Favorite Country Singers
I have loved country music ever since my high
school days. It probably would have been earlier
but I had no access to music of any kind as we lived
on a farm and didn't have radio. The only music I
knew was my mother singing around the house and
singing in church when we could get there. We lived
four miles from the nearest church and walking that
far in th dead of winter was out of the question.
During my sixth thru eighth grades we had a teacher
that could play the little organ. I guess that organ
was out of tune as it was pretty old as I remember
it. Miss Albert taught us to read notes and tried
to teach us to sing and recognize music when it was
played on the organ. I, of course, didn't have an ear
for music, so didn't fare as well as those who were
musically inclined. High school was another story,
there were no high schools near enough to walk and
the only solution was to stay in a town 40 miles
away and work for my room and board. It was right
after the depression and my parents didn't have the
means to do it any other way. I worked for a family
that owned a butcher shop, nice people. The lady I
worked for was crazy about country and western music
as it was known as in those days. I remember right
after I started working there Mrs. Brandner borrowed
her mothers victrola and a couple of records (the old
78's). One of them was The Wabash Cannonball on
one side and The Great Speckled Bird by Roy Acuff.
We probably about wore them out by the time we
returned them. Mrs Brandner loved the WLS Barn
Dance that was on every Saturday night and of course
that interested me too. One of her favorites on the
show was Lulu Belle and Scotty. They were well known
at that time. One of the songs they sang was "Shine
on Harvest Moon", I remember having to listen closely
every time it came on and copy the words to it. They
were in a movie by the same name and when it came to
Marshfield, I got to skip school and go see it with
her and her two little girls. Before the movie
started I took one of the girls to the rest room and
Lulu Belle was in there, I didn't know it until they
appeared on stage and I realizd it was the same lady
I had seen in the rest room. You see there was no
television back then and we didn't get to know what
the stars looked like until we saw them in a movie. I
always regretted not recognizing her and
speaking to her. Later when working for a family in
Glenview, a suburb of Chicago, I had
more opportunity to listen to what I wanted to on the
radio. I worked as a nursemaid for a two year old
and did a little housework. Evenings in my room were
lonesome so I listened to all the country music I
could find. Some of the stars I listened to were Roy
Acuff, Flatt and Scruggs, Minnie Pearl and all the
old country greats. I still like to listen to
country music and keep up with the life and times of
all the stars. My favorites are still all the old
traditional singers, although there a lot of the
newer ones that I like. I've been to the Grand Ole
Opry once and attended shows in Branson back before
the
influx of the Nashville stars. The first show we saw
in Branson was 'The Presley Family". I believe
admission was $4.00 at that time. The last time we
were there which was several years ago we stayed in
Branson eight nights and saw 11 shows, all at 4 or 5
dollars apiece with the exception of Roy Clark, that
was $6.00. He had just bought his theater in Branson
and was appearing on the last day we were going to
be there. We took pictures of Roy with my husband,
he was so kind, he posed for several pictures even
though he was in a hurry. So you see that was my
introduction to the country music scene and why I
still like it!!
