Arkie Shibley
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Arkie Shibley | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jesse Lee Shibley |
| Also known as | Arkie Shibley |
| Born | 21 Sept 1915 Van Buren, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | 7 Sept 1975 Van Buren, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Genres | Early Rockabilly and Western Swing |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar |
| Years active | mid-1940s - 1959 |
| Labels | 4 Star (Gilt-Edge) Mae-Mae Records, Mt Dew Records |
| Website | https://www.facebook.com/ArkieShibley |
Jesse Lee Shibley, known as Arkie Shibley was an country-western singer best known for recording the original version of the song “Hot Rod Race” in November 1950. The record was important because "it introduced automobile racing into popular music and underscored the car's relevance to American culture, particularly youth culture."
Arkie Shibley was born on September 21, 1915, in Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas to David Monta “Mont” Shibley (1888-1923) and Prudence "Prudie" Shibley nee Finch (1893-1969), both farmers. Arkie was a cattle farmer himself and, on November 22, 1935, married Evelyn "Marie" Breeden.
The newlyweds moved to Bremerton, Washington in 1936 where Arkie found work building Illahee State Park for the Works Progress Administration, part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. He later took a job as a sheet metal worker at the Puget Sound Navy Yard.
Between 1936-1938, according to Arkie's eldest son, Fred, "Arkie was passing by a pawn shop one day in a moment that was to forever change his life and help form the DNA building blocks for what the world was soon to call both Rockabilly and Rock and Roll music. For, inside the pawn shop window, Arkie spied an older acoustic guitar, its prominent $5 for sale tag hanging on its side. It was money Arkie knew he didn't have. Would the shopkeeper accept payments? Music history hinged on the answer. Fortunately, the owner said, "Yes!" Arkie made his five payments and brought the guitar home. He had never picked up a guitar before but he began to listen to County and Western singers he heard on the local radio stations and to singers and bands he saw performing live in local speakeasies and cafes. Within the year, Arkie had taught himself how to play the guitar and soon he began singing and composing his own songs. He became brave enough to start singing in local taverns himself. Arkie worked up the crowds and soon became a fixture on the local and national music scene.”
Arkie joined the “Drifting Cowboys” a trio of “range tunesmiths” including Earl Rockford Dobeas (1914-1985) and Leonard Sheehan. In March 1939, the trio known as Buck, Curley and Arkie began a county-wide tour leaving Bremerton for the World’s Fair in San Francisco followed by engagements in theaters and night clubs in Texas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Sometime in the mid-to late-1940s, Arkie formed his own country-swing band the “Mountain Dew Boys” teaming up with William Burman Pruitt "Leon" Kelly (1925-1991), piano thumper and fiddle player Dockie Dean Manuel (1934–1964) and for a short period, William Vernon "Montana Bill" Drinkard (1919-1992). Jack Corliss Hays (1919-1986) filled the void after Drinkard left the group to pursue his own career. Arkie and his band began hosting a regular country music show on radio station KBRO in Bremerton.
In 1950, Arkie was offered a song by George Erwin Wilson Jr. (1907-1988) called “Hot Rod Race,” written by George's son, Ronald George "Ron" Wilson (1930-2022), who was 17-years-old at the time, and could not sign a legal and binding contract. Ron never received a dime for his efforts. Mark Alexander Shibley Trainor, a distant cousin of Arkie Shibley (1915-1975) confirmed with the Wilson family in May 2024 that Ron Wilson was the songwriter of "Hot Rod Race."
The story goes like this ... On a November night, in 1950, at the Peedle Weezer Tavern at 2724 North Lake Way in Bremerton, Washington, one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music was born … Rockabilly. It's about 9 p.m. on a Friday night in a smoke-filled joint with hard concrete floors. The tavern was jam-packed with more than 300 sailors, shipyard workers, loggers, city folks and just plain country folk, all hungry for entertainment in a region that had known all too much grief and suffering from having fought in the World War II and the Korean War. On stage this evening was Jesse Lee "Arkie" Shibley and the Mountain Dew Boys. Arkie's band members were Leon Kelly on lead guitar, Phil Fregon on fiddle, and Jack Hays on stand-up bass. The band has been together for almost four years and had been experimenting with a new swing-country/rolling boogie-woogie sound which Kitsap County residents had responded to enthusiastically
George approached Arkie during intermission of his evening performance with his Mountain Dew Boys. George tells Arkie, “My son has written a song that I was hoping you could sing tonight.” Arkie was always looking for good material and he asked to see the song. The words weren't totally perfect so Arkie worked up some new words and in a few minutes he's over with his band and, after a bit of going over the lyrics and practicing their version they announce to the crowd they're going to play a new song that night. As soon as they lit into the "Hot Rod Race" song, guitarist Leon Kelly starts incorporating his rolling boogie-woogie guitar riffs into the rhythm. The crowd started clapping and cheering wildly then broke into dancing to the new sound. The crowd wouldn't let the band stop and they had to play the song over and over again.
