Music

Old timers will fondly recall the popular 11-piece Marion Mercer Band that featured the bandleader’s equally talented sister Nelle on piano. Debuting in the 1930s, this musical ensemble was the only major one in these parts until its success later spawned other groups. Marion Mercer could play a variety of instruments: trombone, vibraphone, violin, accordion, piano, organ and chimes.

Top: Marion Mercer Band, Bottom: Nelle Mercer Band, Gene Young on Drums

In 1980, the late Press writer Dorothy Hamill interviewed Nelle. The bandleader showed the reporter a photo of her brother’s early band and identified band members. Duke Barron played saxophone and clarinet. Doc Welch, Tony Farris and Edwin Bowman played saxophone. Trumpeters included Dan Zoerb and Bill “Rocky” Stone. Park Johnson was on bass fiddle and Junior Campbell pounded the drums.

Because musicians had regular jobs then, they worked weekdays and performed on weekends. They were in heavy demand throughout East Tennessee and usually stayed booked most of the time. Aside from vocalist Frieda Ricker Rose, Nelle was the only female performer in the band. The gifted lady, who in private life was Mrs. Earl Dotson, could assume Marion’s bandleader responsibilities during his absence at a moment’s notice. Ms. Rose later became a receptionist for the Johnson City Press-Chronicle.

The three Mercer siblings, Marion, Nelle and Beulah, grew up in a musical family. When Nelle was about three years old, she stood on her tiptoes in order to reach the piano keys and plunk out tunes. At age 12, the youngster played piano for Unaka Avenue Baptist Church. Later, her mother would hold her on her lap and let her play.

When World War II broke out, Marion took a military hiatus and began serving his country as a member of the U.S. Army Special Services. Before departing, he turned over the reins of his band to Nelle. The new leader’s first order of business was to compose a theme song, “Study In Rhythm.” Doc Welsh served as arranger for every new piece that the group played. Nelle’s genre was primarily easy listening big band music – soft and sweet in the fullness and richness style of the Glenn Miller Band. Those were the days of the fox trot, Big Apple, waltz and jitterbug.

Jean Bowman Moore, who lived a block away on E. Myrtle Avenue, recalled going to Nelle’s residence at 515 E. Fairview when the bandleader and her band would practice their music on the porch and draw a sizable crowd of spectators on the steps, sidewalk and street below. Jean recalled that those were fun times.

During the war years, Nelle and her band purchased a bus and began traveling to distant gigs in Ohio, Michigan, Louisiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. About this same time, she saw the need for and hired a booking agent.

When the war ended, Nelle and Marion did not reunite, but instead led separate bands. By then, added competition came from others such as Vernon Weaver and Rocky Stone who formed their groups.

Patrons once asked Nelle to organize an all-girl band, but she could not locate enough qualified, available musicians to meet their request. The bandleader’s witty solution was to begin introducing her male band members with ladies names: Mabel (Doc Welsh), Agnes (Park Johnson) and Nanny (Marion Mercer, when he played with them). Not to miss out on the fun, Nelle acquired the name Butch.

Over time, other female vocalists performed with Nelle’s band, such as Lucille Young, Georgia Horne, Margaret Harrison, Ginger Dennis, Betsy Ross and Pat Archer.

In 1947, Nelle and Earl bought the Country Kitchen in 1947. It was located near the old structural steel bridge over the Watuaga River in the Austin Springs community.

In 1956, Marion moved to Crystal Springs, Florida where he remained active in the music entertainment business by forming a new band, which he called the Marion Mercer Trio. He was active there for many years playing at local venues.

The musician opened the first Radio Shack in that area and became the owner of Mercer Music Store in three nearby cities. Many people knew him through his music at the Port Paradise, Plantation Club, Yardarm, Holiday Inn, Citrus Hills and Seven Rivers Golf and Country Club. He passed away in March 2000. 

Nelle’s group later became known as the Nelle Mercer Tenor Band, consisting of tenor saxophones, trumpets and drums. Band personnel were Robert Moore, Tony Farris, Gene Proffitt, Charlie Showalter, Gene Young (drums), Rex S. Rowe, Daley Fine, Clay Slagle, Joe Morrell, Al Bryan, Mac Blackwell, Joe Henley (trumpet) and 13-year old singer Pat Holden.

The Country Kitchen was apparently a successful business enterprise for the Dotsons because they operated it for 21 years until they closed it in 1968. The building stood vacant for many years as a drive by tribute to its big-band heyday era before it became dilapidated and was finally razed.

Although Nelle quit playing professionally, she never abandoned the music she loved. At her home on Austin Springs Road, she owned two organs and a piano and played them with gusto. Since she and Beulah composed numerous songs during their lives – gospel, sentimental and ballads – they ushered in their senior years by getting together frequently and harmonizing their tunes.

Although the three Mercer performers have long passed from the scene, their popular music added rays of sunshine to people’s lives, making them smile at a time when the world’s war situation greatly saddened them. 

