365 DAYS PROJECT

2003   FEBRUARY 21   #052

The DeZurik (Cackle) Sisters - Checker Board Time Intro (Ralston Purina Farm Products)/Old Dan Tucker/The First Whipporwill Song

Featured is rare material from 16" transcription discs from the Checkerboard Squares radio show. Some Cackle Sisters material has been reissued... "Arizona Yodeler" appears on the amazing compilation "American Yodeling 1911-1946" on Trikont Records and the song "Birmingham Jail" was included on "Classic Country Duets" put out in the Eighties by Old Timey Records. Thanks to Dana Countryman for my first Cackle Sisters listen and Uncle Bri for these posted recordings.

From the Musicweb Encyclopedia of Popular Music :

Popular in the '30s-40s-50s, working as a duet comprising of Carolyn (b.1919) and sister Mary Jane DeZurik (b. 1917). Noted for sky-high yodels, they could also make their yodels sound like chickens and were later known also as the Cackle Sisters. Appeared as the DeZurik Sisters on the WLS Barn Dance (1936-49) and as the Cackle Sisters on the Grand Ole Opry (1944-48). Mary Jane retired in 1948 to raise a family, replaced by younger sister Lorraine; the new duo appeared on the Midwestern Hayride Show (1949-50). They disbanded in the early 1950s and Carolyn joined the Prairie Ramblers which included her husband Rusty Gill. The Ramblers and Carolyn went on to perform on ABC television in Chicago in the mid-1950s-60s on such shows as Chicago Parade (one of the first morning shows in Chicago), Crazy Acres, It' s Polka Time and Polka Go Round.

- Otis Fodder

TT-3:46 / 3.45MB / 128kbps 44.1khz (MONO)