Debbie was going through some of her mom’s memorabilia a couple of weeks ago, and ran across a flyer for “Parker Willson and the Light Crust Doughboys.”
I suspect that most people in Texas have at least heard of the LCDs, which, according to Wikipedia (the font of all human knowledge, or at least semi-informed opinion and/or conjecture) bills itself as “the longest-running country band in the world.” The group was created in 1931 to promote the products of Burrus Mill and Elevator Company of Fort Worth, Texas, back when radio advertising was in its infancy. That company’s president, Pappy O’Daniel, was parodied in the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? The LCDs had a very popular live radio show that ran more than twenty years. For a comprehensive history of the group, check out a book entitled The Light Crust Doughboys are on the air: celebrating seventy years of Texas music.
Near as I can tell, Parker Willson fronted the band as emcee during the period around 1939-41. The photos below are scans of the flyer, and the reference to Vocalion Records on the reverse side seems to indicate that this was a promotional piece put out by that studio. The Vocalion label was discontinued in 1940 (again, according to Wikipedia), which further narrows down the age of the flyer.
Click on each thumbnail to see a larger version of the image.
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That’s a neat flyer. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
The LCD’s didn’t beat Leonard Slye’s group, the Sons of the Pioneers by much, though. RIP RR
Yeah, the Sons have been around for as long as I can remember. Those groups are institutions and the world will be a lesser place when they finally fade away.