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Rockin the Blues Updates 9.12.2024
# Donna Darlene / Rockin' Country Style
# Connie Dycus / Rockin' Country Style
# Marty Roberts / Rockin' Country Style
Donna Darlene / Rockin' Country Style
Donna Darlene
Donna Darlene was born in Kane, Pennsylvania.
In August 1952, the town of DuBois, Pennsylvania was going to celebrate a three-day "Mardi Gras". This was an attempt by the local minor league baseball club based in DuBois to raise some funds for their operation. If the event was a success, it would be repeated again 1953 and much larger scope and planning would start immediately. Part of the Mardi Gras" festivities was to be an amateur contest. There were several 'divisions' of contestants. Specialties Division, Vocals Division (individual and duet), Vocals Division (Three or more voices), Accordion, Instrumental and Demonstration. The Allen Brothers and Donna Darlene (who be around 14 years old at the time) were in the Specialties Division and were to do "Hill-Billy Specialties".
Donna Darlene By 1955, she had her own fan club that was run by Laura Kahnell out of Andover, Ohio. Ms. Kahnell did provide some early background on Donna's earlier life. She started singing at an early age and her father often accompanied her on the guitar. At the age of 11 years old, she was singing over radio station WKBI out of St. Mary's, Pennsylvania on their version of the Saturday Night Jamboree. While she was there, she learned to play the guitar and bass fiddle. In a short time, she was given her own show that was on the air Monday through Friday. That show lasted two years.
Ms. Kahnell's letter goes on to mention that Donna left WKBI for WPXY in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. She joined Bobby Spicker (we think it was Spicher) and his Sunset Troubadours. In the summer of 1954, the group was doing a weekly television show at Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Sundays.
In August 1954, Cowboy Songs reported that Donna Darlene was a part of the Bob Spicker and the Sunset Ramblers group. Bob had previously worked with Bud Moore and His Hillsdale Hillbillies, then went to work with Toby Stroud's Blue Mountain Boys who were on WWVA World's Original Jamboree. After three months with Toby, he hooked up with Roy Scott and his Western Ramblers. The Sunset Ramblers included Pete Spuck on Rhythm Guitar, Gene Nichols on the accordion, his brother Norman Spicker on the fiddle and Donna Darlene played bass and sang.
The local DuBois newspaper reported that Bob Spicker and his Sunset Ramblers were to do at show at the Sandy High School Auditorium on Thursday March 4, 1952. It was to be a two hour show starting at 8:00pm. The article mentions the names of the Sunset Ramblers seen listed in the Cowboy Songs article.
About two weeks later, reporter John Oshenle of the Dubois Courier spotlights an evening of entertainment featuring the Sunset Ramblers sponsored by the Junior Class of Sandy High. Mr. Oshenle did spell Bob's name as Spicher. He also notes that the group played a "...wide selection of favorite hillbilly and western music to the delight of the large audience." He also provide the details of the tunes the band did: Bimbo, There Stands The Glass, So Sweet To Be Remembered, Slowly, I COuldn't Keep From Crying, Dear John, Rover and Hey Joe. He concluded, "...the applause of the audience indicated that the program was indeed a success."
It appears that she and Norman Spicer(Spicher?) were residents of Sabula, a town a bit east of DuBois. The Clearfield Progress newspaper tells us that "Sabula Couple Wins Top Prize in Grampian Contest". A capacity crowd filled Grampian's Penn Grange Community Hall to see a big amateur contest sponsored by Penn Grange and the local merchants. The article noted that Norman Spicer (Spicher), violinist, and Donna Darlene, guitar player and vocalist, of Sabula, one the ten dollar first prize for their rendition of "Hey Joe No. 2". The Harmony Male Quartet of Harmony Grange won second place and five dollars for their version of "On The Jericho Road". And then two Brothers and sisters won third prize of three dollars for "I Get So Lonely".
Connie Dycus / Rockin' Country Style
Connie Dycus
Connie Dycus was born Dec. 6, 1930 in Dyersburg Tennessee. He served in the Armed Forces and in the Korean War from 1952-54.
