Lloyd Perryman

1917-1977

Early Musical Career * The Sons of the Pioneers * In the Movies * War Service
Return to the Sons of the Pioneers * Perryman’s Death

A complete biography of Lloyd Perryman has never been published and is long overdue. It would be difficult if not impossible to describe just how important Perryman was to the music and legacy of the Sons of the Pioneers. He was the glue that held the group together for so many years. He was the peacemaker, the willing worker, the cheerful partner, the unfailingly kind and courteous entertainer, the achingly beautiful voice, the raucous hillbilly voice, the loyal friend and the originator of the stacked harmony that made the group famous. The list would go on and on, continually added to by all who knew him—friends, fans, fellow entertainers. Perryman could sing anything. And, oh, how he could sing! Not only could he sing with a clear, strong tenor and exceptional power of feeling, but he was also completely dedicated to preserving that unique harmony that was the trademark sound of the Sons of the Pioneers. The breathing, timing, articulation—every detail was important to him. And his range was superb.

“And, yes, we did make a concerted effort to avoid any sounds of breathing. That was very important to us. Lloyd taught us a trick on taking a fast or long breath. Just put your tongue up against the roof of your mouth and take a breath. You can hardly tell you are taking one. Tommy could take very long breaths and Lloyd could breathe forever. Go back and listen to a passage on the song, “Lonely Little Room.” Partway into that song there's a passage that goes on and on. And on “Wind,” I thought we never would come to a place where I could catch a breath.”
—Dale Warren to Ken Griffis, p. 225, “Hear My Song,” 1994

Because we came into the picture far too late to know Perryman personally, we can really only list a bare outline of his life and sprinkle it with photographs and the tributes of those who knew him, beginning with Bob Nolan. Nolan thought the world of Perryman. Both families were close. Even after both men were gone, their wives, Buddie and P-Nuts, remained best friends until they, too, died.

As we can hear in the introduction Nolan gives Perryman in the audio clip below, Nolan felt there was no one like Perryman to interpret the feeling and spirit of his songs. In fact, only Perryman could sing Nolan's difficult compositions as they were meant to be sung.

Perryman’s voice was as integral to the sound of the Sons of the Pioneers as Nolan's, or Hugh Farr's fiddle, or Karl Farr's guitar. Even when his voice was tired near the end of his life, his singing was still superb and soulful, as can be heard in this 1966 recording of Nolan’s “Song of the Prairie.”

Lloyd Wilson Perryman was born January 29, 1917, in the little farming community of Ruth, Arkansas. He was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. Preceding him were Bessie, Sophie, George, Ralph, Jessie, Eunice, Ray, and Bill. Samuel David and Sally Scott Perryman moved to Zion, Arkansas, in 1920, where they farmed and operated a general store. There, Perryman attended school in a two-room schoolhouse with four grades and one teacher to each room.

Although his parents were not musically inclined, Perryman recalled music was always present in the Perryman household. His mother had two brothers who played instruments and sang. One brother taught music in Calico Rock, Arkansas. The Perrymans joined other families in the Saturday night musical get-togethers. Perryman began to practice on the guitar when he was 9, but the poor guitar suffered from his inability to tune it. Lemon Bone, a traveling musician, made an appearance in their community, and by intently watching where Bone placed his fingers, Perryman gained an insight into playing the guitar. But by this time it was too late for the guitar: The neck had been pulled far out of alignment from improper tension on the strings. He recalled singing in church from song books written in shape notes, and it was then he realized he possessed a listenable voice. At an early age he found harmony singing enjoyable, and he demonstrated an unusual ear for music.

Samuel Perryman moved his family to California in the winter of 1928, settling in Wasco, California, near Bakersfield, where he engaged in farming and real estate. Here, Perryman first gave serious thought to a musical career. As a sophomore in high school, he took part in various musical events, finding satisfaction in performing and pleasing the audience. He also appeared on the amateur programs at radio station KERN in Bakersfield. Listening to Los Angeles radio, he was particularly attracted to the Beverly Hill Billies, learning their songs as he sang along with them.

EARLY MUSICAL CAREER

In late 1932, deciding it was time to strike out on his own, Perryman slung his guitar on his back and caught a freight train heading south toward Los Angeles. He soon arranged an audition with Benny Nawahi and his International Cowboys, who were then appearing on radio station KGER. The group included Nawahi and a trio of Leonard Slye, Tim Spencer, and Bill “Slumber” Nichols. After rendering the old Jimmie Rodgers tune “Whisper Your Mother’s Name,” Perryman was complimented on a fine voice but was informed there was no opening in the group. The fellows suggested that he contact Bert Crowe, who headed up the Sierra Mountaineers. Although the Mountaineers were seeking a tenor, Lloyd was a natural baritone. When asked if he could sing tenor, Perryman replied that he only sang tenor—and became one then and there. He remained with the group for about a year, realizing little in the way of salary, depending mainly on tips.

