The Lonesome Drifter was born, on December 6,1931 on a cotton farm in north Louisiana. As a youth,He worked as a water boy for the cotton pickers on a plantation and recalls hearing his first blues music while watching an old black man playing a slack string guitar out side of an old country General Store.Other musical influences included: Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, and Bluegrass Music was the foundation of his style. His Recording of "Eager Boy" and "Tear Drop Valley" on Mira Smith's K record label is one of the most sought-after records among Rockabilly
Collectors in the late 1950's. The Drifter an established hillbilly performer, got word of a new recording company, Ram Records, that has just opened for business in Shreveport La,seventy miles from his home in Monroe, Louisiana. The Drifter recalls on the first release from Ram: I had been to Mira Smith's studio to record and she asked me what name I wanted on the record, I did not want to use my