Gene Autry Biography
On October 9, 1929, just weeks before the Great Depression, Gene Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998) waxed his first two songs for Victor in New York City backed by the guitars of Johnny and Frankie Marvin and the vocal harmonizing of his playing partner Jimmy Long. “My Dreaming of You” was a song written by Johnny Marvin and Jimmy Long wrote “My Alabama Home.”
Although this was Autry’s first actual session, the year before he had done a test recording for Victor and also with Edison. The Edison session was a flop and Victor executive Leonard Joy felt Autry had talent but wasn’t ready yet; he told Gene to come back in a year when he had more experience. Autry, with the determination that would make him one of the most successful Country artists of all time and one of the richest men in America, practiced, performed and made himself better- and Victor kept their promise.
Gene Autry defined country music for two generations of listeners, cowboy songs for much of the 20th century, and American music for much of the world. He made 640 recordings, including more than 300 songs written or co-written by him. His records sold reportedly more than 100 million copies and he has more than a dozen gold and platinum records, including the first record ever certified gold. His original Christmas and children's records “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)” and “Peter Cottontail” are among his platinum recordings. His recording of Johnny Marks’ “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the second all-time best selling Christmas single, boasts in excess of 30 million in sales.
Gene Autry became more than just a musician. He was country music's first genuine "multimedia" star, the best-known Country & Western singer on records, in movies, on radio, and on television from the early '30s until the mid-'50s. He is the only entertainer to have five stars on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. His 93 movies delighted millions, and made millionaires of several producers as well as Autry himself. After his radio and television shows were popular and successful he became a multi-millionaire investor and bought the California Angels baseball team. He ranked for many years on the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans.
"I'm not a great actor, great singer or great rider," he once said. "But what the hell is my opinion when 50 million people think I do pretty good?"
Early Life
Gene Autry, the biggest selling Country & Western singer of the middle of the 20th century, was born Orvon Grover Autry on September 29, 1907, in the tiny Texas town of Tioga, the son of Delbert and Elnora Ozmont Autry. Orvon was first taught to sing at age five by his grandfather, William T. Autry, a Baptist preacher and descendant of some of the earliest settlers in Texas, contemporaries of the Houstons and the Crocketts (an Autry had died at the Alamo). Delbert was a horse trader and raised and sold livestock so Orvon learned to ride at an early age.
His mother, who taught him hymns and folk songs and read psalms to him at night, encouraged the boy’s interest in music. Autry got his first guitar at age 12, bought from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog for eight dollars (saved from his work as a hired hand on his uncle's farm baling and stacking hay). By the time he was 15, he had played anyplace there was to perform in Tioga, including school plays and the local café.
Music Career
Autry’s first extended professional tour was in the summer of 1924 with the Fields Brothers Marvelous Medicine Show. He earned $15 a week singing sad songs before the sales pitch while strumming his guitar. After the family move to Ravia, Oklahoma Orvon worked odd jobs with the railroad. Delbert Autry was rarely home, and Orvon left school after the tenth grade working at the Texas and Pacific dept to provide for them. Iin 1925, Autry worked as a telegrapher for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. According to Autry:
“My folks moved to Ravia, Oklahoma, when I was about 15, and that's where I finished high school. During off-hours I worked around the Frisco Railroad station, doing odd jobs. In return for this, the stationmaster taught me telegraphy. I went to work for the Frisco, as a telegrapher, after graduating from high school. When the wires weren't too busy, I'd play my guitar and sing. In Sapulpa, Oklahoma, I met another railroad man Jimmy Long who liked to sing, and we formed a team. We played at dances and parties around Sapulpa, and wrote a lot of songs together. Our first was "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine’.”
Long, a fourty- year- old Arkansas native, was the dispatcher for the St. Louis & Frisco Railroad at the time that Autry joined the company. Jimmy, the more knowledgeable of the two, was already playing music and singing in his spare time, and entertaining the notion of someday appearing on the radio and making some records, an attitude Autry then adapted. Orvon was a frequent guest at the long household, often stopping by to eat dinner before the men would play music.
After Autry became a relief telegrapher for the ‘Frisco Line in Oklahoma and Missouri in 1926, and according to legend he also met Will Rogers who encouraged him to pursue a music career. [This legend became part of Autry’s bio in the late 30s making it likely that it is PR media spin.] Autry was working the four-to-midnight shift at the local telegraph office in Chelsea, OK, one summer night in 1926 when, to break up the monotony, he began strumming a guitar and singing quietly to himself. A customer came into the office; rather than insisting upon immediate service, he motioned for Autry to continue singing, then sat down to watch and listen while he looked over the pages he was preparing to send. At one point, the visitor asked him to sing another. Finally, after dropping his copy on the counter, the customer told Autry that with some hard work, he might have a future on the radio, and should consider going to New York to pursue a singing career. The man, whom Autry had recognized instantly, was Will Rogers, the humorist, writer, and movie actor, and one of the most popular figures in the entertainment world of that era.
