Paul "Okie Paul" Westmoreland (September 19, 1916 – June 21, 2005) was a musician, songwriter, and disc jockey in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Born in Tyler Texas, he moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

during the

Okie An Okie is a person identified with the state of Oklahoma. This connection may be residential, ethnic, historical or cultural. For most Okies, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Oklahoman. ...

migration.Pew, "Route 66": "From the status of independent farmers, they had fallen to that of cheap labor, and Sacramento’s Paul Westmoreland—or 'Okie Paul,' as he is known to radio listeners throughout central California—is one of them. He was a teen-ager when he made the first run out of Oklahoma with his family. “We was starved out in 1929,” he recalls, ...“ As a songwriter he is best known for " Detour (There's A Muddy Road Ahead)", written in 1945, which became a big hit for

Spade Cooley Donnell Clyde "Spade" Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American convicted murderer and former Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. In 1961 he was arrested and convicted for the Ap ...

and was afterwards covered by Patti Page and many others. Other songs by Westmoreland include, "Lordy, Oh Lord" (1952), "Save The Pieces" (1953), and "What's Another Broken Heart To You?" (1953, with Joe Hobson). He also recorded for Decca Records and toured with his own band in 1954. Included in his band was bass player Raymond "Cousin Ray" Woolfenden.
Woolfenden
was elected to the Country Radio DJ Hall of Fame in 1999. Westmoreland died in California.

References

Bibliography

*Gregory, James Noble. ''American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California''. Oxford University Press, 1991. *Pew, Thomas W., Jr
"Route 66: Ghost Road of the Okies"
''American Heritage'' (August 1977). Western swing performers Four Star Records artists 1916 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American musicians Country musicians from Oklahoma {{US-country-musician-stub