Bobbie Jean on Sun

Bobbie Jean / Ernie Barton Orchestra - Cheaters Never Win (Sun 342), 1960

Here we have an oddball recording. It was neither an odd sounding record nor was the material. It was, however, odd in terms of sound for Sun Records. Although the recordings released on Sun by the time Bobbie Jean saw her star shine on the label were dominated by teen pop and dripping choruses, her record was still a notch or two above them all, as far as it went for soapy sounds.

Bobbie Jean was actually Bobbie Jean Gladden, who married Sun Records artist Ernie Barton in the  1950s. She hailed from Little Rock, Arkansas, where she was born on November 12, 1927, to James Robert and Kathryn Gladden. Her father was a Circuit Court Clerk in Missouri and Arkansas at some point, and the profession as a legal practitioner had some tradition in the Gladden family, as Bobbie Jean later worked in the same field. At least since 1951, she worked as a lawyer in Little Rock and was first married to Harry Jackson Farrabee (marrying in 1949) but divorced from him eventually.

She probably became acquainted with Ernie Barton in the second half of the 1950s, as Barton arrived in Memphis probably in 1956. He had heard Elvis Presley and was convinced Memphis was the place to be. Blessed with some musical talent, Barton began to work with Sun Records in early 1957, initially as an recording artist but later on also as a songwriter, engineer and producer. When staff members Jack Clement and Bill Justis had left by 1959, Barton convinced Sam Phillips to let him work as a producer and manager of the studio.

By that time, Bobbie Jean had stepped into his life and she was a talented singer, too. Barton brought her over to Sun and recorded her in 1960. The song material consisted of an answer song to Jack Scott's big hit "Burning Bridges" entitled "You Burned the Bridges" plus a song written by Brad Suggs entitled "Cheaters Never Win", which Suggs had intended originally for Nat King Cole, according to his own accounts. You can clearly hear the pop approach on both songs but the string section is way overproduced and kills the record effectively. Apart from the strings, the recording featured a line-up of Sun session musicians, including composer Brad Suggs on guitar.

The coupling appeared on July 7, 1960, (Sun #342) but failed to sell (sharing the fate with Bobbie Jean's husband's records). It was not something that people would expect from Sun Records and upon release, it is reported that even some faithful Sun distributors were doubtful. Bobbie Jean recorded additional material at Sun, both demos and masters, but Sam Phillips refused to release anything more. Ernie Barton also recorded enough material worth an album and indeed, Bobbie Jean Barton requested that Phillips would release an LP of her husband's material, sending him legal threats, which he ignored and never followed her requests.

On August 13, 1960, Barton appeared at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, singing three songs: the then current Hank Locklin hit "Please Help Me I'm Falling", her own release "You Burned the Bridges" and the old favorite "Jealous Heart". On the show, she was accompanied by a local Hayride band, the Sons of Dixie. Barton must have been an odd sighting on the Hayride stage, as she was as much country as Dean Martin, and this seems to have remained her only promotion activity for the disc.

Ernie Barton left Sun in 1961 and recorded two more 45s, before moving to Midland, Texas. He died in 2002. In July 1960, there were approaches to disbar Bobbie Jean Barton, preventing her from practicing as a lawyer, which at some point actually proofed successful. However, she won her licence back in 1964. What happened to her afterwards is yet a question to answer. She passed away June 14, 1978, at the age of 50 years. She is buried at Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock.

See also
• Ernie Barton on Phillips Int.

Sources
• Session details on 706unionavenue
• Ernie Barton on Bear Family
• Ernie Barton biography
• Rock'n'Roll Schallplatten Forum (German)
• Entry at Find a Grave
• Paper from Arkansas Tech University Library (1964)
• Colin Escott, Martin Hawkins: "The Louisiana Hayride" (CD Box Set), liner notes, Bear Family Records

Buddy & Jack Keele on Eugenia

Buddy Keele and Ozark Melody Boys - Time After Time (Eugenia #1002), 1964

I have featured the flip side of this record a few months ago and thought I'd share this side, too, as I was able to dig out some information on the artists.

Apparently, Jack Keele and the Ozark Melody Boys hailed from Missouri. Carvin Campbell "Jack" Keele was born on August 25, 1918, in Illinois. However, his father, Arthur Lucien Keele was born in Missouri and by the time Jack Keele was two years old, the family had moved back to that region. It seems that Keele spent most of his life in Missouri and by the mid 1950s had assembled a country band named "Ozark Melody Boys".

The Current Local, Van Buren, Missouri, April 28, 1955

In the mid 1960s, they got the chance to record for Style Wooten in Memphis and cut "Memories of You" / "Time After Time" for Wooten's Eugenia label (#1002). The vocalist on this record was Buddy Keele, one of Jack Keele's children. Buddy and Jack remained active in the music scene and in 1975, Buddy Keele cut another single record for the NSD (Nashville) affiliated Carvin record label, likely owned by Jack Keele. The single featured "Walking Into Your Life" b/w "Tell Me a Lie" (Carvin #101).

Buddy Keele had a career as a musician on his own in St. Louis, Missouri, playing a club six nights a week for 15 consecutive years with his own band, known as the "Buddy Keele Band" or "Buddy Keele and the Swingers". He and his wife bought their own club eventually, where Buddy Keele continued to perform. He semi retired from music in 2003, moving back to Van Buren but kept karaoke as a hobby. He fully retired from music in 2023 at the age of 80 and currently resides in Indiana following his wife's death.

His father Jack Keele died on March 21, 1983, and is buried in Poplar Bluff, Southeast Missouri. I only found access to these information as Jack Keele's grandson posted a short comment under my first post on his father's group and revealed his identity. Another insight into their careers was given by Laura Keele, Buddy's daughter.

See also
• Buddy Keele on Eugenia

Sources
• Find a Grave
• Buddy Keele on Discogs
• MyHeritage

Sylvia Mobley on Santo

Sylvia Mobley - If I Had You Again (Santo #502), 1962 

Sylvia Mobley has been present on the Memphis, Arkansas, and Nashville country music scenes steadily during the 1960s and 1970s, though she never found the acclaim she deserved. She worked with some of the most infamous figures of these scenes, though never achieving much commercial success. Some of her early recordings are now favorites in rock'n'roll record collectors circles and original copies can fetch up some money.

Born Sylvia Mae Robinson on April 28, 1941, in Marshall, Searcy County, Arkansas, she was one of four children of Charles Herman and Lois Marie Robinson. At the time of her birth, her mother was only sixteen years old. Supposedly in the late 1950s, she married Billy Sigman, with whom she had a son, Carson Vail. Her marriage with Billy Sigman obviously did not last long, as she had remarried by the early 1960s. Her new husband was Justin Lee "Bud" Mobley, who stayed with her the rest of her life.

In the late 1950s or early 1960s, Mobley once was managed by DJ, singer, and band leader Jimmy Haggett, who enjoyed some popularity in Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas. Haggett had ties to Memphis as he had recorded for Sun and Meteor during the 1950s and it is possible that he connected Mobley with the Memphis music scene. To start her career as a recording artist, Mobley made the trip to Memphis across the Mississippi  River and got the chance to record for one of the smaller labels in the city, Wayne McGinnis' Santo Records. McGinnis had been an artist in his own right, cutting a superb rockabilly disc in 1956 for Meteor, and had created his own Santo label shortly before Mobley arrived on the scene.

In March 1962, her first single appeared with a romping country rocker entitled "All My Myself", backed by "If I Had You Again" on Santo #502. Judging from the publishing and songwriting credits on the record, her debut for Santo was recorded at Slim Wallace's Fernwood studio and leased to Santo afterwards. Signs of success are not reported for this record but soon, Mobley made herself a name in the local country music scene. Her searing vocals seemed to be perfect for country music.

Sylvia Mobley and the Cotton Town Jubilee band live on stage, ca. mid 1960s
From left to right: poss. Bill Medlock, Jake Tullock, Mobley, Ken Burge, Johnny Duncan

By 1964, she had been discovered by Gene Williams, a local DJ, record label owner, and stage show host. He put Mobley on his Country Junction TV show that was broadcast from Jonesboro, Arkansas, and also gave her the chance to lay down some more recordings. Williams' right hand, Style Wooten, who later went on to become the "king of custom recording" in Memphis, produced another fine country rocker with her, "Every Time I See You", and the country weeper "Tell Me Clouds". Also involved in this production were DJ and singer Chuck Comer plus an unknown, Bozy Moore. The results were released on Wooten's Big Style label and distributed by Williams' Cotton Town Jubilee enterprise.

More or less simultaneously, Williams released "Are You Sorry b/w "Worried Over You" on his own Cotton Town Jubilee label (#113) in 1964 and followed up with a re-release of "Every Time I See You", backed with "I'm Not Alone Anymore" (Cotton Town Jubilee #115) in early spring of 1965. That same year, Williams paired Mobley with Memphis music stalwart Eddie Bond, who released a single on her on his Millionaire label, "Hearts Have a Language" b/w "In and Out of Love" (Millionaire #660S-0885). During this time, Mobley recorded songs from the pen of more or less familiar names. "Worried Over You" was written by Marlon Grisham (known in rockabilly circles for "Ain't That a Dilly" on Cover), "I'm Not Alone Anymore" by Chuck Comer, and "In and Out of Love" by Melvin Endsley, who also wrote the big hit "Singing the Blues" and was affiliated with Gene Williams at that time.

None of her singles so far had stimulated any success, which was probably due to the fact that promotion and distribution of the discs were limited on all labels. Around the mid 1960s, Mobley was still performing on the Country Junction TV show and recorded two more records for the Lake City, Arkansas, based Jeopardy label, which comprised songs penned by Leland Davis, an Arkansas based musician, and Glenn Honeycutt, a 1950s Sun Records artist.

By the late 1960s, she had made the move to Nashville, probably in order to give her career a boost in the capitol of country music. In 1969, she recorded a single for the once glorious Starday label, which had passed its heyday at that time already. In 1974, two more singles followed for the Villa label. In the mid 1970s, Mobley teamed up with famous guitarist turned producer Scotty Moore, lead guitarist for Elvis Presley and producer in his own right, and recorded a whole album for the Belle Meade label, "My Needs are You", which resulted also in a few more singles.

By 1976, after recording unsuccessfully for 14 years, it became clear that Mobley's chance of becoming a star had passed. However, she remained her ties with the entertainment industry, in a different sense though, and drove whirlwind bus tours across Nashville. She had one last album out on the Rays Gold label in 1984, entitled "Songs for Ma Ma".

In 2009, her husband died at the age of 76 years. Mobley, who had remained in the Nashville area, spent her last years at Elmcroft Assisted Living Facility and passed away July 10, 2017, at the age of 76 years in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

See also

• Sylvia Mobley discography

Sources

• Find a Grave entry

• The Tennessean obituary 

• 45cat entry

• Rockin' Country Style entry

Wayne McGinnis on Meteor

Wayne McGinnis - Rock, Roll and Rhythm (Meteor 5035), 1956

Probably one of the most underrated personalities in the Memphis music scene, Wayne McGinnis was both an artist and a business man, recording some of the finest Meteor rockabilly sides as well as leading various labels throughout the 1960s. Another fascinating fact is that he later owned Elvis Presley's first guitar.

Robert Wayne McGinnis was born on January 6, 1932, in Mississippi County, in the Northeast of Arkansas just across the Tennessee state border. Contrary to many other rockabilly singers of his era, McGinnis originated not from a poor sharecropper family but from a relatively wealthy background. His parents, Harry and Audrey Cleo McGinnis, also had six more children: Harold L., Dale, Harry Boyd, Margie, Dorothy, and Ramona June. During high school, McGinnis learned to fly a plane, inspired by a relative of his and it would become a passion he enjoyed all his life. Instead of driving a car, he would cover the distance of 40 miles between home and Arkansas State College with his own plane.

Young McGinnis moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1953 after graduating from high school. There, he began appearing with guitarist Billy Joe Miller and played a mixture between jazz and country music. Shortly afterwards, McGinnis joined Slim Wallace's Dixie Ramblers, a country band that included at one time or another also Billy Lee Riley and Jack Clement. Wallace just had founded his own label Fernwood Records and built up a small studio in his garage. The label was named after its location, Fernwood Drive in Memphis. McGinnis recorded a couple of demo cuts for Wallace but more information on these early cuts escape me, unfortunately. Cees Klop issued two demo recordings of McGinnis' "Rock, Roll and Rhythm" and "Lonesome Rhythm Blues", both of which he would later record for Meteor Records. If these were the tapes made at Fernwood is unclear at this moment. Klop, who issued them on his "41 Years Collector Records" CD in 2008, gave no particular information other than "[...] these are much earlier 'rough' demos [...]. These primitively recorded demos give us a unique piece of recorded history that luckily is preserved for posterity."

At the same time, Elvis Presley went nationally and had left a massive impact on Memphis and its whole music scene. Everyone was speaking of a new sound soon to be called "rockabilly," a style that captured many young southeners' hearts. McGinnis was no exception, especially because he lived in Presley's neighborhood.

First, McGinnis tried his luck at Sam Phillips' famed Sun Records that also had Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and countless other rockers under contract. Since Phillips wasn't impressed enough with the results, McGinnis turned to Meteor Records, another independent label on Chelsea Avenue, and owner Lester Bihari gave him the chance to cut his first record. On April 12, 1956, he went into Meteor Studio to wax "Rock, Roll and Rhythm" and "Lonesome Rhythm Blues," which were released in the summer of 1956 on Meteor #5035. On this session, he was backed by Billy Joe Miller on lead guitar and Curley Wilson on bass with McGinnis on vocals and rhythm guitar.

Source: Volker Houghton

Bihari sent out some of his rockabilly artists, including McGinnis, on tour through West Tennessee, Northeast Arkansas, and Southeast Missouri, but McGinnis' disc never achieved much success. Although more records were granted in his contract with Meteor, McGinnis never got the chance to record a follow-up and in the end, it remained his sole release on vinyl.

In 1957, he went into partnership with Harold Curry, Herman Hall, and Dick McPhearson to develop his hobby into a business and founded his own crop dusting firm, "McGinnis Crop Dusting Service", in his home of Mississippi County, Arkansas. At that time, he was only 25 years old.

Though, music was still on his mind and McGinnis got involved with promotion work in the late 1950s. In 1961, he founded his own Santo label that enjoyed moderate success and a year later, added the Sanwayne label to his business operations. McGinnis also ran his own recording studio for some time in Memphis. The Santo label had a minor chart hit in the spring of 1962 with Ace Cannon's "Sugar Blues" b/w "38 Special" (Santo #503), which peaked at #92 on Billboard's Hot 100. Apart from that, McGinnis released discs by such infamous Memphis figures as Harold Dorman, Thomas Wayne, Anita Wood, Sylvia Mobley, Bobby Lee Trammell, among others. 

In 1968, when Slim Wallace finally gave up his interest in Fernwood Records altogether, McGinnis jumped at the chance and bought the remaining master tapes that had been left over. A good deal of Fernwood's tapes and equipment had been destroyed by a flood prior to McGinnis' purchase. McGinnis operated the Santo label until the early 1970s, before closing down its activities and in turn eventually selling the label to British music enthusiast Dave Travis. 

Although living in Memphis during the 1950s, he later relocated to Mississippi County and spent his last years in Jonesboro. McGinnis had married his wife Ramona in 1954 and had three children with her.

Wayne McGinnis died August 19, 2013, in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Sources:

• Entry at Find a Grave
• 45cat entries for Santo Records and Sanwayne Records
• Cees Klop: "41 Years Collector Records (40 Was Not Enough)" (liner notes), Collector Records (2008)
• Adam Komorowski: "Classic Rockabilly" (liner notes), Collector Records (2006)

J. Allen Gann on Philwood

J. Allen Gann - I Want You (Philwood P-238), 1973/74

I bought this disc several years ago and always intended to post it here but never really followed through with it. Until now, when I found time to sit down and do a little research on J. Allen Gann and his career in music. What I found is not the ultimate biography of Gann but at least I found some hints and snippets that I can puzzle together for this post.

