Delmore Brothers- Biographies
“With their close-knit harmonies and their guitar playing, the Delmores influenced the Everly Brothers and countless other country, rockabilly and rock and roll artists.” Jim Henke, Chief Curator, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
As the Delmore Brothers arrived to audition for their first recording session in Atlanta, Georgia, they were in for a surprise. Hanging around the studio lobby were some of the big recording stars of the 1920s. “There was Clayton McMichen,” said Alton Delmore, “and he really was a dandy. All tailored up in the finest clothes and they fit him perfectly. We had listened to his records and he sounded like a true mountaineer. And Riley Puckett, who was blind. He was dressed immaculately and clean as a pin.”
Alton also mentioned Gid Tanner, Lowe Stokes, Hugh Cross, Tom Darby, Jimmie Tarlton, Fiddlin’ John Carson and Rev. Andrew Jenkins. Atlanta was the still the Country Music capitol of the world and even though it was 1931, the height of the depression, Columbia was still recording a limited number of artists.
“So we saw them all and we had heard them all on record,” said Alton. “There were enough of them to cause us no end of anxiety.” Alton became upset that the “big recordings stars” ignored them completely, which caused them more stress. The Delmores were scheduled to audition the next morning and left to find a place to sleep that night. They finally found an old sawmill on the outskirts of town and bedded down.
The next morning at the audition the Delmores were introduced to Dan Hornsby, who with Bob Miller was in charge of the recording session for Columbia. Hornsby and Miller, both musicians, had replaced Frank Walker as A & R men for Columbia’s location recordings. The audition went well and Hornsby told them to come back at five o’clock to record.
When The Delmores went into the lobby the ‘big recording stars’ still ignored them. Times were hard, even the established artists had trouble cutting records. They certainly didn’t welcome new competition. As they were walking out the door Fiddlin’ John and Rev. Andrew Jenkins walked in. Carson asked them to play a song and they would join in. “Yeah,” said Rabon, “and the old feller [Carson] was there and he said, ‘You all got two guitars there. I know you didn't bring them over here if you couldn't play 'em.’ And he got us to play a tune out there in the audition room.” As the Delmores played “Left my Gal In the Mountains” they were soon joined in song by the big recordings stars “singing along just like a choir.” “It was, and still remains,” said Alton, “one of the biggest thrills of all time in the show business.”
Later that day on Wednesday October 28, 1931 the Delmores returned to the studio and cut heir first record. They met Bob Miller, author of "Eleven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat," "Twenty-One Years" and the World War II hit "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere," who directed the session.
The Delmores recorded four songs and had two issued: “Got The Kansas City Blues” and “Alabama Lullaby.”
The Delmores received $25 (gas at that time was ten cents a gallon) and their first record was released in December. The record sold 511 copies, below average for a depression release. Record sales had dropped to 7% of the sales in the heyday of the late 1920s, it was a tough time to get in the record business. Later that year Columbia Records, beset by depression and buffeted by English owners, was purchased by Grigsby-Grunow (Majestic radios and refrigerators). In November, 1933 Grigsby-Grunow went bankrupt. Their assets were acquired, in February, 1934, by Sacro Enterprises, a banking syndicate. A Sacro unit, American Record Corporation, continued the Columbia and Okeh labels.
Early Life
“Well, I'll tell you where we was borned,” said Rabon. “We was borned in Elkmont, Alabama. It's a little bitty town right on the outside of Athens. And, of course, we was raised in Athens, Alabama. I am the youngest one of the family and that makes me younger than Alton, and, of course, he's the ugliest one of the family.” [interview late 1940s, reprinted in Old Time Music 10 (Autumn 1973), pp. 19-20].
Rabon Delmore, liked to joke with his older brother Alton, who was born on Christmas day, 1908. The eighth and tenth children of sharecroppers, Rabon was eight years younger, born on December 3, 1916. The Delmores grew up helping their family eke out a living on various rocky red clay farms across Limestone County, in northern Alabama, just south of the Tennessee line. Their older brother Max played the fiddle and their mother was a gospel singer who could read shape notes and helped Alton learn to write music when he was just ten.
“But you know, friends, the way we got singing really,” said Alton, “we had an uncle that was a famous songwriter, you know; wrote gospel hymns and everything, and we used to go over to his house and they had a big quartet there. Of course we called it a big one, because it was our cousins, see, and Uncle Will and all the boys they'd get together and sing. And we got to liking to sing ourselves, so we kept on going like that.”
By the time Alton was thirteen years old, he had published his first original song, a gospel number he co-wrote with his mother entitled "Bound For the Shore." From these humble beginnings Alton would go on to become one of the most prolific songwriters in Country Music history, writing over 1,000 songs. While recuperating from a childhood illness, Alton had the chance to spend many hours listening to music on phonograph records and, like so many others, he fell under the influence of Jimmie Rodgers.
Also inspired by the guitar styles of Riley Puckett, Carson Robison, Nick Lucas, and Eddie Lang, Alton taught himself to play. Incorporating the music theory he had learned from his mother, together with the already established styles of his musical heroes, Alton developed a sophisticated and unique approach to the guitar. He utilized the entire fingerboard to create adventurous chord positions, and emphasized a strong sense of drive and melody in his lead playing. He also taught himself to play banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and one day brought home a small, strange, four-stringed instrument- the tenor guitar.
Tuned like a tenor banjo, but softer and sweeter sounding, the tenor guitar proved to be a natural instrument for his younger brother Rabon, who was already learning fiddle and guitar. Not yet ten years old, he adapted well to the size of the instrument and, with his big brother to coach him, he soon became proficient at playing both melodies and imaginative back-up chords and rhythms.
