...from Sonny James official website...

                                                                                     http://www.sonnyjames.com/bio.htm

"...While waiting for the record's release, James made a guest appearance on The Louisiana Hayride on KWKH, Shreveport. Curly Harris introduced the singer to Slim Whitman, a Hayride regular starting to break through as a recording artist. As demand for personal appearances increased, Whitman decided to quit his post office job and go on the road with his band, the Stardusters. Normally shy and reserved, the singer needed a dynamic, personable front man to warm up the crowd before he took the stage. After watching James entertain the Hayride audience, Whitman found his front man.

James was grateful for the opportunity. Following conventional country music protocol, James came on stage after the band played its opening number. For thirty minutes he whipped up the crowd with songs and fiddle tunes. "He'd sing and play the fiddle behind his back and under his leg," Whitman told Kevin Coffey in 1995.

"Slim and I, we got along great," James said. "While I was with Slim, one day we were headed on a personal appearance and we traveled in a car with a teardrop trailer. At that time, we weren't getting any television exposure, Slim wasn't getting any and neither was I. We used to go into restaurants, and of course, they'd see that teardrop trailer out there with Slim's name on it. Here I was, six-foot-three and just as slim as I could be, and Slim was a little heavy -- he's just a good, stout man. We'd go into restaurants, several times he'd be looking at the menu and he'd look over at me, and he'd say, 'Slim, what do you think you want?' He'd play me off as Slim to the waitress!"

Capitol released James's first record during his stay with Whitman. "I remember the first time I heard my record," he said. "We were in the car and Slim was driving. We heard it and I said, 'Hey, that's me!'

James never recorded with Whitman, though he played fiddle and electric mandolin on an Imperial session featuring the Stardusters' Curly Herndon and Hoot Rains.

In many ways, Whitman and James were kindred spirits. Neither smoked nor drank, and both bad an aversion to working those honky-tonk crowds that did. But unlike James, Whitman faced the responsibilities of meeting a weekly payroll. To keep the band working, he had to accept the roadhouse and honky-tonk bookings he hoped to avoid.  This posed a moral dilemma for James. "Slim, I'm not comfortable doing that," James told him. "All my family ever played was theaters and auditoriums and schoolhouses."

Although sympathetic to his front man's concerns, Whitman encouraged James to stick it out. "Spend a couple of weeks with me," he pleaded. "Maybe I can work this out." But as those club dates grew closer, James reluctantly gave Whitman his notice.

During his two months with Whitman, James kept his eye open for other opportunities. While visiting a Jackson, Mississippi, station to promote his first single, a disc jockey suggested the singer hear a new release by Baton Rouge singer Lou Millett, "That's Me Without You"..."