* En anglais uniquement
Although known primarily as guitarist for
the Sons of the Pioneers from 1961 through 1986,
Roy Lanham also led
the Whippoorwills for many years and performed as a solo artist, recording albums of country-jazz guitar instrumentals under his own name in the late '50s and early '60s. Despite his relative obscurity,
Lanham is often esteemed on the level of such well-known guitar greats as
Chet Atkins and
Merle Travis.
Lanham was born in Corbin, KY, on January 16, 1923, and picked up the guitar at an early age. Beginning as a teenager he found radio work as a rhythm guitarist in a number of instrumental combos, one of which was eventually hired by pop vocalist
Gene Austin and renamed
the Whippoorwills. In this group
Lanham functioned as lead guitarist, performing in a jazzy style influenced by
Charlie Christian and
Django Reinhardt but distinguished by his development of a four-part harmony chord technique he would alternate with single-string figures. In 1943
Lanham joined Cincinnati's WLW, a 50,000-watt station that allowed him the opportunity to work with King Records, for which he soon performed regularly as a session guitarist, appearing on recordings by
Hank Penny and
the Delmore Brothers, among others. After participating in one
Chet Atkins session in 1946 for the Bullet label,
Lanham moved to Dayton and re-formed
the Whippoorwills. For the next few years the combo toured, recorded transcriptions for
Smiley Burnette's radio show in Hollywood and collaborated with
Merle Travis on six sides for Capitol in the early '50s. It was during his tenure with
Smiley Burnette's show that
Lanham first met
the Sons of the Pioneers, who invited
the Whippoorwills to fill in for them on their radio show while
the Sons were on tour.
Lanham found additional session work recording separately with
Johnny and
Dorsey Burnette as well as
Johnny Horton,
Jim Reeves,
Bonnie Guitar, the Browns, and
the Fleetwoods, in addition to recording singles under his own name and with
the Whippoorwills. The success of
the Fleetwoods singles on which he appeared led to his recording of a solo LP in 1959 and the sole
Whippoorwills album, Sizzling Strings, later that year. ~ Greg Adams