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Bluegrass ArtistsAl Brumley, Jr. Al and his brothers grew up preferring country as their music of choice. He got his start in 1949, on radio in Joplin, Missouri, where a duo known as Cookie and Ollie had a jamboree-type show. After finishing high school, Al got work as a staff musician at KOAM Pittsburgh, Kansas where the noted radio team of Roy (McGeorge) and Lonnie (Robertson) had their home base. By the 50's, radio staff musicians were becoming a thing of the past at most locales so when KOAM added a TV station in 1953, Al worked there, too. He spent most of 1956 and 1957 in the U.S. Navy. After leaving the Navy, Al went to Fresno, California and joined Dave Stogner's Rhythmairs, who worked all over the San Joaquin Valley, primarily as a vocalist. The Rhythmairs had a regular program on KMJ-TV in Fresno as well as their appearance schedules. Al cut a couple of singles with 4-Star Records during his stay with the Rhythmairs, but in 1959 he went to Bakersfield, where he worked with Cousin Herb Henson on KERO-TV. During this period, Al took time out to go to Nashville where he cut a solo album for SESAC with vocal support from the Anita Kerr Singers and a Harold Bradley-backed musical combo. Back in California, Al joined Jimmy Thomason's group for about six years. In this period, he had three single releases on Capitol with moderate success, but no real hits. In 1970, Al came to Nashville working primarily as a front act for such Country stars as Leroy Van Dyke and Johnny Russell. He kept this up for ten years, cutting a scattering of single discs during that period. In 1980, Al went back to Missouri and began to incorporate more of his dad's music into his own repertoire. Al estimates that, during the 60's, about sixty per cent of his work was in churches and another twenty per cent at outdoor festivals. |
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