“Smokey Montgomery,” legendary musician of the Light Crust Doughboys
Actor/musician Gene Autry center with Smokey Montgomery, 2nd from right, and Light Crust Doughboys, 1936.
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Smokey Montgomery, legendary banjo player when he lived at 2308 Lotus
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In 1923, when Marvin Dooley Wetter was a 10-year-old boy learning to play the banjo in Rinard, Iowa, he likely never dreamed he would become a well-known Texas musician over the course of a 65-year career. A masterful banjo player, Wetter became a star on radio, in film, on television and a hit record producer. He and his family lived at 2308 Lotus Avenue from 1939 to 1963.
After college at Iowa State, Wetter had a touring band. A 1933 audition for a Texas band led him to play with them. He was told the name “Wetter” did not look good on a marquee, so he chose the stage name “Montgomery” after his favorite movie actor Robert Montgomery. In 1935, he became the banjo player for the Light Crust Doughboys sponsored by Fort Worth’s Burrus Mill on WBAP radio.
The band was a pioneer in the western swing style of popular music. In 1936, Montgomery and the Doughboys made two movies with Gene Autry, including Republic Pictures’ “The Big Show” filmed partially at Fair Park in Dallas during the Texas Centennial.
In 1939, Montgomery and his bride Kathleen bought the 1938 Colonial Revival house on Lotus and their son Gary was born a year later. These were the years when, as Montgomery once said, “We’d pull into the square in some little town that didn’t have but 5,000 people living in it, and there would be 10,000 people in the crowd. In the 1930s, . . . we were just as popular in Texas as the Beatles became in the 1960s.”
During World War II, Montgomery worked as a shift supervisor at Fort Worth’s Crown Machine and Tool making shells for the U.S. Navy. Still, he played part-time on some radio programs. The Doughboys split up during World War II, but Montgomery reorganized members afterwards.
They played old cowboy songs, Spanish classics and what was then called “hillbilly” music. By late 1946, the band’s recordings of their songs reached 2.285 million listeners in 10 southern states.
With the advent of television in the late 1940s, the Doughboys restyled themselves as the “Flying X Ranch Boys” and played on WBAP-TV, becoming the first musical group to perform on television in Texas. Montgomery said, “The old black-and-white television couldn’t keep up with my hand. Our announcer would say, “Junior will now smoke up the banjo.” “. . . I said, ‘Call me Smokey from now on . . . ‘”
Smokey played as one of the Country Gentlemen, a backup band accompanying Elvis Presley on his 1950s tour of East Texas doing 3 shows a day. Smokey said, “We’d go wake him up. “Time to do a show. Elvis! Come on!”
During the 1960s, Montgomery became a successful Top 40 record producer. He produced “Hey Baby,” a 1962 hit for Bruce Chanel featuring Delbert McClinton. As Chanel’s tour manager Montgomery met the Beatles in Liverpool at the Cavern, where the Fab Four performed the hit. In 1962 Montgomery produced (and played guitar on) “Hey Paula” by Paul and Paula which became the second-biggest selling single of 1963. The Doughboys stopped recording in 1985 but after regrouping and recording in the 1990s, the band received 3 Grammy nominations.
Kathleen Wetter died in 1992 after she and Marvin had been married 55 years. Marvin Wetter, a.k.a. “Smokey Montgomery,” died in 2001 at age 88. His funeral was at Fair Park’s Hall of State. He has been made a member of numerous music halls of fame. Montgomery once said that when he got to heaven,
“. . .we’ll have the biggest jam session ever.”
After college at Iowa State, Wetter had a touring band. A 1933 audition for a Texas band led him to play with them. He was told the name “Wetter” did not look good on a marquee, so he chose the stage name “Montgomery” after his favorite movie actor Robert Montgomery. In 1935, he became the banjo player for the Light Crust Doughboys sponsored by Fort Worth’s Burrus Mill on WBAP radio.
The band was a pioneer in the western swing style of popular music. In 1936, Montgomery and the Doughboys made two movies with Gene Autry, including Republic Pictures’ “The Big Show” filmed partially at Fair Park in Dallas during the Texas Centennial.
In 1939, Montgomery and his bride Kathleen bought the 1938 Colonial Revival house on Lotus and their son Gary was born a year later. These were the years when, as Montgomery once said, “We’d pull into the square in some little town that didn’t have but 5,000 people living in it, and there would be 10,000 people in the crowd. In the 1930s, . . . we were just as popular in Texas as the Beatles became in the 1960s.”
During World War II, Montgomery worked as a shift supervisor at Fort Worth’s Crown Machine and Tool making shells for the U.S. Navy. Still, he played part-time on some radio programs. The Doughboys split up during World War II, but Montgomery reorganized members afterwards.
They played old cowboy songs, Spanish classics and what was then called “hillbilly” music. By late 1946, the band’s recordings of their songs reached 2.285 million listeners in 10 southern states.
With the advent of television in the late 1940s, the Doughboys restyled themselves as the “Flying X Ranch Boys” and played on WBAP-TV, becoming the first musical group to perform on television in Texas. Montgomery said, “The old black-and-white television couldn’t keep up with my hand. Our announcer would say, “Junior will now smoke up the banjo.” “. . . I said, ‘Call me Smokey from now on . . . ‘”
Smokey played as one of the Country Gentlemen, a backup band accompanying Elvis Presley on his 1950s tour of East Texas doing 3 shows a day. Smokey said, “We’d go wake him up. “Time to do a show. Elvis! Come on!”
During the 1960s, Montgomery became a successful Top 40 record producer. He produced “Hey Baby,” a 1962 hit for Bruce Chanel featuring Delbert McClinton. As Chanel’s tour manager Montgomery met the Beatles in Liverpool at the Cavern, where the Fab Four performed the hit. In 1962 Montgomery produced (and played guitar on) “Hey Paula” by Paul and Paula which became the second-biggest selling single of 1963. The Doughboys stopped recording in 1985 but after regrouping and recording in the 1990s, the band received 3 Grammy nominations.
Kathleen Wetter died in 1992 after she and Marvin had been married 55 years. Marvin Wetter, a.k.a. “Smokey Montgomery,” died in 2001 at age 88. His funeral was at Fair Park’s Hall of State. He has been made a member of numerous music halls of fame. Montgomery once said that when he got to heaven,
“. . .we’ll have the biggest jam session ever.”