They would also inspire a short-lived girl group, The Davis Sisters. There were few women then in the genre, excluding Patsy Montana, The girls would inspire a whole new breed of country music singers such as Kitty Wells, Jean Shepard and Patsy Cline. Girls of the Golden West were pioneers in country music at the time. They would normally wear cowgirl western-style outfits for their appearances on television programs. However, this was all part of the image of the "Western Music" craze. They would claim they were from Muleshoe, Texas, though in reality they were farming girls from Illinois. The Girls also had kept up a fictitious story of their life. The Girls of the Golden West were one of the most popular acts of the 1930s and 1940s, and were one of the few women then found performing country music. They started singing songs such as "Put My Little Shoes Away" and " Ragtime Cowboy Joe". They named themselves the Girls of the Golden West, taken from the opera by Puccini, The Girl of the Golden West. They first started recording for Bluebird Records in July 1933. Bradley Kincaid, also at WLS, later worked with the girls in their recordings. In 1933, they moved to the WLS National Barn Dance, then the home of country music pioneers Gene Autry and Patsy Montana. In 1978, Sonyatone released a collection of their cowboy- and western-oriented material.The Girls of the Golden West first entertained family and friends before they worked on a radio station in St. Their discography includes three albums for the Fort Worth Bluebonnet label. The Girls of the Golden West performed and recorded sporadically until Dorothy Good's death in 1967. What had always been a strong interest of the girls increased as their career went on, until the pop material started to take over more territory during their recording sessions. Then, there was a certain number of traditional cowboy songs from the realm of orally passed-on folk music, and the sessions were filled out with cover versions of pop standards they liked. In the recording studio, the girls created a repertoire that consisted of about half newly composed ditties based on western themes. She did not try to play lead fills in the manner of Maybelle Carter, instead specializing in top-quality harmony parts and catchy yodeling. Dorothy Good took the lead on most of the solo passages and played guitar in a basic manner that worked suitably as an accompanying instrument. The sisters were such a hit on the Vallee program that it led to them being offered their own weekly NBC program, and a recording contract followed posthaste. Regular appearances on the Chicago radio station WLS' National Barn Dance began in 1933 and led to guest spots on Rudy Vallee's syndicated NBC show. Making their home near Chicago, the Girls of the Golden West appeared regularly on a variety of radio shows heard from Northern Canada to south of the Mexican border.
#GIRLS OF THE GOLDEN WEST BAND PROFESSIONAL#
When Dolly was only 14, they made their professional debut on radio station WIL in St. And although this audience preferred the girls' versions of cowboy and western material, the sisters themselves personally preferred pop music. The sisters began their duo the way many talented children do - by entertaining family and friends in the comfort of their home. They grew up listening to cowboy songs from the Southwest, and wound up getting the credit for spreading this regional influence into the blend of what developed into country & western music. Louis, Missouri, in 19, respectively (they later claimed Muleshoe, Texas as their hometown to bolster their cowgirl image. Sisters Mildred and Dorothy "Dolly" Good were born in St. The opening round of biographical details in the story of the Girls of the Golden West sets the tone with names that seem properly ironic.