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Wade Holmes Born:  February 28, 1925 Died:  February 27, 1999 WPGC Morningside, MD

About The Artist The earliest mention we found of Wade was in a 1950 National Hillbilly News article. He was playing with Don Kidwell and his Capitol Swingbillys and were working a gig at the Wagon Wheel. Other members of the group were Randy Tate on steel guitar, Wade Holmes and Don (Jake) Kidwell. In early 1955, Shorty Warren wrote in Country and Western Jamboree that Wade was working nightly at the Shamrock Club in Washington, DC as were the Woodward Brothers. A 1956 magazine article featuring DJs indicated that Wade Holmes was doing a morning show with Johnny Baise on radio station WPGC out of Morningside, Maryland. It aired Monday through Saturday and it was called "Cornshucking Time". They wrote he was thirty years old at the time and was pretty good at instruments such as the bass, guitar, mandolin and banjo. He had made a name for himself afround Maryland having played with such acts as Hank Penny, Clyde Moody, Pete Casell and the Woodward Brothers. He played in a group called, well, it kind of figures they were known as the "Cornshuckers" and they would play various clubs in Maryland, picking and singing. In 1965, Red Wilcox told Country Music Review readers that Wade had a new record out called "Drinking and Thinking" b/w "I'll Just Pretend". It was on the Almanac label and billed him as "The Singing Truck Driver." It was said he had four kids and enjoyed his garden (when he was not fishing). Credits & Sources National Hillbilly News; Vol. 5 No. 3; January - February 1950; Mr. and Mrs. Orville Via; Huntington, WV Country & Western Jamboree; March 1955; Country and Western Jamboree, Inc. 2001 Calumet; Chicago, IL Cowboy Songs; No. 47; July 1956; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT Country Music Review; September 1965; Cal-Western Publications; PO Box 3278; Anaheim, CA

Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)   4 Star Rec. No. Side Song Title   1656 A You're Too Tired   1656 B Rose Of Mexico   1665 A Fireman And Engineer's Ball   1665 B My Sweetheart   1674 A Hillbilly Jubilee   1674 B Fat, Forty And Frustrated   99 A You're Too Tired   99 B Fireman And Engineers Ball   X-99 A Too Tired   X-99 B The Firemen And Engineers Ball   Almanac Rec. No. Side Song Title   809 A Drinking and Thinking   809 B I'll Just Pretend   Blue Hen Rec. No. Side Song Title   BH 216 A Actions Speak Louder Than Words   BH 216 B My Ladder Of Dreams   Songs by Sommers Rec. No. Side Song Title   2-A A Actions Speak Louder Than Words   2-A B My Ladder Of Dreams