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Fiddlers’ conventions became popular in East Tennessee and surrounding areas around the turn of the century and grew even more prevalent in the 1920s, 30s and beyond.

Most rural and many urban Tennesseans had fiddles resting in their closets begging to be played. Conspicuously absent were violins, suggesting a difference between the two instruments or perhaps the two musicians. One dictionary defines a fiddle as “a stringed instrument, see “violin.” Flipping the pages to the definition of a violin produces a similar result, “a stringed instrument, see “fiddle.” To complicate matters, some old-time fiddlers referred to their instruments as violins.

The unfretted fingerboard 4-string devices were heavily utilized at country get-togethers where “choose your partner” was a familiar utterance interspersed between the screeches and screams of fiddle strings. The fiddle became the brigadier general of the traditional instruments performing old-style music. The resulting sound was exhilarating and fans adored it.

The uniqueness of a fiddler was playing by ear and rarely bowing and fingering a tune the same way twice, preferring instead to improvise on selections. This was not the case with the more rigid violinist who received his or her playing orders from sheet music resting on a stand. Fiddle music often received a bad wrap from people who played music in public but had not yet mastered the instrument. Most seasoned fiddlers readily invited novices to play along with them to help them become skilled at their craft.  

A typical fiddlers’ convention usually began in early afternoon and continued into the night. At 1:00 p.m., there would be an open-air concert kickoff with as many as a dozen fiddlers playing at the same time. Thirty minutes later, with the convention now in full swing, the tempo changed producing two hours of breakdown music that echoed into the surrounding hills. Its manner mirrored the simple yet often capricious life of the mountainous community.

Some musical notes appeared reluctant to emerge while others were as flat as a glass of cola that had been long neglected. None of this mattered because the performers were playing the music they loved best to a highly appreciative audience that showed its approval.

The most atypical song of the evening occurred when each fiddler played a different tune in unison with others. The combination of noise, ranging from E flat to canine howls, often qualified for a disturbing the peace citation. The hound dogs present in the crowd settled themselves on their haunches at a safe distance and howled a mournful accompaniment on the refrain. When the smoke cleared and the last fading echo of melody took refuge in the hills, no one appeared to have been injured and the magistrate, who was likely a fiddler, issued no warrants.

The evening continued with a compilation of tunes from a dozen fiddlers sawing away on “Dixie,” “Arkansas Traveler,” “'Billy in the Low Ground,” “Fox Chase” and “Devil's Dream.” Next came a fiddler, described as having plenty of resin on his bow, fingering and bowing to “Bonaparte’s Retreat.” Seven fiddlers followed by grinding out the ditty, “Goin' Long Down to Town.”

The show concluded with a combination of performers playing: “Fire on the Mountain,” “Leather Breeches,” “Sugar in the Gourd,” “Please Don't Shoot the Fiddle,” “Down in Bolson’s Hollow,” “Peter Went A Fishin’” and “Sally Goodin.”

Old-time fiddlers had no place at Grand Opera concerts, but instead were more suited for the Grand Ole Opry. But that wouldn’t occur until 1925 when WSM’s Judge George Hay sounded his distinctive foghorn and invited fiddlers, the likes of Uncle Jimmy Thompson, to entertain at the Ryman Auditorium and over the radio airways.  

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Area oldsters will likely recall the musical antics of Spike Jones and His City Slickers in the 1940s and 50s. My uncle, Glenn Cox, owned a collection of the comedic bandleader’s 78-rpm breakable records and introduced me to the group about 1950. 

About that same time, I recall hearing their songs being played over WJHL radio by popular deejay, Eddie Cowell, who incorporated their chaotic classics into his daily radio show. If you listened to Eddie Cowell, you heard Spike Jones.

 

Jones cleverly and humorously stereotyped his music as “dinner music for people who aren’t very hungry.” He acquired his nickname from his father, a Southern Pacific railroad agent, who thought his son was so thin he resembled a railroad spike.

The band’s typical format was to commence a song with normal melodic music and then, after about 30 seconds, transition into a wild no-holds-barred arrangement with a variety of sounds: cowbells, fireworks, foghorns, screams, horse laughs, shattered glass sounds, gunfire, car horns, screeching tires and clothes being ripped. There was also an unwholesome portion of human sounds: belching, snorting, gargling, whistling and hiccupping. Even their instruments appeared to be deranged, such as a “latrinophone,” a toilet seat with strings.

Over time, the ensemble included regulars Carl Grayson (straight vocalist and violinist), George Rock (high pitched child’s voice, trumpet), Mickey Katz (vocal sound effects), Sir Frederick Gas (played a leather reed known as a Sadivarious, Doodles Weaver (comedian, known for his Beetlebaum routine), Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath, Red Ingle, Ed Metcalfe and Helen Grayco (Spike’s wife). As members of the band, they were frequently heard on records, radio shows and television programs.

