ROOTS of Country Music

Carl Moore

Carl Lee (Squeekin’ Deacon) Moore

Carl Lee Moore (January 19, 1905 - February 12, 1985) was born in Paragould, Arkansas (AR), the son of Charles and Mattie Willis Moore. His father was called "Skinny" Moore and was a baseball pitcher for New Orleans. Two months before Carl was born, his father was killed in a railroad train wreck. Sometime after the tragedy, his mother remarried W.O. Marcom of Jonesboro, AR, a small city northwest of Memphis, Tennessee.

By the time Carl was six he had become fascinated with the drums. Moore was completely self-taught. He got his inspiration watching the theatre drummers who performed impressive gyrations with their sticks while never missing a beat of the music. It wasn't long before young Carl Moore was considered one of the flashiest young drummers around. Carl formed his own band while in high school in Jonesboro, AR. After graduating from high school, he took his small band on the road, playing throughout the south. Carl developed a series of comedy skits with novelty songs, delivered in a broad hillbilly twang of an Arkansas preacher, a persona he assumed throughout his band-leading career.

In 1921, band leader Phil Baxter was touring Arkansas and happened to see Carl perform and offered him a job with his band. Baxter was a song composer of some distinction who had several popular hits over the years. His most successful was Piccolo Pete. His most renowned work was one in which he collaborated with Carl Moore, Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas. Carl used the number for years as his most famous solo and drummer-singer Phil Harris also enjoyed some success with the song. Moore is the composer of St James Infirmary Blues and Bye Bye Blues.

Eventually, Carl yielded to the urge to resume touring with his own band and made an amiable departure from Phi' Baxter's employ. Moore built his entire show around the country-western character he portrayed. While the Carl cavorted in his vintage country skits, usually as an Arkansas preacher, the band provided appropriate background music. The switch to conventional dance tempos always came as something of a shock. The strange mix of hillbilly vaudeville routines and popular contemporary dance arrangements proved to be highly popular with the patrons. Carl worked in Chicago with a band he organized after Hamm's death. His agent frequently booked orchestras into the leading hotels in Chicago and was providing musical entertainment for the newly-opened Drake Hotel. They stayed for eighteen months, broadcasting almost nightly over station WGN, who had a wire into the hotel.

During that engagement, Carl signed a management contract with the Kenneway Corporation, a New York firm. Even though the band was widely acclaimed by the end of their stay at the Drake Hotel, they would achieve even more popularity in the years ahead. The leader was universally known as Deacon Moore by this point in time, primarily because of his portrayal of an Arkansas preacher in his always popular monologue. The Deacon worked every type of venue during his tours around the country. The band recorded for Decca on a limited basis. All of the Decca recordings featured the Deacon's Arkansas-style vocals. He also did some transcribed recordings, primarily for the Trans-American Broadcast Corporation.

Late in the 1930's, the Deacon signed with Consolidated Radio Artists who took over his booking assignments. In late 1940, he was booked to play in New York City at a Greenwich Village club, The Village Barn. The engagement was successful for the band.

The Deacon had to break up the band in 1942 because of World War II. Travel restrictions put a dent in any kind of touring. Carl continued to maintain his popularity in the country music field until his retirement in 1969. But he never changed his format, which was essentially the same as that which made him a successful big band leader. Moore continued to be the quintessential image of an Arkansas preacher and his fans loved him in the role. In 1983, the Deacon was diagnosed with prostate cancer and gradually lost ground to the disease.

Written by: Richard Bell, Country Music Historian - Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Sep.2011

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