Lattie MOORE

Chanteur US né Lattie Harrison Moore, le 17 octobre 1924 à Scotsville (Kentucky). Lattie Moore a débuté en 1952 chez Speed Records de Nashville (Tennessee). Puis entre 1953 et 1960, il enregistre chez King, Arc, Starday et Olympic Records. On le retrouvera en 1971 pour un album chez Derby Town Records.
Lattie Moore was a country and hillbilly singer/guitarist, an admirer of Gene Autry and Hank Williams whose early high-energy numbers anticipated rock & roll in everything but name. Lattie Harrison Moore was born in 1924 in Scottsville, Kentucky, to Dora and Homer Leo Moore — his father was a tobacco farmer-turned-preacher. The young Moore had an interest in music at an early age and, as a boy, learned to play the guitar, mandolin, and upright bass. His first job out of school was as a projectionist at the local movie theater in Scottsville. As a teenager, he was an especially big fan of Gene Autry and the latter's country & western songs, and he also admired the work of Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, and others he heard on the Grand Ole Opry — and a bit later, he added another name to that list who came ahead of all of the others: Hank Williams.At age 19, he headed to Indianapolis, hitchhiking his way to the city where he felt he had a shot at making a living as a musician. He was drafted into the United States Navy around this time but didn't stay in the service very long, and Moore was back in Indiana by the end of 1944, playing small clubs and other minor venues. He was also married around this time, and later hosted a local radio show as well as working on the musical side of an act put together by aging cowboy movie star Lash LaRue. In 1951, at age 26, Moore made his recording debut on the Arrow label with the single "Hideaway Heart" b/w "Married Troubles," which quickly disappeared without a trace. By then he was also broadcasting on the Mid-Western Jamboree on radio from WIBC in Indianapolis as the show's emcee, and he later performed a similar function on television from Bloomington, IN. Moore got another chance at recording in 1952, in Nashville, on the Speed label, where he cut "Juke Joint Johnny," reportedly after auditioning for the head of the label on the sidewalk outside of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. That session, thrown together by producer Frank Innocenti with four musicians — piano, lead guitar, bass, and drums — accompanying Moore (who also played rhythm guitar), featured a very heavy drum sound, in part to cover up the fact that the musicians, apart from Moore and the lead guitarist, hadn't really learned the song. The result, wholly by accident, was the first rock & roll-style record ever to come out of Nashville, in the view of Innocenti, as quoted in a September 2000 essay by Bill Millar for a reissue of Moore's music. "Juke Box Johnny" was ahead of its time, so much so that it couldn't have more than local impact, but it was also covered by other artists, including Red Sovine. It did do well enough to justify Moore's cutting a second single on Speed, "Baby, I'll Soon Be Gone," which also did well locally and regionally, though this single was in a somewhat different, more familiar honky tonk style.Moore's recording career was jump-started in 1953 when he signed to Syd Nathan's King Records, for which he recorded some 25 songs in a three-year period, with a band that included Zeke Turner on lead guitar, Hank Williams alumnus Don Helms on steel guitar, and Tommy Jackson on fiddle. During this period, he also worked with Jimmie Logsdon, a good friend with whom he co-wrote one song, "Louisiana Man Blues." For all of this work, Moore didn't see any notable hits among the half-dozen singles he released on King, nor did he always see his name turn up on the writing credits of the songs he composed, a situation that made him fairly cynical about working for Nathan. By 1956 he was on the Arc label cutting an updated, rock & roll version of "Joint Joint Johnnie," as well as doing an EP containing some Hank Williams songs a little later. By 1958 he was signed to Starday Records, working out of Beaumont, TX, and moving between country and rock & roll, with no notable success. The following year, with the intervention of his friend Webb Pierce, he was re-signed to King Records, and he was writing songs steadily in addition to recording — among his other work was "Out of Control," which he co-authored with George Jones. But his most notable success came with the 1962 single "Drunk Again," which became a modest hit.During the 1960s, he shifted more toward straight country music, abandoning rock & roll and rockabilly. He showed up on bills supporting Johnny Cash, and cut his own songs as well as those by Ray Pennington and Jerry Reed, among others. His departure from King at the end of the 1960s marked the end of his work for a major label. He continued working in music until health problems caught up with him in the 1980s, including surgery for throat cancer in 1986 and a subsequent bypass operation. Moore's name re-emerged amid the explosion of interest in early-'50s rock & roll and country music. In 2000 Westside Records released a 29-song CD of his work on King and Starday.Talents : Singer, Guitar
Style musical : Honky Tonk, Rockabilly, Traditional Country