Bill Nichols remembered Perryman from his audition with Benny Nawahi and contacted him in September 1933, asking if he would care to join a new group, eventually to be named Cyclone and His 4-S Ranch Boys, for a tour of the Southwest. Nichols should have realized the perils of such a journey, having himself just returned from a disastrous trip to Texas as part of the O-Bar-O Cowboys. Nevertheless, off to fame and misfortune rode the 4-S Ranch Boys, Snipe (Carl Cobb), Slumber (Bill Nichols), Slats (Lloyd Perryman), and Squire (Ray Head). While in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the trio billed themselves as the Melody Millers. The group returned several weeks later, a bit poorer—if that were possible—but surely wiser.

Afterward, fortunately, Perryman was able to rejoin the Sierra Mountaineers, then appearing on radio station KGER. When an opening appeared in the Beverly Hill Billies, Perryman again took leave of the Mountaineers. He was pleased to have the opportunity of becoming part of the Hill Billies, but less than a year later, several members returned to the group and Perryman was out of work again.

In late 1935, Perryman joined Jack LeFevre and His Texas Outlaws on radio station KFWB. This was the heyday of cowboy and folk music, and stations around Los Angeles featured live performances. While with the Outlaws, Perryman was performing 5½ hours a day, including time with four other groups. A good deal of the day was spent riding buses from station to station. He was thinner than ever, but he was gaining experience.

Hoping to improve his circumstances, Perryman contacted Tim Spencer of the Sons of the Pioneers, asking if he had any ideas where he might hook on with a group where his talents could be better used. Spencer suggested he try for a spot with Jimmy LeFevre and His Saddle Pals, then appearing at the 97th Street Corral.

THE SONS OF THE PIONEERS

 "In hindsight, Tim's leaving the group briefly after returning from the Texas Centennial was a pivotal moment for the Pioneers."
—Laurence Zwisohn

When Tim Spencer left the Pioneers in sympathy with his brother, Leo, who had been released from his managerial chores, it must have seemed that it would be the end of the group. They had to find someone quickly to take his place. During this time Perryman was substituting for members of the Sons of the Pioneers when they had to be out of the group and had been performing with Jimmy LeFevre and His Saddle Pals. Roughly nine months after Lloyd joined that group, Bob Nolan called him up and asked Perryman if he would like to fill the spot left by Tim Spencer when the Pioneers returned from the Texas Centennial. He officially became a member of the Sons of the Pioneers in September 1936, joining Leonard Slye, Bob Nolan, and Hugh and Karl Farr. He never looked back. He was 19 years old.

Perryman’s contribution to the Sons of the Pioneers was immediately apparent.

“It's pretty obvious the Pioneer blend improved after Lloyd joined the group. That wasn’t only because of the quality of his voice. It had a lot to do with the way they stacked their voices.

What I hear in the stacking of voices after Lloyd joined was a definite attempt to keep the harmony parts in a comfortable range for each one of the singers so that no member was straining to reach a note, whether it be a high or low one. That is what contributes most to the quality of blend associated with vocal groups... keeping everyone singing in a comfortable range.
Most melodies stay within a certain range whereby the middle voice can handle the whole thing with no difficulty. In that case, the tenor sings a regular tenor part usually three notes above and the baritone fills in the remaining note of the chord below the melody (i.e., “When Payday Rolls Around”). However, some melodies may traverse a full octave range or more during the course of a song. When that happens, its best to assign parts of the melody to individual ranges.

That's why they often distributed different parts of the melody line to different members of the trio as they proceeded through a song. Once the decision was made to stack voices so that everybody was singing in a comfortable range, that procedure was applied to all songs, regardless. The stacking, of course, was the baritone on the bottom, the tenor on the top, and the third voice in the middle. Whether Lloyd was responsible for that, I don't know. I do know that he was definitely responsible for the interpretation and vocal stylings of most of the songs the Pioneers did down through the years.

Tumbling Tumbleweeds is a classic example of this procedure. With the voices always stacked the same (baritone on the bottom, then the middle voice, and finally the tenor on top), the first two lines of the song begin with the melody in the tenor or top part. In the third line the melody is carried by the middle voice, and in the fourth line (“Drifting along with the Tumbling Tumbleweeds”) the baritone or bottom part carries the melody. The voices remained stacked the same regardless of who is carrying the melody. This is repeated throughout the song. Most all the top Western vocal groups have followed this same procedure down through the years.

The main goal was to have every member of the trio comfortable with the range he was singing in. The logical result was to have Bob Nolan on the bottom, Tim Spencer in the middle, and Lloyd on top. This arrangement never varied. From that point, it was just a matter of picking a comfortable key for all three to sing in depending on what the melody did in any particular song.    

Also, remember the blend prior to Lloyd was a little more strained because Tim Spencer was handling the tenor chores above Leonard Slye and often singing at the top of his range. When Lloyd became part of the trio, Tim dropped down to the middle range and the sound became much more relaxed and smooth. Also, Lloyd added an exceptional tenor voice to the blend, much better suited for that part than Tim’s.”
—Dick Goodman of the western group The Reinsmen

“I do think that my father had a natural ear for harmony.  I remember him rehearsing with the group in the living room and he would sing each part to the other guys and have them sing it back to him.  Then they would all sing together and he would correct one of them and do it again.”