New Name- His Adventure to The Big Apple
Orvon was making $150 a month for the railroad, which in those days was a comfortable income in that part of Texas. Not wanting to lose his job, according to Autry he was granted leave from his railroad position in the fall of 1927. [Biogarpher George-Warren gives the date as Aug. 10, 1928; I agree with the 1928 date.] He headed for NY City with $150 to try and make his first records. He had an introduction to Johnny Marvin, an established guitarist whose mother ran a café in Butler, Oklahoma, and stayed with his younger brother Frankie.
Before Autry met the Marvins he changed his first name. Autry, who was known as Orvon, became Gene when he came to New York. He acquired his professional name from Gene Austin, who was at the height of his popularity in 1927-28. After Frankie arranged an audition with Edison, Gene sang Jolson’s “Climb Upon My Knee Sonny Boy” but didn’t know the song well. “He tried to make a test record of Sonny Boy,” recalled Frankie Marvin, “and he couldn’t sing Sonny Boy yet!”
After that failed he was strumming his guitar and singing in Victor’s lobby when Nat Shilkret, Victor’s top executive heard him and arranged an audition for him with Victor’s Vice-President Leonard Joy. Gene sang Silkret’s “Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time.” “I was no good,” recalled Autry, “too stiff and self-conscious.” Gene was advised to get more experience and got a letter of recommendation that he used when he returned home to get on KVOO in Tulsa. The Marvin’s advised Aurty to “go back to Oklahoma, practice up on the guitar, get rig of those “Sonny Boy” type songs and learn to yodel like Jimmie Rodgers.”
Autry returned home to his telegraph job and took voice and guitar lessons. He played as often as possible with Jimmy Long before Jimmy was transferred to Springfield, Missouri. He played regularly on KVOO and was billed as the original "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy." For a jug of corn liquor wrangled a feature in Tusla World, the local newspaper.
First Recordings
With more experience Autry headed back to Victor in early October 1929 and cut his first two sides. Two weeks later on Oct. 24 he cut Rodger’s “Blue Yodel No. 5” and Carson Robison’s “Left My Gal In The Mountains” for Columbia. Present that same day in the studio were two up-and-coming singers, Rudy Vallée and Kate Smith. He also cut some sides for ARC, a division of Columbia, in October probably before the Oct. 24 session.
While deciding whether to sign a contract with Victor, he met with new ARC executive Art Satherley. “Victor is big,” said Art, “but they have lots of stars. With us, you can be Number One.” Autry, who eventually signed with ARC, began recording songs for their Velvetone label at $50 a side. Autry’s music was a mix of hillbilly, blues, country, yodel songs, and cowboy ballads. He covered songs and sounded remarkably like his new idol, Jimmie Rodgers.
Marries- Takes WLS Job in Chicago
By 1930 Satherley had wrangled Autry an unpaid spot yodeling on Chicago's WLS radio, which was owned by Sears, Roebuck. Satherley arranged for ARC to pay Gene $35 a week for expenses (about $500 a week today) if he would move to Chicago. Satherley promised, “Gene if you will do this I’ll guarantee within the first year you’ll be getting fifteen hundred dollars a month.” WLS was the biggest Country radio station at that time and had propelled singers like Bradley Kincaid (see p. ) to stardom. In exchange for helping and promoting Gene, Satherley received a commission on Gene’s earnings.
“Art Satherley, vice-president of Columbia, then sent me over to WLS in Chicago for a try out,” said Autry, “and I wound up staying for four years. It was fun singing on the Sears Roebuck program, the Farm and Home Hour, the National Barndance, and the other programs.”
Gene appeared on the “Conqueror Record Hour,” which included his records in Sears catalogs. Their catalogs also introduced Gene Autry Roundup Guitars and “Gene Autry’s Sensational Song Folio of Cowboy Songs and Mountain Ballads,” which became regular sources of income.
According to Autry: I was en route to Chicago (in early 1931) when I stopped off in Springfield, Missouri, to visit my friend, Jimmy Long. And there I met the girl I was to marry, a coed with blue eyes and skin like rose petals. She was Jimmy's niece, Ina Mae Spivey--eighteen, an Oklahoma girl... she attended music college in Springfield. We had only a few dates in the next month or so, but I was a frequent guest in Jimmy Long's parlor. Three months after I met Ina Mae Spivey... I went off Ina and we agreed to meet the Longs for dinner in a little cafe on the city's south side. We arrived early. As we sat there, I suddenly blurted out, "Honey, let's get married." She said, "Gene Autry, are you out of your mind? We hardly know each other. This is only our fourth date. Besides, I just brought enough clothes for the weekend."
I convinced her we could overcome that problem. The next thing I knew, we had rushed off to get a license and find a wedding chapel or a justice of the peace. A Lutheran minister married us and his wife witnessed the ceremony... She was eighteen. I was twenty-two.” They were married on April 1, 1931.
