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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZO'DAY, Molly(b Lois Laverne Williamson, 9 July '23, Pike Co. KY; d 5 Dec. '87) Influential country singer with strong gospel bent; also played guitar and banjo. For a while she was known as Dixie Lee Williamson; two of her brothers were musicians, especially Cecil ('Skeets'), who played fiddle in her band. Lynn Davis was a good lead guitarist and singer, successful radio announcer; he hired her to sing with his Forty-Niners '40, they married '41. Her path crossed that of Hank Williams, who always had a song for her ('The Tramp On The Street' became her first record; it wasn't Hank's originally but he sang it to his own tune). She and her band made transcriptions of over 100 songs at KRLD in Dallas '45, most of which seem to have disappeared. She and her Cumberland Mountain Folks began recording for Columbia '46, the same year Williams signed with Fred Rose as a writer. They recorded 36 tracks '46- -51, all prod. by Art Satherley: five Williams songs, several of Roy Acuff's and a few written by various Roses as well as Davis's, and Molly's own 'When My Time Comes To Go'. She could and did sing 'Muleskinner Blues' and 'I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again' on the radio, but the records are nearly all tearjerkers and gospel songs: 'Don't Sell Daddy Any More Whiskey' had a crying baby dubbed on to it. Her vocal style and her string-band sound were similar to those of Acuff; she was at her best in duets with Davis (e.g. on Slim Martin's 'With You On My Mind', the closest she ever came to honky tonk, and on the Carter Family's 'Heaven's Radio'). She had a pleasant alto voice and there was no doubting her sincerity, but as a soloist her phrasing was painfully clunky; yet Rose, Satherley and Satherley's assistant Don Law all thought she would have been a superstar if she had continued. She became ill with tuberculosis, and her religious feelings overcame her career. She recorded for Bob Mooney's Rem label '61, for GRS '68, had a radio programme on Christian radio WEMM-FM (Huntingdon WV) for a decade after '74 (talk and gospel recordings), but neither the state of West Virginia nor the Smithsonian Institution could get her back on stage. She influenced Kitty Wells, and indirectly many others. The complete Columbias are available on Bear Family. |