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.

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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