Oil City In Music and Its Musicians

Ayres, Tom (1933-2000) was a musician and record producer who notably signed rock and roll hall-of-famer David Bowie to his first major record deal with RCA.

Tom Ayres in 1994

Tom headed the music division of Hanna-Barbara Productions, and was a producer for RCA, Capitol, Mercury, and Buddah record labels. He  produced the Dartells' No. 1 hit ``Hot Pastrami.''

He also played bass in the Johnny Burnette Quintet, worked with the Sir Douglas Quintet, and managed Gene Vincent. Tom is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Aldridge, Auby Lynn "Roy" (1928-2007) was a singer, and songwriter who performed with, and and whose songs were recorded by, legendary performers.

Auby Lynn "Roy" Aldridge
(Photo courtesy  of Carrie Aldridge)

Auby Lynn was the son of Auby Ralph and Lennie Fruge Aldridge. Note since the focus of this retrospective is largely on his music career, where most information found refers to him as Roy, for consistency that name will be used going forward. Below is a picture from 1949 of Roy seated lower left with then musical collaborator Ned Miller standing in the middle. Together they wrote well-known country songs recorded by artists of the day "From a Jack to a King" (Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman), "Just Before Dawn" (Red Foley), and "Dark Moon" (Bonnie Guitar, Gale Storm, and Patti Page).

Salt Lake Tribune 20-Apr-1949

They would later split in part in dispute over credit for songs written collaboratively, notably, "From A Jack to a King," which was a hit for Miller and recorded by numerous artists including Elvis Presley. In the mid-1950s, Roy lived in Maine, where in 1956 he wrote and recorded "It's Not Easy to Forget."

Of note, playing lead guitar on the cut was a teen-aged Lenny Breau, who became a renowned jazz guitarist. An advertisement for Roy and band while living in Maine.

Biddeford (Me) Journal 09-Mar-1957

Patti Page's recording of "Dark Moon":

Roy performing with Country music hall of famer, Jim Reeves.

Roy (far left on bass) with Jim Reeves and the Blue Boys

Source: Jim Reeves Fan Club

An article in the Florence (AL) Times Daily 08-Jun-1975 about Roy’s wife, Ava, referred to Roy as 

“former bass and steel guitar player with Jim Reeves, Ferlin Husky (“Wings of a Dove”), and Tex Williams (“Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette!)”). He was known as “the Crazy Cajun” in solo acts.”

Here’s a quote by singer, LaVerne Mason, who was in a band with Roy:

“Roy Aldridge had a beautiful baritone voice and he could sing anything. He was tall dark and handsome and yet he was one of the funniest people I've ever been around. He and Kenny worked off Wade and the two of them had people falling out of their chairs laughing. When you can break up fellow musicians night after night, you can imagine how funny and spontaneous he was.” 

The Wade Ray Five (Plus One) at Harvey's Wagon Wheel at Lake Tahoe in 1959. 

L-R: Curley Chalker (steel guitar), Roy Aldridge (bass and
vocals), Wade Ray (fiddle and vocals), LaVerne
 Mason (vocals), Kenny Smith (guitar and vocals),
 and standing in back, Jody Walker (drums) 

The band played both Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe.

Showboat Hotel - Las Vegas Strip

Source: Tribute Page to Singer, LaVerne Mason

Newspaper ads for Roy's appearances in Yuma, AZ.

Yuma Daily Sun 26-Apr-1963

Yuma Daily Sun 05-Apr-1966

While living there, he met his wife, Averal Ekiss "Ava" Aldridge (1946-2003), who was singing in a club and they were married in 1967. She became a songwriter and respected background singer. Notably, she co-wrote the hit song "Sharing the Night Together" recorded by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show; and in 2003 was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

Here Roy (nee Auby Lynn) and their children attend the unveiling of her star.

Chancellors, The - A successor to the "New River Four" (see below) was "The Chancellors," formed by former members John "Rusty" Shafer and Howard Lee who at the time were attending Northwestern State College (now University) in Natchitoches, LA. They played 1960's style rock-n-roll at gigs around the Louisiana/Texas area. The Chancellors also made one record in 1965 in Houston, Texas on the Caddo record label. 

left-to-right: Howard Lee, Mike Dunahoo, Tommy Valliera, and Rusty Shafer
(photo courtesy of John Shafer)

Here are  The Chancellors performing their song "Can It Be Love? and flipside "It's Too Late." Both were written by Rusty and Howard and are nicely crafted pop/rock songs of the day with great harmonies."

Craig, Shawn who lived in Oil City for many years, is a member of contemporary Christian singing group Phillips, Craig and Dean.

Here they are performing live.

Green, Jack (1930-2014)  was a professional guitarist who appeared on both the Louisiana Hayride and Grand Ole Opry. The following is a phone interview conducted with Jack on 18-Jun-2012. He recently passed away.

Jack Green - 1957

What was your first guitar?

A Kay bought at Sears for $35. Jack later got a Gretsch Chet Atkins model (shown in a photo below).

Who taught you to play?

He was mostly self-taught, listening to old 78 rpm records of Jimmy Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman. 

Some people in Oil City told him he should put his guitar down and get a job in the oil field. But then people working in the oilfield said if they could play guitar like him, they wouldn’t be in the oil field.

How did you get started professionally?

At around 12-13, Jack was playing at the American Legion hall where his father, Harvey Green, called square dances. That’s where Red Sovine saw him and offered a job. He began playing with Red on the Louisiana Hayride.

Jack was on the Hayride when Hank Williams played, and also there when Elvis was first trying to get on. Horace Logan, who ran the Hayride, initially didn’t want to let Elvis perform. He left the Hayride with Red in 1954 to go the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

During his career, he also played with:

• Webb Pierce
• Chet Atkins (they were good friends)
• Ray Price
• Patsy Cline (she picked Jack out a group of musicians to play with her on the Opry)
• Cowboy Copas
• Hawkshaw Hawkins
• Grandpa Jones
• Marty Robbins
• Hank Thompson
• The Louvin Brothers
• Johnny Bush
• Jerry Jericho

Jack also knew:

• Merle Travis
• Joe Maphis

He met Merle and Joe in California while playing out there with Hank Thompson. Note: Joe Maphis was a great guitarist of the 1950s and 1960s who often played a double-neck guitar.

Are there any recordings you played on that we'd be familiar with?

Jack played on most of Red’s and Webb’s recordings. He also recorded with the Louvin Brothers, Johnny Bush, and Jerry Jericho.

Here are some songs he mentioned playing on:

Chet Atkins

• Country Gentleman
• Rainbow

Webb Pierce

• Yes I Know Why 
• New Silver Bells (originally a Bob Wills fiddle tune)
• I Don’t Care
• There Stands the Glass
• More and More
• Slowly
• If You Were Me And I Were You
• I’m In The Jailhouse Now

Ray Price

• My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You
• Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes
• Let Me Talk to You

Red Sovine

• Why Baby Why (Was A Hit For George Jones)
• How Do You Think I Feel
• Little Rosa

 Hank Thompson

• Whoa, Sailor
• Green Light
• Who Left the Door to Heaven Open
• Don’t Make Me Cry Again

Do you know anything about performers who played out at Kool Point Lodge when it was a dance hall?

The following singers performed there:

• Claude King
• Webb Pierce
• Red Sovine
• Bob Wills
• Johnny Horton
• Faron Young

(Note: For younger readers, who may not recognize these names, all were nationally-known country artists of the time and their music is still admired and played today.)

Jack was once in a group called The Bayou Boys that played at Kool Point regularly.

Did you know Roy Aldridge, also from Oil City, and one time bass player for Jim Reeves?

No, though he did know some of Jim Reeve’s band members. Postscript: This was my error as Jack would have known "Roy" by his real name, Auby Lynn. Per, Jack's sister, Peggy Green Fedd, they did know one another and play music together.

Tell me about recording with Don Holt. Did you know you can listen to that song on Youtube?

Don Holt (of Vivian, LA) wasn’t a professional. They just played in Karnack and around. Jack didn’t know the song was on Youtube, but will check it out.

Don Holt and Jack Green

Here’s a record by Don, backed by The Ranch Boys, including Jack, titled “My Baby Still Loves Me”:

The song was recorded on the Tanner ‘N Texas label in Marshall, Texas.

Do you still play?

Yes, he's been playing guitar nearly 70 years.
 