Some of Spike’s best-known classics were “Cocktails for Two,” “Hawaiian War Chant,” “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” (Beetlebaum, an unlikely horse wins a race), “Ponchielli's “Dance of the Hours,” “Der Fuehrer's Face” (reached #2 on the Hit Parade during the war years),” “Mairzy Doats” (“Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey,” and “The Hut Sut Song (‘Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit’) and my favorite and seasonal favorite, “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” (#1 on the Hit Parade in 1948).” 

The Slickers were anything but second-class; they could play harmonious music with the best of the big bands of the 1940s era. In 1941, they received a contract with RCA Victor and recorded extensively for the company until the mid 1950s when they moved to the Liberty label. It was then that they dropped their straight music intros in preference to comedic songs.

As a connoisseur and collector of programs from “The Golden Age of Radio,” I recently listened to several Spotlight Review programs that aired over CBS between 1947 and 1948. The show’s sponsor was Coca Cola and featured Spike as the show’s high-energy host. His program featured an assortment of special guests: The Mills Brothers, Vic Damone, Buddy Clark, Eddy Arnold, Francis Craig, Jack Smith, The Milt Hearth Trio, Nellie Lutcher, Jan August, Jack Owens, John Laurenz and Dorothy Shay (“The Park Avenue Hillbilly”).

The end came suddenly for the chaotic clowns when Spike died in 1965 at age 53. The big farcical curtain descended for both the bandleader and his band. Their unique offerings were immediately extinguished, leaving the Slickers as another fond memory of yesteryear. 

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Over the years, countless old-time Appalachian music lovers have pleasant memories of attending the Carter Family Fold in Maces Springs, VA on Saturday nights. Located in Poor Valley just outside Hiltons in the beautiful Clinch Mountains of Southwest Virginia, the quaint atmosphere of the rustic Fold is a favorite setting for those who love the musical genre once popularized by The Carter  Family.

Sara, A.P. and Maybelle recorded between 1927 and 1956, making their first records at Victor’s Bristol Sessions. Their offering was a mixture of ballads, traditional tunes, country songs and Gospel. Scores of books have been written about the “First Family of Country Music,” but one publication stands tall among the rest. It is from the daughter of A.P. and Sara – Living With Memories by Janette Carter (Carter Family Memorial Music Center, 1983). The 84-page softbound book features a glimpse into the heart of a hard-working, God-fearing lady who was born, lived and died in her beloved Clinch Mountains. The work focuses mainly on family values rather than musical prowess and makes clear her adoration for her ancestors.

  

Poor Valley lies between Clinch Mountain and a large hill called the “Nob.” People living there were often perceived as being poor, but, according to Janette, “they were rich in their love of nature and God’s creation.” Some of her most cherished memories were at her home, her grandparent’s place; the Carter Store; Maces Springs School, Mount Vernon Church, the hills, meadows, valleys, mountains and Old Clinch.

Life was arduous. Daily chores included feeding chickens, hogs and cows; drawing water from the well; and building fires in the cook stove and fireplace. Winters required a hefty supply of firewood from Clinch Mountain that was produced using an old crosscut saw. During harvest time, neighbors helped work the big thrashing machine. Afterward, Mom and her children emptied ticks (bed mattresses) and filled them with fresh straw from the fields. After that, they plucked geese and ducks to replenish feather pillows. The family hoed corn, cut or pulled weeds, planted seeds and tended to tobacco. They subsisted on what they raised on their fertile country land.

Janette fondly recalled her mother’s ham meat, tomato gravy and blackberry pie. On Sundays, there was often the added luxury of chicken and dumplings. Mama Carter was an immaculate housekeeper; her bedding was as white as winter’s fresh snow that blanketed the countryside.

A.P. often related the story of how he and Sara met. He was selling fruit trees and stopped by a farm in Midway, Virginia. He heard a beautiful voice in the distance singing “Engine 143.” Her vocal refrain and Autoharp strumming enchanted him. When he approached her, he depicted her as the most beautiful girl he ever saw, having eyes that shown like diamonds. The two eventually married. Her family deemed her plaintive songs more beneficial during illnesses than any store-bought medicine.

A.P., whose singing voice ranged from high to low, could find scales and chords with ease. Once, while his mother was carrying him in her womb, lightening struck a tree where she was picking apples, spreading fire around her. The incident is blamed for her son’s hands trembling for the duration of his life.

In the spring, Janette loved to walk among the elder bushes, gather clusters of blackberries, sit by cool mountain streams, listen to the water rush over rocks, observe minnows swimming about and touch the damp, green moss on the rocks.   

The train passed the Carter home twice each day. Janette routinely waved at the engineer from her front porch as the big steam locomotive chugged along, bellowing coal smoke from its stack and emitting a mournful sound from its steam whistle. Afterwards, the prudent daughter walked along the track with a bucket, collecting small lumps of coal that had fallen from the train. Coal produced a hot fire and saved firewood.

