New Glarus yodelers in traditional Swiss garb. (1922).

Yodeling (or yodelling, jodeling) is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register (or "chest voice") to the falsetto/head register; making a high-low-high-low sound. The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln (originally Austro-Bavarian language) meaning "to utter the syllable jo" (pronounced "yo" in English). This vocal technique is used in many cultures throughout the world.^[1] Although traveling minstrels were yodeling in their performances in the United Kingdom and the United States as early as the eighteen-hundreds, the first country music recording to include yodeling was cut by singer Riley Puckett in 1924. In 1928, blending traditional work, blues, hobo and cowboy music, Jimmie Rodgers released his first recording "Blue Yodel No. 1", and created an instant national craze for yodeling in the United States. The popularity lasted through the 1940s, but by the 1950s it became rare to hear yodeling in Country or Western music.^[2]

History[link]

Most experts^[who?] agree that yodeling was used in Alpine folk music in the Central Alps as a method of communication between herders and their stock or between Alpine villages, with the multi-pitched "yelling" later becoming part of the region's traditional lore and musical expression. The calls may^{[weasel words]} also have been endearments shepherds used to express affection to their herds. The earliest record of a yodel is in 1545, where it is described as "the call of a cowherd from Appenzell".^[3][4]

British stage performances by yodelers were common as early as the nineteenth century.^[5] Sir Walter Scott wrote in his June 4, 1830 journal entry that "Anne wants me to go hear the Tyrolese Minstrels but...I cannot but think their yodeling...is a variation upon the tones of a jackass." In 1839 the Tyrolese Minstrels toured the United States and started an American craze for Alpine music. During the 1840s dozens of German, Swiss, and Austrian singing groups crisscrossed the country entertaining audiences with a combination of singing, yodeling, and “Alpine harmony.”^[6] Traveling American minstrels were yodeling in the United States as well. Tom Christian was the first American yodeling minstrel, appearing in 1847 in Chicago. Recordings of yodelers were made as early as 1892 and in 1920 the Victor recording company listed 17 yodels in their catalogue, many of them by George Watson, the most successful yodeler of the time. In 1897 Watson recorded the song, "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" which was later recorded in 1927 by Riley Puckett as the second yodeling record ever made (the first was "Rock All Our Babies to Sleep"). "Sleep Baby Sleep" was also the first song ever recorded by Jimmie Rodgers (at the Bristol sessions); Rodgers would eventually come to be known as the Father of Country Music.^[7]

In Persian classical music, singers frequently use tahrir, a yodeling technique that oscillates on neighbour tones. It is similar to the Swiss yodel, and is used as an ornament or trill in phrases which have long syllables, and usually falls at the end of a phrase.^[8]

In Georgian traditional music, yodeling takes the form of krimanchuli technique, and is used as a top part in three/four part polyphony.^[9]

In Central Africa, Pygmy singers use yodels within their elaborate polyphonic singing, and the Shona people of Zimbabwe sometimes yodel while playing the mbira.^[10] The Mbuti of the Congo incorporate distinctive whistles and yodels into their songs. Living from hunting and gathering, they sing hunting and harvest songs and use yodelling to call each other. In 1952 ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey recorded their songs and they have recently been released on compact discs. ^[11]

It is thought that yodeling was first introduced to the United States by German immigrants in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. As the new settlers traveled south through the Appalachian Mountains and beyond into the Deep South they came into contact with Irish immigrants, Scandinavians (practictioners of a unique yodeling called kölning), and other nationalities including African slaves who communicated with "field hollers", described by Frederick Law Olmstead in 1853 as a ‘long, loud, musical shout, rising and falling and breaking into falsetto’. German yodeling may have converted southern field hollers into a more musical form and combined them with Irish narrative ballads, resulting in the unique form of the yodeling tradition in America. But it was Jimmie Rodgers, who combined the southern Black blues with the yodel in the 1920s, who introduced and popularized the American yodel in the United States.^[4]

But not all early American yodeling music came out of the Deep South. Western music was directly influenced by the folk music traditions of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and many cowboy songs can be traced back to European folk songs. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Western music became widely popular through the romanticization of the cowboy and idealized depictions of the west in Hollywood films. Singing cowboys such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry sang cowboy songs in their films and became popular throughout the United States.^[12][13]

First professional yodelers in the United States[link]

The American minstrel show was an entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, black people in blackface. Minstrel shows toured the same circuits as opera companies, circuses, and European entertainers, with venues ranging from lavish opera houses to makeshift tavern stages. When the European Tyrolese Minstrels toured the U.S. for several years in the early 1840s and created an American craze for Alpine yodeling music, four unemployed white actors decided to stage an African-American style spoof of this group's concerts. Calling themselves Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, the performance was wildly popular and most historians mark this production as the beginning of minstrelsy in the U.S. According to jazz historian Gary Giddins:

Though antebellum (minstrel) troupes were white, the form developed in a form of racial collaboration, illustrating the axiom that defines – and continues to define – American music as it developed over the next century and a half : African American innovations metamorphose into American popular culture when white performers learn to mimic black ones.^[14]

Companies continued to perform in both the North and South throughout the Civil War, and after the war minstrelsy remained popular. Although African Americans were forbidden by law to perform on stage with whites in many states, some companies secretly included blacks, and as laws changed several all-black minstrel companies toured America and Great Britain. Black performers still had to wear blackface makeup in order to look "dark enough," and they performed material that demeaned their own race. Despite these drawbacks, minstrelsy provided African American performers with their first professional stage outlet.^[14]

By the 1880s the minstrel show had been replaced by Vaudeville and American Burlesque.^[15] By around 1905, more than 20 years before Jimmie Rodgers introduced his blue yodel, African Americans were touring the country singing and yodeling. The most noted yodelers of that time were Monroe Tabor ("The Yodeling Bellboy" - though he was not a bellboy), Beulah Henderson (who appeared in black face), and Charles Anderson (who played a singing "mammy" and a female impersonator in several of his acts). Tabor performed with the Dandy Dixie Minstrels. In New York in 1908 a 'well-known critic' reported:

Monroe Tabor sang "A Tear, a Kiss, a Smile". Mr Tabor is a new tenor with a good voice, which suffers only from a lack of training...While there was not quite enough comedy and ragtime, the Yoodle [sic] song, "Sleep, Baby, Sleep", was greatly in atonement and showed Monroe Tabor to be unexcelled as a yoodler.

