Tommy Trent

The Dixie Fun Barn Dang at WAGA (Atlanta, Georgia), ca. 1947
with Tommy Trent (next to the microphone on the left)

Tommy Trent - Little Rock's Forgotten Star

Although Tommy Trent was a native Tennessee boy and made various stops during his early career, his biggest impact probably came when he settled in the early 1950s in Little Rock, Arkansas. There, he became one of those all-around music entrepreneurs - operating a record label, a live music venue, and performing in his own right.

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Trent was born March 8, 1924, in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. He was one of seven children of Dyo M. and Alice C. Trent and came into a musical inclined family. Trent would eventually learn to play guitar as well as bass and found also he had a talent for singing. His father died in 1935, when Trent was still a child.

Trent started his career in 1943 in nearby Knoxville, where he joined Mel Foree's Victory Boys and as part of this group, could be heard on the city's popular radio program "Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round". It was also during this time that Trent made his first experiences in a recording studio as part of Knoxville singer Pappy Gube Beaver's background band (which also included Chet Atkins on fiddle). Beaver recorded for Capitol in Atlanta in 1945. Knoxville was a tinsmith for future country music stars, including such as Chet Atkins, Red Kirk, Bill Carlisle, and Don Gibson, but Trent did not stayed too long there and set out on the road. He spent about three months with Paul Howard's Arkansas Cotton Pickers in 1944, performing on the famed Grand Ole Opry with this group, but soon left again.

By the summer of 1945, he travelled with a tent show and a short time later, he performed with a group known as the Dixe Fun Barn Gang on WPDQ in Jacksonville, Florida. This same group, including Trent, then moved to Atlanta, where they were heard on WAGA from September 1946 until December 1948 and also performed one-nighters in the surrounding areas. They had a show called the "Dixie Fun Barn", which centered around Trent, and was heard several days a week and was one of the most popular country music shows on the station at the time, according to author and Atlanta country music expert Wayne W. Daniel. After leaving WAGA, the group had a rather brief engagement at WQAM in Miami before they would return to Atlanta to perform on WGST for a couple of months (October 1949 until January 1950). During this brief stint, Trent also appear on the station's Georgia Jamboree live show.

Billboard November 29, 1947

During the next two years, Trent founded a new band and managed to land a spot on the famed Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport. Apart from the regular Saturday night broadcasts over KWKH, Trent took also part in the Hayride's tours across the south and appeared alongside such stars as Hank Williams. Along with Tommy Hill and Webb Pierce, he also hosted a nightly DJ program right after the Hayride.

In 1952, Trent and an unknown group of back-up musicians, which might have been his own band, went into KWKH's studio in Shreveport to record two songs: "Paper Boy Boogie" and "Sweetheart I Am Missing You". These recordings were, possibly with the help of record shop owner and talent scout Stan Lewis, released on Chess' subsidiary label Checker Records (#761) in September 1952. Lewis was an important personality in Shreveport's music scene and had placed such acts as Jimmy & Johnny with Chess, so it's eligible to assume this also happened with Trent.

Although Trent's first solo record did not make the national charts, it must have been a promising release as Texas Bill Strength covered "Paper Boy Boogie" for Coral the same year. Trent performed these songs also on his personal appearances and Hayride live recordings of both have survived in the show's archives. Trent was also captured live on the show singing Louis Innis' "No Muss, No Fuss, No Bother".

During his tours, Trent passed through many different places, including Arkansas, and in 1952, finally settled down in the Natural State's capitol, Little Rock. He began hosting a three-hour DJ show on local KTHS, a station that had moved from Hot Springs to Little Rock shorty before, and opened his own Hillbilly Park in the city around 1953. This live music venue, modeled after country music parks in the northeastern states, featured performances by country stars throughout the summer. By 1955, portions of those concerts also aired over KTHS under the name of "Arkansas Hayride". Local talent on these shows included such acts as Shelby Cooper and Gene Davis.

Billboard September 3, 1955

By late 1954, Trent and his band had introduced a show also on KATV, Little Rock's local television station. At that time, the band consisted of Trent on vocals and guitar, comedian Les Willard on vocals and rhythm guitar, Cotton Nixon on fiddle, J. D. Raley (later replaced by Leroy Brannon) on steel guitar, Max Fletcher on bass, Don Taylor on "solos" (as reported by Billboard, whatever that means). A short time later, Trent's brother Coy also joined the group, which was initially known as the Dixie Mountaineers and by April 1955 as the Country Playboys. Apart from performing and doing radio work, Trent also pursued other business interests and opened up a restaurant in May 1955, "Tommy Trent's Chuck Wagon".

Tommy Trent had not recorded since his Shreveport debut session in 1952 but he changed this four years later. With a band that included prominent Arkansas western swing fiddler Kinky King (who alternated between drums and fiddle) and soon-to-be rockabilly pianist Teddy Redell, Trent recorded "It's My Turn to Cry Over You" as well as "Truck Drivers Roll" at the KTHS studio. On the latter, Virginia Brannon took over lead vocals. Brannon was a member of Trent's band and went on to be his wife. Both songs were released in 1956 on the Little Rock based Camark label. This was still pure country music, although by 1956 times had changed, and although Trent was a bit late, he would change his music style on recordings to a more hard-etched sound later on.

In the early 1960s, Trent contiued to record for independent labels. His first record for Dan Mechura's Allstar Records, a label from Houston, Texas, that specialized in country music, was recorded in the spring of 1959 at KTHS and released the same year. The recordings featured his wife Virginia as well as Delores King on harmony vocals, Bill Dixon on lead guitar, possibly Bobby Pearl on steel guitar, Kinky King on fiddle, Teddy Redell on piano, and Mex Fletcher on drums. The results, "Just for Tonite" and "Storm of Love", were released on Allstar #7184. The A side was penned by Vriginia Trent, while the flip was a composition of background singer Delores King.

A second session for Allstar was cut in spring 1960 at KTHS with the same line-up, produced "A Mile to the Mailbox" and "Love Me" (Allstar #7198). The A side was a "medium-beater" (as Billboard put it) rock'n'roller, while its flip was a pure country side. Billboard placed the disc, which appeared around March 1960 in its "medium sales potential" review section and it's likely that it didn't sell better than the magazine predicted.

