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Red and his Arkansas Ramblers
WHO Iowa Barn Dance Frolic
KDKA Pittsburgh, PA
WHO Des Moines, IA

About The Artist

Red and His Arkansas Rambers were noted as a "famous hill-billy band of radio and vaudeville" in an late 1930's Souvenir Program for the old WHO Barn Dance Frolic. They were pretty adept musicians it appears for they could 'bewilder' folks as they went from banjos to violins to guitars.

Merle Scobee was the guy they called Red and lead the group. His brother, Ray was known as Zip. Another member of the group was Art Brier known as Shorty. The three of them had played together for years on the old Warner Brothers and Fox circuits and also on KDKA before they went to WHO in Des Moines, Iowa.

In the late 1930's, the group added two members, the Rash Twins, who the program said, "...spoke the same musical languate as the original Ramblers." The "twins" were not actually twins, but a brother and sister duo, Arlene and Dale Rash.

Group members included:

  • Merle Scobee (Red) (B: June 18, 1907 — D: September 26, 1973)
  • Ray Scobee (Zip) (B: January 17, 1909 — D: December 1, 1978)
  • Art Brier (Shorty) B: March 13, 1906 — D: October 7, 1978)
  • Sally (Arlene) Rash (B: August 16, 1910 — D: August 4, 1996)
  • Buck (Dale) Rash (B: June 22, 1913 — January 27, 1975)

  • Souvenir Program, W-H-O Barn Dance Frolic; Des Moines, IA