Biography
George McCormick and Earl Aycock first crossed paths as working musicians in their early twenties during the mid-1950s, discovering shared ground as country edged toward rockabilly. They had not grown up performing together or developed an instinctive rapport that filled each other’s spaces. Their joint recordings never reached mainstream buyers, yet the edgy quality of those sides built a lasting cult audience that continues to respond decades later.
Raised outside Nashville, McCormick earned his keep on guitar and bass, landing regular work with Big Jeff Bess’ Radio Playboys and stepping forward on lead vocals from time to time, including during one of the band’s studio dates. That exposure prompted him to leave the Radio Playboys for Martha Carson’s group, after which he secured a solo contract with MGM in 1953. On the label he cut Fred Rose’s “Fifty Fifty Honk Tonkin,” a song apparently written for Hank Williams, and followed it with further singles cast in a Hank Williams mold that extended into 1954, the year his path met Earl Aycock’s.
Aycock had kept steady engagements through the 1950s and moved gradually toward the Martha Carson band, where he began playing alongside McCormick. The two started trading vocals during Carson’s stage shows, which led them to form a duo and sign with Mercury. The Mercury singles issued between 1955 and 1956 straddled country and rock & roll with a nervy approach that failed to connect commercially despite the label’s expectations. McCormick then ended his association with both the imprint and Aycock, returning to MGM as a solo act in 1957. While his own releases receded, he toured with the Louvin Brothers before joining Porter Wagoner, becoming a regular on the star’s television program beginning in 1963 and remaining for two decades. From 1974 onward he also performed with Grandpa Jones, continuing that partnership with the Grand Ole Opry fixture into the mid-1990s.
Raised outside Nashville, McCormick earned his keep on guitar and bass, landing regular work with Big Jeff Bess’ Radio Playboys and stepping forward on lead vocals from time to time, including during one of the band’s studio dates. That exposure prompted him to leave the Radio Playboys for Martha Carson’s group, after which he secured a solo contract with MGM in 1953. On the label he cut Fred Rose’s “Fifty Fifty Honk Tonkin,” a song apparently written for Hank Williams, and followed it with further singles cast in a Hank Williams mold that extended into 1954, the year his path met Earl Aycock’s.
Aycock had kept steady engagements through the 1950s and moved gradually toward the Martha Carson band, where he began playing alongside McCormick. The two started trading vocals during Carson’s stage shows, which led them to form a duo and sign with Mercury. The Mercury singles issued between 1955 and 1956 straddled country and rock & roll with a nervy approach that failed to connect commercially despite the label’s expectations. McCormick then ended his association with both the imprint and Aycock, returning to MGM as a solo act in 1957. While his own releases receded, he toured with the Louvin Brothers before joining Porter Wagoner, becoming a regular on the star’s television program beginning in 1963 and remaining for two decades. From 1974 onward he also performed with Grandpa Jones, continuing that partnership with the Grand Ole Opry fixture into the mid-1990s.