Mellow's Log Cabin: Okie Jones on Majestic

Okie Jones and the Sunset Starliters - Kiss Away (Majestic 10-1358), 1958
I didn't really buy this record because I needed it but I was curious because the label design looked liked to be one of Major Bill Smith's productions. And what can I say? It really is. You can identify it prominently because of the Lebill publishing but also because of the distinctive design of the yellow label. Actually, this appears to be one of Smith's earlierst works. His name should be familiar with every collector who is familiar with 1950s and 1960s local music and so am I but I did not deal with his story until my work about Curley Jim Morrison, who worked with Smith in the 1960s and 1970s in Fort Worth.

However, today we want to pay attention to the artist of this disc, Okie Jones. He was born Otho Eugene Jones on August 14, 1930. He was a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and his parents Howard Rufus Jones and Ina Rue Francis Jones had a total of four children.

In 1949, Jones made his first recordings for Bill Quinn's Gold Star label out of Houston. "Stop, Look and Listen" b/w "Foolish Heart" were released as by "Gene Jones" (Gold Star #1382). Possibily through Quinn, Jones landed a recording contract with major Columbia Records and recorded a total of three sessions for the label - two in Nashville, one at Jim Beck's studio in Dallas. It was on Columbia that he first appeared as "Okie" or "Oakie" Jones. Columbia released Jones' recordings between January 1951 and August 1952, however without noteworthy chart success. At some point in the early 1950s, Jones joined the US Army and served in the Korean War. Upon his return, he resumed his career in the music business and became a member of Little Jimmy Dickens' road band, performing with such noted musicians as steel guitarist Buddy Emmons. This engagement lasted probably until early 1956.

Promotional picture of Okie Jones and Little Jimmy Dickens

During the 1950s, Jones appeared on such big shows as the Louisiana Hayride, the Big D Jamboree, and the Cowtown Hoedown from Fort Worth. Major success eluded him, however, much likely also due to a missing recording contract with a major label. From early 1956 until around April 1957, Jones was working in Detroit as part of Casey Clark's Lazy Ranch Boys. It was during this time that he recorded his next single for the Sage & Sand label, backed by the Lazy Ranch Boys. After his engegament with Clark, Jones returned to Texas circa in May and worked the Red River Jamboree out of Paris, Texas.

Billboard May 13, 1957

Today's pick from 1958 falls into this time frame. The Majestic label, based in Jones' hometown of Fort Worth, seems to be Major Bill Smith's first venture in the recording business, prior to his leaving of the US Army and the subsequent founding of LeCam Records in 1959. "I Borrowed from Peter (to Pay Paul)" b/w "Kiss Away" (Majestic #1358) was released by Smith at the end of 1958 with Billboard reviewing the disc on November 24 that year. The band on the recordings, dubbed as the Sunset Starliters, may be Jones' regular band, which had been known as the Western Starliters a year before. Distribution was likely non-existent at that stage of Smith's venture and aside from this, the song material's questionable quality added possibly to the failure of this record.

Catalog of Copyright Entries

Billboard C&W review November 24, 1958

Jones was also a bit of a songwriter and composed a lot of his recorded songs on his own. He also co-wrote "Strictly Nuthin'" with Frankie Miller, who recorded the song for Starday in 1960. Jones moved away from his Texas stomping grounds in the 1960s and concentrated on his ties to the Nashville scene. He worked as Marty Robbins' bus driver (as well as his unofficial business counselor) for ten years and later drove bus for Hank Williams, Jr. for another five years. Jones recorded his last single in 1966 for Red Wortham's Sur-Speed record label, which was based outside of Nashville in Bon Aqua (see here for Sur-Speed's history). After his retirement from the music business, Jones enjoyed working on his farm and lived outside of Nashville in Readyville with his wife Madeleine, whom he married in 1985.

By then, Okie Jones was hardly remembered outside the hardcore country music record collectors scene. Two albums of his works appeared in more recent years: one compiled by the Hillbilly Researcher team issued in 2003 and another one in 2012 by the archivists of the British Archive of Country Music, which was a joint release with Neal Jones. That same year, Jones attented the release event of Diane Diekman's Marty Robbins biography "Twentieth Century Drifter" at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Jones had contributed valuable information to the book through a phone interview with the author.

Okie Jones died on November 20, 2017, at his home in Readyville, Tennessee, at the age of 87 years. He is buried at Coleman Cemetery in nearby Murfreesboro.