The Delmore Brothers
Encyclopedia
Alton Delmore and Rabon Delmore (December 3, 1916 - December 4, 1952), billed as The Delmore Brothers, were country music
pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry
in the 1930s. The Delmore Brothers, together with other brother duets such as the Louvin Brothers
, the Blue Sky Boys, the Monroe Brothers (Birch, Charlie and Bill Monroe
), the McGee Brothers
, and The Stanley Brothers
, had a profound impact on the history of country music and American popular music.
, as the sons of tenant farmers amid a rich tradition of gospel music
and Appalachian folk. Their mother, Mollie Delmore, wrote and sang gospel songs for their church. The Delmores blended gospel-style harmonies with the quicker guitar-work of traditional folk music
and the blues
to help create the still-emerging genre of country. In addition to the regular six-string acoustic guitar, the duo was one of the few to use the rare tenor guitar
, a four-string instrument that had primarily been used previously in vaudeville
shows.
In 1925 Alton wrote his first song "Bound For the Shore" at the age of 13, (co-written with his mother). It was published by Athens Music Co.
The Brother's did their first recording session for Columbia in 1931, recording "I've Got the Kansas City Blues" and "Alabama Lullaby", which became their theme song. They signed a contract with Victor Record’s budget label Bluebird in 1933 and became regulars on the Grand Ole Opry
variety program. Within three years, they had become the most popular act on the show. Disagreements with Opry management led to the brothers leaving the show in 1939. While they continued to play and record music throughout the 1940s, they never achieved the same level of success they had with the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1941, their song "When It's Time For The Whippoorwill To Sing" made the Billboard "Hillbilly" top three.
Their best-known song, "Blues Stay Away From Me," is regarded by some as the first rock and roll record. It was covered by Gene Vincent
and the Blue Caps, The Louvin Brothers and The Everly Brothers
.
Rabon died of lung cancer
in 1952. Following Rabon's death, Alton suffered a heart attack, the loss of his father and his daughter Susan, all within a three-year period. He moved back in Huntsville, Alabama. He taught some guitar, did odd jobs, and devoted his creative energies to writing prose. He wrote a series of short stories and his autobiography, Truth is Stranger than Publicity, published posthumously in the 1970s.
Over the course of their careers, the Delmores wrote more than one thousand songs. Some of the most popular were Brown’s Ferry Blues, Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar and Fifteen Miles from Birmingham.
in 1989 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Their pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
.
Bob Dylan
was quoted in the Chicago Tribune, on November 10, 1985 as saying "The Delmore Brothers, God, I really loved them! I think they've influenced every harmony I've ever tried to sing."
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
in the 1930s. The Delmore Brothers, together with other brother duets such as the Louvin Brothers
Louvin Brothers
The Louvin Brothers were an American country music duo composed of brothers Ira Lonnie Loudermilk and Charlie Elzer Loudermilk , better known as Ira and Charlie Louvin. They helped popularize close harmony, a genre of country music.-History:The brothers adopted the name Louvin Brothers in the...
, the Blue Sky Boys, the Monroe Brothers (Birch, Charlie and Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
), the McGee Brothers
McGee Brothers
The McGee Brothers were an American old-time performing duo consisting of brothers Sam McGee and Kirk McGee . Sam typically played guitar and Kirk usually played banjo or fiddle, although they were both proficient in multiple string instruments...
, and The Stanley Brothers
The Stanley Brothers
The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo made up of brothers Carter and Ralph Stanley.-Biography:Carter and Ralph Stanley hailed originally from Dickenson County, Virginia. The family soon moved to McClure, Virginia where their parents worked a small farm in the Clinch Mountains...
, had a profound impact on the history of country music and American popular music.
Biography
The brothers were born into poverty in Elkmont, AlabamaElkmont, Alabama
Elkmont is a town in Limestone County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the population of the town is 470.-Geography:Elkmont is located at 1....
, as the sons of tenant farmers amid a rich tradition of gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and Appalachian folk. Their mother, Mollie Delmore, wrote and sang gospel songs for their church. The Delmores blended gospel-style harmonies with the quicker guitar-work of traditional folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
to help create the still-emerging genre of country. In addition to the regular six-string acoustic guitar, the duo was one of the few to use the rare tenor guitar
Tenor guitar
1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar|thumb|rightThe tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was developed so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on the guitar...
, a four-string instrument that had primarily been used previously in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
shows.
In 1925 Alton wrote his first song "Bound For the Shore" at the age of 13, (co-written with his mother). It was published by Athens Music Co.
The Brother's did their first recording session for Columbia in 1931, recording "I've Got the Kansas City Blues" and "Alabama Lullaby", which became their theme song. They signed a contract with Victor Record’s budget label Bluebird in 1933 and became regulars on the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
variety program. Within three years, they had become the most popular act on the show. Disagreements with Opry management led to the brothers leaving the show in 1939. While they continued to play and record music throughout the 1940s, they never achieved the same level of success they had with the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1941, their song "When It's Time For The Whippoorwill To Sing" made the Billboard "Hillbilly" top three.
Their best-known song, "Blues Stay Away From Me," is regarded by some as the first rock and roll record. It was covered by Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
and the Blue Caps, The Louvin Brothers and The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
.
Rabon died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
in 1952. Following Rabon's death, Alton suffered a heart attack, the loss of his father and his daughter Susan, all within a three-year period. He moved back in Huntsville, Alabama. He taught some guitar, did odd jobs, and devoted his creative energies to writing prose. He wrote a series of short stories and his autobiography, Truth is Stranger than Publicity, published posthumously in the 1970s.
Over the course of their careers, the Delmores wrote more than one thousand songs. Some of the most popular were Brown’s Ferry Blues, Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar and Fifteen Miles from Birmingham.
Legacy
The Delmore Brothers were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of FameAlabama Music Hall of Fame
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, first conceived by the Muscle Shoals Music Association in the early 1980s, was created by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board, which then saw to its Phase One construction of a after a state-wide referendum in 1987...
in 1989 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Their pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
was quoted in the Chicago Tribune, on November 10, 1985 as saying "The Delmore Brothers, God, I really loved them! I think they've influenced every harmony I've ever tried to sing."
Partial discography
- 1957: Sacred Songs (King Records)
- 1964: In Memory (King)
- 1964: In Memory, Vol. 2 (King)
- 1966: Wonderful Sacred Songs (King)
- 1984: When They Let the Hammer Fall (Bear FamilyBear Family RecordsBear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.-History:...
) - 2003: Classic Cuts: 1933-1941 (JSP)
- 2005: Fifty Miles to Travel (Ace)
- 2007: The Delmore Brothers, Vol. 2: The Later Years 1933-1952 (JSP)
- 2008: Blues Stay Away from Me (Jasmine)
- 2008: Classic Cuts, Vol. 3: More from the 1930's Plus (JSP)
Awards
- Citation of Achievement from Broadcast Music Inc. presented to Alton Delmore for "Beautiful Brown Eyes", 1951.
- Induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1971
- Induction into the Alabama Country Music Hall of Fame, 1987
- Induction into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, 1989
- Independent Country Music Association-Germany, Induction into the Hall of Fame. 2000
- Independent Country Music Association-Germany, Artists of the 20th Century, 2000
- Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, October 4, 2001
- National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences "Blues Stay Away From Me", Delmore Brothers, King, 1949, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, January 2007