Robert Lester Lord (January 6, 1934 – February 16, 2008), better known as Bobby Lord, was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Biography

Lord was born January 6, 1934, in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051. Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...

, but grew up in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

. As a teenager, he entered talent contests, wowing crowds with his edgy

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

style. He was popular with Tampa's young crowd, playing concerts at dance halls. At

Plant High School H.B. Plant High School is a public high school located in the neighborhood of South Tampa in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1927 between South Himes Avenue on the east and Dale Mabry Highway on the west. The school is named in honor ...

, he met his wife, Mozelle, whom he married when he was 20. After graduating from Plant, he was offered the chance to host his own television show while a freshman at the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

. ''The Bobby Lord Homefolks Show'' was an hour-long program on Saturday nights on

WSUN-TV WSUN-TV, UHF analog channel 38, was a television station located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Operating from 1953 to 1970, it was the first television station in the Tampa/St. Petersburg television market. History Early history Th ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and featured Lord singing with a backing band. In 1952, he won a nationwide talent competition sponsored by ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' which led to an appearance on ''

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

's TV Teen Club'' on ABC-TV from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Soon after, songwriter

Boudleaux Bryant Felice Bryant (born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto; August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant (; February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) were an Americans, American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They ...

heard one of Lord's demo tapes and passed it on to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, which signed him in 1953. At age 19, he was the label's youngest recording star. He began releasing country and rockabilly hits for Columbia, and in 1955 joined ''

Ozark Jubilee ''Ozark Jubilee'' is a 1950s United States network television program that featured country music's top stars of the day. It was produced in Springfield, Missouri. The weekly live stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22, 1955, was renamed ' ...

'', an ABC-TV program based in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. In 1960, the ''Jubilee'' was canceled and Lord moved to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, where he was immediately offered a spot on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

. He continued appearing on the Opry well into the 1970s. He recorded for

Hickory Records Hickory Records is an American record label founded in 1954 by Acuff-Rose Music, which operated the label up to 1979. Sony Music Publishing (then Sony/ATV) revived the label in 2007. Originally based in Nashville, and functioning as an independe ...

starting in 1961 and

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

from 1967. During this time he also hosted a daily afternoon show on

WSM-TV WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 15). The two stations share studios on Knob Road i ...

in Nashville, which was the counterpart to

Ralph Emery Walter Ralph Emery (March 10, 1933 – January 15, 2022) was an American country music disc jockey, radio and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. Emery promoted numerous stars on his radio and TV shows, and was called the Dick Clark o ...

's morning show on that station, "Opry Almanac". Under the auspices of WSM-TV, he also hosted a weekly syndicated half-hour program featuring popular country artists. Lord's backing band on the syndicated show included

Jerry Byrd Gerald Lester Byrd (March 9, 1920 – April 11, 2005) was an American musician who played the lap steel guitar in country and Hawaiian music, as well as a singer-songwriter and the head of a music publishing firm. He appeared on numerous radio p ...

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

, Jerry Whitehurst on piano and Spider Wilson on guitar. In 1969, Lord left Nashville and went into semi-retirement from the music industry to devote time to his family and his interests in real estate and insurance. In the 1980s, he hosted TNN's program ''Country Sportsman'', later called ''Celebrity Outdoors'', until 1989. He was also the author of the 1969 book, ''Hit the Glory Road''. Bobby Lord died on February 16, 2008, in

Stuart, Florida Stuart is a city in and the seat of Martin County, Florida, United States. Located on Florida's Treasure Coast, Stuart is the largest of four incorporated municipalities in Martin County. The population is 17,425 according to the 2020 United State ...

, at the age of 74. He was a resident of

Jensen Beach, Florida Jensen Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,652 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Port St. Lucie, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histor ...

, and was survived by his widow, Mozelle, and three children

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notes

References

* Davis, William (1998). "Bobby Lord". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 303.

External links

Bobby Lord
at Hillbilly-Music.com
Bobby Lord obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Bobby 1934 births 2008 deaths People from Sanford, Florida American country guitarists American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters Grand Ole Opry members Henry B. Plant High School alumni Singer-songwriters from Florida 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists People from Jensen Beach, Florida Guitarists from Florida Columbia Records artists Hickory Records artists Decca Records artists Country musicians from Florida 20th-century American male musicians American male singer-songwriters Television personalities from Florida