Transcription Mystery Disc #183

 This metal core, 8-Inch Recordisc has an outer edge start and spins at 78 rpm. That's all fairly normal. The label reads "Hillbilly Stuff" 9/28/46. So my interest was piqued to say the least. The recording is in excellent condition with very low noise, adequate fodder for a commercial release actually. It's a very unusual find considering it's almost 70 years old.

The Melody Boys - The Love of A Lifetime


This turns out to be a live radio recording of The Melody Boys. There have been a few groups to use that name, or variations like the Mountain Melody boys, Harold Stepteau and his Melody Boys, The Melody Boys Quartet, The Honolulu Melody Boys, The Southern Melody Boys, The Baltimore Melody Boys, The Roseland Melody Boys, T. Texas Tyler and the Oklahoma Melody Boys, The Texas Melody Boys, and the Dixie Melody Boys. This is not the one formed by Harry Choate, the infamous hell-raising Cajun musician, dang. That band was active from 1946 to 1951, and recorded for Gold Star Records.

It's also unlikely that they are the one formed by Herschel Foshee, aided by Joe Roper, in the 1930s as the Stamps-Baxter Quartet. After the death of Foshee in 1949 they changed names to Smilin’ Joe Roper and the Melody Boys. More here. This recording predates their name change by 3 years. Though they did play on KARK-AM regularly giving some plausibility to the recording here.There was another Melody Boys that were a house band on WISE-AM in Asheville, NC connected to Jim Shumate.

Who Buried Harry Choates?

If you don't know the name Harry Choate (or Choates) let me briefly summarize his ethno-musical significance. He played the fiddle, the guitar and the accordion. He played a mix of French-Cajun music and western swing that changed the genre forever. He wasn't epicly popular like Elvis, he was more of a Ernest Tubb character who's musician ship and song craft influenced everything. He had a single "Jole Blon" a transformation of a traditional Cajun waltz into a swing dance tune that became a regional hit in 1946 on Gold Star Records. It was licensed to a few other labels for national distribution and hit #4 on the Billboard country music chart. But he was a so naive and drunk he sold the publishing rights to the song to Quinn Recording Studio for $100 and a bottle of whiskey. He never even owned an instrument.

His hometown is somewhat disputed as is his birth date. It's generally accepted to be Rayne, LA December 26th 1923. Other dates are as early as 1922, other places include Vermillion, LA. He was performing in bands by the age of 13. He played around New Orleans, Port Arthur, and Houston. He appeared on KOAI-TV in San Antonio. His career was on the upswing with or without the rights to his hit single.

In 1951 his band the Melody Boys, fell apart over Choate's constant drunkenness and missed concert dates. His wife divorced him. But that didn't slow down Harry, he kept touring and drinking. . Later that year he played on KTBC with Jesse James & His Gang. Jesse James and crew were a long running western swing band based in Austin. They formed before WWII and reformed after. Their program was sponsored by Pearl Beer.

Harry never left Austin. He was dragged into court for not paying child support. The judge found him in contempt and tossed him in jail. Three days later on July 17, 1951 he was dead at 28 years old. There are two stories of how he died. One version has him shaking from the DTs and banging his own head on the bars until he knocked himself unconscious, then falling into a coma then eventually dying. If you think that's a stretch the other version is that the cops beat his head on the bars and accidentally killed him. Witnesses claim there was a gash on his forehead. His autopsy intimated that he was beaten but attributed his death to liver failure. The family was so poor they could not afford to bring him back to Port Arthur for burial. More here.

Gordon Baxter, a DJ who'd been at KPAC since 1945 thought this was a travesty. He held a live fund-raiser and raised enough money to bring his remains back to Port Arthur. Choate was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery. KPAC was then the voice of Port Arthur College, today it's a Public Radio affiliate. The charitable gesture went well for Bax, he was Assistant manager of the station by 1954. Baxter died in 2005 at the age of 81. He was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2007. Why did Baxter do it? It might be partially that Choate was so popular. It might have been that Bax was a fan. Or maybe Baxter was just one of the good guys. More here..