Grandma Carter canned big jars of kraut, pickled beans, shuck beans, apples and apple butter. She cooked a blackberry jam consisting of part berries and part apples, stirred it all day and put it in big crocks. She also fried streaked meat in a large fish fry iron pan, crumbled the meat and grease into her bread and baked it in the old wood stove. A big smear of butter on it made it a delight. 

Mount Vernon Church, built by people in the valley, was located just down the road from the Carter home. Every Sunday morning, people walked there from all across the valley. The service consisted of singing, preaching, praying and shouting. The preacher always ate lunch at one of his member’s homes. Janette related a life-changing experience for her when A.P. took her to a revival meeting. There she found Jesus, joined the church and got baptized in the river. 

In 1938, the family moved from Poor Valley to Del Rio, Texas where they joined Maybelle, Helen, June and Anita for a stint on XERA, a large radio station in Villa Acuna, Mexico. The station produced transcriptions that were distributed to radio stations. A year later, A.P. and Sara divorced, but continued performing until their retirement in 1943. By then, Janette had become an accomplished musician in the Carter tradition.

Janette made a promise to her aging father that she would carry on the family’s musical heritage after his passing; she was true to her word. The dream first took root when she turned the rural Carter Store into a Saturday night old-time music gathering. Over time, there was a need for a larger facility. With help from her equally musically talented brother, Joe, the performance was moved next door to a spacious 842-seat wooden facility known as the Carter Family Fold. Notably displayed on the stage wall were photographs of The Carter Family, serving as an constant reminder of the family’s heritage and Janette’s pledge to her father. 

Janette spoke highly of her family: “They were proud; they worked hard; they shared their food, their love and their lives. … I don’t guess any child has loved their parents more than I did. Their fame never entered my mind. I loved them because they were my own mother and daddy.”

Janette loved the beautiful sight of wind as it majestically created waves across a sea of wheat. “(My parents) sowed the wheat,” she said. “I’m reaping the harvest.” The talented lady passed from this earth on January 22, 2006. The torch was promptly passed to Rita Forrester, Janette’s daughter, to carry on the family tradition. May the circle be unbroken. 

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On Saturday nights in the early 1950s, I laid on the living room floor near our tube radio console listening to the Grand Ole Opry over WSM radio from the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. My main attractions were the Opry humorists. Let me cite a few of my favorites.

 

Minnie Pearl (Sarah Cannon) from “Grinder’s Switch,” always wore a big smile, plaintive country dress and flower-laced straw hat that still had the $1.98 price tag dangling from it. Her opening line was “How-w-w-w dee-e-e-e, I'm jes' so proud to be here.” An oft-told joke was that when she died, she wanted all women pallbearers. She reasoned that if the old men wouldn’t take her out while she was alive, she didn’t want them to take her out when she passed away. 

Rod Brasfield, a comedian who resided from “Hohenwald,” frequently sparred with Minnie on the Ryman stage. The country bumpkin’s talent was poking good-natured fun at the simplicity of country life – “Minnie, we raise tomatoes on our farm. We eat what we can and what we can’t eat, we can.”  The audience loved him.

The Duke of Paducah (aka Whitey Ford, real name Benjamin Francis Ford) told jokes on the Opry – “My brother went through reform school on a scholarship.” Ford always concluded his performance by saying, “I'm goin' back to the wagon, boys, these shoes are killin' me.”

Opp, Alabama native, Lew Childre, better known by country music fans as “Doctor Lew,” was another crowd pleaser. He performed a one-man vaudeville-style comedy act of hillbilly singing, tap dancing and cruising his slide guitar. His unique rendition of “Hog Calling Blues” epitomized the crooner’s versatile witty humor.

Lonzo (Johnny Sullivan) and Oscar (Rollin Sullivan) and their sidekick, “Cousin Jody” (Clell Summey), wore outlandish costumes. The latter sang and played a lap steel guitar that he referred to as a “biscuit board.” One of their songs, “Why Should I Cry Over You,” began as a dawdling tearjerker and ended in a rollicking finale.  

June Carter, daughter of Mother Maybelle Carter of the Original Carter Family, loved to clown with numerous onstage performers. On one classic routine, Gordon Terry played “Johnson’s Old Gray Mule” on his fiddle, sang and mimicked the stubborn animal by jerking his mouth with his hand. June’s role was to distract him throughout the number by pulling his pants legs above his boots.  

Grandpa Jones (Louis Marshall Jones) acquired the name “Grandpa” in 1937 at age 24 from singer/songwriter great, Bradley Kinkaid. He received the moniker because of his grouchiness on early morning radio. His forte was singing and comedy – “My uncle was so bald that he had to draw a chalk mark on his forehead to tell how far up to wash his face.” “Eight More Miles to Louisville” became a frequently requested song of the entertainer.

