Buddy Jones (born Oscar Bergen Riley, December 25, 1902 - October 20, 1956)
Retrieved 27 January 2014 was an American Western swing musician who recorded in the 1930s and 1940s.

Life

He was born in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

, and after his father's death moved to

Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...

as a child. He began performing in travelling shows with his brother Buster, before settling in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

in the early 1930s. There he began performing on radio station KRMD, and met singer

Jimmie Davis James Houston Davis (September 11, 1899 – November 5, 2000) was an American politician, singer and songwriter of both sacred and popular songs. Davis was elected for two nonconsecutive terms from 1944 to 1948 and from 1960 to 1964 as the ...

. Jones first recorded with Davis in 1931, and continued to perform as a member of Davis' backing band. He made his first recordings under his own name for

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 ...

in 1937, and recorded some 80 tracks over the next six years, including country blues as well as risqué honky tonk numbers such as "I'm Going to Get Me A Honky Tonky Baby" and "She's Sellin' What She Used to Give Away". Some of his recordings were duets with Jimmie Davis, and he also recorded with his brother Buster Jones on steel guitar, and with a band including pianist Moon Mullican, fiddler Cliff Bruner and Bob Dunn (steel guitar). His 1939 recording "Rockin' Rollin' Mama" is notable for the lines ''"Waves on the ocean, waves in the sea/ But that gal of mine rolls just right for me/ Rockin' rollin' mama, I love the way you rock and roll"''. He joined the Shreveport Police Department Traffic Squad in the mid-1930s, and in the early 1940s married and ended his recording career.403 Forbidden
He died in Shreveport when he had a heart attack while driving and his vehicle crashed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Buddy 1902 births 1956 deaths American country singer-songwriters 20th-century American singer-songwriters