Who was J. Allen Gann? I cannot answer this question satisfactorily. There was a J. Allen Gann (born August 26, 1930 - deceased December 9, 1994), who is buried at Holly Springs Cemetery in Harrisburg, Arkansas, which could be the person we are looking for. However, I haven't found a final proof for this theory.

For his career in country music, Gann was obviously drawn to the city of Memphis. The first known release by Gann appeared in the late 1960s on one of Style Wooten's custom labels, Hazel Records (although listing the Memphis suburb Southaven, Mississippi, as location). It comprised "Walking Tall in Heaven" and "A Whole Lot of Whys" on Hazel #1226. Gann stayed in Memphis and followed up with a single on Tom Phillips' Philwood label. Tom Phillips, one of Sam Phillips' brothers, also operated the Select-O-Hits record store on Chelsea Avenue in Memphis. Philwood released numerous discs by such Memphis acts as Charlie Feathers or the Bogard Brothers. Gann recorded two up-tempo country numbers, "I Want You" and "Takin' a Lot" (Philwood #238), which saw release in either late 1973 or early 1974.

Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1973

At one point, Gann made the move to Nashville, where he cut at least one more record ("Road to Nashville" b/w "Talk to Me Mama", World Productions #501). BMI has listed 18 songs by Gann (also as "Junior Allen Gann"), some of them were co-written with female songwriters (one being Shirley A. Gann, either a sister, daughter or his wife).

There is a video on YouTube that has some conversion of Gann family members but my attempt to contact them has failed so far. If anyone out there has more information on J. Allen Gann, feel free to pass it along.

Sources
- 45cat entry
- BMI search
- Find a Grave entry

Tani Allen and his Tennessee Pals

Country Boogie from Memphis
Tani Allen and his Tennessee Pals

Tani Allen and his Tennessee Pals was another Memphis based country music act that enjoyed popularity from the very late 1940s until the mid 1950s, before rock'n'roll came along and took country music's young listeners. Although not nearly as durable or famous as Buck Turner's Buckaroos or the Snearly Ranch Boys, Allen and his group played the area for a couple of years and had some influence on early rock'n'roll with recording their original "Tennessee Jive", which was picked up by Bill Haley and turned into Haley's "Real Rock Drive".

Birth of the Jive
Not much is known about the band leader, who actually performed as Tiny Allen in Memphis. Allen founded the Tennessee Pals when the decade of the 1940s faded with Allen being the steel guitarist of the band, other members remain into obscurity to this day. Pretty soon after the band came into existence, Allen contacted Jim Bulleit of Bullet Records in Nashville (there were no record labels in Memphis at that time). He received a positive answer concerning the sound of his band but their vocalist was dismissed by the label. Allen, who originally hailed from Chattanooga, Tennessee, called an old friend of his, Houston E. "Buck" Turner (no connection to Memphis' own Buck Turner), who was a talented singer. Turner came over to Memphis and joined the band as a singer.

It is likely that Allen and the Tennessee Pals recorded their sessions in Memphis, though an assured recording place cannot be given. Adam Komorowski mentions in his liner notes to the box set "From Boppin' Hillbilly to Red Hot Rockabilly" (Proper Records) the Peabody Hotel in Memphis as the most probable place, though Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service was in business by January 1950.

When Jive developed into Real Rock Drive
However, the first disc appeared around April 1950 with two of the band's original compositions, "Tennessee Jive" written by Buck Turner and "Rockin' Chair Boogie" written by Ed Crowe (either a member of the group or one of Turner's writing partners) on Bullet #702. The release was credited to "Tani Allen and his Tennessee Pals" instead of Tiny Allen, caused by a communication mistake between label and pressing plant due to the label executives' southern drawl. However, the name stuck and henceworth, the band was called "Tani Allen and his Tennessee Pals".

Billboard May 6, 1950, Country & Western review

Billboard September 30, 1950, Country & Western review

The disc must have sold decently, as two cover versions turned up, although they appeared years after the original version. Bill Haley, Pennsylvania based and once western swing singer and yodeling cowboy at the same time, heard "Tennessee Jive" and reworked it with his band as "Real Rock Drive". Haley had found a new sound on Dave Miller's Holiday and Essex labels with R&B fueled, supercharged western swing, and the first exponent of this new music that developed into rock'n'roll was Haley's cover version of "Rocket 88" from 1951. In that same style, he recorded "Real Rock Drive" in late 1952 in Chester, Pennsylvania (or New York City according to other sources). Miller released his version in November 1952 on Essex #310 and wisely, they put no composer credits on the label as the song was lyrically and melody-wise identical to its original version. However, when the Haley single hit the market, Bullet instantly recognized it was actually a song from their own catalog (published by their Volunteer firm) and sued Essex (despite Buck Turner's advice to wait and see if Haley's version show signs of success). Essex removed "Real Rock Drive" from the market and instead released "Crazy Man, Crazy".

Billboard January 24, 1953, Pop review

Johnny Horton's cover of "Tennessee Jive" must have been prompted by Haley's reworking, as Horton recorded the song shortly after the release of the Haley single, namely on January 26, 1953, at Jim Beck's studio in Dallas, Texas. Though, Horton gave credit to the song's original writers and the song was issued under its original title. Mercury, Horton's label at that time before he found success at Columbia, released "Tennessee Jive" in March 1953, coupled with "The Mansion You Stole", on Mercury #70100.

After the Jive
By the time Haley had reworked "Tennessee Jive" into "Real Rock Drive", Allen and the Tennessee Pals had already their last record released. A total of six discs had been released over an approximate stretch of two years from 1950 until late 1951. Musically, the band kept their uptempo country boogie, sometimes even pre-rockabilly, style on nearly all of their released sides. The band's music was part of a development that occurred across the whole land in country music, covering R&B hits, mixing boogie and rhythm & blues with country music - a sound later evolved into rockabilly and rock'n'roll. And Tani Allen and his Tennessee Pals were located at what became the center of this movement: Memphis. However, they were a couple of years too early to really take part in this musical revolution and disbanded likely even before Memphis became the epicenter of popular music.

Billboard January 19, 1952, Country & Western review

Concerning the Tennessee Pals popularity, it is hard to tell how popular they really were. Bullet managed to constantly send promo discs to Billboard and the band's singles found entry into the magazine's review section. The two cover versions of "Tennessee Jive" also suggests that at least their debut release was a good seller. In addition, Michael Stewart Foley mentions in his book "Citizen Cash - The Political Life and Times of Johnny Cash" that the Tennessee Pals' "Back in the Army Again" from 1951 was "in regular rotation on country station". Cash, who lived not in Memphis until 1954, must have heard this song elsewhere at the time of its release, as he had joined the US Air Force a year before.

A couple of their songs saw re-release on different compilation, including "Tennessee Jive", "Back in the Army Again" (Rockin' Hillbilly, Volume 1, Cactus Records), and "When Hillbilly Willie Met Kitty from the City" (From Boppin' Hillbilly to Red Hot Rockabilly, Proper Records). Thanks to the French Doghouse & Bone reissue label, the band's complete recordings were reissued on long-play vinyl in 2021.

About the band itself, not much is known. After their sixth and last single, released in late 1951 or early 1952, Bullet dropped Allen and his band from its roster. The label offered vocalist Buck Turner to continue recording solo for the label, which he declined. Though, Allen encouraged him to further a solo career in music, which he did and eventually sang and recorded with different bands, including the Dixieland Drifters and his own Town & Country Boys.

Eventually, Allen returned to Chattanooga, where he opened two music stores. There is a mention in the Catalog of Copyight Entries for unpublished music in 1956, documenting the copyright of a song entitled "Pauline, Pauline, Pauline", which Allen had co-written with Carole Smith.

