Biography
Born Janet Lister on 5 April 1934 in Inglewood, California, Janet McBride spent her formative years in North Whitefield, Maine, where an early fascination with country music and yodelling took root. She performed alongside her siblings at area gatherings until her 1955 marriage to Claude McBride prompted a return to California and the launch of her solo work. Her first sessions appeared on the Toppa label in 1960, backed by Wynn Stewart’s band, and throughout the early sixties she shared stages with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens while logging television appearances.
In 1965 she moved to Dallas, becoming the featured singer at Dewey Groom’s Longhorn Ballroom, performing regularly on the Big “D” Jamboree and cutting both songs and yodels for the Longhorn imprint. With Claude and songwriter Vern Stovall she worked Las Vegas clubs and extended her travels into Canada. Further road work in 1968 with Roy Clark and Tex Williams led her to Nashville, yet she reversed course the next year and resumed her Longhorn Ballroom engagements in Dallas. Following Claude’s death in 1973 she stepped away from performing until 1976, when she wed Dallas County deputy sheriff B.J. Ingram; the couple soon inaugurated the Saturday night Mesquite Opry, presenting both regional and visiting country acts.
A long-held goal was realized in 1984 when she joined Patsy Montana—whose yodelling had long inspired her—on the Grand Ole Opry stage; years earlier she had recorded Montana’s “I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart” as a personal tribute. An accomplished yodeller herself, McBride composed several such pieces, among them “Best Dern Yodeler,” “Yodelling Jan,” and the widely known “Yodeling Tribute,” which salutes Jimmie Rodgers, Elton Britt and other masters of the form. The Western Music Association named her Female Yodeler Of The Year in 1991. She shuttered the Mesquite Opry on 30 December 1995 yet continued select appearances, including a 1996 trip to Austria that placed her at the Vienna Country Music Festival, where critics praised her yodelling.
Her recordings have appeared on multiple labels, supported by musicians such as Ralph Mooney, Phil Baugh and Dale Potter. During the eighties a German company released three albums, one a retrospective of prior material; additional cassette issues followed, culminating in a 1996 CD that gathered twenty-five of her own compositions.
In 1965 she moved to Dallas, becoming the featured singer at Dewey Groom’s Longhorn Ballroom, performing regularly on the Big “D” Jamboree and cutting both songs and yodels for the Longhorn imprint. With Claude and songwriter Vern Stovall she worked Las Vegas clubs and extended her travels into Canada. Further road work in 1968 with Roy Clark and Tex Williams led her to Nashville, yet she reversed course the next year and resumed her Longhorn Ballroom engagements in Dallas. Following Claude’s death in 1973 she stepped away from performing until 1976, when she wed Dallas County deputy sheriff B.J. Ingram; the couple soon inaugurated the Saturday night Mesquite Opry, presenting both regional and visiting country acts.
A long-held goal was realized in 1984 when she joined Patsy Montana—whose yodelling had long inspired her—on the Grand Ole Opry stage; years earlier she had recorded Montana’s “I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart” as a personal tribute. An accomplished yodeller herself, McBride composed several such pieces, among them “Best Dern Yodeler,” “Yodelling Jan,” and the widely known “Yodeling Tribute,” which salutes Jimmie Rodgers, Elton Britt and other masters of the form. The Western Music Association named her Female Yodeler Of The Year in 1991. She shuttered the Mesquite Opry on 30 December 1995 yet continued select appearances, including a 1996 trip to Austria that placed her at the Vienna Country Music Festival, where critics praised her yodelling.
Her recordings have appeared on multiple labels, supported by musicians such as Ralph Mooney, Phil Baugh and Dale Potter. During the eighties a German company released three albums, one a retrospective of prior material; additional cassette issues followed, culminating in a 1996 CD that gathered twenty-five of her own compositions.
Albums