Blankenship Brothers with the Sundown Playboys - Lonesome Old Jail (Bluegrass 45-816), 1959 In the past years, I have been digging deep into Arkansas' country and rock'n'roll music history. Though, before the Natural State came to my attention and became my specialty, the state of Indiana was near the mark. Numerous live stage shows were broadcast from the state during the 1940s and 1950s, countless small independent labels existed during the 1950s and 1960s and Indianapolis alone was home to so many bands, artists, labels, and clubs. It was a thriving scene but a topic that is rather unexplo ..read more

The Pine Mountain Jamboree logo, taken from one of the show's cassette tapes It appears that there have been quite a couple of family-friendly country music live stage shows in Arkansas that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. These were often non-radio shows, people could only experience the fun they promised when attending the shows. Sometimes recordings were made, like it is the case for Eureka Springs' Pine Mountain Jamboree. The show was founded by the Drennon family, led by Dave and Deanna "Dee" Drennon. Mike and Mindy Drennon helped also but it is unknown to me h ..read more

Source: Al Turner The Country Cut-Up from Muskogee The Story of Carl Blankenship Although hailing from Oklahoma, mandolinist and singer Carl Blankenship was a driving force in the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area's music scene. Apart from his work as a performer, he was also a radio DJ, a songwriter, and record label owner throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Homer Carl Blankenship was born on January 11, 1924, in Wagoner, Oklahoma. At that time, Wagoner was a small city with a population of about 3.000 people, located near Tulsa and Muskogee - and the Oklahoma-Arkansas state border is not f ..read more

Little George Domerese A Giant in Johnson County Country Music "Little" George Domerese was a Northwest Arkansas based singer, radio personality, promoter, and songwriter. Domerese hailed from Johnson County, near Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the territories located on the banks of the Arkansas River and Lake Dardanelle, from Russellville to Fort Smith, became Domerese's stomping grounds his whole life. George Virgil Domerese, whose nickname "Little" more than likely came from his stature, was born on October 13, 1926, in Johnson County, Arkansas, to Harley Clarence and Eva (Elkins) Domerese. H ..read more

Jesse Stevens and Big Sandy Boys - Mama, Mama (Bluegrass #45-712), 1958 From the hilly, coal mining community of West Van Lear, western Kentucky, came Jesse Stevens, who brought us two of the most rural, primitive, rockabilly records that ever existed. Stevens was born on January 4, 1932, to William and Bertha (Ball) Stevens. He had a twin sister, Georgia, and came from a big family with a total of nine children. The small community of Van Lear is only a few miles a way from Butcher Hollow, where, a few months after Stevens' birth, a future country music super star would be born: Loretta Lyn ..read more

Lloyd Marley and the Trebles - Ooh Poo Pah Doo (United Southern Artists 5-109), 1961 Northeast Arkansas had a lively music scene during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s but Northwest Arkansas wasn't short of it. And Fayetteville with its many students was the center of it all. One of the many performers from area was Lloyd Marley, who stayed on the scene for more than 50 years. Samuel Lloyd Marley was born on July 22, 1940, in Bentonville, Arkansas, north of Fayetteville. His family had no money to afford a guitar for Marley, who eventually learned to play piano in the 1950s. In 1952, at age twelve ..read more

Allen Page 1950s Moon Records promo picture Between Moon and Sun - Between Sin and Salvation The Story of Allan Wingate a.k.a. Allen Page Cordell Jackson's Moon record label, and in particular Jackson herself, became a cult phenomenon in 1980s Memphis. And the label's most prolific recording artist was Allen Page, who has - unfortunately - found little acclaim since his records came out in the 1950s. However, he probably would have dismissed it being celebrated as a rockabilly hero as he became a preacher under his real name Allen Wingate. From the 1960s onwards, he found his satis ..read more

Bill Huskey The Unknown Songwriter from Arkansas While digging deeper and deeper into Arkansas' country and rock'n'roll music past, I ran across a songwriter by the name of Bill Huskey. While the name didn't catch my interest in the first instance, it finally did and in the end, I found out that Huskey was also responsible for some great rock'n'roll recordings on Billy Lee Riley's Rita Records. Claudis "Bill" Huskey was born on April 1, 1932, to Leslie Ray and Verna Lee Huskey in Caraway, Arkansas, a small town in the northeastern region of the state that was so rich of musical talent. He sp ..read more

Mike Waggoner and the Bops, ca. 1956-1958 Taken from the front cover of Norton LP ED-406 Mike Waggoner and the Bops Kings of Minnesota Rock'n'Roll Mike Waggoner and the Bops were a regional Minneapolis, Minnesota, rock'n'roll group. Norton Records once dubbed them "The Kings of Minnesota Rock'n'Roll" and although there were more successful groups from the Mid-North, there were few that had a more energetic sound than Waggoner and the Bops. Author Seth Bovey once called them "one of the earliest and most influential garage bands in Minneapolis". The band's leader was born in 1940 ..read more

Houston Turner - "Buenos Noches" (Do-Ra-Me 1437), 1963 One of the many talented musicians that orbited around the Dixieland Drifters band was Houston "Buck" Turner, who left his mark by singing on "Bongos and Uncle John", the Drifters' most popular tune. Turner also performed with Tani Allen's Tennessee Pals, leaving another mark in music history through composing "Tennessee Jive", which became later known by Bill Haley as "Real Rock Drive". Singer and songwriter Houston Edgar "Buck" Turner, Jr., was born on April 16, 1922, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. During World War II, he served his countr ..read more