Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo Henry D. "Homer" Haynes (1920–1971) and Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns (1920–1989), popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs. Known as the Thinking Man's

Hillbillies Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...

, they received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

in 1959 and are members of the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amas ...

History

Early years

Haynes and Burns met in 1936 during a WNOX-AM audition in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

, when they were both 16 years old. Known as Junior and Dude (pronounced "dood'-ee"), the pair was rechristened Homer (Haynes) and Jethro (Burns) when WNOX Program Director Lowell Blanchard forgot their nicknames during a 1936 broadcast. In 1939 they became regulars on the ''

Renfro Valley Barn Dance ''Renfro Valley Barn Dance'' was an American country music stage and radio show originally carried by WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday nights. It debuted on October 9, 1937 from the Cincinnati Music Hall and moved to the Memorial Auditorium i ...

'' radio program in

Renfro Valley, Kentucky Renfro Valley is a neighborhood located just off Interstate 75 at the junction of U.S. Route 25 and Kentucky Route 2793 north of Mount Vernon, a city in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, United States. The community of Renfro Valley (which has its own ...

. They were drafted into the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

during World War II but served separately; they reunited in Knoxville in 1945, and in 1947 they performed on WLW-AM's ''

Midwestern Hayride ''Midwestern Hayride'', sometimes known as ''Midwest Hayride'' and later ''Hayride'', was an American country music show originating in the 1930s from radio station WLW and later from television station WLW-T in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the 1950s ...

'' in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. They sang exaggerated hillbilly-styled versions of pop standards as their comedic hook, with Haynes on guitar and Burns on mandolin. They originally recorded for King Records, where they also worked as session musicians backing other artists such as

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with t ...

until a dispute over song credits with label owner

Syd Nathan Sydney Nathan (April 27, 1904 – March 5, 1968) was an American music business executive who founded King Records, a leading independent record label, in 1943. He contributed to the development of country & western music, rhythm and blues a ...

led Nathan to release them from the label. The duo and other stars were fired by new management at WLW in 1948, and after a brief tour, they moved to

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

and performed on KWTO-AM with

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

, the

Carter Family Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...

and

Slim Wilson Clyde Carol Wilson (July 14, 1910 – July 15, 1990), better known as Slim Wilson, was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and radio and TV personality who was a cornerstone of country music in the Ozarks for more than 50 years beginning ...

Song satirists

Signed to RCA Victor in 1949, the label's country A&R man

Steve Sholes Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent American recording executive with RCA Victor. Career Sholes was born in Washington, D.C. and moved with his family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of nin ...

suggested they switch their comedy to singing parodies of country and pop hits. Most were penned by Burns, the humorist of the pair. Their parody of "

Baby It's Cold Outside "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and popularized in the 1949 film '' Neptune's Daughter''. While the lyrics make no mention of a holiday, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song owing to its winter ...

", as recorded with

June Carter June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in t ...

, became a hit. The song's composer,

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

, gave them permission to parody the tune with the condition that the label read, "With apologies to Frank Loesser". It led to an appearance on WLS-AM in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1950, a tour with musical satirist

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

and an uncredited appearance on Jones's RCA Victor recording of Pal-Yat-Chee, an opera parody. A number of successful recordings also followed. Haynes and Burnes were gifted jazz players, both of them followers of the music of

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

. They also served as backup musicians on a number of late 1940s and early 1950s RCA Victor recordings by

and on many other RCA Victor country sessions in Chicago and Nashville. The Atkins recordings featuring the duo reflect their mutual admiration for Reinhardt. Atkins was married to Burns' wife's sister. Taking a cue from other comic talents of the era, most of their humor was directed inward, towards themselves. In several notable exchanges recorded on the live album ''At the Country Club'', they intone that the parade to be given by their fan club had to be canceled because one of the members was ill, and the other had to work. The implication of course being that there were only two members of such a club. Indeed, from the opening introduction, by ''

Hee Haw ''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 1 ...

'' stalwart Archie Campbell the humor is towards them, rather than at others. Campbell's intro noted, "Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, the next act showed up." At one point in the evening, Burns remarked to one of the patrons, "Hey, you walking out! Get back in here, you're no better than the rest of them." However, taking a moment to imprint their serious musical talent, they and the other members of the band perform "C-Jam Blues", to the delight of the audience. Burns was also a talented guitarist, able to replicate the hot soloing he did on mandolin on the guitar. They won a

for Best Comedy Performance – Musical in 1959 for "The Battle of Kookamonga", their parody of Johnny Horton's hit " The Battle of New Orleans". The majority of their recordings were similar parodies of famous old and new popular songs. One example was their treatment of the old romantic song "When You Wore a

Tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

" (''When you wore a Tulip/A sweet yellow tulip/and I wore a big red

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

''). While keeping that line of the chorus intact, the duo's version of its verse told of two lovers sleeping in a greenhouse, removing their clothes due to the heat and humidity, and then having to escape when the building caught fire. To cover their nakedness, the couple wore the flowers. In the 1960s, they also recorded a parody version of Lennon and McCartney's "

I Want to Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded on 17 October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment. With advance orders ...