First Hit Record “Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine”
At the Oct. 1931 session Autry and Long recorded the song that would become Gene’s breakthrough record, "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine." Autry claims they had co-written the song. Since Long recorded the song first and was credited solely to him, it clearly was Long’s composition. According to Holly George Warren, “Satherley always referred to it as a Long composition,” and the copyrighted was owned solely by Long (and now his family). It’s likely that Autry had an arrangement to share royalties with Long for their version and didn’t write the song. [Jimmy Long made his first recordings with ARC around March 1930 through Autry’s connection with Satherley. On Dec. 2, 1930 Jimmy recorded “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine” with Cliff Keiser, another Frisco railroad buddy. Autry also claimed to have co-authored his other big hit, “Back In The Saddle” but again he might have made small changes (constituting an arrangement) but did not write the song.]
“That Silver-Haired Daddy” was an immediate hit selling 30,000 copies within a month, and by 1933 over 500,000 had been sold, an occasion that American Records decided to mark with the public presentation of a gold-plated copy of the record. Autry received a second gold record when sales later broke one million. And that was where the notion of the Gold Record Award was born. The record also led him into a new career on the radio as Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy on the National Barn Dance show sponsored by WLS out of Chicago. It was there that Autry became a major national star -- his record sales rose assisted by his exposure on radio.
Mother Died
His first hit recordings had just been released when his mother, who'd been ill for months, died at the age of 45 on May 29, 1932, apparently of pellagra. Autry's father began drifting away soon afterward, and Gene became the head of the family and the main supporter of his two sisters, and a younger brother.
Second Hit “The Last Round-Up”
On Oct. 9, 1933 Gene recorded Billy Hill’s “The Last Round-Up,” which became his first big Western hit. William “Billy” Joseph Hill was born in Boston on July 14, 1899. Hill was so desperate for money, he almost sold his best-known song, “The Last Round-Up,” for just $25. Fortunately ASCAP President Gene Buck thought the song was so good, he loaned him $200 to hold him over until he could find a publisher and get his song recorded. “The Last Round-Up” was published by Shapiro & Bernstein in 1933. It became Hill’s biggest hit and was first recorded by George Olsen and His Orchestra, with a vocal by Joe Morrison. The song immediately shot up to No. 1 and stayed there for 9 weeks. Gene Autry had the next hit with the song. Other hit recordings were made by Bing Crosby, The Sons of the Pioneers (1947) and by Rex Allen (1955).
Collaborators
During the early years of his career, Autry took a number of important collaborators and musicians aboard. Among them were Fred Rose, the songwriter (who penned "Your Cheatin' Heart") with whom he collaborated on many of his hits, and in 1935 fiddle player Carl Cotner (who also played sax, clarinet, and piano), who became his arranger and played on his road shows. Autry had a knack for knowing a good song and for knowing when a song needed something extra in its arrangement, but it was Cotner who was able to translate his sensibilities into musical notes and arrangements. Mary Ford, later of Les Paul fame, was in Autry's band at one time, and in 1936 Autry signed up a 17-year-old guitar player named Merle Travis, the future country star and songwriter.
“Over the years I brought in the Jimmy Wakely Trio [Bell Boys] from Oklahoma, with Johnny Bond” said Autry, “and I hired Merle Travis, Don Weston and Whitey Ford, better known as the Duke of Paducah.”
Smiley Burnette- Makes First Movies
Lester Alvin “Smiley” Burnett, an Illinois native, was born March 18, 1911. On one tour in Illinois Gene was short a musician when told by a promoter: “In Tuscola, there’s a guy that works on radio station WDZ and he can play anything- he can play the accordion, plays the guitar, sings- his name is Smiley Burnette.”
Smiley, a songwriter who became a fixture of Gene’s touring band and a member of WLS also came to the attention of Art Satherley and cut mostly novelty numbers for ARC. Smiley’s first hit was “Mama Don’t Like Music (Playing Round Here).” By 1933 Autry, a star at WLS, was getting fan letters by the hundreds every week, and his record sales were among the best in Country Music. Gene was the headliner for The WLS Round-Up, a touring group that included Bob and Mac, The Girls of the Golden West (Millie and Dolly Good) and Patsy Montana and The Prairie Ramblers.
Meanwhile in Hollywood Cowboy star Ken Maynard, who was a great trick rider and stuntman but no singer, had tried singing songs in a few of his movies, and the producers noticed that the songs had gone over well despite his vocal limitations. Maynard was making another Western, In Old Santa Fe (1934), for Mascot Pictures, and producer Nat Levine decided to try an experiment, putting in a musical number sung by a professional. American Record Company and Mascot Pictures were partners indirectly, and with help from Satherley at ARC, Levine was steered toward Autry.
A phone call brought the young singer and “Smiley” Burnette, out to Hollywood, where, after a quick meeting and screen test, the two were put into In Old Santa Fe. Autry was paid a flat $500 to do only one scene, singing a song and calling a square dance, but that scene proved to be one of the most popular parts of the movie. “After I saw the first screening,” remarked Autry, “I was ready to call it quits. I moved like my parts needed oiling and I didn’t like the way I looked or sounded.”
