Daisy Mae born 25 March 1916

Daisy Mae (March 25, 1916 - August 8, 1986) was a Country & Western Singer, who also sang as a duet with her Husband Old Brother Charlie (Charlie Arnett).

Daisy Mae, was born Ethel Irene Reddy in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child she learned how to play various instruments including the Hammond organ, guitar, bass and piano. Her show business career started at the age of 14 when she appeared near her home town on radio with a band called the "Shadey Valley Folks ". Daisy first married Joseph Garcia in St. Louis and had a daughter, Bonita Lee, but the marriage soon broke up. Daisy wanted a career more than anything else.

In 1944 she joined the Rentro Valley Barn Dance in Kentucky, where she met Charlie Arnett. They Had once met before in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Only six months later, while on tour in Texas, Charlie and Daisy Mae got married. She later gave birth to another daughter Sandra Kay. Bonnie went back to Missouri to live with her grandmother.

                                    

In 1946 Charlie put a band together called the "Haymakers" at WMMN, West Virginia. Two years later the Arnetts formed a new country duo and appeared regularly on "Radio Ranch" as Daisy Mae and Old Brother Charlie, on the Tampa Daily Times own station WDAE in Tampa, Florida, where the couple resided. This led to a recording contract with Mercury Records for whom they recorded 26 sides. In 1949 the duo opened a record shop. On May 15, 1951, a one year contract with Columbia Records had started with whom they recorded 28 sides.

Daisy Mae & Charlie

In the meantime TV had arrived in the Tampa Bay area, which brought the Arnetts back to Florida in 1953. Each Thursday night they could be seen on WSUN-TV, channel 38, on the show "Home Folks" with their own songs. But due to too much competition of new established TV stations, "Home Folks" went off the air in 1955. The couple still had a full-time radio show on country music station WHBO in Sulphur Springs, after which they were playing on the political circuit, but late in 1956, Charlie left town and left Daisy Mae penniless behind.

She returned for a short time to Missouri and worked some modest jobs, but eventually resumed singing as a solo artist on WHBO. The Daisy Mae Show lasted until the mid 60's. One of the rarer historic records is a 1963 radio broadcast in Tampa, Florida, where Daisy Mae was visited by western Gospel singer Patsy Prescott. All that time Daisy Mae lived with her mother Pearl Miller in Temple Terrace. Her last job was a clerk in a card shop. She died on August 8, 1986.

(Scant information edited from Album liner notes & Discogs)