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Jack Guthrie

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Jack Guthrie
Birth nameLeon Jerry Guthrie
Also known asOke (to friends)
Born(1915-11-13)November 13, 1915
Olive, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedJanuary 15, 1948(1948-01-15) (aged 32)
Livermore, California, U.S.
GenresWestern swing
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Years active1940s

Leon Jerry "Jack" Guthrie (November 13, 1915 – January 15, 1948) was an American songwriter and performer whose rewritten version of the Woody Guthrie song "Oklahoma Hills" was a hit in 1945.[1] The two musicians were cousins.[2]

Early life

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Born in Olive, Oklahoma, Guthrie was a cousin of Woody Guthrie.[2] He grew up around horses and musical instruments before the family moved to California in the mid-1930s, where he took on the nicknames "Jack", "Oklahoma", and "Oke".[2] He competed in rodeo as a bucking-horse rider and in 1937 traveled with Woody to Los Angeles where they landed on The Oke & Woody Show on KFVD radio in Hollywood.[2]

Career

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Guthrie's song "Oklahoma Hills" (Capitol 201) reached No. 1 in 1945, staying on the charts for 19 weeks.[1] The b side, "I'm A Brandin' My Darlin' With My Heart", reached No. 5 later that year. At the time the record became a hit Jack Guthrie was in the U.S. Army and stationed in the Pacific Theater. As soon as he got out of the service he wrote and recorded more songs, played live gigs up and down the West Coast. In July 1947 he was admitted to a hospital with tuberculosis. He died in 1948 in Livermore, California.

Guthrie's style was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers and adapted to fit his cowboy image.[2] Although the labels listed 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans' as the artist, in reality Guthrie had no working band. The studio brought in some of its better musicians to back Guthrie. Many of them, like Porky Freeman, Red Murrell, Cliffie Stone, and Billy Hughes were recording artists in their own right.

Discography

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Year Part # Titles Notes
Capitol Records
1945 201 Oklahoma Hills // I'm Brandin' My Darlin' Within My Heart as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1946 246 I Loved You Once But I Can't Trust You Now // When The Cactus Is In Bloom as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1946 309 I'm Tellin' You // Chained To A Memory as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1947 341 Oakie Boogie // The Clouds Rained Trouble Down as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1947 406 You Laughed And I Cried // It's Too Late To Change Your Mind as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1947 40012 This Troubled Mind O' Mine // I'm Building A Stairway To Heaven as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1947 48005 Shame On You // Oklahoma Hills (B-side by Jimmy Wakely) as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1947 40032 Please, Oh Please // Oklahoma's Calling as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 40075 Ida Red // Next To The Soil as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 48016* Oklahoma Hills // When The Cactus Is In Bloom (reissues) as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 48017* This Troubled Mind O' Mine // Chained To A Memory (reissues) as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 48018* Oakie Boogie // Oklahoma's Calling (reissues) as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 40118 You're Gonna Be Sorry (Some Of These Days) // Bow Down Brother as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 15251 In The Shadows Of My Heart // Answer To Moonlight And Skies as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1948 15266 Oklahoma Hills // Oakie Boogie (reissues) as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1949 40131 No Need To Knock Upon My Door // Look Out For The Crossing as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1949 40222 Colorado Blues // Welcome Home Stranger as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'
1952 F2128 Oklahoma Hills // Oakie Boogie (reissues) as 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans'

note: (*) also released as part of the 3-disc 78rpm album set Oklahoma Hills: Jack Guthrie Memorial Album (Capitol AC-76).

Compilations

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  • Oklahoma Hills (Bear Family BCD-15580, 1991)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 146.
  2. ^ a b c d e Logsdon, Guy, "Guthrie, Leon Jerry "Jack" (1915–1948) Archived August 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine," Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture Archived May 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (accessed May 26, 2010).

Bibliography

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  • Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1
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