Despite his reservations Autry appeared with Burnette in a Ken Maynard serial, Mystery Mountain, in minor supporting roles. After conflicts arose with Maynard over Ken’s “Wild-West behavior and drinking,” the star left Mascot pictures. Levine decided to use Autry (first starring role with Smiley as Gene’s sidekick) to replace Maynard in the highly successful twelve-episode serial, The Phantom Empire. Autry played himself as a good-natured radio singer and sometime cowboy. The success of Autry's early films was not enough to save Mascot Pictures, which collapsed under the weight of debts held by Consolidated Film Laboratories, which did Mascot's film processing. In 1935, Consolidated forced a merger of Mascot and a handful of other small studios and formed Republic Pictures, with Consolidated's president, Herbert J. Yates, at the helm. Gene, who was slated to do two pictures for Mascot, now worked for Republic and the pictures were released by Republic as a “Nat Levine Mascot Production.” Republic thrived in the B movie market, ultimately dominating the entire field for the next 20 years.
His first starring Western for the newly organized Republic Pictures, Tumbling Tumbleweeds (released on September 5, 1935), which also included the singing group the Sons of the Pioneers, was a huge hit, and was followed by Melody Trail, The Sagebrush Troubador, and The Singing Vagabond, all released during the final three months of 1935. Autry settled into a schedule of one movie every six weeks, or eight per year, at $5,000 per movie, and a formula was quickly established. The production values on these movies were modest, in keeping with their low budgets and tight shooting schedules, but within the framework of B Westerns and the context of their music, they were first-rate productions. By 1937 and for five years after -- a string that was only broken when he enlisted in the army during World War II -- Autry was rated in an industry survey of theater owners as one of the top ten box-office attractions in the country, alongside the likes of James Cagney and Clark Gable. Autry was the only cowboy star to make the list, and the only actor from B movies on the list.
For Republic Pictures, his movies were such a cash cow, and so popular in the southern, border, and western states, that the tiny studio was able to use them as a way to force "block booking" on theater owners and chains -- that is, theaters only got access to the Autry movies scheduled each season if they bought all of Republic's titles for that season. It was Autry's discovery of this policy (which, in fairness, was practiced by every major studio at the time, and led to the anti-trust suit by the government that ultimately forced the studios to give up their theater chains) in early 1938 that led to his first break with Republic. The problems had been brewing for some time, over Autry's unhappiness at never having gotten a raise from his original Mascot-era $5,000-per-movie deal, and contractual clauses -- which had never been exercised, but worried him nonetheless -- giving Republic half of his radio, personal appearance, and endorsement earnings. After trying unsuccessfully to work out the problems with Yates, Autry walked out of the studio chief's office and thereafter refused to report for the first day's shooting on a movie called Washington Cowboy, later retitled Under Western Stars when it became the debut of Roy Rogers.
After eight months of legal sparring, Autry was left enjoined from making live appearances. Republic, however, found itself with an uprising of theater owners and chains on its hands -- without a guarantee that it would have any Autry movies to release, the studio's entire annual distribution plans were jeopardized. By the fall of 1938 the two sides had come to terms, with raises for Autry and freedom from the most onerous clauses in his old contract. Despite his best efforts, however, he couldn't help the theater owners over the block-booking policy, for it was now entrenched in the industry and an integral part of Republic's business plan.
Back in the Saddle Again
Songwriter of early hits "Lonely River," "How Was I To Know?," "Foolish Pride" and "Between the Lines," Ray Whitley was starring in a George O'Brien’s Border G-Man, a B Western. Ray was scheduled to report to the lot early one morning in 1938, when at 5:00 a.m. he was awakened by a telephone call. Returning to his bedroom, he smiled at his wife, Kay, and said, "Well, I'm back in the saddle again." The telephone call had come from the studio, requesting him to produce a new song for the movie he was in. feature, "You've got a title for one right there," Kay informed him, "I'm Back in the Saddle Again." Ray sat down on the edge of the bed and dashed off the first verse and performed the song in the movie only hours later.
Whitley permitted Autry to add his name to the song since Autry went for it in a big way. “The song would have been just another song without the help of my friend and co-writer Gene Autry,” the songwriter later explained when asked about sharing credit [George-Warren p. 185]. "Back in the Saddle Again" was first featured by Gene Autry in his 1939 movie, Rovin' Tumbleweeds, and has been identified as Gene's theme song ever since. Later, Autry recorded a number of Whitley compositions, including "Ages and Ages Ago", "Rocky Canyon", "Lonely River" and "I Hang My Head and Cry". Tex Ritter, Johnny Bond, Sonny James and others were also to make profitable use of Ray's material.
Melody Ranch
At a memorable UK concert tour in 1939 Autry drew the biggest crowd in British Isles’ history in Dublin where 250,000 people turned out to see Gene ride Champion in a parade. Gene, who one newspaper called, “the most popular film actor in the world” bought 1200-acre ranch near Berwyn, Oklahoma.
