Red Rhodes/Cal's Corral

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 23 Nov 2010 7:09 pm

Not sure of the year, but the Hitchin Post in Gardena (not Gardenia)was eventually torn down and a Car Agency took over the whole corner of Western and Redondo Beach Blvd. There was another Club down the street I worked at in 1957 with Herb Tucker called the Nordondo Club. One great thing in the area was that in Gardena, Ca.,there were six legal Poker Clubs which were open 24/7. After the gig was over, many of us headed for the Poker Club restaurants for Breakfast. The food was fabulous and cheap. The Poker Clubs did not want any of the Poker Players to leave when they got Hungry.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 25 Nov 2010 11:02 pm

Thanks Billy.. gawd, I have been writing Gardenia for years!

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 26 Nov 2010 3:17 pm

Jason,don't feel bad I used to live close to there You would think that I could have paid more attention to the spelling,Thanks Billy.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 26 Nov 2010 3:30 pm

Jason is so accurate about most everything he's written about, I was thinking that maybe I had gotten the name of town wrong for the last 63 years. What the heck, I am getting older...

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 1 Dec 2010 4:11 pm

I only know stuff because so many pickers are generous with their recollections, although I do like to dig.

I checked the online archives, and the Los Angeles Times list Cal's Corral in the TV section from early 1956 to early 1966. The archive may not be complete, and I do the free view option, which is basically a summary of the pages.

I also found an article that I was sent, and it mentions that Cal's was founded in December of 1955.
The early listings for Cal's Corral also mentions "Cal's Corral - Hilllbilly Ranch Gang" for the first year, then they drop the "Hilllbilly Ranch Gang" tag some time in '59.
Some also list "Direct from Worthington Dodge 2771 East Slauson Av. Huntington Park."
It also lists that show as originally on Channel 13, then it moves to Channel 11 through 1959-60, then returns to 13 in 1960.

Country Music Time I've seen listed as late 1961 to mid 1966, all on Channel 13.

Maybe they both wrapped up in 1966?

J.

Joe Alterio · Post by **Joe Alterio** » 9 Mar 2011 7:46 pm

Here's something I just came across that I found interesting....it was always said that Red left his "home" at the Palomino with the Detours to take the job with Nesmith in 1970.

HOWEVER

I was researching a bit and in the Valley News newspaper in January 1970, a place called "Danny Dollars" in Reseda (formerly "The Gables") featured Red Rhodes and the Detours "Tuesdays thru Sundays".

So...appears they either quit the Pal or were "relieved of their duties" and took residence at this Danny Dollars steak place....anyone have any further info on this???

Joe Alterio · Post by **Joe Alterio** » 9 Mar 2011 8:06 pm

The plot thickens....just found a Valley News from September '69 that shows a sizeable ad and a writeup (with picture!) indicating that "talented vocalist" Red Rhodes now entertained at the Lazy X Night Club in North Hollywood.

So...he left the Pal to go to the Lazy X in Sept 69 and then the steak place in Jan 70.....

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 9 Mar 2011 8:16 pm

In 1969, Tony Booth took over as bandleader at the Pal, with Jay Dee Maness, the Kastner brothers, Archie Francis, Larry Booth, and maybe Earl Ball. I played there in mid-1970 off and on and that was the primary band.

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 9 Mar 2011 8:35 pm

Don't forget Al Bruno...He was filling the gtr chair around that time.
I'm not sure if Earl was in the house band at the time. I forget exactly when they got that awful spinet piano that used to be there...'72 or '73 if I remember right.
In '76 ('77?) the Pal finally sprung for a Yamaha baby grand...which now sits in my living room.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 9 Mar 2011 9:30 pm

Regards the Palomino- Booth Band in '69, Bobby Wayne (Edrington) was the only holdover from Red's band to work with Tony and the gang. Nick O'Hair was the original drummer, although Archie replaced him. Al Bruno replaced Bobby Wayne, who went on to the Strangers.
Earl and Glen D Hardin were probably around for the early days of the Booth - Pal' band, Earl had the Monday Pal' band for part of '68-69, then he left for Nashville in 1969.

Apparently red and the others left to go on the road as a Happy Tiger touring act, but the deal fell through, not sure why. I assume it was supposed to be some label support to help with the financial transition of a nightly gig, to a road band.

Joe, didn't know about the Lazy X gig for Red, but without the Cass Brothers, and with Jerry Cole back on board in late '69 (he was replaced earlier in the year by Bobby Wayne), Bobby Ray on bass, and Biff on drums, Red & The Detours played the Bright Torch in November and December of '69.
Red joined Nez in October or so, but they weren't a touring act until early 1970, guess he wanted to make sure of the deal.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 9 Mar 2011 9:33 pm

p.s. good fine Joe, awesome work!

And Skip, that's a cool piano, so... uh did everyone who played the Pal' use that piano, ie: Jerry Lee Lewis?

Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 9 Mar 2011 10:25 pm

This is a very nostalgic thread. I remember Fred Maddox (Maddox bothers and Rose) used to play Cal's Corral. (can't remember which year). Fred owned a club I believe in Ventura, CA. His club was called Fred's Shed House. Use your imagination and guess what that sounded like over the air when he advertised his club. He was a funny guy ( had more guts than most of us). I played a few gigs with Fred and Rose. Fred would come dragging his dog house bass across the dance floor. I mean DRAGGING it across the floor. He would get on the bandstand, take his chewing gum out of his mouth and stick it on the head of the bass, and take off playing and yelling and generally make a total fool of himself. The crowd loved him.

