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Henry D. Haynes was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on July 7,
1920. He started his musical, radio career in 1932, when he
teamed up with another musician from Knoxville, Kenneth C.
Burns. The duo would gain worldwide renown as “Homer and
Jethro.” Originally, they were known as “Junior and Dude,” on
a local radio show, “The Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round.”
Known as “the thinking man’s hillbillies,”
Homer and Jethro got a lot of mileage out of an act that
shouldn’t have lasted or gone as far as it did. They played
the part of two hayseeds doing cornball renditions of the
latest popular songs of the day, like the country hits, “I’m
Movin’ On No. 2,” “We Didn’t Make It Through The Night,” and
“Gone.” Sometimes they reached over into the Pop field and
mutilated something like their first major hits, “Baby, It’s
Cold Out There,” and “Ole Kiss Of Fire.” Although they
appeared to be very “top-surfaced,” underneath this façade
were two top-flight musicians with a great sense of humor and
a clever knack for satire. Later in their career, they were
part of RCA Records “house band,” that included Chet Atkins,
Boots Randolph and Floyd Cramer. The group recorded under the
name of “The Country Gentlemen.”
Interestingly, early on they were rejected by the top brass of
the Grand Ole Opry. It seems that the executives were not
thrilled with the playing of their lead guitar player, the
brother-in-law of Jethro, Chet Atkins. Chet went on to be the
A & R man for RCA Records and produced most of their material.
Later, he was hired by WSM and the Opry folks to complement
their music staff.
Chet Atkins and
Jethro Burns of Homer &
Jethro were brothers-in-law. They
married WLS Barn Dance stars, Leona and Louise “The Johnson
Twins.”
In 1971, Homer Haynes passed away after
experiencing a severe heart attack. This devastated Jethro and
he turned to playing jazz and folk music, appearing with Joe
Venuti, Pete Fountain, and Steve Goodman.
Dusty Owens
TCM
Radio News
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