Bob Nolan interviewed by Stuart Hamblen

C. 1979

HAMBLEN: I’m Stuart Hamblen and today I can say it’s a real privilege and a pleasure to be asked to be a part of a tribute to the greatest western songwriter of all times, Bob Nolan. Whenever there’s a discussion and it turns to western classics, well, the name of my old buddy, Bob Nolan, always heads that list. How ya doing’ today, Bob?

NOLAN: Just fine, Stuart, and it’s a real pleasure to be here with you again.

HAMBLEN: Well, I know you mean that from the bottom of your heart. And one of my Bob Nolan favorites of all times is a song that you wrote called Way Out There. I think it was one of your first ones, wasn’t it?

NOLAN: It was the first.

HAMBLEN: It was the real first song!

NOLAN: It was the very first one, yeah.

HAMBLEN: And who was the trio on that recording?

NOLAN: That was not a trio, Stuart, it was a duet with Lloyd Perryman and myself. And when we come to the yodel, that was a trio. That was Lloyd and myself and, I believe, Ken Curtis.

HAMBLEN: Well, right here we’re just going to play that record for you and we might cut it at times to talk about it.

[Stuart played "Way Out There" on this program but the recording was not included in the interview I was given. I do not have that rendition which must have been recorded in 1955. It was not in Ken Griffis’ notes. Sons March 21, 1957 recording of One More Ride. The trio was Bob, Lloyd and Ken. Joe Maphis played guitar as did Chet Atkins. Laurence Zwisohn suggests the two songs, "One More Ride" and "Way Out There" were confused.]

HAMBLEN: By the way, that guitar break kinda sounded like an old boy I know by the name of Joe Maphis. Was that Joe?

NOLAN: The old man himself!

HAMBLEN: And I’m sure everybody listening in enjoyed Way Out There but one of my Nolan favorites, another one, a song called Let’s Pretend. I believe that was recorded several times by the Sons of the Pioneers, wasn’t it, Bob?

NOLAN: Yes.

HAMBLEN: You boys made several of them.

NOLAN: Uh-huh. Back in the early days I think we made a recording of that every other year.

HAMBLEN: It must have been a big hit.

NOLAN: Yes.

HAMBLEN: Well, we’ll just listen to the first recording of that song.

HAMBLEN: Well, I’ll say one thing – that sure had a real sound to it. Who was the singers on there, the trio?

NOLAN: Well, it was myself and Lloyd Perryman and Leonard Slye who two years later became Roy Rogers, if you…. I think you remember that!

HAMBLEN: Oh, yeah. He did all right. Well, who were the originals, though, on your trio?

NOLAN: The originals was Tim Spencer and Roy Rogers and myself. Or Leonard Slye, shall we call him, at that time.

HAMBLEN: OK, well, now I think one of the finest recordings and one of your finest compositions was Chant of the Wanderer. The lyrics are outstanding and, as I recall, the recording that you Pioneers made had a large band sound. What do you think of that? I mean the large band?

NOLAN: Well, that was Country Washburne’s band and he was a country boy so we didn’t mind at that time taking on a band of his size because he played in the country style.

HAMBLEN: Yeah, that old boy. I guess he’d milked a lot of cows early in the morning.

NOLAN: Yes, he certainly had. [laughs]

HAMBLEN: Suppose we just play that one then.

HAMBLEN: Bob, I think we’ve gone far enough without asking you to comment about your days with the Sons of the Pioneers. No Nolan tribute could properly take place without recounting your career with the group. How in the world did it all start?

NOLAN: Well, it started with Roy and Tim and myself.

HAMBLEN: Do you remember what year that was?

NOLAN: Uh. About 1931, I believe. No, that was when Roy and I was with the Rocky Mountaineers but the Sons of the Pioneers started with the trio of Tim Spencer and Roy and myself in 1933.

HAMBLEN: Uh-huh. Well, let’s listen to one of your first compositions and one of your first prettiest—The Rainbow’s End.

HAMBLEN: By the way, Bob, whoever did that had a terrific voice. Who was that?

NOLAN: That was Dale Warren and he’s still with the boys. And, incidentally, I was at that recording session and I, I….

HAMBLEN: It must have thrilled you.

NOLAN: Oh, it really did. Yeah.

HAMBLEN: You know, Bob, I’ve always admired one of your great songs but I have to confess I don’t understand the exact meaning of the lyrics. And that’s the song called The Song of the Bandit. You know, it’s a great song but I need you to interpret the meaning behind the words. How about letting us all in on what you had in mind when you composed that song.

NOLAN: Well, did you ever read the poem, The Highwayman?

HAMBLEN: Yeah. I remember that.

NOLAN: Well, that’s the exactly where I got the idea for it and I tried to stay as close to the context of that poem as I could. And if you’ll read the two poems together, you’ll see that the whole….

HAMBLEN: Oh, I remember that highwayman but, I’ll tell you something, I believe you beat that old boy that wrote that one.

NOLAN: Ho! Dear me! [laughs]

HAMBLEN: Well, let’s listen to that one.

HAMBLEN: To an awful lot of people, they wouldn’t associate the name of Bob Nolan with songs other than those with a western theme. You’ve written so many different types of songs. Country, Pop, and, as I recall it, a few of the finest Hawaiian songs, too. Did you ever go over to the Islands?

NOLAN: Yes, I was over there in 1948, Stuart.

HAMBLEN: Say, someone said that you were a Coast Guard, I mean a lifeguard.
NOLAN: Yes, I was a lifeguard when I was, oh my, I think I was eighteen years old. I used to come over to Long Beach and then in the summertime I was a lifeguard

HAMBLEN: But you weren’t a lifeguard over on the Hawaiian Islands?