Jack Green

Below is a January 1957 picture taken at Dessau Hall in Pflugerville, TX (Austin area). Jack is seated on the left and on the right is country music hall-of-fame member Floyd Tillman. Standing in the middle is Johnny Bush, longtime country star who penned "Whiskey River,"

L-R: Jack Green, Hub Sutter, Johnny Bush, Tiny Smith, and Floyd Tillman (seated) at the Dessau Hall in Pflugerville, Texas (Austin area)

Advertisement for the show pictured above.

Austin (TX) American-Statesman 19-Jan-1957, Page 6

Here’s a page about the dance hall where Jack and the others were playing when the picture above was taken. It features the history of the hall and includes pictures of others who played there including Hank Williams. There are several good shots of Elvis and band that give a good flavor of what it was like when they were traveling around before he hit it really big. The picture of Jack and the others is also featured here, about 2/3s down the page.

Jack (second from left) with the North Caddo Hayride Band, circa 1970 or 1971.

L-R: Travis Partain, Jack Green, David Rollins, F. M. Hale, G. W. Williamson

Playing at the 1986 Mooringsport (LA) Fall Fest with the Ridgerunner Band:

L to R: Paul Bertrand, John Ridge (Sr.), Joel Rhodes, Marion Davis, Jack Green, and Sammy Springer

Jack attending a Louisiana Hayride veterans reunion held several years ago.

Row to left and further away (L-R): Larry Bamburg, Jack Green, Sonny Harville,
 Felton Pruett, Bill Brown, Maggie Warwick, unknown, Jerry French,  Steve Hitt,
 Alton Warwick, Ken Skinner  Closer Row (L-R): Tommy Cassell, Gene Procell,
 Sonny Trammel, Edie Foy, Don Logan, Bobby Primm, Frank Page,
W.T. Eason, Percy Tolliver, Claude King

L-R: Jack Green, Sonny Trammel, Sonny Harville, Claude King, Maggie Warwick,
Johnny Wessler, Frank Page. Claude King. Felton Pruett

Green, J. W. (1923-    ), older brother of Jack, is recognized as one of the last fiddle makers to build the instruments totally by hand.

J. W. Green playing one of his handcrafted fiddles

He began back in the 1970s. His original desire was to build a guitar but was reluctant to put a lot of money into the quality of materials required for what would be a learning exercise. He later found a magazine that advertised acoustic woods that included an article on how to build a fiddle. He said he was “fool” enough to try and started with cheap wood, but found that once started he couldn’t put it down. So far he has built over 150 fiddles (or violins, depending on their purpose). They have been used in symphony orchestras and by bluegrass players. He just finished a five-string version, which has become popular with some musicians. J.W. normally uses maple for the back, neck, and sides; and Sitka spruce or red spruce for the top. While he does use American wood, he prefers European woods. His fiddles are in use all around the U.S. and other countries, such as Australia and Canada. He has also taught three people how to build fiddles.

Source: Chuck's Music Page

Violins built by J. W. Green

A clever invention J. W. developed is the equilibrator machine. The sound of acoustic instruments such as guitars, mandolins, and fiddles typically improve with age, as the vibration from playing opens the grain of the wood tops, increasing both sound quality and volume. By attaching his instruments to the power equilibrator, it gives them the equivalent of many hours of playing, helping produce a richer sound.

There have been several newspaper articles written about J.W. as well as a video of his life. In March 2008, the Tennessee legislature honored him for his contribution to the state with a formal proclamation

A RESOLUTION to Honor and commend J. W. Green for meritorious Service to the citizens of Tennessee

J.W. lives in White Pine, Tennessee with his wife Dorothy "Dot" Iles Green, also a former Oil City Resident. Click on the links below to hear recordings of J. W. playing fiddle while accompanied by friend Charles “Chuck” Naill on guitar: Amazing Grace Blue Jumped A Rabbit Dreamer's Waltz Faded Love


Kool Point Lodge - The original establishment was a restaurant and dance hall that frequently hosted performers from the legendary Louisiana Hayride in nearby Shreveport. Musician Jack Green, who played there himself as a member of a local band, The Bayou Boys, identified the following singers as having appeared there:

• Claude King
• Webb Pierce
• Red Sovine
• Bob Wills
• Johnny Horton
• Faron Young

All were or became nationally-known country artists of the time; with Wills, Pierce, and Young being later inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

It burned in 1955 and was not restored as a dance hall.