In early 1940 Gene began “Melody Ranch,” a 30 minute radio program for Wrigley’s Doublemint gum on CBS. Autry hired the Jimmy Wakely trio (Wakely, Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart) as the back-up band for the program. Bond, whose song Cimarron, became a hit, remembered working with Autry on the Melody Ranch show: “His first reading was a bit on the rough side, leading us to wonder if he was going to be able to handle it or not. After a couple times through he fell into it pretty good, although he was never completely relaxed on the subsequent 16 years the show remained on the air.”
Gene had released his new hit song “South of The Border” and with his 1940 movie with the same name, the song became one of his biggest hits. Played Madison Square Garden Rodeo. Still number one Western and number four among all movie stars. In 1941 Gene received a new honor; the city of Berwyn changed its name to Gene Autry, Oklahoma. In 1941Gene recorded his second million selling hit, “You are My Sunshine” which was backed by a Jimmie Davis- Floyd Tillman song, “It Makes No Difference Now,” which also became a huge hit.
World War II And After
At the age of 35 Gene served in the Army Air Corp after the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into the War. He was granted an extension until July so he could honor his concert dates and finish his movie, Heart of the Rio Grande. His salary of $432,000 a year went to $2,000 a year as a tech sergeant. Although Gene still collected money from royalties and sheet music sales his salary was drastically reduced. Gene had a string of hits in 1942:
His classic hand-clapping version of "Deep in the Heart of Texas” went to number one for five straight weeks. He also had hits with “Tweedle-O-Twill," "Jingle Jangle Jingle" and the Carter Family hit, "I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes."
By the summer he was placed in special services where he toured US bases and entertained the troops. Autry, who had recently got a pilot’s license, was eventually promoted to flight officer. During the War, Roy Rogers, whose “wretched back and chronic arthritis” kept him out was promoted by Republic as “King of the Cowboys” and appeared in a movie with that title. Rogers, who began his career with Republic subbing for Gene during a contract dispute, had begun his ascension to become the top Western star. Gene didn’t like his own company Republic, promoting Rogers ahead of him and filed suit to break his contract.
After the War, Autry returned to the recording studio in 1945 and reorganized his CBS radio show, now called The Gene Autry Show, by adding the Cass County Boys to the line-up. Johnny Bond remained an important member of the show and with Merle Travis played on Gene’s recording sessions. The next year, after a court ruling was appealed by Republic, Gene negotiated a settlement and agreed to do four more movies, the first, Sioux City Sue, was named after a Bing Crosby song that Republic brought the rights. Rogers continued to be the top Western draw as he had the last four years.
After Autry’s fourth film for Republic, Robin Hood of Texas, he left Republic in 1947 and made movies for Columbia Studios in a partnership with Gene Autry Productions. He was still a name to be reckoned with at the box office, although he was never again ranked among the top ten money-making stars. The cultural dislocations caused by World War II and their effect on rural and small-town America and on the movie business, as well as the impending arrival of television, had shrunk the B movie market to a shadow of its 1930s glory.
His singing career was bigger than ever. Even before the war, Autry had occasionally moved away from Country Music and scored big, as with his 1940 hit version of "Blueberry Hill," which predated Fats Domino's recording by 16 years. After the war, he still did cowboy and country songs such as "Silver Spurs" and "Sioux City Sue," sprinkled with occasional folk songs and pop numbers. In 1949, however, Autry scored the biggest single hit of his career one of the biggest hit songs ever recorded up to that time- "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," a song by Johnny Marks that Autry had recorded only reluctantly, in a single take at the end of a session. That same year, he cut "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky," a number by a former forest ranger named Stan Jones, which became both a country and pop music standard, cut by everyone from Vaughan Monroe to Johnny Cash.
Autry in the 1950s
His movies still made money, however, and he kept making them right into the beginning of the 1950s, after which he moved into television production -- Autry had already begun buying up radio stations before the war, and by the early '50s he was owner of several television stations, a studio, and his own production company, where he made his own television program “The Gene Autry Show” on CBS-TV as well as others that he owned.
In 1953 the B Westerns were no longer popular; Gene ended his movie career with his 93rd film, “Last of the Pony Riders.” Country music was changing and by the mid-'50s, Autry's career had slowed. Rock & roll and R&B were attracting younger listeners, and a new generation of country music stars, heralded by Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins, was beginning to attract serious sales. In 1954 Autry mad the last of his 91 television shows and two years later made his last “Melody Ranch” broadcast. Last run of “The Gene Autry Show” on CBS-TV was broadcast that year in 1956.
Later Life
In 1961Gene obtained an American League Baseball franchise and two years later his Los Angeles Angels played their first season. By 1964 when he cut the last of his 635 records, he had stopped performing. Autry was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969 and later into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Hall of Great Western Performers. Gene Gene's wife Ina died from cancer in 1980 and he married Jacqueline. Autry became the only person with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1988 he opened the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles. Elected to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1991, Autry’s song, “Back in the Saddle Again,” was inducted into the Recording Academy Hall-of-Fame. Gene Autry, one of the most popular early Country musicians, died in 1998 at Studio City, California, October 2nd.
