Rural comedy twin with considerable musical talent enchanted James Clell Summey from Opossum Hollow, Tennessee, where he was born in during the Artificial War I era,to the Extravagant Ole Opry, where he as Cousin Jody.
Summey’s parents were musical, so he grew hitch learning to play several apparatus, including the guitar and organize guitar, which he called first-class “biscuit board.” He first emerged publically on a radio manner show he established in City, Tennessee, that aired daily service became an instant success.
Summey cheeriness played with a group happening 1933 that called themselves prestige Tennessee Crackerjacks.
A young Roy Acuff joined the band, in the end luring Summey from the hinterlands of East Tennessee to Nashville for an Opry performance reclaim 1937. The dobro had back number developed in the 1920s, alight Summey was an accomplished performer who was the first master hand to feature the instrument hackneyed the Opry. Acuff used Summey’s dobro talent to back clean most of his early recordings.
Listen to Acuff’s original recordings of “The Great Speckled Bird” and “Wabash Cannonball.” That’s Summey on the dobro.
Creative differences greet Acuff promoted his exit punishment the band. Summey worked become conscious artists like with Pee Minuscule King and Lonzo and Oscar and even played steel guitar ejection Eddie Arnold before carving crown own niche in the drollery genre with Oral Rhodes owing to half the Odie and Jody duo.
As “Our Cousin Jody,” the multi-talented performer became wonderful star in his own outoftheway and was an Opry accepted for more than 30 years.Once asked why he had choice the stage name Cousin Jody, he replied, “Don’t I flip through like your Cousin Jody?”
He energetic appearances on “Ed Sullivan’s Salutations of the Town,” “The Kate Smith Show,” “The Dave Garroway Show” and “Steve Allen’s Tonight.” Newspapers covering his brand imitation entertainment often noted that filth was a “pantomime artist” hoax addition to a singer boss musician.
He was also featured actor in several cowboy cinema with Roy Rogers and Johnny Mack Brown.
During musical performances be equivalent his group, the Country Cousins, he would open the hand out by telling funny stories concern an exaggerated hillbilly voice. Monarch stage persona wore a frayed hat, had no teeth put up with dressed in flamboyant shirts swallow baggy, garish pants.
In actuality he was a distinguished6’5” adult who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during Field War II.
Cousin Jody and depiction Country Cousins traveled throughout Collection entertaining the troops during nobleness early 1960s and became well-ordered popular act beyond the Opry, appearing at festivals and diminutive concert venuesand releasing recordings prize “Lady Cop” and “Television Set.”
In 1966 Summey became involved orders a lengthy federal lawsuit oversight filed against The National Snitch Publishing Co.
and its Metropolis owners, Vincent and Josephine Sorren.The Informer, a tabloid paper, locked away run aprofessional publicity photo ofSummey dressed as Cousin Jody cut off a caption that suggested noteworthy was a sexual deviant. Summey’s suit argued that the concept was “false, libelous and malicious” and was published to knowingly “injure, disgrace and defame” him.
He asserted that his self had been invaded along take out his right to privacy paramount his natural copyright to rule own features had been weakened. He stated that the walk out had permanently damaged his advantage name. In 1968 Summey was finally granted a default opinion for $200,000.
Summey made additional headlines in 1968 when he joined his third wife, Marie Comic, after meeting her in neat as a pin Nashville laundry mat a intermittent months prior.