In 1962, KTHS was sold and became KAAY, which urged Trent to switch to KXLR, also based in Little Rock. Around the same time, he gave up his spot on KATV for a show on KTHV. By then, he had given up his Hillbilly Park in favor of a new live venue, Tommy Trent's Fun Barn, which was located on Pike Avenue in North Little Rock (previously known as "The Juroy"). This place featured regular live performances by local talent as well as top names on Saturday nights and was a popular spot during the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the names that appeared on these shows included locals such as Bobby and his Buddys, sisters Peggy & Patty Kuske, Robert "Bob Holladay, George Lyle & Laura Glenn, Bobbie Holdcraft, among others. The stars who passed through Trent's Fun Barn reads like a who's who of Nashville, including Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, the Carter Family, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, the Osmons, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Grandpa Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ferlin Husky, Faron Young, Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells, Marty Robbins, Jim Ed & Maxine Brown, Conway Twitty, Roy Acuff, String Bean, and probably a lot more.

The Fun Barn live shows as well as Trent's TV shows were very popular in Arkansas. Testimony to that are countless people who remembered the shows fondly: "My mother Clarice Brannon Lawrence and Tommy Trent’s wife Virginia Brannon Trent were cousins and my parents took us kids to the Tommy Trent Fun Barn in North Little Rock, Arkansas, nearly every weekend to hear all the country singers and new talents that would play and sing there," recalled Lavonda Lawrence Roberts. Betty Holbrook remembered: "I remember watching and listening to Tommy Trent sing in the '50s." And Charles Jackson added: "As a small boy in Conway, Arkansas, in the early '50s, our family always listened to Tommy as he deejayed his radio program." These valuable memories came from French collector Xavier Maire, whose blog sadly went offline.

Trent re-recorded one of his aforementioned Allstar songs as "I Walk a Mile (to the Mail Box)" along with "This Week End", released in 1965 on the T Bar T label. T Bar T was likely Trent's own company and I assume the name stood for Trent's initials (T bar T = T-T = Tommy Trent). He also recorded Carolyn Dixon and Olen Bingham for his imprint.

Trent retired from the music business in 1970. He was the president of a Little Rock publishing firm in the 1980s. Tommy Trent died on July 5, 2003, at the age of 79 years in Bryant, Arkansas, a suburb of Little Rock. He was what I call a local music entrepreneur. Memphis had Eddie Bond, Abilene had Slim Willet, and Little Rock had Tommy Trent.

Discography

Checker 761: Tommy Trent - Paper Boy Boogie / Sweetheart I Am Missing You (1952)
Camark 501 Virginia Brannon / Tommy Trent Band - Truck Drivers Roll / Tommy Trent and Mountain Valley Trio - It's My Turn to Cry Over You (1956)
Allstar 7184: Tommy Trent - Just for Tonight / Storm of Life (1959)
Allstar 7198: Tommy Trent - Love Me / A Mile to the Mailbox (1960)
T Bar T 665T-0962: Tommy Trent - I Walk a Mile (to the Mail Box) / This Week End (1965)

See also
• T Bar T discography on Arkansas 45rpm Records

Sources

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Find a Grave entry

• Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

• 45cat entry

• Xavier Maire: Tommy Trent - From Paper Boy Boogie to A Mile to the Mail Box (Wayback Machine)

• Picture of Trent and the Dixie Fun Barn Gang at WAGA

• Dixie Fun Barn Gang at WFMU Boss Radio 66 blog

• Directory of Little Rock/North Little Rock theaters past and present

• various Billdboard news items

• Wayne W. Daniel: "Pickin' on Peachtree" (University of Illinois Press), 2001, pages 167-168, 185

Music Mountain Jamboree

Music Mountain Jamboree cast, 1980s or 1990s
From the autographs, I can only read Ron Castleberry
(possibly a relative of Hot Springs singer Leo Castleberry?)

The Music Mountain Jamboree in Hot Springs, Arkansas, was one of many, local, family-friendly music shows that were held all around the United States. Following the golden age of radio and the demise of big live stage shows that aired over radio, many smaller shows emerged. These were often operated by a single person or a family, often held at small theaters, and were not broadcast over radio. One of those later shows was the Music Mountain Jamboree in Hot Springs.

The actual founding and persons behind the shows are unclear to me. There was Ted Mullinax, entrepreneur and politician, who claims to have founded the Music Mountain Jamboree in 1982. Also, there were Tony Rex and Geraldine Crabtree from Hot Springs, a couple who also dabbled in various business affairs, who claimed to have opened the Music Mountain Jamboree. It is unclear to me at the moment, who of them were the first or if these were even separate shows.

There are several hints to artists that appeared on the Jamboree. David Ray Altom, "Granny" Messenger, Bruce Allen Smith, Ronnie Neighbors, and Ted Mullinax himself pop up as musicians that have performed on the show. The theater was located on 1555 East Grand Avenue (U.S. Highway 70) in Hot Springs.

According to Mullinax, he operated the show for two decades, which means it came to an end around 2002. If anyone has more info on the Music Mountain Jamboree or can set things straight, feel free to leave a comment!

Sources
• Obituaries for Geraldine Crabtree and Tony Rex Crabtree
• Interview and article on Ted Mullinax
• David Ray Altom obituary
• Ronnie Neighbors obituary
• Bruce Allen Smith obituary
• Granny Messenger Find a Grave entry

Paul Howard

Paul Howard and his Arkansas Cotton PickersWestern Swing's Forgotten Visionary

Paul Howard's name, largely forgotten today and only remembered by hardcore western swing fans, should be listed in the Country Music Hall of Fame but unfortunately is not. His band, the Arkansas Cotton Pickers, was the first western swing orchestra to appear regularly at the Grand Ole Opry and brought the swinging, modern sounds to the Opy's listeners. The management of the show was as conservative as it gets, ignoring trends and changing styles in country music largely but Howard was given a spot nevertheless. Many musicians passed through his band - and some of them would develop into the genre's leading session musicians.

Paul Jackson Howard was born on July 10, 1908, on a farm near Midland, Arkansas, a small town not for away from the Fort Smith metropolitan area. Although raised on traditional old-time music and a fan of Jimmie Rodgers' blues drenched version of it, Howard was one of the first rural musicians to welcome the swinging sounds of western swing that came out of Texas in the 1930s. Jon Hartley Fox called Howard a "music visionary" in his book "King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records". Howard became not only a great fan of Bob Wills but also called him a friend eventually.

