My Heart Jumped

The Wilson Sisters
My Heart Jumped

Dick Liberatore
Briarcliff  BMI

Bethlehem 3032

1962

Written by D.J. Alan Freed's son-in-law, Dick Liberatore, "My Heart Jumped" was first recorded by Bobby Fuller on Yucca Records.  The three other known songs by the Wilson Sisters  are also covers. The sisters were promoted to the main King Records label before the end of the year just in time for Christmas. 

Not an uncommon name in music.  I've found three other "Wilson Sisters"  : one on Freedom in 1958, another one was a hillbilly act who also recorded as The Beaver Valley Sweethearts, and a third, a soul/gospel group on Solid Soul (1968).   But who where these young Wilson Sisters is still a mystery.

Mister Dream  (Bethlehem 3032),  cover of Paul Chandler, Rendezvous Records, 1962

Little Klinker   (King 5724)   previously recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1962

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth  (King 5724) originally recorded by Spike Jones & His City Slickers in 1947, with lead vocal by George Rock.

A very quiet Christmas with The Royals

The Royals

White Christmas

E. Berlin, ASCAP

Vagabond Records VR 444
1963

The Royals were Larry Riera, accordion and piano, Al King Guitar and Tony Castro Drums, 

Larry (Lawrence George) Riera was born in 1937 in Oakland, California where he began his life-long career in the music  He taught music at Fiore's Music in Oakland, and played accordion and piano with his band The Royals. He later owned Riera's TV Music in the Tri-Valley, and then was the top salesman at Kamen Music Corporation for many years.   He died in 2012.

One of his students, Rocky Howard, set the Guinness world record for accordion marathon (72 hours continuous playing on an accordion) at Touch of Italy restaurant in West Covina, California December 9-11, 1979 and held it until 1983.

Records by The Royals have been described as Surf, Garage, or Elevator Music, the latter seems to me the more realistic tag, but like my fellow bloggers I HAD to post a Christmas music...  I am asking for your indulgence.

Yodlin' Hobo

Porky and The Travelers

Vocal By Al Witherow

Yodlin' Hobo

ABS 144

1961

 

 

Al "Porky" Witherow was born to Bob and Pauline Witherow in York, Pennsylvania back in 1935.   Music was a part of his family, for they would listen to the big country stations back then, WWVA out of Wheeling, West Virginia and WSM in Nashville, Tennessee.

When he was just four years old, he made his singing debut with his sister Betty, doing some gospel songs.

During the Korean war, Bob Hope wanted Mr. Witherow along to entertain the troops on his numerous USO tours. He worked with such famed Grand Ole Opry acts as Ernest Tubb, Minnie Pearl, Tex Ritter and Grandpa Jones.

He toured for over twenty years with his band the Travelers and the Country Mystery.  He recorded in the seventies for Arctic Records, which was his own label, located in Vails Gate, New York.

Music was seemingly always a part of his life. He went back to York in 1977 to care for his parents. He later enjoyed a career as a training manager at the local chain of Denny's Restaurants in York for over 14 years. In 1997, he retired to Inverness, but kept entertaining the folks there as well and helping out where he could. 

He died in 2004 in his home in Inverness, Florida.

Acknowledgments : Hillbilly-music.com

Al "Porky" Witherow

The Pride of The Western Empire (1969)

Beach Party

The Echoettes and Johnny
Music by Big Fat Mike and his Fatheads

Beach Party
Sprofera-Hilliker; M E Inc., BMI

Swell Records
Music Enterprises Inc.
744 Broad St., 

Newark, N.J.

1959

From the sunny shores of New Jersey come The Echoettes, who are probably Grace Hilliker & Judy Sprofera, composers of Beach Party.  They made locally enough splashes for catching the attention of George Goldner who issued two of their compositions  "Your Love" and "Donny" on his Goldisc label in 1960. The record was issued as by "Dee and Lee"

Nothing more is known about this record.  This is not the Swell label releasing The Humanoids "Space Walk/The Flight Of GT-5". And this is not the Echoettes on Train Records, who were Betsy and Laura.  

