LAAM's HAPPY HAYSEEDS
The Happy Hayseeds - Logan, Ivan & Fred Laam - undated photo courtesy of Steven Laam.
Homebase: John Day, OR / Placerville, CA. / Stockton, CA.
Stats: 1920s--mid-1950s
Misc Notes: Abraham Laam (fiddle) taught his sons -- Ivan Laam (fiddle) & Fred Laam (banjo and later fiddle) -- how to play music in the early 1900s. They performed around Oregon as The Happy Hayseeds -- and eventually Fred's son Logan Laam (guitar / vocals) became their leader. Around 1926 the band moved, making Placerville, California, their new base while touring up and down the West Coast. Soon they scored a gig playing regularly -- at 6:00 am weekdays -- on Stockton's CBS-affiliated radio station, KGDM.
Happy Hayseeds in a broadcast studio, California, undated photo courtesy Steve Laam.
Their popularity eventually led to recording sessions for Victor Records on March 5th & 6th, 1930 -- and they have since been credited as being among the very first West Coast string bands to ever have been recorded. When a couple of their recordings were issued in Canada, they were credited as the Tennessee Fiddlers. In time, the Happy Hayseeds' lineup evolved, with Fred's son Orson (bull fiddle) joining up, as did Bill Simmons (guitar), a fellow named Smith (accordion), a fellow named Earl Jennings (?), as well as a female vocalist. By the 1940's Ray Park (fiddle), had joined and the Hayseeds held down a Saturday night dance gig at Linden, California's Oak Grove Dance Pavilion. By the 1950s the band had added drums, and even an electric guitar, but their glory days were past and they quietly faded away...
The "Laam Brothers & Sons" (left-to-right:) Logan Laam; Ivan Laam; Fred Laam; Orson Laam. Undated photo courtesy Steve Laam.
Logan Laam and his Happy Hayseeds, Stockton, CA., undated photo courtesy of the Laam family.
Happy Hayseeds, with electric guitar, female vocalist and Logan Laam.
The latter-day Happy Hayseeds, 1950s, photo courtesy Steve Laam.
MISC NOTES: A-side recorded on March 5, 1930 / B-side on March 6, 1930.This disc was also released in Canada on the Aurora label and credited to the Tennessee Fiddlers. It was also released by Victor under the Timely Tunes budget label for sales in American Montgomery Ward stores.
LOCATION: Culver City, CA
RECORDING PERSONNEL: Ivan Laam (fiddle); Fred Laam (banjo); Bill Simmons (guitar).
RECORDING STUDIO: Victor
RECORDING ENGINEER:
FORMAT: disc
SIZE: 10"
SPEED: 78 rpm
DISC NOTES:
A-SIDE MATRIX: 23774-A
A-SIDE STAMPER CODE:
A-SIDE COMPOSER: Ivan Laam
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B-SIDE MATRIX:23774-B
B-SIDE STAMPER CODE:
B-SIDE COMPOSER: Arr. by Ivan Laam
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FORMAT: disc
SIZE: 10"
SPEED: 78 rpm
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[...HEAR "The Tail of Haley's Comet" HERE...]
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