From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Sun Aug 18, 2002 2:00 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Hank Penny HANK PENNY Born Herbert Clayton Perry, 18 August 1918, Birmingham, Alabama Died 17 April 1992, Camarillo, California Vocalist / country music bandleader / banjo player. Penny exemplifies the far reaching influence of Western Swing. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Penny was working in New Orleans in the mid-thirties when he came across and became entranced by the sounds he heard from Bob Wills, Milton Brown and the Lightcrust Dough Boys. Fearing that competition in Texas and Oklahoma would be too hot, Penny took the bold step of launching his Western Swing band (Hank Penny and his Radio Cowboys) in Atlanta. The band soon got a spot with Atlanta's WSB on Crossroads Follies, and established a healthy following. Penny eventually approached Art Satherley and got a recording contract with OKeh in 1938, which saw the Radio Cowboys recording in such diverse locations as Columbia, South Carolina, Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina and Memphis, Tennessee. Amongst the more illustrious members of the band were Boudleaux Bryant on fiddle (subsequently a highly successful composer with his wife Felice), and steel guitarist Noel Boggs. One of their first recordings was Cowboy's Swing, an instrumental workout of the popular Draggin' The Bow. Mississippi Muddle was another instrumental, recorded appropriately enough in Memphis. After a session in Chicago in June, 1940 the Radio Cowboys disbanded and Hank started working at WSB as the morning deejay. However at Satherley's request, Penny cut one more session garnering up a bunch of musicians, including omni-present Radio Cowboy Carl Stewart on bass. Just a year after the final session with the Radio Cowboys, Penny Cut one last session for OKeh in June, 1941 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pearl Harbour and the war brought a halt to Penny's recording career until he recorded for the fledgling King company in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1945. There he again reunited with Carl Stewart. One of the main markets for Western Swing in the immediate post war years was California, and in 1946 Penny headed west. He landed a booking at the Venice Ballroom and having re-established contact with Noel Boggs, and along with guitarist Johnny Wyble and Nashville fiddler Harold Hensley formed the California Cowhands. However it was guitarist Merle Travis along with Noel Boggs who played on his first west coast session that included Steel Guitar Stomp (# 4 country). By the time he recorded Wildcat Mama, the band had changed completely. This was due to the fact that Penny flitted between comedy, deejaying and playing music. Although his years with King Records produced some superb music, it was never reflected in the recognition he received at the time. He recorded for King through to 1950 (scoring another # 4 with "Bloodshot Eyes", which was covered for the R&B market by Wynonie Harris) and then signed with RCA, and in 1954 switched to Decca which was the last major company he recorded for, although several albums appeared in the 60's on small labels. His career took in a marriage with Sue Thompson (she of Norman fame), and he gave a start to many star turns such as singer Jay P. Morgan. When he relocated to Las Vegas at the end of the fifties his band included a young Roy Clark and steel guitarist Curley Chalker. Penny concentrated on country comedy during the sixties, retiring to Los Angeles in the early seventies where he died in 1992. CD: Hillbilly Be-Bop (Westside WESA 914), released 2001. 25 King tracks. A Bear Family LP, Rompin' Stompin' Singin' Swingin' (BFX 15102) had RCA tracks from the early 50s, with several vocals by Jaye P. Morgan.