Monroe Morning World 09-Jun-1955 

Later on the site a popular restaurant of the same name, specializing in fried catfish, operated for several years before also burning in the 1970s. Today all that remains is a sign on Ferry Lake Road.

Read more about its history at Kool Point - A Cool Place On Caddo Lake.


Ledbetter, Huddie (1888-1949) While famous songster and bluesman Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter is mainly associated with area communities Mooringsport (his birthplace), Leigh, TX, (where he grew up), and Shreveport (where he played on the notorious Fannin Street), he also had an Oil City connection.

Here is part of a blog about him describing his living there for several years.

While Huddie was in Houston, he went to theaters and saw such currently popular blues singers as Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters. Soon he was playing in local barrelhouses and performing in vaudeville (Russell 13). When he returned to the Caddo Lake region, he got a job with the Gulf Refining Company and a house in Oil City, Louisiana.

The picture of these next few years that emerges from friends and relatives of Huddie is quite different from the one painted by the folk song collector and Lead Belly biographer, John Lomax. The two pages Lomax devotes to this period (1925 to 1930) are filled with the stories of three violent incidents. The first occurred at Oil City, Bout 20 miles north of Shreveport, where Huddie was playing a dance. A man came up behind him while he was playing "Mr.Tom Hughes' Town" and "stuck his knife in my neck an' was pullin' it aroun' my throat jes' tryin' to cut my head off."  This is one of about three stories Huddie tells to account for the "smile-shaped scar" referred to in the Shreveport Journal of 1988. After having his throat slit, Huddie walked down to the police station "bleedin' like a stuck hawg" and was told to go home and not play in Oil City any more (Negro 22).

Oil City is just across Caddo Lake from Mooringsport. The oil boom of 1910 had spawned a red-light district that came close to rivaling Shreveport's; though much smaller, it was, perhaps, much rougher. "You could get killed real easy in Oil City." (Stuck 64).  Pinky Williams paints a much more placid picture of the Oil City years. A widow, Pinky is one of cousin Edmon Ledbetter's daughters, and as such refers to Huddie as her uncle. Technically, he is her second cousin, but since Huddie and Edmon were like brothers, the technical terms hardly matter. Pinky recalls Uncle Huddie coming to pick her and her grandmother up in his car, and taking them to his house in Oil City for weekends. He lived there with his mother and, for a time, with a woman named Era Washington. Pinky's grandparents were Bob and Ada Ledbetter. She thinks Huddie was a general laborer, working on the grounds of the Gulf Refining Company. Others have said he was a driver. 

Pinky also remembers him visiting her family home, playing guitar, and chatting with her father. “We lived near the Shiloh Church and Huddie used to come out there. He was first living in Mooringsport; then he left Mooringsport and went to Oil City. He lived in Oil City a long time, and he used to come to our house and they'd get out in the yard. He'd play the guitar and sing. I can remember ‘Irene Goodnight,’ ‘If I had you like you had me, I'd unlock the jail door, set you free,’ and ‘Take me back to Mary.’ I can't remember any more. I did know lots more when I was young cause I used to could sing them. But since I got up in age I just forgot them, you know. That's another one he used to sing - ‘Mama, mama, look at Sal, eating all the meat soppin out of the pan.’ I remember that one.

Source: Leadbelly's Backwater Blues

Moore, Noah (1907-1943) Sixty years before Kevin Gordon wrote "Oil City Girl" (see below), Noah Moore recorded a song about the town. A cousin of Lead Belly, he was a bluesman in his own right.

