes’ “Hey! It’s Chuck’s Boogie” issued by Fortune Records [2], on which Moore might have played rhythm guitar, the only recording we have of Moore is with a vocal trio that included Danny Richards and Whitey Franklin doing the Sons of the Pioneers’ “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” on the WXYZ Motor City Jamboree, ca. 1954. [3]
“He was asked to move to Nashville by several people,” said his wife Liz. “Jim Reeves, Moon Mullican … but he decided to stay put.” Reeves and Mullican both entertained at Detroit’s Roosevelt Lounge (on Mack near Montcalm), where Danny Richards’ band, which included Happy Moore, played host during the early 1950s.
Moore passed away from a heart attack in April 1984. “He was on his way to a gig on the night he died,” said his son Robert.
“You couldn’t keep him away from playing music,” said wife Liz. “He was complaining about the way he felt all day, and I said, ‘Why don’t you stay home tonight?’ ‘But the guys need me,’ he said. He just loved to play music with his friends. Any time, any place.”
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Notes
- Elizabeth, Robert, and Candace Moore interviewed Feb. 9, 2014.
- Around 1950, Fortune Records issued “Hey! It’s Chuck’s Boogie” backed with “Waltz Of Virginia” (Fortune 711).
- A home tape recording of this show features host Milton Estes, Danny Richards and his Gold Star Cowboys, singer Mary Ann Johnson, guest singers Flash Griner and Dixie Lee Walker, and headliner George Morgan with steel guitarist Don Davis in tow.
Last Monday, April 21, 2014, Jack Rainwater passed away quietly from a lengthy illness. His friend Andy Barron reported the Detroit guitarist and singer was 74 years old.
Rainwater’s music career began during the 1950s, when he played rock’n’roll and pop music with a group called the Paragons. When he split from that scene, members of the group changed the band to the Royaltones. [1]
During the 1970s, he cut “All I Want Is To Love You,” issued on Laurie Records (and produced by Johnny Powers), which scored a minor hit. Check out his soulful performance of “A Place In The Sun” as well.
A talented member of the Detroit music scene, Rainwater continued playing and singing in local showcases and nightclubs through the mid-2000s, when I finally had opportunities to catch him on stage. I first saw him at the “Legends of Rockabilly” concert, held in November 2004 at Jackson’s historic Michigan Theatre. Rainwater headlined with Dale Hawkins, Wanda Jackson, Charlie Gracie, and his old friend Jack Scott. The evening’s show was outstanding, to say the least, with Rainwater performing a set of big beat rockabilly just as gripping as anyone else’s (take a look at the list of names again – very impressive).
In December 2005, Rainwater and band hosted his cousin Marvin “Gonna Find Me A Bluebird” Rainwater (who died last September) at the Kentuckians of Michigan hall for a one-night show. Both Rainwaters were in top form, and the crowd loved them. Marvin was full of jokes and obviously happy to reunite with Jack, who was also in fine spirits.
I’m confident that Jack Rainwater now resides in his own “place in the sun.”
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Notes
- Bond, Marilyn, and S.R. Boland. The Birth of the Detroit Sound: 1940-1964. (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2002) 62.
The book signing on Dec. 13, 2013, was a real blast. It was wonderful to see our special guests, Al Allen and Della Redbird, in the same room together. We thank everyone who made it to downtown Detroit in person, especially our friends who have waited so long to see this project appear in print.
Keith and I (Craig) also signed copies of the book at shops in Greenfield Village on Dec. 20 and 21. Copies of the book remain for sale there.
New on this site is a Press page. A link to it appears by navigating your cursor over the “About” button at the top of this site.
Thanks to all who have expressed interest and support during the last few months. We’ve just begun publicizing the book, and more signings are in the works. Feel free to “like” the book’s page on Facebook to receive more timely announcements.
