Skeeter & Georgia, The Davis Sisters
My motives for choosing today's Record of the Day are embarrassingly transparent. Tonight is Queer Country Junction, so I chose a record to rev you up for the party.
Maybe it's because I'm a giant record nerd, but I find it interesting that two of the finest female vocal groups of the 1950s were called "The Davis Sisters" and that they were so very different. The Davis Sisters of the Golden Age of Gospel differentiated themselves by adding "The Famous" to their name. I'm sure I'll feature them on this blog eventually given how amazing they were, but today we're listening to the Davis Sisters of country.
Betty Jack Davis and Mary Frances Penick were high school friends out of Kentucky who teamed up to form a singing duo in the late 1940s. Sister acts were a hot commodity in those days, so Mary Frances changed her name to "Skeeter Davis" and the girls billed themselves as the Davis Sisters. They recorded for Fortune Records out of Detroit and then were signed to RCA. Sadly, they were only able to knock out one RCA recording session before they were involved in a tragic car accident. Betty Jack was killed. Skeeter lived on to become one of the brightest genre-busting stars of the 1960s.
However, before she pursued her glorious solo career, Skeeter persuaded Betty Jack's sister Georgia to replace her sister in the Davis Sisters. They went on to record a number of proto-rockabilly tracks. The Record of the Day is a fine example.
Fiddle in the middle of this little fiddle diddle boogie woogie and join your friends on the dance floor tonight at the World Famous Kenton club.
Maybe it's because I'm a giant record nerd, but I find it interesting that two of the finest female vocal groups of the 1950s were called "The Davis Sisters" and that they were so very different. The Davis Sisters of the Golden Age of Gospel differentiated themselves by adding "The Famous" to their name. I'm sure I'll feature them on this blog eventually given how amazing they were, but today we're listening to the Davis Sisters of country.
Betty Jack Davis and Mary Frances Penick were high school friends out of Kentucky who teamed up to form a singing duo in the late 1940s. Sister acts were a hot commodity in those days, so Mary Frances changed her name to "Skeeter Davis" and the girls billed themselves as the Davis Sisters. They recorded for Fortune Records out of Detroit and then were signed to RCA. Sadly, they were only able to knock out one RCA recording session before they were involved in a tragic car accident. Betty Jack was killed. Skeeter lived on to become one of the brightest genre-busting stars of the 1960s.
However, before she pursued her glorious solo career, Skeeter persuaded Betty Jack's sister Georgia to replace her sister in the Davis Sisters. They went on to record a number of proto-rockabilly tracks. The Record of the Day is a fine example.
Fiddle in the middle of this little fiddle diddle boogie woogie and join your friends on the dance floor tonight at the World Famous Kenton club.
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