Picture above is from the cover of  Field Recordings Vol. 5: Louisiana, Texas, Bahamas (1933-1940)

The following is an excerpt describing Moore from the The Life and Legend of Leadbelly, a 1992 biography by Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell:

In 1940 John Lomax came to Shreveport as part of a recording project for the Folksong Archive of the Library of Congress. He recorded not only Buddy Woods but three other Caddo Parish musicians who had become part of the local scene. Kid West and Joe Harris, two of Woods's buddies, were also street singers who worked the "black bottom" area of town. They'd been playing for several decades and revealed strong songster roots in their versions of "Baton Rouge Rag," "Nobodies Business," and "Bully of the Town." Harris, from Bunkie, Louisiana, was the guitar player while West picked mandolin. Both men sang and proved to be effective vocalists on the blues: "Kid West Blues" is an ironic look at marriage, while "East Texas Blues" reminds one of Blind Lemon Jefferson. In "Out East Blues" Harris talks of an earlier life in southern Louisiana and his "woman in Franklin, one in Donaldsonville," both of which are located fairly close to his Avoyelles Parish home. Fannin Street remained at the heart of activity for blues musicians, though joints like Jerry's Saloon on Texas Avenue, which bridged the Red River between Bossier City and Shreveport, also appealed to black musicians. Bossier City, home to Barksdale Air Force Base, remains an unsavory part of greater Shreveport with its pawn shops, strip joints, and clubs that cater to servicemen.

By way of contrast, Noah Moore remained around Mooringsport * all of his life until he was killed in World War II. Moore was born in 1907 and made his living sharecropping around central Caddo Parish. An avid fisherman, he also loved to play the guitar and learned some songs from his cousin, Leadbelly. His playing, though not directly patterned after his famous cousin, does have some of the rhythmic intensity that Huddie so often displayed. Moore also displayed something of a songster tradition in his repertoire, but his Library of Congress recordings suggest that he was more of a blues man. "Oil City Blues" is a fine example of his artistry, for it features a series of "floating" verses derived from a variety of sources that are so commonly found in this music. But Moore personalizes the song through numerous local references:

Baby, here I am in your Oil City town.

Baby, here I am in your Oil City town.

If you find some other man, you got to turn me down.

I stood on the corner, till my feet got soakin' wet.

I stood on the corner, till my feet got soakin' wet.

I was trying to make friends with every Oil City gal I met.

Oil City town is the place I long to be.

Oil City town is the place I long to be.

I've got a brownskin gal waiting there for me.

* The 1940 U.S. Census show him and his family as Oil City Residents.

The book Nothing But the Blues : The Music and the Musicians, a history edited by Lawrence Cohn, describes Moore as

"a man of his time, and blues predominated in his repertoire, including "Jerry's Saloon Blues" to slide-guitar accompaniment. He also performed barrelhouse songs and reels." 

Here are clips of songs from the Lomax recording sessions:

• Goodnight Irene, sung by Uncle Bob Ledbetter (uncle of Noah and Huddie), while accompanied by Noah on guitar.
• Noah singing his composition Oil City Blues, as well as Jerry's Saloon Blues and Mr. Crump Don't Like It from the album  I Can Eagle Rock: Jook Joint Blues Library of Congress Recordings 1940-1941. Note on this CD there are also clips of songs by the aforementioned Woods, West, and Harris.

The full version of Oil City Blues.

Noah lost his life while stationed in the Pacific with the U.S. Army during WWII. Read more about him in Fallen Heroes.

New River Four, The - The New River Four was as folk group comprised of Oil City residents Lance Alexander, Howard Lee, Ronnie Thiebaud, and Rusty Shafer. The quartet played at all of the area colleges, performed at numerous hootenannies, and also appeared on local television.

This picture below was taken at the Gas Light Players Playhouse in Shreveport during a performance entitled "Billy the Kid" around 1964. By that time, Lance left the group and had been replaced by Leland White. 

L-R: Rusty Shafer, Leland White, Ronnie Thiebaud, Howard Lee
 (photo courtesy of John Shafer)

Per Shirley Thiebaud, wife of Ron(nie), The New River Four was the name of the group during the time Rusty Shafer was a member. Afterward the remaining trio took the name of "The Lights Out Trio." Ron thinks the photo below may have been taken at the Strand Theater in Shreveport, LA.

L-R: Howard Lee, Ronnie Thiebaud, Lance Alexander
 (Photo courtesy of Layne Alexander)

Oil City Girl - Kevin Gordon is a red dirt/Americana singer/songwriter originally from Monroe, LA and now based in East Nashville.

He wrote "Oil City Girl" as a tribute to his grandmother, Willie Mae Craig who moved there from Oklahoma as a child with her family. There are several versions on Youtube but in this one (one of the best, imo ) he provides that background before singing. He said he based the song on stories his grandfather told him while fishing on Caddo Lake.

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