Bailes Brothers Albums

OH Collector's Series 109 - 1977

Just before my brother Johnnie and I joined the "Grand Ole Opry," we were working at WSAZ Radio in Huntington, W.Va., on the Tri-State Jamboree, in the early 1940's. Roy Acuff played the Jamboree and was a guest on our program at that time. After hearing our original songs and style, he asked us to come to Nashville sometime and he would get us an audition for WSM. A little bit later, we took some time off and went to Nashville, and with Roy's help, we auditioned for George D. Hay. He liked us, but did not feel he could use us at that time. Roy insisted that we audition for Harry Stone, who was the manager, who hired us on the spot and told us when to appear for our first early morning radio program. We were sponsored by Martha White Flour and I believe we may have been the first act they sponsored there.

Shortly after that (a couple of weeks), due to our good reception by radio listeners, we became regular members of the "Grand Ole Opry." This was the beginning of a very successful association with WSM, and also Roy Acuff who along with Fred Rose, did more than anyone else to establish the Bailes Brothers as an international act and to get our recording contract with Columbia Records.

While we were at the Opry, we became the number two country act on the Opry and Columbia Records next to Roy Acuff. We drew more Fan Mail than any other act... We advertised and sold our first songbook from WSM. Many times we would get as many as 1300 orders in one day. From April to October of the first year we sold 175,000 copies of our first edition.

"The Bailes Brothers" first "Opry" band consisted of Johnnie and myself on guitars and vocals. (At that time Johnnie usually sang tenor). Little Evy (Evy Lou), on the bass fiddle and occasional vocal, Des Heck on fiddle, and Ernest Ferguson on mandolin. Later Shot Jackson joined us on steel guitar and brother Homer joined on the fiddle. Homer also sang in our trio numbers and provided the comedy. Just before we left Nashville to go to KWKH in Shreveport, LA, our older brother Kyle joined us on bass and as our booking agent. Kyle had appeared with me and Johnnie preceding our "Opry" Career as early as 1937 at WCHS Radio, Charleston, W.Va., near our home town at WULS in Beckley, W.Va.

While we worked on the "Grand Ole Opry" we were booked on package shows with Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold, Pee Wee King, Kitty Wells, Johnny and Jack , Hank Williams, Webb Pierce and Bill Monroe and others plus headlining our own shows. Our songs such as "Dust on the Bible" became best sellers on Columbia and have subsequently been recorded by most major acts doing Country and Gospel music.

Many of the songs included on this album were songs we featured during World War II on the "Grand Ole Opry" and have become our best known and most requested songs. We are happy to make these songs available to you, our fans, once again for your listening enjoyment. Johnnie and I hope you will enjoy these old songs and if you would like to drop us a note, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our addresses are as follows:

Brandywine Mountain Music Festival

recorded live in 1979

Side 2: The Bailes Brothers with Lee Moore -- Walter Bailes: lead vocal, guitar, Kyle Bailes: guitar, mouth harp, harmony vocals, Ernest Ferguson: mandolin, with Lee Moore: dobro, guitar, intro: Bob Montgomery

1. I HAVE DUSTED OFF THE BIBLE

2. WE SOLD EVERYTHING DOWN HERE

3. GIVE MOTHER MY CROWN

4. I HEAR MY MOTHER CALL-Lee Moore, lead vocal

5. YOU PLAYED ON RADIO SHOWS

6. I ONLY WANT A BUDDY - Lee Moore, lead vocal

7. WILL THE ANGELS HAVE A SWEETHEART

The Bailes Brothers - Oh So Many Years

The Bailes Brothers 'Oh So Many Years'

REVIEWS:

Bear Family BCD 15973 AH (2002)

Kyle, Johnnie, Walter, and Homer Bailes all born between 1915 and 1922 in the Charleston, West Virginia, area;
began playing and singing at a young age. Johnnie and Walter teamed up in 1940 to do live radio shows in West Virginia, and counted future stars Little Jimmy Dickens and Molly O'Day in their band. In 1943, the Bailes Brothers were discovered by Roy Acuff, who thought they were "Grand Ole Opry" material and exerted his influence to have them added to the Opry on Nashville's
WSM in 1944...

By 1947, the brothers surfaced in Shreveport, Louisiana, on radio station KWKH, and in 1948, the legendary country music program "Louisiana Hayride" debuted on KWKH with the Bailes Brothers as the headlining act. Eddie Stubbs (WSM "Grand Ole Opry" announcer) says in his 32-page biographical/discographical essay that the "brothers lent a helping hand to Hank Williams and Webb Pierce in Shreveport, and worked on numerous shows with both acts destined for stardom." By decade's end the Bailes had left "Hayride" and their glory years were over.

This CD contains all 28 sides the Bailes Brothers waxed for Columbia Records between 1945 and 1947. At the time of their first recordings in February 1945, only Johnnie (guitar, tenor vocals) and Walter (guitar, lead vocals) were in the quintet with a mandolin player, bassist, and fiddler. Four Roy Acuff compositions (such as "Searching for a Soldier's Grave") and six by Walter and Johnnie, including the Bailes' most well-known song "Dust On the Bible," were recorded at this session. Stubbs states the brothers "sang with heartfelt conviction in a full-volume, open-throat fashion that audiences up to that time weren't used to hearing." The vocals are indeed distinctive — Walter's lead singing reminds one of Jimmie Dale Gilmore — and the instrumental work is solid. Kyle on bass and Homer on fiddle joined their siblings, plus Ernest Ferguson (mandolin) and Harold "Shot" Jackson (steel guitar), for an April 1947 recording date that produced titles like "Whiskey is the Devil (In Liquid Form)," "Broken Marriage Vows," and "Oh So Many Years" (written by Walter's wife Frankie), later on a hit by Kitty Wells and Webb Pierce, then covered by the Everly Brothers. By the Dec. 21, 1947, session, Walter had quit, Johnnie was lead singer, and new bassist Tillman Franks replaced Kyle. Franks penned three of the eight tracks cut that day, including "Has the Devil Got a Mortgage On You." Despite their popularity on both the Opry and "Louisiana Hayride," the Bailes Brothers remain obscure today. Their recordings hold up well when compared to other country-music platters from the 1940s, and this set, featuring excellent sound along with Bear Family Records' informative notes and thorough discography, should revive interest in a group whose musical style, according to Stubbs, " bridged the gap between the old-time brother duets, the mainstream country music of the day, and what would eventually become known as bluegrass."

Al Riess (Buffalo, NY)

_______________________ All Music Guide

Oh So Many Years covers the Bailes Brothers most commercially productive period in the 1940s. These 28 tracks, originally released on Columbia Records, capture their unique harmonies on signature songs including "The Drunkard's Grave," "Dust on the Bible," and "Broken Marriage Vows." As an added bonus, interview sections with the brothers are interspersed throughout.

ALBUM DETAILS
Release Date: Nov 12 2002
Label: BEAR FAMILY Catalog No.: 15973
UPC: 790051597320