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Hoke Rice
American guitarist, banjoist, vocalist, songwriter, and old-time musician

Hoke Rice

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
American guitarist, banjoist, vocalist, songwriter, and old-time musician
A.K.A.
Hoke Spencer Rice
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
New Holland, Hall County, Georgia, USA
Place of death
Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA
Age
65 years
Residence
Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Family
Father:
Laura Della Adams Rice Silvey
Siblings:
John Paul Rice
Spouse:
Jean Killgore (1941-)
Children:
Rebecca Lusk Patricia Johnson
Genre(s):
Instruments:
The details

Biography

Hoke Rice (January 8, 1909—May 26, 1974) was an American guitarist, banjoist, vocalist, songwriter, and old-time musician from Atlanta, Georgia. He played with several blues and hillbilly bands during the 1930s and 1934s and achieved fame with his band The Rice Brothers' Gang with his younger brother John Paul Rice (1913–1988), a guitarist, banjoist, and vocalist. He also performed regularly on Atlanta radio stations.

Hoke also used Chester Maines, Duke Lane, and Lee Landon.

Early life

Hoke Rice was born Hoke Spencer Rice in New Holland, Georgia, on January 8, 1909. His father worked as a cobbler during the week and worked in a local church on the weekends. His mother, Laura Della Adams Rice Silvey (1887–1967), was a talented musician who played five-string banjo, fiddle, and piano. She inspired her two sons to get into music. After the parents divorced in 1920, the brothers lived in various small towns in Georgia with their mother and stepfather, Rufus M. Silvey, a textile mill mechanic and part-time musician.

Hoke learned music from his mother and stepfather and also took guitar lessons from a local classical and pop-oriented guitarist.

Career

Hoke began his professional music career in the early 1920s, performing solo in the Atlanta area and on Atlanta radio stations. He was a sought-after guitarist by record labels and played on recordings by various old-time music groups such as Lowe Stokes's North Georgians and Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers.

In October 1927, Hoke played guitar on Lowe Stokes's recordings of "Home Brew Rag" and "Unexplained Blues", accompanied by Clayton McMichen (violin) and Kasper "Stranger" Malone (clarinet). The following month, he made recordings with Clayton McMichen's group Melody Men accompanied by K. D. Malone (clarinet), Lowe Stokes (violin), and Riley Puckett (guitar). During that time, his brother Paul made appearances on Atlanta's WSB radio with Fiddlin' John Carson and also recorded with Gid Tanner.

In March 1930, Hoke made his first solo recordings for Brunswick Records and Paramount Records with Malone, Puckett, Stokes, and McMichen. In the following years, he was a member of the old-time string band The Carolina Tar Heels, with whom he performed at WSB Radio until 1934. The Carolina Tar Heels were Dock Walsh on banjo, Gwen Foster on harmonica, and Clarence Ashley on guitar.

At the beginning of his career, Hoke also recorded using pseudonyms Chester Maines, Duke Lane, and Lee Landon. As Lee Landon, he recorded "Waitin' For A Train" and "Lullaby Yodel" (Champion Records) in 1929. The same year, he recorded "Blue Yodel" No. 3 and No. 4 as Duke Lane. As Chester Maines, he recorded "Unexplained Blues" and "Oh Sweet Mamma Blues" in 1930. After that, he led a band Hoke Rice And His Hoky Poky Boys and recorded "Brown Mule Slide" / "Georgia Jubilee" (1930), "Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet" / "Wabash Blues" (1931), and "I Don't Love Nobody" / "Georgia Gal" (1931)—all on Brunswick Records.

Around 1934, Rice and his brother Paul formed their band The Rice Brothers' Gang, and toured throughout the United States. While touring, they made appearances on radio stations in Roanoke, Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; Washington, D.C. and Shreveport, Louisiana. They also scored a 13-week stint at the Village Barn venue in New York City and a six-month tour of duty with the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.

In 1937, the brothers returned to Atlanta, where they worked primarily on various radio stations such as WSB, WAGA, and WGST. During this time, with the companionship of various musicians, the group adapted to the Western swing style.

In June 1938, the gang played in Charlotte, North Carolina, accompanied by Johnny Gorman (steel/sax), Mike Eargle (bass), and Warren Sykes (harmonica).

In 1938, The Rice Brothers' Gang began working with Decca Records and recorded over 50 titles through 1941. On September 13, 1939, they recorded The Pine Ridge Boys (Marv Taylor and Doug Spivey)'s hit "You Are My Sunshine" for Decca Records in New York City. They sold the rights of the song to Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell for $35. Davis and Mitchell's version of the song became very popular and Davis went on to be governor of Louisiana from 1944 to 1948 and again from 1960 to 1964. The song was authorized as one of the official songs of the state of Louisiana.

Video: You Are My Sunshine by The Rice Brothers' Gang

Towards the end of the decade, the brothers moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where their music career peaked. They regularly performed on Shreveport's sports radio station KWKH. Hoke also got to perform in Louisiana Hayride, a radio/television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport.

Hoke's music career was interrupted when the two brothers were drafted into the US Army when the Second World War broke out. After their discharge, Hoke left the music business and worked as a salesman with an appliance firm in Shreveport. Paul initially worked as a bass player in Chicago and in the late 1940s, moved back to Atlanta, where he was a member of The TV Wranglers, a TV music act on Atlanta's WAGA-TV. Paul retired from the music business in 1960.