Catalog of Copyright Entries 1956

Tani Allen is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Chattanooga. If you have more detailed information on Allen and his band, feel free to contact me.

Sources
• Tani Allen entry on 45worlds
• Bill Haley entry on 45worlds
• Johnny Horton entry on 45worlds
• BMI archive
• Michael Stewart Foley: "Citizen Cash - The Political Life and Times of Johnny Cash" (Basic Books), 2021
• Bill Haley, Jr./Peter Benjaminson: "Crazy Man, Crazy - The Bill Haley Story" (Backbeat), 2019, p. 54
• Colin Escott: "Bill Rocks" (liner notes), 2006, Bear Family Records
• Adam Komorowski: "From Boppin' Hillbilly to Red Hot Rockabilly" (liner notes), 2005, Proper Records

Buck Turner and the Buckaroos

Rural Entertainment from Memphis

Buck Turner and the Buckaroos

Buck Turner (center) and the Buckaroos with Sam Phillips in Phillips'
Memphis Recording Service studio, prob. 1950 (image from unknown source)

Buck Turner and his band, the Buckaroos, were one of Memphis' most popular country music bands in the 1940s and early 1950s. They were mainstays on local radio and Turner was even involved in bringing Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service up and running, therefore paving the way for the musical revolution that would come (at least to some small degree).

Actually, there were at least three different artists using the name "Buck Turner". Before we proceed, it makes sense to tell apart the different Buck Turners. There was a blues singer named Babe Kyro Lemon Turner, who most frequently performed as "Black Ace" but also used "Buck Turner" and various other names for performing and recording purposes. The other one was more similar in musical style but considerably younger. Houston "Buck" Turner was from Chattanooga and was active as a songwriter and singer, working steadily during the 1950s and 1960s with Gene Woods, the Dixieland Drifters, and Murray Nash. To add to the confusion, he was also working with another Memphis based act, Tani Allen and the Tennessee Pals.

Considering the group's popularity in Memphis and surrounding areas, it is surprising that researchers and journalists have mostly omitted Buck Turner and the Buckaroos from history books and articles. It is also astonishing that this group, and this fact may have caused their absence from the books, made no commercial recordings.

The leader and namesake of the band, Bodo Otto "Buck" Turner was born in 1909 in rural Greene County, Southeast Mississippi, near the Alabama state border. The area was sparsely populated (only about 6,000 habitants in 1910) and its economy based on hog and cattle breeding. It seems that Buck Turner had German ancestors but his father's family, originally coming from South Carolina, lived in Mississippi since the early 19th century. Parts of his mother's family came from Alabama. Turner's parents married in 1896 in Greene County and had a total of nine children, Buck Turner being the youngest. In 1910, a year after his birth, his mother died from blood poisoning. His father passed away in 1924 when Buck Turner was circa 15 years old.

By the early 1930s, Turner seems to have married and moved northwest to Covington County, Mississippi, as we found a grave at Mount Olive City Cemetery of an infant: Bodo Otto Turner, Jr., who was born on May 4, 1934, and died on June 1, 1934, at the age of 28 days. We have no proof that this child was Buck Turner's son but it is quite probable. After the early loss of his parents, this would have been the third tragic incident in his life.

Billboard September 5, 1942

Newspaper advertisements from a local Jackson, Tennessee, paper indicate that Turner began performing music around 1933. By the late 1930s (probably even earlier), Turner had left Mississippi in favor of the booming city of Memphis, just across the Mississippi-Tennessee state border. By this point, he had assembled a group of musicians, which became known as the "Buckaroos". Soon, Turner and his band were performing in Memphis as well as Southwest Tennessee and North Mississippi. They would play school houses, beer joints, and other venues across these areas. The Buckaroos soon became regulars on local Memphis station WREC with their early morning show and developed into mainstays over the years. By 1944, their show could be also heard on WHBQ, sponsored by Black & White Stores.

Line-ups of the band cannot be determined from the few sources but particular names are known, though. Blind pianist Paul Whiteside was a long-time member of the group, at least performing with the band during the 1940s and early 1950s. Memphis steel guitarist Hugh Jeffreys was also a member in the early 1950s (he had performed previously with Paul Howard's Arkansas Cotton Pickers). Other names included fiddler, guitarist and singer Homer Clyde Grice and multi-instrumentalist Grover Clater O'Brien, both from Mississippi. Harry Bolick and Tony Russell cite O'Brien in their book "Fiddle Tunes from Mississippi" regarding Buck Turner: "After he [O'Brien] finished his schooling and before he joined the Army in 1945, Grover played with several country bands including an often low-paying one with Buck Turner: 'One boy that used to play with us was Buck Turner, and we were starvation box-beaters...' Still 'He said he made way more money playing music than working on the farm or in the sawmill.'"

Billboard July 25, 1942

A testimony to the Buckaroos' popularity was given by professor Al Price, who grew up in Mississippi during the 1940s and mentioned the band in his autobiography. "[...] The favorite musical group in our area was the Buck Turner Band from Memphis. Fans such as my mother and father made them popular and rich. Their radio program could be heard all over North Mississippi. They booked shows throughout the mid-South. I remember one special show they did at the Legion Lake, which was located about halfway between Coffeeville and Oakland, on Highway 330. [...]" Although Turner and the Buckaroos likely did not get rich from their fans, their enduring popularity in the rural areas of North Mississippi and Southwest Tennessee likely gave them a welcomed income. Price continues: "[...] One night the Buck Turner Band performed for the dance. I was not allowed to go inside, but I could see what was going on from the door. After about an hour, and after several men had gotten fairly drunk, a fight broke out on the dance floor. I was horrified, but my mother made sure that I was out of the way and prevented my dad from going inside. The band tried to get outside by a back door to avoid getting involved. They had a blind guy playing for them, and I could see them trying to direct him out of the door. Some of the spectators were helping them escape the scene." In the end, a man was stabbed during the fight. This incident also shows that Turner and the band had to deal with the rough habits that were common back then at dances, beer joints, and many other venues throughout the South. The "blind guy" that Price is mentioning was pianist Paul Whiteside.

Billboard 1944 Music Year Book

But Turner and the Buckaroos were more than a popular regional country band. In fact, through their radio shows and countless personal appearances in the area, they had an influence on many young men that later became part of Memphis' thriving music scene and the development of rock'n'roll. Kern Kennedy, pianist with Sonny Burgess' Pacers, cited the band as one of his influences. "We listened to KNBY Newport and WREC Memphis. A group from Memphis I enjoyed was Buck Turner and the Buckaroos. They had a blind piano player named Paul Whiteside that really inspired me."

Besides from a musical point of view, Buck Turner assured his little mention in history books by putting up some money for Sam Phillips' newly opened Memphis Recording Service, the tiny recording studio that would evolve into Sun Records. Phillips had opened the studio on January 2, 1950, on 706 Union Avenue but at first, found little to none musical acts to record but rather earned some money by recording private acetates, funerals or school events. Turner and Phillips knew each other from WREC, for which Sam Phillips worked, too, at that time. Turner and the band recorded their show on WREC for the Arkansas Rural Electrification Program to send out to different radio stations in Arkansas and Phillips transcribed those recordings. In Martin Hawkins' book "Good Rockin' Tonight", Sam Phillips is cited: "The very first job I had after opening my recording studio was in January 1950. I recorded transcriptions for radio with a country singer, Buck Turner. This was for the Arkansas Rural Electrification Corporation. We made fifteen-minute programs that I transcribed onto big ol' sixteen-inch discs. They were distributed to about eighteen or twenty stations." Turner was so pleased with the sound of their shows' recordings that he offered Phillips to invest some money in the venture. In the end, he put in approximately $ 2.000 to buy some hardly needed equipment.

