Don Winters was born in 1929 in Tampa, Florida. Raised mostly in South Georgia, he was the son of entertainer “Pop” Winters who headed “The Southern Strollers.” Don began performing with them in the late 40s but moved to Nashville in the 50s and recorded on Decca and RCA labels. Around 1960 he joined Marty Robbins’ band as a singer and guitar player. With Bobby Sykes the three were known as “The Marty Robbins Trio.” He was a gifted vocalist, noted especially for his yodeling and long wind. His solo efforts included “Too Many Times” and “Shake Hands With A Loser.” He was a devoted and loyal friend to Marty, accompanying him to races and public appearances and singing with him until his death in 1982. Don passed away at his home in Nolensville, Tennessee on August 17, 2002, after a year’s struggle with liver cancer. He is survived by three sons and two daughters. Two sons, Donnie and Dennis, comprise the Southern Rock band, The Winters Brothers. (www.imdb.com)
Country music singer Don Winters, 73, known to fans as ”The Yodeling King,” at his home in Nolensville after a yearlong battle with liver cancer.
Born in Tampa, Fla., and raised in southern Georgia, Mr. Winters began his musical career with his father’s band, Pop Winters and the Southern Strollers, in the late 1940s.
He moved to Nashville in the 1950s to launch his solo career, recording on RCA and Decca Records labels. He showed up on the Billboard charts with songs Too Many Times and Shake Hands with a Loser.
In 1960, country music legend Marty Robbins asked Mr. Winters to join his band, a move that launched a lifelong friendship between the two entertainers. Together they serenaded audiences, along with Bobby Sykes, as the Marty Robbins Trio. Mr. Winters and Robbins collaborated until Robbins’ death in 1982.
Mr. Winters’ sons, Donnie and Dennis, represent the third generation in the Winters family musical legacy, with their recording career as The Winters Brothers.
Robert Oermann, a columnist at Music Row Magazine and an editor at large at Country Music Magazine, met Winters in the early 1980s. He wrote about Mr. Winters several times.
”I knew him as one of the greatest singers I’ve ever heard,” Oermann said. ”Don was one of those great yodelers.” (by martyrobbins.250x.com)
This album is a combination of the “yodel king” Don Winters with his sons, who played in tzhe Souern Rock grup “Winters Brothers”:
The “Yodeling King” is one that I produced for my father and is in a more traditional country roots format that features his fellow band members from the Marty Robbins band and features my father on all of the yodeling. This is an all-yodeling project, but also features my brother Donnie on Rosita and features myself on Yodel Our Way to the USA and title cut Yodeling King. We sang the songs and our father did the yodeling (Dennis Winters)
As far as I can tell, he’s only had one solo release, and this is it. Yes, it’s Country and no, there’s hardly any Southern Rock to be found here, save for two tracks. On those two tracks, ‘Yodel Our Way To The USA’ (which I hereby pronounce to be a definite Southern Rock classic) and ‘The Yodeling King’, the band playing and singing is basically The Winters Brothers Band, with papa Don yodeling along. Still, all in all, this is a very fine piece of work indeed. (by skydogselysium.blogspot)
Personnel:
Charlie Daniels (fiddle)
Spig Davis (piano)
Dewey Dorough (saxophone, harmonica)
Jim Hannaford (piano)
Marc Hahn (leadguitar, background vocals)
Wayne Hobbs (steel-guitar)
Katz Koyabashi (steel-guitar)
Bobby Miller (drums)
Conrad Noddin (piano)
Jack Pruett (leadguitar)
Alan Thompson (banjo)
Roger Waters (drums)
Gene Watson (bass)
Dennis Winters (guitar, vocals on 10. + 16., background vocals)
Don Winters (vocals)
Donnie Winters (leadguitar, vocals on 06., background vocals)
+
background vocals:
Bobby Sykes – Rita Robbins
Tracklist:
01. Way Out There (Nolan) 2.48
02. Back In The Saddle Again (Autry/Whitley) 2.30
03. Kalua (Darby) 2.06
04. Chime Bells (Miller/Britt) 2.47
05. Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes (Willet) 2.41
06. Rosita (Don Winters, Jr.) 2.55
07. True Love Gone Away (Don Winters) 2.22
08. Call Me The Breeze (Cale) 2.30
09. In The Mood (Garland) 2.40
10. Yodel Our Way To The USA (Dennis Winters) 2.43
11. Cattle Call (Owens) 1.52
12. Blue Yodel No. 1 (“T” For Texas) (Rodgers) 3.06
13. Galway Baby (Colahan) 2.29
14. Columbus Stockade Blues (Traditional) 2.18
15. Sioux City Sue (Thomas/Freedman) 2.29
16. The Yodeling King (Dennis Winters) 3.04
Hanover Evening Sun, March 27, 1984
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