At age fifteen, Howard ran away from home and moved in with his sister in Kansas. For the next two years, he worked as a construction worker in Kansas, as a coal miner in Oklohoma and finally as a copper miner in Arizona. It was in Bisbee, Arizona, where he met a black man who taught him the first chords on the guitar. This led Howard to becoming seriously interested in music and he bought a guitar and an instruction book soon after. He started out as a performer in 1931, being heard on KOY in Phoenix, Arizona. However, he returned to Oklahoma in 1933 to work as a coal miner again to earn a living. Music was still on his mind and he soon landed a steady job with a movie theater in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he performed as a Jimmie Rodgers clone during intermissions and after the movies had ended.

Billboard July 20, 1946

Following his engagement in Fort Smith, Howard hit the road, working as a traveling salesman and a radio performer at once. In 1940, he stopped in Nashville and auditioned for George D. Hay and Jack Stapps, program director of WSM, and as a result, was given not only a spot on WSM but also on the Grand Ole Opry. He was still a solo singer at that time, which likely appealed to the conservative Opry management better than a large country dance band. At that time, the Opry had become the leading country music radio show in the United States and became manifest by the early 1940s. In 1941, Howard founded a band, the "Arkansas Cotton Pickers", which became probably the first western swing outfit that regularly played the Opry and featured as much as ten musicians at some point.

During the 1940s, many musicians that later became top names in Nashville went through the Arkansas Cotton Pickers. Guitarists Billy Byrd, Hank Garland and Grady Martin, bassist Bob Moore, steel guitarists Little Roy Wiggins and Sunny Albright, vocalist Nita Lynn - all of them and many more excellent musicians performed with Howard's band and gathered important experiences.

Billboard March 2, 1946

Howard remained the only western swing act during the 1940s' Opry and became a favorite with the listeners, though he began recording not until 1946 for the independent Liberty label from North Hollywood. The session took place in early 1946 and apart from Arkansas Cotton Pickers mainstays like Jabbo Arlington (guitar), also featured a young Billy Byrd and Owen Bradley on piano. "(You Left) A Red Cross on My Heart" b/w "I've Been Lonesome Since You Went Away" (Liberty #6) were two songs Howard later re-released by King Records.

The Liberty release brought Howard to the attention of Columbia Records and his first release for the label appeared at the tail end of 1946, "Oklahoma City" b/w "Somebody Else's Trouble" (Columbia #37204). Over a stretch of two years, Columbia released a total of six singles but none of them became a national hit. In 1949, Howard signed with King and recorded another ten songs for the label from Cincinnati, although these releases did not sell better either.

In 1949, while still recording for King but frustrated with the situation, Howard decided it needed a change and moved from Nashville to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he became a steady member of the Louisiana Hayride, the Opry's competitor that was much more open for modern and innovative country music sounds. His last recording session took place in Shreveport at radio KWKH, which was released on King. Howard stayed with the Hayride until around 1951 but could not find success there either.

Billboard March 2, 1957

During these years, Howard and his band toured extensively through Louisiana, Texas, as well as Arkansas and could be heard over different radio stations. In 1956, he went into promotion, though he continued as a performer as well. He returned to Arkansas, where he fronted a band and toured the state during the 1950s and 1960s. He disbanded his band in 1973 and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1981, where he continued to book shows and to work with with a bluegrass band. He also returned to Nashville once a year for the Old Timers show and was also a member of the Country Music Association.

Paul Howard died June 19, 1984, in Little Rock, Arkansas, of heart failure. He was 75 years old. That same year, German Cattle Records released an LP with a collection of his recordings. Two CDs followed in 2010 on the TRG label and in 2013 by the British Archive of Country Music.

Sources
• Hillbilly-Music.com entry
• 45worlds.com/78rpm entry
• SecondHandSongs
• Country Music Hall of Fame
• Entry at Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies
• Steel Guitar Forum
• Find a Grave entry
• Jon Hartley Fox: "King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records" (University of Illinois Press), 2020, pages 80-81
• Max M. Cole: "Western Swing at its Best" (liner notes), Cattle LP 57

Sources for Arkansas Cotton Pickers members
• Sunny Allbright
• Jimmy Byrd
• Bob Moore
• Nita Lynn
• Little Roy Wiggins
• Grady Martin
• Hank Garland
• Rollin Sullivan

Dixie Harper on Dude

Dixie Harper and Her All Golden Drifters - I Love You More Every Minute (Dude JB-1502), ca. 1947/1948
(courtesy of Sean Hickey)

Dixie Harper was one of the few country & western women singers that emerged out of Arkansas. There were several national known singers that were born in the Natural State and raised with its culture and, therefore, music. She left the state at an early stage in her life, became known in Fort Worth, Texas, with her band during the 1940s but remained on a regional level and finally laid her career to rest.

She was born Nora Mae Harper on March 27, 1918, to William and Julia Harper. According to official census records, the Harper family was living in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas, area in 1920 so it is likely that Harper was born there. However, information on her early life is scarce. She had at least five siblings and the family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, at some point between 1920 and 1930. Harper, who was known to friends as "Dixie", married a man called Terry Day in the 1930s but had divorced from him again by 1940. The couple had one son, born in 1936.

According to her daughter, Harper decided to try her luck in music after the divorce but to all accounts, she first appeared as a singer not until early 1947, when she began as a solo act. Then, she founded her own band, the Bluebonnet Boys, in summer that same year. The line-up included Harper on vocals and guitar, Durwood Tonn on fiddle, David Baker on guitar, Slim Hensley on electric guitar, and J.L. Hodges on bass. The line-up changed over the years but Durwood "Durrie" Tonn seems to have been one of the few mainstays in the band.

On August 3, 1947, the band took part on a statewide contest for amateur string bands in Dallas, Texas, and although the Bluebonnet Boys were only performing together for about two and a half months by that point, they took first place and became the "Texas State Champion Fiddle Band". Although the outfit would perform under different names in the following years, their nickname was being used frequently (in different variations, though). 

For a brief time during late 1947, the band was performing as "Dixie Harper and her All Gold Drifters", sponsored by All Gold Flour. It must have been during this time that Harper and her band were recorded for the first time. On the Dude label, which was operated by Jim Beck out of his recording studio in Dallas, they recorded "Bubble Gum" b/w "I Love You More Every Minute" (Dude #JB-1502), credited to "Dixie Harper and Her All Gold Drifters". Judging by the name, the disc must have been released in late 1947 or early 1948.