Armed with this unusual combination of 6-string and tenor guitars, and blessed with a soft and subtle vocal blend, the Delmore Brothers performed in public for the first time at a rural high school fiddlers convention in 1926. Alton was 18 years old, Rabon was 10, and the competition was stiff. With no amplification the two young boys were virtually drowned out by the reveling festival-goers for the first half of their first song. But as they sang and played, a quiet came over the crowd, the way it does when someone important is speaking. By the time they had finished their second song the crowd roared its approval, they won second prize, and the Delmore Brothers act had been born.
While they were playing high schools and fiddlers conventions, another opportunity arose. "While Rabon and me were playing around the country, I got acquainted with a girl named Thelma Neely and I liked her a whole lot the first time I saw her.” Soon they would marry and eventually have four children.
Old Fiddler’s Contest 1930
The following excerpts by Alton Delmore in his autobiography Truth Is Stranger Than Publicity (Country Music Foundation Press, Nashville, TN; 1977), describe, in the artists words, one of the important moments in their illustrious career:
"There was a big crowd there and everything was decorated and all fixed up like the president of the United States would be there,” said Alton. “ It was by far the biggest and most important contest in the entire country. People who had never been to a contest before gathered with the contestants at the Old Athens (Alabama) Agricultural School. My mother had made (guitar) cases for us out of cotton sacks we used during the picking season and we had our names on them spelled out in full. I painted them on the cases with pokeberry juice.”
"You know how it feels to be a combatant in any kind of contest so we rightly felt proud of the sack cases and we were primed to go for the first in the prizes in each case. I entered the contest for the best guitarist and we also entered the contest for the best band. There were some bands there that would have given Bob Wills some strong competition if Bob had been there. We didn't think we would win that one. By then we had 'Brown's Ferry Blues' down pretty pat- in fact we could play it then just as good as we ever did.”
"When it came our time to play we sang just as soft as we could and just as loud as we could but we put the music in there, too -and that counts as much as anything I can think of to help put an act over. You can analyze music and record hits, I mean the legitimate ones, and you will find that there is synchronization between the voice or voices and the instrumentation.”
"We got tied for the first place with three pretty girls. Nothing worse could have happened because we knew the crowd usually takes sides with the singer if it happens to be a girl and those three girls could really sing. The rules were that they were to play two songs and two for us. The girls went out first, and I could tell they had lost something of their quality on their very first song. Their second one was not any better but they still got a tremendous hand from the audience. I knew we had something to beat. Rabon did, too, but it just made us work harder. We could feel the challenge in the air.”
"For our first number we used the old song 'Columbus Stockade Blues.' It was written by Tom Darby and Jimmie Tarltor. It is a plaintive prison and love song combined and when we got through singing men threw their hats into the top of the house and everybody screamed like the had really never before. We thought had it won then and we did but we still had the 'Brown's Ferry Blues' for them and when we did it the people really went wild and we won that contest without any question or any doubt. And that started us on our way to the Grand Ole Opry and the big record companies. Incidentally, I also won the first place for guitar playing with an instrumental rendition of 'St. Louis Blues.' Our names came out in the paper and it was really swell. Of all the days of triumph in my life, there were none any greater than those."
First Record 1931
Alton wrote various record companies trying to wax their first record. Finally a letter came from Columbia Records inviting them to audition in Atlanta. Many of the details of the first session were covered at the beginning of this biography (above).
On October 28, 1931 at the audition in Atlanta they were bewildered by what Alton thought looked like a little can on the end of a pole. Not knowing that this "little can" was a microphone, Alton and Rabon sang two original songs into it-"Alabama Lullaby" and "Got the Kansas City Blues." The whole experience seemed unreal to them at the time. Their audition was being recorded and the engineer Dan Hornsby asked them if they wanted to hear a playback. According to Alton, "We sounded. . . much better than our real selves, we thought. There was something divine in that little can, as it looked to us, that helped us immensely and changed us from two country farm boy singers to something 'uptown' and acceptable to listeners who bought records and listened to the radio programs. That was the whole secret of our good luck. Our voices took well to the microphone."
Grand Ole Opry 1933-38
They used there recording to promote themselves, and after Alton repeatedly wrote Harry Stone, were invited to Nashville's WSM radio to audition for the Grand Ole Opry in April 1933. Arriving a day late for the audition, The Delmores met Opry station manager Harry Stone, who berated them at their late arrival. Even though he was on a tight schedule, he and members of the Opry staff were impressed enough to give The Delmores their first shot at the big time radio, filling in the next Saturday for the Pickard Family, who were leaving for Chicago’s WLS.
The Delmores played the Opry for $10 a week and had to pay $5 to have Richard Harper drive them from Alabama to Nashville. In 1934 the Delmores moved to Nashville; at first living with their Uncle Prater Williams. After they got a small raise to $15 a week Alton brought his wife to Nashville and they rented a duplex on Alloway St. The Delmores struggled to survive until they started playing “personals.” One day, fellow Opry star Uncle Dave Macon approached them: “You boys would make a good team to work with me on some show dates,” said Uncle Dave. “Do you need the money?”
The Delmores started playing show dates with veteran performer Macon and began “making good money
from the very beginning.” Macon, who once loaned the Delmores money for a new car, became close to the bothers and even recorded a session with them Jan. 1935 in New Orleans. When The Delmore lived on Grove Ave., Macon, who was their “most frequent visitor,” would stop by after he performed on the Opry and spend the night.