—Wayne Perryman

“My father's idea of his responsibility was his share and half of yours.”
—Wayne Perryman

In 1937 the Sons of the Pioneer were given a spot on Peter Potter's Hollywood Barn Dance at KHJ with the Stafford Sisters and the Four Squires, etc. Years later, Christine Stafford said to Ken Griffis, "Dobbs [Lloyd's nickname] was one of the nicest people who ever lived, besides being as talented as you can get. I simply can't believe anyone can sing as beautifully as he did."

IN THE MOVIES

Perryman’s first part in a movie as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers was in The Old Wyoming Trail a year later, in 1937. He sang his first solo, “My Saddle Pals and I,” in Outlaws of the Prairie the next month. But it was in a later Charles Starrett film, Rio Grande in 1938, that his lyrically beautiful rendition of Bob Nolan's Slumber Time on the Range, drew audience attention. The Sons of the Pioneers never did commercially record the song and it was "lost" until the old Columbia/Starrett films appeared again, this time on video

Still from the movie Rio Grande, 1938

Perryman and his pretty bride, Violet (Buddie), turned the Sons of the Pioneers’ tour that year into a honeymoon. They had been married September 6, 1938, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Buddie and Lloyd Perryman in Washington, D.C.., 1938
(Photo courtesy of the Calin Coburn Collections)

In 1938 or 1938 [exact date not certain] the Sons of the Pioneers began a new syndicated radio show, Sunshine Ranch, originally aired over KNX and the Mutual Broadcasting System. They appeared daily on KHJ from 7 to 8 a.m. every morning, on Saturday Night Frolic with the Stafford Sisters and even one of the early television test programs.

At the same time, they were on the Columbia lot six days a week. They were to appear in several movies over the next few years.

The first cross-country tour the Sons of the Pioneers made was to Chicago in 1939-40. Intending to stay a week, they remained almost a year on the Uncle Ezra radio show and appeared in various cities. Lloyd Perryman told author Ken Griffis that he recalls one performance at a theater in Chicago that had its anxious moments. Tim Spencer was away for a few days and Pat Brady was supposed to fill in for him, but that night only Perryman turned up for the show. As he frantically tried to prepare for a solo performance, Brady appeared and, finally, the Farr brothers. They decided to put Hugh Farr into the trio because Bob Nolan still wasn't there. Halfway through the evening, they saw Nolan slowly walking down the center aisle eating a hamburger. He chose a seat in the front row and watched the show!

Lloyd Perryman in New York City, 1942, with Martha Retsch, the president of the Sons of the Pioneers Fan Club.
(Photo courtesy of John Fullerton)

While the Pioneers were in Chicago, they placed about 200 songs on transcription for NBC's Orthacoustic Recording Division, completing them in August. These were the famous Symphonies of the Sage and were drawn from for succeeding radio programs. They were also the best example of pure, classic Sons of the Pioneers sound.

The group returned home to Los Angeles in September 1941 and signed with Camel Cigarettes to be a part of the Camel Caravan, appearing at military bases on the West Coast. While they were in Seattle, they heard from Roy Rogers. They were to report to Republic Studios on October 23 to join him in a new series of movies, starting with Red River Valley. As in the Charles Starrett pictures, Perryman had no major speaking roles. He galloped around the countryside with the Sons of the Pioneers on location and was visible in most of the close-ups. His voice was heard plainly in all the singing.

They completed Red River Valley in early November and near the end of November 1941, the Pioneers signed to do a series of 15-minute radio transcriptions for the Dr. Pepper Bottling Company with Dick Foran and Martha Mears called 10-2-4 Ranch. In December 1941 they signed with the Mutual Network to do a series of radio programs each Saturday night called Radio Rodeo. At the same time, they started working on the next Roy Rogers movie, Man from Cheyenne, quickly followed by South of Santa Fe. In 1942, the Sons of the Pioneers and Roy Rogers made eight Roy Rogers films for Republic and one with Gene Autry (Call of the Canyon). This is all in addition to their radio shows and their personal appearances.

It was also in 1942 that The Sons of the Pioneers made their historic journey across the continent to appear at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo with Roy Rogers.

WAR SERVICE

In April 1943, Lloyd Perryman was called up into the U.S. Army, becoming a staff sergeant in the Army Air Force early in 1944. He remained until January 1946. During this time the Sons of the Pioneers continued to pay Perryman his usual share for each performance they made while he was overseas. Ken Carson replaced him in the vocal trio. A great deal of Perryman's service time was spent in a hospital bed in Burma, fighting off malaria. He was terribly homesick. He mentions that along with a description of his last six months in the service in this brief interview with Johnny Bond:

In 1944 a son, Wayne Lloyd Perryman, was born to Lloyd and Buddie Perryman.