The other side is by Johnny and The Echoettes which can be heard on YT.  Johnny is possibly Johnny Pascale.

Your Feet's Too Big

Marty Roberts

And His Nightriders

Baby

Your Feets Too Big 

ARC 8003

1956

Born Martin Robert Schopp in 1918 in Chenoa (Illinois).

Marty Roberts got an early start to his radio career when he was appearing on WDZ in Illinois when he was only in his second year of high school.  At the age of 17,  he was the bass fiddle player with The Lone Pine Fiddlers, a bluegrass group led by String Bean Akeman, who became a longtime member of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. and a star of the long-running television show, "Hee Haw."

In 1937, he played bass with Ted DeLeon and his Mexican Caballeros, toured the country with the band by private train.

A year later, Roberts was playing with the Moon Mullins Dixieland Band in Greensboro, N.C., when he got his first big break.

"Three guys came in one night wearing cowboy hats. They needed a bass player. They said they were the Tennessee Ramblers and they worked at WBT in Charlotte, N C.   They had just made a movie with Gene Autry."  

The Ramblers were one of the biggest country music groups in the nation in the late 1930s and early 1940s.   Roberts, joined the Ramblers and with them made a movie with Autry ("Ride, Ranger, Ride") and with Tex  Ritter ("Riding the Cherokee Trail").   He also began recording with and without the Ramblers. He did some of the vocals for their Bluebird recordings.  He was also a member of the WBT Briarhoppers. During that time, Marty's name was Tex Martin. 

Around late summer of 1943, Marty was appearing regularly on The Breakfast Frolic show over radio station WJJD in Chicago when he got drafted by Uncle Sam to serve his country during World War II.   

In the mid-1950s, he was spinning Country and Western records with Nelson King on the mighty WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio.   (WCKY could be heard throughout most of the eastern half of the United States, up into Canada and specifically into the southern half of the country and down into the Caribbean islands.)

At least 3 records were issued by Dome Records (1951-1953) and 4 on Coral Records (1953-1955) before the two singles recorded by Rite Records of Cincinnati and issued on their "in-house" ARC label. 

Marty passed away in November 2009 in St. Petersburg, Florida, survived by his two sons, Allen and Martin.

"Happy Tex" Martin, a.k.a. Marty Roberts

Crying In My Heart

Guitar Slim

Crying In My Heart

Elton Anderson, D.J.E. Publishing BMI

Wheeler-Winter Productions

Diamond (Diamond Jim) 204

1962

This is Johnny Winter.   On his association with the Diamond/Diamond Jim label see The Johnny Winter Story 

Johnny actually "cut his teeth" in Louisiana, and learned much from many of those artists. Johnny has always been kinda tightlipped on some of his real early session work, and understandably so. His guitarmanship with Burl Boykin, The Blues Kings, Elton Anderson and Margaret Lewis, shows some flaws. A rough lick here and there, as does some of his session work with Clarence Garlow. But it also shows is just how fast he became an accomplished guitarist. Most people think of 1962 as the earliest Johnny recordings, with the Jammer's 45 thrown in as a fluke for a 15 year old! That was hardly the case. Johnny was already working as hard as he possibly could at 15. Roy Ames tried to lay claim to taking Johnny to sessions when he was that young. Johnny was using every avenue available to him to fine-tune his skill, and actually Roy came along well after Johnny had been recorded many times. Still, in later years, Roy tried to claim Johnny's earliest works as "his doing". Claiming tracks like Geisha Rock, or Ice Cube were recorded even prior to Johnny and the Jammers, by him.  (http://yeech.altervista.org)

Diamond Jim Wheeler (1939-2010), owner of the label, was a lifelong musician and also worked as a pipefitter/welder with Local #195. 


 

Hide And Seek

Ben Morris And The Imperials

Vocal Vern Bennett

Hide And Seek

 

Paul Winley- Ethel Byrd

Reference BMI

BIM Records #1300
1958

Likely a Quaker State one-off release.  "Hide and Seek" was first recorded by Joe Turner (Atlantic, '55) and covered by Ken Carson (Media, '55) and Bill Haley (Decca, '56).  I can't find evidence of any other recording by Vern Bennett. A pseudonym ?

