Biography
Born on 6 March 1922 in Green County, Tennessee, USA, and passing on 28 January 2005 in Gonzales, Louisiana, USA, Sauceman spent his formative years in the Bright Hope community of Greeneville, Tennessee. Hymns and gospel tunes performed by his father at revival meetings filled the local air alongside traditional ballads broadcast on radio and played from records. He took up singing and guitar, soon teaming with his brother John Paul ‘J.P.’ Sauceman (b. 1926, d. 1984) for early appearances. During the early 1940s he joined Dudley Watson and Curley Shelton for radio broadcasts across North Carolina and Tennessee.
Following brief service in the US Navy at the close of World War II, Sauceman resumed radio work in 1946, frequently leading his own ensemble, the Hillbilly Ramblers. Both this group and his brother appeared on several recordings. Throughout the late 1940s he broadcast from stations in Tennessee and Michigan; by 1952 he had relocated to Alabama, where the Green Valley Boys performed regularly on WRAG in Carrollton into the early 1960s. Additional sessions for Capitol Records and Republic Records appeared during these years. His energetic bluegrass style maintained a devoted following through continued radio airplay, personal appearances, and weekly television spots. Meanwhile J.P. Sauceman departed the ensemble to pursue radio-station management in Greeneville.
Sauceman’s initial releases already reflected a strong connection to bluegrass, a preference evident in all subsequent work. Tracks he recorded included Don McHan’s compositions ‘A White Cross Marks The Grave’ and ‘I’ll Be An Angel Too’, along with Monroe Fields’s ‘Please Be My Love’. Other musicians who passed through the band in the 1950s were Fred Richardson, Buddy Rose, Curly Sechler, Joe Stuart and Tater Tate. Around 1962 Sauceman withdrew from performing to attend to his terminally ill son. Like his brother, he had entered radio management; by the late 1960s he had settled in Gonzales, Louisiana, where he owned and operated WSLG until retiring in 1985. Occasional public performances and further recordings on the Rich-R-Tone and Atteiram labels marked the 1970s, while Rebel and Rounder Records later issued selected radio transcriptions.
Following brief service in the US Navy at the close of World War II, Sauceman resumed radio work in 1946, frequently leading his own ensemble, the Hillbilly Ramblers. Both this group and his brother appeared on several recordings. Throughout the late 1940s he broadcast from stations in Tennessee and Michigan; by 1952 he had relocated to Alabama, where the Green Valley Boys performed regularly on WRAG in Carrollton into the early 1960s. Additional sessions for Capitol Records and Republic Records appeared during these years. His energetic bluegrass style maintained a devoted following through continued radio airplay, personal appearances, and weekly television spots. Meanwhile J.P. Sauceman departed the ensemble to pursue radio-station management in Greeneville.
Sauceman’s initial releases already reflected a strong connection to bluegrass, a preference evident in all subsequent work. Tracks he recorded included Don McHan’s compositions ‘A White Cross Marks The Grave’ and ‘I’ll Be An Angel Too’, along with Monroe Fields’s ‘Please Be My Love’. Other musicians who passed through the band in the 1950s were Fred Richardson, Buddy Rose, Curly Sechler, Joe Stuart and Tater Tate. Around 1962 Sauceman withdrew from performing to attend to his terminally ill son. Like his brother, he had entered radio management; by the late 1960s he had settled in Gonzales, Louisiana, where he owned and operated WSLG until retiring in 1985. Occasional public performances and further recordings on the Rich-R-Tone and Atteiram labels marked the 1970s, while Rebel and Rounder Records later issued selected radio transcriptions.
Albums