In addition to the radio shows, Phillips had plans to record Turner and the Buckaroos as commercial artists, although this was not a goal straight from his heart but an intermission until Phillips found something that really caught his ear. He also recorded Slim Rhodes' band, another Memphis mainstay on the country music scene, and both were "good solid local combos [but] I never did see anything particular about either Buck or Slim's band that stood out, as far as style," Phillips is cited by Peter Guralnick in his book "Sam Phillips - The Man Who Invented Rock'n'Roll". By summer 1950, Sam Phillips' own "The Phillips" record label (in partnership with DJ Dewey Phillips) had come into existence and the first release was out by local blues man Joe Hill Louis. Phillips also announced that he would record more acts on his new label, including "Your Red Wagon" by Turner and Buckaroos, who "had a knocked-out version of the tune [that] we feel certain...will sell." Due to different reasons, the label crashed and its life ended even before it really began. None of the tapes survived, if they ever existed. Plans on recording Turner and the band were laid to rest finally. By September 1952, Phillips had paid off Turner completely, which ended their relationship both artistically and mercantile. Turner's wife was not happy with her husband's venture either, so it was likely a welcomed way of exit.

As the band's association with Sam Phillips came to an end by 1952, it seems they never had the chance of recording commercially again. However, they remained a popular act in those years and seemed to feature a couple of artists that later became well-known to rockabilly fans - another proof for their historical significance. Both Hayden Thompson and Johnny "Ace" Cannon performed with the band at least occasionally. It seems the Buckaroos were a rock'n'roll tinsmith similar to Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys - though on smaller scales. In fact, both Thompson and Cannon performed with the Snearly Ranch Boys, too.

The Buckaroos remained active throughout the 1950s, playing such events as the annual Farmers Day celebrations in Arkansas. Their radio show likely came to an end in the late 1950s when live music on air was replaced by DJs. There is no exact break-up date documented for the Buckaroos but late 1950s or early 1960s seems to be a good bet.

Billboard April 16, 1966

Buck Turner switched from live music to working as a DJ on WREC and Billboard named him in its April 16, 1966, issue one of Memphis' top disc jockeys in the pop LP sector. A year before, he was part of a six song EP released by Eddie Bond's Millionaire label (Millionaire #MC-109/10) that featured popular Memphis DJs of the time, including Bond, Chuck Comer, and Turner, who is featured with "What Will I Do". This seems to be Turner's only commercial recording.

In 1966, Buck Turner passed away at age of approximately 56 years. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. His death remained largely unnoticed just like his efforts in Memphis music, which paved the way for rock'n'roll music.

Sources
• Goodwin Family History Website
• Find a Grave entry
• 45cat entry for Millionaire EP
• Steel Guitar Forum
• Al Price: "Gravel and Dirt - A White Boyhood in the Segregated South" (Xlibris US), 2020
• Peter Guralnick: "Sam Phillips - the Man Who Invented Rock'n'Roll" (Little, Brown), 2015, pages 74, 88, 97
• Martin Hawkins/Colin Escott: "Good Rockin' Tonight - Sun Records and the Birth of Rock'n'Roll" (St. Martin's Press), 1991, pages 111-112
• Harry Bolick/Tony Russell: "Fiddle Tunes from Mississippi" (University Press of Mississippi), 2021, pages 192, 486
• Marvin Schwartz: "We Wanna Boogie - The Rockabilly Roots of Sonny Burgess and the Pacers" (Butler Center for Arkansas Studies), 2014, page 158

Buddy Keele on Eugenia

Jack & Buddy Keele & Ozark Melody Boys - Memories of You (Eugenia 1002), 1964
This record comes from a batch of Style Wooten 45s that I bought recently from Bruce Watson, the man who opened his massive Designer Records collection for Big Legal Mess that in turn released an amazing 4CD reissue set of Memphis gospel recordings a couple of years back.

Finally, this gem and milestone of Style Wooten legacy is in my possession. This is not like Slim Dortch's "Big Boy Rock", the holy grail of Eugenia Records, but I won't lie when I tell you that Buddy Keele's Eugenia record was on my want list, too. The music is nothing special, though I like it very much. Both "Time After Time" and "Memories of You" are relaxed country music and the recordings have a rural charme, comparable to Buck Trail's "Young Sweethears". This is one of Style Wooten's earliest productions from 1964 and the music sounds quite out of date for mid 1960s Memphis but there were still artists that performed this kind of music and people who enjoyed listening to it.

I have compiled the info I found Jack & Buddy Keele in another post about them. Actually, "Mailing My Last Letter" from Slim Dortch's Eugenia record as well as his "A Long Time" and "Broad Tennessee" from Dortch's Lightning Ball single have that same rural sound and I wonder if the Ozark Melody Boys were backing him up on that number.

See also:
• The Ballad of Big Style Wooten
• Eugenia Records discography
• Buddy & Jack Keele on Eugenia

Shelby Follin and the Memphis Four

Shelby Follin and the Memphis Four

During my research on the Snearly Ranch Boys, I was newly intrigued by another country music band, Shelby Follin and the Memphis Four. A rather unknown act like Doc McQueen or Bob Williams' Mid-South Playboys, I was able to puzzle together and create a short biographical sketch on Follin. Additions or memories on this act are highly appreciated.

Shelby C. Follin was born on April 23, 1916, in Mississippi. Details on his life are scarce but what we know is that he served in the Marine Corps during World War II in South Pacific and after his discharge, became a Tennessee highway patrol officer. Eventually, he became a special officer at Memphis Municipal Airport (now Memphis International Airport).

Kansas City Times November 29, 1951

By the late 1940s, Follin had assembled a little country band that was called “Shelby Follin and the Memphis Four”. In later literature, which mentions Follin, it was often simply referred to as “The Shelby Follin Band”. The group played Ernst Tubb like honky-tonk music around Memphis and in January 1952, Follin and the band landed a spot on local radio station KWEM, hosting a 30-minute program each day (before Howlin’ Wolf’s slot).

Billboard May 24, 1952

Guitarist Paul Burlison was a member of the band from around 1950 until the band’s break-up around 1954. Pianist Smokey Joe Baugh joined the band in 1952, playing with them for about a year before switching to Clyde Leoppard’s Snearly Ranch Boys.

The band disbanded around 1954. They left behind no recordings, as they were out of business before the Memphis recording industry had developed – the only significant labels being Sun and Meteor but they were blues and rhythm & blues based prior to 1954, likely being reluctant to commercially record amateur country music. The only possibility of recorded documents of the Shelby Follin Memphis Four would be live on-air tapes of their regular KWEM broadcasts but there are no tapes known and, to be honest, it is doubtful there ever existed some.

Being only part-time musician, Follin retained his day job at the airport until his sudden death. On January 27, 1959, Follin and a friend were driving in their car from a hunting trip in Olive Branch, Mississippi, a little south of Memphis, when Follin missed a curve and the car hit a tree. Follin was instantly dead, his friend survived. Shelby Follin is buried at Oak Hill Church of Christ Cemetery near Corinth, Mississippi.

Sources
Various books, online entries and liner notes mention Shelby Follin but mostly only refer to him in association with Paul Burlison or Smokey Joe Baugh.

• Find a Grave entry
• Tales from the Woods
• Dorsey Burnette biography on Bear Family Records

Happy Birthday Luther Perkins!

 In Honor of Luther Perkins
(January 8, 1928 - August 5, 1968)

Today would have been Luther Perkins' 94th birthday. Perkins, who was a member of Johnny Cash's band, the Tennessee Two, right from the start in 1954 until his untimely death in 1968, was an integral part of the Cash sound and the success of Johnny Cash. Cash, Perkins, and Marshall Grant started playing gospel music in Memphis, Tennessee. Their musical skills were limited, yet they had a passion for the music. In addition to Perkins' rudimentary skills on the guitar, his instrument was a bit beaten-up. This led him to keep it simple and stick to picking the bass strings of the guitar and muted them with his right hand. The "boom-chicka-boom" sound was born. It was simple but effective.

On stage, Perkins was shy and seemed emotionless due to his fear to make a mistake. During the years, his skills on the guitar improved and he became much better than in 1955 (which can be spotted on recordings and live performances) but his fundamental sound remained the same.

