Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. A brief apology before I go any further. Normal service should be resumed next week, and I hope this is at least adequate. There is very little information out there about Janis Martin.
This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Sometimes a novelty act will have real talent, and sometimes the things that can bring you the most success initially can be the very things that stop you from building a career. There are no books about Janis Martin, who as far as I can tell was the first successful female rockabilly artist. There are no films about her. There are just a handful of articles in obscure fanzines, and pages on unvisited websites, to mark the story of a true pioneer of rockabilly music.
So a warning right now β this will deal in passing with abortion and underage marriage. If you are likely to find anything dealing with those things traumatising, please check out the transcript on the podcast website at songs. Janis Martin was born in , and spent her early years as a child country and western act.
This was at a time when the dominant force in country and western music was a series of live variety shows that would be broadcast by different radio stations, and there was a definite hierarchy there. At the very top of the chain was the Grand Ole Opry, whose performers like Roy Acuff would absolutely dominate the whole medium of country music. If you were on the Opry, you were going to be a big star, and you would be heard by everyone.
Slightly lower than the Opry were shows like the Louisiana Hayride. The Hayride was for those who were on their way up or on their way down. Young Janis Martin was a country singer, pushed into the role by her domineering mother.