Work It Out

Savoy's

Work It Out
John Kluska

Orlyn 502

1967

Band named after the Plymouth Savoy model they drove to gigs in.  (The Savoy model itself was named, like the Plaza and Belvedere models, after an upscale hotel, the Savoy Hotel in London).  They had at least another record on Summit Records (out of Harley, Illinois) : "Can It Be" / "Now She's Left Me", songs also written by John Kluska.

The Orlyn label were named after its owner Oren Stembel and his wife Marilyn.

 

As one of the most intriguing and revered independent record labels from Chicago, Orlyn specialized in teenage garage-punk and psychedelic sounds.  The label existed from about 1965-1969 and it was an extension of the Records Unlimited Recording Studio located near Wabash and Lake Streets in downtown Chicago.

Gary Knaus, Graf Zepplin's rhythm guitarist, who recorded there in May 1968, recalls  :

The studio was quite an interesting place.  As I recall, Orie Stembel,
who ran the studio, was a cigar chomping bald headed guy with a
diamond pinkie.  He had a guy who did the mixing and the sound;
he was really good.  The engineer was great, he added a lot.

Answers From The Bottle

Little Leon Payne

Hard Row To Hoe

Answers From The Bottle

 Geneni Records TG-003

 Arranged By Vic Lance

Producer T.V. Mikel's
  T.V. Mikel's Film Productions, Inc.
1966

This is Albert Leon Payne, son of Dusty Payne, His father recorded two collectible rockabilly singles in 1956-1957.  Little Leon started recording when he was 9 or 10, toured, played for years and.retired from music around 2000.  "Answers From The Bottle" was previously recorded by Sonny Leonard for Radco Records (produced by Dusty Payne, 1963)

Little Leon Payne Discography

DACO 701 : History Of Love / King Of The Hills (1962)
RADCO 703/704: Cindy Lou / I Like Girls (1962, With The Playmates)
GENENI 003-004 : .Hard Row To Hoe / .Answers From The Bottle (1966)
BEN HUR 711  : Hard Roe To Hoe / Angel Judy (as by Leon Payne, date unknown)

Vic Lance, the arranger, had the only other record known on the Geneni label.  Born in 1939 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA as Victor Lewis Lance, he was an actor and composer, known for Weekend Lovers (1969), Lila (1968) and The Exotic Dreams of Casanova (1971).  See imbd.com

Ted V. Mikels (born Theodore Mikacevich in 1929, in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a filmmaker primarily of the horror cult film genre. Movies that he has both produced and directed include Girl in Gold Boots (1968), The Astro-Zombies (1968), and The Doll Squad (1973).   One of his first movie, The Black Klansman (a.k.a. I Crossed The Color Line),  did well at the box office, and was successful enough for Mikels to start his own distribution company: Geneni Film Distributing.   Released in 1965 — a time when public interest in civil rights was at its peak — the film is about a black man who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan trying to learn who killed his daughter.   In true exploitation fashion, the film features plenty of interracial bed-hopping.

Billboard ad, 26 November 1966

Address of Geneni Records is the address of the MGM studios, where T.V. Mikels had an office

Mean Woman Blues

Don Reed
Mean Woman Blues

 

Skora Recording Company

45-3222

No info.  The label certainly looks like these labels out of Arizona ?

Do The Kuryakin

Ann Boleyn

Do The Kuryakin
S. Holtzman - V. Holtzman, Langtry BMI

Mammoth Records 821

1966

This was possibly recorded in Houston by Scott Holtzman and his wife Vivian.

Formerly operating in Los Angeles, Mammoth's vice-president and general manager James Wright moved his music label business to the less studio-competitive San Francisco in July 1962. There, the label recorded and released product to at least 1966.

Houston music columnist Scott Holtzman, whose weekly column, “Now Sounds,” in The Houston Post, gave invaluable print exposure to the city’s burgeoning music scene and youth culture.   Holtzman, with his wife, Vivian, would go on to produce and manage Houston’s psych/pop band, Fever Tree.  

Let's Make Love

Little Buddy

Let's Make Love

NRC 010

1958

James B. McKnight (Little Buddy)  was born in Durham, N.C., in 1943.   This is his first record, probably brought to NRC by John C. Greene, Jr., a Durham, North Carolina radio station manager (WSRC) and record label owner (Joy Records).  Buddy McKnight relocated later to Orlando, Florida and had two singles released by the local Pine Hills Records (1967-1968)

In the mid-sxities, he played organ for the Mighty Dee-Jays, a band formed by Jimmy (Dee) Dudley (see sirshambling). 

He died in 1996.  According to his obit, McKnight moved to Central Florida in 1969. and was a truck driver for a cement company, He was a member of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church. Survivors were : wife, Georgia; son, Corey, Orlando; daughters, April Henson, Orlando, Dee, Ocala; five grandchildren. 

James Benjamin McKnight

Disc-Jockey Twist

Pat Butler

Disc-Jockey Twist

S. Hodge-W. Harrison

The Y plus X Publ. BMI

Bargain 5005

1962

Bargain Records owner was Steven Hodge, a short, restless West Indian businessman, owner of Atomic Music Company, which installed and repaired jukeboxes around New York City in barbershops, restaurants and candy stores.  He also owned a real estate company called Global Realty at 275 West 125th Street, just below the Apollo, on the second floor.

Co-writer W. Harrison is indeed Wilbert Harrison  the two-hit wonder known for his 1959 chart-topper "Kansas City" and a heartwarming "Let's Work Together" a full decade later.

The Joker

Bobby Bunny And The Jackrabbits

The Joker

Zane-Pines-Owens, Jimskip Music Inc.
Arrow Records #714

1957
............

Composers of this sax instrumental are Herb Zane, Lee Pines and Kelly Owens.   If we believe the short bio printed on the flip side ("Scatty Cat"), Bobby Bunny was a 23 year old Tenor Sax man who hailed from Baton Rouge, La.   Although he started his professional career at the early age of 15, it wasn't until his discharge from U.S.A.F. in 1954 that he began to really swing.  Bobby Bunny and The Jackrabbits first record on any label, and also the last, I think.

Season's Greetings

The Lennon Sisters

Merry Christmas From Our House To Your House

Season's Greetings from your Dodge Dealer and Lawrence Welk

This is my pleasure to be the very first to wish you a Merry Christmas, courtesy of The Lennon Sisters,  and your Dodge dealer too.   And also of Lawrence Welk, even  he didn't doing much, except maybe scratching his nose or other parts.

Make Every Day You Drive A Holiday

You'll never know what real enjoyment driving can be until you put a Swept-Wing 58 by Dodge through its paces.  You'll relax in the smooth road-hugging superiority of its exclusive Torsion-Aire suspension.  You'll appreciate the unmatched ease and convenience of famous Dodge Püsh-Button transmissions.  You'll drive with greater confidence and assurance with the added safety of Dodge Total-contact Brakes and the alert responsiveness of Constant-Control Power Sterring.  And there's an extra measure of satisfaction in knowing that this fresh Swept-Wing styling will set the place for years to come.

 

Amen

Rock And Roll Wedding

 

Bixie Crawford

How Big A Fool

Rock And Roll Wedding

Empire Records 45-102
1956

"Rock And Roll Wedding" was also recorded the same year by Helen Grayco (Vik Records), Ella Mae Morse (Capitol Records) and Sunny Gale (RCA Victor Records). 

Bixie Crawford was born Birdie Marjorie Hairston in 1921 in Guthrie, seat of the Logan County, in north-central Oklahoma just to the north of Oklahoma City.     She attended Fisk and Lincoln Universities, where she majored in music, studying the piano, the alto sax, and the congas. Benny Carter heard her singing at a picnic in a park one day and hired her the next day.

After about a year in Carter's band, she worked in the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra shortly before the leader died in 1947.

