Rex Cole's Mountaineers
| Rex Cole's Mountaineers | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Hillbilly music |
| founding | 1930 |
| resolution | 1934 |
| Last occupation | |
| Arthur Fields | |
| Phillip D'Arcy; Thomas Vodola | |
| Al Russo | |
| Charles Magnante | |
| Andy Sannella | |
| Leo McConville | |
Rex Cole's Mountaineers were an American country band that had their greatest successes between 1930 and 1934. A famous member was the later Singing Cowboy Tex Fletcher .
Career
The Mountaineers were founded by New Yorkers Arthur Fields (1888-1953) and Fred Hall (1898-1954). Fields had made several records since 1918, and Hall was conducting the New York Dance Hall Orchestra at the time . However, all of these recordings were not country, but jazz and swing as well as ragtime or minstrel titles. The first recordings of the Mountaineers were made in January 1930 at Columbia Records , but under the pseudonym Eddie Younger and his Mountaineers . In June of the same year Fields and Hall recorded tracks with their old-time group for the American Record Corporation (ARC) labels , which appeared as Sam Cole and his Cornhuskers . Over time, most of the records were released under more than a dozen different names including The Gaunt Brothers , The Colt Brothers, and Jim Cole's Tennessee Mountaineers .
In the spring of 1930 Rex Cole, representative of General Electric , sponsored the Mountaineers. Since then the band has been called Rex Cole's Mountaineers . The singer of the group was Arthur Fields, the titles were written by Fields and Hall themselves. One began to appear regularly on the program of the radio station WEAF. On the radio, Fields and Hall appeared with their band as Long Tom & Joe Colt , occasionally as Buck Wilson and his Rangers to keep up with the emerging trend of western & cowboy music .
Over the next two years, Rex Cole's Mountaineers became a sought-after and famous group, and in addition to the recordings, they could be heard weekly on the radio station WEAF. In 1933 Rex Cole had changed most of the band members, including Tex Fletcher who was now a member of the group. Their popularity began to decline, with the Mountaineers' last radio appearance on March 18, 1934.
The Mountaineers played unusual instruments for hillbilly music such as the trumpet or flute. They are considered to be one of the first pseudo country bands because none of the members were actually country musicians or had anything to do with country music before. Their attire when performing was almost overly rustic, and Fields used a false beard. With the Mountaineers, hillbilly music slowly lost its previously rural character and was increasingly combined with various other musical genres.
Today the Mountaineers are almost forgotten, only various CD samplers publish works by the group.
Discography
Many titles were published under the pseudonym Sam Cole and his Cornhuskers . Many of these titles were re-released on Je-Wel Records and Banner Records .
| year | title | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OKeh Records | |||
| 1930 | Waltz of the Hill / In Dear Old Tennessee | under the pseudonym Fred Hall and his Sugar Babies | |
| 1930 | Georgia Home / Maw and Paw and Me | under the pseudonym Fred Hall and his Sugar Babies | |
| Regal Records | |||
| 1930 | Down At The Bottom Of The Mountain / In 1992 | ||
| 1930 | In Dear Old Tennessee / Rocky Mountain Sal | ||
| 1930 | After The Old Barn Dance / On The Old Hayride On The Morning | ||
| 1930 | The Whistle Song / Ma, Pa and Me | ||
| Velvet Tone Records | |||
| 1930 (?) | When It's Springtime In The Rockies / In Dear Old Tennessee | under the pseudonym Buck Wilson and his Rangers ; also released on Diva Records (Diva 3129) | |
| Paramount Records | |||
| 1931 | Birmingham Jail No.2 / Eleven More Months and Tend More Days, Part 2 | A-side by Frank Luther and Carson Robison ; B-side under the pseudonym Gunboat Billy & the Sparrow | |
| 1931 | I'm Pining For The Pines and Caroline / Rocky Mountain Sal | under the pseudonym Jim Cole and his Mountaineers | |