Memories from the Homestead: Uncle Art Satherley, the dignified Englishman who loved the American West

Thirty plus years ago when I began building my collection of Sons of the Pioneers recordings, I took a liking to a couple of recording projects that focused on the group’s sessions from the fall of 1937. In 1964, Columbia Records had released a twelve-song LP collection and in 1982 a similar collection was released, known as the “Columbia Historic Edition,” which to everyone’s surprise was nominated for a Grammy. 

I was impressed by two things. First, the song selections—these 24 numbers featured a wide variety from love songs to spirituals, to the usual Pioneers’ Western numbers written by Bob Nolan. Second, the vocal trio sound—Len Slye, the middle voice; Bob Nolan, the baritone voice; and twenty-year-old Lloyd Perryman, the tenor voice.  

The man who produced all of this was a man with an incredible background; he was Uncle Art Satherley. Later on, I learned quite a bit about him and soon realized he played a huge role in early country music. He’s without question my all-time favorite record producer.  

Arthur Edward Satherley, long-time Columbia Records recording producer, saw major success in recording Hillbilly, Western, Country and Gospel from the 1920s through the 1950s. (Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame)

Satherley, the son of an Episcopal minister, was born October 19, 1889, in Bedminster, a working class district of Bristol, England. In 1913 at the age of 24 he migrated to the United States, settling in Port Washington, Wisconsin. It was there he went to work for the Wisconsin Chair Company.  

Inventor Thomas Edison purchased a subsidiary of Wisconsin Chair, and Satherley became his secretary for a brief time. In 1918 Satherley joined Wisconsin Chair’s new recording label, Paramount, where he worked in manufacturing quickly moving up to sales. Soon after that he went to talent scout and record producer. 

In 1929 Satherley joined the American Record Corporation and was with them when Columbia Records purchased ARC in 1938. In that time Gene Autry quickly rose to the top as Satherley encouraged Autry to record Western material instead of imitating Jimmie Rodgers. Satherley recorded Tex Ritter’s sessions along with Bob Wills, Carson Robison, Vernon Dalhart, Patsy Montana and many more, that would later include Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe and others.

In 1937, the Sons of the Pioneers had been active for three years and had grown greatly in popularity across the country thanks to their coast-to-coast radio transcriptions and movie appearances, where they had just signed with Columbia Pictures to do the musical chores in the Charles Starrett films.  

Satherley met with the Pioneers on Thursday October 21, 1937, at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles, where they recorded seven songs, two takes of each. Historically this is a unique date as nearly a week earlier, quite the upheaval had occurred. Len Slye signed a contract with Republic Pictures and would soon take a starring role in “Under Western Stars,” which was intended for Gene Autry. This is how Slye became Roy Rogers.

Herbert Yates of Republic Pictures was furious with Autry as he had walked out while still under contract. There’s a little side note I need to explain here. Yates owned an independent label under ARC, Plaza Music Co., so he was able to push Art Satherley into getting as much material as possible recorded with the Pioneers before Slye would become too busy as Roy Rogers, the new movie star. 

Satherley would record an astounding 36 songs in five sessions from October 21, 1937, through December 16, 1937. Now with Columbia Records buying ARC in 1938, Rogers was one of the first artists they signed. The first official solo Roy Rogers sessions took place March 30, 1938. The Sons of the Pioneers were unable to record due to their movie commitment and didn’t go back to the recording studio until 1941 at Decca. Roy recorded at Columbia into April 1939, and Satherley and Yates let him go due to low sales. Rogers signed with Decca Records in 1940. It’s interesting to note that Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers would not record together again for a commercial label until 1945 when they both signed with RCA.

As for Uncle Art Satherley—his career took him everywhere, from the studios in Los Angeles and Hollywood, to Chicago and New York, and later to Nashville. Satherley would record Red Foley, George Morgan, Spade Cooley, Lefty Frizzell, Marty Robbins and later Johnny Bond.  

In 1948, Satherley was Vice President of Columbia Records and in 1952 he decided to retire. He was truly concerned that over time, country music had lost its identity.

Fortunately, the industry loved and respected him and recognized him as an early recording innovator. In 1968 the Academy of Country Music honored Satherley with its Pioneer Award. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1971.

In April 1972, Satherley was invited to be a speaker at the 40th Anniversary Sons of the Pioneers Reunion in Los Angeles. He presented an award to a local DJ and recalled fondly the memories of recording the major names in Western Music›s early years. 

Satherley spent his retirement years in Southern California. He died at the age of 96 on February 10, 1986, in Fountain Valley, California. He had married Harriet Melka in 1930. He was survived by Harriet, their daughter and son-in-law, and three grandchildren.

A large amount of Satherley’s recordings are easy to find on YouTube. The Sons of the Pioneers 1937 sessions and Roy’s 1938-39 sessions with Satherley can be found on the German based Bear Family Records outstanding six CD set from 2009, Way Out There - The Complete Recordings 1934-1943. This collection is well worth the price and includes an awesome 161- page book with all the session notes and a massive collection of photos and movie posters.

Happy trails, everyone!