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Wayne Raney
Born:  August 17, 1920
Died:  January 23, 1993
Country Music DJ Hall of Fame (1993)
KWKH Louisiana Hayride
WWVA Original Jamboree
KARK Little Rock, AR
KFWB Los Angeles, CA
KMBC Kansas City, MO
KMOX St. Louis, MO
KRLD Dallas, TX
KWEM Memphis, TN
KWK St. Louis, MO
WBBM Chicago, IL
WJJD Chicago, IL
WMC Memphis, TN
XEPN Piedras Negras,
WCKY Cincinnati, OH (1941)


About The Artist

Wayne Rainey was born in Wolf Bayou, Arkansas. He started playing the harmonica at an early age and never stopped. He attended high school in Concord, Arkansas. He would wear the harmonica around his neck as he worked the farm fields, playing it when he could take a break. In an article around 1950 or so, they said he could remember the days when he would hitchhike from town to town in almost every state in the union and playing for whatever money he might be able to pick up at clubs and cafes. And he did this during the depression when jobs were scarce.

As luck would have it, he was in a small town in Texas around 1934 and went into the local pool hall and started playing for the people there. The folks there liked him so much, he collected all of $3.75 for his efforts. It turns out the local radio station manager was there, too and immediately hired him to work for the station - XEPN out of Eagle Pass, Texas. And his musical career was off and running.

He got married to his wife about 1942 or so and they had two kids when the article appeared in 1950, Wanda and Zyndall.

Wayne was also a prolific songwriter and had already written over sixty tunes by then. The most popular of them was "Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me?". They cite King records as mentioning that it had sold over a 500,000 copies of it. And was made even more popular when about a dozen other recording companies had artists covering it.

Credits & Sources

  • Country Song Roundup No. 5; April 1950; Charlton Publishing Corp.; Derby, CT.

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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)

 
King
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  1469 A I Was There
  1469 B We Love To Live (Moonshine Boogie)
  1480 A Gone With The Wind This Morning
  1480 B Tear Down The Mountains
  5327 A Book Of Revelations
  5327 B Gathering In The Sky
  5639 A Lonesome Wind Blues
  5639 B Lost John Boogie
  719 A Jole Blons Ghost
  719 B Lost John Boogie
  732 A Lonesome Wind Blues
  732 B Jack And Jill Boogie
  791 A Don't Know Why
  791 B Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me
  840 A I Feel A Streak Of Love Coming On
  840 B Del Rio Boogie
  856 A Fast Train Through Arkansas
  856 B Under The Double Eagle
  887 A I Want To Live With Mommy There
  887 B Story Of The Orphan
  910 A Old Fashioned Matrimony
  910 B Pardon My Whiskers
  925 A My Annabelle Lee
  925 B The Family Tree Musta Fell On Me
  939 A I've Done And Sold My Soul
  939 B I Love My Little Yo Yo
  974 A I Had My Five
  974 B I Want A Home In Dixie
  989 A You Better Treat Your Man Right
  989 B Blues At My Door
 
Starday
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  663 A Mail Order Heart
  663 B Don't Try To Be What You Ain't
  677 A Love Thief
  677 B Strictly Nothing
  689 A Young Widow Brown
  689 B I Stumble, I Fumble I Fall


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