For the next three years they played several radio shows over WSM during the week, traveled to as many road dates as possible with such people as Uncle Dave Macon, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, DeFord Bailey, and Roy Acuff, while always making it back to Nashville in time for the Saturday night Opry show.
Bluebird Recordings 1933
On Dec. 6, 1933 The Delmores cut their first side for RCA Victor’s discount label Bluebird. Eli Oberstein had replaced Ralph Peer and was the Delmores contact for their 80 Bluebird recordings. Their first session for Bluebird in 1933 included some of the duo's most enduring numbers including "Brown's Ferry Blues," "Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar," "Blue Railroad Train" (their tribute to Jimmie Rodgers), and "Big River Blues." In addition to their intricate harmonies, stellar guitar work, and songwriting, Victor's A & R man, Eli Oberstein was struck by their lonesome two-part yodeling. A unique twist on Jimmie Rodgers' now-popular vocal signature, the Delmores' pliable harmonies gave the yodel a fresh twist and added another dimension to their inimitable style.
The Delmores were also responsible for getting their friend and playing partner Uncle Dave Macon started on the Bluebird label. In January 1935 they bought Macon with them to their recording session for Bluebird and Macon backed by the Delmores cut the sides listed below:
Uncle Dave Macon (Uncle Dave Macon; Alton and Rabon Delmore) Bluebird Jan. 1935 New Orleans: I’ll Keep My Skillet Good And Greasy; I’ll Tickle Nancy; Just One Way To The Pearly Gates; One More River To Cross; Over The Mountain; When The Harvest Days are Over;
In late 1934 The Delmores helped also arranged a session for Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith, the featured fiddler on the Grand Ole Opry. The session was held in New Orleans on Jan. 22, 1935 and the brothers backed up Smith who played instrumental fiddle tunes including “Blackberry Blossom,” “Red Apple Rag” and “Mocking Bird.” According to Alton “liked his playing very much but he didn’t do any singing and his records didn’t sell well enough to bring him back again.” So Alton set up another session with Smith and The Delmores that featured vocals under the name: The Arthur Smith Trio.
“In the first session with all of us singing there were several good sellers,” said Alton, “and one hit record: “There’s More Pretty Girls Than One.” Another song they recorded at a later session was “Beautiful Brown Eyes” which became a big hit in the late 40s and early 50s. Although they claimed composer rights, both songs were arranged from other unknown sources.
Arthur Smith Trio Recordings (Arthur Smith- fiddle; Alton and Rabon Delmore) Bluebird Jan. 1935- Jan. 1938: Across The Blue Ridge Mountains; Adieu False Love; Answer To More Pretty Girls Than One; Beautiful Brown Eyes; Beautiful Mabel Clare; Blackberry Blossom; Bonaparte’s Retreat; Cheatum County Breakdown; Cheatum County Breakdown No. 2; Chicken Cookin’ Time; Dixon County Blues; Dixon County Blues No. 2; Doin’ The Goofus; Girl I Love Don’t Pay Me No Mind; Goin’ To Town; Fiddler’s Blues; Fiddler’s Dream; Florida Blues; Freight Train Moan; Goin’ To Town; Henpecked Husband Blues; Her Little Brown Hand; (Singing Those) House Of David Blues; I’m Bound To Ride; Indian Creek; It’s Hard To Please Your Mind; Little Darling; Little Darling They Have Taken You From Me; Lonesome Day Today, A; Lonesome For You; Lonesome Rambler’s Blues; Lost Love; Lost Train Blues; Love Letters; Mocking Bird; More Like His Dad Everyday; Nellie’s Blue Eyes; Never Alone; Paris Waltz; Pig At Home In A Pen; Red Apple Rag; Smith’s Breakdown; Smith’s Waltz; Spring Street Waltz; Sweet Heaven; There’s More Pretty Girls Than One; Straw Breakdown; Sugar Tree Stomp; Take Me Back To Tennessee; Walking In My Sleep;
While in New Orleans for their Jan. 1935 session, the Delmores and Uncle Dave visited and played for Tal Rodgers, Jimmie’s younger brother, and his wife, to pay respects for one of Alton’s musical idols. Tal told them about how, on one recording session, he went with his brother. Jimmie was to wax about ten songs. “He had the songs all right he just couldn’t play them,” said Tal, who had asked his brother to play them for him. “He never did get through a single song.” Tal was afraid Jimmie wouldn’t be able to play them at the session. When they showed up at the studio the next day “Jimmie didn’t have a worry in the world,” said Tal. “He got out his old guitar. They got him a music stand and he put some on it. Now I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but Jimmie stood there and recorded song after song, with just a little break between them and he didn’t make one single mistake!”
Some of the young guns that visited the Delmores at their Nashville home in 1936 were members of Clayton McMichen’s band included Carl Cotner, who would achieve fame with Gene Autry, and Merle Travis, who would play for McMichen in Cincinatti and later with the Delmores. Clayton, who wouldn’t allow the management at the Opry to push him around, lasted only one year. The Delmores also did road shows with Cowboy Copas and DeFord Bailey. Alton continued to have problems with George Hay and how he took advantage of performers on the Opry road shows.
By 1938 the Delmores were growing tired of politics that went with their WSM Grand Old Opry shows.
Before they left they managed to help out a young performer trying to break into the big time music business- Roy Acuff, the eventual Father of Country Music. Acuff had already made records with his band the Crazy Tennesseans and arranged to meet the Delmores and visit them back stage.
Roy’s band was one of four bands that auditioned to temporarily fill a spot on the Opry and do road shows with the Delmores. Although Alton said, “Their performance was too far away from good entertainment” and “They sounded really pitiful.” When Alton went down to talk with the bands he realized the leader of the Crazy Tennesseeans was his friend Roy Acuff! Since Alton got to select the band they would do the road shows with he picked Acuff’s.
