The Farr Brothers

In 1934 a musical group called The Pioneer Trio, comprised of Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan and Leonard Slye, was beginning to gain some popularity from their KFWB broadcasts.  They decided they needed a good instrumentalist to complement their fine harmonies and so they hired Hugh Farr as fiddler.  A few months later, in early 1935, they also added Hugh’s brother Karl as guitarist.  The instrumental additions did indeed round out the group.  Shortly after Hugh joined the group it started using the name Sons Of The Pioneers, a name that seventy years later is still familiar to oldsters and youngsters alike.

Up until the mid-thirties there was only local programming on the radio, that is to say there were no networks as we have today.  Each station had its own programming and its audience was as broad as the signal reached.  Out of this scenario arose the transcription company, who recorded some of the bigger names in their area and had records pressed which could then be sent out to rural radio stations or in fact nationwide.  Jerry King, general manager of KFWB, had his own transcription service and the Sons Of The Pioneers were the first group that he recorded.  Subsequently, radio listeners outside of Southern California were introduced of the Sons.

The sons ended up recording several hundred sides of transcriptions, and Hugh and Karl were split off to record a series on their own under the name of “The Cornhuskers”.

The only recordings that I know of by Hugh and Karl without the Sons are: Texas Crapshooter, JEMF 107, an LP issued on the Flying Fish Label (out of print) and Texas Stomp 1933-1944 (Hot ‘n’ Bluesy), a CD issued on Country Routes RFD CD 11 (out of print)

The Texas Crapshooter LP has a rhythm guitar &/or bass player behind the duo on some cuts.  It is likely that Leonard Slye is playing some of that backup.  Of course, we know him better by the name of Roy Rogers.

Speaking of which:  The Rhino boxed set “Happy Trails: The Roy Rogers Collection (1937-1990)” has many cuts with the Sons even into the third disc of the three disc set.  There are only a few of those cuts that don’t include Hugh Farr, who left the group in 1958.

Karl Farr continued to play with the band until his death on stage in 1961.

For more information on the Farr Brothers please visit:

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