Biography
Born Thomas Hubert Farr on 6 December 1903 in Llano, Texas, Hugh Farr passed away on 17 March 1980. As a key contributor to the Sons Of The Pioneers, he grew up immersed in music; his father handled fiddle duties while his mother played guitar for local audiences, and by age seven Hugh had joined his father on guitar at those same gatherings. By nine he had mastered the instrument so thoroughly that his father switched exclusively to guitar. After the family’s repeated relocations, they settled in Encino, California, in 1925. Farr initially took construction work before turning to music full time. From 1929 through 1933 he and his brother Karl performed with Len Nash And His Country Boys at area venues and on KFOX Long Beach, where both brothers also served as staff musicians; during this period Hugh appeared on multiple Brunswick Records sessions. In 1933 the brothers and Ira McCullough formed the Haywire Trio and performed as well with Jack LeFevre And His Texas Outlaws. Shortly afterward Farr joined the Pioneer Trio—already consisting of Leonard Slye (Roy Rogers), Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer—becoming its fourth member; the ensemble soon adopted the name Sons Of The Pioneers. His exceptional fiddle work and resonant bass vocals quickly shaped the group’s distinctive sound. He remained until late 1958, when internal disagreements prompted his departure. Farr then launched his own Sons Of The Pioneers, an action that sparked immediate legal disputes and forced a swift disbandment. He subsequently worked with Jimmy Wakely’s band. In the early 1960s he again attempted to revive the original name, but Rogers, Nolan and Spencer objected and obtained a court order preventing its use. He next assembled a short-lived outfit called the Country Gentlemen; after they recorded Songs Of The Pioneers the ensemble dissolved. Noted conductor Leopold Stokowski once singled out Farr’s playing for rare praise. When radio reporter and columnist Walter Winchell asked whom Stokowski considered the century’s greatest natural violinist, the conductor replied: “It is two musicians, the left hand of Fritz Kreisler and the right hand of that gentleman who plays the violin with the Sons Of The Pioneers, I don’t recall his name.” Although Farr died in March 1980, his performances remain audible on numerous Sons Of The Pioneers recordings.