So Long to Ol’ Roadhog

Category:  News/Obituary

Ol’ Roadhog won’t be funnin’ us anymore.  

Harold Reid, the bass singer for the Statler Brothers, died today (4/24) after a long bout with kidney failure.  

Although known as the Statler Brothers, in truth there were only two brothers in the quartet: Harold and Don Reid.  The band’s name came from Maine’s Statler Tissue Company.  

They started in gospel music, and never forgot that, but they branched out into country music in the mid-60s.  Their massive 1965 hit, “Flowers on the Wall,” brought the quartet the first of three Grammy awards.  

From there, the Statler Brothers became legends.  They were featured on Johnny Cash’s ABC television series (and sang on Cash’s song “Daddy Sang Bass” [ironically, the woman who provided the “mama sang tenor” line in that recording, Jan Howard, died last month]) and scored hit after hit. 

Harold was the primary comedian in the group.  He became the focal point of one of the funniest (and sweetest) send-ups of the small-town country radio show when the Statlers recorded Lester “Roadhog” Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys.  Harold, as Roadhog the MC, was absolutely hilarious.  It’s a rare comedy recording in that you need to hear it multiple times to catch everything in it.  The jokes are subtle, too:  “I was in the Navy with ol’ Joe-nee,” Roadhog boasted about Johnny Cash (who, most people know, was in the Air Force), and would always follow up a snarky remark with, “Ol’ Roadhog was just funnin’ ya.”

The Statler Brothers retired from performing and touring in the early 2000s.  In 2008 they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Harold Reid was 80.