… Louisiana Hayride. KWKH Radio Station. The creators of the show took the name from the 1941 book with that title by Harnett Thomas Kane. The Hayride is credited with introducing the world to Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and so many others. In April 1948, the management of KWKH decided to bring back Saturday Night Roundup, a country music show, and renamed it Louisiana Hayride. Unidentified. DATELINE, TK — For more than two decades, the Louisiana Hayride radio show was a Saturday night staple for music lovers. [5] However, KWKH continued to use the Louisiana Hayride name for packaged music tours throughout the 1960s on a bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, finally ending operations entirely in 1969. This led to the institution launching some artists that otherwise may have never had a chance without the opportunity the show presented. [2] The musical cast for the inaugural broadcast included: the Bailes Brothers, Johnnie and Jack, the Tennessee Mountain Boys with Kitty Wells, the Four Deacons, Curley Kinsey and the Tennessee Ridge Runners, Harmie Smith, the Ozark Mountaineers, the Mercy Brothers, and Tex Grimsley and the Texas Showboys.[2]. Joey Kent looks beyond the well-documented paths of "Luke the Drifter" and the "Hillbilly Cat" and peers into the corners of KWKH and the Municipal Auditorium to shed light on other little-known performers, local singers, and a few others that skipped across the Hayride's stage on their way to fame. The immediate and enormous demand for more of Presley's new kind of rockabilly music actually resulted in a sharp decline in the popularity of the Louisiana Hayride that until that point had been strictly a country music venue. The U.S. Customs Department had seized some 520 copies of the book several weeks earlier as the book entered the U.S. from England, where it had been printed. https://www.rollingstone.com/country/premieres/hank-williams-jambalaya-hear-rare-live-version-w508444, http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/entertainment/2018/01/24/centenary-archivist-contributes-hayride-compilation/1061683001/, http://findingaids.loc.gov/db/search/xq/searchMfer02.xq?_id=loc.mbrsrs.eadmbrs.rs010002&_faSection=overview&_faSubsection=did&_dmdid=, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louisiana_Hayride&oldid=1002743175, Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 January 2021, at 21:25. The Louisiana Hayride was the brainchild of Horace Lee Logan, who first became a radio host on Shreveport’s KWKH-AM in 1932 at the age of 16. Yet even many committed country fans are unfamiliar with a program that, during its 1950s heyday, eclipsed even the Opry in terms of its impact on country music itself. The Louisiana Hayride was on each Saturday night from Shreveport, Louisiana on radio station KWKH. After all, Elvis had come to Shreveport over 40 times before to perform on the Hayride’s Saturday night program on KWKH radio. Even the most ardent non-fans of country music can probably name the weekly live show and radio program that is regarded as country music’s biggest stage: the Grand Ole Opry, out of Nashville, Tennessee. From its premiere on April 3, 1948 to its final weekly show in 1960, The Lousiana Hayride, out of Shreveport, Louisiana, launched the careers not only of several country-music giants, but also of a young, genre-crossing singer named Elvis Presley, the future King of Rock and Roll. The Louisiana Hayride was the brainchild of Horace Lee Logan, who first became a radio host on Shreveport’s KWKH-AM in 1932 at the age of 16. Nobody knew then that Elvis would never again return to Shreveport, and, in fact, would only perform on stage one more time in the entire … When KWKH started the Louisiana Hayride in 1948, they all returned to Shreveport. The musical cast for the inaugural broadcast included: the Bailes Brothers, Johnnie and Jack, the Tennessee Mountain Boys with Kitty Wells, the Four Deacons, Curley Kinsey and the Tennessee Ridge Runners, Harmie Smith, the Ozark Mountaineers, the Mercy Brothers, and Tex Grimsle… After Lee made a desperate attack against Fort Stedman ...read more, Because it lacked sufficient funds to build a strong navy, the Continental Congress gives privateers permission to attack any and all British ships on April 3, 1776. An interesting footnote to the story of The Louisiana Hayride involves the origin of a famous Elvis-related phrase. On October 16 of that year, Elvis Presley appeared on the radio program. Within a few years, rock and roll had come to dominate the music scene, and on August 27, 1960, Louisiana Hayride ended its primary run. [10][11], Country music show originating in Shreveport, Louisiana. Against the backdrop of Shreveport’s colorful history the author analyzes the unique combination of Shreveport’s regional character, KWKH radio, and the country music “barn dance.”