And from a 1917 review:

...and Monroe Tabor yodeled as only J K Emmett Sr, of yore could do. At the Avenue Theater in December 1917, "When My Ship Comes Sailing Home" was a fine tenor solo by Tabor, who has no superiors as a yodeler.^[16]

Known as The Jolly Hendersons, Beulah Henderson toured with her husband Billy from 1905 through 1910. Billed as "The Classy Colored Comedy Pair" Beulah was featured as "America's only Colored Lady Yodeler". In Indianapolis in 1911 manager Tim Owsley noted:

The Jolly Hendersons offered a clean, bright and snappy act of singing, talking and dancing. Each song rendered by the jolly pair won for them an encore. Mr Henderson is a real clever light comedian, while his partner, Miss Henderson , is just as clever as a singing and talking soubrette. In fact she is one of the first lady yodlers that we have had the pleasure of hearing.

Charles Anderson was touring with vaudeville as early as 1909 singing a combination of blues and yodeling. A 1913 St. Louis review reports:

The Male Mockingbird, Charles Anderson, the man with the golden voice, is some character singer, imitator, and impersonator. As an imitator, Anderson has the best on the market skinned, his violin imitation intermezzo went big, and was one of the best imitations of a musical instrument heard in this neck of the woods for many moons. "Sleep Baby Sleep", a lullaby sung in costume of an old nurse went big. The yodeling in this song was excellent. "Baby Seals Blues", as rendered by Anderson, was worth going to hear. After a quick change, Anderson reappeared as the polished gentleman and sang "When the Cuckoo Sings", instantly winning the hearts of the audience with his perfect yodehng, causing said audience to cheer like mad for more.^[16]

Although most historians credit white singer Riley Puckett with the first recorded yodeling record (in 1924), in 1923 and 1924 Anderson recorded eight sides for the Okeh label which gave a summary account of his vaudeville repertoire during the previous decade. Five of the recorded songs are yodels - "Sleep, Baby, Sleep", "Comic Yodle Song", "Coo Coo" (J K Emmett's Cuckoo Song, adapted for Anderson's famous 60-second sustained soprano note), "Laughing Yodel" and "Roll On Silver Moon", a sentimental ballad, similar to Jimmie Rodgers' various Southern ballad recordings.

Country blues singer Lottie Kimbrough, billed as The Kansas City Butterball (she was a rather large woman) sang in speakeasys and nightclubs. and recorded her music from 1924 through 1929. Kimbrough's musical collaboration with Winston Holmes resulted in her best known recordings. Holmes supplied a series of yodels, vocalized bird calls and train whistles on some of their recordings.

When music critic Abbe Niles heard the Blue Yodel recordings released by Jimmy Rodgers in 1928 he was impressed by how distinctively black Rodger's Blue Yodel recordings sounded, yodeling and all. In his opinion Rodgers was a "white man gone black". In his 1928 record review column, writing under the heading 'White man singing black songs', Niles acknowledged that Rodger's first Blue Yodel had "started the whole epidemic of yodelling blues that now rages - though Clarence Williams wrote a good one five years ago." Niles went on to advise his readers to add race records to their collections saying, "Listening to race records is nearly the only way for white people to share the Negroes' pleasures without bothering the Negroes."^[16]

Authors Lynn Abbott & Doug Seroff^[17] write:

While some of the blue yodels heard on late 1920s Race recordings - those by the Mississippi Sheiks, for example - probably do owe something to Jimmie Rodgers' phenomenal success, others - like Billie Young's When They Get Lovin' They's Gone (accompanied by Jelly Roll Morton on Victor 23339,1930), Lottie Kimbrough and Winston Holmes' Lost Lover Blues (Gennett 6607, 1928), and Clint Jones' Mississippi Woman Blues and Blue Valley Blues (Okeh 8587, 1928) - seem more deeply connected to these precedent recordings by Charles Anderson, and to the venerable line of African-American yodelers they represent. There is no reason to doubt that Jimmie Rodgers, who could not resist a show, was exposed to and influenced by the black yodeler-blues singer tradition. Its practitioners were thoroughly entrenched in minstrelsy and vaudeville, and accessible to all races of people. Perhaps Jimmie even saw Charles Anderson himself perform, or heard some of Anderson's crystalline blues and yodeling 78s, before rising to immortality on his own great 'Blue Yodel' recordings. At any rate, the Freeman references strongly suggest that Charles Anderson and his generation of black professional yodelers had introduced the blue yodel in African-American entertainment before Jimmie Rodgers recorded.

Technique[link]

The Old Chisholm Trail

Autry, Blue Yodel 5

Bob Wills, Blue Yodel No. 1

All human voices are considered to have at least two distinct vocal registers, called the "head" and "chest" voices, which result from different ways that the tone is produced.^[18] Most people can sing tones within a certain range of lower pitch in their chest voices and tones within a certain range of higher pitch in their head voices and spring into their falsetto (an "unsupported" register forcing vocal cords in a higher pitch without any head or chest voice air support). In untrained or inexperienced singers, a gap between these ranges often exists, although more experienced singers can control their voices at the point where these ranges overlap and can easily switch between them to produce high-quality tones in either. Yodelling is a particular application of this technique, wherein a singer might switch between these registers several times in only a few seconds and at a high volume. Repeated alternation between registers at a singer's passaggio pitch range produces a very distinctive sound.

For example, in the famous "Yodel - Ay - EEE - Oooo", the "EEE" is sung in the head voice while all other syllables are in the chest voice.

The best places for Alpine-style yodelling are those with an echo. Ideal natural locations include not only mountain ranges but lakes, rocky gorges or shorelines, and high or open areas with one or more distant rock faces.

Performers[link]

Blue Yodel No. 1

Jimmie Rodgers

Caroline (l) and Mary Jane Dezurik

Early years[link]

Most music historians say that the first country music record to include yodeling was "Rock All Our Babies to Sleep" sung by Riley Puckett, a blind singer from Georgia. In 1924 in country music, his recording was one of the top hits of that year. Another early yodeler was Emmett Miller, a minstrel show performer, also from Georgia. Miller is little-remembered today, however in the 1920s he recorded the song, "Lovesick Blues" which was later a major hit for country singer Hank Williams. Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing, was also influenced by Miller (see the sound file above with Will's singer Tommy Duncan singing "Blue Yodel No. 1" in 1937)^[19] In the early 1920s African American Winston Holmes started a record label, Merritt Records, and was a performer himself. His vocals included bird calls, train whistles and yodels. He managed and made some songs with blues singer Lottie Kimbrough in the twenties.^[20]

Jimmie Rodgers[link]

Probably the most famous early yodeler was Jimmie Rodgers, known as The Singing Brakeman, who recoded dozens of popular songs in the late 1920s and early 1930s. While working on the railroad he learned blues techniques from African American gandy dancers, and eventually created his characteristic sound - a blend of traditional work, blues, hobo, and cowboy songs and his trademark "Blue Yodel." His first Blue Yodel, known as “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas) ”, was recorded in the Trinity Baptist Church at Camden, New Jersey. When the song was released in February 1928 it became “a national phenomenon and generated an excitement and record-buying frenzy that no-one could have predicted”.^[21] Rogers sang about everyday affairs and woes that many Americans of that time could relate to. Here are the lyrics of Blue Yodel No. 3:

She’s long she’s tall, she six feet from the ground

She’s long she’s tall, she six feet from the ground

She tailor made, lord she ain’t no hand me down

Oh-di-lay-ee-ay, di-lay-dee-oh, de-lay-ee

She got eyes like diamonds, lord her teeth shine just the same

She got eyes like diamonds and her teeth shine just the same

She got sweet ruby lips, and a hair like a horse’s mane

Oh-di-lay-ee-ay, di-lay-dee-oh, de-lay-ee

Every time I see you mama, you’re always on the street

Every time I see you mama, you’re always on the street

You hang out on the corner, like a police on his beat

Oh-di-lay-ee-ay, di-lay-dee-oh, de-lay-ee

Every time I need you mama, lord I always find you’re gone

Every time I need you mama, lord I always find you’re gone

Listen here sweet mama, I’m gonna put your air brakes on

Oh-di-lay-ee-ay, di-lay-dee-oh, de-lay-ee^[22]

According to a black musician who lived near Rodgers in Mississippi, everyone, both black and white alike, began to copy Rodgers: "Every one who could pick a guitar started yodeling like Rodgers."^[23] Rodgers died in 1933, however many performers that followed him claimed that he had been a big influence in their singing style and career.

Radio[link]

Other than the National Barn Dance, broadcast out of Chicago starting in 1924, and the Grand Ole Opry in 1925, American Country Western performers had only live performances and records to promote their music. When radios began to grow in popularity in the late 20s and early 30s, the powerful recording company RCA Victor, fearing that free music would devastate their record business, first attempted to prevent artists from appearing on the radio and then successfully stopped the growth of more powerful FM stations.^[24] But radio ownership grew from 2 out of 5 homes in 1931 to 4 out of 5 homes in 1938, and stations began to broadcast live shows featuring various artists, sometimes with a live audience. Some artists remained in their home area, however many traveled a circuit appearing on the dozens of low-power AM stations throughout the country, thus introducing the various styles of singing and yodeling to others outside of their region. Thus, a Georgia radio station of that era lists "cowboy Roy Lykes", the "Yodeling Fence Rider" from Texas, in its 1934 roster. Lykes is described as "a real cowboy" who wears "regulation cowboy shoes to get him in the mood".^[25]

Notable performers in the U.S.[link]

Jewel performing for US troops in 2000.

In 1934 yodeler Elton Britt recorded what was to become his signature song, "Chime Bells". Like so many others of that era, Britt listened to records of Jimmie Rodgers, which inspired him to learn how to yodel. Eventually he became renowned for his ability to sustain his yodel for an unusually long time, a skill he reportedly learned while swimming underwater for several minutes at a time.^[26] Country singer Jewel yodels and is known for her version of "Chime Bells" as well. Jewel says that she learned to yodel from her father who also learned to yodel by listening to Jimmie Rodgers.^[27]

Blue yodeler Cliff Carlisle was one of the most prolific recording artists of the 1930s, and a pioneer in the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music. He frequently released songs with sexual connotations including barnyard metaphors (which became something of a trademark).^[28]

Jack Guthrie, the cousin of Woody Guthrie, performed in the thirties and early forties. Known as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy", he developed a style of singing and yodeling influenced by his idol, Jimmie Rodgers, and his experiences as a bucking-horse rider and rodeo performer.^[29]

Hank Snow was one of the great country legends of the 1950s, but he had actually been singing in Canada for years where he was known as "The Yodeling Ranger". He admired Jimmie Rodgers as well, and learned to yodel by listening to his records. He even named his son Jimmie Rodgers Snow.^[30]

Tommy Duncan, vocalist for "Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys", was a good yodeler. (See the sound file above with Duncan singing Rodger's "Blue Yodel No. 1" in 1937) Bob Wills is considered by music authorities to be the co-founder of Western Swing.

The DeZurik Sisters were two of the first women to become stars on both the National Barn Dance and the Grand Ole Opry, largely a result of their original yodeling style. Carolina Cotton^[31] and Patsy Montana were early cowgirl yodeling singers as well.^[32] Patsy Montana's signature song, "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" was again popularized by singer/yodeler LeAnn Rimes in the 1990s. In 1996 Rimes also recorded "The Cattle Call", a "singing cowboy" song written by cowboy yodeler Tex Owens, with legendary singer Eddy Arnold. "The Cattle Call" was Arnold's signature song, but it has been recorded by many artists including Emmylou Harris and even Elvis Presley.^[33]

Cowboy singer and actor Roy Rogers yodeled, as did his box office competitor Gene Autry. (See the sound file above in which Autry sings the Jimmie Rodgers song "Blue Yodel No. 5") "Yodelin' Slim Clark", hailed from Maine and performed for 70 years. (See the sound file above "The Old Chisholm Trail" recorded by Clark in 1956.)^[34] Yodeler Don Walker was from Texas. Though widely known in Texas, his singing career didn't really take off until he was 60 years old in 1994. In 2000 he received a lifetime "Heritage" award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he and his band played at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.^[35] Jimmie Davis, who served two terms as the Governor of Louisiana, was also a successful country singer who yodeled.

Perhaps yodeler Bill Haley of Bill Haley and the Comets has one of the strangest histories of all. Bill Haley zoomed to fame as the "King of Rock and Roll" when his song "Rock Around the Clock" was featured in the popular film Blackboard Jungle. But it is little-known that Haley and his band had been around for years doing Western swing music with Haley featured as a yodeler. Haley was born in 1925 and "Rock Around the Clock" made the scene in 1955 and at that time he and his band were using the name the Comets. However, prior to that time they had gone under the names the Down Homers, the Texas Range Riders, the Four Aces of Western Swing and finally, The Saddlemen. At one point in the 1940s, Bill Haley was even awarded Indiana State Yodeling Champion for his skill, perhaps something that his skillful manager Colonel Tom Parker felt not important to mention to his screaming teenage rock 'n' roll fans.^[36][37][38]

Slim Whitman has been performing for over 60 years. Whitman avoided the "down on yer luck" songs, preferring instead to sing laid-back romantic melodies about simple life and love. Critics dubbed his musical style "countrypolitan," due to its fusion of country music and a more sophisticated crooner vocal style. Pop singer Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists.^[39] Beatles George Harrison and Paul McCartney cite Whitman as an early influence^{[40] [41][42]} In the film Mars Attacks!, a Kansas teenager discovers that the Martians are vulnerable to Whitman's song "Indian Love Call", whereupon he and his grandmother use it to destroy the Martians.

