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Hillbilly-Music.com—The People. The Music. The History.
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About The Artist
The article goes on to explain they came into commercial fame when they were sponsored by the Hawk Brand Work Clothes. Under that name, the Red and the Red Hawks recorded eight sides on the Signature record label. It was reported that their most popular tune was "You'll Pay With Your Heart" that was written by Ray Lawyer. Another favorite tune of the group was "No Tears Tomorrow", written by Marvin Montgomery, then of the Flying X Ranchboys. We learn that Red "Tex" Woodward was the leader of the group, playing bass and singing tenor. Other members of the band included Red's brother, Dale Woodward who fans knew as "Palo Pinto" and was a guitarist. Kenneth Pitts was the fiddler of the group and they called him "Uncle Ken". Another guitarist and vocalist was J. B. "Cousin Joseph" Brinkley. Jack "Handsome Hank" Gibson was another vocalist in the group; no mention if he played any instrument. "Calico" Ted Graves played piano and accordion. The emcee for their shows over WBAP was Gene Reynolds.
National Hillbilly News mentioned in 1946 that Bill Boyd had just completed recording some tunes for the RCA Victor label. The article mentions some of the musicians providing backup for him on those sessions. They included several members of the Red Hawks - Kenneth Pitts, Cecil Brower, Jim Boyd, Andy Schroder, Red Woodward, Zeke Campbell, and Dale Woodward. Floy also wrote in 1947 that another former band member, J. B. Brinkley was fronting the Doughboys dance band that had just finished a successful engagement at the Sky-Vue in Dallas and had moved on to play at the Club Morocco. The members of the group appear to have evolved into the Chuck Wagon Gang group that were sponsored by Bewley Mills. Floy Case, one of country music's early journalists with a knack for the details, wrote in January 1947 that the group consisted of many of the same names - Kenneth Pitts, J. B. Brinkley, Andy Schroder, Zeke Campbell, Ed Kirkpatrick on accodion and she thought Red Woodward was playing bass for the group. We think it was Ed Kirkpatrick, an accordion player who later found a home on WIBW in Topeka as Floy only mentions him as Kirkpatrick and was recently married. Timeline & Trivia Notes Group Members:
Credits & Sources
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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)
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Red Woodward and the Red Hawks were on the Dallas-Fort Worth country music scene in the
late 1940s we've found. A 1949 article indicates they were on radio station
WBAP in Fort Worth, but using the name Cedar Ridge Boys. Their show aired at 8:30
each day for fifteen minutes.
Floy Case wrote in a 1944 article that the band was entertaining the WBAP listening
audience at 12:45pm each day. She notes that she didn't know all of the members in
the group, but did say that Andy Schroder, formerly of KOMA's Hi-Flyers, was
the steel guitar player. She later wrote in 1947 that Andy had also played
with The Chuck Wagon Gang on KGKO and had moved to a station in Odessa, Texas by then.