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Toby Stroud
Born:  August 19, 1921
Died:  May 3, 1996
WRVA Old Dominion Barn Dance
WWVA Original Jamboree
WDAE Tampa, FL
WPAR Parkersburg, WV
WSVA Harrisonburg, VA
WWVA Wheeling, WV
WALR Zanesville, OH (1936)
WRVA Richmond, VA (1950)


About The Artist

Toby Stroud made a name for himself in country music as fiddler, singer and comedian. A native of the little mining town of Byesville, Ohio, Stroud first learned fiddle and initially played on a small radio station in Zanesville.

A little later he moved on to the larger WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia with its Jamboree as a member of Big Slim, the Lone Cowboy's Happy Ranch Gang. The other members were Johnny Hill on tenor banjo and Ray "Quarantine" Brown on comedy.

Toby Stroud Hill Billy SOng Hits Book No. 1 Circa 1944 Toby Stroud Hill Billy SOng Hits Book No. 2 Circa 1944

Toby Stroud Roundup of Song Hits Circa 1945 Toby Stround From Big Slim's Album of Favorite Songs

Stroud later told an interviewer that he soon learned that the only way to make it in country music was to learn to play guitar and sing. So he accommodated to what seemed reality and by 1944 had his own program on WWVA. Over the next several years, he alternated his base between Wheeling with its Jamboree and WRVA Richmond with its Old Dominion Barn Dance, as well as smaller stations.

His band varied between honky-tonk country and near bluegrass with band members including Bill Bailey (mandolin) and Buck Ryan (fiddle).

He recorded sparingly, but did cut four sides for Decca about 1949, four for MGM (only two released), and two sides for the small New Star label.

Some years later, Toby went to work with Doc Williams' Border Riders playing fiddle and doing comedy. In that period, he recorded a fiddle album on the Doxx label.

After leaving Williams, he went to Florida and joined a bluegrass band, the Sandy Valley Boys. With them he recorded an album that included three of his original fiddle tunes.

Circa 1944 - Wyoming Ranch Boys Toby Stroud, Buck Ryan, Bill Bailey

Toby Stroud with Guitar - Circa 1944

Toby Stroud Blue Mountain Boys - Circa 1946 Bill Bailey, Roy Parks

Credits & Sources

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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)

 
Decca
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  46217 A You Don't Need Me Anymore
  46217 B I'm Gonna Tear Down The Mail
  46248 A I'll Forget By And By
  46248 B Those Blue Skies In Your Eyes
 
Eagle Records
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  100 A Jesse James (w/Blue Mountain Boys)
  100 B Tragic Romance (w/Blue Mountain Boys)
 
MGM
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  11524 A My P'roxide Blond
  11524 B I'm Cutting Paper Hearts
 
New Star
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  100 A Jesse James
  100 B Tragic Romance


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