. Broadcast by Shreveport, Louisiana’s KWKH-AM from 1948-1960, Hayride stood as the chief rival to the now better-known Grand Ole Opry. The result is a new coffee table book -- "Cradle of the Stars, KWKH & The Louisiana Hayride.'' [2] The flagship station of the program was KWKH/1130 in Shreveport. On this day in 1948, President Harry S. Truman signs the Economic Assistance Act, which authorized the creation of a program that would help the nations of Europe recover and rebuild after the devastation wrought by World War II. … It was a very popular regional radio station, best known for The … Detective magazines and pulp novels ...read more, The Rebel capital of Richmond, Virginia, falls to the Union, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days. Henderson, and the legendary performances of the Louisiana Hayride program, which was broadcast live on KWKH radio from the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. [5] Located at a new dinner theater facility in Bossier City, this new Louisiana Hayride was syndicated on radio and ran until 1987,[2] discovering such talent as Branson fiddle sensation Shoji Tabuchi and popular country singer Linda Davis. The contract is for the term of one year, beginning on November 12, 1955 and was executed on September 8th, 1955 and is four pages in length. By mid-1954, a special 30-minute portion of Louisiana Hayride was being broadcast every Saturday on the AFN Pacific channel of the United Kingdom Scottish Forces Radio Network. Barney Cannon (1955–2009), a KWKH deejay, became a specialist on the history of country music, KWKH, and the Hayride. They said he was quite talented at an early age, having played … Horace Logan continued to produce Louisiana Hayride until 1957. The show was soon made into a Broadway attraction called Louisiana Hayride. KWKH & The Louisiana Hayride. For ten months, General Ulysses S. Grant had tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate the city. In a bill signed by John Hancock, its president, and dated April 3, 1776, the Continental Congress issued ...read more. She gained notice in the 1950s, singing for several years on the legendary KWKH Louisiana Hayride. On March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of the famous American aviator who made the first solo, nonstop transatlantic ...read more, On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Early years of Shreveport radio Radio and the Louisiana Hayride are in Kent's blood. The station, founded in 1925, already had experience broadcasting regionally successful country music programs. On Saturday, April 3, 1948, the “Louisiana Hayride,” America’s newest live country radio show, debuted over KWKH in Shreveport. T he Louisiana Hayride was a radio barn dance broadcast from Shreveport’s Municipal Auditorium between 1948 and 1960. [2] In 1999, Logan published a book about the Hayride that received acclaim from reviewers such as Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Presley's performance of his debut release on the Sun Records label, "That's All Right", brought a tepid response, according to former Hayride emcee Frank Page (1925-2013). Hank Williams Jr. was born in Shreveport on May 26, 1949, during his father's stint on the Hayride. ...read more. A live recording of Jambalaya (On the Bayou), by Hank Williams, is included in the set. The release includes a book on the Hayride's history. Louisiana Hayride was aired on KWKH, a radio station featuring hillbilly music. Here are rare transcriptions from the original headliners of the Louisiana Hayride radio show, Johnnie, Jack, and Jack's wife, the illustrious Kitty Wells. The call letters of the station, KWKH, and a Louisiana Hayride banner stretched across the scene. Scotty Moore and Bill Black were in western shirts. Scotty Moore and Bill Black were in western shirts. Fully executed "Louisiana Hayride" contract signed by Gladys, Vernon and Elvis Presley in bold red ink and H.L. Logan, representing radio station KWKH, in blue ink. Centenary archivist contributes to Hayride compilation. Joey is also the author of “Elvis: The Louisiana Hayride Years”. The call letters of the station, KWKH, and a Louisiana Hayride banner stretched across the scene. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Around 1947 or so, the family moved to Eloy, Arizona. Author This image-laden, entertaining chronology of the Louisiana Hayride radio and stage show is written by the historian and archivist for the venue. Courtesy of Noel Memorial Library- Louisiana State University in Shreveport. Hank Williams began performing on the Hayride in 1948 after his initial rejection from the Grand Ole Opry. Music of Elvis Presley appeared on KWKH, a radio station KWKH, and shoes. For ten months, general Ulysses S. Grant had tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate the city an interesting to... 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