Sons Of The Pioneers - Cool Water - 1948 |
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The Sons of the Pioneers was an American cowboy singing group founded in 1933 by Leonard Slye (better known by his later screen name Roy Rogers), with Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan. They were joined by Hugh Farr (fiddle/bass vocals) in 1934, Karl Farr (guitar) in 1935, and Lloyd Perryman (vocals) in 1936. Sons of the Pioneers was the name of a 1942 singing cowboy film starring Roy Rogers and featuring the group. The Sons of the Pioneers recorded songs for the John Ford movies Wagon Master in 1949 and Rio Grande in 1950, and performed the theme song for The Searchers in 1956. "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" was also used in the Coen Brothers film The Big Lebowski (1998). In 1962, the Sons of the Pioneers appeared in the short-lived comedy, Western, and variety program,The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, on ABC. "Cool Water" is a song written in 1936 by Bob Nolan. It is about a man and his mule, Dan, and a mirage in the desert. In 1944, the Sons of the Pioneers moved to RCA Victor, signed up by the head of company's country music division, Steve Sholes (who was also later responsible for bringing Elvis Presley to the label). They would be associated with RCA longer than to any other label, 24 years broken by a brief one-year stint elsewhere. The change in labels resulted in the first major alteration in the Pioneers' sound since their founding. Previously, they'd been a self-contained outfit, providing virtually all of the sounds, vocal and instrumental, needed on their records. RCA, however, saw fit to provide the group's music with additional backup in the form of fuller instrumentation, including small-scale orchestration. At first, it worked reasonably well, as the Pioneers re-recorded several of their standards (including "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds") with new arrangements that proved popular, and many fans regard their mid-'40s versions of their classic songs as the best of the many renditions that they recorded. They also recorded more gospel material as well as many pop-oriented and novelty songs. The Pioneers also provided backup for other performers throughout their time at RCA, including Rogers and Dale Evans, and Vaughn Monroe. [1]
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