ROOTS of Country Music
Antioch, TN 37013
Obscure Artists
Page Index:
I. Obscure Male Artists
II. Obscure Female Artists
Though this site is dedicated to the work of popular country music singers, from time to time, we feature the obscure artists of the past. Hopefully, you will find an artist here that you had forgotten or maybe one you're discovering for the first time. Following are a few artists that might pique your interest.
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I. Obscure Male Artists
Bobby Borchers
(born Jun. 19, 1952)
Cheap Perfume And Candlelight: The Bobby Borchers Story
Cincinnati, Ohio’s Bobby Borchers was more than a one-hit wonder, as he appeared on the country top-40, eight times between 1976 and 1979. First tasting success as a songwriter, thanks to Tanya Tucker, Borchers made his first country top-40 appearance in the spring of 1976 with Someone’s With Your Wife Tonight, Mister.
Borchers, who grew up in Kentucky, recorded for the Playboy Records label in the mid-1970s, where he attained his biggest chart success. Borchers released two albums (LP) for the label; Bobby Borchers in 1977 and Denim and Rhinestones a year later.
Denim and Rhinestones contained material laidback in tempo garnished with steel guitar, guitars, string arrangement and accompanying background vocals. A songwriter as well as a vocalist, Borchers penned or co-wrote five of the 10 tunes offered, with additional tunes contributed by Rory Bourke and Sterling Whipple.
Borchers found success hitting the top-20 five times, beginning with 1977′s Whispers, along with What A Way To Go (1977), I Promised Her A Rainbow (1978) and Sweet Fantasy (1978). One additional track not only made it into the top-20, but also the top-10, as well, becoming his biggest hit.
Cheap Perfume And Candlelight made it’s debut at the end of May, 1977, on the Playboy label and peaked at No. 7 during the summer, making it Borchers' biggest chart song. The song is a catchy up tempo track with a country-pop in sound.
Bobby Borchers wrote hit songs for Tanya Tucker (Texas, When I Die and Jamestown Ferry) and Barbie Benton sang his song Brass Buckles on a TV episode of the series McCloud starring Dennis Weaver. In 1977 Bobby was on several episodes of Pop! Goes the Country.
In 1978, Mr. Borchers moved to Epic Records, where he released three singles; Sweet Fantasy, Wishing I Had Listened to Your Song and I Just Wanna Feel the Magic.
During the early 1980's Urban Cowboy craze, Bobby Borchers owned the Longhorn Ballroom restaurant in Fort Wright, Kentucky.
In 1987, he issued two singles on Longhorn Records; It Was Love What It Was and (I Remember When I Thought) Whiskey Was a River.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Glen Sherley
(Mar. 9, 1936 ~ May 11, 1978)
Glen Milborn Sherley was a country singer-songwriter, who famously penned Greystone Chapel, which was made famous by Johnny Cash, when Cash performed the song live at Folsom Prison.
Glen Sherley was one of the great success stories, and one of the most tragic figures in country music of the 1970s, with a career that lasted less than a decade.
A convict at Vacaville, California (CA) and formerly a resident of criminal justice institutions in Chino, Solidad, San Quentin and Folsom,
(L-R) Henry Strzelecki (Bass), Chip Young (Rhythm Guitar), Jim Malloy (Producer), Glen Sherley (prisoner, songwriter), Jerry Carrigan (Drums), Lloyd Green (Steel Guitar), Bobby Thompson (Guitar & Banjo).
Sherley began writing songs in the 1960s and sent a tape of Greystone Chapel, which was in reference to the chapel within Folsom Prison, to Johnny Cash.
It was while incarcerated at Folsom that Sherley saw Johnny Cash perform Greystone Chapel and that heralded his career as a songwriter.
On January 12, 1968 a copy of this recording made its way into the hands of Johnny Cash by way of a Folsom minister, who was a friend of Cash, the night before he was due to appear in concert at Folsom.