Other western music yodeling singers include Douglas B. Green (Ranger Doug) and Wylie Gustafson. Green sings with his band Riders in the Sky.^[43] He is also a music historian and has written a book, Singing in the Saddle "the first comprehensive look at the singing cowboy phenomenon that swept the United States in the 1930s". Gustafson learned to yodel from his dad, who learned from Austrians on the ski team in Bozeman, Montana. In 2007, he released an instructional book and CD titled, How to Yodel: Lessons to Tickle Your Tonsils.

Yodeler Taylor Ware was a contestant on America's Got Talent when she was eleven years old. According to Ware, she taught herself to yodel from an audiotape and instruction book when she was seven years old.^[44] Alyse Eady, who holds the title of Miss Arkansas 2010 and was 1st runner-up in the Miss America 2011 Pageant, both yodeled and did ventriloquism in the song "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" as her talent performance.

Outside of the U.S.[link]

Franzl Lang (left) and Schwarz Ferdl.

Canadian Wilf Carter (Montana Slim) was known as the "Father of Canadian Country Music". He began singing in the 1920s after seeing a traveling Swiss performer named "The Yodeling Fool" in a nearby town. Carter sang in the "singing cowboy" style and developed a yodel with a Swiss-sound sometimes called an "echo yodel" or a "three-in-one."^[45]

Stompin' Tom Connors of Canada is also noted for yodeling in some of his songs.

Bobbejaan Schoepen was a Belgian yodeler^[46] and Franzl Lang, also known as "Der Jodlerkönig" or the Yodel King, is a professional yodeler from the Alps.

Joy McKean, Australian country music singer-songwriter, is known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music. By the age of 18 she was performing with her sister Heather on their own radio show as the McKean Sisters, noted for their yodeling harmonies. Mckean performed with her husband Slim Dusty till his death in 2003. Slim, a singer-songwriter and yodeler as well, wrote his first song, "The Way the Cowboy Dies" when he was only 10 years old. He received 37 Golden Guitar and two ARIA awards and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.^[47]

Kishore Kumar was a playback singer from India, famous for his yodeling,^[48] while it was JP Chandrababu talented comedian of Tamil film who introduced yodeling as playback singing in India.^[48][49][49]

Recent developments[link]

One of the earliest songs to portray an unusual marriage between yodeling and rock music was "Hocus Pocus" by the Dutch band Focus. A UK example of this style was the Glasgow-born Karl Denver; the style can be heard in Frank Ifield's version of Johnny Mercer's "I Remember You." Slim Cessna's Auto Club often features Slim and Jay Munly yodeling.

The Tarzan yell[link]

	Weissmuller's famous "Tarzan yell" noicon audio sequence extracted from one of Weissmuller's Tarzan movies
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Tarzan yell is the yodel-like call of the character Tarzan, as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, starting with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The yell was a creation of the movies, based on what Burroughs described in his books as "the victory cry of the bull ape."

See also[link]

• Field holler
• Singing cowboy
• Western music (North America)
• Old time music
• Western swing

References[link]

External links[link]

• [1] America's Blue Yodel
• Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World by Bart Plantenga, New York: Routledge, 2004), ISBN 0-415-93990-9 – from Switzerland to the avant-garde, an exhaustive survey of the field.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008)

Taylor Marie Ware (born September 17, 1994) is an American singer and yodeler from Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.

Before Ware knew how to yodel, she performed at a county fair at age four. Her talent was singing and playing a violin. When she was six she decided to sing to seniors, so she started an Adopt-a-Grandparent program. According to Ware, she taught herself to yodel from an audiotape and instruction book when she was seven years old, after going to a convention with a friend.

In 2003, Ware won $10,000 in the Yahoo! Yodel Challenge. She beat eight other yodelers to receive her prize. She was later featured in a Yahoo commercial. She also participated in a challenge to beat a Guinness world record.

Taylor honed her yodeling skills while taking lessons from country music star Margo Smith who is known worldwide as the Tennessee Yodeler. Shortly after taking yodeling lessons from Smith, Taylor was the runner-up on the NBC show America's Got Talent in August 2006.

Ware performed on the Grand Ole Opry with Riders in the Sky when she was nine years old. At age eleven, she competed on NBC's America's Got Talent and was selected by the viewers on July 13, 2006 to advance to the final competition (which aired on August 16, 2006). She was one of the top five finalists but she lost to 11-year old Bianca Ryan and Irish step-dancers/fiddlers, Celtic Spring. The million-dollar prize was later awarded to Ryan.

When Ware was nine, she was given a dog as a gift by Wayne Brady after she appeared on his now defunct television show, The Wayne Brady Show. She named the dog Brady after him.

Ware's younger brother, Harrison, is also a singer and yodeler. He has performed onstage at the Tennessee State Fair.

Ware released her self-titled debut album in 2004. In 2007, she released her second album, titled America's Yodeling Sweetheart. She appeared in an episode of Laguna Beach as herself.^[1] Ware was an opening act at the Liberty Bowl for singer LeAnn Rimes in Memphis, Tennessee on December 29, 2006, performing the national anthem.

She also has appeared in commercials for Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Discography[link]

America's Yodeling Sweetheart track listing:

1. "How Does She Yodel?"
2. "Yodeling Cowgirls"
3. "Mockingbird Yodel"
4. "Chocolate Ice Cream Cone"
5. "Taylor's Yodel"
6. "Cowboy's Sweetheart"
7. "My Little Lady Who"
8. "Nola"
9. "Hillbilly Fever"
10. "Jesse The Yodeling Cowgirl"
11. "He Taught Me How To Yodel"
12. "Yodel Your Troubles Away"

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Taylor Ware at the Internet Movie Database
• Taylor Ware on Myspace

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2009)

Franzl Lang
Franzl Lang (with Schwarz Ferdl, right) in 1988.
Background information
Birth name	Franz Lang
Also known as	Yodelking (Jodlerkönig)
Born	(1930-12-28) 28 December 1930 (age 81) Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Genres	Folk music (yodeling)
Instruments	Vocals, accordion, guitar
Years active	1957–present
Labels	Universal Music GmbH

Franz "Franzl" Lang (born December 28, 1930), known as the Yodelking (German: Jodlerkönig), is a famous yodeler from Bavaria, Lang also sings and plays the guitar and the accordion; he has further authored several books on yodeling. Lang's genre is German folk music; he typically sings in Bavarian dialect of the rural Alpine regions and its inhabitants. He inevitably breaks into yodeling at some point within each song. Now retired as a performer, he still occasionally records.

By general consensus, Lang is considered to be the best Alpine yodler in the world; he is certainly the best-selling.

Career[link]

Raised in Munich, Lang trained as a toolmaker. He started playing his trademark accordion at the age of nine. His greatest hit was his 1968 composition "Kufstein-Lied". For many years in the 1970s, he was a permanent feature of musical variety shows on West German television, especially on the ZDF program Lustige Musikanten.

