Tommy Doss

In 1948, Tommy Doss replaced Tommy Duncan as vocalist with Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys. Later that year, he recorded with Bob and with Luke Wills and Ole Rasmussen, singing both western and western swing music. In mid-1949, when Bob Nolan was planning to leave the Sons of the Pioneers, Bob & Lloyd Perryman were driving around when they heard Tommy sing on their car radio. Nolan exclaimed, “There’s my replacement!”

Then, Hugh Farr went to the 97th Street Corral in Los Angeles where Tommy was working with Rasmussen. In the parking lot, Hugh asked if Tommy would be interested in working with the Pioneers. Tommy was, so he was invited to Lloyd Perryman’s house in Burbank. There, Doss, Perryman & Ken Curtis made a recording using a small wire recorder. As soon as they heard the playback, they offered Tommy the job. He accepted on the spot!

Shortly afterward, while Nolan was making his last tour with the Pioneers in Canada, and Tommy was finishing his obligations with Rasmussen in L.A., Hi Busse & the Frontiersmen recorded “Blue Prairie” with Tommy Doss singing the solo. Since Tommy was already hired, that record was not an audition demo, but Hi shared it with people (like his friend Roy Rogers) who were duly impressed.

When Bob Nolan retired, Tommy traveled from Calif. to Montana to meet up with the Pioneers. The trio rehearsed in their stretch limo as bassist Shug Fisher drove them to Pittsburgh, PA. There, in July, 1949, at Bill Green’s Terrace Club, Tommy Doss made his first appearance with the Sons of the Pioneers.

Up until the Pioneers discovered Tommy Doss, Nolan’s voice was thought to be unique. His voice also had a great deal to do with defining the “sound” of the Pioneers. But Tommy’s voice so closely resembled Bob Nolan’s that Nolan himself sometimes had difficulty distinguishing between the two voices on recordings. Tommy’s voice was the key to continuing the Sons of the Pioneers “sound” well into the 1960s.

RCA Victor, the group’s recording company, interrupted their contract briefly after Doss had made a number of recordings that have become classics. But when Roy Rogers movies began to air on TV, RCA thought their audience would want to hear only the Pioneers who appeared with Roy on screen, so their new contract stipulated that Nolan come out of retirement to record with the group from ’55 to ’57. When that contract expired, RCA realized that Doss could meet their demands with ease. After all, Doss had been touring and making radio, TV & film appearances with the group since he joined in 1949, and was well-known to fans, especially listeners to the Lucky-U Ranch radio show.

For the next ten years, Tommy Doss recorded with the Sons of the Pioneers and his baritone and harmony are featured on some of the group’s most admired recordings. Their Cool Water LP, their first album recorded in stereo, remained in the RCA Victor catalog from the day it was released until the company stopped manufacturing LPs!

The trio of Lloyd Perryman, Dale Warren and Tommy Doss remains the favorite Sons of the Pioneers trio of all times for many fans. Their smooth blend was unique, but when listeners heard it, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were listening to the Sons of the Pioneers. This was due, in large part, to Tommy Doss, and those recordings brought the music of the Pioneers to a whole new generation of fans.

~O.J. Sikes