Acuff and his band changed their name to appease the Opry brass, and Roy Acuff and his Kentucky Mountain Boys appeared with the Delmores on the Opry. The first night he sang, “Great Speckled Bird” and after receiving “a ton of mail” became a regular on the show. And the rest is history…
After The Opry- Lionel Delmore- Decca
The Delmores left the Opry in 1938 and for the next two years formed a string band composed of
Joe Zinkan-string bass; Smiley O’Brien-guitar; Chuck Maudlin-fiddle and Milton Estes- announcer and emcee. They played on WPTF radio in Raleigh, North Carolina then did a serires tours some on the Warner circuit and radio shows including stops in Greenville, SC; Winston–Salem, NC; Roanoke, VA; Frederick, MD; Washington DC; eastern shore Maryland; and Delaware.
Creatively, the Delmore Brothers seemed to thrive on the freedom of the open road. Not only did they continue to write great songs, but they developed as musicians and entertainers as well. Their show grew to include not only duet vocal numbers, but also comedy, gospel, and instrumental showpieces. Rabon became an excellent 6string jazz style guitarist and would impress audiences with his handling of pop tunes such as "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "Stormy Weather." Alton, having benefited from his earlier years with Fiddlin Arthur Smith, would play tunes like "Devil's Dream," "Fire On the Mountain," or "Hell Amongst the Yearlings" on the fiddle.
Alton's son, Lionel, named after actor Lionel Barrymore was born in 1940. He grew up traveling dizzying succession of radio stations and new "hometowns." From his earliest memories he was surrounded and inspired by his father's music. Earning the nickname "Tag-a-long, " Lionel was on stage singing at age four, and traveling to town after town as Alton booked and promoted show dates, leaned into microphones to sing with his brother, and wrote song after song.
Since Rabon never learned to drive, Alton spent many hours behind the wheel. According to Lionel, this is where many Delmore Brothers songs were written- Alton would develop ideas while he was driving and call them out to Rabon who, after making a few adjustments, would write them down. This method of collaboration yielded many successful songs and doubtlessly helped to propel Lionel into a fruitful career as a songwriter; Lionel Delmore currently lives in Nashville and has had dozens of songs recorded, many of them by country singer, John Anderson, including the huge hit, "Swingin’."
Finally in 1940 they headed back towards home where they appeared on radio station WAPI, Birmingham for two years. In Birmingham they organized a hillbilly union and met Hank Williams whom Alton described as a “sad boy.” During their stay in Birmingham they did a summer tour in Pennsylvania and appeared on one show with Tex Ritter. As a joke Alton announced to the crowd that “Tex would get every kid a nickel or an ice cream and for them to meet him at the backstage door.” The manager of the theater laughed about it then he said, “I feel sorry for old Tex. It will take every cent he makes to buy ice cream for those kids.”
During their Birmingham years they began recording for Decca Records, the first session was held in New York on Sept. 11, 1940. There second and last Decca session was in July, 1941.
Cincinnati WLW- 1942
After the beginning of World War II, in 1942 the Delmore Brothers auditioned to be on The Nation's Station WLW Cincinnati, one of the premiere radio shows in the mid-west. WLW was stacked with talent including Chet Atkins, Homer and Jethro, Andy Williams and Doris Day. After being accepted they moved to Cincinnati and were featured on the station’s “Boone County Jamboree.”
Andy Williams and his three brothers came to WLW-AM in 1942, after Chicago's WLS-AM canceled their radio show. Andy Williams, then 11, sang on the 15-minute Time to Shine show at 8 a.m. before going to school. By 1937, Merle Travis was a member of Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats, and a year later he'd moved on to the Drifting Pioneers, who found a permanent broadcasting gig at Cincinnati's WLW. The Boone Country Jamboree radio show kept the group busy until World War II came along and forced it to disband. Soon another for the Delmores opportunity arose.
Browns Ferry Four
“Merle Travis, Grandpa Jones, Rabon and myself formed a gospel quartet and Merle named it “Brown’s Ferry Four” after a song [Brown’s Ferry Blues] I wrote,” explained Alton.
“The Brown's Ferry Four were formed in June of 1943 while its four members were working in different groups at radio station WLW in Cincinatti, Ohio. They were put together as a replacement for the Drifting Pioneers, a group that had a spot on the station and was featured with a daily half hour program of gospel songs. Upon hearing the station manager (George Biggar) lament the parting of the Pioneers, Alton Delmore offered to put together a quartet. A quick rehearsal in the hallway of the station confirmed that Alton and Rabon Delmore, Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis could indeed function as a quartet. They quickly agreed to give it a try and were informed by Mr Biggar that they could start the following morning.” [Gary B. Reid, the writer of the liner notes for the double CD of the Brown's Ferry Four; 'Rockin' on the Waves: Complete King Recordings 1946 – 1952]
Over the ensuing three years, Brown's Ferry Four became one of the top white country gospel groups in the country through their radio broadcasts out of Cincinnati. Their reputation grew despite three of the four members' departures for military service within six months of their first performance -- Travis joined the United States Marine Corps, Alton Delmore went into the United States Navy, and Jones joined the United States Army, but the quartet went on. Rabon Delmore landed a defense contract working for the government. The radio station owned the name and kept the Brown's Ferry Four alive by recruiting other members for the duration of the war.
Travis spent a short stint in the Marines, but was quickly discharged and returned to WLW in Cincinnati.
