Shelly Lee Alley (July 6, 1894 – June 1, 1964) was an American singer, musician, songwriter and western swing bandleader. As a songwriter, Alley wrote "Travelin' Blues" for

Jimmie Rodgers James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmi ...

, a song which has been recorded by over 20 artists, including Merle Haggard and

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), m ...

. He is a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame. He is considered one of Texas' best bandleaders of the 1930s and 1940s and a pioneer of western swing music.

Early life

Shelly Lee Alley was born in 1894 in

Alleyton, Texas Alleyton is an unincorporated community in central Colorado County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It adjoins Columbus, Texas. Geography Alleyton is located about 405 meters north of the Colorado River at its closest point. It is east of Columbus ...

. His parents were Eliza ''Hoover'' Alley and John Ross Alley. John Ross operated a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

. He had a brother named Alvin. Alley began reading music when he was a child.

Career

During World War I, Alley was the bandleader for a military orchestra in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. In the 1920s, he moved the Dallas-Fort Worth area and led pop and jazz dance and radio orchestras. He regularly appeared on KRLD with his bands. While working in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Alley met

. Alley wrote "Gambling Barroom Blues" and "Traveling Blues" in 1931 for Rodgers. Alley recorded the latter song with Rodgers, playing fiddle alongside his brother, Alvin, on the recording. After the experience, Alley left swing music to focus on string band music. As of 1933, he had become the first leader of the Swift Jewel Cowboys. The band performed on XEPN. During this time, Alley gained interest in western swing music, a genre which merged his love for swing music and country. In 1936, he started the Alley Cats, who recorded songs for

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

, Bluebird Records and

Okeh Records Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

Cliff Bruner Clifton Lafayette Bruner (April 25, 1915 – August 25, 2000) was a fiddler and bandleader of the Western Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. Bruner's music combined elements of traditional string band music, improvisation, blues, folk, and popular ...

, Leon Selph, Floyd Tillman and

Ted Daffan Theron Eugene "Ted" Daffan (September 21, 1912 – October 6, 1996) was an American country musician noted for composing the seminal "Truck Driver's Blues" and two much covered country anthems of unrequited love, " Born to Lose" and "I'm a Fo ...

were in the band. The Alley Cats broke up during World War II. Alley performed with Patsy and the Buckaroos, a

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

based band. The band broke up in 1946. That same year, he retired from performing live, citing health problems as the reason. He continued to write music, writing "Broken Dreams" for Moon Mulligan and "Why Are You Blue?" for Biff Collie and Little Marge. In 1955, Alley released a single on Jet. He recorded also with Bennie Hess.

Later life and legacy

Alley died in 1964 in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. He is buried in

at the Alley Cemetery. In 1994, Alley was inducted into the Western Swing Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alley, Shelly Lee 1894 births 1964 deaths People from Colorado County, Texas Western swing fiddlers Country music composers American country banjoists American country fiddlers American country guitarists American radio bandleaders American jazz bandleaders American male singer-songwriters United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Texas