She did three months with Count Basie and gigged with Louis Jordan in 1949-1950, then became a schoolteacher in Los Angeles. When Count Basie reestablished his big band in 1951, she was invited to join and remained with him for about three years. 

Bixie Crawford recordings can also be found on Exclusive (with Buddy Banks orchestra, 1946), King (1949), RCA (1951), United (1953), C Note (1956) and Indigo (1960).

In the early sixties, she returned to school teaching.  She was then known as Bixie Crawford Wyatt.  She died in 1988 in Culver Cirty, California.

As Bixie Harris, she recorded "Patience and Fortitude" (a vocal duet with the leader) on 

Benny Carter's January 5, 1946 record date for DeLuxe (which took place in New York City).

 

 

Bixie Crawford, 1953

Hip Happy Hippy

Ray Flowers  & Louise Taylor
Arnold Patton band

  'Hip Happy Hippy"
B. Branscum, Bluevale Mu. BMI

M.C.M. TK-12-034
Ron Darlin, Pro.  M C M Studio
46792 Patnik
Mt. Clemens Mich.

The Wendinger Brothers

Peter and Paul

Introducing the WENDINGER brothers... PETER is 25 and PAUL 23.  Each has his own farm by St. George, Mn., which is a little community between New Ulm and Gibbon, Mn.  They're active in running 400 acres of land and their livestock includes a herd of dairy cows and a beef herd.  Also, they raise and finish their own pigs and have on hand at least 500 hogs at all times.

The new Dodge van was added in May of 1974 and they travel to play mostly in a radius of 150 miles from New Ulm, but occasionally they go to North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The WENDIGERS are especially known for playing at polka events throughout the upper midwest.  In 1974 alone they played at 15 polkas fests including the big one at the Gibbon Ballroom.  Everyone knows them for playing together with their two concertinas.  Both have a Hengel "C" and a Hengel "B flat" concertina.

This 4th album is intended to give listening enjoyment to concertina lovers and also to people who like the full band sound.  The first two albums were concertina solos and the third record was like this one with the concertina plus trumpets.

PETER and PAUL have found many friends in their years of playing and have played professionally since January of 1964.  

Footnote : Recorded at Cherrywood Studios, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Wow! Wow! Wow!/ (Wish You'd Belong To Me)

George Young

Wow! Wow! Wow!/ (Wish You'd Belong To Me)

You Know I Wanna Love You

Chord 45-1301

Chord Music Corp. , N.Y.

Billboard 7 Oct 1957 :

Wow! Wow! Wow! ................73
Rhythm side with a novelty-lyric chanted by group. Some action
possible. (Cherio, BMI)  
You Know I Wanna Love You.........69
Blues chanted by vocal group.  Lead singer gets a good sound,
and instrumentation provides a chaotic effect which may mean
something. (Cherio, BMI)

George Young was born in Detroit in 1936. While attending Cass Tech High School in the early 1950's, Young began to sing and play guitar professionally. At 18 he appeared with Bobby Darin. During his Army years, Young was stationed in Freiburg, Germany, where he became friends and jammed with Elvis Presley, another soldier/musician. Detroit-based entertainer and bandleader,he worked with TV personality Soupy Sales, and also hosted TV music shows on CKLW-TV (Windsor, ON) and WKBD-TV (Detroit).  This Chord release is his first record.  He also recorded for Fortune, Mercury and on his own Pacesetter label.

Jerry Graller (co-writer of both sides) was a long time friend of George Young, and encouraged George to start his own band (George Young and the Youngsters) Jerry became the first keyboard player in the group, which had its first gig at the Wayne Show Bar on Michigan Avenue in Wayne, now Charlie's Too.

(We Love) TV and Radio

METROJEAN

(We Love) TV and Radio

I'll Go On Waiting

TNT Records 600
An Edward Green Production
A.D.T. and Tam Jay Music BMI

Undocumented RnB female vocalist, Metrojean had at least another record on New Sound in 1963 (Mama Let Me Do It My Way / Two Strangers).  You can listen to "Mama" on YT here

A.D.T. Enterprises was incorporated in 1956 in New York City by Warren Troob, an attorney and a good friend of D.J. Alan Freed.  .  TNT, its subsidiary label was perhaps (partly?) operated by Teddy Troob, son of Warren Troob.


