The Geezinslaw Brothers, also known as The Geezinslaws, was an

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

-based country music comedy duo consisting of Sammy Allred (vocals, mandolin; May 5, 1934 – May 9, 2018) and Dewayne "Son" Smith (vocals, guitar; September 19, 1942 – March 16, 2019). They performed for more than 50 years and released numerous recordings over a 40+ year span from 1963 to 2005. The group started as The Geezinslaw Brothers in the 1950s. They once opened for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

and were regulars on the '' Louisiana Hayride'' radio show. In 1961,

Arthur Godfrey Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...

invited them on his show, giving the duo their big break. They landed a record deal with

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 ...

and released their debut album ''The Kooky World of the Geezinslaw Brothers'' in 1963. They moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and changed record labels to

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, where they recorded four more albums between 1966 and 1969. The duo made the country Top 100 three times during their stint with Capitol, but never cracked the Top 40. The Geezinslaw Brothers made guest appearances on

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

The Jackie Gleason Show ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is the name of a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms. ''Cavalcade of Stars'' Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMon ...

and

Hootenanny (U.S. TV series) ''Hootenanny'' was an American musical variety television show broadcast on ABC from April 1963 to September 1964. The program was hosted by Jack Linkletter. It primarily featured pop-oriented folk music acts, including The Journeymen, The Lim ...

and toured with

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...

and

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

. They became regulars on Ralph Emery's radio program ''

Pop! Goes the Country ''Pop! Goes the Country'' is a weekly half-hour syndicated variety country music television series that originally aired from September 7, 1974 through 1982 for a total of 234 episodes. Originally hosted by Ralph Emery, the series was recorded at ...

''. In 1986, they appeared on ''

Nashville Now ''Nashville Now'' was an American talk show that focused on country music performers in the style of ''The Tonight Show''. The show aired live on weeknights on TNN from 1983–1993. The host was Nashville TV/radio personality Ralph Emery. The sho ...

'', another show hosted by Ralph Emery. They also made guest appearances on "The Jimmy Dean Show", an hour long country variety show. The Geezinslaw Brothers released only one album each decade in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1979, they released an album for Willie Nelson's Short Lived Lone Star Label titled "If You Think I'm Crazy Now..." In 1989, the band, now calling themselves just The Geezinslaws, released a self-titled album on the Step One label. In 1993, the group received the National Association of Record Merchandisers "Indie Best Seller Award" for their recording, ''Feelin' Good, Gittin' Up, Gittin' Down''. This album also gave them their first chart single in over two decades with "Help, I’m White and I Can't Get Down." The group appeared on Austin City Limits three times. The Austin Music Awards inducted The Geezinslaws into its Hall of Fame for 2005. The Geezinslaws last release, ''Eclectic Horsemen'' (2005), has guest performances by

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

, Kinky Friedman and Kelly Willis. Sammy Allred also worked in radio on and off for over forty years, much of the time as a

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

on KVET in Austin. He is a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and won the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

Personality of the Year Award in 2006 and 2007 and the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Personality of the Year Award in 1971 and 1997. Sammy Allred died on May 9, 2018, in Austin, Texas, at age 84. Dewayne Smith (aka Son Geezinslaw; born Raymond D. Smith) died on March 16, 2019, at age 76.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geezinslaws, The Musical groups from Austin, Texas Country music duos Country music groups from Texas Capitol Records artists Step One Records artists Musical groups established in 1963 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 1963 establishments in Texas