Hot Rod Race

Recently, my cousin Tammy found a video of my grandfather's song, "Hot Rod Race" on youtube.com. He is also on Wikipedia. WOW! Arkie was my maternal grandfather. He and my grandmother also ran a restaurant in California and later, opened "Dixie's Cafe" (named after my aunt Dixie) on Main Street in Van Buren in the 1970s. He passed away two years before I was born.

So I thought I would share a bit of my grandfather's history...

Arkie Shibley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arkie Shibley
Birth name	Jesse Lee Shibley
Born	September 21, 1914(1914-09-21) Van Buren, Arkansas, U.S.
Died	September, 1975 (aged 60) Van Buren, Arkansas, U.S.
Genres	Western swing
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1950s
Labels	4 Star (Gilt-Edge)

Jesse Lee "Arkie" Shibley (born Jesse Lee Shibley, 21 September 1914, Van Buren, Arkansas - d. September 1975, Van Buren, Arkansas) was a country singer who recorded the original version of "Hot Rod Race" in 1950. The record was important because "it introduced automobile racing into popular music and underscored the car's relevance to American culture, particularly youth culture."^[1]

Shibley had relocated from Arkansas - hence the nickname "Arkie" - and, around 1948, began hosting a regular country music show on radio station KBRG in Bremerton, Washington.

Although the writing credit for "Hot Rod Race" is given to George Wilson, this may be Shibley's pseudonym. He offered the song to 4 Star Records in Los Angeles, but was turned down, and Shibley decided to release the song on his own Mountain Dew label. The record was credited to "Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys", the line-up being Shibley on rhythm guitar, Leon Kelley on lead guitar, Jackie Hayes on bass and banjo, and Phil Fregon on fiddle.

The record became popular and was reissued on 4 Star's Gilt Edge imprint. Shibley's record raced into the country charts in January 1951, peaking at # 5, with cover versions on major labels by Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan on Capitol, Red Foley on Decca and Tiny Hill on Mercury. The Hill version also crossed over to the pop charts (# 29).

In 1951 Shibley recorded four sequels to his hit, all performed in a Woody Guthrie-like talking blues style: "Hot Rod Race # 2", "Arkie Meets the Judge (Hot Rod Race # 3)", "The Guy in the Mercury (Hot Rod Race # 4)" and "The Kid in the Model A (Hot Rod Race # 5)". He subsequently disappeared into obscurity.

There were later countless variations of the song, the most successful being "Hot Rod Lincoln", a hit for Charlie Ryan (recorded 1959, charted 1960, # 33 pop), Johnny Bond (1960, # 26 pop) and Commander Cody (1972, # 9 pop). Shibley's record also directly influenced Chuck Berry's "Maybellene", Gene Vincent's "Race With The Devil", and the succession of hot rod records by the Beach Boys and others in the early 1960s.

Click the link below to see the video and hear my grandfather's famous song! (You may have to copy and paste the link below into your internet browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvuoJlCDLxg