Johnny Bennett Ernest Bevins Dave "Pistol Pete" Cutrell H.C. Hackney Paul Harrison U.E. Moore Guy Messecar Marie Mitchell Frank Sherrill J.E. Mainer
Otto Gray and the Oklahoma Cowboys
Origin
Ripley, Oklahoma, USA
Genres
Western
Years active
c. 1926 – c. 1937
Labels
Vocalion Gennett Melotone
Past members
Lee "Zeke" Allen Wade "Hy" Allen Bill Crane "Booger" Fields Whitey Ford[1] Florence "Mommie" Gray Owen "Zeb" Gray Polly Jenkins[2] "Chief" Sanders Rube Tronson Fred Wilson *NOTE: Zeke Clements played with another band, Ken Hackley's Oklahoma Cowboys
Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys were the first nationally famous cowboy western music band[3] in the United States, and the first cowboy band to appear on the cover of Billboard (June 6, 1931).[4]
Formed in Ripley, Oklahoma in the early 1920s, the band was first known as McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, for the leader, Billy McGinty, a well-known cowboy, former Rough Rider, and world champion rider with Buffalo Bill's show.
The band members were authentic cowboys from ranches in and around Ripley. Their first promoter, George Youngblood, introduced them saying, "I wish to say of this bunch of cowboys that they are not only good fiddlers, but can ride or rope anything that has horns, hide or hair." After McGinty left to become the postmaster of Ripley, Otto Gray (1884–1967), took over as bandleader as well as manager. With the extensive traveling generated from their popularity, the original band members dropped out to stay with their jobs and families. Gray filled their places with professional musicians willing to spend most of their time on the road.
Playing on the vaudeville circuits in the Midwest and Northeast, and nationwide over some 130 radio stations, they played the first cowboy music most Americans outside of the West had ever heard.
One of their most popular tunes was "Midnight Special", performed by member Dave "Pistol Pete" Cutrell;[5] Cutrell's "Pistol Pete's Midnight Special" with McGinty's band was also the first version of "Midnight Special" ever recorded.[6]
The band lasted until the early 1930s when economic situations led them to disband.
^Wolfe, Women of Country Music, p. 3: "Traveling with Gray at the same time was Benjamin Francis "Whitey" Ford, who later became famous to radio audiences as the Duke of Paducah."
^Wolfe, Women of Country Music, p. 3: "In addition to traveling just with her own band, Polly worked with other acts during the 1930s. Among these were Otto Gray and His Oklahoma Cowboys, ..."
^Shirley, "Daddy of The Cowboy Bands", p. 6: "Otto Gray, who put the first all-string cowboy band on stage, radio and records, is the acknowledged 'daddy of 'em all.'"
^Chlouber, "Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys", p. 371: "Otto Gray and his Oklahoma cowboys appeared on the cover of Billboard on June 6, 1931, the first country or western band to be featured on the magazine's cover."
^McRill, "Music in Oklahoma by the Billy McGinty Cowboy Band", p. 70: "His special song which was called for every time he appeared on any program was entitled 'The Midnight Special'."
^Cohen, Long Steel Rail, p 479:"The first commercial recording of 'The Midnight Special' was made in 1926 by Dave Cutrell, with McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, for OKeh Label; ..."
and 22 Related for: Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys information
McGinty's OklahomaCowboy Band, a Dixieland jazz group, as a banjo player. The group later changed its name to OttoGrayandhisOklahomaCowboysand appeared...
famous of the cowboy ballads, "Home on the Range", followed the frontier into Oklahoma where he died in 1911. OttoGrayandhisOklahomaCowboys were the first...
George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the group is often considered the most influential band of the rock era. While active between 1960 and 1970, the group...
born near Empire, Alabama. In 1928, his career began when he joined OttoGrayandhisOklahomaCowboys touring show and was signed to the National Barn Dance...
Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes...
County Cowboys who had threatened to kill the Earps. She wrote that Holliday asked her to remain in Tucson for her safety, but she refused, and traveled...
door and before he could react, a large number of cowboys were pointing their guns at him. In another version, there were only three to five cowboys. In...
Cochise County Cowboys. While Wyatt is often depicted as the key figure in the shootout, his brother Virgil was both Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone City...
93, college basketball player and coach (Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers, Eastern Kentucky Colonels, Oklahoma State Cowboys) (b. 1930) Mark Wells, 66, ice...
same time, Horn also suspected another cowboy named Isom Dart of rustling. Dart was one of Rash's fellow cowboys but was believed to have previously worked...
advice; BP opened its own Microshop, to circumvent the cowboys, and assist with technical jargon, and connecting devices; due to warp-drive technical obsolescence...
McDonald Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette United States Singing cowboy Western The Gay Caballero Otto Brower Cesar Romero, Chris-Pin Martin, Sheila Ryan United...
1960s. List of Western television series "Elusive Avengers (1966) - Edmond Keosayan | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie"....
Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica Gray, John S. (1988). Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. "Virtual Online Steamboat...
University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 6, 7. ISBN 0-8061-2418-0. Riley, Glenda (1994). The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 11...
28, 2017). "Cowboys, QB Luke McCown agree to one-year deal". NFL.com. Retrieved July 28, 2017. Phillips, Rob (September 2, 2017). "Cowboys Make 38 Moves...
miniseries telling the story of Miep Gies and how she helped her Jewish employer Otto Frank, his family, and other Jewish refugees go into hiding during...
and half of the Sunset Strip Killers, dies of natural causes Phyllis Coates Dies: TV's Original Lois Lane Was 96 Oklahoma State, Dallas Cowboys, and American...
Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1990, he received the French Legion of Honor...
for the Dallas Cowboys James Lofton (1978), retired wide receiver in the National Football League; played for the Green Bay Packers and the Los Angeles...