I have chosen a couple of live peformances from the early years of Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two (or Three, with the subsequent addition of drummer W.S. Holland) that show not only Perkins' uncomparable style of "performing" but also the perfect imperfection of these young musicians that producer Sam Phillips always searched for.

So Doggone Lonesome - Grand Ole Opry (1955)
Introduced by Little Jimmy Dickens and Hank Snow. The gamblers in front of the band are Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys.


Folsom Prison Blues - Town Hall Party (1959)


Big River - Star Route (1961)
Introduced by Charlie Williams.


Bonanza - Grand Ole Opry (1962)
Introduced by T. Tommy Cutrer.


Ring of Fire - prob. Jimmy Dean Show (1964)
Introduced by Jimmy Dean.

Good News

Good News
3109 Park Avenue

This was another label associated with Style Wooten, though it seems not to be fully controlled by him. The only known release has "Olive Branch Gospel Productions" printed on the label., which was one of Wooten's companies. Olive Branch is a city south of Memphis across the Mississippi state border.

45/7277: Jessie Clerk - Our Pastor / I Said Ode to Willie Joe (1977)

The Snearly Ranch Boys

The Band that Made Them Rockabilly Stars
The Snearly Ranch Boys from Memphis, Tennessee

The Snearly Ranch Boys at the Cotton Club, West Memphis, Arkansas, mid 1950s:
(from left to right) Stan Kesler, Buddy Holobaugh, Clyde Leoppard, Hank Byers,
Smokey Joe Baugh, Barbara Pittman

It is said that members of the Snearly Ranch Boys were involved in more Gold and Platinum records (nearly 400) than the members of the Beatles (141). This has yet to be proven but would be an astonishing effort for a local country music and rock'n'roll combo from Memphis. Much has been written about particular members of the group but seldom, the group itself was the spotlight of a publication.

The Snearly Ranch Boys were part of Memphis' music scene through the whole decade of the 1950s. They were there when the melting pot of blues and country music began to bubble, they were there when it exploded and they were still there when it would evolve into new styles. Over the years, members came and went, so many that it is actually hard to tell how many.

The band was basically a country and western outfit, entertaining the Memphis audiences with honky tonk and western swing sounds on a frequent base at night clubs and over radio. The band underwent many line-up changes over the years. By the mid 1950s, they soon found themselves being in the orbit of the rising Sun label - in parts due to their vocalists, who often went to Sun from being a member of the Snearly Ranch Boys. The band could be described as a "cradle" for Memphis rockabilly singers.

The early years at the Snearly Boarding House
The birthplace of the group that became known as the Snearly Ranch Boys was a boarding house on 233 North McNeil Street in Memphis. It was owned by Omah "Ma" Snearly at least until the 1940s and was known as the Snearly Ranch or Snearly Ranch House. A lot of musicians were living in this boarding house and by 1949, a consistent group of musicians had developed that came together as a band. In honor of Ma Snearly, the group named itself after her boarding house. The Snearly Ranch Boys were born.

The first ever line-up of the band is not reported unfortunately but early members included Jan R. Ledbetter on bass, whose wife came to the Snearly Ranch during World War II, and Clyde Leoppard, who alternated between steel guitar, bass and drums and became the group's manager. Other early members were Robert "Bob" Pepper, Tommy Potts, and Johnnie White, among probably others.

The building that housed Ma Snearly's Ranch is stillstanding on
233 North McNeil Street. Source: Google Street View

The Ranch Boys soon made themselves a name in Memphis and its counterpart across the Mississippi River, in West Memphis, Arkansas, as a popular live act. Their brand of music was not clearly defined. It definitly rooted in the country music styles of the 1940s, including honky-tonk and western swing, but the group's members brought in a lot of different musical influences and tastes, too. Pianist Smokey Joe Baugh brought in a good batch of boogie woogie and rhythm and blues, not only because of his piano playing but also because of his gravely voice. Drummer Johnny Bernero, who often performed with the band during the mid 1950s and became known at local Sun Records for his distinctive shuffle rhythm, also liked to perform jazz music once in a while. Bill Taylor felt a similar affection for jazz and was influenced by such artists as Dizzy Gillespie.

The Snearly Ranch Boys' own brand of country music made them a popular act and earned them a regular spot at Gary Loftin's West Memphis based Cotton Club, located on Broadway and frequented mostly by white country music listeners. West Memphis was a hot bed for entertaining at that time, a pulsating town of nightlife, clubs, live music, and gambling. The Snearly Ranch Boys rose to become the house band of the club for years. The band also held a regular spot on radio KWEM in Memphis/West Memphis since the early 1950s, spreading their sounds all over the region. The station hosted both black and white musicians, many of them now of legendary status, including B.B. King, Eddie Bond, Johnny Cash, Sonny Boy Williamson II, James Cotton, and many more. It also aired Memphis' few Saturday night live country music stage shows, "Saturday Night Jamboree", from 1953 to 1954 and eventually, after being renamed KWAM, Gene Williams' "Cotton Town Jubilee" in the early 1960s. Snearly Ranch Boy Smokey Joe Baugh and Memphis guitarist Paul Burlison, who was a member of Shelby Follin's band at that time, were performing from time to time with Howlin' Wolf on the latter's show, which was on the air right after the Follins band's spot (and the Ranch Boys' show in turn came after the Wolf's).

An early line-up of the Snearly Ranch Boys, ca. early 1950s.
Clyde Leoppard is placed far left on steel guitar. Source: KWEM Archives.

Entrance Into the Sun Orbit
Stan Kesler joined the Snearly Ranch Boys in the early 1950s after relocating to the city in 1950 as well as Bill Taylor. Kesler would play steel guitar and Taylor served as the band's trumpeter and featured vocalist. Both were adept at songwriting and collaborated on a couple of songs, originally intended to be recorded by the band, but two of them ended up to be on the list for Elvis Presley, who had made his recording debut in summer 1954 for the uprising independent label Sun Records in Memphis. But more of that later. 

Even before Presley recorded these songs, the band came to the attention of Sam Phillips, who ran his Sun record label out of his studio on Union Avenue in Memphis. The songwriting efforts of the Kesler-Taylor duo and the band's connection to Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch, both short-time members of the Snearly Ranch Boys and by 1954  Sam Phillips' new auxiliary workers in the C&W field, brought the band to the attention of Phillips, who seriously considered breaking into the country music business (partly due to Presley's success in this field). Whoever was responsible for bringing the band into the little Memphis Recording Service studio, either Claunch and Cantrell or Leoppard as part of his manager role for the band, Sam Phillips set up a session for the Snearly Ranch Boys in February 1955 that produced two songs: "Lonely Sweetheart", a country ballad reminiscent of the 1940s country hits written by Stan Kesler and probably Al Rogers (a bandleader with whom Kesler had performed prior to his Memphis days), and the Kesler-Taylor penned novelty number "Split Personality", on which Taylor and Smokey Joe Baugh collaborated as Dr.-Jekyll-and-Mr.-Hyde-like narrators. The line-up included Bill Taylor on vocals, Smokey Joe Baugh on vocals and piano, Buddy Holobaugh on guitar, Stan Kesler on steel guitar, and Clyde Leoppard on bass (or drums, depending on which source you believe). Jan Ledbetter, who played bass with the group, was perhaps absent that day.

Phillips released both songs on his new label Flip (#502) already that same month or the month after (sources vary on this issue). It came out on both 78rpm and 45rpm format and is now a rare item. The disc didn't saw much exposure, although it might have sold decent in the Memphis area due to the band's popularity and possibly brought them onto some of Sun's package tours during 1955 or 1956. In addition, Phillips recognized Kesler's talents as a musician and booked him for a slew of country sessions during 1955, including recordings by Charlie Feathers, the Miller Sisters, and Carl Perkins.

Kesler and Taylor composed "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (borrowing its melody from a Campbell's soup advertisement), which was eventually recorded by Elvis Presley in early April 1955 for Sun Records. Presley's version was a blues tingled country song, supported strongly by Jimmie Lott's drumming, Bill Black's slap bass and Scotty Moore's rich guitar playing (Moore also performed with the Ranch Boys a couple of times prior to 1954). Released later in April that year as the flip side of "Baby Let's Play House" (Sun #217), it became a #10 C&W hit. Kesler would compose more songs that were given to Presley, including "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", which Presley took to #1 in the country charts in 1955.

