The Sons of the pioneers is the oldest,or rather,longest established musical group in North America....Formed around 1934 by Roy Rogers,Bob Nolan,Tim Spencer and Hugh Farr,there have been roughly forty members in the band;several of the recent configurations,from the eighties up to the present,have included sons and sons-in-law of existing and retired members.The longest serving member was Dale Warren,who joined in 1952 in his late twenties,and became leader upon the death of LLoyd Perryman in 1977....Warren lead the group from 1977 to 2008;he died about a year ago at the age of 82.
   Presently lead by Luther Nallie,who joined in 1968 and has been in and out of the group on two or three occasions,the vocal trio is now Nallie,Gary LeMaster and Ken Lattimore[guessing a bit on the last one],augmented by Ricky Bohen,Mark Abbott and Randy Rudd.
   They have just released a brand new 75th anniversary CD,available on their website www.sonsofthepioneers.org
   The most polished of all the Pioneer trios,in the opinion of many,was that of LLoyd Perryman,Dale Waren and Tommy Doss[1949-1967].
Doss,who replaced Bob Nolan in 1949,retired in the late sixties and returned to Oregon,where he is happily retired,hale and hearty at the age of 88.....a very kind and gracious gentleman who corresponded briefly with me a few years back,and was able to give me some interesting details....sorry to ramble on at such length,but I do feel the SOP have been a somewhat underappreciated group,considering their longevity and the incredible body of work they've produced....