Gene Autry Recordings: Many of his recorded songs appeared in his 93 movies. A complete list of songs including his movie songs appears below in his discography. His first hit was the 1931 “Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine.” Autry made 640 recordings, including more than 300 songs written or co-written by him. His records sold more than 100 million copies and he had many gold and platinum records, including the first record ever certified gold. His Christmas and children's records include “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)” and “Peter Cottontail,” two songs he wrote listed among his platinum recordings. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the second all-time best selling Christmas single, reportedly sold in excess of 30 million copies.
Some Million Sellers: That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine; Back In The Saddle Again; South Of the Border; You Are My Sunshine; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; Peter Cottontail; Here Comes Santa Claus; Frosty The Snow Man
Gene Autry Complete Recorded Songs: 20/20 Vision and Walking Around Blind; A Broken Promise Means A Broken Heart; A Year Ago Tonight; Address Unknown; After 21 Years; After Tomorrow; Ages And Ages Ago; Am I Just A Pastime?; Amapola; Angel Boy; Angel Song, The; Angels In The Sky; Anniversary Blue Yodel No. 7; Answer To 21 Years; Answer To Red River Valley; Any Old Time; As long As I’ve Got My Horse; At Mail Call Today; At The Old Barn Dance; Back Home In The Blue Ridge Mountains; Back In The Saddle Again; Back To Old Smoky Mountain; Barney The Bashful Bullfrog; Be Honest With Me; Bear Cat Mama From Horner’s Corner; Bear Cat Papa Blues; Beautiful Texas; Bible On The Table, The; Big Corral; Bimbo; Birmingham Daddy; Black Bottom Blues; Blue Canadian Rockies; Blue Days; Blue Eyed Elaine; Blue Hawaii; Blue Montana Skies; Blue Shadows on The Trail; Blue Yodel No. 5; Blue Yodel No. 6; Blues Yodel No. 8; Blues Stay Away from Me; Blueberry Hill; Boy From Texas A Girl From Tennessee, A; Broomstick Buckaroo; Bucky, The Bucking Bronco; Buffalo Bill; Bunny Round-Up Time; Buon Natale; Buttons And Bows; California Blues (Blue Yodel #4); Call For Me And I’ll be There; Call Me Back Pal Of Mine; Call Of The Canyon, The; Candy Round-Up; Can't Shake The Sands Of Texas From My Shoes; Clementine; Closing The Book; Cornfed And Rusty; Convict’s Dream; Cowboy Blues; Cowboy Yodel; Cowboy’s Heaven; Cowboy’s Prayer; Cowboy’s Serenade; Cowboy's Trademarks; Crime I Didn’t Do; Crime Will Never pay; Cross-eyed Gal That Lives upon The Hill; Darlin’ What More Can I Do?; Darling How Can You Forget So Soon?; Dear Little Dream Girl Of Mine; Dear Old Dad of Mine; Dear Old Western Skies; Death Of Jimmie Rodgers; Death Of Mother Jones; Deep In The Heart Of Texas; Daddy And Home; Dallas County Jail Blues; Dixie Cannonball; Do Right Daddy Blues; Don't Bite The Hand; Don't Fence Me In; Don’t Hang Around me Anymore; Don’t Live A Lie; Don’t Send Your Love; Don’t Take Me Back To the Chain Gang; Don’t Take Your Spite Out On Me; Don’t Waste Your Tears On Me; Down A Mountain Trail; Down In The Valley; Dude Ranch Cowhands; Dust; Dust Pan Blues; Dying Cowgirl; Easter Morning; El Rancho Grande; Eleven Months In Leavenworth; Ellie Mae; End of My Roundup Days; End Of The Trail, The; Everyone’s A Child At Christmas; Eyes To The Sky; Face I See at The Evening; Farewell Friends Of The Prairie; Frankie And Johnny; Freddie The Little Fur Tree; Frosty The Snowman; Funny Little Bunny; Gallivantin’ Galveston Gal; Ganster’s Warning; Gay Ranchero, The; Girl I Left Behind; God Bless America; God Must Have Loved America; God’s In The Saddle; God’s Little Candles; Gold Can Buy Anything But Love; Gold Mine In Your Heart; Gonna Build A Big Fence Around Texas; Good Luck Old Pal; Good Night Irene; Good Old Fashioned Hoedown; Goodbye Little Darling Goodbye; Goodbye Pinto; Gosh I Miss You All The Time; Guffy The Goofy Gobbler; Guns And Guitars; Half Your Heart; Hang Your Head In Shame; Happy Little Island; Have I Told You Lately That I Love You; Heartsick Soldier on Heartbreak Ridge; He’ll Be Coming Down The Chimney; He’s A Chubby Little Fellow; Here Comes Santa Claus; Here’s To The Ladies; High Powered Mama; High Steppin' Mama; High