Paul "Okie Paul" Westmoreland (September 19, 1916 – June 21, 2005) was an American musician, songwriter, and disc jockey in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. Born in Tyler Texas, he moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

during the

Okie An Okie is a person identified with the state of Oklahoma, or their descendants. This connection may be residential, historical or cultural. For most Okies, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their bei ...

migration.Pew, "Route 66": "From the status of independent farmers, they had fallen to that of cheap labor, and Sacramento’s Paul Westmoreland—or 'Okie Paul,' as he is known to radio listeners throughout central California—is one of them. He was a teen-ager when he made the first run out of Oklahoma with his family. “We was starved out in 1929,” he recalls, ...“ As a songwriter he is best known for " Detour (There's A Muddy Road Ahead)", written in 1945, which became a big hit for

Spade Cooley Donnell Clyde "Spade" Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American Western swing musician, big-band leader, actor, television personality, and convicted murderer. In 1961, he was tried and convicted for the murder of his ...

and was afterwards covered by

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...

and many others. Other songs by Westmoreland include, "Lordy, Oh Lord" (1952), "Save The Pieces" (1953), and "What's Another Broken Heart To You?" (1953, with Joe Hobson). He also recorded for Decca Records and toured with his own band in 1954. Included in his band was bass player Raymond "Cousin Ray" Woolfenden.
Woolfenden
was elected to the Country Radio DJ Hall of Fame in 1999. Westmoreland died in California.

References

Bibliography

*Gregory, James Noble. ''American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California''. Oxford University Press, 1991. *Pew, Thomas W., Jr
"Route 66: Ghost Road of the Okies"
''American Heritage'' (August 1977). Western swing performers Four Star Records artists 1916 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American musicians Country musicians from Oklahoma {{US-country-musician-stub