In July 1955 he moved to Flint, Michigan and began working at General Motors.
Connie was a Mason.
Connie was best known for his weekly live Country Music Show aired on WJRT-TV Channel 12 out of Flint called The Connie Dycus Show and The Country Cut-ups in the early 1960s.
Connie played many live engagements, clubs private parties etc.
He recorded 20 different songs..and wrote 14 of those 20! He released one LP entitled "Let Ole Lonesome In". Connie was always available for charitable benefits and well liked by all!
Connie F. Dycus died January 2, 1978 in Flint, Michigan. He was inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997 at Prairieville, Michigan.
Marty Roberts / Rockin' Country Style
Marty Roberts
Marty Roberts (December 6, 1918 – November 20, 2009) was an American radio disc jockey (DJ), songwriter, TV personality and actor
Born Martin Robert Schopp in Chenoa, Illinois, he graduated from high school in 1935. Marty got an early start in the radio business when he appeared on WDZ in Decatur, Illinois as a sophomore in high school. Marty played the bass fiddle with The Lone Pine Fiddlers, a bluegrass group led by David "Stringbean" Akeman who later became notable as a longtime member of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn and a regular on the television show, "Hee Haw".
During his long career, Roberts played in several bands and appeared on many radio stations such as: WBT, Charlotte, N. C, 1938–41, with Tenn. Ramblers; WJJD, Chicago, 1941–2; WDZ, Tuscola, 1947–51; WCKY, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1951–8; WDZ, Decatur, 1958.
In 1937, Marty was playing his bass with Ted DeLeon and his Mexican Caballeros, touring the country by private train. A year later, Roberts was playing with the Moon Mullins Dixeland Band in Greensboro, N.C. when he got his first break.
While playing in a club in North Carolina, he became a member of the Tennessee Ramblers, which are based out of North Carolina
The Ramblers appeared regularly on WBT in Charlotte playing their American Country and Western swing music.
The band had a recording contract with Bluebird records and appeared in several Hollywood singing cowboy feature films, Ride Ranger, Ride (1936), Yodelin’ Kid from Pine Ridge (1937) and Ridin' the Cherokee Trail (1941).
Roberts' movie career was abruptly interrupted by the onset of WWII. Marty served in the Army as a Staff Sergeant during his deployment in Europe.
Elements of the 63rd Infantry Division, including Schopp, landed in Marseilles, France, on December 8, 1944, and were rushed north to support Americans locked in the Battle of the Bulge. Shortly after VE-Day, Schopp played a part in providing entertainment for the men. Marty joined the troupe of 45 combat veterans of his 253rd Infantry Regiment turned in rifles for greasepaint to create G.I. Carmen.
Upon his return to the states after the war, Marty returned to his musical roots at WDZ in Illinois.
He would later become a featured DJ on the station before moving to Cincinnati Ohio to join up with Nelson King on WCKY in 1951. He co-hosted the Hillbilly Jamboree with King and conducted the house band, “The Night Riders.”
Roberts authored and sang several country western tunes on Coral, Arc, and Flame record companies.
Marty would achieve the honor of being in the Billboard magazines top 5 “Country and Western Disc Jockeys of the year” for 1951 through 1955.
Roberts also wrote several country and western tunes during his early years in the music business. Marty co-wrote a top ten hit for Wanda Jackson titled, “You Can't Have My Love” released for Decca Records May 1954.
Roberts finished his radio and entertainment career in Illinois on various radio stations as well as hosting “Marty's Dance Party”which was a live teen dance show produced by his wife Mary. The television show ran on WTVP in Decatur and WICS in Springfield Illinois during the 1960s.
He continued to DJ on various radio stations in central Illinois for several years while taking his band on the road throughout the Midwest before retiring to a life of golf and relaxation in his home town of Chenoa Illinois.
Roberts died in November 2009 in St. Petersburg, Florida from complications related to a short illness.
He is survived by his two sons, Allen Robert Schopp and Martin Brent Schopp.
