Saturday Nite Hoedown
Hillbilly music on the air wasn't just something that was in the United States,
Canada had its share, too back in the Hillbilly music era. One such show
was from the stage of the Gaiety Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia over radio
station CJCH.
Seemingly we find in February 1955 (in the pages of Cowboy Songs magazine)
that the Saturday Nite Hoedown was celebrating its 20th anniversary that year. Which
means it may have started back around 1935 or so and making it one of the deans of
the old time radio barn dance and jamboree shows. Granted we're working from
about three paragraphs of a writeup on this show, but like anything on this site, we
start with what we get and build it click by click.
Around this time, the show seems to be a one man gang. Billy Caswell, who was
said to be known as the "Canadian Maritime Blue Yodeler" and also as the "Rambling
Cowboy Blue Yodeler" was the organizer, emcee and star of this show. They said he
was in the music business for a good long time and knew just about everything there
was to know, especially picking and singing a good ole country song.
Mr. Caswell had an assistant to help him with the show - Mr. C. E. Murray, who
was the manager of the Gaiety theatre.
Some of the regulars on the show that eastern Canada looked forward
to each Saturday night at that time were:
- Billy Caswell
- Gospel Rangerettes (Ruth and Elsie Caswell, Billy's sisters)
- The Boutelier Brothers
- Bunny Ross
- Joe Painter
- Ray "Mac" McCully
- And various guest performers
Credits & Sources
- Cowboy Songs Issue; No. 39; February 1955; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT
