Charles Ryan (December 19, 1915 – February 16, 2008) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing and first recording the

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

hit single " Hot Rod Lincoln".

Biography

Ryan grew up in

Polson, Montana Polson (Montana Salish: nčmqnétkʷ, Kutenai: kwataqnuk) is a city in Lake County, Montana, United States, on the southern shore of Flathead Lake. It is also on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The population was 5,148 at the 2020 census. It i ...

and moved to Spokane in 1943. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during The Korean War. After the war, he worked as a musician and songwriter, touring with artists such as

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

and

Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Initially performing traditional country, Horton later performed rockabilly songs. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narra ...

. In 1955, he wrote "Hot Rod Lincoln", and Ryan recorded the first version of the song (as "Charley Ryan and The Livingston Brothers"). Ryan released a remake in 1959 as "Charlie Ryan and The Timberline Riders"; the song was later covered by Johnny Bond (1960) and

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were an American rock band founded in 1967. The group's leader and co-founder was pianist and vocalist George Frayne IV, alias Commander Cody (born July 19, 1944 in Boise, Idaho, died September 26, 2021 ...

(1972) (#7 Canada), among others.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Obituary

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

, February 22, 2008
Charlie Ryan official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Charlie 1915 births 2008 deaths People from Graceville, Minnesota American country singer-songwriters Four Star Records artists King Records artists United States Army personnel of the Korean War 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota People from Polson, Montana