Sherley next big step came when Eddy Arnold recorded a Sherley song, Portrait Of My Woman, which became a single and the title track of Arnold's next album. This led to a live recording of Glen Shirley, done in cooperation with the California prison authorities on Jan. 31, 1971, which was released by Mega Records. The album was successful enough to get Sherley a contract with House of Cash.
Throughout the late 1970s Sherley struggled to cope with stardom and he quickly faded out of the lime light and into obscurity.
Sherley was estranged from his family, probably due to his extended stays in various prisons. Sherley ended up working for a large cattle company, feeding 10,000 cattle a day. He lived in the cab of a semi truck and tried to stay out of the public eye.
On May 11, 1978, Sherley died from a self-inflicted gunshot at his brother's home near Salinas, California.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kenny O'Dell
Best known for writing the country landmark Behind Closed Doors, Kenny O'Dell also enjoyed some success on the pop charts as a solo performer.
Born Kenny Gist, Jr. in Antlers, Oklahoma, in 1946, he was raised in Santa Maria, California, scoring his first regional hit in 1963 with Old Time Love. After a stint with the band Guys & Dolls, O'Dell in 1967 signed as a solo act to the White Whale label's Vegas subsidiary, releasing his debut album (LP), Beautiful People, a top-40 hit.
The follow-up single, Springfield Plane, cracked the Hot 100 and in 1968 O'Dell's composition Next Plane to London found its way to folk-rockers the Rose Garden via Pat Pipolo, his cousin and the group's co-producer. The result was a top-20 hit and O'Dell also contributed the Rose Garden's second single, If My World Falls Through.
After Vegas folded, he moved to White Whale for several little-noticed singles, including No Obligations and Groovy Relationship. With the label's demise imminent, in 1970 O'Dell relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to head Bobby Goldsboro's publishing firm House of Gold.
After authoring a handful of minor hits including Sandy Posey's Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Love, O'Dell scored his commercial breakthrough with I Take It on Home, a top-10 country hit for Charlie Rich in 1972. The following year, Rich cut his superlative Behind Closed Doors, which not only topped the country charts during its 40-week run but also cracked the pop top-20 on its way to winning the Grammy for Best Country Song. The attendant publicity earned O'Dell a solo deal with Capricorn, highlighted by the 1975 top-40 hit My Honky Tonk Ways and 1978's top-10 entry Let's Shake Hands and Come Out Lovin'.
Also in 1975, he and Larry Henley collaborated on Tanya Tucker's chart-topping Lizzie and the Rain Man. O'Dell was a Grammy nominee again in 1986 for the Judds' smash Mama He's Crazy. A decade later, Odell was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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II. Obscure Female Artists
Barbara Allen
Virginia native, Barbara Allen started singing when she was in high school and after she graduated, she began making personal appearances in her local area. Allen signed a recording contract with Decca and soon she was in Nashville touring with the stars of the Grand Ole Opry (1957).
Her first record on Decca was Between Now And Then. In 1958, Billboard magazine cited Barbara as one the three most promising female singers. In 1959, Barbara joined the WRVA (Richmond, Virginia) show, then called the New Dominion Barn Dance. She made appearances at clubs in the Norfolk, Virginia area. Some of the acts she appeared with included George Morgan, Anita Carter, Hank Garland and the Everly Brothers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Beverly Buff
Beverly Buff was born in Washington, Georgia. Buff tried to break into country music in 1962 while under contract with Bethlehem Records. For her effort, she had two top-40 singles, I'll Sign (No. 22, 1962) and Forgive Me (No. 23, 1963), then she vanished from the charts.
The lovely singer was booked by the Ted Moore Agency in Atlanta, Georgia.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Barbi Benton
(b. Jan. 28, 1950)
Barbi is a model, actress and singer. She became famous for being the girlfriend of Playboy founder and publisher Hugh Hefner. Barbi is often misperceived as having been a Playboy Playmate since she was featured on the Playboy cover several times. Benton was Hefner's girlfriend and lived with him from 1969-1976. She also became a movie actress, with credits including Death Stalker, The Naughty Cheerleader and Hospital Massacre.