During the late winter of 1944, he headed for Los Angeles, where he began making appearances in Charles Starrett's Western movies and playing with Ray Whitley's Western swing band. With guidance from Tex Ritter and bassist Cliffie Stone, in 1946 he released the topical song "No Vacancy" — dealing with the displacement of returning veterans — along with "Cincinnati Lou," and earned a double-sided hit.
The reunion of the original lineup actually took place in March 1946 when Grandpa Jones and the Delmores were all signed to King and had been flown out to California for recording sessions in the final week of March of 1946, and Travis was one of the session players for Jones' sides. Since the original Brown's Ferry Four there together, a first recording session was scheduled for March 25, 1946. The two sides, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" b/w "Just a Little Talk with Jesus," featured Alton Delmore singing lead while Rabon Delmore handled the tenor vocals, Jones sang baritone, and Travis took the bass vocal part.
When their first record was a hit, another session was scheduled in Hollywood that fall. This time The Brown’s Ferry Four cut twelve sides including “Over In The Gloryland” and “I’ll Fly Away.” It would be the last time the original group would record together. In the next session in Oct. 1947 Red Foley took over the bass part for Travis. Subsequent session the bass was handle by Red Turner and for one of last sessions in 1952 Clyde Moody subbed for Grandpa Jones.
In September of 1946, sensing a potential gold mine in their records, Nathan had the Brown's Ferry Four record a dozen sides at their next session, in October of that year. The results were extraordinary, a dozen sides, all superb, and some of the most affecting white gospel music ever recorded. These included recordings of classic numbers such as "Everybody Will Be Happy (Over There)," several originals by Alton Delmore, and one number credited to (but not actually written by) Grandpa Jones. These yielded a bumper-crop of popular country gospel singles, and portended continued success for the quartet. By the time they'd regrouped for their next session in the fall of 1947, however, a complication ensued over Merle Travis -- Nathan was working out of Chicago by then, but the guitarist/singer was living in California and not all that willing to leave for the sessions; further complicating matters, he was signed to Capitol Records under exclusive contract. Luckily, Red Foley, who was present at the sessions to play upright bass, volunteered to sing Travis' bass part, and 13 songs were recorded with this modified lineup. A broadcast version of the Brown's Ferry Four continued to appear regularly on WLW, but the recording group's next sessions didn't take place until 1951, owing to the 1948 recording ban ordered by the American Federation of Musicians, coupled with the various obligations of the individual members -- when they did re-form in 1951, it was with Red Turner, part of the broadcast version of the group, filling the bass spot. By 1952, the core of the group -- Jones and the Delmores -- were working intermittently with an undesignated fourth man, and in the summer of that year, it was the Delmores with Clyde Moody and an unnamed fourth performer.
Browns Ferry Four Discography (Alton & Rabon Delmore; Grandpa Jones; Merle Travis; Red Foley; Red Turner; Clyde Moody) King Jan 1946-52; Acme (Alton only) 1956: After The Sunrise; Arm Of God; Bound For The Shore; Can’t You Hear Him Calling; Devil is Mounted; Eternity Without Him; Everybody Will Be Happy; Gonna Fly Away With Christ; Gonna Row My Boat; Hallelujah Morning; Heaven Eternal For Me; His Boundless Love; I Am A Weary Pilgrim; I Feel Like Traveling On; I Need The Prayers; If We Never Meet Again; I’ll Fly Away; I’ll Meet You In The Morning; I’m Naturalized For Heaven; I’ve Made A Covenant With My Lord; Jesus Hold my Hand; Judgement Day; Just A Little Talk With Jesus; Keep On The Firing Line; Lord Is Watching over Me, The; Old Camp Meeting; (I’ve Got The) Old Time Religion; On The Jericho Road; Over in The Gloryland; Peaceful Home; Praise God He Loves Everybody; Rock Of Ages; Rockin’ On The Waves; Salvation Has Been Brought Down; There’s A Light Guiding Me; There’s A Page In The Bible; Throne Eternal; Through The Pearly Gate; Unclouded Day; We Should Walk Together; What Shall I do With Jesus; When He Blessed my Soul; When He Calls His Reapers; When The Good Lord Cares; When The Redeemed; When We Sing Around The Throne Eternal; Will The Circle Be Unbroken; You Must Be Born Again
Harlan County Four (Red & Zeke Turner; Alton and Rabon Delmore) King label Oct. 1951: Atomic Telephone; God Will Lead You; I Cry Holy; John Three Sixteen; My Father’s Mansion; Show Me The Way; Start To Praying; Ten Commandments;
King Records
In 1943 Alton’s publisher, Sylvester Cross, in Hollywood, California needed copies of six old Delmore records so they could arrange the songs for a folio of the Delmores biggest hits. Alton, who had given his copies away, was told to go the Syd’s Record Shop where not only did he find the records but he teamed up with the owner, Syd Nathan and started a record company- "The King of Them All" King Records.
Sydney Nathan was born in Cincinnati on April 27, 1904 suffering from asthma and poor eyesight. He quit school in the ninth grade. During the Depression he tried many things: drummer in a local speakeasy, pawnshop clerk, a jewelry salesmen, amusement park concessionaire and wrestling promoter among other things. In the late 1930's he opened a wholesale radio shop on West Fifth Street. He later sold the shop and moved to Miami to be near his physician brother David Nathan. There he opened a photo-finishing business, but in 1939 Florida experienced snow and sleet which effectively killed the business. He then moved backed to Cincinnati where he opened a record shop in a poor neighborhood. It was here that he first thought of opening a record company targeting the hillbilly market.
