Liner Notes

The road to his present fame and fortune hasn't been an easy one for Red. "I've been in and out of the business since I was a kid", he grins, "but I don't count that... I began to entertain professionally in September of 1948"

Red was born near Charleston, West Virginia. " I believe it was called Sugar Creek," he smiles, "and although we lived on a farm, my daddy's main job was as a steam operator and as an engineer at a couple of Charleston hotels. "During the depression", he recalls, "we would have had it a whole lot rougher, however, if it hadn't been for the farm. We had a cow, and we raised most of our food. I can remember standing in line outside a box car to get flour and I can remember how, when they'd give it to us, there was a big red cross on the sack, and going home, we'd always hold that side next to us so nobody could see it".

In spite of the hard times, Red's childhood was a happy one, especially when his daddy gave him a $12 guitar. "There was a boy around home," Red tells, "who was pretty advanced in playing guitar, (at least I thought so then), and he would come down to the house and show me chords."

During the time he was learning to master the guitar, young Red began to sing harmony with Johnny Bailes. "This was before there was any Baile Brothers," he recalls, "and we used to sing in church and around the neighborhood."

One day, after the two boys were grown, Red who was employed as an elevator operator, was surprised to see his buddy, Johnny Bailes, walk in during working hours. "I've been fired," Johnny told him, "and I'm going up to the radio station to see Buddy Starcher about a job...better come with me!" Not needing any further persuasion, Red called the superintendent of the building to "come get his elevator". Although Budd Starcher was unable to hire the two boys, he did tell them that the Holden Brothers were leaving Jim Pike and the Carolina Tar Heels. Red and Johnny auditioned and were both hired. "We were just eighteen," Red recalls"and nobody was on salary. On our first show date we got twenty-five cents a piece!"

The band, which was the featured on the "Old Farm Hour Show," at Radio Station WCHS in Charleston, soon moved to WWVA in Wheeling, where they were featured on the Jamboree. "Those were hard days in the business," Red tells, "because few people had records out and you would have to depend on your radio program to draw the crowds."

In 1947, Red formed his own band, "The Echo Valley Boys" and they appeared regularily on Radio Station KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Then, in June 1949, the big break came for Red, as he took over Hank Williams place on the Louisiana Hayride, where he starred until 1954 when he followed Hank's footsteps to Nashville, Tennessee and the Grand Old Opry.