Wayne Raney
Wayne Raney (born August 17, 1921 in Wolf Bayou , Cleburne County , Arkansas , † January 23, 1993 in Drasco , Arkansas) was an American old-time and country musician and later studio and record label owner.
Life
Childhood and youth
Wayne Raney was born on a farm in the small community of Wolf Bayou in central-eastern Arkansas - depending on the source - in 1920 or 1921. Due to a congenital deformity of his foot, he was unable to do heavy work in the fields. At the age of five, he began to be interested in music and saw a one-armed harmonica player on a street corner who inspired Raney to learn to play the harmonica as well. In his spare time he practiced ambitiously and was soon a skilled musician.
Career
He left his home village at the age of 13 and traveled to the United States. He earned his living as a musician by performing for money in clubs, bars and cafes. Around 1934 he was playing in Texas when the manager of the radio station XEPN from Piedras Negras , Mexico , on the other side of the Rio Grande , hired him. In 1936 he first met his idol, mentor and later long-term musical partner Lonnie Glosson , who also came from Arkansas. Raney listened to Glosson regularly through KMOX of St. Louis , Missouri , and in 1928 teamed up with him to form a duo that performed on KARK in Little Rock , Arkansas. Like many country musicians of the time, Raney and Glosson moved from radio station to radio station and played - with interruptions - together over and over again for the next 25 years.
Raney also made experiences as a solo artist from the early 1940s. He was heard on various radio stations on the Mexican border and on KFWB from Hollywood , but soon moved to Covington , Kentucky , on the Ohio River , where he appeared regularly on programs on WCKY. Raney was not only in demand as a musician, he was also extremely popular as a presenter and disc jockey. At this time he also established his own mail order business, with which he sold harmonica and instructions throughout the United States. Together with Lonnie Glosson, he contributed significantly to the spread of this instrument.
In 1945 he moved with Glosson to Memphis , Tennessee , where he met the Delmore Brothers one evening . Raney had followed her career for a long time and that evening the successful collaboration between Raney, Glosson and the Delmores began. Shortly thereafter, he appeared together with the brothers on WMC and accompanied them in February 1946 to a recording session for the then record label of the Delmores, King Records . On this occasion Raney himself recorded the harmonica blues as a solo piece. At the next session he offered producer Syd Nathan to accompany the Delmore Brothers session without payment, for which he was allowed to record his own pieces. The result, The Fox Chase , sold well.
In the next few years Raney was a regular harmonica player in the Delmores' background band, while the Delmores accompanied him on his own solo records. In the following period Raney had some chart successes with Lost John Boogie (1948), Jack and Jill Boogie (1949). His greatest success in 1949, however, was the track Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me , recorded with Lonnie Glosson , which reached the top of the country charts. With Glosson, Raney also played harmonica on the Delmore Brothers' only number one hit, Blues Stay Away from Me, in 1951 . From a stylistic point of view, this period of his career was shaped by Country Boogie , a mixture of the pre-war boogie woogie genre and rural country music, which Raney and the Delmores had a decisive influence on.
In the 1950s, Raney was signed to Decca Records and tried his hand at rockabilly with titles like Undertakin 'Daddy and Shake Baby Shake . He also worked as a musician for Lefty Frizzell and took part in a tour of the Grand Ole Opry . On the radio, he was also regularly heard on the major shows of the WWVA Jamborees , the California Hayride and the Louisiana Hayrides .
Later years
In the late 1950s, Raney's popularity waned. During this time he was under contract with Starday Records and was active as a DJ. Raney returned to WCKY and tried his hand at the record business from 1958. With Jimmie Zack he founded Poor Boy Records in Muncie , Indiana in 1958 as a first attempt. In 1960 he gave up his mail order business, bought a chicken farm near Concord , Arkansas, and opened a recording studio there, his record label Rimrock Records and the only record pressing plant in Arkansas. He recorded a few albums for Rimrock himself. During this time he turned to country gospel; his title We Need a Whole Lot More of Jesus (and a Lot Less Rock and Roll) caught some attention in the folk scene.
In the 1970s he was seen a few times on the television show Hee Haw , but his health deteriorated, so he had to sell Rimrock and his studio, gave up his performances and moved to Drasco, where he died of cancer in 1993. That same year he was inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame . His autobiography Life Has Not Been a Bed of Roses was published in 1990.
