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Oral History Interviews with Marvin "Smokey" Montgomery, 1996-1997
Interview with Marvin "Smokey" Montgomery, musician, concerning his experiences as a member of the "Light Crust Doughboys" western swing band, 1935-42. Early musical career as a banjo player in a traveling tent show; employment with the 'Wanderers"; comments about Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel; work with Gene Autry and Republic Pictures; acquiring the nicknames "Junior" and later "Smokey"; "Doughboy recording sessions; comments about Bob Willis; comments about individual members of the "Doughboys" band; World War II and its effects on the "Doughboys"; employment making naval shells for Crown Machine and Tool in Fort Worth; relations between Bob Wills and 'Pappy' O'Daniel; moonlighting on the honky tonk circuit with the "Southern Selectors"; the "Doughboys" record sales; jamming with African-American musicians; performing with the "Duncan Coffee Grinders" during World War II; his return to the "Doughboys" after World War II; performances with the "Texo Hired Hands"; performing with the "Levee Singers" in the Levee Club in Dallas during th the 1960s; comments about rockabilly performer Ronnie Dawson; comments about the record business; his career as a music arranger; operation of the Sumet-Bernet Recording Studios in Fort Worth; employment as music director for the "Big D Jamboree," 1941-60; his song writing career; experiences with "Lefty" Frizzell, Roy Orbison, Ray Prince, Webb pierce, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ernest Tubb, Elvis Presley, and the 'Rolling Stones"; comments about "Doughboys" emcees Truett Kimsey, "Pappy" O'Daniel, Eddie Dunn, Larry Rowell, Parker Wilson, Mel Cox, Jimmy Jeffries, Ted Gouldey, comments about "Doughboy" members "Zeke" Campbell, "Knocky" Parker, "Snub" Dearman, Kenneth Pitts, Clifford Gross, Dick Reinhart, Bert Dodson, Cecil Brower, Leon McAuliffe; his personal funeral arrangements; miscellaneous vignettes. Includes a photocopy of Gayle Whitney and her orchestra announcing a quarter-hour of musical programming for KTAT [1] leaf.
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