David “Stringbean” Akeman was a tall lanky clawhammer banjo picker (down-picking style of playing) and singer. To accentuate his height, “Strang” wore an exaggerated shirt that positioned his belt below his waist and resulted in the crotch of his blue jeans being about level with his knees. His tag line was “Hang on chillun” just before launching into a lively hillbilly ditty such as “Hillbilly Fever’s Goin’ ‘Round.”

 The Opry began in 1925 as the WSM Barn Dance; two years later, it was renamed the Grand Ole Opry. George D. Hay, known as the “Solemn Old Judge,” ended each show by blowing his train whistle and saying, “Right now it’s time for the tall pines to pine, the pawpaws to pause, and the bumble-bees to bumble all around. The grasshopper hops and the eavesdropper drops, while gently the ole cow slips away.” This was Grand Ole Opry at its best. 

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Recently I chatted with Mrs. Carsie Lodter about the time her late husband, Prof. Edward Lodter, played the Majestic Theatre’s Wurlitzer organ after it was relocated to Milligan College for a weekly WJHL radio broadcast.

Mrs. Lodter said the organ was constructed in 1926 in North Tonawanda, NY with two manual keyboards and 511 tubes (seven racks with each containing from 61 to 97 individual pipes). The unit arrived in the city from Cincinnati on a Southern Railway train. Company technicians placed the pipes in concrete lined chambers that were bored into the walls of the theatre. 

“The Majestic once provided a regular offering of silent films,” said Mrs. Lodter. “The new organ provided background music to supplement the action being shown on the screen. It produced numerous special effect sounds such as a train whistle, airplane, ocean surf, sirens, bells and horses hoofs. When ‘talkies’ began to appear in 1927, the need for the organ diminished. It was then used for patriotic sing-alongs, organ concerts and recitals.

“About that time, theatre owner, Mrs. George W. Keys, a faithful patron of Milligan College, became interested in cultural pursuits and sought to establish a memorial for her late husband. She donated the idle organ to the college where it was installed in Derthick Hall auditorium.”

The “George W. Keys Memorial Organ” became a welcomed addition to the cultural dimension of the college community. Edward G. Lodter, professor of foreign languages and an accomplished organist, contributed his talents by playing the organ for daily chapel services, special recitals and as accompaniment for vocalists, musical groups and instrumentalists at the school.

When WJHL opened a radio station on S. Roan Street in 1938, Mrs. Lodter’s father, Sam Hyder, a math professor at Milligan, was instrumental in getting a live broadcast aired from the college as a gift to the community. “The Milligan College Hour of the Air” was likely the first regular on-site remote broadcast from the new station.

Each Sunday afternoon while school was in session, the auditorium became a makeshift broadcast studio. A WJHL technician and Professor Hyder worked jointly to ensure that the necessary equipment was in place before each live program. Hyder kept a notebook of the contents of the 72 programs broadcast from Dec. 18, 1938 until Dec. 8, 1940. No programs were aired during summer months.

Eddie Cowell, a young budding announcer, became the program’s master of ceremonies. He discussed current events that were taking place on the campus and occasionally turned the mike over to college president, Henry J. Derthick or other campus administrators. However, the main program was a vesper service of organ music rendered by Professor Lodter. He chose as his theme song the very beautiful “Traemerii, Opus 15, No. 7” by Robert Schumann.

Selections were primarily classical, but also included familiar hymns, popular songs and spirituals. The professor occasionally invited talented music students and alumni to join him on the air. WJHL offered listeners the opportunity to request a selection or ask for an encore.

After the program went off the air, the organ remained essentially idle until it was restored by the college and used in chapel. In 1972, it was sold to Roy Davis, owner of the Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, Tennessee for home use. Sadly, his house and contents were destroyed by fire in 1998. 

Mrs. Lodter hopes that this column will bring back pleasant memories from some of the area’s oldest music lovers who remember “The Milligan College Hour of the Air.” 

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My mother was a huge fan of big band music in the 1940s, preferring “sweet” as opposed to “swing” bands. Although orchestras tended to focus on one genre or the other, most leaders incorporated a blend of each to satisfy their customers’ voracious musical appetites. Mom’s favorites were Guy Lombardo (“The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven”), Sammy Kaye (“Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye)” and Russ Morgan (“Music in the Morgan Manner”).

As a young lad, I also listened to the likes of Count Basie, Cab Callaway, Frankie Carle, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Shep Fields, Jan Garber, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Harry James, Wayne King, Kay Kiser, Ted Lewis, Johnny Long, Glenn Miller, Tony Pastor, Artie Shaw, Orrin Tucker, Ted Weems and others. 

Local radio station WJHL, affiliated with NBC’s “Blue Network,” (comprised of cultural and news programming) routinely held contests that awarded a prize to the first person to call the station and correctly identify the band being played from a 78-rpm record. 