Discography
Singles
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published titles | |||
| King Records | |||
| 1947 | The Fox Chase / Green Valley Waltz | 676 | |
| 1948 | Jole Blon's Ghost / Lost John Boogie | 719 | |
| 1948 | Jack and Jill Boogie / Lonesome Wind Blues | 732 | |
| 1949 | Gathering in the Sky / Book of Revelations | 759 | |
| 1949 | Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me / Don't Know Why | 791 | |
| 1949 | Red Ball to Natchez / I'm Square Dab from the Country | 824 | |
| 1950 | Del Rio Boogie / I Feel a Streak of Love Comming On | 840 | |
| 1950 | Under the Double Eagle / Fast Train Through Arkansas | 856 | |
| 1950 | Story of Orphan / I Want to Live with Mommie There | 887 | |
| 1950 | Old Fashioned Matrimony in Mind / Pardon My Whiskers | 910 | |
| 1950 | Real Hot Boogie / If You've Got the Money | 914 | |
| 1951 | My Annabelle Lee / Family Tree Musta Fell on Me | 925 | |
| 1951 | I've Gone and Soul My Soul / I Love My Little Yo-Yo | 939 | |
| 1951 | I Ain't Nuthin 'But a Tomcat Kitten / I'm on My Way | 956 | |
| 1951 | I Want a Home in Dixie / I Had My Fingers Crossed | 974 | |
| 1951 | Blues at My Door / You Better Treat Your Man Right | 989 | |
| 1952 | That Star Belongs to Me / Dreaming of a Little Cabin | 1035 | with the Sons of the Mountaineers |
| 1952 | I'd Feel Just Like a Millionaire / Real Good Feelin ' | 1036 | |
| 1952 | Catfish Baby / Heads or Talls, I Win | 1058 | |
| 1952 | I'm Really Needin 'You / Beautiful Around the Bush | 1087 | |
| 1952 | When They Let the Hammer Down / Undertakin 'Daddy | 1116 | |
| 1952 | The Child's Side of Life / If You Never Slip Around | 1149 | |
| 1953 | No One's Crying But Me / Powerful Love | 1160 | |
| 1953 | Betrayed Waltz / Falling | 1187 | |
| 1953 | Gonna Row My Boat / Burning Your Love Letters | 1229 | |
| 1953 | Adam Come and Get Your Rib / The Roosters are Crowing | 1259 | |
| 1953 |
EP
|
EP-235 | |
| 1954 | Trying to Love Without You / Mama (Don't You Remember When You Were Young) | 1331 | |
| 1955 | I Was There / We Love to Live | 1469 | |
| 1955 | Gone with the Wind in the Morning / Tear Down the Mountains | 1480 | |
| Decca Records | |||
| 1957 | Shake Baby Shake / 40th and Plum | 9-30212 | |
| 1959 | Four Aces and a Queen / I Ain't Got Time | 9-31004 | |
| Poor Boy Records | |||
| 1958 | We Need a Whole Lof More of Jesus (and a Lot Less Rock and Roll) / Don't You Think It's Time | PRB-45-100 | |
| 1960 | Simply Wonderful / Everybody's Going Crazy | PRB-45-109 | |
| New American Records | |||
| 1960 |
EP
|
104 | |
| Starday Records | |||
| 1964 | Mail Order Heart / Don't Try to Be What You Ain't | 663 | |
| 1964 | Live Thief / Strictly Nothing | 677 | |
| 1964 | Young Widow Brown / I Stumble, I Fumble, I Fall | 689 | |
| Blake Records | |||
| 1965 | I'm in Love / M; y Beautiful Bouquet | 204 | |
| Rimrock Records | |||
| I'm in Love / My Beautiful Bouquet | 204 | Blake 204 republished | |
| 1968 | My Pot of Love / Grandma's Mini-Skirt | RS-258 | |
| Lawson Records | |||
| 1971 | It's a Woman / It's a Man | LS-207 | as Wanday Raney |
Albums
- 1954: Don't Try to Be What You Ain't! (Starday)
- 1957: Songs of the Hills (King)
- 19 ??: 1616 Radio Gospel Favorites (Starday)
- 196 ?: Radio Gospel Favorites # 1 (Rimrock)
- 1969: Pardon My Whiskers (Rimrock)
- 1969: Tear Down the Mountains (Rimrock)
- 1970: If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time (Rimrock)
- 1972: Gathering in the Sky (Rimrock)
- 199 ?: Twin Harmonicas and More (Old Homestead, with Lonnie Glosson)
- 199 ?: All Harmonica (with Lonnie Glosson)
literature
- Charles K. Wolfe: Classic Country: Legends of Country Music (2001), pp. 114-116; Routledge, ISBN 0-415-92827-3
Web links
- Wayne Raney in the database of Find a Grave (English)
- Wayne Raney on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
- Wayne Raney at Allmusic (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Raney, Wayne |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American old-time and country musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 17, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wolf Bayou , Arkansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 23, 1993 |
| Place of death | Drasco , Arkansas |