NOLAN: Oh, no.

HAMBLEN: I mean, you weren’t trying to save those Hawaiians because they swim like a bunch of eels. Well, what do you say about here along in the program we lay a couple of those Hawaiian songs on you dear people listening in? First we’re gonna play Pali Wind and the next number is gonna be the Far Enchanted Isle by Bob Nolan.

HAMBLEN: Man! I’ll tell you you’re a real versatile man. Who were the singers on those two tunes?

NOLAN: Well, on Pali Wind it was Lloyd Perryman and Dale Warren and Bill Cole. And, incidentally, I wrote that one song while I was over in the Islands in 1948.

HAMBLEN: Yeah? How did you like the Hawaiian Islands? You probably loved it, didn’t you?

NOLAN: Well, first of all, I got off of Oahu as fast as I could. I went over to the island of Maui and stayed at the Hana Ranch there. I stayed there for 16 full days and, oh dear, it was just marvellous.

HAMBLEN: Great.

NOLAN: Yeah! They tell me today that it’s all built up in hotels over there on the island of Maui now and I hate to see that happen to the Hawaiian Islands.

HAMBLEN: You know, where people go they can sure louse it up for other people, can’t they?

NOLAN: [laughs] That is for sure.

HAMBLEN: When I was over there, I didn’t really enjoy it because I never saw a hound dog on any of those islands. And I saw quite a lot of them.

NOLAN:[ laughs]

HAMBLEN: And speaking of songs that are not thought of as being in the Nolan tradition, one that has always impressed me is Half Way ‘Round the World. Now what on earth caused you to write a song like Half Way ‘Round the World?

NOLAN: Well, Stuart, that song was written during World War II when Lloyd Perryman was in the Far East. I believe it was Burma.

HAMBLEN: Uh-huh. Well, he would be half way around the world.

NOLAN: Yeah. So I wrote it for his wife and she had, in the interim, had a baby that Lloyd hadn’t seen. And I believe he was two years old before Lloyd finally came back from Burma. And I wrote it more for that family. For the Perryman family.

HAMBLEN: Well, I’ll tell you, you know, that would be a wonderful tribute to have Bob Nolan write a song about any family. Well, let’s listen to that one. Half Way ‘Round the World.

HAMBLEN: You know, Lloyd did a fine job on that, didn’t he, Bob?

NOLAN: He really did. I think it affected him, too, because he just fell in love with the song when he first heard it.

HAMBLEN: Well, you know, anybody who sings a song his heart’s in it, he can outdo a better singer. Anyway, Bob, if you had to pick out the one song that you could say that “that’s about as good as Bob Nolan can do”, which of the hundreds that you’ve written would it be?

NOLAN: Well, this…. Hmm, it’s kind of hard but I do believe He Walks with the Wild and the Lonely is my favourite because I thought it was …. The lyrics and the music were so perfectly wed that I just couldn’t improve on it.

HAMBLEN: Well, why don’t we just play that song? Listen to it. You know, it’s a funny thing but I think I know all of your songs but I don’t believe I, Stuart Hamblen, have ever heard that one so I’ll listen to it with the rest of the people listening in.

HAMBLEN: Well, like I said earlier in the program, this Bob Nolan is a man that can really throw a lyric around. I hope if old Rudyard Kipling…. I don’t know where people go when they die. I guess they all go to heaven, good people. I can just see Rudyard Kipling when he’d hear that one. He c’d say, “Well, there’s still talented people left on earth.” But you know, Bob, one of our dearest friends—old Tim Spencer—picked up a song for his publishing company that I would like to have had for Hamblen Music Company and I’m sure you know what song that was. That song about How Great Thou Art. But I bet I know something about that song that you don’t know.

NOLAN: What’s that, Stuart?

HAMBLEN: People say it was written by a Swede. It wasn’t. That song is about 150 years old and was written by an old Russian. And I know that man of the Lord because, man, how he could throw lyrics around. Well, let’s play that and play the Sons of the Pioneers’ recording of it and then I’m gonna ask you who all was on that session.

HAMBLEN: And there’s a song that really moves the hearts of men. Bob, who all was it that sang on that recording of How Great Thou Art?

NOLAN: Well, I don’t believe that I could name them all. I know Henry René’s Orchestra and who the chorus was, I don’t know but ….

HAMBLEN: Well, I knew those violins weren’t Hugh Farr. I’ll tell you something. If it was, he’d have to do a masterful job of recording over his violin. Beautiful orchestra. Go ahead.

NOLAN: And then we had that chorus, of course, with…. I remember the bass was…

HAMBLEN: Ravenscroft?

NOLAN: …Ravenscroft. Oh, man. What a bass voice that man had. And, as I recall, Norma Zimmer was that real high soprano voice in that chorus.

HAMBLEN: And, of course, the trio. Who was that?

NOLAN: Well, our trio was myself, Lloyd Perryman and Ken Curtis.

HAMBLEN: And, Bob, this might be a little bit out of place, but who was that terrific lead singer in there?

NOLAN: In How Great Thou Art?

HAMBLEN: Yeah.

NOLAN: [laughing] That was the old man, myself!

HAMBLEN: That was Bob Nolan. And what a greater tribute could we end this program on by saying, not only does the man write great songs but he likes to participate in other great masterpieces that were written by other people of the long, dim past behind us. Our day’s tribute to Bob Nolan. God bless you, Bob Nolan. You’ve enriched everybody’s life.