Steeler Jo Ann Ford?

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 8 Dec 2018 4:24 am

Hey forum brain trust, anyone know Jo Ann's story? Never heard of her before coming across this vintage (early - mid 50s?) promo ...

Raymond Bourey · Post by **Raymond Bourey** » 8 Dec 2018 1:45 pm

Professor - This same poster showed up on the forum about 10 y ago in a post by historian Mitch Drumm .... You might send him a PM to make sure he sees your query and fills all of us in, if he has the info.

Mitch Drumm wrote:Here are pics of Blanche Emerson with Ann Jones in the early 50s and Blanche from around 2000 in a Tucson band. Also a pic of Evelyn Martin with Tommy Kizziah and Jo Ann Ford from the Bakersfield area, mid 1950s.

Nelson Checkoway · Post by **Nelson Checkoway** » 10 Dec 2018 10:39 am

A little stroll on the web revealed the band she is advertised with, the Ozark Squirrel Shooters, was a 1950s Bakersfield area combo. Likewise Maddox Bros. and Rose. There are ads for both bands in old issues of the Bakersfield Californian. And of course we know Spade Cooley (the good and bad!) who was at ground zero of West Coast western swing. Delano is up Calif. Rt 99, about 30 min north of Bakersfield. I guess Jo Ann Ford was a little part of that scene - though not much other intel out there on her.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 10 Dec 2018 11:48 am

How did Bakersfield end up being such a musical center. I drove through there 20 years ago and thought it was the dustiest, bleakest, place I ever drove through. Couldn't wait to get out of there.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 10 Dec 2018 12:20 pm

Raymond - I saw that old thread too.
Nelson - yes, some of the key players in Western Swing and West Coast Country in the 50s. I didn't find much else either. I asked Ron Middlebrook and Centerstream but he had no info
Bill - Bakersfield had workers who needed to let off steam of weekends and bars needed music to draw people in. War-related manufacturing and the burgeoning aircraft industry post WWII drew a lot of folks from the South and Southwest to California.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 10 Dec 2018 7:57 pm

I am reasonably sure Jo Ann is wearing the cowgirl hat at the lower right of the pic below. Got the wide set eyes and the rectangular smile going on.

The Ozark Squirrel Shooters were led by Ebb Pilling--he is the tall guy with the banjo.

This pic was taken in 1948 in Lamont CA, maybe 10 miles from Bakersfield. Other guys in the pic include Bill Woods and Cliff Crofford. I can't ID the steel player.

The Squirrel Shooters made at least one record, but I don't know if Jo Ann was in the band, but the record is likely post 1950.

Compare the images. Yes? No?

David M Brown · Post by **David M Brown** » 10 Dec 2018 10:05 pm

How do you know he's not just posed behind her steel? Could be a drummer....

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 10 Dec 2018 10:19 pm

David:

I don't even know if that is Jo Ann.

Let alone her steel.

For all I know, the guy behind the steel is my long lost cousin.

Which was the point of my post.

Bill Groner · Post by **Bill Groner** » 11 Dec 2018 3:27 am

Mitch, he does resemble you.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 11 Dec 2018 3:46 am

Thanks for the pic, Mitch. Sure looks like her when you look at the distance between her eyes, facial structure, etc. So many musicians had regional careers whose details are lost to time.

David M Brown · Post by **David M Brown** » 11 Dec 2018 5:17 am

Mitch Drumm wrote:David:

I don't even know if that is Jo Ann.

Let alone her steel.

For all I know, the guy behind the steel is my long lost cousin.

Which was the point of my post.

I see a strong resemblance with Jo Ann; could be.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 11 Dec 2018 8:21 am

Bill McCloskey wrote:How did Bakersfield end up being such a musical center. I drove through there 20 years ago and thought it was the dustiest, bleakest, place I ever drove through. Couldn't wait to get out of there.

The dustiest, bleakest place is just across the Sierra Nevada from Bakersfield. It's called Ridgecrest.

Scott Thomas · Post by **Scott Thomas** » 11 Dec 2018 10:20 am

Off topic, but I have a six degrees of separation story about Rocky Stone of the Ole Rassmussen band. My mom's aunt married Toy Stone, his brother. Mom was born and raised in the Los Angeles area and went to watch live radio broadcasts at KXLA with Cliffie Stone (hmmm, lots of stones I guess)and a then little know DJ and performer Tennessee Ernie Ford.

It was at one of these live broadcasts that she got to meet Rocky Stone of Ole's band and tell him how they were "related".

Anyway, later on things evolved into the Hometown Jamboree and she got to be in the studio audience for some of those TV shows. She remembers Speedy and Jimmy Bryant in the house band. What we wouldn't all give to have been there, right?