Lang has sold more than 10 million recordings; he has earned 20 gold records and one platinum record within the German recording industry. He is known as one of the most famous yodelers to have ever lived.

Personal life[link]

He has been married to his wife Johanna since 1954; he has one son (Franz Herbert Lang) and one daughter (Christl).

References[link]

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since May 2012.

Bobbejaan Schoepen
ca. 1943
Background information
Birth name	Modest Schoepen
Born	(1925-05-16)16 May 1925
Origin	Boom, Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium
Died	17 May 2010(2010-05-17) (aged 85)
Genres	Twang Folk Pop Country Cabaret Film music
Instruments	Vocals Guitar Art whistling Ukelele Harmonica Yodeling
Years active	1935–2010
Labels	Decca Records, World Music Company, Sony BMG, EMI, PIAS, Bobbejaan Records
Website	Bobbejaan Schoepen website

Bobbejaan Schoepen (a pseudonym of Modest Schoepen) (16 May 1925 – 17 May 2010)^[1] was a Flemish pioneer in Belgian pop music, vaudeville, and European country music.^[2] Schoepen was a versatile entertainer, entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, guitarist, comedian, actor, and professional whistler, as well as the founder and former director of the amusement park, Bobbejaanland.^[3] His musical career flourished from 1948 until the first half of the 1970s. He sold more than five million copies from his repertoire of 482 songs, which extended from Twang, cabaret, instrumental film music, chansons, country, to folk and vocal music.^[4][5] Born in Boom, Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium, he worked his way up from a working-class environment to become one of the 200 richest people in Belgium.^[6]

Schoepen married Dutch former opera singer and photographer's model Josephina (Josée) Jongen on 18 May 1961. They have five children: Robert (“Bob Jr.”, 1962), Myriam (1963), Jacky (1964), Peggy (1968), and Tom (1970). His son Tom became his manager in Belgium.

Early musical period[link]

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Modest Schoepen grew up in a smithy in Boom, Antwerp. His career started in the late 1930s when he and his sister Liesje performed vaudeville shows in the surrounding villages, going around with the hat collecting money afterwards. He had his first audition for radio, in 1944 in Brussels. In 1943 he undertook classical guitar instruction with guitarist Frans De Groodt (1892–1990).

Musical and political debut[link]

That same year he had a memorable debut performance in the Ancienne Belgique of Antwerp. In front of a full house he sang the South-African song, “Mama, ek wil ‘n man hé". Nee mamma, née, ‘n Duitseman, die wil ek nie. Want Schweinefleisch dit lus ek nie” (“Mommy, I want a husband. No mommy no, I don’t want a German ‘cause I don’t like pig meat.”) The song was perceived as being anti-German, provoking a few Nazis who were present at the show to take him away. Ironically, the South African song is actually making reference to a 'Dutch man' (which traditionally was another way of referring to an 'Afrikaaner') and was not a reference to Germans at all. The Ancienne Belgique was closed for three weeks. Shortly thereafter he was forced to go work in Germany. As an alternative he chose to sing for the Flemish workers doing compulsory labor. For this he was locked up for three months in the Dossin barracks in Mechelen from October 1944, without a hearing or a trial.

Two Boys and Two Guitars[link]

In 1945 he formed a duo with Kees Brug, a young man from his own village, with the name of “Two Boys and Two Guitars”. They performed impersonations, poetry, South-African songs, and country music from Calais to Amsterdam, all with plenty of room for improvisation and adventure. The name “Bobbejaan” comes from the South-African song, “Bobbejaan klim die berg” (“Baboon Climbs the Mountain”). Schoepen took it as his artist name in 1945 or 1946.^[specify]

Performing to the allied forces[link]

In 1947 he came into contact with Jacques Kluger. Kluger asked Schoepen to entertain the American and Canadian troops during the Nuremberg Trials, and in Frankfurt and Berlin. Kluger was pleased to receive an unexpected, flattering letter from Major Mearker, and contracted Schoepen to go on tour in Germany for several months. In Berlin, which was still partly in ruins, his floor shows were also attended by the American general and military governor Lucius D. Clay, who asked him for two additional performances. These tours would further stimulate his country music tendencies.

Bobbejaan in Grand Ole Opry, 1953

First hit record and Indonesian tour[link]

In between these shows, Schoepen also gave occasional performances in his own country. While he initially did not wish to sing in Dutch, Kluger convinced him to record ‘a Flemish record’. Schoepen's first recordings followed, and in 1948 “De Jodelende Fluiter” (“The Yodeling Whistler”) became Schoepen’s first hit. His breakthrough in the Netherlands also happened that year. Among his many performances, he was frequently asked to guest-star in Holland.

Bobbejaan soon became the right man to work for the benefit of the Dutch. In 1949 he went on tour for the Dutch troops in Indonesia, performing 127 shows over the course of three months. He was decorated for courage and self-sacrifice by the Dutch government because he also performed for troops near the front line. Five days after returning home he began a 220-day tour through Belgium, playing nostalgic songs, such as the tried and true “De lichtjes van de Schelde” (“The Lights of the Scheldt”) (1952), which is still an evergreen in Belgium today, Bobbejaan Schoepen quickly became one of the most popular artists in Flanders.

International tours and success[link]

Bobbejaan Schoepen and Jacques Brel, 1955

Schoepen toured in at least twenty different countries, together with artists such as Josephine Baker, Caterina Valente, Gilbert Bécaud, and Toots Thielemans (who was a guitarist in his band in 1951). He is one of the first Europeans (excluding the British) to have appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, one of the most important centers of country music in the United States. In 1953 he played there three times with Roy Acuff (1903–1992). There was one performance with the country singer Red Foley (1910–1968) in Springfield, Missouri. The American country singer, Tex Williams, a Western swing performer, would later release a cover of Schoepen's “Fire and Blisters” in the US (1974).^[7]

1954 tours[link]

In 1954 there followed a three month European tour through Germany, Iceland, and Denmark, which concluded with a few months of performances in the Folies Bergère in Brussels. Syd Fox was Schoepen's manager in Iceland and Denmark. When Jacques Brel performed the opening act in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels in January 1955, Schoepen already had the status of an international vedette in his own country. He was chosen as the best Flemish singer by the broadcasting company NIR (former VRT), for which he received the “Grand Prize for Flemish Gramophone Recording.”^[7]

That autumn he toured with his show for a month through Germany then three months through the Congo.