Steppin' Mama Blues; Hill Billy Wedding In June; Hobo Bill’s Last Ride; Hobo Yodel; Hold On Little Doggies; Home On The Range; Holy Poly; Horse With The Easter Bonnet; How Long is Forever; I Guess I’ve Been Asleep For All These Years; I Don’t Belong In Your World; I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire; I Hang My Head And Cry; I Hate To Say Goodbye To the Prairie; I Just Want You; I Lost My Little Darlin’; I Love You Because; I Want A Pardon For Daddy; I Want To Be Sure; I Was Just Walking Out The Door; I Wish All My Children Were Babies Again; I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine; I Wish Mom Would Marry Santa Claus; I Wonder If You Feel The Way I Do; If I Could Bring Back My Buddy; I’d Love A Home In The Mountains; If It Doesn’t Snow On Christmas; If It Wasn’t For The Rain; If Today Were The End Of The World; If You Let me Be Your Little Sweetheart; If You Only Believed In Me; I’ll Be Back; I’ll Be Thinking Of You Little Girl; I’ll Be True When You’re Gone; I’ll Go Riding Down That Texas Trail; I’ll Never Let You Go Little Darling; I’ll Never Smile Again; I’ll Wait For You; I’m A Cow Poke Pokin’ Along; I’m A Fool To Care; I’m A Railroad Man; I’m Always Dreaming Of You; I'm Atlanta Bound; I’m Beginning To Care; I’m Blue And Lonesome; I’m Comin’ Home Darlin’; I’m Gonna Roundup My Blues; I’m Innocent; I’m Learning To Live Without You; I’m Lonely And Blue; I’m Sorry We Met; I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes; In A Little Spanish Town; In The Garden; In The Jailhouse Now Number 2; In The Land Of Zulu; In The Shadow Of the Pine; In The Valley of The Moon; It Happened In Monteray; It Just Don’t Seem Like Home When You’re Gone; It Makes No Difference Now; It’s My Lazy Day; It’s Roundup Time In Reno; I've Always Been A Rambler; I’ve Got The Jailhouse Blues; I’ve Lived A Lifetime For You; Jail House Blues; Jimmie The Kid; Jingle Bells; Jingle, Jangle, Jingle (I've Got Spurs That); Johnny Appleseed; Johnny Reb And Billy Yank; Joy To The World; (I Was) Just Walking Out The Door; Keep Rollin' Lazy Longhorns; Kentucky Babe; Kentucky Baby; Kentucky Lullaby; Kit Carson; Last Letter; Last Mile Home, The; Last Roundup, The; Last Straw; Leaf of Love; Left My Gal In The Mountains; Let Me Cry On Your Shoulder; Life Of Jimmie Rodgers; Little Farm Home; Little Johnny Pilgrim; Little Pardner; Little Old Band Of Gold; Little Peter Punkin Eater; Little Ranch House On The Old Circle B; Little Sir Echo; Living In The Mountains; Loaded Pistols And Loaded Dice; Lone Cowboy On The Lone Prairie; Lone Star Moon; Lonely River; Look out One Window; Louisiana Moon; Love Is So Misleading; Lullaby Yodel; Maria Elena; Mary Dear; Mean Mama Blues; Melody Trail; Memories Of That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine; Merry Christmas Waltz; Merry-Go Roundup; Merry Texas Christmas You All; Methodist Pie; Mexicali Rose; Mississippi Blues; Mississippi Valley; Mississippi Valley Blues; Missouri Is Calling; Missouri Waltz; Mister and Mississippi; Money Ain’t No Use Anyway; Moonlight Down In Lover’s Lane; Mother Here’s A Bouquet For You; Mule Train; My Adobe Hacienda; My Alabama Home; My Carolina Sunshine Girl; My Dreaming of You; My Empty Heart; My Heart Cries For You; My Neighbor Hates Music; My Oklahoma Home; My Old Kentucky Home; My Old Pal Of Yesterday; My Old Saddle Pal; My Prayer For Tonight; My Rose Of The Prairie; My Rough And Rowdy Ways; My Shy Little Bluebonnet Girl; My Star Of The Sky; New Star Is Shining In Heaven, A; Night Before Christmas; Night Before Christmas in Texas; Nine Little Reindeer; No Backdoor To Heaven; No One To Call Me Darling; Nobody’s Darling But Mine; O Little Town Of Bethlehem; Oh For The Wild And Wooly West; old Buckaroo Goodbye; Old Chisholm Trail; Old Covered Wagon; Old Fashioned Tree; Old Folks Back Home; Old Gray Mare; Old November Moon; Old Rugged Cross; Old Soldiers Never Die; Old Trail; Old Woman And The Cow; Ole Faithful; On The Prairie; On Top Of Old Smokey; One Rose; One Solitary Life; Onteora Great Land In The Sky; Over And Over Again; Panhandle Pete; Paradise In The Moonlight; Peter Cottontail; Pictures of My Mother; Pistol Packin’ Papa; Place Where I Worship; Play Fair; Poison Ivy; Poppy The Puppy; Pretty Mary; Privat