TNT Records discography (1963 or later)

A product of A.D.T. Enterprises, Inc.  NYC 10019

101 The Rubbies
Wobble With Me Baby / Zing! Went The Strings

113 Shonnie
(Summer is the) Time For Love / Sunset

520 Ernie Barry And Marie Elena (64)
Name Game (Italian Style) / Sweet Bella Bambina

600 Metrojean
(We Love) TV and Radio / I'll Go On Waiting

Hey Little Girl

Johnny Dane

and the Impala Singers

Hey Little Girl

Vision Records

Late 1958

Perhaps produced by Tommy "Madman" Jones who owned the Josette Publishing company. Or perhaps by Bill Sheppard (owner of the copyright according to the December 1958 registration) ?

Anyway, whoever produced the record, it was certainly a local hit as it was issued at least three times under the Vision logo and leased to Vee Jay Records.

Johnny/Johnnie Dane discography (1957-1959)

Stepheny 03/04 (1957) and 1801 (1958)
Johnny Dane And The Discorders : Why Did You Leave Me? / Shootin' High
     B Side Wr Donald L. De Lucia

Vision V-620/M117 (1958)
Johnny Dane And The Impala Singers :Joany/Hey Little Girl

Vee-Jay 312 (1959)
Johnny Dane.: Joany/Hey Little Girl

Cha Cha 703 (late '59)
Johnnie Dane :  Give Me A Chance (J. Dane, D. De Lucia)   / Prize Of A Fool (N. Kaehn-R. Binnie)

Secretly

Cara Stewart
with Combo

Secretly

Kenneth Roberts, Roy Schroeder

Cedarlane Music, BMI

Top Fifty Records TF-151
1962

Quote from Phil Milstein  :

Although his studio featured one of the classiest, most distinctive and most accomplished signature sounds in all of song-poemdom, the name of Lee Hudson is little-known today because he never had a label to call his own, instead placing the productions of his eponymous, Southern California-based studio with existing labels or for use as private demos. What attention the studio did receive was further diffused by Hudson's emphasis of the name of his lead singer, Cara Stewart, on labels and in ads, keeping his own name that much further in the background.

Not that he could be blamed, for Cara Stewart possessed the finest female voice in the entire song-poem field. Supported by Hudson's light guitar comping and a "5 piece ork" simulated on a Chamberlin, her sultry mezzo-soprano would have leveled cities-full of men, had any of them besides the respective songwriters ever heard her sing.   Stewart's torchy blues-pop style invokes comparisons to Julie London and Marilyn Monroe, only with a better instrument -- at least better vocal instrument -- at her disposal.

Rockin' Rhythm

Bernie Roberts and his Orchestra

Vocal by Blondie

Rockin' Rhythm
B. Roberts-J.Meyer

Pageant Records 710

Juneau, Wisconsin

1962

Photo credit : http://www.polkamart.com/Biographies/TheBernieRobertsStory.aspx

The Bernie Roberts Orchestra began in 1944 and their recording career began in 1949 when they hit it very big with their first recording of the Jolly Musicians Polka.

At the age of 15, Bernie started playing the accordion and soon was playing for house parties, birthday parties, and for anyone who would listen. At 19, he joined a four piece band from Beaver Dam called Shorty and the Rhythm Ramblers. After World War II started, two members of the band were drafted and the band broke up. For two years he played for other bands in the area, getting valuable experience. Then at age 22, Bernie and a bass playing friend, Norbert Neis, decided to start a new band with a new sound. The result was the Bernie Roberts Orchestra.   Two of his brothers and two of his sisters joined the band. In 1949, the band released its first recording with the Pfau Recording Company in Milwaukee; in 1952 with the Decca Recording Company; and two years later, Bernie became a member of the American Society of Composers,

On Oct. 31, 1999, Bernie and the band were elected to the Wisconsin Polka Hall of Fame. From 1972 to 1999, he was a harness horse trainer, owner and driver, racing at tracks in the Midwest, Colorado and California.   Bernie passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004 in Anaheim, Calif.  