1957 tours[link]

In 1957 he again went to New York ,where he was asked to make a guest-appearance on the famous Ed Sullivan Show. He recorded albums at RCA Records with the producer Steve Sholes. Sholes offered him a contract to promote his record, by visiting radio stations in the US for three months, under the name “Bobby John”. This tour was intended to promote his recent releases, and in the meantime he was to produce new songs. But Schoepen, who had already been on tour almost constantly for ten years, and had contractual obligations in Europe, was increasingly looking for a place to settle down (this would become Bobbejaanland). He decided no longer to pursue his success in the US.^[7]

That same month he became the last-minute Belgian representative at the second Eurovision Song Contest 1957. He was rushed by his manager Jacques Kluger from the US to Germany in order to take part in the event. This performance was memorable for having featured a whistling solo. Schoepen is also rumoured not to have known which song he was to perform at the Contest until he arrived, only rehearsing his entry a few days before performance. The song that was finally chosen was the lightly poetic “Straatdeuntje” ('Street Tune'). Belgium tied for eighth place with the Swiss.^[7][8]

1958 tours[link]

A year later in 1958, Kluger secured Schoepen a place in the “Royal Variety Show” in England, a yearly gala for the Queen Mother (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon). After the show, his local manager Jack Heath let him hear the first golden Australian hit in the US, “A Pub with No Beer” by Slim Dusty, and Schoepen decided to make a Dutch, German, and English cover of it. In 1960, “Ich steh an der Bar und ich habe kein Geld” stayed on the hit lists for thirty weeks in Germany; it also became a number-one hit in Austria. The Flemish version, “Café zonder bier” dates from 1959, and that year it stood for five months at number one on the hit parade.^[9] It later became a golden oldie.

Other hits and tours[link]

His German versions of “Een hutje op de Heide” (“Little cottage on the Heath”) and “Kili Watch” (originally by The Cousins) also did very well (among other reasons because of the German film, Davon träumen alle Mädchen, 1961). Schoepen toured frequently in Germany and Austria with Caterina Valente (1955) and Dalida (1961), among others. This earned him many new, interesting contracts. In 1961 he became one of the top musical acts at the Berlin Film Festival, where he brought down the house at the Deutschlandhalle with his crazy whistling acts.^[10]

During the 1960s, Camillo Felgen, Heino, and James Last, among others, would catapult his evergreen “Ik heb eerbied voor jouw grijze haren” (“I Respect Your Grey Hair”) into a huge European hit, which has sold more than three million copies. In 1961, Caterina Valente also released a version of “In de schaduw van de mijn” (“In the Shadow of the [Coal] Mine”) in Italy, under the title “Amice Miei”, and in 1965 Richard Anthony sang a French and Spanish version “Ik heb me dikwijls afgevraagd” (Je me suis souvent demandé) into the international charts. In 1965 it earned Schoepen, who wrote the music, an artistic 'Diploma of the Croix d'Honneur' in Paris.^[11]

In 1967, ZDF-Germany decided to produce a musical television film around Bobbejaan Schoepen in which he plays a series of his hits. The film was partially recorded in the Barrandov Studios in Prague, in Kempen and in Bobbejaanland, which at the time was still without attractions.^[12]

During the sixties and seventies, he was a regular visitor to the United States, where he took up with actor Roy Rogers, Nudie Cohn (the fashion designer of Elvis, Johnny Cash and others), and Tex Williams, the founding father of western swing. The foursome occasionally performed together in local clubs.^[7][13]

Tours with a circus tent: 1958–1961[link]

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In 1958, Schoepen purchased a big circus tent to be able to tour more efficiently in his own country. Doing so freed him from having to deal with music venue owners, who were asking for ever-increasing rental prices and did not always have appropriate space for his program. He took over the two-master circus tent from the Tondeur family, who were finding it difficult to keep their performances profitable. Schoepen was handed the organizational reins and the circus again began to flourish. The day before a show he would promote the show himself at the designated location, sometimes in his own bizarre manner.

An American circus stunt team came to Brussels on the occasion of the world exhibition, Expo 58; it was a private endeavor led by Casey Tibbs. But because of the excessively long distance to the actual Expo events, and the persistent bad weather, they went bankrupt. They could no longer afford to care for their fifty horses and so the team had return to the US. Tibbs had no choice but to give away some of the equipment, and among other things he sold Zorro’s horse—named Midnight, from the Zorro television series—to Bobbejaan Schoepen. He used the horse for many years for stunts in his shows and as an attraction during his cavalcades, but the horse stepped on an exposed electricity cable and died.

In 1959, Schoepen bought a new circus tent. It had room for 900 people and could be expanded to accommodate a capacity of 1,200. These tours came to an end as soon as Bobbejaanland opened its doors in 1961. Using a circus tent for concert tours was unique for its time.^[3]

Film[link]

Between 1950 and 1967 he acted in five musical film productions: two Belgian, two German, and one German-Czech. In 1962 he played the leading role in the absurd comedy, At the Drop of a Head (alias ‘’De Ordannans’’), together with leaders of the Flemish film scene: Ann Peterson, Yvonne Lex, Denise Deweerdt, Nand Buyl, and Tony Bell. The Dutch and English versions were recorded on the set at the same time. Schoepen was not pleased with this particular adventure into the world of film: “The takes were chaotic and they fired two different directors. Jef Bruyninckx (alias, De Witte) had to solve everything.”^[14] In 1999, the Belgian cult-rock band, Dead Man Ray, toured through Belgium and the Netherlands with the film. For Daan Stuyven (Daan) and Rudy Trouvé (ex-dEUS), it is also an ode to the sometimes misunderstood)artistic versatility that characterized Schoepen the artist:

‘’A true professional who was able to turn his jazzy country-guitar playing, his deep, angelic voice and his wacky sense of humor into a trademark and later into an amusement park.’’^[15]

Bobbejaanland (cabaret period)[link]

It was never Schoepen’s intention to build an amusement park; the current park arose from his musical career.^[16] After nearly fifteen years of constant touring he began thinking about a place to settle down. In 1959 he bought a 30 hectare, marshy domain in Lichtaart-Kasterlee, called the Abroek. There he built a theatre with nearly 1000 seats and created a 2.2 kilometer beach. This was to become Bobbejaanland, a name coined by his manager, Jacques Kluger. On 31 December 1961, Bobbejaanland was officially opened by Bobbejaan Schoepen and his wife Josée, with whom he developed the park into his life’s work. During the high season, Schoepen himself performed from two to five concerts per day. Artists from the Belgian, Dutch, and German cabaret-world performed there as well, though not during Schoepen’s own program.^[3]

Entrepreneurship[link]

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Bobbejaanland evolved from 1975 onwards into a fully fledged amusement park. Schoepen focused his attention solely on the business aspect of the park, slowly pushing his musical career into the background. His performances became a rarity but Bobbejaanland, which he operated with his family, developed into one of the top amusement parks in the Benelux region.

In the mid-80’s the shows became more streamlined, and oriented toward a more international audience. The amusement park finally dominated the cabaret, and the entrepreneur the artist. He did continue singing, albeit with more streamlined shows, which inevitably gave way to the routine of the amusement park.