Excerpt from the Prairie Prattler Vol. 2, No. 3:

October 18, 1944 was a very happy day for S/Sgt. and Mrs. Lloyd Perryman. Why? On this eventful date, the stork dropped a little stranger down in Hollywood. The Lloyd Perrymans are the proud parents of a son - Wayne Lloyd Perryman. From all reports, little Wayne looks like his famous daddy.

Lloyd has had his address changed again:

S/Sgt. Lloyd W. Perryman, 39570629
36 Spt. Soc. Co. H2-MCAC-FWB
Echron, APO 689 c/o Postmaster
New York, New York

In the photo below the stork graces the table, and Buddie is the guest of honor.

Left to right: Margo (a friend), Peggy "Mrs. Shug" Fisher, Fern Allen, Claudina (twin of Fayetta), Fayetta "Mrs. Pat" Brady, Rosita "Mrs. Hugh" Farr, P-Nuts "Mrs. Bob" Nolan,
Mae "Mrs. Karl" Farr, Velma "Mrs. Tim" Spencer and Buddie "Mrs. Lloyd" Perryman.
(Photo courtesy of the Calin Coburn Collections)

The wives of the Sons of the Pioneers often got together and became close friends over the years.

Bob Nolan wrote “Half Way ‘Round the World” and dedicated it to his brother, Capt. Earl Nolan, a U.S. Marine on active duty. Because the Sons of the Pioneers were singing it when Perryman was in Burma, the song became inextricably bound to his longing for home during his war years in the Far East. Although we hear Martha Mears sing it in a Dr. Pepper show on St. Patrick's Day, 1944, the song was not published until 1947, after Ken Carson had written down the score for Nolan. Nolan could not write music, and Carson often did that chore for him. Perryman himself was unable to sing the song for years without his voice breaking because it brought back those homesick years. He was finally able to sing it on a Lucky U radio program on Christmas Day 1952 and recorded it for RCA Victor in 1966.

About the same time, Tim Spencer wrote “The Little Guy Who Looks Like You” for Perryman, but it was never commercially recorded by the Pioneers. Betty Taylor sang it on a Lucky U radio program February 1, 1952, and Ginny Simms, Kay Kayser's vocalist, recorded it commercially.

RETURN TO THE SONS OF THE PIONEERS

Perryman returned in early January 1946, followed shortly by Pat Brady. The classic Sons of the Pioneers were together once more.

In March they recorded several songs for RCA including the most famous rendition of “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and “The Everlasting Hills of Oklahoma,” with Country Washburne directing. The men quickly donned their western costumes and began work with Roy Rogers in Republic again. Their first film together was Under Nevada Skies, released August 26, 1946. With the Sons of the Pioneers, Perryman went on to appear in 19 pictures (18 with Republic and one with Walt Disney) between 1946 and 1948.

(Photos courtesy of the Calin Coburn Collections)

Night Time in Nevada marked the end of the Sons of the Pioneers' Republic film career. On May 7, 1948, Herbert Yates wrote to Tim Spencer that "…because of the foreign market conditions and the shrinkage of domestic box office receipts, the Studio Executive Committee decided to discontinue the services of the Sons of the Pioneers in line with the general economy that we are compelled to pursue in order to stay in business...."

1949 brought dramatic changes to the group. When both Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan retired, Lloyd Perryman took over the reins of the Sons of the Pioneers. He had been doing that more and more over the previous year as Nolan was finding it increasingly difficult to continue fronting the group. Spencer's voice was wearing out, and his interests were changing. Nolan would disappear at times, and Perryman was the one who kept the show going on the road. The Sons of the Pioneers had an equal interest in everything and they took turns “ramrodding” but, in actual fact, Perryman diplomatically but firmly kept things going. Over the remaining years they contemplated retiring the Sons of the Pioneers name, but it proved impossible because each one needed the job, their families depended on it, and the individual members functioned better as a group.

In the ensuing years, Perryman did much of the arranging and trained each new member in the unique Sons of the Pioneers harmony. He knew every part of hundreds of songs, and to train the new members he would sing their part only and tape it for them to take home and learn. For example, when Rusty Richards told author Ken Griffis that when he joined the Pioneers in 1963, Perryman passed him a tape with the tenor part to some of the songs. Richards was shocked and unbelieving when he heard the parts he was to sing, but he memorized them. At rehearsal, to his astonishment and relief, his part slipped into place neatly and smoothly. “You just can't believe what a talented individual Lloyd Perryman was,” he said. “I learned so much from the man, and he was so nice to me.” Every person who knew Perryman echoed those words.

The Sons of the Pioneers continued to perform in the movies and began to work in television as well. They provided the vocal score for Stan Jones’ songs in Wagonmaster, a precursor of the Wagon Train TV series starring Ward Bond.

Left: Lloyd and Buddie Perryman in Casper, Wyoming, in 1950. Right: Perryman’s autograph, courtesy of an anonymous collector.