On the spot the tavern's owner Bill Reese bought the rights to the song, from George for $500 as if he was the songwriter, and offered to pay the bands expenses to Pasadena, California to record the song. Bill Reese offered the song to William Asbury "Bill" McCall (1900-1978), owner of 4 Star Records in Pasadena, California. They recorded the song but 4-Star decided against issuing it but arranged for Arkie to get about 200 copies made on his own custom Mt Dew Record label so he could sell them at his performances.
Arkie decided to release the song on his own Mt Dew Record label. The record was credited to "Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys," the line-up being Arkie on rhythm guitar, Leon Kelly on lead guitar, Jack Hays, on bass and banjo, and Phil Fregon, born Philippe Thomas Fregon, (1914-1981) on fiddle. "Hot Rod Race" became a major hit, and Bill McCall finally decided to issue it on their subsidiary Gilt-Edge label.
The experience of being snubbed by Bill McCall was later reiterated in “Arkie’s Talking Blues" --- "So I went to 4 Star with a smile on my face / I had a little tune called-a "Hot Rod Race" / Bill McCall, He said it was no good / I'd be better off a-cuttin' hard wood / It hurt my feelings / He slammed the door / I went up the street talkin' to myself / but we recorded it though..."
"Hot Rod Race" became a major hit for Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys (Gilt-Edge 5021), selling more than 1,000,000 copies staying on the County music charts for seven consecutive weeks, peaking at #5 in January 1951. Trying to repeat his success, Arkie recorded four follow-up songs in 1951 ... "Hot Rod Race #2," "Arkie Meets the Judge (Hot Rod Race #3)," "The Guy in the Mercury (Hot Rod Race #4)" and "The Kid in the Model A (Hot Rod Race #5)."
"Hot Rod Race" prompted the even more successful answer song "Hot Rod Lincoln," a hit for Charlie Ryan (recorded 1955 and 1959, charted 1960, #33 pop), Johnny Bond (1960, #26 pop) and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (1972, No. #9 pop). This lively tune celebrated the youthful fascination with fast cars, tapping into the burgeoning teen culture that would later fuel Rock and Roll's fire.
The songs influenced "Navy Hot Rod" by Jack Rivers (born "Rivers Lewis" (1952), “Maybellene” by Chuck Berry (1955), "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Charlie Ryan (1955), “Race With the Devil” by Gene Vincent (1956), "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (1972) and virtually every drag racing song that followed.
Arkie Shibley and the Mountain Dew Boy's fame will always be tied to George and Ron Wilson.
In 1997, Collector Records (The Netherlands) a Dutch Rockabilly and Rock and Roll label released "Hot Rod Race," a CD with Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys previous recordings -- Hot Rod Race #1 / Shore Leave / Blue Guitar Gamble / I'm A Poor Oakie / Hot Rod Race, #2 / Blue Kelly Boogie / Pick-Pick-Pickin' (On My Old Guitar) / Guitar Hoedown / Playing Dominoes And Shooting Dice / Hard Times In Arkansas / Dusty Blossom Boogie / Arkie Meets The Judge-Hot Rod Race, #3 / Beautiful Coer'd Alene / Fiddle Boogie / Arkie's Talking Blues / Arkie's Letter From Home / Five String Banjo March / I Wish I Was Somebody's Rose / Hot Rod Race, #4 (The Guy In The Mercury) / Hot Woodpecker Rag / Dear Judge / Mountain Dew Stomp / Hot Rod Race, #5 (The Kid In The Model A) / Rockaway / You Put My Heart In Orbit.
Other recordings by Arkie Shibley and the Mountain Dew Boys:
- 1948 - I’m A Lone Little Gypsy / Tip Top Special
- 1948 - Too Long Alone
- 1948 - I’m Drifting Down The River
- 1948 - Apple Dumpling (Washington State Apple Song)
- 1949 - Ragtime Annie / Muddy Road To Texas
- 1950 - Mountain Dew Stomp / Those Tear Drops
- 1951 - This Feeling You Brought Over Me
- 1951 - I Wish I Was Somebody's Rose
- 1952 - Alaska
- 1952 - Along the Yukon Trail
- 1952 - Five String Banjo March
- 1952 - Smokey Mountain Hills Of Tennessee
- 1952 - River Spokane
- 1952 - Blue Guitar Ramble
- 1952 - It Grieves My Lonely Heart / All Because Of You
- 1960 - House Next Door / In My Travels
Arkie has been eligible, since 1976, for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame based on "Hot Rod Race" being one of "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll." He died in Van Buren, Arkansas, on September 7, 1975; and is buried along side of his wife, Marie, at Macedonia Cemetery in Uniontown, Crawford County, Arkansas. Jesse and Evelyn had four children: sons Jesse Frederick "Fred" (1937-2005); Calvin Gene (1940-2001); and daughters Dixie Sue (1942-2000); and Bonnie LyRaine (1953-2016).
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