Best of the Welcome Columns


Best of the Welcome Columns

Author: Rhynes, J.D.
Country music on television in the middle 1950s

I was raised in Stockton California, a wonderful place for a teenager to grow up in the 50's. That was such a wonderful carefree time for young boy to grow up in the Central Valley of California. Especially after I got my drivers license and my 1936 Ford four-door sedan, what with gas being $.19 a gallon, and I had a job after school making $2.10 an hour. I was working two or three hours a night at Sisting's Bakery cleaning pastry pans and sweeping up. On a really good week I would make 20 bucks, I thought I was richest kid in school. After I got off work at nights I would go cruising drive-ins with my buddies. There was the Red Rose, Dick's, Newby's, the Miracle,Toppers,George's, A&W, and DeBono's, drive-ins, all just part of Stockton's history by now. The last one to close was Georges drive-in on California Street which closed about 10 years ago or more. Me and my buddies spent the majority of our time between the Red Rose, Dick's, and Newby's. If we weren't spending time in one of our favorite drive-ins we were out "cruising the drag" which was Main Street, "Theater Row" in downtown Stockton. That was a lot of fun back in those days and some my favorite memories revolve around those times. Even as good as those days were, my favorite part of that period of my life was the country music I got to enjoy and be a part of. California was a hotbed of country music back in the 50s and on Friday and Saturdays there was a lot of country music live on TV. One of the biggest and most popular country music shows was the California Hayride, which was hosted by Cottonseed Clark, a genuine country music icon back in those days. Cottonseed was also quite a country poet as well, and every week he would recite one of his compositions on the show. During the summertime the California Hayride would broadcast from a different city in the Central Valley. It might be Stockton one week, then Modesto the next weekend, and Sacramento the week later. Along with the show they would have a big dance, and if it was fairly close to Stockton, usually three or four of my buddies and our girlfriends would go to the dance and have a good time. A few of the performers on the California Hayride went on to become big names in country music. The two that really stand out in my mind are Cal Smith, and the Collins kids, Larry and Lorrie, twin brother and sister who could really pick and sing. I was watching a rerun of the Porter Wagoner show on July 23, 2010 and lo and behold who was on there but Cal Smith, singing one of his number one hits,Country Bumpkin. I got acquainted with Cal back in 1954 at one of the shows held at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. Seems as how we both shared an affinity for some of "Kentucky's finest", which I just happened to have a little bit with me, and we shared a sip or two behind the band stand. Over the years we shared quite a few sip's together and he would always dedicate a song to his good buddy JD, whenever I was at the show. My parents watched that program religiously every week, and it took a couple of years for my mom to catch on that Cal was dedicating me a song whenever I was at the show. My family always called me by my given name,Jerrell Don, instead of my initials. I had mentioned to my parents that I got to know Cal at those shows, and one evening while watching the show my mother asked me if Cal called me by my initials? When I said that he did, she wondered out loud why he would always sing a song dedicated to me when I was there? It was then that my dad chimed in, it's probably got something to do with that empty pint bottle of Jim Beam I found under the front seat of his car last week. Empty, I thought in my mind. There was about a quarter of that bottle left when I got home that night but the next day it was empty. AhHa I thought, I just discovered who was drinking my leftovers! My dad! But I couldn't own up to it in front of my mom, and said the bottle belonged to one of my buddies. My pop was pretty foxy in that respect. That had been going on for two or three years before I finally wised up. I always wondered why my dad had that smug look every time he looked at me on Sunday morning. About 20 years later he owned up to the fact that he would go through my car every Saturday and Sunday morning, and get rid of the evidence before my mother found it. Which was a weak excuse of his part because my mother never went through my car. I think the last time I seen Cal in person was about 1957 or 58, and he had a hit record that was climbing the charts, with it finally ending up about number two or three. I can't remember the name of the song. Little did I know back then that Cal Smith would go on to become a great big country star like he did. He was a great talent and a hell of a nice guy and I'm glad I can say that he was my friend. Just a little history from this old country boy from back in the early 1950s. That is the one periodin my life that I would go back and relive given the chance. Cruising the drag in my 1936 four-door Ford sedan, with about six or eight other young teenagers in there, heading to one of our favorite drive-ins to have a Cherry Coke, along with a big order of french fries and a hamburger all for $.75. Man alive did we have it made!

Posted: 11/22/2012