About 1948, Mom won a contest and received $25 worth of groceries from Cut Rate Supermarket at 410 W. Walnut Street. I had never seen that much foodstuff at one time. We stacked it on the floor under our apartment dining room window. It took several weeks of hardy ingestion to make a dent in the victuals.

Sammy Kaye became known for a unique radio program that debuted in 1941 titled, “Sunday Serenade.” It was heard over NBC’s “Red Network” (consisting of entertainment and music) each Sunday afternoon from 2:00 to 2:15 Eastern Standard Time. Between 1942 and 1945, it was aired at the same time on Eastern War Time (the equivalent today of year-round Eastern Daylight Savings Time). The show eventually was expanded to 30 minutes and remained on the air into the 1950s.

The Sunday afternoon lineup featured performances from the band; the Kaye Choir; The Three Kaydettes, vocal trio; solo vocalists, Billie Williams and Nancy Norman; and special guests. The group’s two most recognized hits of that era were “Harbor Lights” and “The Old Lamplighter.”

Kaye's “Sunday Serenade” was a compilation of soothing music and thought-provoking poetry, submitted by amateur wannabe lyricists. The show became so popular that it spawned several books of poetry. Republic Music Corporation published a 66-page book in 1942 containing 49 poems. Sammy Kaye wrote a brief foreword to the work:

“This volume is printed in answer to the requests of thousands of our ‘Sunday Serenade’ listeners. If it can provide some measure of encouragement, comfort or just enjoyment, we shall have fulfilled our aim in bringing it to you. In selecting poetry for our broadcasts, we always try to find poems that will strike a responsive chord in the hearts of our listeners. We have also been fortunate in securing selections from the works of several poets who have achieved a distinct place in the field of literature.”

 A typical stanza from the book reads: “And when the shadows of life may fall; On the hopes that rise in the hearts of all; When you are gone – oh, come what may; There are memories never to pass away.” (Eugene Hall).

The most remembered episode of “Sunday Serenade” occurred on Dec. 7, 1941 when announcer Ben Grauer broke in to reveal the shocking news that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. One prophetic song played during the broadcast was “This Is No Laughing Matter.” In response to the bombing, Kaye penned the song, “Remember Pearl Harbor,” which became an instant rallying war cry with the public.  

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I was saddened by the passing of Sue Eckstein this past June. She became an ardent supporter of my “Yesteryear” column by acquainting me with numerous local history sources, including a bulky scrapbook that once belonged to her father, Paul Carr, who with his brother, Sam, owned Carr Brothers, Inc.

One clipping in the massive well-worn musty volume dealt with the demise in Morristown of old-time Civil War fiddler, Uncle Am Stuart (Ambrose Gaines Stuart; Aug. 24, 1853 –Mar. 17, 1926). My great uncle, Fiddlin’ Charlie Bowman knew and highly respected the gifted musician.

Am, who was born in Bristol, TN., learned to play the fiddle at an early age, eventually acquiring a vast song repertoire ranging from the trauma of the Civil War to upbeat mountain tunes of indigenous Appalachians. The old-time musician began displaying his special brand of acoustical music to family members, Saturday night gatherings, county fairs and local fiddle contests. He later married Fannie Nelson of Morristown; the union produced three children.

Uncle Am came from a colorful family. His brother, George R. Stuart, was a well-known evangelist. He; Sam P. Jones, another renowned revivalist; and Thomas Ryman, a riverboat captain, joined forces to hold massive revival meetings in Nashville’s Union Gospel Tabernacle. When Ryman died in 1904, Jones and Stuart conducted his funeral service in the spacious building and on that same day renamed it the Ryman Auditorium, future home of the Grand Ole Opry.

Ambrose possessed a trait not usually found in celebrated musicians. He was unassuming, not bent on winning awards or receiving publicity. According to the article, “he devoted much of his time to playing the witching old melodies for the enjoyment of others and getting tremendous pleasure out of it himself.”

Stuart began his illustrious career with Vocalion Records and ultimately recorded sixteen 78-rpm records. Some of the tunes he played were “Old Liza Jane,” “Cumberland Gap,” “Grey Eagle,” “Forky Deer,” “Sourwood Mountain,” “Wagoner,” “George Boker,” “Leather Breeches,” “Dixie,” “Old Granny Rattletrap,” “Rye Straw” (aka “Unfortunate Pup”) and “Sally Goodin.”

For many years, Am was affiliated with the Mosler Safe Company. Just a short time before his passing, he was awarded first place in a contest in the nation’s capital that featured 26 of the best old-time fiddlers in the country.

Also, Am had just signed a contract to appear with the Swartmore Chautauqua, a Pennsylvania based traveling tent show that operated between 1912 and 1930. The offerings consisted of a combination of vaudeville acts, theatre productions, lectures from well-known people and Bible sermons from famous preachers of that era.