Throughout the late 1940s, Harper and her group was performing regularly in different venues, including the Hilarity Club, Stella's Dine and Dance, the famed Dessau Hall in Austin, Texas, the Cowtown Rodeo events in Fort Worth, plus radio broadcasts in the city on such stations as KCNC. Harper was also part of the first ever television broadcast out of Fort Worth, a country & western show organized by Leslie A. Hoffman, an electronic manufacturer from California who was a pioneer in country music TV shows.

Harper and the band continued to record for Jim Beck as "Dixie Harper and her Blue Bonnet Brats", released on both Jimmy Mercer's Royalty label and on the Personality label. Their recordings consisted of traditional fiddle tunes such as "Soldier's Joy" or "Boil Dem Cabbage Down", as well as of covers of the country hit of the day, including their version of Hank Williams' hit "Lovesick Blues". They also cut some radio transcriptions in 1949 for KCNC.

By September 1950, Harper and the Bluebonnet Brats had changed from KCNC to KCUL, also based in Fort Worth. Harper also appeared regularly on local WBAM-TV, including the TV play "The Crossroads Store". During the next years, it seems she took a step back and became less active in music. It seems she stopped her radio appearances in 1951 and two years later, married Donald Louis Sparks, with whom she had two children. However, they divorced in 1959.

Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1967

While her activities as a performer had ceased during the 1950s, Harper decided in the early 1960s to resume her musical career and founded an all girl band that performed for about two years in the Fort Worth area. She also appeared with Tommy Duncan and the Texas Playboys when they performed in the city. However, in the midst of the decade, she decided to quit altogether and became a private duty nurse, working in this field until 1995. She kept singing as a sideline, appearing with different groups in her spare time.

In 1999, her health began to decline and since 2002, she spent her last years in nursing homes in Texas and Mississippi. Dixie Harper passed away on March 7, 2007, at the age of 88 years. She is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Fort Worth.

Discography

Dude JB-1502: Dixie Harper and her All Golden Drifters - Bubble Gum / I Love You More Every Minute (1947/1948)
Personality P-28/31: Dixie Harper and her Blue Bonnet Brats - Devil's Dream / Soldier's Joy
Personality P-29/30: Dixie Harper and her Blue Bonnet Brats - Boil Dem Cabbage Down / Tennessee Wagoner
Royalty P38/39: Dixie Harper and her Bluebonnet Brats - Lovesick Blues / Wabash Cannonball (ca. 1949) 

Sources

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Find a Grave entry

• 45worlds entry

Columbia County Hayride

Rural Entertainment in Southwest Arkansas

The Story of the Columbia County Hayride

Among the countless live stage shows that were held throughout the United States, the Columbia County Hayride was a lesser known example. When the Hayride started, the golden age of American radio had been over for about twenty years by then and many of the Hayride's role model shows had gone off the air. However, the show was one of about a dozen known live stage shows that were held throughout Arkansas and eventually became the longest running show of its kind in Arkansas.

My introduction to the Columbia County Hayride came through Mark Keith, a sometimes performer on the show and fellow record collector. Mark was of great help during some of my Arkansas music researches and when the Hayride finally came to an end in 2023, I took it as an inducement to write down its history.

The Mount Holly Jamboree
The founders of the Hayride were Johnny Sprayberry and Troy Wyrick, two musicians who met in the early 1970s and took a liking to each other when they found out they had common relatives in Texas. They started to play music in their back yards. What started as jam sessions of two musicians developed soon into something bigger. People came by to watch them play and other musicians gathered and sat in. They found an old building in Mount Holly, located roughly between Magnolia, Smackover, and El Dorado in South Arkansas, and fixed it up in order to play live shows there. This was in 1971. The forerunner of the Columbia County Hayride was born.

The early incarnation of the show, when it was still known as the "Mount Holly Jamboree".
Johnny Sprayberry can be seen behind the microphone.

Initially, the show was called "Mount Holly Jamboree" and was not aired live over radio. "All was well for a year or two until the Arkansas State Police pretty much closed it down because people were parking on the sides of the state highway, there was virtually no parking at the building," told me Mark, who got his start at the show later on. Sprayberry and Wyrick held a few shows at the Magonolia fairgrounds in an open air pavilion, though this was not a  proper replacement for the Mount Holly hall. 

Moving to Columbia County
They kept on searching and found another old building, an abandoned school, in nearby Calhoun. Again, the building needed some repair and fixing but in the end, was ready to stage live country music shows again. It was probably at that point when the name "Columbia County Hayride" was designated to the show. The show was held live but was still not broadcast on radio.

Betty Sprayberry on drums, Henry Matthews in front

The original house band of the show, known as the Country Cousins, comprised Johnny Sprayberry on vocals, rhythm guitar, and steel guitar, Troy Wyrick on lead guitar, Don Kennedy on rhythm guitar, Kay Jacks on rhythm guitar, Dorothy Roden on autoharp and mandolin, Vic Reynolds and then Curt Cannon on bass, and Betty Sprayberry on drums. Some of the members also stepped up to the front light, including Sprayberry. Other bands on the show during this time included a rock'n'roll band known as "The Rock & Roll Express", the Shine-Ons, a bluegrasss group fronted by Mary Pate, and the Cox Family that joined around 1972 or 1973, as well as a group called "Night Train", among others.

Some of the artists that appeared on the Hayride became major country music stars. Tracy Lawrence, who was raised in Foreman, Arkansas, and performed on the show, had several hit albums and singles in the 1990s and early 2000s and might be the most successful artist that worked the Hayride stage. Linda Davis was another singer that appeared on the show and eventually found success in the 1990s as a country music singer. The Cox Family became a well-known bluegrass group, working with Allison Krauss, among others, and had a highly acclaimed album out in 2015, "Gone Like the Cotton".

The original line-up of the Country Cousins

Radio broadcasts, another move and the End
In the early to mid 1990s, the Columbia County Hayride finally hit the airwaves. Local Magnolia radio station KVMA taped the show to broadcast it. Around the same time, the show made one more move into Magnolia, switching from the old school house into a former furniture store on West Union Street. The owner of the store, who was a big Hayride fan, had moved his business into a bigger place and gave over his old building to the show management. The Hayride show now housed up to 250 people every third Saturday night at the new place, known as the Union Street Station. The house band changed their name to "Union Street Band" to underline the movement.

Around 1998, the show switched from KVMA to more powerful KZHE, licensed in Stamps, Arkansas, but actually located in Union Street Station. It was quite an improvement for the Hayride to jump from a 1,000 watt daytime station to a 50,000 watt station, serving a radius of 75 miles around Magnolia. In addition, the show began to air live on the station instead of taped shows.