(Source of info : alt.music.polka forum)

Blondie Roberts played first trumpet on all the recordings
of his brother besides being the featured vocalist

Walking After Midnight

Sally Massey And The Rhythm Pals

Walking After Midnight

Don Hecht and Alan Block, 4 Star Sales Co.

Vogue S-8159-AA
1957

"A very late cover of the hit tune by Patsy Cline.  A nice job by Miss Massey, but it arrives much too late"  Billboard 6 May 1957

In January 1957, Cline performed the song on an episode of the CBS television program, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. It garnered a strong response from viewers and was therefore rush-released as a single February 11, 1957. "Walkin' After Midnight" became Cline's first major hit single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard country music chart and No. 12 on its pop chart.

Born in 1922, Sally Massey in her younger days used to sing on local radio stations with her sister Alice .  Sally then played guitar in the Rem Wall Band before recording for her own Sa-Ma label. She had at least two 45s on the Otsego, Michigan Vogue label in 1956 and 1957. There was also a much later single on Sims Records in 1964.

She was once married to Gilbert Jennings, a fiddler and singer.  She died at an unknown date.

Sunny Side Of The Street

Ricky Dee

Sunny Side Of The Street

Jimmy McHugh-Dorothy Fields

Shapiro & Bernstein Music BMI

Trio-Tex Records 104

Div. of G-B Recordings
Line & Phila. Rd., Easton, Penna.
G-B De Case Production
Produced by Bob Seawood

Backed by a cover of "A Thousand Miles Away" (The Heartbeats, 1957).   "Sunny Side" is also a cover.  Composed in 1930, the song was a hit for Frankie Laine in 1950.  (see Wikipedia)

Certainly related to Ricky Dee and The Embers (on Newtown Records). Same producers? Same band?  But the true identity of the vocalist remain unknown.  Curiously enough THE RICKY DEE AND EMBERS was incorporated - a rare fact at the time? - as a company on 12/17/1962 by Richard Wise, 426 Clinton Terrace, Easton, Pa.  Since there is no mention of The Embers here, should we assume that this record was done at an earlier date ?

Let's Have A Party

Susy Rose

Let's Have A Party

Sur-Speed Records

1971?

Susy Rose was seven year-old at the time of her first record (this one).  Her picture above is from the cover of a later album from the mid-seventies.  She also recorded for Rosette, Starr and Rome Records.  Originally from Prospect, Ohio, she is possibly now Sue Michael of  Worthington, Ohio.

Am I Blue

Lois Lee & The Rockets

Am I Blue

Clarke & Akst, Remick Music Corporation (ASCAP)
Cool Records no #

1964

Lois Lee / The Rockets discography

Cool 711 — The Rockets Featuring Lois Lewsader : Special Delivery  / The Rockets : Why Oh Why
Cool 712 — The Rockets : Always Alone    /  Lois Lee & The Rockets : Year 'Round Love
Cool No # — Lois Lee & The Rockets : Am I Blue /  The Rockets : Moovin’’N’ Groovin’

Despite the fact that this Cool label has a Nashville address and may have been linked to the Globe Studios in the same town, I'm pretty sure that the band was from the Chicago area, at least Lois Lee was.

Lois June (Lewsader) Troglia

Lois June Lewsader was born in 1934 in Danville Township, Illinois.  In 1965, she married James W. Troglia on June 12, 1965  . They celebrated 45 years of marriage in June 2010,

Other than that, not much information.   There was several singers of the same name. And there is one who recorded for Okeh Records in 1959 who has a voice strikingly similar, a such point that I think she is possibly the same singer.  Any thoughts ?