Our next event is scheduled for Jan. 19, from 3 to 7 p.m., at Club Canton, Michigan’s oldest country bar. We’re very excited to announce Behind The Times will play a set on the hardwood dance floor, then open it up for musicians to jam. A buffet will be available, too. More info to come.
WCSX Classic Rock radio’s “Doc of Rock” Doug Podell recently posted an interview with me. The topic of the podcast was Detroit rockabilly. It’s about 12 minutes long and you can check it out here. [Note: This podcast is no longer available, but you can check out Doug Podell’s current podcast page here.]
Surprisingly, my name appears on the WCSX podcast page among a list of bad boys such as Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, The Rockets, and Sammy Hagar. Despite the classic rock format of WCSX, Doug seems very interested in the history of music in Detroit, and genuinely enthusiastic about discovering the existence of local rockabilly artists for himself and his listeners.
Michiganders should be proud of the state’s rockabilly and early country music heritage. Just to prove my point, here is a list of records for y’all to track down at local garage sales (or online).
Craig’s short list of Detroit rockabilly (early country rock) records
Dick Armstrong “I Wanta Go Steady With You” Bart (Flint, 1957)
Lonnie Barron “Teenage Queen” Sage (1956)
Aubrey Bradford “Get Your Feet On The Floor” Shelby (ca. 1957)
Johnny Buckett “Griddle Greasing Daddy” Fortune (ca. 1957)
Jim Bullington “Love Bug Crawl” Wednesday (Flint, 1957)
Al Burnette “Humpty Dumpty” Happy Hearts (1964)
Jackie Carbone “Jam-Up” Star-X (1957)
Jimmy Carroll “Big Green Car” Fascination (1958)
Casey Clark and the Lazy Ranch Boys “Lost John” Sage & Sand (1956)
Pete DeBree and the Wanderers (Jimmy Franklin, vocal) “Hey Mr. Presley” Fortune (1958)
Hugh Friar “I Can’t Stay Mad At You” Clix (1959)
Jimmy Gartin “Gonna Ride That Satellite” Hi-Q (1958)
Roy Hall “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” Decca (Nashville, 1955)
Vic Gallon “I’m Gone” Gondola (1957)
Evelyn Harlene “I Wanta Be Free” Sage (1957)
Harold L. and the Offbeats “Connie” Happy Hearts (1962)
Loyd Howell “Froggy Went A-Courtin’” Nashville (1961)
Hunt Sisters “I’m Not Gonna Take It Anymore” Fortune (1961)
Eddie Jackson “Blues I Can’t Hide” Caravan (1963)
Leon James “Baby, Let’s Rock” Bumble Bee (1958)
Jimmy Kirkland “I Wonder If You Wonder” Fox (1957)
Joannie King “OK Doll” Sand (1957)
Jimmy Lee “You Ain’t No Good For Me” Fortune (1956)
Patti Lynn “Same Old Blues” Hi-Q (1964)
Roy Moss “Wiggle Walkin’ Baby” Fascination (1958)
Ford Nix “Ain’t No Sign I Wouldn’t If I Could” Clix (1959)
Kenny Owen “I Got The Bug” Poplar (1958)
Bunny Paul “Sweet Talk” Point (1956)
Johnny Powers “Long Blond Hair“ Fox (1957)
Don Rader “Rock And Roll Grandpap” Fortune (1958)
Jack Scott “The Way I Walk” Carlton (1959)
Rufus Shoffner and Joyce Songer “Orbit Twist” American Artist (1962)
Bobby Smith “Bevy Mae” Fox (1960)
Ray Taylor “My Hamtramck Baby” Clix (1959)
Dell Vaughn “Rock The Universe” Fortune (Flint, 1958)
Farris Wilder “It’s All Your Fault” Hi-Q (1957)
Roxie Williams “Fifteen Seconds” Lucky 11 (Flint, ca. 1959)
Jimmy Work “That’s The Way It’s Gonna Be” Dot (1956)
Lafayette Yarbrough “Cool Cool Baby” Bart (Flint, 1958)
York Brothers “Going To The Shindig” (1943)
Many of these artists, such as Jack Scott, Johnny Powers, Roy Hall, and Roy Moss, cut more than one record. As they used to say in Radioland, “Dig them all!”
