Biography
Jimmy Prince And His All-Stars
Western Swing band from Houston
Members:
Engineer: Bill Holford
Fiddle, Harmony Vocals: Marvin R. "Dickie" Jones
Steel Guitar: Bob Dunn
Guitar, Lead Vocals: Aubrey "Red" Greenhaw
Bass: Russell "Hezzie" Bryant
An underrated and under-recorded fiddler who may have sacrificed a wider reputation by remaining in Houston for most of his career, Dickie Jones was born in Throckmorton, Texas in 1916 and began his career with Billy's Melody Five in Wichita Falls, Texas in the mid-1930's. Jones was a guitarist until he heard Cliff Bruner play at a fiddler's contest in Breckenridge, Texas, in about 1933-34 and, after switching over to fiddle, later replaced bruner for a time with the Texas Wanderers. He made his first recordings - alongside Bruner - with the Wanderers in December 1937, then traveled with the group (this time without Bruner) to Hot Springs, Arkansas. He left the band there and formed his own Swinging Strings, then returned to Texas in 1939 to join the Port Arthur Jubileers. He recorded with the Jubileers in 1940, then went to Houston - for good, it would turn out - to join Dickie McBride's Village Boys. He recorded with the Village Boys for both Decca and Bluebird during 1941 and, following war service, returned to McBride. He formed the Skyliners in 1946, by which time he had developed a distinctive fiddle style, heavy influenced by jazz fiddler Stuff Smith and occasionally mannered, but always inventive and swinging.
A very heavily jazz-minded group in an era when such were not only acceptable in country dance halls but widely popular, the Skyliners packed Houston's Auto-Tel Blue Room nightly for several years before the bottom fell out of the swing scene. Unfortunately, because the local recording scene and was still nascent, the band recorded very little, apparently managing only a single issue on the short-lived Cireco label, the original version of "Jole Blon Likes The Boogie," later covered by Bob Wills.
The hip, uncompromising instrumental "Diggin" was apparently cut as a rehearsal warm up at the Cireco session. Written by guitarist Cameron Hill, the former Village Boy and recently of Bob Wills' band, the song was later cut by Spade Cooley as "Diggin' With Spade," with Hill and another Houston scene alumnus Jimmy Wyble, on lead guitar. "Diggin" shows the Skyliners to have far more in common with the Benny Goodman Sextets than with local western groups like the Bar X Cowboys. Somewhat reminiscent of jazz man Sir Charles Thompson's 1945 recording, "Taking Off," it features full-chorus solos from a choice front line, all of whom were sadly under-recorded in their careers: Jones himself, Hill (who was usually in the shadow of Jimmy Wyble), the fine, well-traveled pianist Mancey Tierney, and saxophonist George Ogg, an excellent jazz man who worked with quite a few western swing groups over the years. Bassist Hezzie Bryant was a prolific western swing veteran, while drummer Rusty Alfred had worked mostly with jazz bands, including Houston jazz piano legend Peck Kelley.
In time, as honky-tonk edged out western swing on recording and in the local clubs, Jones went to a more mainstream lineup and sound, though still far more sophisticated than other groups, featuring steel guitar legend Bob Dunn, who had worked with Jones, off-and-on, since 1937. In 1950, just before he gave up his own group to combine with Dickie and Laura Lee McBride to form the Ranch Hands, Jones recorded a couple of sides for Hansell M. Crowe's short-lived Lucky 7 label, inexplicably using the pseudonym Jimmy Prince And His All-Stars. "Live And Let Live" was a Wiley & Gene hit a decade before and Jones and company gave it a pretty straightforward treatment. Guitarist Red Hreenhaw, a reluctant vocalist, sings here, seconded by Jones, who also takes a characteristically agile (and unmistakable) fiddle solo. Dunn, making one of his last appearances on record, solos twice, the first in the horn-like single-string style he had pioneered in the 1930's, the second in a less adventurous chord-dominated style that, if nothing else, shows that he, like virtually ever other steel player of the day, was experimenting with new tunings.
Jones also recorded for Macy's, as both a leader and sideman, and backed singer Bill Potter on a single Shamrock release. After working with the Ranch Hands, Jones continued to work part-time after becoming a golf pro in nearby Cypress, Texas. He was still playing weekends, leading a consistently excellent band (including George Ogg) well into the 1980's
Members:
Engineer: Bill Holford
Fiddle, Harmony Vocals: Marvin R. "Dickie" Jones
Steel Guitar: Bob Dunn
Guitar, Lead Vocals: Aubrey "Red" Greenhaw
Bass: Russell "Hezzie" Bryant
An underrated and under-recorded fiddler who may have sacrificed a wider reputation by remaining in Houston for most of his career, Dickie Jones was born in Throckmorton, Texas in 1916 and began his career with Billy's Melody Five in Wichita Falls, Texas in the mid-1930's. Jones was a guitarist until he heard Cliff Bruner play at a fiddler's contest in Breckenridge, Texas, in about 1933-34 and, after switching over to fiddle, later replaced bruner for a time with the Texas Wanderers. He made his first recordings - alongside Bruner - with the Wanderers in December 1937, then traveled with the group (this time without Bruner) to Hot Springs, Arkansas. He left the band there and formed his own Swinging Strings, then returned to Texas in 1939 to join the Port Arthur Jubileers. He recorded with the Jubileers in 1940, then went to Houston - for good, it would turn out - to join Dickie McBride's Village Boys. He recorded with the Village Boys for both Decca and Bluebird during 1941 and, following war service, returned to McBride. He formed the Skyliners in 1946, by which time he had developed a distinctive fiddle style, heavy influenced by jazz fiddler Stuff Smith and occasionally mannered, but always inventive and swinging.
A very heavily jazz-minded group in an era when such were not only acceptable in country dance halls but widely popular, the Skyliners packed Houston's Auto-Tel Blue Room nightly for several years before the bottom fell out of the swing scene. Unfortunately, because the local recording scene and was still nascent, the band recorded very little, apparently managing only a single issue on the short-lived Cireco label, the original version of "Jole Blon Likes The Boogie," later covered by Bob Wills.
The hip, uncompromising instrumental "Diggin" was apparently cut as a rehearsal warm up at the Cireco session. Written by guitarist Cameron Hill, the former Village Boy and recently of Bob Wills' band, the song was later cut by Spade Cooley as "Diggin' With Spade," with Hill and another Houston scene alumnus Jimmy Wyble, on lead guitar. "Diggin" shows the Skyliners to have far more in common with the Benny Goodman Sextets than with local western groups like the Bar X Cowboys. Somewhat reminiscent of jazz man Sir Charles Thompson's 1945 recording, "Taking Off," it features full-chorus solos from a choice front line, all of whom were sadly under-recorded in their careers: Jones himself, Hill (who was usually in the shadow of Jimmy Wyble), the fine, well-traveled pianist Mancey Tierney, and saxophonist George Ogg, an excellent jazz man who worked with quite a few western swing groups over the years. Bassist Hezzie Bryant was a prolific western swing veteran, while drummer Rusty Alfred had worked mostly with jazz bands, including Houston jazz piano legend Peck Kelley.
In time, as honky-tonk edged out western swing on recording and in the local clubs, Jones went to a more mainstream lineup and sound, though still far more sophisticated than other groups, featuring steel guitar legend Bob Dunn, who had worked with Jones, off-and-on, since 1937. In 1950, just before he gave up his own group to combine with Dickie and Laura Lee McBride to form the Ranch Hands, Jones recorded a couple of sides for Hansell M. Crowe's short-lived Lucky 7 label, inexplicably using the pseudonym Jimmy Prince And His All-Stars. "Live And Let Live" was a Wiley & Gene hit a decade before and Jones and company gave it a pretty straightforward treatment. Guitarist Red Hreenhaw, a reluctant vocalist, sings here, seconded by Jones, who also takes a characteristically agile (and unmistakable) fiddle solo. Dunn, making one of his last appearances on record, solos twice, the first in the horn-like single-string style he had pioneered in the 1930's, the second in a less adventurous chord-dominated style that, if nothing else, shows that he, like virtually ever other steel player of the day, was experimenting with new tunings.
Jones also recorded for Macy's, as both a leader and sideman, and backed singer Bill Potter on a single Shamrock release. After working with the Ranch Hands, Jones continued to work part-time after becoming a golf pro in nearby Cypress, Texas. He was still playing weekends, leading a consistently excellent band (including George Ogg) well into the 1980's