Stuart’s passing did not go unnoticed. Crowds of people who thronged the Morristown Baptist Church showed their appreciation for him at his funeral. The service was conducted by the church pastor, Rev. J. Harvey Deere and assisted by Rev. F.H. Hay of the Morristown Presbyterian Church and Dr. S.B. Vaughn of the nearby Methodist Church.

Perhaps the most eye-catching item at the funeral was a flora offering comprised of a huge basket of flowers that surrounded a decorated fiddle and a broken bow. Like the beloved acoustical stringed instrument that he loved so much, his music was silenced on that sad 1926 day. Fortunately, many of his records were preserved for future generations of music devotees.

I will further honor Sue Eckstein with additional material from her local history treasures in future columns. 

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Earl “Bucky” Buchanan sent me a letter containing a March 26, 1914 program from The W.A. Wright Private School, Department of Instructional Music and his father’s “Student’s Monthly Report.”

The concert was held in the Grand (renamed Majestic) Theatre. The director was Margaret Haynes Wright. The instructional facility was located in the Carlisle (renamed Franklin) Hotel.

The recital was divided into two parts. Students’ names are shown in parentheses. Part I consisted of eight selections:

·         March and Chorus from “Tannhauser”: Wagner, first piano (Miss Wright and Edith Baxter) and second piano (Mary Luter Wright and Elizabeth Cass).

·         Violin, Marche Militaire: Conte (Adalaide Miller).

·         Piano, The Joyful Peasant: Schumann-Hartl (Mildred Wade).

·         Violin Trio: Dancla: (Edith Miller, Adalaide Miller and Victor Crouch).

·         Piano Le Chasse de Gazelles: Calvini (Mildred Nicholson and Mary Gump).

·         Violin, 6th Air Varie: Dancla (Edith Miller).

·         Stars and Stripes Forever: (Sousa), Miniature Orchestra consisting of first violins (Edith Miller, Adalaide Miller and Victor Crouch), second violins (Ilo Burchfield and Perry Hunter), cornet (Charlie Crouch), clarinet (Edwin Crouch), triangle (Dorothy Black), bass (Lee Johnson) drums (Schuyler Aldrich), piano (Edith Baxter) and director (William Wright, Jr.).

Part II also contain eight numbers and had a Japanese Drill at the finale:

·         Violin, Marche Nuptiale: Papini (Hazel Bramm, Mary Luter Wright and Christine Burleson).

·         Piano, Spring Song: Mendelssohn (Mildred Exum).

·         Violin, Serenade: Braga (Mabel Van Hook).

·         Piano, Scherzo: Chopin (Mary Luter Wright).

·         Piano, Mazurka: Mlynarski (Hazel Bramm).

·         Ensemble, Overture from “Die Freischutz”: Weber, first piano (Miss Wright), second piano (Mary Luter Wright), first violin (Hazel Bramm), second violin (Christine Burleson), third violin (Mabel Van Hook) and fourth violin (Mildred Exum).

The Japanese Drill was comprised of 25 ladies (Mary Gump, Edith Baxter, Margaret Campbell, Gladys Davis, Clara Lou Burchfield, Beatrice Mercereau, Louise Cox, Kathleen Steele, Lela Rumbley, Mildred Buchanan, Helen Johnson, Xola Denton, Mildred Nicholson, Frances Miller, Margie Hunt, Lela Hart, Gertrude McCorkle, Elmira McNeil, Mildred Wade, Edith Bolton, Hattie Remine, Hattie Cox, Bess Remine and Gwendolyn Wallace (Soloist)).

At the bottom of the program in small print were these words: “Pianos Furnished by Sterchi Furniture Company, H.W. Lyle Printing Company, Johnson City.”

Earl commented: “Christine Burleson, who played second violin in the program, was the daughter of David and Mary Burleson. Like her father, she was an English professor at East Tennessee State College and an authority on Shakespeare. Her untimely death saddened her students and fellow teachers.”

Earl said the items he shared with me were found in his grandparents’ old house nearly 50 years after their death. He identified two ladies in the Japanese Drill as Mildred Buchanan, daughter of Attorney Stokes and Nola Buchanan, and Gwendolyn Wallace, sister of Fitzhugh Wallace, the aunt of Lee Wallace.

A note at the bottom of Mr. Buchanan’s “Student’s Monthly Report” stated, “Our school seeks to develop high ideals as well as thorough scholarship. Punctuality in attendance will be an important factor in determining each student’s record.”  

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Dr. James Bowman is proud of his late brother, Billy Bowman, a native of Washington County and former resident of Johnson City, whose career as a professional musician was outstanding. According to Jim … “After playing Dobro in his early teens in and around Bristol, especially for fiddler Jack Pierce who had been in Jimmie Rodgers’ 1920’s band, Billy moved to Knoxville for his initial full-time employment as a steel guitarist.

On WNOX radio’s Midday Merry-Go-Round and Tennessee Barn Dance, he joined a group co-led by Johnny Wright (of Johnny and Jack fame and husband of legendary Kitty Wells) and Eddie Hill. 

