A Sacred Collection - Molly O'Day

 

If You See My Saviour

A Sacred Collection

Molly O'Day

With Lynn Davis and The Cumberland Mountain Folks

Old Homestead Records OHCS - 101

1975

From the back cover: More than a decade ago two of country music's most respected veterans A. & R. men were quoted as saying that the greatest woman country music singer was Molly O'Day. Unfortunately for the younger fans of traditionally oriented country music, this remarkable lady has not performed publicly for nearly twenty-five years except in connection with her husband's and her own evangelistic work. The purpose of this album is to present a sampling of original music  and songs of Molly O'Day to those of us not fortunate enough to own these scarce collectors items.

Molly O'Day was born Lois LaVerne Williamson in 1923 at McVeigh, Kentucky. At an early age she began to take an interest in music together with her older brothers Joe (Duke) and Cecil (Skeets). This threesome of LaVerne, guitar; Skeets, fiddle; and Duke, banjo were soon entertaining for local dances or for any neighbors they could persuade to listen. LaVerne also began to sing in the manner of the popular girl vocalists of the middle and late thirties with her favorites being Lulubelle Wiseman, Patsy Montana, Texas Ruby Owens and Lily Mae Ledford of the Coon Creek Girls. She especially admired Lulubelle as a singer-entertainer and Lilly Mae's old-time banjo playing. In her early years as a singer she tended to imitate these pioneer vocalists but as time went by, she developed her own style which was more influenced by her own mountain background.

In 1939, LaVerne Williamson began her radio career as "Mountain Fern" and then as "Dixie Lee" at WCHS, Charleston, W. Va. The next year she and Skeets played with a group which included such other country music greats as Johnnie Bailes and Jimmie Dickens. In the fall of 1940 she and Skeets joined the band of Lynn Davis and his Forty-Niners where she worked as a girl vocalist. The following April she became Mrs. Davis.

Davis was an eight year veteran of country music on radio stations in West Virginia, North Carolina and Oklahoma. In his early years he had done semi-western material not unlike that of the Sons Of The Pioneers. From the advent of Dixie Lee's joining the group, however, the Forty-Niners began to adapt more to the style of their talented girl vocalist. In the fall of 1942 she adopted the stage name of Molly O'Day and continued to use it for the remainder of her professional career.

The forties were busy years for the Davises. From Bluefield they played on a succession of stations including WJLS, Beckly, WAPI, Birmingham (1942), WHAS, Louisville (1943-1944) (and the Renfro Valley Barn Dances on CBS), KRLD, Dalla (1945), WNOX (1945) and WROL (1949), Knoxville and WBIG, Greensboro (1949). During this time they worked with or had as part of their group such important country music personalities as the Bailes Brothers, Hank Williams, the Lilly Brothers, Mac Wiseman, Carl Smith, Bill Callahan, and Lonnie Glosson. Between 1945 and 1951, they put over a hundred songs on transcription and thirty-six on record.

Fall of 1949 found them in Versailles, Kentucky, however, country music was becoming more of a laborious chore than the fun it had been in an earlier era. In 1950 both she and Lynn joined the church and began to devote their time to the service of God. A serious illness in 1952 and 1953 removed her even father from commercial country and gospel music, but sustained by her faith she eventually recovered and Lynn returned to his evangelistic duties with Molly assisting. For the last several years they have resided in the Huntington, West Virginia area and continued to do church work as time and health permit.

The major characteristic of Molly O'Day's vocal work has been the intense feeling and sincerity which she puts into a song. Perhaps this feeling of depth and emotion accounts for the fact that her best remembered numbers have either been sacred songs or "tear jerkers." Musical associates from radio days such as Carl Story, Bill Callahan and Joe Clark have all described to this writer the feeling she put into a song. She was also acclaimed for the spirited banjo playing heard on several of her records. She and Lynn were also known for their duet singing, particularly their inverted harmonies. Lynn Davis played lead guitar on all of Molly O'Day's original recordings. Skeet Williamson played fiddle on Molly's 1946 and 1949 sessions and is recalled by Everett Lilly as being one of the best fiddlers of his time. George (Speedy) Krise played Dobro on the 1946 and 1947 sessions and should be remembered as the man who apparently introduced that instrument to bluegrass in 1950 while recording with Carl Butler.

The songs on this album have been chosen to portray a variety of her work on country sacred songs. Several feature Molly's banjo playing and three are from rare transcriptions never before available on record. And the song "Mothers Gone But Not Forgotten" there is an early example of two fiddles being used on Mountain Music. Hopefully, this album will reacquaint Molly's old fans with her great music and win new admirers for "The Girl With A Million Friends." – Ivan M. Tribe, University of Toledo

The Tramp On The Street

Matthew Twenty Four

I Heard My Mother Weeping

At The First Fall Of Snow

Mothers Gone But Not Forgotten

Coming Down From God

Teardrops Falling In The Snow

If You See My Savior

When My Time Comes To Go

Don't Sell Daddy Anymore Whiskey

Higher In My Prayers

Traveling The Highway Home

When We See Our Redeemer's Face

Something Got Hold Of Me

Waiting For The Boys

A Hero's Death