Transcript of interview with A.L. Phipps at his home, March 1995 in Barbourville, Kentucky, interviewed by Chuck Owens
Really, ever since I was big enough to sing I'd been in it with my father and mother and brother and sisters. We all had a quartet. But then in our immediate family when we�d been recording, we started in about 1937. That's how we got together me and my wife; with new music parties. That's about how I'd have to start out with it. And then we got married and started raising a family, and we still hung right in there with our music. But it was during the depression and we were cramped for money and we had to just go ahead and work and do what we could do to keep food and clothes on and what not. It was such a hard time. We made it good but didn't get into the music we played music but didn't get into the music recording business until the later part of the 1940 and early 50's.
(Our first song) was a folk song, �Little Poplar Log House.� It had a story on it, �Friend I want to tell you about our little country home that was made of poplar logs upon a hill. Our father died and left us but our mother kept us still.� It had a beautiful picture in it. But I was visiting AP Carter I ask him about what good songs to record. He said �Little Moses� was a good gospel number they had; it was always a good number. And I believe he mentioned �Little Poplar Log House� and maybe one or two more. So we settled down on one we wrote ourselves, a gospel number which was a good one which was �Meet Beyond the River� on one side and we put �Little Poplar Log House� on the other side. Of course �Little Poplar Log House� had such a good story in it went real good. We didn't try to make a hit out of it. I don't know why we didn't. Probably because I was working on the railroad had a good job, a permanent job too, one I could depend on I had a lot of seniority. But I did get this record out to a number of 50,000 watt radio stations and oh boy they went to playing it back in them days. They would put you over if you had what the public wanted. The difference now is and back in the 40's and 50's and probably the early 60's was that if you had a record you'd send it to a radio station and they'd play it if it got request from the people out there they would keep playing that record. Other words, Cashbox Magazine and Billboard didn't control the air play like they are doing today. Today you don't get nothing unless it goes through Billboard or Cashbox. If they don't list it in their listing then the radio stations just won't play it. So they send a menu down to each radio station and also TV stations so there's no way the common artist or any new artist can hardly get on a record. I don't know what the cost would be at those two places. I'd hate to make any figures on it. I don't think it's a fair thing. I don't think they should control the record industry. This record regardless did go and it was only just a matter of a month or two a larger recording company in Nashville requested us to record for them. We signed a contract with Starday which was good sized company then, and one that did push the old time country music. It did quite a bit for a lot of good artists. So we got on to that and we recorded for Folkways, Vanguard...oh I don't know several recording companies.
Well we begun on a radio station in Middlesboro; WCPM. It was a pretty good sized station; it had a good coverage. And then there was another already in Middlesboro, WMIK, so they bought it (WCPM) out and then we went over and broadcast on WMIK for a period of time. Then we went back into Corbin. They had a radio station built. Anyway, we got a regular program that was close to us so. We had a weekly program on the Corbin radio station, oh I don�t probably five or six years. Barbourville built their station at the same time. We were on both stations. We started a program on WBVL (now WYWY) which was the first call letters of the station in Barbourville. Both stations had good coverage. We had a 30 minute program for three or four years. Meanwhile, we got into going to different places we won the Mid-Day Merry Go Round in Knoxville, Tennessee, and then when we had our first record hit. We went live on Renfro Valley Barn Dance. Every Saturday night we�d go live on that and we would plug that record right through the 50,000 station that was making it popular, that�s WCKY. That way they were listened to live and at the same time they were listening to us on the record.
Then we wound up with our own after so long a time. We got into the what was called the PI business, the same thing you see on TV now we sold on radio stations a package offer. So we got on a lot of big 50,000 watt stations and were doing quite well on our own having to keep on recording for a larger company which didn't give us much money. However, we did need the publicity and the exposure of those big companies. We still got our own company. Were still recording. We sell quite a few records through the distributors. But we didn�t push out like we should have; it was more or less on the side. We did real good with it though to not put no more in it than what we did. That's the most astonishing thing still yet; I don't know how we got in to it as good as we did. Of course we already had a listening audience.
Here was the best part of us; some the other artists that come out when we took up the Carter Family music they began to fade away and certainly disbanded. Well we took that up and we made some shows with A.P. Carter. We began to have good contact with their fans so we were already established. As they went out, we went in...I'll put it that way. Began to perform their music at the same time we were getting free advertisement through and by the Carter Family because they were advertising in different magazines they were in just about everything. Meanwhile, we had taken some photos with the Carter Family at homecoming. We were in almost every advertising book there was with them We were very fortunate and I thank the good Lord we were, in order to keep this music alive.
What we did wasn't really for money; however, we made money. Had to keep us going and we put a lotta money in it but it was to preserve the real old time country music and to keep it alive and to keep it going since there was just a few artists out keeping it going. The difference in the Carter family music and today it had a story in it a folk song is not an imaginary thing it really has to have some truth happening before it�s really a folk song. And you write a story about something that�s true; that is a folk song. And we done quite a few numbers. My wife was a good songwriter. She wrote a lot and done quite well with it. I wrote a few songs but she was a lot better songwriter. Anyway, we come along keeping it alive. We did get into show business too during the latter part. We made quite a lot of appearances across the whole country; most of the East, Southeast, Midwest, directly in the West. We got down in a lot of the Southern states. We thought that the people in the South would accept this music much better than the north, but to our surprise we found quite differently. We made a lot of personal appearances in Chicago; shows up in the Northeast, New York, on up into New England, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. We did a lot in those states and we were much accepted there than it was in many of the others. In Michigan we played at the Henry Ford Museum, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Delaware; a lot of them. We played in other shows three different years at Washington DC at the Smithsonian on the mall. A lot of exposure for us at the world�s fair (in 1982) were their on the last day. We done quite well in show business. At the same time I was still holding on to my railroad job.
Transcribed by Chuck Owens Copyright 2006, CGBC Inc., Middlesboro, Kentucky 40965