Leon Jerry "Jack" Guthrie (November 13, 1915 – January 15, 1948) was a songwriter and performer whose rewritten version of the

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspire ...

song "

Oklahoma Hills "Oklahoma Hills" is a song written by Woody Guthrie. In 2001 it was named the official Folk Song of the state of Oklahoma. Chorus :''Way down yonder in the Indian nation'' :''I rode my pony on the reservation'' :''In the Oklahoma Hills where I wa ...

" was a hit in 1945.Whitburn, ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits'', p. 146. The two musicians were cousins.Logsdon, Guy,
Guthrie, Leon Jerry "Jack" (1915–1948)
,"
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
'' (accessed May 26, 2010).

Early life

Born in

Olive, Oklahoma Olive is an unincorporated community in Creek County, Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on ...

, he was a cousin of Woody Guthrie. He grew up around horses and musical instruments before the family moved to California in the mid-1930s, where he took on the nicknames "Jack", "Oklahoma", and "Oke". He competed in rodeo as a bucking-horse rider and in 1937 traveled with Woody to Los Angeles where they landed on The Oke & Woody Show on KFVD radio in Hollywood.

Career in music

Guthrie's rewritten version of a Woody Guthrie song "

" (Capitol 201) reached No. 1 in 1945, staying on the charts for 19 weeks. The b side, "I'm A Brandin' My Darlin' With My Heart", reached No. 5 later that year. At the time the record became a hit Jack Guthrie was in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and stationed in the Pacific Theater. As soon as he got out of the service he wrote and recorded more songs, played live gigs up and down the West Coast. In July 1947 he was admitted to a hospital with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

. He died in 1948 in Livermore, California. Guthrie's style was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers and adapted to fit his cowboy image. Although the labels listed 'Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans' as the artist, in reality Guthrie had no working band. The studio brought in some of its better musicians to back Guthrie. Many of them, like

Porky Freeman Quilla Hugh "Porky" Freeman (June 29, 1916 in Vera Cruz, Missouri, United States – July 8, 2001) was an American Western swing performer, bandleader, and songwriter. He was also an electric guitar pioneer and inventor. In the 1940s he led ...

Red Murrell Joyce Wayne "Red" Murrell (June 27, 1921 – February 10, 2001) was a Western swing performer from Missouri. He led one of the more notable Western swing bands in California, ''Red Murrell and his Ozark Playboys''. He was a popular session ...

Cliffie Stone Clifford Gilpin Snyder (March 1, 1917 – January 17, 1998), professionally Cliffie Stone, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality who was pivotal in the development of Californi ...

, and

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

were recording artists in their own right.

Discography

note: (*) also released as part of the 3-disc 78rpm album set ''Oklahoma Hills: Jack Guthrie Memorial Album'' (Capitol AC-76).

Compilations

* ''Oklahoma Hills'' (Bear Family BCD-15580, 1991)

References

Bibliography

*Whitburn, Joel. ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits''. Billboard Books, 2006.

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Guthrie, Leon Jerry "Jack"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Jack 1915 births 1948 deaths People from Creek County, Oklahoma American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Oklahoma Western swing performers Yodelers

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

20th-century American singers United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in California Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma