Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

STONE, Cliffie

(b Clifford Gilpin Snyder, 1 March '17, Burbank CA) Country music producer, bandleader, songwriter, music publisher, label boss. Father was banjo player/comedian called Herman the Hermit. Worked in the house band at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, joined Ken Murray's Hollywood Blackouts, worked with bands of Anson Weeks, Freddie Slack; meanwhile he became disc jockey and comedian at age 17 on KFVD's Covered Wagon Jubilee, by mid-'40s emceed more than two dozen country music shows a week, incl. daily variety show on KXLA '45 called The Dinner Bell Roundup (became the Hometown Jamboree '49); by then he'd joined Capitol Records in charge of country music '46, was a big influence in West Coast country, signing Tex Williams, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jimmy Wakely, Hank Thompson, Merle Travis, many others. Own LPs incl. Original Country Sing-A-Long '56, Square Dance USA '57, The Party's On Me '58, Don Stewart & Cliffie Stone '67; left Capitol mid-'60s to concentrate on his business interests (such as Central Songs, sold to Capitol '69); formed own Granite Records '74. Published Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Songwriting But Didn't Know Who To Ask '91; his son Curtis Stone played bass for Highway 101.