lucky wray and the palmetto boys were a part of the kings men

country music began to happen in washington, dc in the fifties in a big way. the man behind it all was connie b. gay, who worked at wqmr and began to call hillbilly music country music. he then moved on to warl in arlington, virginia where he and his protégé don owens introduced country music, not hillbilly music, country music, to maryland, virginia, and washington, dc. gay formed the town and country jamboree tv show. it aired on wttg, channel 5 and don owens became the mc. five years later washington, dc was the east coast mecca of country music. aspiring country music artist began to make their pilgrimage to the washington, dc area. they just seem to pop up from every part of the country. jimmy dean was stationed at andrew air force base just outside dc and formed a band called the texas wildcats and began playing in washington, dc at the famous club. patsy cline came up from winchester, virginia and joined jimmy dean at the famous club with her hit recording walking after midnight. pasty’s career had come to a standstill and don owens took over as her manager and tried to get her career restarted. finally connie b. gay took over the management responsibilities of pasty and with his nashville influence, her career began to take off again and pasty never looked back. however, before pasty made it big in nashville, she paid her dues playing honkie tonks and carnivals anywhere she could make a buck in the maryland, virginia, washington, dc area. turner’s arena was the home of another country and western tv show broadcast live every saturday night and emceed by the voice of smokie the bear. wmal’s jackson weaver, who was part of the comedy radio team hardin and weaver the most popular radio show in the washington, dc area. the turner’s arena show featured many popular country music entertainers in the washington, dc area. some of those who appeared were lucky ray and the palmetto boys, jimmy dean, pasty cline, elton britt, george hamilton, iv vernon taylor, danny denver, bill harrell and and his bluegrass band, roy clark, clint miller, the stoneman family, grandpa jones, jimmy case, dale turner, bobby stevenson and many many others. connie b. gay was the biggest influence country music every had in the maryland, virginia, and washington, dc area. through his influence and help, many country music artist in the washington, dc area. became super stars that might not have ever been heard of outside of the dc area. connie b. gay was inducted into the country music hall of fame in l980. it was in the fifties time frame that lucky wray decided he and his brothers needed to make a change if they were ever to make it in country music. he felt they needed to move to washington, dc. they had been working all the military bases in eastern north carolina to the coast, plus every night club. they played country music in high school to help support their family. their dad fred wray, sr. was seriously wounded in world war i and could not work. their mother worked two jobs trying to make ends meet. the boys played music to help support their mom and dad. their parents taught them to play guitar, drums, and piano. the boys were planning their move to washington, dc when link was inducted into the army. while in korea link got sick on patrol duty and before he could get medical attention the command came for the biggest retreat of the korean war. thousands of army troops pulled out on foot headed into south korea into one of the worst winter storms korea had had in years. link got pneumonia and his right lung had to be removed. link was discharged and returned to north carolina. in 1954 the three hopeful musician moved to washington, dc, but not before a stop off in portsmouth, virginia to play an engagement where they meet shorty horton, who became their base guitar player. while link was in the army, he played his guitar to his own accompaniment. his buddies would ask him to pick out all types of songs most of them he’d never heard of so he picked out what they hummed or sang. link began to play a rough blues type picking along with the chording and with no amplifier link would play very loud and go from chording to picking so fast it would sound distorted. later on in a studio in nashville, this type of picking and chording would create a million selling recording on cadence records once in dc , they began to play at the rendezvous club. the band was called lucky wray and the palmetto boys. of course already in town waiting on them was jimmy dean, pasty cline, roy clark, and other successful artist including fred foster who owned monument records and would add to his roster billy grammer, i got to travel on, roy orbison and dolly parton. three years later in l957, lucky wray would become ray vernon and record the hit record evil angel on the cameo record label and then go onto record my sugar plum for liberty records in hollywood and have his own tv show broadcast from the raleigh hotel with his co-host and manager milt grant. link would record the million seller rumble on cadence and then the hit rawhide which would sell seven-hundred and fifty thousand copies on epic records and become a rock legend. widmarc clark would move to washington, dc in 1957 and become friends with link, ray, doug, and shorty, a friendship that has lasted until this day. vernon wray, doug wray and shorty horton passed away several years ago. i will be seeing link at a show in jacksonville, florida on may the 18th. posted may, 2002

~ Widmarc Clark