Biography
Herald Goodman belonged to a trio of ministers’ sons who formed the highly popular vocal harmony act the Vagabonds; afterward he led his own Tennessee Valley Boys, issuing numerous 78s and appearing regularly on the Grand Ole Opry. Although the Vagabonds are sometimes cited as among the first fully professional acts to reach that stage, the claim rests on the notion that any ensemble behaving like hillbillies or carrying outlandish names must have been rural amateurs—an assumption the group itself contradicted. Emerging alongside the Delmore Brothers, the Vagabonds journeyed with them to Chicago to cut their initial sides for Bluebird, an RCA Victor imprint. Their breakthrough prompted the Opry to relax its customary emphasis on downhome folk material and string-band formats in favor of vocal harmony groups. Over subsequent decades the decision to book them has acquired mounting historical weight. Certain observers credit the Vagabonds with introducing pop sensibilities to the Opry as early as 1931, suggesting that later critiques aimed at figures such as Shania Twain might more accurately target this earlier precedent. The members also pioneered key elements of country merchandising by producing Nashville’s first souvenir songbook and founding the city’s inaugural country publishing firm, Old Cabin Music. Goodman and his colleagues further experimented with some of the earliest amplified guitar tones, appearing with electric instruments by the late 1920s. Unlike most Opry performers who played by ear, Goodman, Dean Upson, and Curt Poulton were formally trained musicians capable of reading and arranging scores. Their popularity earned them additional slots on WSM, the Chicago station that originated the Opry broadcast. Distinct from numerous later blues, garage-rock, and motorcycle-gang acts sharing the name, the Vagabonds drew on gospel, pop, string-band, and country repertoires. Their most enduring composition, the reflective ballad “When It’s Lamp Lighting Time in the Valley,” was written by Goodman singly or with his partners; its success validated their publishing venture. The Vagabonds introduced the song on the Grand Ole Opry in 1932, recorded it the next year, and saw it enter oral tradition, documented by a Library of Congress field recording in Crossville, Tennessee, in 1936. Subsequent interpreters have included Tex Ritter, Hylo Brown, Ola Belle Reed, and Irish singer Cyril Poacher. After the Vagabonds disbanded, Goodman struck out alone in the late 1930s, fronting the Tennessee Valley Boys while remaining an Opry regular. Among the accomplished musicians who passed through his ranks was guitarist Billy Byrd, later celebrated with Ernest Tubb & the Texas Troubadours, who performed with Goodman’s Opry unit in 1938. Goodman again demonstrated his ear for widely adaptable material with his recording of “Banjo Rag,” an early rendering of the melody that resurfaced as the hit “Salty Dog” in the 1950s. Publishing credit for that tune has remained contested, sometimes assigned to Papa John Gordy and subject to as many rival claims as those surrounding Howard Hughes, prompting speculation that Goodman himself may deserve recognition as its true originator.