Trumann record label produced early rock n roll hitsThursday, September 17, 2009
By MARK RANDALL, Democrat Tribune News Staff
Arlen and Jackie Vaden were a popular Gospel singing team whose radio program could be heard on stations all across the United States in the 1950s.
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(Editors Note: This is the first installment in a three part series that will look back at Vaden Records and Trumann's role in the early days of Rockabilly music in the 1950s) Larry Donn Gillihan often wonders how his life would have turned out if he had said 'no thanks' to Arlen Vaden and not made a record that day in 1959 at KLCN in Blytheville.
But as a 17 year old from Bono, Arkansas with dreams of becoming a Rock 'n' Roll star, the allure of making a 45 record and a shot at fame was too hard to pass up.
"I should have said 'no sir. I'm going to be a doctor or a lawyer and make some money.' But I didn't," Gillihan said. "Back then we all wanted to make a record."
Gillihan's record "Honey Bun" and the flip side "That's What I Call a Ball" would go on to become a regional hit on jukeboxes throughout Northeast Arkansas and he would spend the next 50 years pouring out his heart and soul as a rock n roll performer, but he would never achieve the magnitude of fame other rockabilly singers of that era did - mostly because of Vaden.
It wouldn't be until the European rockabilly revival in the 1970s and 80s that Gillihan and the other artists who recorded for Vaden Records would get their long overdue recognition for their contributions to rockabilly music.
"If it hadn't of been for Vaden I might not have had a record out," Gillihan said. "Then on the other hand, if it hadn't of been for Vaden I might have moved to Nashville and become a really big star. I don't know.
"I don't understand to this day other than he was so wrapped up in cheating somebody out of a quarter. With the ability he had to sell,if he had been honest he could have made millions."
From Gospel to Rockabilly
Arlen Vaden was already a well known Gospel singer and radio disc jockey by the time he started making Rock 'n' Roll records.
Born and raised in Trumann, Vaden and his wife Jackie made a name for themselves on the radio as the Southern Gospel Singers.
According to Vaden's only surviving brother, Jackie's sweet voice lent itself to beautiful interpretations of old-time Gospel favorites and Arlen realized they harmonized well together.
"Jackie was a heck of a singer," Aaron Vaden said. "She had a voice that was all get out."
Love blossomed and the two married were married on April 18, 1951.
The couple decided to see if they could take this talent to the airwaves.
"They would travel all over, mostly Northeast Arkansas," Vaden said. "They would go to a church someplace and sing two or three songs."
Jackie and Arlen's broadcasts were first heard over KOSE in Osceola. After about six months on the air, their popularity began to grow.
KOSE was a small rural station with limited range around Osceola, so Jackie and Arlen decided to move on to reach a bigger audience.
The couple arranged for a time slot on the 10,000 watt station KLCN in Blytheville. After only three months on the air, The Southern Gospel Singers became the most popular show on the station and the program was expanded to three times a day.
Sensing an opportunity to branch out once again, Vaden sent audition tapes to border stations XERF in Del Rio, Texas and XEG-11 in Fort Worth. The stations were located just across the U.S. border in Mexico and were two to four times as powerful as the largest U.S. radio stations.
Jackie and Arlen were soon being heard over vast areas of the southwest, Midwest and southeast.
"It was said that if you had a radio you could hear the Southern Gospel Singers 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Vaden said.
Larger U.S. radio stations started calling about airing the program. The program was picked up by stations WCKY, Cincinnati, Ohio, KXEL, Waterloo, Iowa, KFGO, Fargo, North Dakota, WLAC, Nashville, KXEN, St. Louis and many others.
As the Southern Gospel Singers became nationally known, their records and song books became big sellers. Arlen and Jackie received thousands of letters each week from all over the country.
The letters came in such bulk that they eventually overwhelmed the Trumann Post Office.
"He used Trumann as a mailing address," Vaden said."The radio stations had his mailing address ad when the mail came in the station they would hold it and send it on to Trumann.
"It made Trumann a first class city. It got them a new post office."
The station manager at KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa took note of their popularity and called Arlen in 1954 to see if he was interested in hosting a night time county and Gospel deejay show. Vaden hosted a DJ show on the station which aired Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. until midnight.
A year later, Vaden left KXEL for WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio where he replaced Nelson King on the popular Nighttime Jamboree program.
"Nelson King was the nighttime deejay at the time," Vaden said. "He either went on days or he quit the station and they needed somebody to fill in the nighttimes so they called Arlen.
"He went up and auditioned for a week and they hired him. He was very well received."
Vaden would use the money he made from the sale of the songbooks to branch out in to the recording business.
"He showed me the receipts one time from selling records by mail order out of WCKY in Cincinnati- $5,000 from his Gospel songs," Gillihan said.
A new sound called rockabilly was starting to light up the air waves in the mid 1950s and a cat named Elvis Presley was making a name for himself at a little recording studio in Memphis called Sun Records.
Record labels across the country were scrambling to find similar performers.
"Arlen thought it would be a good idea if he started a Rock 'n' Roll company," Vaden said. "And so he did."
Coming Next week: The Rock 'n' Roll Highway and the start of Vaden Records
http://www.democrattribune.com/story/1571333.html
Sujet: Trumann record label produced early rock n roll hits 
On attend la suite.. Rock'n'Roll Highway et les debuts de Vaden Records.. 
