Biography
In 1933 Frank Rice and Ernest L. Stokes launched the act “Mustard & Gravy” in North Carolina and devoted the following two decades to performing for country listeners while penning several folk-styled standards and one number that pointed toward rockabilly. Both men came from Wilson, NC, and were connected through marriage to a pair of sisters. After taking first place in a local talent contest on WGTM in Wilson, they advanced to larger radio outlets and secured a contract with RCA-Victor’s Bluebird label, recording in September 1938 sessions held in South Carolina. Their output centered on country-novelty songs delivered with a hillbilly bite, yet they also performed minstrel-style pieces and at times anticipated rock & roll. Smiley Burnette, himself a country-novelty artist, discovered them and urged Columbia Pictures to cast the duo in two B westerns released in 1946 and another in 1949. They likewise appeared in a film with Eddy Arnold, with whom they had toured. After World War II they cut at least one Gotham single in 1950, Rice’s “Be Bop Boogie,” first recorded by Harry Gay and later given a full rockabilly treatment by Don Hager and the Hot Tots late in the decade. Its B-side, “That Ain’t in Any Catalog,” highlights the novelty side of their work with its witty and suggestive country humor. The Library of Congress has reissued their recording of the Frank Rice original “Circus Parade.”