Real name: Floyd Rasmussen

Born: 1914
Died: 1978

'Ole' was born Floyd Rasmussen in Nebraska in 1914, a farm boy. It's unclear when Rasmussen first relocated to the West Coast but he seems to have arrived during the 1930s if not before and been leading a band by the early 1940s. That first group, billed as the Nebraska Cornhuskers just as later versions would be, was an 'old time' band, a corny dance band that only gradually evolved into a western swing group, a process that began at war's end as a western swing craze gripped the area musical scene. Actually the original group was Ole's NebraskanCornhuskers.
Rasmussen made his first recordings in about 1945 for the obscure LaMarr's Star label, apparently owned by an aspiring songwriter named Baline LaMarr. Three sides are known to have been issued (the flip of one was by western swing singer and steel guitarist Les Anderson) and they were a far cry in quality and style from the sound the band would attain by the end of the decade