Jimmy Wakely

Like the other singing movie cowboys, Jimmy Wakely sold more country and pop records than cowboy recordings. In fact, more of his records made the Billboard charts than those of the other singing cowboys did! But he was much appreciated by his cowboy peers and his fans for his wonderful ability to interpret Western songs as well. Rex Allen used to say that Wakely was probably the most underrated Western singer in Hollywood. Wakely's movies garnered legions of fans, but he had a successful music career even before his film series began.

Born in Arkansas on Feb. 16, 1914, he soon moved with his family to Oklahoma. There, he developed his musical abilities, learning piano and guitar and finding a job singing on the radio in 1932. By 1937, he had formed a trio called The Bell Boys, so named because of their radio sponsor, Bell Clothing Stores. Scotty Harrell and Jack Cheney were the first members of the trio, but Cheney was soon replaced by Johnny Bond. In 1939 the Trio left for Hollywood, calling themselves The Rough Riders, hoping to find work with Gene Autry. Wakely later said that it was Gene Autry's influence that led him to want to become a singing cowboy.

Gene was out of town when the boys reached Hollywood, but they managed to find work in a Roy Rogers film, Saga of Death Valley, and to record a number of Standard radio transcriptions before having to return to Oklahoma. These transcriptions were "lost" until 2005 when many of them were re-issued on CD. The following year, they returned to Hollywood, this time with Dick Reinhart replacing Harrell. They soon found work in a Range Busters film, Trailin' Double Trouble, after which they auditioned for Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio show and Gene found a place for them. (For more details on the Trio and the early years, see Don Cusic's article, "Jimmy Wakely" in The Western Way, Vol. 13, no. 3 Summer 2003, and the Jimmy Wakely Trio page in the Hall of Fame section of this web site). During this time, each of the members of the trio had a solo recording contract with a major label. Jimmy's was with Decca, where he was to remain until he moved to Capitol in 1947.

While working with Gene Autry, Wakely played lead guitar, as he had done since he formed his first trio. He was an expert, but his work can only be heard on the early transcriptions made by the Trio and those of the Melody Ranch radio show. Later, when he became a star, Wakely passed the guitar chores off to others, most notably Jack Rivers, but those early Wakely solos and back-up work are unique and remarkably well-done. While with Autry, Wakely was asked to be Gene's stand-in during rehearals, something that gave him excellent experience he could apply later when he went out on his own.

There was plenty of motivation to go out on his own. Autry rarely, if ever, referred to the Trio by name on the air, which impeded the all-important name recognition they were looking for. And at the same time, movie cowboys were all the rage; studios were looking for new stars to compete with old ones and to use as leverage when one became too economically powerful.

Jimmy's experience on radio was complemented by increasingly important parts with his Trio in films with Tex Ritter, Johnny Mack Brown, Hopalong Cassidy and Charles Starrett. By 1944, he was ready for his first starring role, in a Monogram film titled Song of the Range. It was the first of 28 Western films in which he starred for Monogram. The film he was most pleased with was Song of the Sierras; he wrote the beautiful title song for it and recorded two different arrangements of it for Capitol and Shasta.

His recording career took off during this period as well, with his beautiful ballads and hot Western swing. But his classic Western album was to come later, when he recorded Santa Fe Trail (DL 8409) for Decca in 1957. Many of its songs were reprised on his own Shasta label, now available on CD as Jimmy Wakely: The Singing Cowboy on the Varese Sarabande label. Wakely made more Western recordings for Decca, Capitol, Shasta and Coral, but most remain to be reissued on CD. In addition to his highly successful recording career which triumphed in the country, pop and Western genres, in 1952 his Jimmy Wakely Show premiered on CBS radio and ran through 1957. He starred in his own national tv show (musical variety, always with a Western influence) as well, and in later years was active in other radio, tv, recording and concert activities. He died of emphysema on Sept. 23, 1982.