At a certain point my performances no longer had anything artistic about them. I received a phone call from my wife five minutes before I had to go on stage: ‘Two busses of Germans, one bus of Danes and three busses of Spaniards’. And then I adapted my show to suit them. There was no room for sentiment in Bobbejaanland. It was work, work, and more work in order to keep the business profitable. Sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. We employed four-hundred people who had to be paid every month.^[4]

Challenges[link]

Bobbejaanland, 1988

Bobbejaan Schoepen’s life was not without its difficulties: he was thrown into prison twice during wartime, he lost his virtuoso whistling ability due to a surgical intervention, and in 1986 he underwent a serious heart operation.^{[citation needed]} In 1999 he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer,^{[citation needed]} which raised the issue of selling Bobbejaanland, his life’s work. But he continued and, in the winter of 2003, a major investment of nearly 12 million euros was made on two unique rides ("Typhoon" and "Sledge Hammer"). That year, the Flemish consumer magazine Test-Aankoop conducted a comparative survey of 13 European amusement parks. Bobbejaanland was the most highly esteemed park in Belgium on almost every level, and in Europe it shared second place, together with Disneyland and the Parc Astérix.^[17]

However, in April 2004, after preparing for more than three years, the family finally decided to sell the park. At that time Bobbejaanland employed 400 people and was taken over by Parques Reunidos, a Spanish-American amusement park group. It remained uncertain until the very last minute whether the founder would put his signature on the deal. Uncertainty over the future of amusement parks was ultimately decisive. The Schoepen family chose the more certain path, which also seemed evident to the founder. After the sale, when the news program Terzake on the Flemish Broadcast VRT asked him if he had chosen to take the big money, Schoepen answered, staring ahead blankly, “What am I going to do with all that money; I can only eat twice a day.”^[7]

Schoepen was considered to be the artistic attraction of the park; his wife Josée (the oldest of eighteen children) was a leading figure and the commercial backbone; and her sister Louise (Wies) was the solid foundation with respect to accounting and finances.

The key to the success of this family business is found in the loyalty within this triumvirate, as well as their work ethic, which was strengthened from the 1990’s on by three of their five children.

With the sale of the park, the last family business in the amusement park sector in Belgium disappeared. Schoepen and his wife lived on the domain together, until his death in May 2010.^[7]

Comeback[link]

Schoepen recovered from his illness and was again engaged in music. In 2005 he gave four surprise performances at the literary festival Saint-Amour, where he again brought people his well known “De lichtjes van de Schelde”. The song dated from 1952 and since then has been covered many times by popular Flemish and Dutch artists such as Louis Neefs, Hans De Booij, Wannes Van de Velde, and recently by Will Tura and DAAN. In November 2006 at the Radio2 "Hall of Fame", the song was performed by Bobbejaan admirer Daan Stuyven. That month, with the efforts of his son Tom Schoepen, Bobbejaan Records was brought back to life. The record company was established in 1966 but lapsed following the success of Bobbejaanland. The label is now focused on releases centered on Bobbejaan Schoepen.

Award[link]

On 13 February 2007, with much media attention, Schoepen received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels for his successful career as a singer, musician, and for his pioneering work in Belgian music history.^[18][19]

Another album[link]

After Bobbejaanland was sold, Schoepen focussed on his music career, resulting in the new album release Bobbejaan (Bobbejaan Records/PIAS) in May 2008, his first album in 35 years. The album was mixed at South Beach Studios in Miami.^[20]

The idea for this project originated with music producer Firmin Michiels and the Dead Man Ray-tour in 1999, but the idea was shelved when Schoepen was diagnosed with cancer. In 2005, the idea was revived by Michiels (A&R) and executive producer Tom Schoepen, who would concentrate fully on the production of Bob’s voice recordings. Michiels was aware that Bobbejaan Schoepen could not just pick up where he left off and carry his show for a large audience: his top years were long past and the amusement park had inflicted too much damage on the singer.^[3] But slowly his credibility returned. The album was recorded with five Belgian musicians in Schoepen;s living room; he would have to deal with various health issues throughout the recording sessions. The release in May 2008 immediately received broad attention from the TV-journals and other media.^[21]

Final years and death[link]

In July 2008 he was inducted as the first European into the “Whistler’s Hall of Fame”, by the US International Whistlers Convention.^[22][23]

In December 2009, an official compilation with 76 songs spanning 60 years of musical career was released: "The World of Bobbejaan — Songbook" (Bobbejaan Records).

Schoepen died on 17 May 2010, the day after his 85th birthday, from cardiac arrest.

In other media[link]

• He had his own comic strip: “De Bobbejaanstory” (“The Bobbejaan Story”), by Jef Broeckx, Jacques Bakker, and Ronnie Van Riet.^[24]
• He also appeared in the comic book “Jommeke in Bobbejaanland”, from the series Jommeke by Jef Nys (1978).
• He also appeared in the comic strip “Urbanus: de pretparkprutsers” (“Urbanus: The Amusement Park Bunglers”), Urbanus and Linthout, published by Uitgeverij Loempia.
• In 2005, Schoepen was one of the contestants for the title of The Greatest Belgian, but did not make the final list of nominees and ended up 307th among those who fell outside the nominees.

Awards and nominations Bobbejaan Schoepen[link]

• 1949: Decorated “For courage and self-sacrifice” for his musical support of Dutch soldiers on the front lines in Indonesia, presented by General Baay, commander of Dutch troops in East Java, 1949.
• 1955: Chosen as best Flemish singer, won the “Grand Prize for Flemish Gramophone Recording” (BRT) in cooperation with Studio Gent.) (15 March 1955)
• 1965: Education Artistique, diplôme de Croix d'Honneur de Chevalier. Presented by the Académie Nationale Artistique Littéraire et Scientifique in Paris (No 5177). (30 June 1965)
• 1978: Platinum record for ‘’30 years of Flemish Hits’’, Telstar Holland, 1978.
• 1986: Companion of the Order of the Crown, presented by the Ministry of the Flemish Community. (9 April 1986)
• 1992: Bobbejaanland receives the “Brass Ring Award” (1st price for best advertising brochure) from the IAAPA in Dallas (US).
• 1993: Sabam Prize-medal — Belgian Artistical Promotion. (19 January 1993)
• 1995: Sabam Prize-medal — Belgian Artistical Promotion. (26 September 1995)
• 1995: Knight of the Order of Leopold II, presented by the Ministry of the Flemish Community. (26 September 1995)
• 2000: Place of honour in the Radio 2 & Sabam Hall of Fame. (November 2000)
• 2000: "Ik heb eerbied voor jouw grijze haren" (nomination for the Radio2 Hall of Fame, 2000)
• 2005: “De lichtjes van de Schelde” (nomination for the Radio2 Hall of Fame, November 2005)
• 2006: "De lichtjes van de Schelde" (Radio 2 & Sabam Hall of Fame Award, November 2006)
• 2007: "Lifetime Achievement Award”, ZAMU 2006. (13 February 2007)
• 2008: "Inducted into the US Whistlers Hall of Fame" presented by the International Whistlers Convention in Tokyo. (21 July 2008)
• 2009: Officer in the Order of the Crown, presented by the Ministry of the Flemish Community. (6 July 2009)
• 2009: First honorary citizen of Boom, on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of this municipality. (2 October 2009)
• Overall: 25 Golden Records.