Although none of the films were particular box office successes, they enjoy a cult status among fans of B-movies. Besides the Hefner connection, Benton is best known for her years as a regular on the country music series Hee Haw as a scantily clad country cutie trading gags and appearing in comic skits with other regulars.
Benton left the program after four seasons to concentrate on a more Hollywood-oriented career. She also starred in the short-lived ABC-TV comedy series Sugar Time! about an aspiring female rock group in 1977. Benton was also a recording artist with some minor success. Her 1975 record, Brass Buckles, was a top-5 hit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Becky Barfield
Back Row (L-R) Unknown, Becky Barfield, Unknown, Unknown
Front Row (L-R) Roy Rogers, Ginny Jackson, Spade Cooley
Becky Barfield was a native of Abbottstown, Pennsylvania (PA) and later her family moved to Hanover, PA. Becky started performing over radio station WFMD in Frederick, Maryland as a piano player. About a year later she played accordion with a group called The South Mountain Rangers, who later went to radio station WCHS (Charleston, West Virginia). While she was at WCHS, she made a few appearances with Cowboy Jack Hunt and his Rhythm Ranch Hands. Later, Becky spent time as part of Cousin Wilbur and his Tennessee Mountaineers, who were former stars of the Grand Ole Opry.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bobbi Staff
Bobbi Staff recorded a few good pop/country songs in the second half of the 1960s. Her real name is Barbara Grindstaff. Bobbi Staff was born in Kingston, North carolina (NC) in 1946 and grew up Forest City, NC.
Though she is labeled a country singer and had a minor C&W hit, her songs were not strictly country but more general Nashville pop music.
Bobbi Staff appeared on Arthur Smith's talent show while in the third grade and she made guest performances on the the MidWestern Hayride during her teenager years. She toured Europe with the U.S.O. in 1958.
Later she performed for 'my' queen Juliana and President LBJ in 1963. Bobbi Staff was a regular at George Hamilton IV's shows.
Bobbi Staff broke into the country music top-40 with just one single, Chicken Feed (No. 31, 1966). She was married to Jerry Whitehurst, who played piano on Hee Haw and on Ralph Emery's TV show, Nashville Now.
Staff stopped recording and performing around 1969 when she became pregnant with her daughter. Bibbi Staff resides in Nashville, Tennessee. She has two children, a daughter and a son.
Bobbi Staff divorced Jerry Whitehurst in the late 70 – early 80’s and she never remarried.
Listen to Chicken Feed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bonnie Lou
(Nov. 27, 1924)
Two big influences in the career of Bonnie Lou were her grandmother and a guitar from a pawn shop. Early on, she was taking violin lessons paid for by her mother and stayed with it for about five years. When she was eleven though, she decided she wanted to take up the guitar. Her mother purchased her a guitar and Bonnie Lou started singing and yodeling over radio station WJBC in Bloomington, Illinois (IL) where she stayed until she graduated from high school.
From there, she moved on to KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri, appearing with the Rhythm Rangers and on such shows as the KMBC Brush Creek Follies. She stayed with that group for about two years, which included working on a network show called Safe Brush Follies.
Around 1945, WLW's talent scout, Bill McCluskey was looking for a female who could sing and yodel. When he heard Bonnie Lou, he soon offered her a job. By May 1945, Bonnie Lou had moved to WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio and was starring on the WLW Midwestern Hayride.
