Lane County Bachelor - The Down Homers

The Downhomers — sometimes spelled "Down Homers" or "Down-Homers" — were an Indiana-based country & western group More

The Downhomers — sometimes spelled "Down Homers" or "Down-Homers" — were an Indiana-based country & western group founded in the early to mid-'40s, who were notable for two members: yodelling lead singer Kenny Roberts and his successor, Bill Haley. Based for a time in Fort Wayne, IN, the group's membership included Roberts on vocals and guitar, Bob Mason on vocals and rhythm guitar, Shorty Cook on steel guitar, Lloyd Cornell on double bass, and Guy Campbell playing violin. Their major influence and source of inspiration was the Sons of the Pioneers, and they could sing and play up a storm, between Campbell and Cook and Roberts' yodeling, and the harmony singing of the others. The group was hired by WOWO in Fort Wayne in 1944 to do a daily show, and played on Saturday nights on the Hoosier Hop Barn Dance, which went out over the NBC radio network. Roberts left the lineup in October of 1944, the month he turned 18 and was drafted, and was absent for 13 months. By that time, the group had been signed to the American Vogue label, owned by Tom Saffady (with no connection to the French company of that name), which recorded them doing five songs. Their association with Vogue resulted in the release of a pair of 78 rpm singles that gave the group a special place in the history of record collecting, because of the label's unusual discography — Vogue had developed a process in the mid-'40s for pressing 78 rpm platters with high-quality color images, and the Downhomers' two singles <b>...</b>
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