Although their one and only release as a band did not make any great impact, it brought pianist Baugh to the attention of Phillips. In some way, he embodied what Phillips had looked for so long (and had found in Elvis Presley): a white country boy who could sing like a black man. And Baugh, whose gravelly voice wasn't of natural cause but likely due to a throat or windpipe injury, could very well sing like a black blues singer. Paired with his boogie piano style, he was sounding so black people often thought he really was.

On August 25, 1955, another session was organized, this time to produce tracks on Baugh. With a selection of Snearly Ranch Boys that included Buddy Holobaugh, Stan Kesler, Bill Taylor, and Johnny Bernero (replacing Leoppard), at least two songs were produced that day, which were eventually released by Phillips a month later. "The Signifying Monkey" was credited to Kesler and Taylor but the lyrics had a long tradition in African-American culture. It was more of a narrative, done by Baugh in his gravely voice, with Stan Kesler taking up the lead part on his steel guitar. Its flip side, "Listen to Me Baby" was the much more interesting side, a remarkable piece of jump blues and country music crossover. Baugh has fine moments on the piano here with Bernero providing a jumping beat and Kesler throwing in the country feel on steel guitar. The record was first issued on Flip #228 and then, after Phillips had to discontinue the label due to legal troubles, on Sun #228 and hit the market on September 15. On the Flip release, the credit went to "Smokey Joe" and the band was hiding as "Clyde Leoppard Band", whereas the Sun version was simply credited to "Smokey Joe," omitting the Snearly Ranch Boys possibly to make it attractive also to black audiences. The disc sold surprisingly well with 25.000 copies and reportedly got Baugh an invitation from the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

Session band
Baugh and the Snearly Ranch Boys recorded some more sessions for Sun during 1955 and 1956 but none of the recorded material was ever released by Phillips despite Baugh's successful debut. However, it was another, fresh singer that would gain Phillips' attention and cause the band to enter the studio on 706 Union Avenue again.

Mississippi born Warren Smith was fresh out of the US Air Force in early 1956 and upon his discharge, had almost immediately relocated to Memphis. Smith had taken up the guitar during his service and decided to try his luck in the music business. Soon after his arrival, he visited the Cotton Club and asked the band for an audition, spontaneously sitting in with them. Stan Kesler promptly recognized the singer's talent and contacted Phillips to tell him about his new discovery.

Kesler had already a beautiful country ballad in the can entitled "I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry" intended for Smith, who was raised on country music and evidently greatly adept at this style, but Sam Phillips requested another song for a session. Before Kesler or any other of the band members could write a word or a note, Phillips called back and told Kesler that Johnny Cash had returned from a tour with a "rhythm song" he had written in Shreveport. In February, the band including Smith, Phillips and Johnny Cash met at the Cotton Club to go through the details. The idea was to share the profits from the future record in equal parts as, after all, Clyde Leoppard was paying Smith's expenses at the Snearly boarding house. A demo of the Cash song, entitled "Rock'n'Roll Ruby", was given to the band to give in idea of how it sounded. Cash had previously made the tape at KWEM.

Later that month, a session was set up at Sun and the band worked up the selected compositions. The line-up included Warren Smith on vocals and rhythm guitar, Buddy Holobaugh on lead guitar, Stan Kesler on steel guitar, Smokey Joe Baugh on piano, Jan Ledbetter on bass, and Johnny Bernero on drums. The result was a rollicking performance of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" with great twin-solos by Holobaugh and Kesler plus another piano break by Baugh and Bernero's shuffle rhythm. The flip side, "I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry", became what was intended to be, a beautiful ballad sung sincere by Smith and supported by Kesler's steel guitar fills.

Sam Phillips coupled both recordings on Sun #239 and released them in March 1956. Billboard reviewed Smith's single first on April 21 and - when "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" had already hit the local Memphis and Charlotte charts - picked it as a "This Week's Best Buy." On May 26, Warren Smith hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Memphis C&W charts. Smith performed a string of shows with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Eddie Bond, and Roy Orbison in the Memphis area, then embarking on a tour through Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi with Orbison, who had just hit the charts with "Ooby Dooby." By July, "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" had sold more than 68.000 copies, a success that none of Sun's other top stars like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins or Jerry Lee Lewis achieved with their debut releases.

The recording of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" (and a couple of earlier unreleased recordings of Smokey Joe Baugh) proofed the Snearly Ranch Boys could really rock, although they maintained a country feel to everything they did. But they would carry their sound even further. And: the Snearly Ranch Boys had established itself as a smithy for Sun singer (or at least for singers who became part of the label's periphery).

Billboard May 5, 1956

While "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" had become a good seller by April, the Snearly Ranch Boys already worked with another vocalist, this time a young female singer from Memphis, Barbara Pittman. Smith had left the band as he was riding high on local chart success despite his agreement with the band. Barbara Pittman had performed with Lash LaRue's western show prior to her return to the city in early 1956. Then, she met Kesler who brought her in as a vocalist for the Snearly Ranch Boys for their regular spots at the Cotton Club. Kesler had written a song called "Playing for Keeps" that he wanted Elvis Presley to record, who had just switched labels to RCA-Victor, and recorded a demo of it with Pittman as the singer. Sam Phillips heard it and was impressed. A session was arranged on April 15 for Pittman and the band, recording a couple of songs, including the raucous "I Need a Man" and a soft ballad entitled "No Matter Who's to Blame". The sound was similar to Warren Smith's record but more aggressive in approach. Kesler's steel guitar played in the background this time, while Buddy Holobaugh knocks out a thrashing solo on guitar, Jan Ledbetter slaps the bass like he never did before and Smokey Joe Baugh pounding the keys for another instrumental break.

Phillips was confident enough with the results that he signed Pittman to a contract and released both songs, which were again Kesler originals, on Sun #253 on September 24, 1956. It was reviewed in October by Billboard but sold not as much as it should have done. Pittman would go on to record various sessions for Sun, often with members of the Snearly Ranch Boys but mostly not as a whole unit, and had four more releases on Phillips' new Phillips International label.

Own productions
By this time, the Snearly Ranch Boys underwent some changes. Stan Kesler learned electric bass in late 1956 and switched from steel guitar to bass altogether eventually, being one of the first musicians in Memphis to use this new kind of instrument. He also was working with Sun as a session musician and songwriter. Also other members of the group, especially Smokey Joe Baugh and Johnny Bernero, were used frequently by Sam Phillips as studio musicians. Bill Taylor had left the band by then and headed to Texas, where he joined Jimmy Heap's Melody Masters. 

Although it is quite possible that Barbara Pittman performed with the band on occasions throughout the years, the band also featured other singers in their live programs and many of these names could be found sooner or later on a record. Another young musician from Ferriday, Louisiana, performed with then band on occasion approximately during very late 1956 and early 1957. His name was Jerry Lee Lewis. After his first record came out on Sun on December 1, 1956, Sun staff producer Jack Clement brought him along and placed him as a pianist with the Snearly Ranch Boys, as Smokey Joe Baugh had disappeared for a while in his usual unreliable manner. However, by February or March 1957 Lewis had already left again as he was on tour with some of the big names of Sun's roster. The band made a recording later that year with a new singer. Eddie Collins came to the band likely in 1957 and they recorded him at Slim Wallace's garage studio on Fernwood Drive. The products, "Patience Baby" b/w "Can't Face Life Alone", were recorded with the usual line-up and found release on Wallace's Fernwood label (#104, September 1957).

By late 1957, Kesler parted ways with Sun Records, opting to form his own record label in the form of Crystal Records. From this point on, the Snearly Ranch Boys ceased from recording at Sun and recorded at various other venues in Memphis. Also, Kesler and Leoppard discovered the business side of recording and operated various companies in partnership during the next years.