The show continued to draw crowds once a month until Covid hit the world and the Hayride was paused during these years. In 2021, the Hayride celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special show and KZHE conducted an interview with founder Johnny Sprayberry. After the pandemic, the show resumed but made its final run in 2023 after a history of 52 years. This probably made her Arkansas' most enduring country music live stage show.

"I very much loved the Hayride and hate to see it go away... but that's how things go," attests Mark, who has been a performer on the show in the mid 1970s and prior to its end. He still performs in the Magnolia region and appears frequently on KZHE's Gospel Hour show, another live music show in the region.

Sources

• My special thanks to Mark Keith, who provided me with all the details necessary for this write-up. 

Marvin McCullough on Boyd

Marvin McCullough - Mayby My Baby (Boyd BB-3383), 1961

Tulsa has been a city full of music for long and it was especially a hot bed for western swing music since the 1930s, mainly due to the presence of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys and the various bands that developed out of it, led by Wills companions like his brother Johnnie Lee Wills or his former steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe. One of Tulsa's later stars was singer and DJ Marvin McCullough, who enjoyed great popularity in the area in the early 1960s.

McCullough was born on September 13, 1934, in Birmingham, Alabama, and collected his first experiences in the radio business on Alabama stations WGAD out of Gadsden and on WANA in Anniston. Nothing else is known about this early stage in his career.

Probably his first recordings were made in the mid 1950s with the Acme record label from Manchester, Kentucky. Today, the label is best remembered for its traditional bluegrass, gospel, and country music releases and it is probable that McCullough's first sides were in a similar style. Acme #1210 was his first release and coupled "I Think I'm Falling in Love with You" with "I Can't Tell My Heart". It was followed by Acme #1215, two religious song performed with support by the Keck Brothers, "The Bible in Song" b/w "My Lord Is Coming Home from Heaven". Although these cuts seem to be McCullough's earliest recordings, no exact release date has been documented or can be traced as Acme releases are hard to date.

In 1950, McCullough joined the staff of KWHN in Fort Smith, Arkansas, near the Arkansas-Oklahoma state border. He remained with the station for five years but also had a very popular morning program in 1953-1954 on KFSA in Fort Smith. In 1955, switched to KRMG in Tulsa, which broadcast out of Leon McAuliffe's Cimarron Ballroom. By 1958, McCullough was appearing regularly with Gene Mooney's Westernaires, a local Tulsa western swing combo that was around for many years, appearing in Northeastern Oklahoma and Northwestern Arkansas. McCullough formed his own band in 1961.

By the early 1960s, McCullough had become the top country music DJ in town. By then, he performed western swing, the predominant style in that region. Billy Parker, steel guitarist and band leader himself, remembered that at one time in the early 1960s, McCullough had three shows daily: one in the morning, a lunchtime show (a slot he had taken over from Leon McAuliffe), and a midnight show. "People would come in as a studio audience and watch him when he was on the radio. The studio room probably had seats for 40 people, but there was never enough room. People would standing around against the walls. Even on his midnight show, he had a studio full," remembered Ira "Rocky" Caple, McCullough's steel guitarist and band leader in his own right, in a 1990s interview with John Wooley.

In 1961, McCullough began recording for local Oklahoma labels, first for Carl Blankenship's Razorback label from Muskogee, located near Tulsa. Blankenship had been a DJ on KWHN in Fort Smith, too (McCullough knew him likely through their mutual days at the station), and had booked Mooney and the Westernaires into several places during the late 1950s. McCullough and his band released "Bitter Tears", sung by Jimmy Hall, and "Sawed Off Shot Gun", an instrumental spotlighting the steel guitar skills of Rocky Caple. 

Billboard May 15, 1961, C&W review

His most popular record came that same year with a song called "Just for a Little While", which saw release in May on the Boyd label (#BB-3383) from Oklahoma City. Both the A side and the B side, "Mayby My Baby", were written by successful songwriter Eddie Miller. "Just for a Little While" was a top seller and saw national distribution by United Artists. Following the success, Boyd released another single by McCullough in 1961.

Billboard November 6, 1961

Capitol Records, which had a noteworthy country roster with the likes of Buck Owens, Ferlin Husky, Tommy Collins, Hank Thompson, Wanda Jackson, and many more, saw enough potential in McCullough to sign him to a recording contract. Though, only two records without significant success saw the light of day on the label. The first came out around September 1962, comprising "Just Inside Your Arms" and "Where Else Could I Go" (Capitol #4820) from a May or June 1962 session. A November session the same year remained unreleased and McCullough's next single was not released until August the next year, "Stranger In My Arms" b/w "'If' Is a Mighty Big Word" (Capitol #5030). For most of the material, McCullough relied on Eddie Miller's songwriting talents.

The unsuccessful run at Capitol seems to have stopped McCullough's career as a recording artist but he continued to work as a DJ. He began working for KFMJ (Tulsa) in 1968 and worked as the station's music director.

In 1971 or 1972, McCullough returned to Alabama and continued to work in radio. "I believe Marvin came to Anniston, Alabama, because his parents were retired there," remembered Fred Azbell, who was a 22 years young radio DJ in the early 1970s, and whom I found through my researches on McCullough. While Azbell was the nighttime announcer on the station, McCullough took over the afternoon shift. Azbell continued: "I got to know Marvin when I worked with him at WANA in Anniston [...]. He had a really wild lifestyle and could not maintain his pace without help from amphetamines. He made more money doing radio remote broadcasts than most people made all week in radio. He was a born entertainer. I was only about 21 or 22 in those days and I always got a kick out of his stories of working in Tulsa."

McCullough played ocassional gigs in Anniston but obviously had stopped recording. "He had lots of old recordings on the Capitol label. He would always claim they were a brand new release, though it was obvious that they were old," Azbell recalls. McCullough's life would take a serious turn, when he went to jail in 1975, as he had shot WANA morning announcer Randy Carter at a gas station between Anniston and Oxford late one night. Apparently, he did not spent too much time behind prison bars: "I have no idea how he beat that attempted murder charge. [...] He was definitely in jail for a while. I don't know the whole story but a mutual friend visited him in jail in Talladega and said he was in pretty bad shape," retells Azbell the story. "I have no idea where he went after that," he concludes.

