Pee Wee King and his
                          Golden West Cowboys

(1936) - Pee Wee King formed the band Golden West Cowboys in Louisville, KY and performed on station WHAS.  
(1959) - Pee Wee King disbanded The Golden West Cowboys




Joseph Lee Frank (J.L. Frank) - Pee Wee King's manager, promoter and father-in-law.  He was the first major promoter and manager on the Nashville country music scene.  He grew up in Giles County, TN, near the Alabama border, was orphaned at age seven, raised by relatives in Aspen Hill, TN  and worked in Birmingham steel mills as a young man before moving to the coal mines of Illinois.  At twenty-three, Frank headed for Chicago, where he eventually became a booking agent for radio stars Fibber McGee & Molly, Gene Autry, and many other entertainers.

The original Golden West Cowboys (1936)
Pee Wee King - on accordion
Oral "Curley" Rhodes - on bass; also known as Cicero Sneezeweed, a comedian
"Cowboy" Jack Skaggs - on guitar; also vocalist and bass player from Brownsville, KY
Abner Simms - on fiddle; from Corydon, Indiana, billed as "the fastest fiddler in the world."
Texas Daisy (Curley's sister - Daisy Rhodes) - on vocals; was a guitarist and ballad singer
Milton Estes - on banjo; also guitarist and emcee from Middlesboro, KY

(1937) - The Golden West Cowboys made their debut appearance as members of the Grand Ole Opry.  They remained regulars over the next ten years.  King had become enamored with the new western swing sound, which combined jazz elements with western music. This style had not hit Nashville yet, so when King and his band took the Opry stage, they gave the audience sights and sounds they had never seen or heard before. A bandleader who played accordion was unusual enough, but some of the instruments in King's band had never been associated with country music. 

Over King's ten years at the Opry, his band introduced horns, drums, electric guitars, and electric steel guitars to the stage. King also changed the look of Nashville stars. When he first came to Nashville, the typical Opry performer wore clothes more associated with the farm than the stage. Although King was no cowboy, he wore clothes by Nudie, a Hollywood designer of flashy rodeo clothes and movie cowboy wardrobes. King's fashion style went on to become the Nashville norm. (Nudie Cohn was a Ukrainian-American tailor known for designing rhinestone-covered, and other elaborate outfits, to be worn by celebrities: Nudiesrodeotailor.com
 
(1938) - The first movie appearance by the Golden West Cowboys (Gene Autry's "Gold Mine In The Sky').  The band was billed as J.L. Frank's Golden West Cowboys.  In the movie, the Golden West Cowboys backed Smiley Burnette atop a moving stagecoach, and backed both Autry and Burnette on "Dude Ranch Cowhands.'

(1939) - Redd Stewart (Fidlin' Red) joined The Golden West Cowboys at the young age of 16.  Redd was hired as a fiddler for the Golden West Cowboys.  "They were gettin' ready to enlarge the show and they wanted a fiddle player," said Redd.  At the time, he was giving serious consideration to become a minister.

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