Claude Boone Born:  February 18, 1916 Died:  February 23, 2007

About The Artist Claude Boone, a guitar and bass player, spent much of his musical career in the cities of Asheville and Charlotte in North Carolina and especially in Knoxville, Tennessee. From the mid-1930s, he was closely associated with Cliff and Bill Carlisle and did guitar duets with Leon Scott in a manner similar to the Delmore Brothers. Known as the Elk Mountain Boys, Scott and Boone recorded ten songs on Decca in 1938 and an earlier session with Cliff Carlisle on Bluebird in 1937. By 1941, he had joined Carl Story and the Rambling Mountaineers with whom he spent roughly two decades, with time out for World War II service. About 1947, he bought the rights to the song "Wedding Bells" from Arthur Q. Smith which subsequently became a hit for Hank Williams. Still working with Story's band, he signed his own contract with Mercury Records cutting six numbers for them. The old comedy number "Burglar Man" became his signature song. By the early sixties, he stopped touring with Story, but he and the Brewster Brothers continued to record with him for several more years. Claude's "bread and butter" was his radio and television work with the Cas Walker Farm and Home Hour. A gentle easy-going man, Claude was known as a gentleman who Carl Story said he never knew to get excited or temperamental. Boone remained a regular on the Cas Walker-sponsored programs with Red Rector and Danny Bailey among others until the program terminated in mid-1983. Claude retired and spent much of his retirement years fishing. Credits & Sources Hillbilly-Music.com would like to express its thanks to Ivan M. Tribe, author of Mountaineer Jamboree — Country Music in West Virginia and numerous articles in other publications for providing us with information about this artist.

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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)   Mercury Rec. No. Side Song Title   6191 A Burglar Man   6191 B Milk 'Em In The Morning Blues   6212 A Down Where The Watermelons Grown   6212 B Groundhog Blues   6248 A Get Your Kisses While You Can   6248 B Memories Of Wedding Bells No.2