The Lonesome Drifter

Ironically he had hundreds of friends and mostly stayed in the one place. The Lonesome Drifter was born, on December 6, 1931 on a cotton farm in north Louisiana. As a youth, He worked as a water boy for the cotton pickers on a plantation and recalls hearing his first blues music while watching an old black man playing a slack string guitar out side of an old country General Store. Other musical influences included Jimmie Rodgers Bill Monroe, and Bluegrass Music was the foundation of his style.

The Lonesome Drifter was born, on December 6, 1931 on a cotton farm in north Louisiana. As a youth, He worked as a water boy for the cotton pickers on a plantation and recalls hearing his first blues music while watching an old black man playing a slack string guitar out side of an old country General Store. Other musical influences included Jimmie Rodgers Bill Monroe, and Bluegrass Music was the foundation of his style.
His Recording of "Eager Boy" and "Tear Drop Valley" on Mira Smith's K record label is one of the most sought after records among Rockabilly Collectors
in the late 1950's. The Drifter an established hillbilly performer, got word of a new recording company, Ram Records, that has just opened for business in Shreveport , seventy miles from his home in Monroe, Louisiana. The Drifter recalls on the first release from Ram: I had been to Mira Smith's studio to record and she asked me what name I wanted on the record, I did not want to use my real name. As I was driving back to Monroe, I thought about one of my idols, Hank Williams, and he had made records as "Luke The Drifter". I was a rambling man in those days so when I got to Minden la it came to me. I got out of my car and phoned Mira, CEO of the record company and said Call me "The Lonesome Drifter".
"Eager Boy" and "Tear Drop Valley" were released on K Records in 1958, a subsidiary of Ram, named after Mira's sister. On "Eager Boy" and "The Drifter" a friend Tom Bonnet of West Monroe La, who had accompanied him to the studio, played the lead guitar.

The success of the flip, "Tear Drop Valley", featuring West Monroe musician George Mercer on lead guitar, secured for The Lonesome Drifter wish to appear on The Louisiana Hayride