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... my conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.
Saturday Schedule Update and Podcast "36 Minutes"
The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive is off to a good start! Thanks to Patricia Chadwick for a very generous donation. Patricia is author of the memoir “Little Sister.” We’ve also had contributions from Wanda Burch, Ilene Wagner, Emil Dahlberg and Mary Alexander. Thanks to all of the donors. For more information or to donate online click here, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022 Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller
By Bob Cudmore
A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy. I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.
Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native.
The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton’s given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch. His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.
Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.
HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.
Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some advertisements.
He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs. Patton was drafted during World War II. HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie “Swing in the Saddle” which featured music by Nat King Cole’s trio.
Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez’s song “Nature Boy” which became a hit.
This Monday Posted by 6AM
January 24, 2022- Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"
Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones’s song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949. However, Jones’s biography failed to mention Patton.
Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band. At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores.
From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.
A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW. A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.
Roamin’ Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, stated Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.
The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.
Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later. He had purchased a recording studio there.
My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.
Miller’s brother in law Barry Frank frequently performed with Miller’s band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.
Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending machines in the area. In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers.
Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton’s Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.
The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam’s Bob’s Tavern. Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.
Miller’s last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam’s myriad characters, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers
“I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.
When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.
Tomorrow, Sunday, January 23, 2022-From the Archives-Episode 209, April 6, 2018, Poetry Songs and History Songs-Words of famous poets including Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, are put to original music by Tom Staudle. The History Songs portray the life of American settlers during the American Revolution through original songs by Cosby Gibson.
In response to a dramatic increase in canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards on the NYS Canal System, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has published the New York State Canal System Hand-Launch Facility Design Guide.
The free guide shares best practices for communities, businesses, and organizations looking to install or improve hand-launch facilities for paddlers.
https://eriecanalway.org/explore/watertrail
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, January 22, 2022
Today
Increasing clouds, with a high near 19. Wind chill values as low as -3. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 6. Wind chill values as low as -1. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Sunday
Scattered snow showers, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. West wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 12 to 17 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Mohawk Valley News, Saturday, January 22, 2022
Daily Gazette
Elmore, defendant in torture case, charged in Montgomery County
Nicole K. Elmore, 35, who allegedly helped kidnap and torture a woman in Fulton County during the first week of…
$603M in bets during first nine days of online sports wagering in N.Y.
SCHENECTADY — New Yorkers placed $603 million in online bets in the first nine days of mobile sports wagering in…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Johnstown Police: Multiple felonies, other charges filed against funeral home director
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
https://www.leaderherald.com/
View all episodes
By Bob Cudmore
... my conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.
Saturday Schedule Update and Podcast "36 Minutes"
The 2022 Historians Podcast fund drive is off to a good start! Thanks to Patricia Chadwick for a very generous donation. Patricia is author of the memoir “Little Sister.” We’ve also had contributions from Wanda Burch, Ilene Wagner, Emil Dahlberg and Mary Alexander. Thanks to all of the donors. For more information or to donate online click here, https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022 Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller
By Bob Cudmore
A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy. I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.
Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native.
The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton’s given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch. His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.
Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.
HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.
Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s called Pals of the Saddle, although his band was referred to as Pals of the Range in some advertisements.
He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs. Patton was drafted during World War II. HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie “Swing in the Saddle” which featured music by Nat King Cole’s trio.
Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez’s song “Nature Boy” which became a hit.
This Monday Posted by 6AM
January 24, 2022- Story Behind the Story podcast is an audio version of Saturday’s column on country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller. Audio Story "13 Minutes"
Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones’s song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949. However, Jones’s biography failed to mention Patton.
Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band. At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores.
From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.
A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW. A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.
Roamin’ Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, stated Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.
The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.
Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later. He had purchased a recording studio there.
My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.
Miller’s brother in law Barry Frank frequently performed with Miller’s band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.
Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending machines in the area. In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers.
Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton’s Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.
The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam’s Bob’s Tavern. Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.
Miller’s last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam’s myriad characters, ranging from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers
“I like country music because it shows life as it is,” Miller said.
When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried wearing his beautiful cowboy clothes.
Tomorrow, Sunday, January 23, 2022-From the Archives-Episode 209, April 6, 2018, Poetry Songs and History Songs-Words of famous poets including Edgar Allen Poe and Rudyard Kipling, are put to original music by Tom Staudle. The History Songs portray the life of American settlers during the American Revolution through original songs by Cosby Gibson.
In response to a dramatic increase in canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards on the NYS Canal System, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has published the New York State Canal System Hand-Launch Facility Design Guide.
The free guide shares best practices for communities, businesses, and organizations looking to install or improve hand-launch facilities for paddlers.
https://eriecanalway.org/explore/watertrail
Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, January 22, 2022
Today
Increasing clouds, with a high near 19. Wind chill values as low as -3. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 6. Wind chill values as low as -1. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Sunday
Scattered snow showers, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. West wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 12 to 17 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Mohawk Valley News, Saturday, January 22, 2022
Daily Gazette
Elmore, defendant in torture case, charged in Montgomery County
Nicole K. Elmore, 35, who allegedly helped kidnap and torture a woman in Fulton County during the first week of…
$603M in bets during first nine days of online sports wagering in N.Y.
SCHENECTADY — New Yorkers placed $603 million in online bets in the first nine days of mobile sports wagering in…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Johnstown Police: Multiple felonies, other charges filed against funeral home director
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
https://www.leaderherald.com/