(...Also,"I'm My Own Grandpa")
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COUSIN JODY,
Give Name: James Clell Summey
Date of Birth: December 11, 1914
Place of Birth: Near Sevierville, Tennessee
Date of Death: 1976
Marital Status: 1. Sarah 2. Marie Hill
Children: Jodena
Musical Syle: Comedy/Old-Time Country
Talents: Vocals, Comedy, Dobro, Steel Guitar
Recommend Record Albums:
There are no albums of Clell Summey. Suggest you listen to ARC recordings of Roy Acuff circa 1936.
Biography:
Clell Summey had a face that could only belong to a funnyman. A toothless grin that nowadays would be called gurning. It belied the talent that made him one of the greatest pioneers of the Dobro. He began his career playing straight dance music, but in 1933, he joined the Tennessee Crackerjacks, the group formed by Roy Acuff and gave the group its distinctive sound. Mr. Roy felt that in importance Clell’s Dobro came second only to his vocals. In October 1936, he traveled with the band to Chicago to record some sides for the American Recording Company. They recorded twenty songs including The Old Speckled Bird and Wabash Cannon Ball. Summey was with the group when Roy Acuff made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry in October 1937 at the Dixie Tabernacle. He was the first person to play Dobro on the Opry and he helped keep a very nervous Roy Acuff from going off the rails. When Roy Acuff made his first membership appearance on the Opry on February 19, 1938, he was by his side. The following week, the band’s name was changed to Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys. By late 1939, Summey along with bass player Red Jones felt that the band should play more Pop material. Mr. Roy felt differently and so Clell left the group. He started to play steel guitar and was one of the first to play it on the Opry when he was a member of Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys. It was then that his comedy really surfaced. He joined forces with Oral Rhodes as Odie and Jody. He then joined that other crazy duo, Lonzo and Oscar and was with them for many years. For over a decade after this, Clell had his own spot on the Opry. He suffered with ill health in later years and died of cancer in 1976. He was described by Roy Acuff in his book Roy Acuff’s Nashville (Perigee, 1983) as being "one mean Dobro Guitar player." That says it all.
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©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.
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<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Smiley Roberts on 29 April 2005 at 04:47 PM.]</p></FONT>
