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Pete Pike
Born:  November 30, 1929
Died:  May 27, 2006
Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame (2006)
WRVA Old Dominion Barn Dance
WGAY Silver Spring, MD
WKLV Blackstone, VA (1947)

About The Artist

Pete Pike was a Virginia native who eventually settled in the Washington, DC area and performed both country and bluegrass music over several decades. He also worked with the late Buzz Busby as part of the comedy duo Ham and Scram. The bluegrass festival held in Amelia, Virginia actually took place on a farm owned by him.

Pike's first musical job was performing on the small radio station WKLV in Blackstone, Virginia in 1947. In 1949 he settled in the DC area where he remained musically active for more or less the rest of his life. For six months in 1949-1955, he and Buzz Busby appeared regularly as leaders of a band called the Bayou Boys on a program called the Hayloft Hoedown which usually included a parody number by Ham and Scram on each show. Some of these were recorded and subsequently released as a budget album on the Mt. Vernon label.

Promo Ad - Valley View Park - Buzz and Bayou Boys of Washington - July 1955
Promo Ad - Old Dominion Barn Dance - Buz Buzby (Buzz Busby) and the Bayou Boys - March 1955

Promo Ad - Old Dominion Barn Dance - Buz Busby and his Bayou Boys - Aug 1955
Promo Ad - Valley View Park - Buzz Buzby - Bayou Boys - Jean Shepard - Hawkshaw Hawkins - June 1956

Pete Pike — Record Reviews From The Billboard
Date Label Rec No. Review
2/11/1956 Coral 61581 A Friend Of The Bride — Pike warbles plaintively on an effective weeper about a guy standing by bravely while his gal weds another. (Rating: 75)

At My Side — Another god vocal performance by Pike on a melodic ballad with a happier lyric theme than the flip. (Rating: 72)

Despite Pike's long career in the District of Columbia and surrounding area, details are not readily available. How much material beyond the Ham and Scram songs for Ben Adelman is not known. He did some material at Wynwood studio in Falls Church. He recorded ten sides on the Rebel label and apparently other songs for Dick Freeland's company that were not released. Later in life Pete recorded several songs with a southern West Virginia bluegrass outfit called Black Diamond. These cuts along with some older material were released on a Copper Creek compact disc titled Rolling Again (CCDC-0239) in 2005. Evidently more releases were planned, but Pike passed away before they could be consummated.

Credits & Sources

Related Web Links

Pete Pike Biography

Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)

 
Coral
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  64186 A I Can See An Angel
  64186 B House Of The Lord
 
Music City Records
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  MC-45-201 A Little Bitty Teardrops
  MC-45-201 B DR1-7309 (Dr. Seventeen, Three-0 Nine)
 
No Label Name
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  PP-1 A I Can See An Angel
  PP-1 B In The House Of The Lord
  PP-2 A I'm Walking Alone
  PP-2 B Yellow Leaves
 
Rebel
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  226/227 A Making Love to a Stranger
  226/227 B Cotton Dice
  228 A Cold Grey Dawn
  228 B I'll Always Wonder Why
  229 A I Can See an Angel
  229 B On Top of the Hill
  233 A The Legend of the Stars and Bars
  233 B Alone and Forsaken
  240 A Blues on My Mind
  240 B Napanee
 
Stop
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  ST 277 A Make Him Stop
  ST 277 B Tall Walkin'
 
V.R.C.
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  501 A I Can See An Angel
  501 B I'm Just Not Sure
  502 A Thru Non-Stop Express
  502 B Alone And Forsaken