Charline Arthur

Charline Arthur (also Charlene Arthur, née Charline Highsmith; September 2, 1929 – November 27, 1987) was an American singer of boogie-woogie, blues, and early rockabilly. In 1950, Arthur began work as a singer and a disc jockey at the Texas radio station KERB. She left three years later after the impresario Colonel Tom Parker discovered her, signing her with RCA Records. She was a regular performer on the Big D Jamboree radio program throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Arthur also performed and toured with Elvis Presley and others, but in 1956 RCA dropped her from the label and her career declined. Described as a "flash in the pan" and a "woman before her time", The family was poor but musically inclined, and music was a central part of her family life. after winning the show's talent contest. Charline married Jack Arthur, the show's bass player, in 1948. He later performed on some of her records and managed her during the early part of her career.

Career

1952–1957

Arthur toured in 1954 with the RCA country and Western caravan, with Hank Snow, by Greyhound tour bus. Artists on the tour included Chet Atkins, Minnie Pearl, Hawkshaw Hawkins, the New Davis sisters and Betty Cody, with Eddie Hill as the tour "Master of Ceremonies". They played Charlotte, North Carolina, Mobile, Alabama, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the Little Rock, Arkansas show, RCA sent a recording engineer who taped the show and later issued on EP record RCA EPB 3220, entitled "Country and Western Caravan 1954".

The height of her career was in 1955. That year she recorded for RCA, under Steve Sholes and Chet Atkins. In a national poll she was voted the nation's second best country artist (after Kitty Wells). While Welcome to the Club attracted little attention, interest in Arthur was renewed in the early 1990s when the role of women in country music was becoming more important. Two historians, Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann, noted that Arthur "fought for the right to become country's first truly aggressive, independent female of the postwar era. Ultimately she lost". The Encyclopedia of Country Music (2012) hails her "gutsy, blues-flavored vocal style and brassy stage presence", and states that her importance is far, far greater than "her commercial fortunes might suggest". Charline is often cited as a pioneering rockabilly female.

Discography Compilation albums Burn That Candle – Charline Arthur (Bear Family) (1986) Calling All Rock ’N’ Roll Collectors, Vol. 3b. (Cat) Ultra Rare Hillbilly Boogie, Vol. 1c. (Chief) Hillbilly Houn’ Dawgs & Honky Tonk Angels (Detour) The Big D Jamboree Live (Dragon Street) Gals Of The Big D Jamboree (Dragon Street)