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.
A number of years ago, a friend presented me with a copy of Cowboy Songs number 37. Published fifty-nine years ago, as the September-October 1954 edition by Charlton Publications of Derby, Connecticut, the magazine was loaded with surprises, from an early portrait of Dave Dudley to a wonderful candid snapshot of Jumpin’ Bill Carlisle. Out of all thirty-one pages, number eighteen held the biggest thrill: a small feature on WJR radio’s singing disk jockey May Hawks (pictured above in the upper right-hand corner).
Originally from middle Tennessee, Hawks started her career working with the Casey Clark and Jimmy Dickens bands in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1947. After Dickens moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1947, he helped Hawks land a gig portraying Little Miss Martha White for Royal Flour Mills on WSM’s “Grand Ole Opry” as well as a morning show sponsored by the Mills. After about a year, Hawks returned to Michigan, where she sang on the WJR “Big Barn Frolic” and made records for Fortune Records, RCA subsidiary Label “X,” Starday, and others.
The Cowboy Songs feature stated: “May has since organized her own band, which accompanies her wherever she appears. She has worked such exclusive spots as the Detroit Yacht Club and Waldorf Astoria Hotel, to mention just a few. Miss Hawks currently has her own show on radio station WJR, Detroit, where you can hear plenty of that ‘good ole music’.”
May Hawks is no longer with us. When she shared her story with Keith Cady, her voice and conversation rang with the warmth, charm, and charisma that attracted listeners to her radio and recorded performances decades ago. May Hawks’ story appears in the book “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.”
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?
This Saturday, March 23, the Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHOF) in Nashville, Tennessee, spotlights Paul Franklin in its ongoing series called Nashville Cats. Franklin grew up in the Detroit area, learning the steel guitar from local musicians such as the late Billy Clark (Casey’s son), as well as sitting in with numerous C&W acts on stage and in recording sessions.
Since moving to Nashville in 1972, he’s played with the likes of Barbara Mandrell, Jerry Reed, Mel Tillis, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Kelly Willis, and many others. Of late, he’s associated with Nashville super group the Time Jumpers. The CMHOF will stream the event “live” online from its website. Congratulations, Paul!
In a lifespan of more than 40 years, WSDS AM 1480 was perhaps the longest continuously operating country music station in the midwest. The station would change hands only twice and stay true to the country sounds that brought the station fame.
About 1957, University of Michigan Law School graduate Craig Davids stumbled upon a pasture near the old Peninsular Paper factory at 580 W. Clark Road in Ypsilanti, just east of Ann Arbor. He saw its future as an addition to his radio portfolio. Davids, along with his wife Kathleen and brother-in-law, owned WCER Charlotte, Michigan, but dreamed of building one closer to home. David Carmine, who broadcast at WYSI, and later WEXL, was there from the beginning.
“I was actually still in high school in Plymouth at the time, and was fascinated with radio – and in particular engineering – so I was out here more or less as an intern,” said Carmine. “Later on they said, ‘We’d like to pay you what you’re worth, but we know you can’t work that cheap, so…’ [laughs] Basically we were out here, and there was nothing but cows and a pasture. This woulda been ’60, ’61 when we broke ground on the building. The process even back then was lengthy and then it became even lengthier because there were a few technical snafus with the engineering after the building and towers were up, and that put a year, year and a half moratorium on the station getting on the air, ’til those problems were resolved. They were resolved and we finished construction. I say ‘we’ … There were a number of people involved besides myself. Jerry Adams, who was Chief Engineer for the Charlotte station was very much instrumental in building this place and oversaw the engineering.”