“When the two leaders parted, young Billy faced a decision: accompany Wright to Nashville and play country or go with Hill to WMPS in Memphis and play jazz and pop.  Billy chose the latter. For a while, two of my brothers were his fellow band members: Dalton (Buddy) in Knoxville and Al (Jake) in Knoxville and Memphis. Soon Billy moved to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, joining Paul Howard’s Arkansas Cotton Pickers, a slick western swing band whose drummer was jazz great Joe Morello. Shortly thereafter, Billy achieved national exposure; as an eighteen-year-old, he played plaintive (as demanded) steel guitar on a million seller, “Shenandoah Waltz,” for Clyde Moody, on the King label in 1947. 

“Another hit on which Billy was a significant participant occurred less than three years later. Ironically, on it his guitar was silent; he sang on ‘Faded Love,’ recorded   in Hollywood, California, by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. By this time Billy had begun an unprecedented eight-year tenure as this premier western swing band’s steel guitarist and occasional vocalist. Some critics credit his high tenor voice as a primary factor that made ‘Faded Love’ a classic as well as Oklahoma’s state song.

“In addition to singing in various Texas Playboy trios, Billy was lead vocalist for Wills on ‘With Tears in My Eyes’ (MGM, 1953), penned by his ex-boss, Paul Howard.  Uncharacteristically, Wills allowed him to record four songs under his own name, backed by the Playboys. After leaving Wills in 1958, during rock-and-roll’s ultra-explosive advent, Billy had brief stints with Hank Thompson and other western swing artists. Before long, his career was relegated to semi-retired status and a return to his native east Tennessee where he appeared weekly on television.

“Billy came by his trade honestly; from his infancy, he was surrounded by music of various genres. Our father (the late Elbert Bowman, Sr.), a guitarist, banjoist, and tenor vocalist, and three of our paternal uncles were professional musicians who recorded for the Columbia label. I think Billy translated some of Dad’s licks to his steel. “Our father and his brother, Fiddlin’ Charlie Bowman (late North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame 2001 winner), recorded for Vocalion and Brunswick as members of Al Hopkins’ band, the Hill Billies, based in Washington, DC. These pioneers could boast of a command performance at the White House among other significant honors.

“My brother, Buddy, was guitarist for the U. S. Navy Band. He and two of our older brothers, Weldon and Al, toured with the popular blind evangelist, J. Bazzel Mull, veteran Knoxville radio host of a gospel music program. One of our younger brothers, Tony, sang on national television’s ‘Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour.’ After Billy mastered the instrument's complex pedal system, Marlen Guitar Company hired him as consultant. Because aspiring and skilled players alike still seek his copedents (tablatures of chord-pedal relationships), Billy is a featured model in many popular instruction books.

“Although Billy’s full-time playing was confined to little more than a dozen years, two of the songs he wrote endure through the recordings of many steel guitar players. ‘B. Bowman Hop’ and ‘Midnight in Old Amarillo,’ have been recorded in sixteen countries by more than two-dozen stylists. Billy’s long-time friend, Barbara Mandrell, performed them on her syndicated television show. More recently, his compositions have been aired on Garrison Keillor’s weekly radio show, ‘A Prairie Home Companion,’ by American Public Media. Until becoming physically unable, Billy performed in three annual events: Bob Wills Days in Turkey, Texas; the International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis, Missouri; and the Smoky Mountain Steel Guitar Jamboree in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

“After a six-month battle with cancer, Billy passed away on August 6, 1989 in Columbia, South Carolina. Six fellow steel guitarists and two fiddlers were among his honorary pallbearers. Steel players included former Texas Playboys Bobby Koefer and Maurice Anderson; Roy Wiggins (Eddy Arnold’s steel player); crash-bar wizard Speedy West; and convention hosts DeWitt ‘Scotty’ Scott and William ‘Stoney’ Stonecipher. The fiddlers were Johnny Gimble, another former Playboy; and Dale Potter, Billy’s friend of more than four decades.

 

“Professional musicians still marvel at his improvisational riffs with the Playboys. Whenever Wills was the band’s only fiddler, team player Billy cleverly emulated the instrument, blending smooth harmony parts. He harmonized likewise with the group’s trumpets and tenor saxophones. “In spite of the brevity of Billy’s full-time career, he was recipient of many other distinctive honors, four of which were awarded posthumously. Included were induction into the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame. The state legislatures of Oklahoma and California also acknowledged Billy's contributions to music.”  

I wish to thank Dr. Bowman for providing a synopsis of his brother’s career. Many Johnson Citians still remember Billy as a modest gentleman, always maintaining an infectious smile, whether playing the kind of music he cherished or greeting loyal fans in a crowded venue. Although he died relatively young, his music lives on. As long as western swing exists, he will be remembered for his contributions to the genre.

 (Note: Bob Cox is a cousin of Billy Bowman.) 

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