Wayne Raney & Delmore Brothers - Del Rio Boogie 1949

Wayne Rainey was born in Wolf Bayou, Arkansas. He started playing the harmonica at an early age and never stopped. He attended high school in Concord, Arkansas. He would wear the harmonica around his neck as he worked the farm fields, playing it when he could take a break. In an article around 1950 or so, they said he could remember the days when he would hitchhike from town to town in almost every state in the union and playing for whatever money he might be able to pick up at clubs and cafes. And he did this during the depression when jobs were scarce.

As luck would have it, he was in a small town in Texas around 1934 and went into the local pool hall and started playing for the people there. The folks there liked him so much, he collected all of $3.75 for his efforts. It turns out the local radio station manager was there, too and immediately hired him to work for the station - XEPN out of Eagle Pass, Texas. And his musical career was off and running.

He got married to his wife about 1942 or so and they had two kids when the article appeared in 1950, Wanda and Zyndall.

Wayne was also a prolific songwriter and had already written over sixty tunes by then. The most popular of them was "Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me?". They cite King records as mentioning that it had sold over a 500,000 copies of it. And was made even more popular when about a dozen other recording companies had artists covering it.

Alton Delmore (December 25, 1908 - June 8, 1964) and Rabon Delmore (December 3, 1916 - December 4, 1952), billed as The Delmore Brothers, were country music pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s. The Delmore Brothers, together with other brother duets such as the Louvin Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, the Monroe Brothers (Birch, Charlie and Bill Monroe), the McGee Brothers, and The Stanley Brothers, had a profound impact on the history of country music and American popular music.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Hillbilly
• Boogie

[trexx63]

Good work on the bio. Excellent. My Uncle Wayne would appreciate that quite a lot.

[crocks2871]

The king records plant and recording facillity still stands at 1540 Brewster Ave in Cincinatti where Wayne Raney,Moon Mullican, The Delmore brothers,Hawkshaw Hawkins and cowboy copas still stands as of today.. they have made the building at 811 Race St. where the old E.T. Herzog studio where the delmores,Wayne Raney, and Hank Williams who recorded Lovesick blues at a historical marker.. theres no reason why they cant do that with the old king records plant

[grandmother1n]

When I was in elem. school in the early 50's in Ringgold, LA, I listened to Cosmo's Hour after school, and then sometime - don't remember night or daytime - we all listened to Wayne Raney, "XERF, Del REOOO, Texas.". Does anyone else remember Cosmo's Hour?  I first heard Tennessee Ernie sing "River of No Return" on that show.

[fmichaelb]

I remember my father used to play him on the radio in the car in the 1950's. He used to open his show with "Well howdy there, friends and neighbors, this is you ol pal Wayne Raney, coming to you live over WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio " I never knew he was a musician too,

[crocks2871]

Wayne Raney worked very well with the Delmore brothers who both were excellent guitar players as well as great singers.. seems as the Delmore brothers were re born when Wayne Raney started working with them.. the boogie numbers from 1946-1950 were amazing recordings with the Delmores..

[MrMellowTV]

@Rickugg Raney was a musician and disc jockey. He was heard over several radio stations across the United States and on border stations just over the Rio Grande in Mexico. He did many recordings with Lonnie Glosson and the Delmore Brothers, mostly in the Country Boogie style. In the 1960s, he founded Rimrock Records and turned to COuntry Gospel.

[WindNSand]

Wayne Raney - XERF Border to Border and Coast to Coast, 500,000 watts from Del Rio, Texas. Ah those where the days!

[janetiz1]

Fantastic.. Pure Texas country.

[redhairedlad]

Great record!

[MeanEyedCat1975]

Love this one. Thanks