McCullough was out already the following year and continued to work as a DJ. Though, he had to change stations and wound up on WKSJ in Mobile, Alabama. Though, this was probably for a short time only. Unfortunately, there is no documentation about how he spent the following years.

McCullough had a stroke in 1991, by then he was in his mid 50s. In the late 1990s, he had returned to his old stomping grounds, the Arkansas-Oklahoma border region, and hosted a gospel music radio show in Oklahoma. His turbulent life came to an end in 1998 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, just two weeks after his wife had died.

Discography

Acme 1210: Marvin McCullough and Band - I Think I'm Falling in Love with You / I Can't Tell My Heart
Acme 1215: Marvin McCullough and the Keck Brothers - The Bible in Song / My Lord Is Coming Back from Heaven
Razorback 45-113: Bitter Tears (with Jimmy Hall) / Sawed Off Shot Gun (with Rocky Caple) (1961)
Boyd BB-3383: Just for a Little While / Mayby My Baby (1961)
Boyd UA-345: Just for a Little While / Mayby My Baby (1961)
Boyd BB-111: Are You Still in Love with Me / Pillow To My Right (1961)
Capitol 4820: Just Inside Your Arms / Where Else Could I Go (But to Her Arms) (1962)
Capitol 5030: Stranger In My Arms / "If" Is a Mighty Big Word (1963)

See also

• Gene Mooney on Rocket

Recommended reading

• SecondHandSongs

Sources

• 45cat entry and 45worlds/78rpm entry

• Hillbilly-Music.com entry

• Gospel Jubilee entry

• Discogs

• Praguefrank's Country Discographies entry

• Billy Parker, John Wooley, Brett Bingham: "Thanks -  Thanks a Lot" (Babylon Books), 2021
• Special thanks to Fred Azbell and John Strauss for providing their memories and recollections about Marvin McCullough.

Wayne Raney on New American

Wayne Raney - The Uncloudy Day (New American 45-NA-104), 1960
This release dates back to a time when Raney had turned to gospel music full-time and many of his EP records during this period were probably produced and released for selling them through his show on powerful WCKY in Cincinnati.

The recordings for this extended play 45 were cut in 1960 at Raney's own studio in Oxford, Ohio, which he had established about three years earlier. The line-up included Raney on vocals and harmonica plus his family, which might have included his wife Loys and his children Zyndall, Wanda, and Norma Jean, as well as an unknown guitarist.

"The Uncloudy Day", or better known as "The Unclouded Day", was composed by Ohio born Josiah Kelley Alwood in 1885. It was recorded by several artists during the 1960s. Raney's own version was reused by him for his "All Time Family Favorites" LP on his Rimrock and Gospel Voice LPs (#GV-101) as well as for another 45 release on his Raney label (#104).

See also

• Wayne Raney - King of the Talking Harmonica

Sources

• Entry at Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

• "The Unclouded Day" on Hymnary.org

• Gloryland Jubilee entry

Zay-Dee Records

Southern Psych from the Zay-Dee label

Zay-Dee Records was the creation of DJ and radio engineer George "Gee" Whitaker, who came to Batesville, Arkansas, around 1963. Previously, he had been a rock'n'roll DJ on the powerful KSEL station in Lubbock, Texas, but his wife Doris originally hailed from Batesville, which took him north to the Natural State.

George Whitaker at KSEL, 1962
(from the back cover
of a Zay-Dee 207 reissue)

Whitaker took a job with KBTA as the station's studio and transmitter engineer. A year later, he decided to try his luck in the record business and set up Zay-Dee Records. The label's name derived from Isaiah "Zay" Dee Whooten, another DJ on KSEL. Whitaker fell in love with that name and apart from his label, also named his second child the same way. Whitaker's job at KBTA was wasn't well paid (he had to drive an ambulance part-time) but soon, a better opportunity came along when Whitaker's father bought KHOZ in Marianna, Arkansas, where he became general manager around 1966.

One of Whitaker's first productions was a record by the Marauders called "Bugg to the Road Runner" (Part 1 and 2), a live recording made at the Arkansas College. Another early single was by Jimmy Payne and the Jokers, an Arkansas rock'n'roll combo that had already recorded for the Bro-Ket label. Payne would go on to release further singles throughout the 1960s.

Zay-Dee became a favorite among record collectors decades later for psychedelic and garage rock jewels like the Paragons' "Black and Blue" or Suspension of Belief with "LSD". The latter's original master was mixed with an opera recording and sound effects by Whitaker (without informing the band) and while it became a favorite among nowadays psychedelic fans, it was dismissed by the group when the members received their copies.

By the late 1960s, Whitaker had moved back to Lubbock, where he released the final disc on Zay-Dee by Gabriel with the Seven Inch Reel. Afterwards, the label was laid to rest and Whitaker continued to work in radio (which he did at least until 2014). Some of the Zay-Dee recordings turned up on a compilation series entitled "Lost Souls", containing rare psychedelic tracks from Arkansas and compiled by Harold Ott. The track "LSD" was also used in the independent movie production "Jane Mansfield's Car".

See also:

• Zay-Dee discography on Arkansas 45rpm Records

• Jimmy Doyle Payne on Alley

Sources

• Harold Ott: "Psych of the South: the Suspension of Belief's 'LSD'" (Arkansas Times), 2014

• Harold Ott: "Psych of the South: the Paragons' 'Black and Blue'" (Arkansas Times), 2014

• 45cat entry

David & Darlene Robinson on Bejay

David & Darlene Robinson with the Eldon Valley Boys - Green Country (Bejay 1353), 1971

The "Green Country", about which David and Darlene Robinson sing, is the Northeastern part of Oklahoma. The term is used since the early 20th century but became well-known during the 1960s through a campaign initialized by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation. Sometimes, the term "Green Country" also refers to the Tulsa metropolitan area, which lies within Northeast Oklahoma.

The copy I bought carried a little handwritten note within the record sleeve, which gave me a little bit of info about the record. "Green Country" as well as the flip "If You Step On Her Hear, You're Walking On Mine" were recorded in June 1971 by David and Darlene Robinson and their band, the Eldon Valley Boys, for Ben Jack's Bejay custom label.  The session took place at Jack's recording studio in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was the Robinson's debut record, followed by two more releases on what was likely their own imprint, Big Green Country (pressed by Rimrock). One of these discs was solely credited to the Eldon Valley Boys. The Eldon Valley was likely a name for the small community of Eldon, Cherokee County, Oklahoma (in "Green Country"), located in the valley of Baron Fork of the Illinois River.

Unfortunately, I couldn't turn up any info on neither David and Darlene Robinson nor on Raymond "Ray" Robinson, the writer of both sides and likely a family member. I suspect all three to be siblings, however.

Discography

Bejay 1353: David & Darlene Robinson with the Eldon Valley Boys - Green Country / If You Step On Her Heart, You're Walking on Mine (1971)

Big Green Country BS 413: David & Darlene Robinson and the Eldon Valley Boys - Green Country / The House That We Live In (1974)

Big Green Country BS 414: The Eldon Valley Boys - It's His Spirit / I Am a Christian

Sources

• 45cat entries of David & Darlene Robison and Big Green Country Records

• "Green Country" Wikipedia entry

Wayne Edwards on Rimrock

Wayne Edwards / Ramblers - What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am) (Rimrock 253), 1968

Wayne Edwards had one release on Wayne Raney' Rimrock label, "What Kind of a Fool (Do You Think I am)" b/w "Please Tell Me (Where I Stand)". Accompanied by the "Ramblers", this is the kind of country music Rimrock became known for: traditional, unpolished, authentic. Released in 1968, both songs were composed by Edwards, about whom nothing else is known.

There are two more releases, one on the Houston, Texas based Ramada label (1970) and another one on the Two Hearts label (involving Nashville music business figure Wade Pepper), although I'm not sure if this is the same artist.

Sources
• 45cat entry for Wayne Edwards / Ramblers and Wayne Edwards (possibly different artists)

Roy Hogsed on Capitol

Roy Hogsed - I Wish I Wuz (Capitol F1721), 1951
(courtesy of Sean Hickey of Winslow, Arkansas)

Although Roy Hogsed's style and several of his recordings were historically significant, foreshadowing the rockabilly sounds of the mid 1950s, he remains a rather unknown figure - even among proficient collectors and scholars. Today, Hogsed is best remembered for recording "Cocaine Blues". Although his up-tempo version was not the first recording of the song, it set the pattern for following versions and helped making the song a minor country classic.

Roy Clifton Hogsed was born on December 24, 1919, in Flippin, North Arkansas, to Harles and Vida Hogsed. The couple had a total of six children and father Harles being a fiddler and banjo player, started teaching all of his kids instruments in order to establish a family band. This was in the early 1930s and young Roy was taught to play guitar by his uncle Clem. When the band was ready, it included guitars, fiddles, and mandolins, and began playing local dances. But their family act soon performed at school houses and then also traveling tent shows and fairs. Finally, they traveled around in a self-built Ford mobile home, playing wherever they could. They became known as the "Arkansas Hillbillies". Their constant life meant dropping out of school, having no formal education, although their father engaged a black woman to teach his children.

By the late 1930s, the family band started to fell apart. The eldest sister Fleeta married and young Roy dropped out of the band, too. His other siblings went back to school, while he worked as a butane truck driver. Hogsed met Willie Marie Gilliam, whom he married in 1940 in Flippin. In the following years, he worked various jobs in Texas and Oklahoma, then served a year in the US Navy during World War II but was discharged due to health issues.

Following the war, Hogsed worked for a couple of months with a band called the Dixieland Troupers at WJDX in Jackson, Mississippi. But soon, like so many Arkies and Oakies during the 1930s and 1940s, Hogsed set out and moved to California, hoping to find better living conditions. These immigrants brought their music tothe west coast as well, and when Hogsed settled in the San Diego area in 1946, he found a lively country music scene.

Roy Hogsed promo picture, late 1940s or early 1950s

In San Diego, he first worked as a bus driver but soon, joined Wayne Williams' Happy Cowboys as a guitarist. This job did not last long either and Hogsed founded his own group with Casey Simmons on bass and Dutch born Jean Dewez on accordion. They became known as the Rainbow Riders or simply as the Roy Hogsed Trio. Simmons was soon replaced with Rusty Nitz and the trio worked club dates in the area. Only being a trio without a drummer, it was hard for Nitz to keep the beat strong in the loud clubs, and therefore developed a heavy slap bass, which became a trademark of the trio's sound.

Billboard June 7, 1947

In May 1947, Hogsed and the boys started making records for Charles Washburn's Coast label. Their first release came out in June that year with  "Daisy Mae" b/w "Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume" (Coast #261). Four more releases followed on Coast till April 1948 and it was already his second release on the label that featured "Cocaine Blues". It was one of three versions that appeared in 1947 (along with W.A. Nichols' Western Aces with Red Arnall on S&G and a slightly different version by Billy Hughes). Hogsed's version was not the first; in fact, the song was based on the folk song "Little Sadie" and was recorded as early as 1934 by Riley Puckett as "Chain Gang Blues". Today, the song is best remembered through Johnny Cash's versions, who first recorded it as "Transfusion Blues" and performed it live in 1968 at Folsom Prison, which was released on the memorable "Live at Folsom Prison" album.

Hogsed's Coast records came to the attention of Capitol Records, the west coast's only major label back then, and when Coast folded, Capitol signed Hogsed to a contract. The label re-released "Cocaine Blues" in May 1948 (#40120) and the song reached #15 on Billboard's C&W charts. Ken Nelson, Capitol's A&R chief, remembered the furor the song stirred when Hank Thompson insisted to record it some ten years later. With explicit references to drug abuse, the song was still extraordinary back then. More records followed on Capitol, though Hogsed's first releases on the label were drawn from older Coast sessions. Hogsed, Nitz, and Dewez recorded their first session for Capitol on July 20, 1949, at the Capitol studio in Hollywood.

Today's selections were recorded on June 19, 1951, at Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood with a band consisting of Hogsed's brother Jasper on guitar or fiddle, Denny Drazkowski on accordion, Rusty Nitz on bass, and Thomas Mills on drums. Released on Capitol F1721a month later but it didn't chart. Billboard and Cash Box both reviewed the single on August 4, 1951, and while Cash Box was fond of "I Wish I Was", Billboard called "Free Samples" "mediocre" and "I Wish I Was" a rendition that "doesn't do it justice".

Although Hogsed recorded several fine and style-wise noteworthy recordings like "Snake Dance Boogie", none of them were hits and by 1954, Capitol had lost faith in Hogsed and dropped him from its roster. This brought an end to Hogsed's rather short-lived career as an recording artist.