On December 1, 1950, Perryman, Ken Curtis, Tommy Doss, Shug Fisher and the Farr brothers were in New York City and recorded seven songs and provided backup for The Three Suns, Vaughn Monroe, and Ezio Pinza. Back home, Rex Allen signed them to be part of his 1950 radio show sponsored by Phillips Petroleum. Joining the Pioneers and Allen were Ginny Jackson, Wade Ray, and Frankie Messina.

Rex Allen departed, and The Rex Allen Show became the Lucky U Ranch with Perryman as host and George Putnam as announcer. The program was a half-hour daily, five days a week, and the format of this show was superior to their earlier radio shows in that it was well-planned and scripted. The Pioneers “lived” on a ranch on the desert, Betty Taylor was the local schoolteacher who had a crush on Tommy Doss. Shug Fisher and Ken Curtis took over the comedy sections—Fisher with his exaggerated stutter and Curtis with his imitation of a country bumpkin, Dink Swink. Guest stars such as Bob Nolan, Stan Jones, and Tim Spencer delighted the radio audience.

“The Sons of the Pioneers and their “Lucky U Ranch” on KHJ Television is gaining steadily as one of the top programs of its kind in the West. The Pioneers maintain their radio program daily on the same station at 1:30 p.m. The TV show is 3:30 p.m. and both are Mondays through Fridays.”
—Brad’s Newsletter, Dec. 26, 1952, courtesy of Fred Goodwin

Starting October 8, 1952, the Sons of the Pioneers were busy Mondays through Fridays with both a KHJ radio show at 1:30 p.m. and a KHJ-TV show at 3:30 p.m. Studio audiences could obtain tickets for the shows by writing directly to the station at 1313 N. Vine, Hollywood. The following clipping from the October 19, 1952, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner describes the Lucky U Ranch programs on TV, which have since disappeared from sight. The TV show was discontinued in February 1953.

Left: Betty Taylor, courtesy of Josie Shapira. Right: George Putnam, announcer on the Lucky U program.

Although the Pioneers had completed their Republic contract, they hadn't finished with making movies. In 1950, they furnished the movie score for Wagonmasters with a large symphony orchestra—a first for the group. After the picture’s release, they made a 14-day tour of the Southwest promoting the picture and the four recordings they made for it: “Chuckawalla Swing,” “Rollin' Dust,” “Song of the Wagonmaster,” and “Wagons West.” They provided backup for several more John Wayne-John Ford westerns such as The Searchers and Rio Grande, and Ken Curtis sang in The Quiet Man.

On June 7, 1951, the Sons of the Pioneers appeared in Carnegie Hall in New York City. The second half of the show was turned over to them with Perryman as master of ceremonies. They sang 20 songs, four of which were Bob Nolan’s. Audience response was overwhelming. When the trio sang “The Lord’s Prayer” with a minimum of accompaniment, the audience was absolutely still for several seconds after the song was done. The trio, as always, was perfect a cappella, and this sophisticated New York crowd was impressed.

While they were in New York, the Pioneers appeared on The Perry Como Show, Texas Jim Robertson's show, and the Steve Allen Show. They provided backup for two Como RCA recordings, “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and “You Don't Know What Lonesome Is,” a song Bob Nolan recorded later.

The Sons of the Pioneers made a decision to spend more time making personal appearances. Because Shug Fisher and Ken Curtis were not eager to start touring again, they retired from the Sons of the Pioneers, and Curtis become host of the Lucky U Ranch program, changing the name to “Lucky U.” The search for replacements for these popular members began. Dale Warren was hired to replace Ken Curtis, and “Deuce” Spriggens came in once more.

Shortly after this, Lloyd Perryman took leave of the Pioneers, leaving Hugh Farr as emcee. About the same time, the Pioneers parted company with RCA because they couldn't agree on contract terms, although they did sign Bob Nolan alone. Perryman returned to the group in February of 1954, and they signed with Decca, recording eight beautiful sides on the Coral label, including “Montana,” before Decca lost interest.

A year later, in February 1955, the Sons of the Pioneers returned to the Victor label—with conditions. The conditions were unacceptable to the group as a whole, but Victor was adamant. They wanted the original trio of Spencer, Nolan, and Perryman, excluding Doss and Warren of the current trio. The Pioneers reluctantly signed because recording contracts were becoming rare. Spencer’s voice gave out once more, and Ken Curtis agreed to return for the recording sessions. Nolan was back, and Pat Brady came, too, replacing Shug Fisher, who had replaced Deuce Spriggens. The classic Sons of the Pioneers were together again for their last recording sessions from 1955 to ‘57. Some of the pop and rock ’n’ roll songs Victor had them sing startled their fans.

Coincidentally, the current vocal trio of Perryman, Doss, and Warren (plus the Farr brothers, Deuce Spriggens, and Shug Fisher) were making transcriptions for different government departments: Country Music Time for the Department of the Navy and Smokey the Bear for the Department of Agriculture. Many of these songs were never commercially recorded and the only place we can hear them is from these transcriptions. Celebrities would appear on the Smokey the Bear programs, including Hugh O'Brien (Wyatt Earp), Jim Arness (Gunsmoke), Richard Boone (Have Gun—Will Travel), James Garner (Maverick), George Burns, Danny Thomas, Lawrence Welk, Raymond Burr (Perry Mason), George Montgomery, Ozzie Nelson, and even Ronald Reagan.

“My mother's father had a little cabin in Pioneertown and when I was a kid we would go up there sometimes. Lloyd and Bob would hang out together sometimes when Bob and Peanuts would come up to visit. Clearly, Bob and my dad were pals.”
—Wayne Perryman

“We spent a lot of time with Bob and P-nuts. Here is a shot of them at Pioneertown. The older man is Grandpa Thatcher who was a blacksmith with the Rough Riders. He met and married my grandmother in Puerto Rico. You will notice that beer consumption was from larger bottles to avoid the problem of frequent trips to the cooler. My mom is next to Bob.”
—Wayne Perryman

In late 1958, the last of the original members of the Sons of the Pioneers, Hugh Farr, left the group. Farr had been unhappy for many years, and because he was the last active member of the original group, registered the Sons of the Pioneers name for copyright himself. The matter was resolved in court, and Farr lost his case. This left the group without a fiddle until Wade Ray joined a year or two later. Also, bassist Shug Fisher retired, and Pat Brady returned. George Bamby and his accordion joined in 1959, and he remained for about a year. Wade Ray remained for about a year, as well.

A year later Perryman appeared as Richfield’s constable in the “Flaming Gold” episode of a 1959 Rex Allen “Frontier Doctor” series on television.

Lloyd Perryman with Rex Allen and Mark Dana in Flaming Gold, 1959

The 1959 Sons of the Pioneers lineup of Dale Warren, Shug Fisher, Lloyd Perryman, Tommy Doss, and Karl Farr:

1961 brought tragedy when Karl Farr died of a heart attack during a performance on tour. A news release on September 20, 1961, announced:

Karl Farr, 52, an original member of the Sons of the Pioneers singing group, collapsed of a heart attack Wednesday night while performing at the Eastern States Exposition coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Farr died a few minutes later in Exposition Hospital. News of Mr. Farr’s death was kept from other members of the organization and the audience of 4,000. The show, starring Cliff Arquette, continued. Mr. Farr was removed from the Coliseum by Exposition police and treated at the Exposition Hospital. Dr. William M. Davis, who was on duty, injected adrenaline into Mr. Farr’s heart. The doctor later said that for all practical purposes, the entertainer was dead on arrival. Arrangements are being handled by Mr. Art Rush, business manager for the singers, who was with them at the Exposition.

Tommy Doss told Ken Griffis, “Karl was doing a solo, “Up a Lazy River,” on his old acoustic Martin guitar when a string broke. This noticeably upset him and, as he worked with the string, he suddenly slumped over, suffering a heart attack. Dale Warren and I carried him backstage. It was a terrible shock to all of us.”

Roy Lanham was invited to replace Karl Farr and his guitar. Now, without the Farr brothers, the Sons of the Pioneers had a different background sound, although the vocal trio was faithful to the original harmony.

In 1963, after 14 years with the Sons of the Pioneers, Tommy Doss retired, although he recorded through 1967 and returned for special appearances. Doss’s vocal had closely matched Bob Nolan’s highly unusual baritone, so Doss’s departure signaled the end of the distinctive “Nolan” sound. Perryman took the lead part now, and Warren the baritone when Rusty Richards joined briefly to provide the tenor, leaving again in 1966. Billy Armstrong and his fiddle were hired and, in 1969, Luther Nallie.

Armstrong told Ken Griffis that he found the harmony singing more exacting than he'd expected and that Perryman didn't hesitate to tell him when he strayed.

Each note had to be exact; you couldn't 'swap' notes without it being brought to your attention. The shading, the crescendo, the fortissimo, the pianissimo, so to speak, were all a part of the Pioneers style of singing and I had never experienced that before. It wasn't easy and I came to have a great appreciation for the talent required to sing their music.
—Billy Armstrong

On January 2, 1972, Stuart Hamblen gathered together three members of the classic Sons of the Pioneers: Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, and Lloyd Perryman. The dual purpose of the meeting was to interview the Pioneers for an upcoming KLAC program and interview Bob Nolan for the first time for the biography Ken Griffis was writing. It had been difficult to arrange an interview with Nolan at all, so Perryman and Hamblen thought a gathering of friends would do the trick. It did. It opened the way for further interviews for Ken Griffis' book, "Hear My Song: The Story of the Celebrated Sons of the Pioneers". This interview was the basis for a KLAC program on January 9, 1972.

On April 24, 1971, the Sons of the Pioneers were presented the Wrangler Award by the Cowboy Hall of Fame. It was presented by Joel McCrea and Walter Brennan and accepted by Perryman, Hugh Farr, Ken Curtis, and Pat Brady to standing ovations.

