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Lulu Belle & Scotty
North Carolina Music Hall of Fame (2014)
WLS National Barn Dance
WLS Chicago, IL
WLW Cincinnati, OH

About The Group

The "Hayloft Sweethearts" were known as one of the 'happiest and best loved' families on the air. They both came from the mountains back east. In 1938, they were voted by listeners as one of the top three in popularity.

They were said to have had that indefinable "something" that is difficult to describe when trying to explain their popularity. George Biggar wrote in their song folio back in 1941 that they were 'natural'.

Throughout their career, as popular as they were, they always seemed to have a singular goal in mind - to get back to that cabin in the pines, a place in the Big Smoky mountains in North Carolina. They eventually got that home and were able to visit it once in a while before eventually retiring. It was near Ingalls, North Carolina. Scotty used to heard his family's sheep over this same land.

Scotty was the seventh child in Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wiseman's family. He had a hobby back then of playing harmonica and guitar for square dances. As a teen, he began collecting mountain ballads. He went to Duke University for a year after high school, then spent three years at Fairmount, WV Teachers College. It was while he was at Fairmount that he got a job on radio station WMMN; he sang those mountain ballads he had collected and helped in program work. When he graduated from the Teachers College, he became their program manager for a few months, when the opportunity came to join the WLS staff.

Along about 1940, though they had left the WLS National Barn Dance. In reading the book, "Not Just A Sound, The History of WLW" by Dick Perry, it seems a few of the crew such as Charles Biggar and Bill McCluskey. McCluskey was brought in to be the goodwill ambassador and handle the talent at WLW. He was there they pulled a coup got Lulu Belle and Scotty to join the Boone County Jamboree on 50,000 watt clear-channel WLW.

About four years after Scotty was born, a Myrtle Cooper was born in Boone, North Carolina to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Cooper. In 1929, her family moved to Evanston, Illinois. It didn't take long for John Cooper to go to the WLS studio and as them to hear his daughter sang; he thought she was as good as anything that was on the Barn Dance. She auditioned and in a few weeks, she was part of the hayloft gang at the theatre on Eighth Street. She was nicknamed "Lulu Belle" - a sort of 'cut-up' of a girl in a calico dress and high-topped shoes.

Through it all, fame never seemed to cause them to be anything other than the same natural 'mountain folk' that they had always been and longed to return to later in life. They received a lot of fan mail and played to sold out audiences in mid-western theatres. They were always amazed that folks would make such a 'to-do' about them.

Reading their story, you can see perhaps where Scotty got the inspiration to write "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"...

Trivia and Timeline Notes

  • Scotty played guiar and five-string banjo
  • Scotty also wrote songs
  • Lulu Belle and Scotty were married on December 13, 1934
  • Daughter Linda Lou was born January 3, 1936 - noted that she had not yet learned to chew gum (Lulu Belle had a tendency to chew gum when she performed...) and once in a while, showed an inclination to yodel.

Appearance History This Month

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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)

 
Conqueror
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  8315 A Daffy Over Taffy
  8315 B Little Black Moustache
  8593 A Madam I've Come To Marry You
  8593 B Farmer's Daughter
  8594 A Prisoner At The Bar
  8594 B Get Along Home Cindy
  8595 A Sugar Babe
  8595 B Tildy John
  9189 A Never Take No For A Answer
  9189 B Wish I Was A Single Girl Again
  9249 A When I Yoo Hoo In The Valley
  9249 B Mountain Dew
  9250 A The Prisoner's Dream
  9250 B It Ain't Nobody's Bizness
  9586 A Be Careful Girls
  9586 B The Empty Stocking
  9587 A The Wumpus Cat
  9587 B Whoa Black Buck
  9693 A I'd Like To Go Back
  9693 B The Wandering Boy
  9694 A Did You Ever Go Sailing?
  9694 B Remember Me
  9695 A From Jerusalem To Jericho
  9695 B There's No Hiding Place Down There
 
Emerald
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  1998 A Hang Out The Front Door Key
  1998 B Lonesome Whippoorwill
  2005 A Tenderly He Watches
  2005 B The Old Time Bible
 
London
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  16014 A Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
  16014 B Schrudle Du
 
Mercury
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  6304 A My Heart Cries For You
  6304 B Shenandoah Waltz
  6318 A Each Time You Leave Me
  6318 B Truly I Love You
  6389 A Around The Corner
  6389 B Wishin'
  6400 A I'm No Communist
  6400 B Tied Down
 
Starday
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  746 A I'll Be All Smiles Tonight
  746 B Try To Live Some (When You're Here)
 
Vocalion
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  04690 B When I Yoo Hoo In The Valley
  04691 A Mountain Dew
  04772 A Never Take No For An Answer
  04772 B Wish I Was A Single Girl Again
  04841 A The Prisoner's Dream
  04841 B The Old Red Cradle
  04910 A This Train
  04910 B Turn Your Radio On
  04962 A It Ain't Nobody's Biz'ness
  04962 B There's A Little Pine Log Cabin
  05487 A Get Along Home Cindy
  05487 B Prisoner At The Bar


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