JUKE BOX JOHNNIE

A Tribute To Old Time Country Music

Established 1998 (As Gary Sez)



Lattie Moore

14 songs by the legendary Lattie Moore. Left click on title to play songs.

I want to thank my good friend Harry Hessig for making these songs available to me. It's much appreciated, Harry!


[b]Now, Here's Lattie


A Doubt Appeared

Bottle By Bottle

Come Back And Be My Wife

Here I Am Drunk Again

Jukebox Johnny

Let's Be Lovers Again


Lattie Moore (left) goofing with Louisville radio personality and recording artists Jimmie Logsdon. Probably late 1950s
Out Of Control

Tall Man

The Sadness I Feel

This Is The Right Time

You Can't Make Hay Pickin' Cotton

You Never Looked Sweeter

Brand New Case Of Love

Not Broke But Badly Bent




From The Guestbook:

Gary, great shot of "GOOD COUNTRY MUSIC" Lattie Moore and I have been friends for a long time I can't wait to tell him about he being on your site. Worked some shows in Indiana with him and Jimmy Logsdon, Benny Martin, Lonzo & Oscar, McCormick Bros., Jimmy Skinner and way back with "Fiddlin'" Arther Smith. Keep up the Good work.
Tom Branham

Bethpage, TN




Thanks for your site so much! I wait for you to post a new artist with great anticipation. The site is a very warm and generous celebration of so many generally obscure yet wonderful artists.
I have an interest in Lattie Moore and have been looking for three of his songs for some time now. I was wondering if you might be able to help me. The songs are: This Is The Right Time, You Can't Make Hay Pickin' Cotton, and You Never Looked Sweeter.
Any help you can offer is most greatly appreciated. Keep up the wonderful work.
Bob

REPLY: Bob, thanks for your visit and nice comments. Those songs have been added.

Moore, Lattie Born 1924 in Scottsville, Ky. Photo (L to R): Lattie Moore and Lenny Ray. References: Feature article and sessionography in issue 15 (1977) of New Kommotion. Feature article and discography in issue 89 (2001) of American Music Magazine.

Source: Jerry Williams

Original Releases



Discography is not intended to be complete

Date & Source	Label & Number	V	Titles {& References to LP/CD List}	As By	Matrix Numbers
1953/Feb. or earlier (BMI est.)	Speed 45-101		Juke Joint Johnny {a,e,l} It's Good Enough For You {a}	1 1	Sp-6 Sp-5
1956/Dec. 8 Bb c&w rev.	Arc 8005		Juke Box Johnnie {b,c,e,g,i,l} Pretty Woman Blues {b,c,e}	1 1	9064 9065
1958/Oct. (Bb est.)	Starday 45-403		Why Did You Lie To Me {d,f,h,k,m} You Never Looked Sweeter {m}	1 1	2810 2812
1960/July 11 Bb c&w rev.	King 45-5370		Mine Again Cajun Doll {e,m}	1 1	45-K4478 45-K4476
1962 RCA mx code	Olimpic NO8W-4980		Skinnie Minnie Shimmy {j} You Got Me Woundering [!!]	2 2	NO8W-4980 NO8W-4981

References in "As By" Column:

1. as by Lattie Moore
   
2. as by Lattie Moore And The Emporers [!!] / Accom. Bill Stricklin Combo