In a tip of the hat to their roots, the Gang have regularly devoted a portion of their performance to recreating the golden era of their radio days — and now, as their performance schedule begins to pick up anew, the group has finally brought the popular segment into the studio. The result is Radio Days, a collection that expands the vintage experience into a full-length recording, bookended by a handful of new recordings that serve the Chuck Wagon Gang as well on today’s radio as the renewed songs did for them in days gone by.
Current owner, manager, and alto singer Shaye Smith is the granddaughter of original alto Anna (“Effie”) Carter and of Howard Gordon, who played deft and discreet electric and acoustic guitar for the Chuck Wagon Gang in the 1950s and ‘60s.
In today’s Chuck Wagon Gang, Smith is joined by long-time soprano Melissa Kemper, tenor Josh Garner, guitarist Darrell Morris, and upright bass player Scotty Owenby.
When farmer D.P. ‘Dad” Carter formed the group in 1935, with son, Ernest, and daughters Lola and Effie, he could not have conceived of PBS documentaries, or of fan letters from presidents. Dad was simply looking for a way to spread the good word, and a way to buy medicine for Effie, who was sick with pneumonia.
That story, and this music, has moved Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Charlie Daniels, and generations of gospel singers and open-eared listeners. For more than eighty years, the Chuck Wagon Gang has offered hope and harmony, faith and family.
Penny Shelnut @ Jubilee Talent Agency | 423-736-7272 | cwgbookingagent@gmail.com
Mountain Home (mountainhomemusiccompany.com)
Crossroads Recording Studios | A Creative, Award-Winning Recording Environment
50 Fisk Drive
Arden, NC 28704
828-684-3066
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