Western Swing Band
Members:
Fiddle: Kenneth Pitts
Electric Guitar: Paul Waggoner
Lead Acoustic Guitar, Vocals: J.B. Brinkley
Guitar: Dale Woodward
Bass: Asa "Red" Woodward
The Red Hawks are little remembered today, but they were a fixture on Fort Worth's far-reaching (50,000 watt) WBAP for more than a decade and were therefore widely known in the Southwest in their day. They took their name from their radio sponsor, Red Hawk work clothes manufacturer and Red Woodward was credited as leader only on recordings. The Red Hawks first appeared on WBAP in 1936 and during the late stages of WWII. Red Hawk mainstays, brothers Red and Dan Woodward were also members of WBAP's Coffee Grinders, a group otherwise made up of former Lightcrust Doughboys like Marvin Montgomery, Zeke Campbell and Kenneth Pitts (the Doughboys were disbanded from 1942-1946) and steel guitarist Andy Schroder. This hybrid group, including the Woodwards, backed Bill Boyd on his November 1945 Bluebird session in Dallas.
A versatile group that didn't always style themselves as a western swing band, the Red Hawks leaned more decidedly in the early post-war years, perhaps influenced by their experience with the former Doughboys in the Coffee Grinders and their recording association with Boyd, and certainly for commercial reasons, as well. By the time they recorded, for the independent Signature label in 1947 - twelve songs in two sessions - they included, in addition to the multi-instrumentalist Woodwards, Kenneth Pitts, J.B. Brinkley, Paul Waggoner and Zeke Campbell. Red Woodward's jivey rodeo celebration "Cowboy Boogie" features J.B. Brinkley on vocal and some typically bluesy acoustic lead guitar. Brinkley had sung on 1937 singles by the Crystal Springs Ramblers, then was featured extensively with the Doughboys in 1941; he also recorded with Ocie Stockard on King in 1946 and became a ubiquitous sideman on 1950's and early 1960's sessions at Fort Worth's Clifford Herring's and E.E. Manney Studios, with his own releases on Dot, Lin and other labels. Kenneth Pitts, on fiddle, and probably Paul Waggoner, playing some deft, agile electric guitar, also solo here.
The Red Hawks became the Cedar Ridge Boys in 1948 and remained on the air at WBAP well into the 1950's. (Lightcrust Doughboy legend Marvin Montgomery reckons that they were the last group to broadcast a regular live program on Dallas-Fort Worth radio.)
All of the Red Hawks have died, Brinkley in the 1980's and both Woodwards in the mid-1990's.