That same year, Bonnie Lou married Glen Ewins, who had just returned from a four year stint in the military service. Bonnie Lou stayed with WLW for about a year. Her husband then got a position with a bank in Bloomington, IL. Later Bonnie Lou moved back to the town where her career started and achieved some fame on the WLW Midwestern Hayride.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dottsy
A minor leaguer who had a few respectable chart hits in the mid-'70s, Texas native Dottsy hitched a ride with Johnny Rodriguez's road show and after a half year or so touring with him, landed a contract with RCA. She had an okay voice, nothing earthshaking, but sincere and heartfelt, perhaps a little on the demure side. After Sweet Memories, Play Born to Lose Again (No. 10, 1977) was her biggest chart single.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Goldie Hill
(Jan. 11, 1933 -- Feb. 24, 2005)
Although she had some success in the early 1950s, honky-tonk heroine Hill sort of faded from sight by the end of the '60s. A real pity, because she was a great singer. Hill's biggest hit, I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes, is a gender-flipped answer to Slim Willet's Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes.
Hill recorded several duets with Justin Tubb. Hill was a robust, confident vocalist, who sounded a lot like Kitty Wells, or in softer moments, like Rose Maddox. She did many personal appearances with Webb Pierce and was a regular on WSM's Grand Ole Opry. Goldie married to Carl Smith in 1957.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jenny Lou Carson
(Jan. 13, 1915 -- Dec. 16, 1978)
Jenny Lou Carson was one of the most prolific songwriters in country music from 1945 to 1955. She began her professional music career in 1932, performing with her sisters Evelyn and Eva Alaine (AKA: Judy Martin) Overstake as the Three Little Maids on the National Barn Dance in Chicago (WLS). From 1938 to 1939 she recorded under the name Lucille Lee with the Sweet Violet Boys, also known as The Prairie Ramblers.
Overstake assumed the name Jenny Lou Carson in September 1939. Carson authored Jealous Heart for Tex Ritter (No. 2, 1944) and You Two-Timed Me Once Too Often, the first top country hit written by a woman, which stayed at No. 1 on the country chart for 11 weeks in 1945.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Judy Lynn
(Apr. 16, 1936 -- May 26, 2010)
Judy Lynn was a country music singer and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Idaho in 1955. As a teenager she joined a nationwide tour of Grand Ole Opry performers. She was hired to fill in for Jean Shepard, who had become ill during the tour. Hey biggest chart hit was Footsteps of a Fool (1962).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------June Stearns
A native of Alpha, Kentucky, June auditioned for The Midwestern Hayride on WLW TV Cincinnatti, Ohio and played some road shows with their group. She began her professional career touring with Roy Acuff, backing his USO band. 
Stearns' biggest chart hit was a duet with Johnny Duncan titled, Jackson Ain't a Very Big Town (1968).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kathy Barnes
Kathy Barnes was born in Henderson, Kentucky. Barnes sang in a duo with Gene Autry before going solo. She started her solo singing career in 1975 with this cute single only release, I'm Available (For You to Hold Me Tonight). She was signed to MGM Records at that time and tried her luck with country music.
In 1976, Ms. Barnes moved over to Gene Autry's Republic label, where she remained for the rest of her brief charted career, which dwindled at the end of 1977. Kathy Barnes' only top-40 single was Good 'N' Country, which was released on Republic in 1977.
After her brief stint with country music, she started making R&B style records.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------La Costa Tucker
Country singer, elder sister of Tanya Tucker. Worked in the band Country Westerners with Tanya '68-70. Following Tanya's success, La Costa signed with Capitol and had a top-3 country hit with her second release Get on My Love Train (No. 3, 191974) and the follow-up, He Took Me For A Ride (No. 10, 1975).
After her promising start, La Costa slowly crept down the ladder, first into the top-20, then the top-40 and finally into the back forty before Capitol dropped her at the decade's end. La Costa came back in 1982 with Love Take It Easy On Me, on the Elektra label. Her pleasant pop/country style was always overshadowed by Tanya.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------LaWanda Lindsey
(b. Jan. 12, 1953 in Tampa, Florida)
LaWanda began her career at age fourteen and had her first nationally charted record at age sixteen. She was one of several quite young artists recording country music for Chart Records during this period (1969 -- 1972). In 1973 she became a protégé of Buck Owens and began recording for Capitol Records (1973 -- 1974).
From 1977-1978 she was on Mercury Records, but with little output. From 1969 to 1978, Lindsey placed fourteen songs on the Billboard charts but only two of her songs; Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries (No. 27, 1970) and Hello Out There (No. 28, 1974) placed in the Billboard top-30.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lois Johnson
Career Highlights
Barn Dance Affiliate: WWVA Wheeling Jamboree
Billboard Chart Data
- No. 1 Singles: 0
- Top-10 Singles: 1
- Crossover Singles: 0
- Charted Singles: 20
- Years Active: 1969 – 1984
Billboard Top-20 Singles
- So Sad (To Watch Good Love go Bad) -1970
- Send Me Some Loving -1972
- Loving You Will Never Grow Old – 1974
- Your Pretty Roses Came too Late -1977
Lois Johnson is a country music singer from Maynardville, Tennessee, USA. She recorded for MGM, 20th Century and Polydor between 1969 and 1978 and charted twenty singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. Johnson’s highest chart peak was Loving You Will Never Grow Old, which reached number six in 1975.
Lois made regular appearances on the WWVA Wheeling (West, Virginia) Jamboree and toured with Hank Williams, Jr. between 1970 and 1973.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Louise Duncan
(B. Jun. 24, 1932)
Louise was a native of Waco, Texas. In 1949, she moved to Norwalk, California. With a desire to be a country music entertainer, she did all the usual things early on to attain that goal. She sang for friends and small social gatherings, but it wasn't until she turned twenty-four that Louise had begun to seriously pursue a professional career.
Her initial push was successful as she secured a recording contract with an independent record label. Capitol Records' country and western artist & repertoire man, Ken Nelson heard one of her early releases and signed Duncan to the label. Her first release with Capitol was Gossip b/w Wherever You Are I Love You.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Margie Bowes
(born, Mar. 18, 1941) 
During that year, she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry. It was with her third single, Poor Old Heartsick Me, that she hit the top-10 in 1959. The follow-up single, My Love and Little Me, peaked in the top-15. Margie released three further singles, none of which did very much.
(Jan. 8, 1914 ~ Mar. 9, 2004)
Ruby Wright was an American singer and songwriter, who was born in Anderson, Indiana, USA. She began singing with a trio of college girls in Lake Manitou, Indiana.
Though not very successful in the United States, Wright had two hits in the United Kingdom (UK).
The first, Bimbo rose to number 7 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1954 and in May 1959, her cover version of Three Stars reached number 19.
A CD of Wright's recordings, which contained a total of 27 songs, is entitled Ruby Wright Regular Girl (The King Recordings 1949-1959).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sunday Sharpe
Sunday (real name) Sharpe, who was born 1946 in Orlando, Florida is a country music singer. She charted seven times on the Hot Country Songs charts in the mid 1970s, reaching top-20 with I'm Having Your Baby (a female version of Paul Anka's (You're) Having My Baby) and A Little at a Time.
Sunday Sharpe also released one album, I'm Having Your Baby (LA-362G), for United Artists Records three singles for Playboy Records. She recorded for United Artists Records from 1973 through 1976 and was associated with Playboy Records from 1976 through 1977. Larry Butler produced her United Artists sessions and Eddie Kilroy produced her Playboy sessions.
Sharpe is the first female country singer to perforn at West Point Academy. Sharpe's top-20 chart singles were: Having Your Baby (No. 11, 1974), United Artists and A Little at a Time (No. 18, 1976), Playboy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------More Obscure Artists
Martha Lynn Rosalee Allen Little Shoe
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Compiled and written by: Richard Bell, Country Music Historian. Roots of Country Music. Nashville,Tennessee,USA. Sep., 2011
Antioch, TN 37013
