Folklore: The Lousiana Hayride

Subject: Folklore: The Lousiana Hayride
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 08:50 AM

I can find very little discussion in old threads about The Louisana Hayride which broadcast from Shreveport.
Cape Breton was too far away from there for me to get the radio broadcasts , but I would think that many Catters would have some memories.
It's popularity in the 50's grew to rival the Opry and it's list of performers was truly impressive. Here is a bit of history from it's website.
            Sandy


"The Louisiana Hayride"

Fifty years ago, on April 3, 1948, am a new radio program called the Louisiana Hayride went on the air in Shreveport, Louisiana. Neither the name nor the format were original. Harnett Kane had published a book of that title in 1943 and Judy Canova had a starred in a Broadway show called "Louisiana Hayride" the following year. Various stations around the country had broadcast live country music variety shows as early as 1923, including the WLS Barn Dance in Chicago and Nashville's Grand Old Opry. Even KWKH, the Shreveport station that launched the Hayride has aired a weekly program called the Saturday Night Roundup starting in 1936. What was unique about the new Louisiana Hayride was that early on it established itself as the "Cradle of the Stars", a place where careers were made. In its first ten years it launched the stardom of Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Slim Whitman, Johnny Horton, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Bob Luman, and others. Most would go elsewhere to fulfill their ambitions but they never forgot the role played by the Louisiana Hayride. Horace "Hoss" Logan joined the announcing staff of KWKH and he became the master of ceremonies when they started the "KWKH Saturday Night Roundup" broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium and featured Jimmie Davis, the Rice Brothers, the Blackwood Brothers, the Shelton Brothers and the Arizona Ranch Girls. Logan saw an opportunity and approached the station management about starting another Saturday night country music show, one that would take advantage of the newly authorized 50,000 watts of broadcast power. The first broadcast of the Louisiana Hayride featured the Bailes Brothers, Tex Grimsley, Harmie Smith, and Johnny and Jack along with Kitty Wells. Hank Williams's joined the cast in August of 1948. When Hank left for the Opry in June, 1949 he had already had six nationally charted records including his show-stopper "Love Sick Blues". Hank would return to the Hayride in 1952 after alcoholism cost him his Opry. Hank was still an official member of the Hayride when he died on January 1, 1953.

The first to try to fill Hank's shoes was Red Sovine, but it was Webb Pierce who was to walk in them. Pierce was working for Sears in Shreveport and got his chance to play the Hayride when Hayride bass player and booking agent Tillman Franks paid Buddy Attaway to call in sick so Webb could fill in. Webb's own band would become a cradle of the stars in its own right. It included Floyd Cramer, Faron Young, Tex Grimlsey, Jimmy Day, bassist/manager Tillman Franks, guitarist Buddy Attaway, and Teddy and Doyle Wilburn. When Webb signed with Decca Records in 1951 he started a string of hits which would make him the decades biggest country star with 48 charting records and twelve number one hits. By 1952 Pierce headed for Nashville and the Opry, leaving his spot to Faron Young who was himself gone by year's end. Coming in as he left were Billy Walker, Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton and a network affiliation with CBS. Tillman Franks was instrumental in getting a young singer from Memphis on the Hayride. His name was Elvis Presley.

Tillman had heard Elvis's record "That's All Right Mama" played on a local radio station and suggested Elvis for a shot on the Hayride. The Hayride knew that would be taking a chance on putting Elvis on the show because the style of his music was different from the other country acts. But the Hayride had a record for being innovative and they agreed Elvis should be given a chance. His first appearance on the Hayride was in October 1954. It was a decision they never regretted. He found a home on the Hayride and from there began a career that changed not only the Hayride but the entire music industry. The big time was just around the corner. Elvis resigned with the Hayride in November of 1955 for another year but did not finish out the contract. Within 6 months Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan and a was a feature in the national media. March 31, 1956 was Elvis's last Hayride show. Colonel Parker who now was Elvis's manager bought out the last 6 months of his contract for $10,000. George Jones and Johnny Cash both came to the Hayride in December 1955 and both left late in 1956. In the ensuing rockabilly haze, local figures Dale Hawkins and Bob Luman blazed brightly and shared musicians which would lay much of the musical groundwork for the California Sound of the 1960's. New days were dawning and things were changing. Hoss Logan left the Hayride in 1958 on the eve of Johnny Horton's back to back chart toppers "When it's Springtime in Alaska and "The Battle of New Orleans". Horton married Hank Williams's widow and was managed by Tillman Franks and would die in an automobile accident in late 1960. In effect the Hayride died with Horton.

Tillman Franks was the last manager of the Hayride when the last of the weekly shows was broadcast in August of 1960. In the mid 1990's a group of people began trying to explore ways of paying tribute to the memory of the Louisiana Hayride. One of those was Maggie Lewis Warwick who had joined the show in 1957 after winning a Johnny Horton talent contest in her native West Texas. She move to Shreveport, sang with Dale Hawkins, and began working with a local guitarist and record producer, Mira Smith. Mira;s Ram Records was a double rarity, a bit of music industry infrastructure and one run by a woman. She died in 1989 and would eventually be the first inductee in the Women in the Music Industry Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Maggie and her husband Alton Warwick produced a 50th Louisiana Hayride Homecoming show on April 3, 1999 and had as their special guests Willie Nelson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jett Williams, Leroy Van Dyke, Merle Kilgore, Claude King, Johnny Gimble and a host of Hayride musicians including Jerry Kennedy, Billy Sanford, Joe Osborn, Sonny Trammel, Felton Pruitt and Al "Puddler" Harris. The Warwick's began a campaign of legal work, lobbying, publicity, and consciousness-raising attention to the fact that in a world where Branson, Missouri can be viewed as a musical Mecca, the legacy of the Hayride needs to be acknowledged. Maggie and Alton began a campaign rights together with others, they have secured that reputation with the 50th Louisiana Hayride Homecoming show. And who knows the old hall may yet ring with the sound of things to come.