Bob Atcher

Bob Atcher was one of the most popular country music entertainers of the post-World War II era, enjoying a 21-year career at OKeh and Columbia Records, as well as major radio stardom on WLS' National Barn Dance out of Chicago. His range of material ran from traditional country and comic novelty songs to folk. James Robert Owen Atcher was born and raised in Hardin County, KY, on property that was later appropriated for Fort Knox. The family, led by his father, a champion fiddle player, was musical, and he learned both the violin and the guitar. By the early '30s, he'd made his debut on radio on WHAS out of Louisville, and over the next few years appeared on several small stations across the South and Midwest. In 1939, Atcher got his first big break when he got a regular spot on WGBM in Chicago, a daily program that was picked up nationally by the CBS radio network. He quickly built a major national following with his mix of country and novelty songs. He joined the American Record Company that same year, just in time for the label to be purchased by CBS (which rechristened it Columbia Records), and passed through the label's OKeh imprint before going on to Columbia. During the years 1939-1942, many of Atcher's singles were credited to duets with Bonnie Blue Eyes (aka Loretta Applegate) -- their records together included the comical "Answer to You Are My Sunshine" and "Pins and Needles (In My Heart)." Atcher was also joined in the studio on occasion by his younger brother, Randy Atcher -- their singles together included "Papa's Going Crazy, Mama's Going Mad." Atcher served in the army during the later part of World War II and resumed his career in 1946. He charted around that time with "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me" and "I Must Have Been Wrong." Atcher made his...