 "I've Got It Bad For You Baby"  (Okeh 7119)

Wild Horses

The Frontiersmen & Joanie

Wild Horses

Louise Lewis-E. Whenham

Skyway Records Music Pub. Co.
Hollywood, Calif. 90028

Red Fox Records RFR 104

1964

The Horsemen and Joanie Hall

Leader of The Horsemen was Hi Busse, original member of the legendary "Frontiersmen" and "The Riders of the Purple Sage", Hi Busse left an indelible mark upon Western music.   Busse's career spans seven decades, playing with Roy Rogers and "Gunsmoke's" Ken Curtis, acting in Hollywood westerns in the 1940's and making countless radio and music hall tours.


Joanie Hall started performing at a young age with Marian, her older sister, as the Saddle Sweethearts  :

Joanie played standard guitar, Marian had an Oahu lap steel with “mother-of-pearl” finish and matching amp, and they both sang.   They did shows on “pioneer television,” back when the makeup was orange and the director was also the janitor that swept up at the end of the day. There were TV antennas on about every fourth house then.

Joanie got her recording career started back in 1955 with Sage and Sand Records. Woody Fleener had started the Sage and Sand record label and also signed a top vocalist, Eddie Dean. Also signed at that time was the Frontiersmen and Marian Hall as a featured steel guitar player. Joanie was called in to sing in a chorus or play rhythm guitar. But she began to get noticed.

As the story goes, Eddie Dean told her one day to practice up on her singing a bit as he would soon tell her some good news. Later on, he called to tell her that he wanted her to do a duet record with him. They recorded "Open Up Your Door" b/w "Sign On The Door". After that session, Woody Fleener knew talent when he saw it and signed her to a contract and told her she had just made her first record.

Joanie Hall Discography

The Red Fox label was a subsidiary of Skyway Records. Louise Lewis and Everett Whenham, writers of Wild Horses, owned Skyway.  For some reason, the Red Fox subsidiary was launched in 1964, showcasing Miss Louise Lewis herself with Blimp, Whimp & Skimp.

How Louise Lewis and Everett Whenham managed to convince The Frontiersmen to record two singles for their Red Fox label, that's one more mystery surrounding the story of Skyway Records and the intriguingly elusive biographies of its owners.

Who Can I Believe

Judy Stewart

and her Beatle Buddies

Who Can I Believe

Mayhew-Stride

Janon Music ASCAP

Diplomat 45-0101
Synthetic Plastics Co.

Newark, N.J.

1964

b/w I'll Take You Back Again.  Both songs were also on the album issued by The Beatle Buddies on Diplomat Records (#2313).  The album doesn't have the Judy Stewart credit, doesn't have any songwriter credits.  But it does have a picture of the anonymous ladies on the cover.

Aubrey Mayhew, composer of the song and also probably producer of the Beatle Buddies, grew up in Washington and went into the music business in the late 1940s, first as a booker, then as director of the Hayloft Jamboree on the radio station WCOP in Boston.
After working for budget record companies such as Pickwick Records and Diplomat Records, he formed Little Darlin Records.He was also known as passionate collector of John F Kennedy memorabilia.

Aubrey Mayhew was in Houston in November 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. At the time, Mayhew was working for the New York-based Diplomat Records. “I was staying at the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, trying to buy some George Jones tapes from Pappy Daily [the owner of Jones' Starday record label],” he said. “The Kennedy assassination happened right there on television. I immediately called a friend in Houston, who brought over two tape recorders and all the tape he could carry.

“We recorded everything off the television for about 12 hours. I rushed the material back to New York, and we put out the first ‘Kennedy Speeches’ album. At that time, we had 300 Woolworth stores in our pocket. We got prime display. We sold about 3 million albums in four months.”

This incident led Mayhew to his affinity for Kennedy memorabilia.  His prize possession is the Texas School Book Depository. “Why did I buy it?” he asked me. “It was a premium item for my collection. I paid $600,000 for it.”

Mayhew removed the original window where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy. Mayhew claims the window is stored in Nashville, but some in Dallas argue that it is not the original window. “There’s a debate over everything in life,” Mayhew said emphatically. “I don’t lie! I don’t cheat! I don’t steal! I saw them take that window out.”

Mayhew, 81, died in 2009 at hospice care facility in Nashville.