Kesler's first own business was Crystal Records. The label was in business for the most part of 1958 and all releases were by Snearly Ranch Boys vocalists: Jean Kelly, also nicknamed "The Cotton Patch Cinderella," Don Hosea (who also recorded for Sun and Rita), Jimmy Knight, who cut the band's "Hula Bop", and Jimmy Prittched, who likely waxed the best remembered recording from this time period, the magnificent "That's the Way I Feel" (with Smokey Joe Baugh doing a tremendous performance a la Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano). By the end of the year, the label had gone out of business, however. More on Crystal Records can be found here. 

Leoppard and Kesler joined forces in 1959 and opened up a recording studio, L&K Recording Service on 65 North Main Street in Memphis with some semi-professional equipment. Both had experienced failures while founding record labels - Kesler with Crystal, Leoppard with his Fonovox label that had only one sole issue by Smokey Joe Baugh - but, their joint venture in form of the recording studio did not last long either. By April 1959, Jack Clement joined as a partner. Clement, another musician and recording engineer who had started with Fernwood for a brief time, then worked with Sun until 1959, set out on his own in the spring of that year, founding the short-lived Summer Records (which did not last long, either).

In March 1960, Jack Wiener came in. Wiener was a sound engineer at Sheldon studios in Chicago, which mastered and pressed records for such labels as Chess, Sun, and many smaller imprints including Clement's Summer label. He had come down to Memphis in order to fulfill his army service and to construct parts of  Sam Phillips' new recording studio on Madison Avenue. While in Memphis, he became acquainted with other music business personalities and one of them was Stan Kesler. Wiener bought 50% of the L&K studio, the other 50% were left for Kesler, Leoppard, and Clement. The latter dropped out soon after, moving to Nashville to work for RCA-Victor and then to Beaumont, Texas, finding acclaim in his own right.

Kesler found another property on 14 North Manassas Avenue (not far away from the Sun Studio on Union Avenue), moving and rebuilding the small-scale studio under the name of "Echo Recording Studios Inc.". This studio was used by local and even more distant clients during the next two years, although it officially folded already in January 1961. However, Kesler continued to use the studio to run the labels Pen (starting in 1962) and XL.

Kesler produced at least two records that still had a Snearly Ranch Boys connection, although they were not or not directly connected with the band. By 1962, Bill Taylor had returned to Memphis and, of  course, hooked up again with his old bandmate Stan Kesler. Kesler produced two instrumentals with Taylor, the Mexican styled "Border Town" dominated by Taylor's trumpet, and "Twilight Fantasy" with likely Bobby Woods on piano. The second record came into existence two years later. Kesler produced a record for a tex-mex band named Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. They had recorded earlier but it was probably Kesler's first production with them and he remembered "The Singifying Monkey" that the Snearly Ranch Boys had done with Smokey Joe Baugh on vocals. Kesler let Domingo Samudio, Sam the Sham's real name, record it along with one of his own songs, "Juimonos (Let's Went)", and released it on the XL label (#905) in 1964. Although it had an updated sound, the arrangement was pretty well the same as Smokey Joe Baugh's version nearly ten years earlier.

Sam the Sham's version might have urged Sam Phillips to dig out the old Smokey Joe Baugh tapes and re-release his version of "The Signifying Monkey" in May 1964. Another theory signifies that Phillips re-issued the song because it has the same shuffle beat as Millie Small's song "My Boy Lollipop", which was a hot platter in April 1964.

Clyde Leoppard's Tempo Recording Studio
By the advent of the 1960s, the Snearly Ranch Boys had drastically changed. Many of the original members went their own ways. Bill Taylor had parted in the mid 1950s, Buddy Holobaugh left for Waco, Texas, in 1961. Smokey Joe Baugh, who was unreliable due to his alcohol and pill addiction in any case, worked with the Bill Black Combo throughout the 1960s, and Kesler went more and more into record production. Johnny Bernero had founded his own band by the mid 1950s, which at times also included Buddy Holobaugh and Clyde Leoppard, and recorded one single on Beacon/Dot.

In addition to the line-up changes, other circumstances made it difficult to keep the band running. KWEM became KWAM in 1959 and stopped airing live music a year later. The Cotton Club and nearly every other club in West Memphis were closed down following the murder of a 9th grade school girl after leaving the Cotton Club. Leoppard changed the name of the band to "The Tempos" in the 1960s to go in uniform with his new recording studio. In addition, the old name of the band had become out of fashion by the late 1950s. An exact date is not reported but it seems that the band disbanded at some point in the 1960s.

Leoppard continued his activities in the music business, operating his Tempo Recording Studio out of downtown Memphis. Reverend Juan D. Shipp, KWAM gospel radio show host and independent record producer, used Leoppard's facilities frequently to record gospel acts, which he released on his D-Vine Spirituals and JCR labels. The VU label also came out of Tempo and this label may have featured the involvement of Leoppard himself. 

In his later life, Leoppard relocated to Arkansas, where rock'n'roll collector and Sun Records enthusiast Mack Stevens found him in the 1990s: "I met Clyde back in the 1990s in Arkansas; I visited his small rural house and he had a recording studio in the back but unfortunately it had suffered a lightning strike the night before which knocked out all the equipment including the vintage Ampex recorders. Sadly he didn't have any of the good vintage records either, although he had some big band and country 78s, run of the mill things, for which he had made his own homemade 78 RPM sleeves out of old stock Carl Perkins Sun LP covers by cutting them down two inches."

Appendix
The Snearly Ranch Boys were more than just a popular country band. They were part of a musical legacy that developed in the 1950s in Memphis; a development, that began in the early years of the decade and lasted well into the 1970s. The group was a micro-catalyst in the city's music scene during the heyday of rockabilly and rock'n'roll. And moreover, the band overcame racial boundaries through music (a key element in the invention of rock'n'roll), exemplified through the relationship of some band members with Howlin' Wolf. Michael Hurtt, musician, record collector and researcher, also met Clyde Leoppard in later years and constitutes: "Clyde was never a member of the musicians' union, and was turned down when he applied in 1956. He claimed it was because of his association and mixing with blues bands, which I can very well believe. Despite a miniscule recording career (perhaps due to the union situation), Clyde's band was a true incubator of Memphis rock 'n' roll. In addition to Warren Smith and Barbara Pittman, more trailblazers passed through the Snearly Ranch Boys than didn't: Reggie Young, Bill Black, Marcus Van Story, Hayden Thompson, Eddie Bond and Gene Simmons to name just a few, and long-running member Stan Kesler, who started out on steel and then switched to electric bass. Stax and Hi Records founders Jim Stewart and Quinton Claunch were members as well.""

There has never been an official re-release of the Snearly Ranch Boys' output, as the recordings under their own name were next to minimal. However, El Toro Records compiled a CD comprised of Smokey Joe Baugh's recordings that also includes much of the band's session work in addition to some more recordings on which Baugh served as a studio musician.

List of members

(in alphabetical order)
(might be incomplete)

Baugh, Smokey Joe
Bernero, Johnny
Byers, Hank
Hall, Buddy
Hosea, Don
Holobaugh, Buddy
Hornbeck, Rusty
Kelly, Jean
Kesler, Stan
Knight, Jimmy
Ledbetter, Jan
Leoppard, Clyde
Lewis, Jerry Lee
Martin, Ray
Pepper, Robert
Pittman, Barbara
Potts, Tommy
Pritchett, Jimmy
Claunch, Quinton
Smith, Warren
Stewart, Jim
Taylor, Bill
Van Brocklin, Lucille
Van Story, Marcus
Vescovo, Al
White, Johnnie
Young, Reggie

Sources

• The New York Times: Sun Country Retrospective
• The Snearly Ranch Boys Facebook site 
• The Commercial Appeal: Stan Kesler obituary
• Long Lost Memphis '70s Sacred Soul
• 706 Union Avenue: The Flip sessions
• A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry: Jack Wiener and Sheldon Recording Studios
• Soul Detective: Clarence Nelson, Part Two