“It was supposed to be a mutual deal,” explained Alton, “with me getting the talent and leaving the money part up to him. [Besides the Delmores] He wanted Grandpa Jones, Cowboy Copas, and the Carlisles, Cliff and Bill, to start with.” According to Alton he was promised a 10% stockholder in the company in exchange for signing a bad writing and royalty contract, getting the talent and writing and arranging the songs.
The Delmores cut the fourth record ever made on the new King Label in January 1944 with “Prisoner’s Farewell” and “Sweet, Sweet Thing.” Merle Travis and Grandpa Jones recorded the first one as The Sheppard Brothers in Nov. 1943. After the company became incorporated and grew Alton, who became less involved with King realized his 10% cut in the company was just an empty promise, yet he kept recording for King where the Delmores had their biggest hits in late 40s.
Memphis 1945- Hillbilly Boogie
After the war both brothers were in Cincinnati, Alton had finished his brief stint with the Navy and was playing on WLW but after Rabon’s defense job ended, the station refused to hire him back. The Delmores move briefly to Indianapolis then in 1945 settled in Memphis where they began broadcasting on WMC.
They continued recording for King. One record by the Delmore Brothers directly anticipated the development of rockabilly and, later, rock and roll- it was “Hillbilly Boogie.” The song, capitalizing on the boogie woogie craze, was penned by Rabon and recorded for King in Hollywood, Ca. in January 1946 with Merle Travis and Lou Innis backing the Delmores on guitar and Roy Starkey on bass.
Some excellent musicians accompanied The Delmores on their King sessions 1944-1952 including: Louis Innis, Jethro Burns, Roy Lanham, Merle Travis, Zeke Turner, Al Myers (guitar); Al Strickland (steel guitar); Lonnie Glosson, Wayne Raney (harmonica); Roy Starkey, Ralph Gunter (bass).
Roy Lanham played jazz guitar in Atlanta (where he met his idol, George Barnes) and was featured on WLW radio in Cincinnati, as a staff guitarist. While at WLW, he met many country players/performers that would go on to stardom, including Merle Travis, Joe Maphis and Hank Penny. He also got his first taste of studio work, appearing on many King Records sides, including most of the classic Delmore Brothers "boogie" songs. About this time he recorded at least one record for London Records with a group called The Tennessee Jaybirds.
In retrospect, one of the most important backup musicians on these sides was Wayne Raney, who played a "choke" style of harmonica that was heavily influenced by the blues. The Delmores met Raney (August 17, 1920- January 23, 1993) in Memphis in late 1945and he became the Delmores harmonica player. Wayne and his longtime stage partner Lonnie Glosson sold millions of harmonicas through the mail and did much to establish the harmonica as an instrument accessible and popular everywhere. Born on a farm near Wolf Bayou, AR, Raney suffered from a foot deformity that prevented him from doing heavy farm work. He heard a street person "choke" a harmonica and was inspired to learn the instrument himself. By the time he was 13, he had headed for Piedras Negras, Mexico, across the river from Eagle Pass, TX, to perform on the powerful "border radio" station XEPN. In 1936 he met Glosson, and the two teamed up in 1938 to play on a radio station in Little Rock. They moved on to Cincinnati's WCKY and later to wide syndication.
In 1948, Raney went solo and hit the charts with two Top 15 singles, "Lost John Boogie" and "Jack and Jill Boogie." In 1949 he topped country charts with "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me," which also featured Glosson. The song crossed over to the pop Top 25 and was his biggest hit. Raney subsequently recorded novelty songs in the Little Jimmy Dickens vein, such as "Pardon My Whiskers" and "I Love My Little Yo Yo." He played on the Grand Ole Opry for one year, spent a few months touring with Lefty Frizzell in 1953, and performed on the California Hayride and WWVA Jamboree radio programs.
The Delmores were also leaning increasingly toward up-tempo material that reflected the upsurge in Western swing and boogie-woogie. By the end of 1947, they were also using electric guitar and drums. Raney (who also sang) in effect acted as a third member of the Delmores in the late '40s and early '50s, when they plunged full-tilt into hillbilly boogie.
These are the most widely available and, in some ways, best Delmore Brothers sides. They were also the most successful, and in the late '40s the brothers reached their commercial peak, releasing a series of hard- driving boogies with thumping backbeats and bluesy structures. Armong these boogies are "Freight Train Boogie" (# 2 country in 1946), "Hillbilly Boogie," "Steamboat Bill Boogie," "Barnyard Boogie," "Mobile Boogie," and "Pan American Boogie" (# 7 country, 1950).
These were usually exciting performances, featuring extended guitar solos that clearly looked forward to the rock era. Listen, for instance, to the lengthy guitar breaks of "Beale Street Boogies" (unreleased at the time) - very few, if any, white or black artists were riffing so extensively in 1947. And of course "Beale Street" itself was a tribute to the most famous musical street in Memphis, the city that did so much to cross- fertilize black and white roots music into what became rock & roll.
Blues Stay Away From Me
The Delmores didn't stick entirely to boogies during the King era, also releasing some slower bluesy material. One of these, the original "Blues Stay Away From Me," became their biggest hit (# 1 country, 1949), and indeed the most famous Delmore Brothers song of all, often covered by subsequent country and pop artists, including Gene Vincent and the Johnny Burnette Trio.
Syd Nathan asked Alton if he had heard the popular tune, “The Hucklebuck.” Alton, who knew the tune, was asked by Nathan to “write me a hillbilly Hucklebuck. I want a beat but I want it to be hillbilly. Alton worked on it but somehow the beat wasn’t right so he asked Henry Glover King’s black studio pianist to help. Grover, who had recorded with the Delmores and helped with previous arrangements, figured out the opening guitar riff that made the song which was played by Zeke Turner, a guitarist who later played hot licks on Hank Williams records. [Zeke Turner underpinned "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" with recurring figures on the bass strings of his electric guitar. A few weeks earlier, he had led the backing on The Delmore Brothers' King recording of "Blues Stay Away From Me," using very similar licks]
Later Years
Despite this and other high water marks, the Delmore fortunes were notoriously inconsistent. In an excellent article by graduate student Lynn Pruett, appearing in Alabama Heritage magazine (summer 1987), she states: "On Thanksgiving Day 1951, 42year-old country singer and songwriter Alton Delmore sat down to dinner with his family in their small home in Houston, Texas. At Alton's direction, they bowed their heads and thanked the Lord for their meal of apples and mayonnaise. Two days later, seated at the same table, the Delmores played cards and listened to "The Hit Parade," the nation's top radio show. When the announcer named "Beautiful Brown Eyes" one of the hit songs of the week, Alton laid his cards on the table and wept. 'I've got the number eight song in the nation,' he said, 'and I can't feed my family a Thanksgiving dinner.'
Rabon’s marriage was crumbling and he went to Detroit to find solo work. In early 1952 Rabon summoned Alton to Detriot where they played their final gig at the Roosevelt Lounge. Robon had lung cancer and after one last recording session with the Brown’s Ferry Four, he died, one day past his thirty-sixth birthday on Dec. 4, 1952.
Alton, shaken the loss of his brother, father, the death of his young daughter Susan, and his own heart attack all within a three-year period, “lost his starch," according to son, Lionel. Settling back in Huntsville, Alabama, Alton taught some guitar, did odd jobs, and devoted his creative energies to writing prose, first a series of fictional short stories, then the ambitious work of his autobiography, which is still in print and is highly recommended.
Alton, who occasionally played with his son, Lionel, made his final recordings with Brown’s Ferry Four on Acme in 1956 and his last recording was “Good Times in Memphis” on Linco Records in 1959. Alton died of heart failure on June 9, 1964. Since that time, much has been made of the Delmore Brothers and their accomplishments. They have been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Alabama Country Music Association Hall of Fame, and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Their songs continue to be performed and recorded by a wide array of artists ranging from Doc Watson, to Hank Williams Jr., to Mark Knopfler (of the English rock band Dire Straits), to K.D. Lang (who recently recorded "Blues, Stay Away From Me" together with Kitty Wells, Brenda Lee, and Loretta Lynn). The Delmore Brothers got Nashville's highest honor on Oct. 4, 2001 when they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Recordings:
Columbia records October 28, 1931 The Delmores recorded four songs and had two issued: “Got The Kansas City Blues” and “Alabama Lullaby.” They recorded for Bluebird Dec. 6, 1933. King Label recording began in January 1944 with “Prisoner’s Farewell” and “Sweet, Sweet Thing.” The Browns Ferry Four (Alton & Rabon Delmore; Grandpa Jones; Merle Travis; Red Foley; Red Turner; Clyde Moody) King Jan 1946-52. London releases began on Jan. 1950-1951 under pseudonyms. London Records is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 through 1979, then became a semi-independent label. London arose from the split in ownership between the British branch of Decca Records and that same company's USA branch; the "London" label released British Decca records in the USA, since it could not use the "Decca" name there. Harlan County Four (Red & Zeke Turner; Alton and Rabon Delmore) King label Oct. 1951- Last recording of Delmore Bothers; Alton cut four songs with Brown’s Ferry Four on Acme in 1956 and did his last recording was “Good Times in Memphis” on Linco Records in 1959.
Complete Delmore Brothers Songs:
900 Miles From Home; Ain’t It Hard To Love; Alabama Lullaby; Alcatraz Island Blues; All Alone ‘Neath The Blue; Are You Marching With The Savior?; Baby Girl; Back To Birmingham; Barnyard Boogie; Be My Little Pet; Beale Street Boogie; Beatin’ ‘Round The Bush; Better Range Is Home, A; Big Ball In Texas; Blind Child; Blow Yo’ Whistle Freight Train; Blue Railroad Train; Blues at my Door; Blues Stay Away From Me; Blues You Never Lose; Boogie Woogie Baby; Born To Be Blue; Broken Hearted Lover; Brother Take Warning; Brown’s Ferry Blues; Brown’s Ferry Blues Part II; Brown’s Ferry Blues Part III; Budded Rose; Bury Me Out On The Prairie; Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow; By The Banks Of the Rio Grande; Calling us To That Other Shore; Cannonball; Careless Love; Carry Me Back To Alabama; Cause I Don’t Mean To Cry When You’re Gone; Darby’s