Joe Lo Preste Born:  May 8, 1934 Died:  July 15, 2009 WHEC Rochester, NY

About The Artist "Smokey Joe" as they called him was a young cowboy singer from Rochester, NY. They said he got inspired to become a singer back in about 1949 or so when he saw Roy Rogers in the movie, "Melody Time". That next Christmas, his mom got him a twenty dollar guitar and Joe took guitar lessons for about a year and a half. He entered and won the first prize in a singing contest over radio station WHEC in Rochester, then landed a job with "Sparky" Gillard on the CBS radio network. They said his rendition of "Cattle Call" got lots of response and he was due to make some recordings with the Hillbilly Records label in the near future. Credits & Sources Country Song Roundup No. 23; April 1953; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT

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