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About the video
Back to the barn with crazy chickens and a great fiddle accompanied by banjo
rhythms on this tune called "Red Hen Boogie", performed by the McCormick
Brothers. From the Cumberland Highlanders show.
About the artists
The McCormick Brothers was a family band that began performing together in
1945 (they ranged in age from 7 to 19 at that time.) The seeds for the act were
planted when Lloyd McCormick and Kelly McCormick formed a guitar-mandolin
duo as youngsters, performing duets on Kentucky and Tennessee radio
stations. Their personnel and instrumentation expanded, and younger brother
Haskel McCormick joined on banjo in the early '50s. At one point, the lineup was
filled out with a couple of cousins, Hayden Clark (on bass) and Billy Clark (on
fiddle), before the youngest brother joined on bass and Dewel Bullington on
fiddle; Charlie Nixon later joined on Dobro.
From the mid-'50s to the early '60s, the McCormick Brothers recorded for
Hickory, run by Fred Rose (who co-ran the enormously successful Nashville
publisher Acuff-Rose with Roy Acuff). The McCormicks did some rockabilly sides
in an attempt to boost their sales, but are known primarily for the fairly straight
bluegrass recordings they did on Hickory, alternating between harmony vocals
and purely instrumental workouts. Their biggest seller was their first single for
the label in 1954, "Red Hen Boogie," penned by Charlie Louvin and Ira Louvin.
They also did an album after leaving Hickory for Metromedia. Eighteen sides
from their bluegrass Hickory singles were assembled for the 2002 Varese
Sarabande compilation The Very Best of the McCormick Brothers. ~ Richie
Unterberger, All Music Guide