Ram; Dis Train; Don’t Forget Me Darling; Don’t Let Me Be In The Way; Don’t Let My Ramblin’ Bother Your Mind; Don’t Talk About Me; Don’t You See That Train?; Down Home Boogie; Down South; Dying Truck Driver; Eastern Gate; Everybody Loves Her; Fast Express; Fast Old Shovel; False Hearted Girl; Family Tree Musta Fell On Me; Farmer’s Girl; Fast Express; Fifteen Miles From Birmingham; Field Hand Man; Fifty Miles To Travel; Fox Chase; Freight Train Boogie; Frozen Girl; Fugitive’s Lament; Gamblers Yodel; Gamblin’ Yodel; Gathering Flowers From The Hillside; Girl By The River; Girls Don’t Worry My Mind; Git Along; Give Me Your Hand; Go Easy Mabel; God Put A Rainbow In The Clouds; Goin’ Back To Georgia; Goin’ Back To The Blue Ridge Mountains; Good Time Saturday Night; Good Times In Memphis; Goodbye Booze; Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar; Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar- Part II; Gospel Cannonball; Got The Kansas City Blues; Got No way Of Knowing; Gotta Have Some Lovin’; Happy Hickory- The Hobo; Happy On The Mississippi Shore; Harmonica Blues; Heart of Sorrow; Heartbreak Ridge; Heavenly Light Is Shining On Me; Hey Hey I’m Memphis Bound; Hi De Ho Baby Mine; Hillbilly Boogie; Hillbilly Fever; Home On The River; Honey I’m Ramblin’ Away; How You Gonna Get Your Lovin’ Done; Hummingbird Special; I Ain’t Gonna Stay Here long; I Ain’t Got Nowhere To Travel; I Ain’t Nothing But A Tom Cat’s Kitten; I Believe It For My Mother Told Me So; I Don’t Know Why I Love Her; I Found An Angel; I Guess I’ve Got To Be Goin’; I Had My Fingers Crossed; I Know I’ll Be Happy In Heaven; I Let The Freight Train Carry Me On; I Long To See My Mother; I Love My Little Yo Yo; I Loved You Better Than You Knew; I Need The Prayers Of Those I Love; I Needed You; I Now Have A Bugle To Play; I Said Goodnight To My Darling; I Swear By The Stars; I Want A Home In Dixie; I Wonder Where My Darling Is Tonight?; I Won’t Be Worried Long; If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time; I’ll Be There; I’ll Never Fall in Love Again; I’m Alabama Bound; I’m Going Away; I’m Going Back To Alabama; I’m Gonna Change My Ways; I’m Leavin’ You; I’m Lonesome Without You; I’m Mississippi Bound; I’m On My Way; I’m Really Needing You; I’m Sorry I Caused You To Cry; I’m Worried Now; In The Blue Hills Of Virginia; In The Vine Covered Chapel In The Valley; It’s No Secret; It’s Taking Me Down; I’ve Done Sold My Soul; I’ve Got The Big River Blues; I’ve Got The Railroad Blues; Jack And Jill Boogie; Just The Same Sweet Thing To me; Keep The Camp Fires Burning; Kentucky Mountain; Last Night I Was Your Only Darling; Lead Me; Leavin’ Town; Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide; Life’s Too Short; Little Girl You’re Mean To Me; Long Journey Home; Look Up Look Down That Lonesome Road (In The Pines); Lonely Moon; Lonesome Day; Lonesome Jailhouse Blues; Lonesome Railroad; Lonesome Yodel Blues; Lonesome Yodel Blues No. 2; Lorena The Slave; Lost John Boogie; Lover’s Warning; Love I Cast Away; Make Room In The Lifeboat For Me; Memories Of My Carolina Girl; Midnight Special; Midnight Train; Mississippi Shore; Mobile Boogie; Muddy Water; My Annabelle Lee; My Heart Will Be Crying; My Home’s Across The Blue Ridge Mountains; My Smoky Mountain Gal; Nashville Blues; New False Hearted Girl; No Drunkard Can Enter There; No One; Nothing But The Blues; Now I’m Free; Oh Susanna; Old Fashioned Matrimony In Mind; Old Mountain Dew; Only Star; Over The Hills; Pan American Boogie; Pardon My Whiskers; Peach Tree Street Boogie; Please Be My Sunshine; Precious Jewel; Prisoner’s Farewell; Promise Me You’ll Always Be Faithful; Put Me On That Train To Carolina; Quit Treatin’ Me Mean; Rainin’ On The Mountain; Ramblin’ Minded Blues; Real Hot Boogie; Red River Valley; Remember I Feel Lonesome Too; Rounder’s Blues; Sand Mountain Blues; Scatterbrain Mama; See That Coon In a Hickory Tree; Shame On Me; She Left Me Standing On The Mountain; She Won’t Be My Little Darling; Silver Dollar; Silver Thread Among The God; Singing My Troubles Away; Smoky Mountain Bill And His Song; Some Of These Days You’re Gonna Be Sad; Someday You’ll Pay; Somebody Else’s Darling; Southern Moon; Steamboat Bill Boogie; Stop That Boogie; Storms Are On The Ocean; Sweet, Sweet Thing; Sun Has Gone Down; Take Away This Lonesome Day; Take It Out On The Door; Take It To The Captain; Take Me Back To The Range; Tennessee Choo Choo; That Old Train; That Yodeling Gal Miss Julie; That’s How I Feel So Goodbye; There’s a Lonesome Road; There’s Sumpin’ about Love; There’s Trouble In My Mind Today; They Say It’s Sinful To Flirt; Till The Roses Bloom Again; Trail Of Time; Trouble Ain’t Nothing But The Blues; Trouble Then Satisfaction; Two Sweethearts; Under The Double Eagle; Undertakin’ Blues; Used Car Blues; Wabash Blues; Wabash Cannonball Blues; Waitin’ For That Train; Weary Day; Weary Lonesome Blues; Whatcha Gonna Give Me; When It’s Summertime In A Southern Clime; When It’s Time For The Whip-Poor-Will To Sing; When The Saints Go Marching Home; When They Let The Hammer Down; When We held Our Hymn Books Together; Where Is my Sailor Boy?; Whipporwill Song; Why Did You Leave Me Dear; Who’s Gonna Be Lonesome For Me; Will You Be Lonesome Too?; Wonderful There; Wrath Of God; You Better Treat Your Man Right; You Can’t Go Wrong And Get By; You Gotta Walk The Straight And Narrow;