History as rememberd by the late Jim Franklin II

We (The Country Kings) performed at bars (mainly at a lot of Air Force and Army bases from Indiana to New York State) and as a opening
group and even as featured group all over the Midwest. We rehearsed for six months (once a week) at Marty's house (Marty was Lead singer and promoter) on the East Side of Columbus Ohio off Hamilton Ave. before playing a job that paid any money (I remember playing at the VFW in Lancaster, OH a couple of nights after Kennedy's assassination)

We eventually played in concerts on the same billing as Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash(at the time June Carter), Ray Price, Ernst Tubb, Roy Clark, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnnie Tillison, Kitty Wells, etc. In one performance at Buck Lake Ranch all the above singers appeared on one concert...we were the opening act. The show drew such a huge crowd that the owners of Buck Lake Ranch or the promoters of the show (can't remember which) bought out an adjoining farmers field of corn so they could use the field for parking. Not all the performers had a band so we backed up a couple. One was Roy Clark...man was he good. He started out playing a song then he doubled the beat of song, then tripled the speed etc in the process he turned around and gave a Sh..t eating grin then took at double of the speed he had been going on the gutair until he left us all behind. It was kinda cool though being on the show though because when we went out back behind the stage between performances we were swamped by autograph seekers. We opened some other shows with some of the same performers above at different locations.

We played a concert in Wheeling, WV one time to play on WWVA (50,000 Watt Station) prior to their 1966 temporary move to the Island as mentioned. We were the opening act and thus backed a couple of the performers. I remember the night as standing behind the singer...I think it was Bill Anderson, he called me up to the microphone and told some kind of joke that got everyone laughing and then he pushed me and I flew off the stage which gave the crowd an even more to laugh about. When I returned home from the concert my mother and brother Mark said they had listened to the concert on the Radio and in
fact recorded the show on a small reel to reel recorder.

We went to Queens, NY and performed a show (auditioned) for a promoter at The Tower View Ballroom, Roosevelt Ave Queens NY. We traveled somewhere around 12-14 hours pulling a U-Haul trailer with all the instruments in it. The show went fairly well and we were then asked to then take a two week "gig" at Hurley's Tavern, Chester, PA as a pre-requisite to a opening the promoter had for a a USO tour which would have included gigs in Nova Scotia , Europe, then to return to the US and perform in Las Vegas. The circuit would end up back at Hurley's. Hurleys was the first step. About halfway through the bio on Lloyd Arnold you'll see Hurleys is referenced. In fact, I am pretty sure that the photo about a third of the way down the page was taken at the stage at Hurleys (Black & White floor with wrought Iron railing in front).

We practiced in the afternoon, ate dinner, them played till 2:30am then normally jammed afterwards and/or went out to get breakfast or something to eat. Don't think we ever hit the sack before 4- 4:30am. Hurley's had sleeping accommodations above the bar (un-airconditioned) where we slept. It was during the summer and the rooms were hot and muggy. Back then pollution was not as controlled as today and Hurley's was close to where the smell and feel of oil refining was always in the air. Towards the end of the two weeks, a couple of us actually went and checked into a motel just to enjoy air conditioning and the treat of taking a shower without feeling oily even after getting out of the shower. It would have been a tough way to make a living... well, maybe just about the same as anything if you handle it properly. We were offered the tour, but there was confusion about what was actually being offered and so it was turned down at the time.

The band slowly broke apart but the leader and promoter of the band went onto Nashville to perform and become a promoter and still is today.