Later years

Over time, Homer and Jethro's patter became more sophisticated, giving them access to mainstream audiences on

network television Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. On May 12, 1960, they appeared with Johnny Cash on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

The Ford Show ''The Ford Show'' (also known as ''The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford'' and ''The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show'') is an American variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired on NBC on Thursday eveni ...

, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford''. In the 1960s they were hired as commercial personalities for

Kellogg's Corn Flakes Corn flakes, or cornflakes, are a breakfast cereal made from toasting flakes of corn (maize). The cereal, originally made with wheat, was created by Will Kellogg in 1894 for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where he worked with his bro ...

; their "Ooh! That's corny!" television spots gave them exposure beyond country music audiences. Homer and Jethro made several appearances on ''

The Johnny Cash Show ''The Johnny Cash Show'' is an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969, to March 31, 1971, on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. ...

'' during the 1970–1971 season, though they were not considered regulars. During one appearance, they reprised their old hit "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with June Carter Cash as part of a skit. Both were also established jazz musicians, who were deeply influenced by the European gypsy string jazz of

. Atkins produced many of their later RCA albums including two instrumental jazz efforts: ''Playing It Straight'' and ''It Ain't Necessarily Square''. The Reinhardt style continued to influence the duo's work until Haynes' death from a heart attack in 1971. A final RCA Victor album, ''The Far-Out World of Homer and Jethro'', followed in 1972 and the sleeve included a message from Burns playing tribute to Haynes. After Haynes' passing, Burns tried to maintain the duo with a new "Homer", guitarist Ken Eidson, but the effort was short-lived. Burns continued recording and performing solo and with Chicago

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

Steve Goodman. Burns died in 1989 from prostate cancer. Ken Eidson died from cancer in 1999 at age 51. Haynes and Burns were inducted into the

in 2001.

Album discography

*''Homer and Jethro Fracture Frank Loesser'' (RCA) (1953) *''Barefoot Ballads'' (RCA) (1957) *''The Worst of Homer and Jethro'' (RCA) (1958) *''Life Can be Miserable'' (RCA) (1959) *''At the Country Club'' (RCA) (1960) (recorded live in 1959) *''Songs My Mother Never Sang'' (RCA) (1961) *''At the Convention'' (RCA) (1962) *''Playing It Straight'' (RCA) (1962) (reissued on CD by RCA Japan) azz instrumentals*''Zany Songs of the '30s'' (RCA) (1963) *'' Homer and Jethro Go West'' (RCA) (1963) *''Ooh, That's Corny'' (RCA) (1963) *''Cornfucius Say'' (RCA) (1964) *''Fractured Folk Songs'' (RCA) (1964) *''Tenderly'' (RCA) (1965) *''Old Crusty Minstrels'' (RCA) (1965) *''Wanted for Murder'' (RCA) (1966) *''Any News from Nashville?'' (RCA) (1966) *''Something Stupid'' (RCA) (1967) *''Songs for the Out Crowd'' (RCA) (1967) *''It Ain't Necessarily Square'' (1967) (reissued on CD by RCA Japan) azz instrumentals*''Nashville Cats'' (RCA) (1967) *''There's Nothing Like An Old Hippie'' (1968) *''Live at Vanderbilt U'' (RCA) (1968) *''Cool Crazy Christmas'' (RCA) (1968) *''Homer and Jethro's Next Album'' (RCA) (1969) *''The Far-Out World of Homer and Jethro'' (RCA) (1972) *''America's Song Butchers: The Weird World of Homer and Jethro'' (Razor & Tie) *''Homer and Jethro Assault the Rock 'n' Roll Era'' (Bear Family)

with the Nashville String Band

*''

The Nashville String Band ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (RCA) *'' Down Home'' (RCA) *'' Strung Up'' (RCA) *'' Identified!'' (RCA) *'' The Bandit'' (RCA) *'' World's Greatest Melodies'' (RCA)

Singles

Guest singles

Notes

References

Homer and Jethro biography at Britannica.com
* *.

External links

Homer and Jethro at the Country Music Hall of FameLyrics for the "Battle of Kookamonga"
* {{Authority control American comedy duos American comedy musical groups American musical duos American novelty song performers American parodists American satirists Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Musical groups from Knoxville, Tennessee Country music duos Grammy Award winners King Records artists RCA Records artists Parody musicians Musical groups established in 1936 Country music groups from Tennessee