Sons of the Pioneers Fan Secures Local Concert
By Scott Grove
There are fans of musical groups and then there are actual “friends of the band.” The latter would unquestionably be true of Frederick resident Patricia Simons, whose love for the American western music and the singing group Sons of the Pioneers reaches back to the 1950s, when at the age of 5 she saw her first rodeo at Madison Square Garden. “It was headlined by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans,” she says. “I loved their singing, their fancy outfits, [their horses] Trigger and Buttermilk. I became an instant fan.”
Aware of the band’s 90th anniversary tour and the fact that it had never performed in Frederick, Simons met with John Healey before he recently retired as director of the Weinberg Center for the Arts. Healey knew of the Sons of the Pioneers’ remarkable history and continuing audience appeal and was able to secure a St. Patrick’s Day performance.
Current members of the Sons of the Pioneers. From left, Tommy Nallie, John Fullerton, Chuck Ervin, Ken Lattimore and Paul Elliott.
“It has been my good fortune to have enjoyed and admired the Sons of the Pioneers throughout most of my life. I’m so happy that they will finally be coming to Frederick,” Simons says.
Roy Rogers formed Sons of the Pioneers in 1934 with Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer, who are credited with having created a new genre of cowboy music that has since become synonymous with the American West. Immediately popular, the band was offered a contract on the Decca label, recording such hit tunes as Tumbling Tumbleweeds and Cool Water, both Grammy Award winners.
In 1935, Hollywood also came calling, resulting in movie stardom for Rogers, dubbed “King of the Cowboys,” and musical renown for the rest of the band. Over the next half century, Sons of the Pioneers appeared in more than 80 films, selected shorts and television appearances. Over the decades, 47 singers and musicians have been official members of the band.
Simons’ love for the band never wavered. Her childhood and teenage years included untold hours watching reruns of early Roy Rogers movies. Once, she discovered that Ken Carson, an early band member, was a regular performer on The Garry Moore Show, one of the most popular television shows in the ’50s and ’60s. Simons secured tickets and briefly met Carson after the show.
As an adult, she began traveling to western music festivals where entertainers would mingle freely with attendees. “In 1994, I saw Roy’s final performance in Tucson, accompanied by the Sons of the Pioneers,” she says. “That’s where I first met Ken Carson’s wife, Gretchen. We became fast friends. At future festivals, I would pick her up at the airport and escort her to various concerts and dinners.” Simons soon knew all the band members, as well as Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans. The Rogers family invited Simons to the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary gala.
“I maintained a friendship with Gretchen Carson until she passed away. We talked on the phone almost daily.” Simons says it was important to her friend that Ken’s musical instruments go to those “who respected his work and his memory.” Simons has two of his guitars and his harmonica, as well as a breadth of memorabilia she’s collected over time.