On April 21, 1972, a 40th anniversary tribute was paid through Marty Robbins to the Sons of the Pioneers at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when the mayor read a proclamation naming that day as “The Sons of the Pioneers Day.” After dinner, a long stage show entertained the Sons of the Pioneers (past and present), their families, and fans. Rex Allen, Marty Robbins, Johnny Bond, Jimmy Wakely, Smokey Rogers, and Stuart Hamblen sang, and the Sons of the Pioneers joined Roy Rogers. Previous members Tommy Doss, Ken Carson, Rusty Richards, plus Slumber Nichols were there. All the members, past and present, mounted the stage to sing “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” together in an emotional finale.

Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan at left microphone, Roy Rogers and Hugh Farr at center, Lloyd Perryman in white jacket at right.

Shortly after this, Billy Armstrong took his leave and in April of 1974, Luther Nallie left, being replaced by accordionist Billy Liebert and the returning Rusty Richards.

Douglas B. Green, aka “Ranger Doug” of that unparalleled modern western group Riders in the Sky, tells how this group of the Sons of the Pioneers changed the course of his life:

If there was a turning point, it came in 1974, when I visited the first (and apparently last) Western Swing Festival that the irrepressible Guy Logsdon helped put on in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I loved western swing—and still do—and was surprised to find the Sons of the Pioneers on the bill. I recall thinking they were sure western, but didn't swing, and if anything, I thought they were a little like a quaint relic, somewhat musty and faintly unhip.

There were just four of them that day—the stripped-down version in those lean years for western music—Lloyd Perryman, Roy Lanham, Dale Warren and Rusty Richards, and the minute they hit the stage with Way Out There, The Timber Trail, When Pay Day Rolls Around and the rest, I was blown out of my chair. I was stunned, nearly breathless; here, amid unrelenting barroom ballads and dance tunes was music of such freshness, such force, such... integrity. It appealed to me as a poet, as a musician, and it flung me back into the seat of the theater in Costa Mesa where I spent so many hours as a kid, where I lost my brand-new Indian feather headdress the day I got it. What a torrent of memories.

Tim Spencer's Cowboy Country... is a clever but undistinguished ditty, except for the release. When Lloyd Perryman soars up to “Let me sing my song to the [lonesome dogies]”, I still get the chills. Great singing, great song writing.

I determined that day to learn all I could about the Pioneers and this style of music, and went back to the Country Music Foundation, where I was working at the time, and immersed myself in the songs of Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer, and the music of the classic Pioneers. I absorbed these songs like a sponge, and analyzed them as well, for by then I had some skills as a writer and a musician, and I could appreciate not only the stirring emotional appeal but the remarkable craftsmanship, both in lyrics and in music, that I found there.

Their songwriting was everything I wanted mine to be: direct, powerful, virile, poetic, tender and sometimes humorous. It is imaginative and unfettered by the traditions and constraints which generally typified the other songs, even western songs, of their era. They were poets and great melodists as well. I tried to see the world through the eyes of Bob Nolan, but I have to admit I learned more of songwriting from Tim Spencer; both were craftsmen with enormous heart, and shaped the music we now sing beyond calculation

I also found these writers were unfettered by the three and four chord mendacity of so many folk and country songs, and free of the desperate need for a commercial “hook” which made for the catchy but ephemeral hits of the day. These songs of the west were, like the west itself, adventurous musically and lyrically, and it was always an unexpected delight to find a vestige of Keats, for example, in Nolan’s Waiting for the Sun to Say Good Morning. In short, this was music that appealed to the head and the heart.

Perryman also continued to work in television:

“Lloyd also appeared in Gunsmoke in 1974 in the episode “The Fourth Victim,” in which he played Henry Meeker, the town telegrapher and one of the victims. He did a good job of it too.”
—Patricia James

On September 24, 1976, the Sons of the Pioneers' star was placed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an evening of entertainment at the Hollywood Palladium followed with tributes from fellow performers, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and many more

Lloyd Perryman accepts the Gene Autry Award on behalf of the Sons of the Pioneers, presented by Autry himself.
Left to right: Dale Warren, Rusty Richards, Perryman, Autry, Billy Liebert, and Roy Lanham.
(Photo courtesy of the Calin Coburn Collections)

After the Palladium show, many of the performers gathered at Stuart Hamblen's to round out the evening. Perryman brought Bob Nolan with him. Marty Robbins was there, and the three of them sang an impromptu “Cool Water.”

I remember we would go up to Big Bear to visit Bob and Peanuts. It was always great fun. Bob had a spot where he liked to sit and meditate; I don't think that he called it that. Anyway, he liked to just sit there peacefully with his eyes shut. I took this shot.
—Wayne Perryman

PERRYMAN’S DEATH

The next year, after 41 years with the group, the Sons of the Pioneers lost the man who had come to be knows as “Mr. Pioneer.” In the early part of April, Perryman had a heart attack while golfing and was rushed to hospital. He underwent what appeared to be successful heart surgery but later died at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, of complications on May 31, 1977. The following account was written by Barton Clark, editor of “The Pioneer,” the current fan newsletter:

“Lloyd Perryman is dead. Lead singer for the Sons of the Pioneers for 41 years. Died at age 61. A gentleman, now drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

The above was delivered by Paul Harvey on his popular newscast. Ken Griffis sent the first news of Lloyd's illness to your editor. It was not particularly alarming. The next paragraph is a direct quote from Ken's letter.

