Bob Newman (October 16, 1915 - October 8, 1979) was a US country and boogie singer, song-writer and member of The Georgia Crackers. The Newman brothers hailed out of Cochran, Bleckley County, Georgia, the hamlet of Carey to be specific. Described as a hybrid between Jimmie Rodgers and the Sons of the Pioneers, the Georgia Crackers were one of the best of a myriad of country and western groups which toured the honky tonks, barn dance halls and hay rides of the South and the Mid-West during the 1930s and 1940s.
The oldest son of Walter L. and Mary F. Newman, Henry J. “Hank” Newman, was born in 1905. Marion Alonzo “Slim” Newman and Robert “Bob” Newman came along in five year intervals. Times were tough and the family moved to Hawkinsville in hopes of just getting by. The boys loved the sound of the guitar and saved their woeful wages earned from cropping tobacco and mail ordered one. A coin toss decided who would play first. Hank won and became the lead guitar of “The Newman Boys.” Short in stature but tall in his vocal ability, Hank became the group leader and soloist. Slim, described as the “matinee idol of the trio,” played second guitar. Bob chose the bass fiddle. At six feet two inches tall, Bob was as tall as his instrument. As the group clown, Bob entertained audiences with his “dead pan” humour and comedic songs.
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Hank was the first to play as a professional. After stints at WCOC in Meridian, Mississippi and at KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana, Hank joined Slim at WRDW in Augusta, Georgia. In 1930, Hank and Slim made the momentous choice to move north to Ohio. The duet enjoyed successful engagements at WTAM in Cleveland before making Columbus their permanent home in 1931. The boys spent short periods playing on radio shows in Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C., Wheeling, W. Va. and in Reading and Lancaster in Pennsylvania. As “Hank & Slim,” the boy’s recording came in 1934 when they cut eight songs for the Vocalian label.
Bob joined the group at the age of twenty. By the end of the 1930s, the group changed their name to the “Georgia Crackers.” Touring through hundreds of Midwestern cities and towns, the group acquired a strong following. Within ten years, the Newman boys became the senior group of the cadre of musical groups on WHKC, the Mutual Radio affiliate in Columbus and were often compared to the “Sons of the Pioneers,” the definitive group of the country western ilk. The top country and western band in Ohio hired Winnie Waters as a novelty violinist and Hal Snyder as a guitarist.
Then came 1941 and World War II, and the group was forced to disband. As the war was ending, the Newmans reunited and added Allan Myers on lead guitar and Johnnie Spies on accordion. The late 1940s saw the acceleration of one of the most popular movie genres, the “singing cowboy pictures.” Columbia pictures hired the “Georgia Crackers” to sing and to act in its series of Durango Kid movies. Charles Starrett starred as “The Durango Kid” in three movies with the Newmans. The boys first picture came in 1946 in “The Fighting Frontiersmen.” The following year, the trio appeared in “South of the Chisolm Trail.” In their final screen appearance, the Crackers appeared in “Desert Vigilante” in 1949. The Durango Kid movies resurrected the musical careers of the Crackers.
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The boys had a regular radio show on KXLA in Pasadena, California. Slim ventured into a solo career. After two years of studio recording sessions, the group released twelve new songs. The boys returned to Columbus, where they appeared daily on WHKC and across the country on the Mutual Radio Network. The Crackers remained in Ohio and had their last recording session with the Sage label, until 1958 when Bob’s declining health and new music styles caused the demise of the group. Bob was experiencing serious health problems (he had a nerve crossed in his brain), but surgery put things to right. Bob, who was the songwriter of the group, was the last and perhaps the most successful Newman in his solo career. He recorded more than two dozen songs. One of his biggest hits was “Lonesome Truck Driver’s Blues.” Perhaps his most famous song came to popularity in the late 1960s. Bob also penned “The Leaf of Love,” which became a hit for Gene Autry.
After recovering from his surgery, Bob tried his luck in the Phoenix area, forming the Arizona Night Riders, with Red Embry and Billy Grammar. For a time things worked out well but no recordings are known by this formation. In the same year, Bob found work as a D.J. at KHAT, the top Country radio station in Phoenix. He called himself The Old Hilligan and had a popular Hillbilly show. But despite his popularity, Bob left KHAT after a dispute with management and fell on hard times. In 1970, he returned to Ohio for a brief reunion with Hank and Slim for a few shows, but he wound up broke and back in Phoenix, managing the trailer park in which he lived. He talked about making a new start in the music business, but nothing seemed to work. Hank died in 1978, Bob died from a heart attack a week shy of his 64th birthday, on October 8th, 1979 and the remaining Georgia Cracker, Slim died in 1984.
(Edited from an article by Scott B. Thompson Sr. @ Pieces of Our Past blog & Bear Family notes)
