JIMMIE RIDDLE

           

Jimmie Riddle (September 3, 1918 – December 10, 1982) was an American country musician and multi-instrumentalist best known for his appearances on the country music and comedy television show Hee Haw. He was primarily known for the vocal art of eefing.

Riddle was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee and got into show business in Memphis, Tennessee at age 16 by passing the hat in a local beer joint. He moved to Texas in 1939 where he later met Roy Acuff. He joined Acuff's group in 1943 and became a regular member of the band playing harmonica, piano, and accordion.

Riddle was a featured performer on Hee Haw in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One day in 1970 he and guitarist Jackie Phelps were fooling around backstage, Phelps doing the rhythmic knee-slapping known as hambone while Riddle eefed. Co-star Junior Samples was so impressed he encouraged the two to perform the routine for the producers. "The Hambone Brothers" became a semi-regular feature of the show. In the early 1980s Riddle joined Boxcar Willie's touring band, playing the harmonica solos. Riddle died in Nashville.

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The Four Clefs – (Not to be confused with the “Four Clefs” vocal group that was active in the 1940s) Not much info out there about them, but here’s what I did find:  They were apparently based in the Australian state of New South Wales and were active from about 1959 to 1962. Here’s a description of them from the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ from January 28, 1959: “The Four Clefs specialise in harmonious numbers and each Member of the group is an accomplished musician. The band was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm and applause by last night’s audience at the Bennelong Hotel.”

The song played here, “Goofus,” was written by Wayne King, William Harold and Gus Kahn in 1930. Les Paul recorded the song in 1950 and his version was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 1192. The record first reached the Billboard charts on September 29, 1950, peaking at number 21. The Carpenters attempted to re-popularize the song in 1976, when it was released as a single from their album A Kind of Hush. However, as a sign of the duo's declining popularity at the time, it was the first Carpenters A-side single since "Ticket to Ride" in 1970 to fail to make the top 40 portion of the Billboard Ho

James Lawrence Riddle (September 3, 1918 – December 10, 1982) was an American country musician and multi-instrumentalist best known for his appearances on the country music and comedy television show Hee Haw. He was primarily known for the vocal art of eefing.

Biography

Riddle was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee and got into show business in Memphis, Tennessee at age 16 by passing the hat in a local beer joint. He moved to Texas in 1939 where he later met Roy Acuff. He joined Acuff's Smokey Mountain Boys group in 1943 and became a regular member of the band playing harmonica, piano, and accordion, until his death.

Riddle was a featured performer on Hee Haw in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One day in 1970 he and guitarist Jackie Phelps were fooling around backstage, Phelps doing the rhythmic knee-slapping known as hambone while Riddle eefed. Co-star Junior Samples was so impressed he encouraged the two to perform the routine for the producers. "The Hambone Brothers" became a semi-regular feature of the show. In the early 1980s Riddle joined Boxcar Willie's touring band, playing the harmonica solos,but remained in Acuff's Band,on the Opry.

Riddle died of cancer, in Nashville, in 1982, aged 64.