Buckaroo; Purple Sage In The Twilight; Railroad Boomer; Rainbow Valley; Rainbow On The Rio Colorado; Ramshackle Shack; Rancho Pillow; Red River Lullaby; Red River Valley; Rheumatism Blues, The; Rhythm of The Hoof Beats; Rhythm of The Range; Ride Tenderfoot Ride; (Ghost) Riders in The Sky; Ridin’ Down The Canyon; Ridin’ The Range; Riding All Day; Roll Along Kentucky Moon; Rolling Along; Roses; Rose Colored Memories; Roses I Picked For Our Wedding; Round Round The Christmas; Rounded Up In Glory; Round-Up In Cheyenne; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; Rusty The Rocking Horse; Sail Along Silv’ry Moon; San Antonio Rose; Santa Claus Is Coming To Town; Santa, Santa, Santa; Santa’s Coming In A Whirlybird; Serenade of The Bells; Seven More Days; She Wouldn’t Do It; She’s A Hum Dum Dinger; She’s A Lowdown Mama; She’s Always On My Mind; Sierra Sue; Silent Night; Silver Bells; Silver Haired Daddy of Mine; Silver Haired Mother of Mine; Silver Spurs; Sing Me A Song Of the Saddle; Singing Hills; Sioux City Sue; Sleigh Bells; Slue-Foot Lue; Smokey The Bear; Someday; Someday in Wyoming; Sonny The Bunny; South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way); Spend A Night In Argentina; Statue In The Bay; Stay Away From My Chicken House; Stop Your Gambling; Story Book Of Love; Stump Of The Old Pine Tree; Sunflower; Sweethearts Or Strangers; Sycamore Lane; T.B. Blues; Take Me Back Into Your Heart; Take Me Back To My Boots & Saddle; Teardrops From My Eyes; Tears On My Pillow; Texas Blues; Texas Plains; Texans Never Cry; That Little Kid Sister Of Mine; That Mother And Daddy of Mine; That Old Feather Bed on The Farm; That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine; That’s How I Got My Start; That's Why I Left The Mountains; That’s Why I’m Blue; That’s Why I’m Nobody’s Darling; There Ain’t No use In Crying Now; There’ll Never Be Another Pal Like You; There’s a Gold Mine In The Sky; There’s a Good Girl In The Mountains; There’s A Little Old Lady Waiting; There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere; There’s An Empty Cot In The Bunkhouse Tonight; There's No Back Door From Heaven; There’s Only one Love In A Lifetime; They Cut Down That Old Pine Tree; They Warned Me About You; Thirty-Two Feet Eight Little Tails; Three Little Dwarves; Tie That Binds, The; Too Late; Train Whistle Blues; Travelin’ Blues; Trouble In Mind; True Blue Bill; Tumbling Tumbleweeds; Tweedie O Twill; Twilight on The Trail; Two Cheaters In Love; Uncle Noah’s Ark; Under Fiesta Stars; Under The Old Apple Tree; Up on The Housetop; Valley In The Hills; Vaya Con Dios; Vine Covered Cabin in The Valley; Voice In The Choir, A; Wagon Train; Waiting For A Train; Watching The Clouds Roll By; Wave To Me My Lady; Way Down On The Bottom; Way Out West in Texas; We Never Dream The Same Dream Twice; Were You Sincere; We’ve Come A Long Way Together; West A Nest And You, The; What’s Gonna Happen To Me; When Day Is Done; When He Grows Tired Of You; When I First Laid Eyes On You; When I’m Gone You’ll Soon Forget; When It’s Lamp Lighting Time In The Valley; When It’s Round Up Time In Heaven; When It’s Springtime in The Rockies; When Jimmie Rodgers Said Goodbye; When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter; When The Golden Leaves Are Falling; When The Hummingbirds Are Humming; When The Lights Go On Again; When The Moon Shines on The Mississippi Valley; When The Silver Colorado Turns To Gold; When The Snowbirds Cross The Rockies; When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano; When The Tumbleweeds Come Tumbling Down Again; Where A Waterwheel Keeps Turning On; Where Did My Snowman Go?; Whirlwind; Whisper Your Mother’s Name; Why Don’t You Come Back To Me; Wildcat Mama Blues; With A Song In My Heart; Yellow Rose Of Texas, The; Yesterday’s Roses; Yodelin’ Gene; Yodeling Hobo, A; Yodeling Them Blues Away; You Are My Sunshine; You are The Light Of My Life; You Belong To My Heart; You Can See Old Santa Claus; You Laughed And I Cried; You Only Want Me When You’re Lonely; You Waited Too Long; You’ll Be Sorry; Your Voice is Ringing; You’re An Angel; You’ve Got To Take The Bitter With The Sweet; You’re Not My Darling Anymore; You're The Lonely Star; You're The Only Good Thing; You're The Only Star (In My Blue Heaven);