Oh man, Star Route, one of my obsessions.
The concept goes as far back as 1961 or 1962, depending on who you might trust as a source. John M. Ettlinger first set up the pilot (built around Johnny Cash) with Molly Bee, Billy Strange as regulars, and deejay Charlie Williams as host, basically all from the Cliffie Stone crowd, so maybe Cliffie was around in some way.. not sure.
The Cash pilot was from '62, but was re-cut for the 1964 series with updated footage added to replace Williams with Rod Cameron, etc.
Some sources claim the show started up again in late 1963, which it certainly did in pre-production, there's a Billboard article from around November of 1963 which mentions Molly Bee as host, or co-host.. that obviously didn't happen.
Some episodes were filmed in Canada, as noted, with the principals being flown or driving up there (Gene Davis at least drove).
Why Canada.. I dunno, but they had a full band and Canadian fiddler Graham Townsend has claimed that they (or at least he) was hired for the episodes on a 36-week contract.
The signage on the band's steel front is 'Gene Davis & The Star Routers' a name Gene took for the show, but hardly much effort to remove from Red's steel and move to another.
The show folded in 1964, they only cut 26 episodes, and that included the Johnny Cash one, but that was just the first season.
It was still being sold to markets and airing in 1965, then certain episodes were cut into a film in 1966 as Star Route USA with a different host edited in.
A video compilation was brought out in the mid 1980s, which I suspect a lot of the youtube clips are sourced.
The fiddlers on the West Coast episodes are either Jimmy Bryant and/or Billy Armstrong, the house band was the Gene Davis Band, aka Gene Davis & The Star Routers. When you see the Gene Davis Band (the same group that were the Palomino Club house band) in the clip, Archie Francis the drummer usually has the 'Gene Davis Band' emblazoned on his bass drum. In the Canadian filmed footage, the bass drum is blank-white.
The Gene Davis Band-Star Routers were Red Rhodes on steel, Gene on lead guitar and vocals when required, Jerry Inman on rhythm guitar, and his 1964 replacement in other episodes (Roger Miller for example) was Bobby Durham, Delaney Bramlett on bass, Glen D Hardin on piano, and of course Red Rhodes on steel. Usually you can see the Star Routers signage on Red's steel, depending on the episode, you can sometimes see Red's name on his horn as well.
The same year they made Star Route, Delaney Bramlett, Glen Campbell, and Glen D Hardin also started work on ABC-TVs Shindig!, while Gene and band also played on Cal's Corral and Country Music Time on KCOP-TV (Channel 13) and in late '64 Gene and The Star Routers also began work on a very short lived TV show named Hollywood Jamboree.. Glen Campbell and the Collins Kids also worked on that project.
The Collins Kids were in the original Shindig! Pilot from '64, which was when it was more of a country show with Roy Clark!
The Collins Kids made a few appearances on Shindig as noted in earlier posts.
Busy... ?.... yeah.
www.facebook.com/pages/Star-Route/216432825120473
On side note, the link is for a facebook hosted Star Route page I started very recently.
And when I worked as an entertainment company several years ago (it was originally a record label) I tried to get the DVD dept. interested in Star Route.
They actually contacted Ettlinger, who apparently ignored their interest.
He does however license the Johnny Cash footage from Star Route, it has surfaced in doco production on Cash.
Did I miss anything?
J.
