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. 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 Hillbilly-Music.com would like to express its thanks to Ivan M. Tribe, author of Mountaineer Jamboree — Country Music in West Virginia and other books that can be found on Amazon.com and numerous articles in other publications for providing us with information about this artist. 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