Customer Reviews

Sons of the Pioneers

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This is a solid report on a singing group that played a major role in the western craze of the 1930s and 1940s. Those who remember the Charles Starrett westerns of the 1930s or the Roy Rogers movies of the 1940s, or who purchased DVDs of them, will recall the smooth harmony of the SOPs, as they are known to their fans. Over the years, performers have stepped in to fill the holes left by their retiring brethren, but none can fill the places of Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, Lloyd Perryman, Hugh Farr and Karl Farr, the members of the group that is highlighted in this book. You learn about each individual and also the many years they spent together.

Each member brought something special to the group beyond their voice--from Bob Nolan's "song poems" to Tim Spencer's business acumen to Lloyd Perryman's ability to defuse disagreements to Hugh Farr, on fiddle, and Karl Farr, on guitar, whose instrumental skill played a key part in the group's sound.

If you like western music, pick up an early album of the SOPs from Amazon, then purchase this book to find out more about the men who created that sound--and who wrote many of the western songs that we still hear, like Cool Water and Tumbling Tumbleweed (Bob Nolan) and Blue Prairie (Tim Spencer). Nolan will always be the Stephen Foster of Western Music, with his 2,000 western songs.

I had been looking for a book on the Pioneers for some time. I finally found this on your website and it is a great read on the pioneers; regarded as the greatest country,western singing group of all time. The only thing I am disappointed in is that the book is not available in hardcover. I purchased it for a friend who is a great admirer of The Sons of the Pioneers. I am sure he will really enjoy this book.

I had heard of the Sons of the Pioneers but really knew nothing about this group until I read this book.
I found out it was founded by Roy Rogers and two other men, Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer. Both were splendid singers, and song writers. Almost everyone would recognize Bob's "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". Their harmonies were unique to this group of singers of Western songs. Fortunately, many of their original songs were recorded and are still available. They also appeared in many Western movies and TV series with Roy Rogers or Charles Starrett.
This book offers many producion pictures from the movies in addition to lots of information.
The only sad thing about this is that all of these wonderful voices have been stilled forever.

This book is a great read for a person like me who is dated. I grew up on Sons of the Pioneers music and bought all their albums I could find. Now I have my own western band and we like to share their songs with others. This book is a good addition to Ken Griffith's Hear My Song and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan to re-read it again soon.