In 1962 the station signed on the air with 500 watts of directional, daytime power at 1480kHz as WYSI Ypsilanti – in a rather unconventional way. Greg Siefker, who went on to own WMLM radio St. Louis, Michigan, remembered listening the day they switched on the Gates transmitter. “They didn’t sign on at a normal time. During the morning, they fed a tone and then took to the airwaves at about 11 a.m. It was all very exciting for a young teenager who absolutely loved radio … and who couldn’t know at the time that he’d be working at the station one day.”
Early disk jockeys
The Ypsilanti Broadcasting Company, led by Program Director Don Thompson, began as a rock-n-roll station. Originally from Minnesota, Thompson broadcast daily from 3 p.m. until sign-off as “Bootsy Bell.” Carmine said of Thompson, “He drove the concept of the programming. He was very much into high-energy personality rock-n-roll.”
John Fountain signed on the station at 5:30 a.m. and spun records until David Carmine, known as “Dave Carr,” came in and took control from 9 a.m. ’til noon. Don McComb broadcast from noon to 3 p.m., when Bootsy Bell rocked the studio to its core. Weekends saw an ever-changing lineup of jocks and block programming, particularly on Sundays when religious programs dominated the time slots. Weekend jocks included Andy Barron (Andrew Spisak), Jim Hampton, Johnny Dew, and Marty James (Jim Martin). News and sales were handled by Jack Bobicz. Clara Hoedema gave weather reports and served as WYSI secretary along with Pat Tomkins. Al Berg was station manager.
Tom Chase, a.k.a. Johnny Williams
Legendary Detroit radio voice Johnny Williams, of CKLW Windsor/Detroit fame in the ’60s and ’70s started his career on Clark Road as Tom Chase in 1964.
“I was going to Eastern Michigan [University], driving in from Allen Park every day and listening to this station, listening to Bootsy Bell,” said Williams. “And I thought, ‘Oh my God, he is the worst jock I have heard in my life!’ (Sorry Don.) At the time I remember saying to myself, ‘I can do better than that.’ Of course I couldn’t, but at the time your ego is there. I had a great friend, Dave Kelly who owned a station up north. Dave and I went to high school together. I called Dave up and said, ‘Do me a favor. Write me a letter of recommendation. I wanna take it to WYSI and get a job, you know, weekends.’ He said, ‘You’re never gonna get away with that. But I’ll do it for you.’ So I picked it up, and I called the radio station. Didn’t know who to ask for, they put me in touch with Ed Smitt, General Manager. And I told him I was going to Eastern Michigan and I wanted to do something on weekends. Was there anything available? He said, ‘You’re in luck! Yes, Saturday and Sunday. Talk to Don Thompson.’ So I’m thinking, OK, he’s the program director. No clue that he’s really Bootsy Bell. So I come in for the interview, and I’d never been in a radio station in my life and I started asking all these stupid questions and Don says, ‘You’ve never been in a station, have you!?’ I said no. He swore a little bit and said, ‘Well I’m not going on the air Saturday and Sunday so you better sit down and learn!’ That first Saturday, I drove in and I was so nervous – I stopped the car a couple of times, and I said, ‘No, you gotta do this!’ I got to the building, walked up to the door. The engineer was, of course, sleeping on the couch like he usually was, and I turned around and I threw up. I turned around, got back into the car and drove to a gas station and cleaned up and I said, ‘Well, you better do this or you’ll never know if you can do this.’ So I came back and went on the air. That was 1964.”
“Gary Stevens had the biggest numbers for afternoon drive in the history of Detroit radio,” said Williams. “He was on WKNR [Dearborn, Michigan], a 27-share in the afternoon. That’s like, unheard of! Anyway, I was here at WYSI maybe three weeks, and I have a rock-n-roll band I manage. We were supposed to be appearing for Gary Stevens at this club. I was at the club talking to Gary, the band’s not there yet, and he said, ‘You’re TC from twelve to three.’ And I went, ‘WHAT? How in the world would you know something like that? You’re like THEE jock. How would you know that?’ He said, ‘The general manager and I were driving through Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti going to the University of Michigan. President [John F.] Kennedy was giving the commencement speech and we were flipping the dial around and we hit you and left you on. The manager said, “Hey this kid’s gonna be good”.’ He said, ‘How long you been doing this, a year or two?’ I said, ‘Three weeks.’ And that spurred me on to stay in the business. If this guy believed in me, then I could definitely do this and make a living at it.” As Tom Chase, Williams stayed at WYSI, playing top 20 hits for almost two years and moonlighting in the news department at WPAG radio Ann Arbor before accepting a job as news castor at WJEF radio Grand Rapids. From there he made the switch to “The Big 8” CKLW [AM 800], and into Detroit radio history.
George Young
By 1965, WEXL radio Royal Oak, in a Detroit suburb, had already switched to a full-time country music format. WYSI also added a few country programs, hosted by Dave Carr, and Andy Barron. Musician Red Ellis, who also worked at WAAM radio Ann Arbor as an engineer, performed his brand of country gospel over WYSI, which he recorded for various local labels, as well as Starday Records of Nashville, Tennessee. WYSI paperwork revealed Ellis bargained to trade commercials for a piano from the Ypsilanti Piano & Organ Company in 1965.
Another popular music act in Detroit and downriver communities was George Young and The Youngsters. Young replaced Tom Chase on Saturdays with a studio record show, and later added live and pre-taped broadcasts with his band from various venues in Metro Detroit. “First time I walked into the studio, I was supposed to go on at twelve noon,” said Young, “and Smitt (the general manager) brought me into the studio to go on. He said, ‘You’re on in five minutes.’ So he walked out, and I was all new to this. He said, ‘There’s the log.’ To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what a log was! Here I am, nervous as hell – excuse the expression, that’s an old radio term [laughs] – and I’m looking around, about to throw up because Tom [Chase] left, and I’m all alone with Bootsy Bell. … So I look at the log and it said, ‘Weather on the reel-to-reel.’ Well, Johnny Williams never showed me how to put the reel-to-reel on! I didn’t even know I was going on the air! So I look at Bootsy Bell (or Don Thompson) and I said, ‘Man, how do you put the reel-to-reel on, right here with the weather?’ He looked at me and says, ‘You’ll figure it out. You’re on after this record’ – and [he] walked out! Of course we used to make up the weather …”
In 1966, Dave Carr negotiated a format change that ignited a spark that burned for more than 40 years: the country sounds of the “Big 1480.”
Of course, one would need weeks or months to present the connections between the labor movement and country-western music in Detroit during the 20th century. On this Labor Day, I’m reaching for low-hanging fruit by showing a couple of union-operated social halls used for country shows in Detroit 60 years ago.
12101 Mack Avenue is an address remembered fondly by longtime country music fans in Detroit. The site of the weekly “Lazy Ranch Boys Barn Dance” from 1952 to 1957, the union hall at 12101 Mack held many weekend stage shows by Casey Clark’s group (all members of local musician unions), which in turn hosted famous entertainers and guests from across the U.S.A. and Canada. Originally a Hudson local, the hall became the base for a Chrysler local after the demise of the Hudson Motor Car Company.
Photos from the past demonstrate Clark’s band’s popularity. When Clark and his partners first arrived to head the WJR “Big Barn Frolic” in 1952, the Saturday night show was held at the Dairyworkers Hall on 2nd Avenue in Highland Park (see a contemporary photo below).
Within a year, Clark and company moved to a larger space at 12101 Mack, where they packed in audiences with their stage shows, followed by square and round dances. Its location off Connor, near Chrysler’s east side facilities, easily drew country music fans who worked for Chrysler, many of whom lived in the surrounding area.
Read all about Casey Clark and the Lazy Ranch Boys, along with other artists who appeared on the “Big Barn Frolic,” such as Chuck Hatfield, Boots Gilbert, Al Allen, Roy Hall, May Hawks and the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in the book “Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies.”
