Budge & Fudge

The Mayse Brothers were Fiddlin' Fudge and Bashful Budge were never huge. They are so obscure today that their surname is erroneously spelled Mays and Mayes in some texts. For ephemera I have seen two post cards, and two recordings. Billbilly Music has one folio. [SOURCE] They appear as barely a footnote in the book Mountaineer Jamboree by Ivan M. Tribe.  (No connection to the 1980s Sensational Mayes Brothers gospel troupe. )

Their real names were Lester Paul "Fudge" Mayse Sr. and Budge Mayse Sr.  Fudge was born in 1916 and Budge was born in 1918. So they were young bucks when they landed at WCHS.  Fudge and Budge first began playing in 1936 (some sources cite 1937). Their first radio gig was at WCHS that same year on The Old Farm Hour. There they meet Buddy Starcher who created the show, and went on to mentored them. [LINK] Buddy was born in 1906, so at the age of 30 having already played on WFBR in Baltimore, he was the more experienced performer. At the time Buddy mostly played as a duo with Smiley Sutter, both on guitar of Buddy on banjo. Reputedly he was the source of Paul's nickname "Fudge".

Originally from Braxton, WV, they started on WCHS radio in Charleston naturally. Then played on WHIS Bluefield, WDOD Chattanooga, and WWVA in Wheeling. That makes them early and perhaps original cast members of the jamboree. They later became regulars on the Sagebrush Roundup on WMMN in Fairmont, WV.

Paul 

Both of their 78s were released in 1947 and came out on the Country & Western label Dixie records. That's the Dixie records based in Marietta, OH; not any of the other dozen Dixie record labels. This label was only active in 1947 and released a mere nine 78s. The two songs on their #107 platter were "My Beautiful Blue Eyed Blonde" and "Far Beyond The Starry Sky" written by Buddy Starcher and Cliff R. Carlisle; in other words, both cover tunes. The #108 platter was "Don't Spoil Your Pretty Eyes With Tears" and "Bluefield Blues" though I've never found a copy of the latter. That last song is the only one I'm sure was written by the Mayse brothers as it appears credited in that folio. Though it does not appear in the ACE directory; so there may be no publishing. It's was listed among the new releases in the May 24th, 1947 issue of Billboard and was even reviewed in the August 9th issue.

"With many labels pushing Hillbilly duos, the Mayse Brothers, late contenders in the field, don't have to worry about established wax competition for they offer something new in their whispering renditions. Boys pay more attention to the proper vocal blend than a lot of volume and resultant work is ear-arresting. Dont Spoil is a spiritual-type ballad, with their soft-worded treatment especially suited. Flipover is a distinctive hill country that again showcases Budge and Fudge nicely." 

In November of 1947 the Billboard "Folk Tunes" column reported that Budge and Fudge have parted ways with Finley Duncan "Red" Belcher and now have their own show. Belcher picked up a new duo, the Ritchie Brothers. More on Red Belcher here. 

Dixie records 1947

A year later, Mary Jean Shurtz wrote in a "National Hillbilly News" column that in 1948 Hawkshaw Hawkins formed his own band, the line up including Budge and Fudge and perhaps Smokey Pleacher; a comedian who also sang. In August of that year a Folk Talent column by Johnny Sippel reports that the Mayse brothers have moved from WWVA to WPDX in Clarsburg.  That is likely their new show from the Shurtz article. It also mentions that there "they are working with their Dixie records boss, Buddy Starcher..." Late that year I found an ad for a concert they played with Little John, Oscar Quiddlemurp and the gospel singers. It was advertised for months and held on December 31st  of 1948 at an Inn in Frostburg, MD. There are no further mentions of them in print after 1948, thought a family genealogist reported them still performing in the 1950s. 

Ivan M. Tribe in his writings noted that while performing on WMMN and WPDX the Mayse brothers attended Clarksburg Business College. They later went into  auto and insurance sales, respectively. Budge died in 1967 just 48 years old. His brother Fudge died in 1971 at the age of 54. They were both survived by their widows who thankfully helped later historians. 

Radio Dot

Radio Dot was born Dorothy Maxine Henderson in 1916. She does not claim a radio first so far as I know, but I think radio Dot might have been the first female band leader on air. There were certainly soloists, famous opera singers but among actual bands.. Dot was one of the very earliest. A nice short history of her can be found in the book Mountaineer Jamboree by Ivan Tribe.

She put together her first serious band, the Jubilee Boys in October of 1937. The original line up consisted of Dot on vocals, John Stockdale on fiddle, John Graham on guitar, and Fred Wells on banjo.Later her brothers Jack and Ted were in the line up. Ted went on to play with his wife Wanda at WLAC-AM. By th March of 1938, Radio Dot met Louis W. "Smokey" Swan, whom she later married. They performed together and also printed a few pamphlets of hymns to sell on the radio.

920 WMMN-AM signed on in December of 1928. It was owned by the Rowe Novelty company and broadcast from the Fairmont hotel. The station was in part built with used parts bought from WEBH-AM in Chicago. At the time, it's 500 watts covered quite an era with reports of reception as far away as Little Rock, AR. In 1935 the station was bought by Fort Industry Inc, the same company that already owned WSPD-AM and WWVA-AM. They doubled the power in 1935, and then increased it to 5,000 in 1938. Their first day on air they broadcast  Church services and choir selections, a bit of piano, religious selections and Irish melodies to name the highlights. the country music programming grew slowly. It was a Hillbilly station before Radio Dot walked in the door. More here

In 1943 they were playing on KWKH-AM in Shreveport. But by 1945 the duo returned to West Virginia for a stint at 580 WCHS-AM in Charleston and even the Grand Old Opry on WSM-AM. They probably peaked in 1947 when they played Carnegie Hall in New York City with Minne Pearl, Ernest Tubb, Rosalie Allen and a few other openers. But Billboard panned them specifically. They called Swann a "Baggy Pants Comic" and it was true. They wrote The "...only time the show slowed down was when Radio Dot and Smokey Swann came on."  It was harsh but country music was already changing.  The vaudeville schtick that even Johnny Cash indulged in early on was fading away. they were still touring as late as 1950 but their radio gigs dried up.