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 9 Mar 2011 10:26 pm

Jason, yeah...everybody's played it. That's the coolest thing about it. It's not that hot of a piano, actually.
Just your basic baby grand, but it's loaded with the mojo of all those years at the Pal.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 10 Mar 2011 12:06 am

Thanks Jim Bob and Skip, great stuff!

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 10 Mar 2011 1:07 pm

Jim Bob Sedgwick wrote:I remember Fred Maddox used to play Cal's Corral. The crowd loved him.

Heck, I love the guy and I never saw them! He's so unmentioned and underrated it pisses me off. I know Bill Black (Elvis...) was greatly influenced by him. I love the whole band.

Jim Bob, those are some cool recollections. I'd like to hear you expound on the aspect of Fred having more guts than most. That's interesting, they grew up rough during very rough times, and I don't doubt your take a bit. Too bad they didn't write a book about their days, it'd make Grapes Of Wrath look easy.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 10 Mar 2011 2:51 pm

I wrote the following for a Columbia Records - Hillbilly comp last year:

The Maddox Brothers

Ugly And Slouchy (Columbia 4-40836) 1957

The Maddox Brothers & Rose comprised the core band of Rose Maddox (vocals, guitar), Cal Maddox (guitar, vocals) Fred Maddox (bass, vocals), Henry Maddox (mandolin, guitar), and Don” Maddox (vocals, fiddle). They promoted themselves as “The Most Colorful Hillbilly Group In America” which was a reference to their wild stage antics and style as much as the outrageous flashy suits they wore in their heyday.

The family hailed from rural Alabama, they formed a rudimentary hillbilly band when they moved to California to make something of their life. With Fred Maddox (born 1919) on bass, they formed the Alabama Outlaws and performed around Modesto, and on station KTRB in 1936, right up to 1941 when brothers Fred, Cal and Don were called up for military service. Rose led the surviving group until the others returned in 1945. With a reunion of the full group, Rose and Lula scored them a deal with Bill McCall, owner of 4-Star Records, who only wanted Rose, but the family that plays together, sticks together.
Between 1947 and 1951 they cut a succession of wild hillbilly records, for 4-Star, of eye-popping wildness and sheer hillbilly abandon. Their rotating cast of sidemen, (the group recorded and toured almost non-stop) included lead guitarists Jimmy Winkle, Gene LeMasters, Roy Nichols, and Gene Breeden and steel player Bud Duncan.

After a short legal battle, they were free to sign with Art Satherley and Columbia, cutting their first sessions in January of 1952. In an attempt to tighten their sound, Satherley utilised Hollywood regulars Joe Maphis on guitar and Wesley Tuttle on bass, only allowing Cal Maddox to play the rhythm guitar. After the first session, Satherley palmed the group off to Don Law, who wisely took them to Jim Beck’s studio in Dallas, although they would have to wait until 1955 for Columbia to let them use any non-family band members.

For rock and roll devotees, the Brothers’ most fondly remembered moment came from the August 1956 session in Hollywood that produced “Ugly And Slouchy” and two other crazed rock parodies “Paul Bunyan Love” and “The Death of Rock’n’Roll.”
Issued in early January, “Ugly And Slouchy” is Fred Maddox’s finest, attesting a love for unattractive women, reasoning that no other man will take them away. It just don’t get no more down-home that that. Besides, the Maddox clan could truly rock with the best of them.

The last Maddox Brothers & Rose sessions followed in 1957, and their contract ran out in 1958.
At this point Rose and her brothers’ split, Rose went solo and shaped a decent career.
Fred Maddox formed a new group going with Henry’s wife Loretta, billed as the Maddox Bros. and Retta, and augmented by rockabilly singer Glen Glenn. They didn’t last long, and Fred, moved into the clubs, sometimes as a sideman, and when he opened his own venues (which rarely lasted long) he led the band. Don Maddox enrolled in agricultural college and quit music, while Cal and Henry would occasionally record and tour with Rose, the group was finished.

From The World Is A Monster: Columbia Hillbilly 1948 - 1958 (Omni Records OMNI-140)

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 10 Mar 2011 3:09 pm

The Maddox Bros. and Rose were not really a Western Swing Dance Band. They were a SHOW BAND with comedy routines with props. They were like a Minstrel Band from the Central Valley of Calif. When When playing with the Ole Rasmussen Band, Ole would book them in as Guest Stars with a lot of Radio advertising. We would have a full house. When the Maddox Bros. and Rose group came on, the house would crowd up to the Bandstand to see their show. When the Rasmussen Band came back on, most everyone went back to Dancing. Fred Maddox played his big old Stand Up Bass like a percussion instrument mostly just jumping around and slapping the strings. That was all that was expected from him. Funny Guy and a great Showman ! When it was intermission time the whole group would go out into the Crowd and sell key chains and other souveniers of their Band. Hearsay was, they made enough to pay their Road Expenses from these sales.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 10 Mar 2011 6:26 pm

Funny thing about the Rock n Roll aspect, the group was really rockin' in their own way after the war, well before Elvis/Bo/Fats, but when they jumped on the mid 50s bandwagon and tried to do it like the rest, it sounded contrived and didn't cut it. So I'd take exception, Jason, to your comment on their rock abilities once they went that specific route. If they'd stayed true to their style they'd have morphed more naturally and probably be regarded by rockabillyists much more highly. Of course, I may have missed some good rockin singles, but all of what I've heard from the 50s/60s era Bear box set was just not happening.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Red Rhodes/Cal's Corral

It isn't Gardenia?