Lee Roy Pettit (October 29, 1916 – July 31, 1994), known
professionally as Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan, was a Western swing musician born in
Gardena, California. He is best remembered for his hit single, "Hot Rod
Race" on Capitol Records, which reached No. 7 on the Billboard country
chart in February 1951.
He always claimed for legal purposes that he was born
Jimmie Lee Dolan, and was born in 1924 in (at different times in his life)
Texas, Oklahoma, or Wyoming, but The Encyclopedia of Country Music pegs his
birth name as Lee Roy Petit, his year of birth as 1916 (which would make him
one of the oldest contributors to 1950s rock & roll), and his place of
birth as Gardenia, CA. The 1916 birth date might make more sense, in terms of
his apparent desire, manifested at age 14 when he took up the guitar, to be a
singing cowboy.
He later worked at
radio station KWK in St. Louis, MO, until he enlisted with the US Navy. Dolan
prefers to be remembered for his contributions in entertaining troops in the
Pacific Theatre, especially the Philippines during World War II. He reached the
rank of Chief Petty Officer filling the function of a radioman. He returned
from the war with a ready built fan base and his charisma soon had him in
demand at dance halls throughout the west.
By 1946 he was singing on KXLA in Los Angeles and was
billing himself as "America's Cowboy Troubador". He had his first
recording contract soon after, for Four Star Records, which, thanks to a delay,
didn't start seeing the light of day until 1948 -- the latter included a cover
of Ernest Tubb's then recent hit "I'm Walkin' the Floor Over You."
Meanwhile, Dolan was building up a loyal following on the air with his warm,
easygoing persona and voice, and his self-effacing manner. He was signed at
various moments in the late '40s to the Bihari Brothers' Modern Records and
also to Crystal Records for one single, before joining Capitol Records' roster
in 1949.
When he was discharged from the armed forces after the
war, he decided to make Los Angeles, CA his home. While on the west coast, he
played the various nightclubs with is band in Southern California. He hosted and played on numerous radio stations. In the
early 50's he was a pioneer of television in the Seattle area where he was the
general manager of its first television station as well as one of its stars. He
had a television show for children as well as an adult variety show, for which
he won the award for Best Western TV show of 1951.
Dolan's Capitol sides featured such top session players
as Merle Travis and Charlie Aldridge on guitar, and were beautifully spare
productions, with no pop music pretensions or other embellishments. What's
more, the Capitol sessions showcased the singer/guitarist's limited but
occasionally significant talent as a songwriter. He had to wait until 1950 for
his first hit, a version of the Moon Mullican song "I'll Sail My Ship
Alone," which featured lead guitarist Porky Freeman along with his usual sidemen
Wade Ray on fiddle and Freddie Tavares playing steel guitar. He also had hits
with tunes such as "It Had To Come Someday", "I'll Sail My Ship
Alone", "Who's Kiddin' Who", "Hot Rod Race", and
"I'll Make Believe".
He then had a long running radio show in San Francisco.
On an airline flight he met United Airlines Stewardess Charline Bales, a
graduate of the University of Idaho. They were married for 13 years. He is
survived by a daughter, Patricia and a granddaughter Aria.
Not much is known about Dolan's life during the 39 years
that he lived after walking away from Capitol and the music business. Last time
he was heard of was that he was employed as a second hand auto sales man in Los
Angeles. During the late 1980s he was contacted by the former president of his
fan club, recently widowed. They met again, both being free and lived happily
together until his death in Riverside Co., California on July 31, 1994
(Compiled & edited from Wikipedia, hillbilly music.com & AllMusic)
8 comments:
For “Jimmie Dolan – Hot Rod Mama” go here:
https://www116.zippyshare.com/v/jD0sOkfQ/file.html
1. Who's Kiddin' Who 2:25
2. All Alone in Texas 2:27
3. Good-Bye My One and Only 2:35
4. I Ain't Gonna Bring My Bacon Home to You 2:32
5. I'm Gonna Whittle You Down to Size 2:55
6. Tennessee Baby 2:44
7. Hot Rod Race 2:32
8. It Had to Come Someday 2:52
9. Rfd Blues 2:39
10. A Load of Trouble (and a Worried Mind) 2:22
11. Wham! Bam! Thank You Ma'am 2:40
12. I'll Sail My Ship Alone 2:55
13. Juke Box Boogie 2:05
14. Wine, Women and Pink Elephants 2:21
15. Lost Love Blues 2:26
16. I'm Alone Because I Love You 2:25
17. Nicotine Fits 2:21
18. Hot Rod Mama 2:31
19. Rack up the Balls Boys 2:53
20. Playin' Dominoes and Shootin' Dice 2:51
21. The Wheel That Does the Squeakin' 2:28
22. Look-a-Here Baby 2:03
23. I'll Never Go Sailing Again 2:36
24. Tool Pusher on a Rotary Rig 2:02
25. I Wonder If I Can Lose the Blues This Way 2:11
26. Jolly Captain Huddlestead 2:17
27. Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots 2:05
BONUS TRACKS
28. I Knew That You Were Foolin’ All Along
29. Baby Did You Lie To me
30 If You Care Again
Tracks 1-27 Released: 31 Jul 2014 ℗ 2014 Marmot Music courtesy of itunes.
(MP3s thanks to audiotut). This is a reissue all bar 4 tracks of the Bear family album “Juke Box Boogie”
Tracks 28 – 30 taken from album “Swingbillies” (MP3s thanks to bopping.org)
Bob,
The link has expired, please re-up if you can, thanks :-)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/clk02cwcdw9tifj/Jimmie_Dolan.rar/file
Bob,
Thank you for the re-up. Please consider setting up an e-mail link, I would like to talk about collecting music in general. For example, what father & daughter sang #1 hits 40 years apart? (Not Nat and Natalie or Frank and Nancy).
Looking at my weekly charts from 1953 and I see some top performers for you to consider in the future: Darrell Glenn, Don Howard, Silvana Mangano ("Anna" 5-June 1953 actually sung by Flo Sandons; Red Buttons, The Orioles, Trudy Richards and Pete Handley. Thanks again for everything :-)
Hi HP, No problems with email except you first! Also thanks for the list of performers. I've made a note of them all. I did a quick search for Pete Handley and only get the Rye Whiskey
Band member from the 70's. Can you expand!
Regards, Bob
Bob,
Re: e-mail, you have a web-site (for privacy), I would think you would want to receive private comments from followers. "Big Mamou" by Pete Hanley hit #17 on The Cash Box Juke Box chart on May 23, 1953, great song, but they were all great back then,
and they were all great later too :-).
Hi Bob, Thanks for these - I dll'd them a long time ago. Do you have the 3-disc Jimmy Dolan collection 'Stingy' on Atomicat? Supposed to be complete recorded chronological output with unreleased acetates and demos. He was a really great artist! Thanks again for so much great music!! :)
Hello Diogenes, This 3 disc set has only just been released and I can't afford the £31 asking price, especially on my meagre pension. Perhaps someone will share it later on. Keep looking! Regards, Bob.
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