Legacy

Hoke and Paul Rice were inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Personal life

Hoke married Jean Killgore (1922–2016) in 1941. They had two daughters— Rebecca Lusk (of Oklahoma) and Patricia Johnson (of New Orleans).

Death

Following a long illness, Hoke died in Highland Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 26, 1974, at age 65. His brother Paul died at his home in an Atlanta suburb on January 22, 1988.

Discography

TitleYearComments
I can't be satisfied with oneMarch 1927 
Sting me Mr. Stranger ManMarch 1927 
Home brew ragOctober 1927 
Unexplained bluesOctober 1927 
Aloha oeNovember 1927 
The Missouri waltzNovember 1927 
Darling Nellie GrayNovember 1927 
Fifty years agoNovember 1927 
Way Down South by the Sea / I'm Lonely and Blue1929with Southern String Band
Chinese Breakdown / Macon, Georgia, Breakdown1929with Southern String Band
Ain't That Kind of a Cat Yodel / Down In A Southern Town Yodel1929with Southern String Band
Ain't That Kind Of A Cat Yodel1929 
Down In A Southern Town Yodel1929 
New Sweet Petunia1929 
I Just Can't Wait (Gotta See My Baby)1929 
Way Down South By The Sea1929 
I'm Lonely And Blue1929 
The Dirty Hangout Where I Stayed1929 
The Old Concert Hall In The Bowery1929 
At The End Of The Sunset Trail1929 
Circus Day Rag1929 
Brown Mule Slide1929 
Waitin' for a trainApril 1929 
Broadway bluesApril 1929 
Blue yodel no. 3April 1929 
Blue yodel no. 4April 1929 
You lied about that womanApril 1929 
Blue daysApril 1929 
Unexplained bluesApril 1929 
Oh sweet mama bluesApril 1929 
Bring me back my darlingApril 1929 
Lullaby yodelApril 1929 
You lied about that woman no. 2April 1929 
The gang's all hereApril 1929 
Bogey alleyApril 1929 
I'm gonna live on highApril 1929 
Wabash Blues / Put On Your Old Gray Bonnett1930with Hoky Poky Boys
I Don't Love Nobody / Georgia Gal1930with Hoky Poky Boys
I don't love nobodyMarch 1930 
Georgia galMarch 1930 
Brown mule slideMarch 1930 
Georgia jubileeMarch 1930 
A fiddler's tryout in GeorgiaMarch 1930 
A fiddler's tryout in GeorgiaMarch 1930 
[Unknown title(s)]March 1930 
Put on your old gray bonnetMarch 1930 
Wabash bluesMarch 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in Atlanta, pt. 1March 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in Atlanta, pt. 1March 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in Atlanta, pt. 1March 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in AtlantaMarch 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in Atlanta, pt. 2March 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in AtlantaMarch 1930 
A bootlegger's joint in Atlanta, pt. 2March 1930 
Japanese stompNovember 1930 
Liberty #1November 1930 
Mammy's pickaninnyNovember 1930 
Floating down to Cotton TownNovember 1930 
You can't ride my muleNovember 1930 
Cotton mill bluesNovember 1930 
King Cotton stompJune 1938 
I love my saviourJune 1938 
On the Jericho roadJune 1938 
MarieJune 1938 
On the sunny side of the streetJune 1938 
Sweet someoneJune 1938 
Cheatin' on your babyJune 1938 
Mood indigoJune 1938 
Be careful with those eyesJune 1938 
Hold meJune 1938 
When I'm walking with my sweetnessJune 1938 
My idea of heavenJune 1938 
You got that thingJune 1938 
China boyJune 1938 
Ain't that too badJune 1938 
Do somethingJune 1938 
Sugar bluesJune 1938 
You tell her cause I stutterJune 1939 
Japanese sandman (Instrumental)September 1939 
NagasakiSeptember 1939 
Lovelight in the starlightSeptember 1939 
Down yonder (Instrumental)September 1939 
Alabama jubileeSeptember 1939 
They cut down the old pine treeSeptember 1939 
I cried for youSeptember 1939 
I wish you were jealous of meSeptember 1939 
You are my sunshineSeptember 1939 
Is it true what they say about DixieSeptember 1939 
Sweetheart wait for meSeptember 1939 
Won't you come back to meSeptember 1939 
It made you happy when you made me crySeptember 1939 
Girl of my dreamsSeptember 1939 
Oh SusannahSeptember 1939 
You've got to see Daddy ev'ry nightSeptember 1939 
In a shanty in old shanty townSeptember 1939 
At the close of a long, long daySeptember 1939 
No matter what happens my darlingApril 1940 
Sally do you love meApril 1940 
Below the Rio GrandeApril 1940 
I won't have any troubles anymoreApril 1940 
Hurry Johnny hurryApril 1940 
Yes! we have no bananasApril 1940 
Mary LouApril 1940 
My sweetest darlingApril 1940 
Sweetheart wait for meApril 1940 
You'll only have one motherApril 1940 
When it's blossom time in Old CarolineApril 1940 
Little girl I'm so blue without youApril 1941 
You don't love me anymoreApril 1941 
Ridin' down the canyonApril 1941 
Linda MayApril 1941 
My troubled mindApril 1941 
Do youApril 1941 
I'll always love youApril 1941 
Dry your eyes little girlApril 1941 
Please don't stay awayApril 1941 
Railroad boomerApril 1941 
My Carolina sunshine girlApril 1941 
You don't love me anymoreApril 1941 
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