Jules Verne Allen

Jules Verne Allen (April 1, 1883 – July 10, 1945) Allen only recorded 24 songs, but his frequent live radio performance and book Cowboy Lore made him one of the most influential figures in the popularization of country western music.

Biography Early life Allen was born on April 1, 1883, in Waxahachie, Texas, United States. According to his book Cowboy Lore, he began working as a hand at his uncle's ranch when he was ten. After his mother's death, he began driving cattle hundreds of mile from the open ranges along the U.S.-Mexico border to railroad stockyards in Montana. During these long journeys, Allen's companions immersed him in a rich oral tradition of cowboy stories and songs, and taught him how to play the guitar. He also stated that he worked as a deputy sheriff in El Paso County, Texas, then Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Texas, and finally as a Texas Ranger. Allen also never mentioned the fact that he was previously married to a woman in Sturgis, South Dakota, named Charlotte Evelyn Hough, whom he divorced shortly after the birth of their daughter, Ethal Myrie "Mary" Allen, in 1904. After her parents separated, Mary was placed in a convent as an infant, but her mother remarried and later recovered her.

Music career During World War I, Allen enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I and began performing in blackface as a minstrel. He served as a sergeant in the 64th Infantry Regiment, which was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division operating in Lorraine, France. Prior to deploying to France, Allen married Elizabeth M. Caswell in El Paso on December 14, 1917.

Allen claimed that after the war he briefly returned to ranching, but government census records from 1920 show that was living with his wife in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and working as a driver for the short-lived Fox Motor Company. Allen traveled to Los Angeles to take advantage of the growing cowboy music scene in Hollywood, where he was discovered by Ralph Peer, a scout with Victor Records.

In April 1928, he recorded three songs in El Paso with Victor–"Little Joe the Wrangler," "Jack O'Diamonds," and "Po 'Mourner" (a minstrel song). From 1928 to 1929, Allen recorded a total of 24 songs with Victor before his records sales began to slip during the Great Depression when more a more contemporary and romanticized style of country western music became popular. His cowboy stories and music inspired the next generation of country music singers, including Country Music Hall of Fame member Ernest Tubb.