Hogsed and his band, which featured a completely different line-up already by 1953, continued to work live dates in San Diego during the 1950s and 1960s. The fact that Hogsed made his home base in San Diego and not in Los Angeles, west coast's own country music capital, may have been a reason that Hogsed never broke through nationally. In 1962, he suffered severe injuries after hitting a light pole with his car. Curiously enough, he had been chased by a police car since he had run four red lights and drove too fast.

Nevertheless, Hogsed continued to work as a musician until around 1969 when he quit the business altogether. He took a day job afterwards, working as a welder for San Diego Gas and Electric until his untimely death. Hogsed committed suicide on March 6, 1978, at his home in Vista, California, leaving his five children and his wife Willie, who passed away a year later in Texas.

Sources
• Wikipedia entry
• Roy Hogsed on Bear Family
• Hillbilly-Music.com
• Discogs
• SecondHandSongs.com
• Entry on 45cat and 45worlds/78rpm
• Entry at Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies

Alden Holloway on Dixie

Alden Holloway - Blast Off (Dixie 45-2020), 1959
This record ranks among the more expensive 45s, if you find it on ebay, a collector fair or something like this. Lucky are those who found it left alone in a box of other 45s at a flea market. The highest price I saw was 455 USD. However, the late and great Alden Holloway died at the very beginning of this year and gone is the chance now to interview him about his musical career.

Born Alden William Holloway on January 26, 1925, in Moko, Arkansas, he was interested in music already as a child. He had his first appearance at the age of five years on the counter of a local store. In addition, he also sang in the church choir. Holloway became an accomplished musician and played guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and steel guitar.

By 1944, Billboard reported he was a DJ on KNET in Palestine, Texas. Why and when he came to Texas is not known. Back in Arkansas, Holloway had met his future wife Polly at Salem High School. When Polly and her family moved way up north to Washington State, Holloway followed his high school sweetheart and they were married in September 1944.

By the  early 1950s, he had his own band and appeared on local radio stations such as KPKW (Pasco, Washington) and KWIE (Kennewick, Washington) as "Shorty" Holloway. Already in 1951, he released what became his debut record on the 4 Star custom label Northwest Records (in 4 Star's "Other People" series). Based in Richland, Washington, this was likely also Holloway's home at that time. The disc featured "I'm a Married Man" and "If I Can't Be Your Lover" (Northwest #OP-118). Until 1956, four more discs on the Northwest label followed, making it a total of four discs. The first three of them were manufactured in the 78rpm format but when Holloway released "Beaumont Blues" and "Rabbit Ears" (Northwest #OP214) in 1955, the 78rpmm format had become outdated, therefore Holloway issued this and its follow-up "Woodpecker Love" b/w "Red Rose of Arkansas" (Northwest #OP-263) on 45rpm discs.

The late 1950s saw Holloway releasing the records he is best remembered for today. Being previously a stone hard country musician, he now tried his hand at rock'n'roll. Holloway and his band, now called Tri City Boys, cut "Loving Is My Business" (written by Holloway) and "Chiquita" probably in 1958 in their home state Washington. They sent the tapes again to a custom pressing service, this time Starday Records in Houston, Texas. It was released on Starday 714 around June 1958 and I assume, there weren't much more than 1.000 copies pressed. His next single definetly became Holloway's claim to fame, at least in the rockabilly collectors scene. "Blast Off" b/w "Swinging the Rock" (Dixie 45-2020) are two great guitar driven rockers from 1959. The lead guitarist on both songs was to all acounts Holloway.

For the next decades, Holloway kept on performing in the Tri-City area of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland with personal gigs as well as radio and TV appearances. Nevertheless, to suppot his family, he held down regular day jobs, for example working at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and the Alaska pipelines. He appeared with such stars as Little Jimmy Dickens, Porter Waggoner, among others and also continued to record. He had his own recording studio in the basement of his house and in the second part of the 1960s, he released two 45s on the Big Sound label.

Holloway's talents as a musician surfaced in different ways. Apart from recording and personal appearances, he would also host countless jam sessions at his house. Though he played different string instruments, the guitar became his main instrument. He played different double neck guitars and one of them was displayed in 2015 during an episode of PBS' "Antiques Roadshow".

On the private side, he had two children with his wife. In 2022, Polly Holloway was still living in the Tri-City area.

On January 1, 2013, Alden "Shorty" Holloway passed away at Kadlec Medical Center. He was 87 years old. Holloway is buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Richland, Washington.

Discography

Northwest OP-118
Shorty Holloway and his Prairie Riders
I'm a Married Man (Holloway) / If I Can't Be Your Lover (Let Be Your Pet) ()
OP-153 / OP-154
1951

Northwest OP-149
Shorty Holloway and his Prairie Riders
Cotton Pickin' Boogie (Holloway) / Why Can't I Go Back (Holloway)
OP-124 / OP-215
1953

Northwest OP-201
Shorty Holloway and his Prairie Riders
I Want to Squeeze You (S. Holloway; C. Tucker) / Pray Pray (S. Holloway)
OP-326 / OP-327
1955

Northwest OP214X45

Shorty Holloway & his Prairie Riders

Beaumont Blues (Alden Holloway; C. Tucker) / Rabbit Ears (Bert Wells)

OP-360 / OP 361

1955

Northwest OP-263-45
Alden Holloway and his Prairie Riders
Woodpecker Love (Alden Holloway) / Red Rose of Arkansas (Alden Holloway)
OP-470-H / OP-471-H
1956

Starday 45-714

Alden Holloway and his Tri City Boys

Chiquita (Floyd Hogien) / Loving Is My Business (Alden Holloway)

A / B

1958

Dixie 45-2020

Alden Holloway

Blast Off (Alden Holloway; B.R. Thomas) / Swinging the Rock (Alden Holloway)

2953 / 2954

1959

Big Sound No.#

Alden Holloway

Walking the Blues Away (Polly Holloway) / Oklahoma Sweetheart (Polly Holloway)
20949 / 20950 (Rite)

1967

Big Sound U-23849M
Shorty Holloway (and the Variety)
You've Gotta Live It Right (Dewey Long) / Count Me Out (Dewey Long)
A / B

There are a couple of more songs which Holloway recorded, including "Butterflies in My Heart" and "Telephone Blues", which cannot be traced back to a certain release.

Sources
• Find a Grave entry
• Hillbilly-Music.com
• Obituary at Hillbilly-Music.com
• Entries at 45cat and 45worlds/78rpm