Historic Hood River
Singing Cowboys
4-14-2022
Notes
I like to check the digital media from the Library of Congress every once in a while. They’re always adding more content, and I’m always seeing things I haven’t seen before. This image is from a collection of negatives captured by Russell Lee for the Farm Services Administration in September 1941. He was visiting a camp in Odell which served migrant farmworkers. These cowboy singers provided the night’s entertainment.
The musician in the middle is playing a Carson J Robison guitar. Robison was an early country musician, and his guitars were sold widely in the 1930s at places like Montgomery Ward.
Category: Odell
Tags: cowboys, Farm Services Administration, guitar, Library of Congress, music, Odell
Tags: cowboys, Farm Services Administration, guitar, Library of Congress, music, Odell
Jim Mason
Here's some audio of Carson Robinson from 1942; https://youtu.be/S3GehpukmHg
Kyle
Looks like Gibson made a lot of those guitars for Montgomery Ward, starting in 1936. Department store guitars and amps were always made under contract by someone else… so if his was a Gibson, it was a good quality guitar, and would still bring at least a few thousand $ these days.
L.E.
Thanks Jim. I enjoyed that.