“The group was appearing up in Washington state and Lloyd wasn't feeling too well. Dale and some others invited him out for a game of golf but Lloyd at first didn't want to go as he felt tired. He finally agreed to go and about the third hole he complained of a hurting in his chest. Dale suggested that he go to the hospital but he didn't think it that important. A few minutes later his color was bad so they rushed him to the hospital. It was touch and go for a few minutes but he finally responded. Dale later said that he was happy that he asked Lloyd to go golfing. If he had gone to his room and lay down, he may never have gotten up. Lloyd is home now. He’s able to be up and around and appears to be on the mend. He won't be able to rejoin the fellows for a couple of months. His spot is being covered by Rome Johnson. Guess you know Rome—a great voice.”

A few weeks alter a letter came from Larry Zwisohn which contained very alarming news. “Lloyd is very ill, having had a relapse from his heart attack. His condition is precarious and we are all hoping for a miracle to bring him through.”

The dreaded news came to your editor very late on the night of May 31st. Marvin Grigsby of Arizona was kind enough to phone.

A service of memory for Lloyd was held on June 4th at 1:30 P.M. at the Church of the Hills, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills. Bill Bowen very kindly submitted the following account of the services:

“The services for Lloyd were conducted by Dr. Kenneth A. Carlson. Wesley and Marilyn Tuttle sang ‘Until Then’. Dale Evans Rogers sang ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus’, accompanied by Billy Liebert, and delivered a very warm and heartfelt eulogy. Dale described how her career crossed that of the Sons of the Pioneers and her long association and friendship with Lloyd. She mentioned Lloyd's beautiful, clear-as-a-bell voice and his knowledge and love of music, one of his favorite songs being ‘The Mystery of His Way’ by Bob Nolan. Billy played ‘Tumbling Tumbleweeds’ as the church services adjourned.

Because of his bereavement, Roy Rogers declined giving the eulogy but served as a pallbearer. For similar reasons, Bob Nolan and Shug Fisher declined serving as pallbearer and honorary pallbearer, respectively. Bob sat in the front row of the church. The other pallbearers were Ken Curtis, Dale Warren, Roy Lanham, Rusty Richards and Billy Liebert. The honorary pallbearers were Rex Allen, Johnny Bond, Stuart Hamblen, Rome Johnson, Art Rush, Hal Spencer, Jimmy Wakely, and Bill Ward.

In addition to the immediate family, there were approximately 200 relatives and friends in attendance, including Western film and music celebrities Harry (Dobie) Carey Jr., Eddie Dean, Russell Hayden, Harold Hensley, Doye O’Dell, Cliffie Stone and Hank Worden. Lloyd is survived by his wife, Violet (Buddie), and son, Wayne.

A memorial concert, a benefit for Lloyd’s wife, was to feature Rex Allen, Johnny Bond, Ken Curtis, Eddie Dean, Stuart Hamblen, Wesley Tuttle, and Jimmy Wakely with special guest stars Glen Campbell, Marty Robbins, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and the Sons of the Pioneers. The event was sponsored by KLAC. Expenses in the neighborhood of $100,000 were caused by Lloyd’s illness.”
—Barton Clark, pp. 1-2, The Pioneer, Vol. 1, No. 3, July 15, 1977

Unable to face being a pallbearer, a grief-stricken Bob Nolan sent the verse Perryman loved, written by Stan Jones, to Buddie and Wayne. Less than three years later, Nolan, too, was gone.

Leaves are fallin’
Wild geese are callin’
The skies are red each dawn.
The autumn breeze the waters tease
So they’ve put their white caps on.
All nature’s asleep ‘neath a blanket snowflakes bring
Till softly kissed upon the cheek by the warm gentle breath of spring.
Now, should I follow the geese and the swallow
Or through the long nite yearn
And stay with the leaves from the barren trees
And wait for your return?

The service for Perryman on June 4, 1977, at the Church of the Hills was conducted by Dr. Kenneth A. Carlson, First United Methodist Church, Glendale, California. The eulogy was read by Dale Evans Rogers, the organist was Lew Charles, and Dale Evans was the soloist. Burial was in the Remembrance Section, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California.

Left: Wayne Perryman receiving the Western Music Association Hall of Fame Award for his father, November 2008.
Right: Talking over old times with Rex Allen, Jr.
(© Lori Faith Merritt 2008)

“I was doing some work at Camp Roberts which is the old Army depot where my dad went through basic training during WWII. They have this picture of him in their little museum for the old base.”
—Wayne Perryman

Thanks to Ken Griffis’ Hear My Song (1994) for the timeline, and to Wayne Perryman, Kathy Kirchner, Ed Phillips, Les Adams, John Fullerton, The Karl E. Farr and The Calin Coburn Collections for pictures.