Country Music Humorists and Comedians - Loyal Jones

At one time country music and comedy went hand and hand with many bands carrying a comedian with their band to act as a comic relief between the songs of life. As radio barn dances grew out of the vaudeville tradition many of the routines stayed with the musicians to keep the crowds entertained and interested.

Over time some of those comedians stepped out on their own to make names for them selves and became as famous, and in some cases more famous, that the artists they accompanied. Comedians like Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield, to name but two, became stars in their own right appearing weekly on the Grand Ole Opry through the ‘40s and ‘50s.

In the mid- to late-‘60s, country music made its way onto the small screen with a shows like The Wilburn Brothers Show featuring comedian Harold Morrison and The Porter Wagoner Show featuring Speck Rhodes. These comedians acted as special guests, as in the case of Morrison, or members of the band, as the bass playing Rhodes.

As the years wore on, fewer and fewer comedians were utilized in country music acts. In 1968 CBS aired the summer replacement series Hee-Haw, which was modeled after the popular Rowan and Martin Laugh-In and utilized both comedy and country music to reach audiences. Many of the comedic performers on the show were ones who had been involved in earlier comedy shows that had been phased out, such as Grandpa Jones, Stringbean and Sheb Wooley. Many of the routines these comedians were either straight from or adapted from early comedy routines, some of them reaching back to minstrel tent shows.

While country comedy was still alive in the 1970s and ‘80s, it was no where near as popular as it had once been until the late-‘80s/early-‘90s when Jeff Foxworthy began to gain popularity. His assembled tour, The Blue Collar Comedy Tour, where Foxworthy teamed with Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy, is one of the highest grossing touring acts going.

Loyal Jones has written several books on the topic of rural and country humor, including some joke books. He is the retired director of the Appalachian Center at Berea College and an acknowledged expert in Appalachian studies.

What Jones has put together in Country Music Humorists and Comedians is really a two part volume. The larger part of the book is made up of an encyclopedia-like reference pulling together entries on country comedians and humorists from the early days of country radio to the present day. As the title states, both comedians and humorists are covered in the book. Biographical sketches of comedians range from the early Grand Ole Opry pair of Jamup and Honey and Pete Stamper to Larry the Cable Guy and Etta May.

The addition of humorists broadens the scope from just those that stood before audiences as comedians to those that were primarily artists (like Jim Stafford or Little Jimmy Dickens) but included humor in their songs and shows to writers and actors like the late Lewis Grizzard and Andy Griffith.

The other part of the book is Jones’ less than 50 page introduction to the subject. In those 40-some pages he covers the history of comedy in country music and its importance to the development of country in growing a connection between artist and audience. This brief introduction packs in so much information and history that it alone would be worth picking up the book to have.

Jones’ writing style is easy going and he is able to easily convey the importance of the subject without ever coming across heavy-handed or too academic. His research is extremely thorough and he strives to bring the subject to life for the reader. Throughout the book he includes examples of the humor from many of the comedians so that the reader might get a better understanding of what they did as a performer.

They say that music is a hard topic to write about, but it is even harder to write about a topic as subjective as humor. Jones does a highly commendable job of giving the subject its due.

Tags: Loyal Jones, Reviews