Five international greatest hits[link]

• Ich hab Ehrfurcht vor schneeweißen Haaren (1959 and 1960s)
• Je me suis souvent demandé (1965)
• Ich steh an der Bar und habe kein Geld (1959) (A Pub with No Beer)
• De lichtjes van de Schelde (1952, Belgium)
• Ein Hauschen auf der Heide (1960)/Kili watch (1961)

Artist names[link]

• Belgium and The Netherlands: Bobbejaan Schoepen
• Germany and Austria: Bobby Jaan, Bobbejaan
• Denmark and Iceland: Bobby Jaan
• France: Bobby Jaan, Bobby Jann, Bobbi-Jean
• US: Bobby John

Filmography[link]

• Ah! t'Is zo fijn in België te leven (1950, Belgium)
• Televisite (TV series 1955, Belgium)
• The Eurovision Song Contest (1957, Germany)
• At the Drop of a Head/De Ordonnans/Café zonder bier (1962, Belgium–England)
• O sole mio (1960, Germany)
• Davon träumen alle Mädchen (1961, Germany)
• Bobbejaanland (film production ZDF — by Vladimir Sis, 1967, Studio Barrandov Prague)
• Der Goldene Schuß—TV episode (as Bobbejaan) (Musical, 1969)
• "Uit met Bobbejaan" (BRT, 1969)
• "30 jaar Bobbejaan" (BRT, 1978)
• "Bobbejaan 70" (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep, 1995)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bobbejaan Schoepen (Johan Roggen, Publisher Het Volk, 1980 - D/1980/2345/10).
• De Vlaamse kleinkunstbeweging na de Tweede Wereldoorlog - Een historisch overzicht (Peter Notte, Universiteit Gent 1992). 'The Flemish Variety Movement after World War II — An Historical Overview'. Peter Notte, Ghent University, 1992)
• Bobbejaan Schoepen — "Histories" documentary, 4 January 2001 (Canvas/Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep)
• Bobbejaan Schoepen — The Belgian Pop & Rock Archive (Dirk Houbrechts and the Flanders Music Center, 2001).
• "Brel Le flamand" — Histories documentary, 2003 (Canvas/Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep).

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bobbejaan Schoepen

• Official website
• The Yodeling Whistler
• The official MySpace
• Bobbejaan Schoepen at the Internet Movie Database

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Wylie Gustafson
Wylie Gustafson, April 2007
Background information
Born	(1961-06-07) June 7, 1961 (age 51)
Origin	Conrad, Montana
Genres	Country, folk, rockabilly
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1992-present
Website	[1]

Wylie Gustafson (born Wylie Galt Gustafson, June 7, 1961, Conrad, Montana) is an American singer-songwriter who has toured nationally and internationally with his band, 'Wylie & The Wild West' (formerly 'Wylie & The Wild West Show'). The band is known for its blend of Western swing, classic country, cowboy, rockabilly, folk and yodeling.^[1][2]

Life and career[link]

He learned to sing and yodel from his father, R.W. "Rib" Gustafson, who is a traditional singer, retired large-animal veterinarian, and author. The elder Gustafson learned to yodel from Austrians on the ski team at Montana State College (now Montana State University), Bozeman, Montana. Among Rib's credits are two books about his life as a pioneering Montana veterinarian.

Wylie Gustafson founded his band, The Wild West, in 1988 in Los Angeles at the world famous Palomino Club where they were regulars on Ronnie Mack's Barn Dance. It was there that Wylie showcased the first version of the Wild West which then included world class Telecaster specialist Will Ray. Since then, Gustafson and his good-time cowboy band have regularly appeared in concert around the world with their vibrant exhibition of Western music.

Gustafson is particularly noted as a virtuoso yodeler, having created and voiced the signature "Yahoo-oo-oo!" for Yahoo, Inc.. His book and CD "How to Yodel- Lessons to Tickle Your Tonsils" was published by Gibbs Smith in 2007 and is the top selling publication on the rejuvenated vocal art. Wylie remains one of the top call vocalists for yodeling and his clean and clear style can be heard frequently on national advertisements, television and movies.

Wylie is an accomplished horseman (2008 NCHA Western National Finals Top Ten Open Finalist) and cowboy. When not performing he operates his Cross Three Quarter Horse Ranch near Conrad, Montana raising and training cutting horses. His lifestyle remains the backbone of his art.

On April 25, 2007 "Montana Lullaby" was declared the official lullaby of Montana. A yodel by Gustafson was used to write the lullaby. Montana was the first state to have an official lullaby.^[3][4]

Wylie & the Wild West continue to record and tour on a regular basis. They are one of the nation's top folk and cowboy festival attractions with their energetic dance tunes, aesthetic ballads, and Wylie's unique Northern Plain's yodeling. Wylie's songwriting continues to gracefully challenge the preconceptions of their genre and boldly reflect the ever-evolving West.

Wylie & the Wild West have released 17 albums through January 2012 most which are available on Itunes, Amazon, and the band's official website: www.wyliewebsite.com.

Notable appearances[link]

• Merlefest- Wilkesboro, NC -April 2012. Wylie featured in Songwriter Showcase with Jim Lauderdale and Claire Lynch
• Horse Talk with Lizzie Iwerson- RFD TV 2012
• American Seasons Tour in Russia sponsored by The American Folklife Center and CEC Arts Link- March thru April 2012
• Don't Fence Me In West Coast tour hosted by the National Council for Traditional Arts- March 2012
• Push the Button, hosted by Ant and Dec (2010 season debut)
• Gold Coast Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (2008, 2009)
• Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee (more than 50 guest appearances)
• The National Folk Festival (most recently in 2011)
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2008)
• National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, Nevada (2000, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12)
• A Prairie Home Companion (2006, 2010)
• Lincoln Center
• The Kennedy Center
• Western Folklife Center tour of Brazil and Argentina 2007
• Country Gold Festival, Kumamoto, Japan
• Tom Russell's Vancouver-to-Toronto Canadian Cow Train (2005, 2007)
• Merlefest, Wilkesboro, North Carolina (2002, 2010, 2012)
• Bumbershoot International Music & Arts Festival, Seattle, Washington
• Equiblues Festival, St. Agreve, France
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1996 episode: "Freak Show")

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Wylie's Webpage