Adolph Hofner
Adolph Hofner | |
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Adolph John Hofner (June 8, 1916 – June 2, 2000) was an American Western swing bandleader and singer.[1][2]
Biography
Hofner was born into a family of Czech-German origin. He grew up listening to Czech and
In the 1930s, Hofner, Emil, and fiddler Jimmie Revard started the band the Oklahoma Playboys.[5] Hofner made his first recordings with them as singer and guitarist. He made his solo debut in 1938 when he was offered a contract with Bluebird Records. With support from Eli Oberstein, the recording manager of Bluebird, Hofner formed the western swing band[3] Adolph Hofner and His Texans. They made their recording debut on April 5, 1938[6] and they played their first gig outside Leming, Texas on May 13, 1939.[7] Meanwhile, he recorded with Tom Dickey's Show Boys.[3] This band had a surprise hit with Floyd Tillman's melancholy honky tonk song "It Makes No Difference Now" with Adolph singing. Hofner and his Texans had their first and biggest hit in 1940 with "Maria Elena".[8][9]
In 1941, Hofner signed a recording contract with
Among the Czech-American songs they recorded, many with the original Czech lyrics, are the "Happy Go Lucky Polka", "The Prune Waltz", "Julida Polka", "Green Meadow Polka", "Barbara Polka", and "Farewell to Prague" ("Kdyz Jsme Opustili Prahu"). In order to accommodate their sponsor, Pearl Beer, the Hofners recorded the original version of "Farewell to Prague", which had been known in the old country, instead of the more recent Czech-American "Shiner Beer Polka", the same song with the word "Prague" ("Prahu") changed to "Shiner". This avoided the implied reference to rival Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Spoetzl's being closely identified with the "Shiner Beer Polka". But the brothers could not resist inserting a joke in Czech at the end of the recording. When one of the Hofners asks the other to "give me a dark beer" ("Daj mne cervene pivo"), Spoetzl's Shiner Bock being the most well-known dark beer in Texas at that time, the other brother firmly replies, "No!" ("Ne!").
In the mid-1980s, Hofner and the Pearl Wranglers were filmed at 'The Farmer's Daughter' dance hall for the British Channel 4 series "The A to Z of C & W". Hofner's career ended in 1993 when he suffered a stroke. He died in June 2000.[7]
Discography
- Dude Ranch Dances (Columbia H-13 [4-disc 78rpm album set], 1949; Columbia HL-9017 [10"], 1950)
- German Folk Dances (Imperial FD-541 [10"], 1954)
- Country and Western Dance-O-Rama, No. 4 (Decca DL-5564 [10"], 1955)
- Your Friend Adolph Hofner (Sarg SLPS-1803, 1973)
- Western Swing – Vol. 2 (Historic Recordings) (Arhoolie/Old Timey OT-116, 1975)
- Western Swing – Vol. 3 (Historic Recordings) (Arhoolie/Old Timey OT-117, 1975)
- Rollin' Along (An Anthology of Western Swing) (Tishomingo Tsho-2220, 1976)
- South Texas Swing (Arhoolie/Folklyric LP-5020, 1980; CD-7029, 1994) OCLC 31863135
- Western Swing, Blues, Boogie and Honky Tonk – Volume 8 (The 1940's & 50's) (Arhoolie/Old Timey OT-123, 1981)
- OKeh Western Swing (Epic EG-37324 [2LP], 1982; CBS Special Products CD-A-37324, 1989)
- The Texas-Czech, Bohemian, & Moravian Bands (Historic Recordings 1929–1959) Arhoolie/Folklyric LP-9031, 1983; CD-7026, 1993) OCLC 30394604
- Country: Nashville-Dallas-Hollywood 1927–1942 (Frémeaux & Associés FA-015 [2CD], 1994)
- Western Swing: Texas 1928–1944 (Frémeaux & Associés FA-032 [2CD], 1994) OCLC 37799161
- Stompin' Western Swing (Roots of Rock 'N' Roll, Volume 2) (President PLCD-552, 1996)
- Hillbilly Blues 1928–1946 (Frémeaux & Associés FA-065 [2CD], 1997) OCLC 222283540
- Smile & Jive: Kings of the Western Swing (Charly CDGR-182 [2CD], 1997)
- Adolph Hofner and the Pearl Wranglers (Sarg CD-2-101 [2CD], 1998)
- Doughboys, Playboys and Cowboys: The Golden Years of Western Swing (OCLC 44555137
- The Sarg Records Anthology (South Texas 1954–1964) (Bear Family BCD-16296 [4CD], 1999)
- Western Swing: As Good As It Gets (Disky DO-247362 [2CD], 2000)
- Kings of Western Swing (Pazzazz [Germany] PAZZ-040 [2CD], 2004)
- Western Swing and Country Jazz (JSP 7742 [4CD], 2005)
- Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers (More from the Golden Age of Western Swing) (Proper BOX 83 [4CD], 2006)
- Western Swing: 40 Bootstompers From The Golden Age (Primo [Czech Republic] 6008 [2CD], 2006)
- Swing With The Music (B.A.C.M. [British Archive of Country Music] CD-D-297, 2010)
- You Oughta See My Fanny Dance (Previously Unissued Western Swing 1935–1942) (Bear Family BCD-16532, 2011)
Footnotes
References
- Carlin, Richard Peter. (2003) Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary, Taylor & Francis
- Russell, Tony (2007) Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost, Oxford University Press
- Russell, Tony - Pinson, Bob (2004) Country Music Records: A Discography 1921-1942, Oxford University Press
- Tribe, Ivan M. (2006) Country: A Regional Exploration, Greenwood Publishing Group
- OCLC 37304910
- OCLC 39837948