Homer & Jethro Biography

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Homer & Jethro
Country Music | 3 CD Set
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Homer and Jethro were institutions in country music, becoming hillbilly comedians who parodied anything and everything they wanted to make fun of. Homer was born Henry Haynes and Jethro was born Kenneth Burns, both in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1920. They were pals since early childhood and both learned to play stringed instruments early, going to work at age twelve in Knoxville radio in a quartet called the String Dusters, Homer on guitar and Jethro on mandolin. Although the act was a pop group, Homer and Jethro became somewhat bored with it and took to creating comedy routines around the music at first backstage, but eventually on the radio when their comic lyrics to popular songs of the day were heard by others. The program director of the station gave them their performing names, Homer and Jethro, and they retained them throughout their career, which lasted 39 years. Although the duo did their comedy within the String Dusters, by 1936 they had decided to go it alone even though they stayed until 1939 at the station. They moved to the Renfro Valley Barn Dance in Kentucky, but in 1941 as World War II was developing, they were drafted. After discharge in 1945, they joined the Midwestern Hayride in Cincinnati and until 1948 recorded for the local King label, moving in 1940 to RCA. They enjoyed Top 10 success on a recording with June Carter of "Baby It’s Cold Outside" and by that time had been doing their own tent show before joining Red Foley on radio in Springfield. Also in 1949, the duo toured with the consummate country and pop comedic bandleader, Spike Jones. By 1951, after a tour with Jones, they were asked to become regulars on the National Barn Dance, staying until 1958. During this time and into the ‘60s, they toured extensively as country humor attracted many fans in varied venues around the country, including the Las Vegas showrooms. Homer and Jethro had occasional hits, their "How Much Is That Hound Dog In the Window" reaching No. 2 in 1953. Their takeoff on Johnny Horton’s "Battle of New Orleans," the comic "Battle of Kookamonga," made the Top 20 in 1959 and the last time the pair made the charts came in 1964 when they made a parody of the Beatles’ "I Want To Hold Your Hand." They made well-selling albums for nearly twenty years, collections that included such hits as "The Ballad of Davy Crew Cut," "Hart Brake Motel," and album titles such as SONGS MY MOTHER NEVER SANG, OOH, THAT’S CORNY and HOMER & JETHRO’S NEXT ALBUM. They also recorded instrumentally with Jethro’s brother-in-law, Chet Atkins in 1970 as the Nashville String Band, the album making the charts as RCA finally acknowledged what only a few knew about the duo, that they were very talented instrumentalists on guitar and mandolin. The 39 year partnership ended in 1971 when Homer suffered a heart attack and died. Jethro sadly quit working but eventually returned to music as a musician and not a comic. He died in 1989 of cancer.

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