All Y'all Podcast

Joey Kent grew up backstage at The Louisiana Hayride—just not the version of the Hayride that you may be thinking of. His father, Shreveport media executive David Kent, launched a second installment of the Hayride after the original iteration of KWKH’s influential barn dance program fell silent in 1960. David Kent’s Louisiana Hayride, produced in partnership with emcee and radio personality Frank Page, moved the show from Shreveport Municipal Auditorium to a more modern venue on Benton Road and added an onsite restaurant and bar.

Joey Kent often corrects those who insist that the Hayride ended in 1960.

“There were so many talented musicians on my father’s show,” Kent said. “Most Hayride history books tend to end in 1960, but that doesn’t really do service to performers like (Nat Stuckey, Shoji Tabuchi, Micki Fuhrman, Linda Davis, and others).”

Kent authored Cradle of the Stars: KWKH & The Louisiana Hayride and co-authored Elvis Presley: The Hayride Years, 1954-56. He is also responsible for donating a large archive of recordings and materials related to The Louisiana Hayride to the Library of Congress. But perhaps his most unbelievable contribution to the story of The Louisiana Hayride came about completely by accident.

While clearing out an office at KWKH, Kent says that he happened upon a reel-to-reel recording wedged between a desk and a wall. That reel-to-reel turned out to contain a previously unknown recording of Elvis Presley’s Hayride debut on Oct. 16, 1954. Kent tells the jaw-dropping story of that discovery, along with many others, during his insightful conversation with All Y’all hosts Sara Hebert and Chris Jay.

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Growing up poor in Marthaville, Louisiana in the 1940s, Big Rob Gentry considered only four things in his hardscrabble world to be indispensable: Jesus Christ, Earl Long, the Sears and Roebuck catalog, and KWKH. The latter was brought into his home courtesy of a cabinet-sized radio that his father saved up to purchase for the family. Each morning and evening, the Gentrys would gather ‘round the radio to listen to country music, news and entertainment beamed out of Shreveport, Louisiana. His favorite program was The Louisiana Hayride.

For the second episode in our six-part series produced in partnership with Louisiana Public Broadcasting, All Y’all spoke with Gentry about how the country music showcase—which broadcast live from Shreveport Municipal Auditorium from 1948 until 1960—shaped his life. Gentry is the retired editor and publisher of The Sabine Index and a Louisiana Political Hall of Fame inductee who donated a sizable collection of Hayride-related artifacts, documents and memorabilia to The Cammie G. Henry Research Center at Northwestern State University in 2014.

If you’ve not heard the first episode in this series, give it a listen to hear country music historian and author Dr. Tracey Laird discuss some of the same things that Gentry brings up in this episode, including the “hooping and hollering” that set the Louisiana Hayride apart from its more hidebound competitor, the Grand Ole Opry: https://www.allyallblog.com/2020/08/10/louisiana-hayride-dr-tracey-laird/

The All Y'all podcast is supported by Marilynn's Place, Rhino Coffee and Maccentric. Please support these outstanding local businesses!

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The Louisiana Hayride was a live country music jamboree that was broadcast weekly via Shreveport, Louisiana’s 50,000-watt powerhouse station KWKH beginning in 1948. The lifespan of the Hayride was brief (the original program ended in 1960) but consequential, with artists like Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, and Kitty Wells changing the look and sound of American pop music from the stage of Shreveport Municipal Auditorium.

For our six-episode series exploring the lasting impact of The Louisiana Hayride, All Y’all partnered with Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Over the course of the series, you’ll hear from a wide range of interview subjects, including musicians Kix Brooks and AJ Haynes, historians Joey Kent and Rob Gentry, entrepreneur Alton Warwick, and this episode’s guest: Shreveport native, music professor and author Dr. Tracey Laird.

Dr. Laird is the author of Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music Along the Red River and co-author of Shreveport Sounds in Black and White. Dr. Laird joined All Y’all’s Sara Hebert for an interview by phone from Decator, Georgia, where Laird serves as professor of music at Agnes Scott College. Her books are the best place to start for anyone seeking a well-researched, smart, and fun primer on the mythology, music and meaning of The Louisiana Hayride.

In the first episode of our six-part series, Dr. Laird describes Shreveport as “a kind of a crossroads of cultural impulses” where music that fell “outside of the canonical understanding of country music” could find a more receptive audience.

The All Y'all podcast is supported by Marilynn's Place, Rhino Coffee and Maccentric. Please support these outstanding local businesses!

Want more conversations like this? Help us by sending a few bucks our way at Paypal.me/AllYall

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On June 29, the world lost someone very special. The film industry brought Jim Hayes to Shreveport, but his love of our little town is what kept him here—along with his wife, Christine, and son, Walker. Jim was many things, but first and foremost, he was an artist. Whether building props for movies ranging from Austin Powers to Mulholland Drive, painting his signature flames down the side of a hot rod, or creating interesting environments at local businesses like Abby Singer’s Bistro and Twisted Root Burger Company, Jim literally left his mark on Shreveport.

After the recording of Jim and Christine’s Exit Interview, Jim stuck around afterward to share the story of how a car gig for Johnny Depp secretly went totally wrong. We’re glad to finally have it out in the world today.

See Jim at work in episode 2 of Moviesauce‘s series “Faces” : https://youtu.be/CmXrgoFWTpo

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The second installment in an ongoing series, this episode of Exit Interviews features Ashley Johnson and Ari Butler, both of whom have recently relocated from Shreveport, Louisiana to Connecticut. The Exit Interviews series features candid conversations with former Shreveport-Bossier residents about how living here shaped their lives and what lead to their decision to relocate.

Ashley and Ari's conversation with host Sara Hebert highlights many of the best aspects of life in Shreveport (live music, grassroots-organized community events, a supportive LGBTQIA community) while underscoring the need for more professional opportunities. It's an insightful, revealing conversation.

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