The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72889   Message #2097866
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
09-Jul-07 - 01:32 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Midnight Special
Subject: RE: Origins: Midnight Special
Otto Gray was the band leader, but the 1926 OKeh recording is labeled McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band.
A cd, "Otto Gray's Oklahoma Cowboys," available from countysales.com, has the track "Pistol Pete's Midnight Special," probably redone later.
Otto Gray got the idea for the band in 1918. From 1924-1936, Otto Gray and His Oklahoma Cowboys played and toured the country. Band members were recruited from Gray's 2500 acre ranch. He says he and a cowboy friend, Billy McGinty, developed the idea of a band of real cowpunchers to take the music of the West to a new generation. Gray says McGinty fronted for the organization. McGinty was one of the first bronc-riding world champions, and had been with Buffalo Bill's Show.
McGinty later was made permanent President of the of the National Roughriders Association. Gray had been a cowboy before he became a rancher, and, with his wife, was known for his trick and fancy roping.

The above from a 1959 article in "Oklahoma Today" :
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oktoday/1950s/1959/oktdv9n4.pdf
Oklahoma Today