Mary Jane Johnson and the Johnson Sisters

[Paul Crawford]

Hey Gang, I had the pleasure last night of an evening with the 2 surviving members of the Johnson Sisters, Mary Jane and Ruth. Some might remember them from their years on the Barn Dance, The Town Hall Party, or Mary Jane's touring days with Gene Autry.

The girls are just coming on line for the first time, and would like to contact musicians they played with in the past to renew acquaintance. You or your friends played with The Johnson sisters, or Dolph Hewitt, (Ruth's late husband), they would love to hear from you. Just let me know in this thread or by email and I will forward it to the ladies.

Thanks!

[Jason Odd]

Paul, I suppose it's a silly question, but who did they work with.. I guess Speedy West, etc.
Did they know Billy Strange, Jeannie O'Brien, Tommy Sands, Sammy Masters, fiddler Buddy Ray and all that crowd?

[Paul Crawford]

Buddy Ray might be a great guess since we were talking about a fiddler "Buddy" and lacking a last name.

Since I think Mary Jane was the last to settle down somewhere around '55, I'd guess you'd need to go back to the 40s more than the 50s. They did some work in New York with Jerry Byrd, and I also heard that at one point Mary Jane was playing guitar in a female trio backing Gene that included a Dobro player, (ala Dixie Chicks.)

I know that many of Dolph's old group have passed on, but we were kind of hoping that since the steel players were, (hum, how do we put this), "long on experience", we might run into one or two that could lead us to a few others.

Thanks again for the help and interest.

[George Rozak]

<SMALL>but who did they work with..</SMALL>

For what it's worth, I remember them on the old Chicage Barn Dance with Tiny Murphy on steel. Unfortunately, I heard that Tiny passed on several years ago.

[Jason Odd]

Paul, that was supposed to be Jeannie Black, and I might have to email you rather than use up space on the Forum.

Regards

Jason

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