Biography
Although the duo’s appellation evoked the impression of speech muffled by a wad of chewing gum, it proved immediately memorable. Revin “Rebe” Gosdin and Auburn J.C. “Rabe” Perkins formed the partnership; geography alone had once separated the pair, each originating in adjacent counties of eastern Alabama. Guitarist and tenor singer Perkins entered the world on June 17, 1923, in Heflin within Cleburne County, while Gosdin, who handled mandolin and lead vocals, came from Roanoke in Randolph County and was roughly a year his partner’s junior. During the 1930s both absorbed the close-harmony broadcasts of numerous brother acts, most notably Bill and Earl Bolick, who performed as the Blue Sky Boys; Perkins later confessed to shedding tears when that duo’s regular WGST program was abruptly discontinued.
By 1946 the two men found themselves employed at the same cotton mill and soon encountered one another in a barbershop where customers routinely sang and played. Their voices meshed so naturally that a duo seemed inevitable. Chester Studdard, half of the team Chester & Toby, bestowed the name Rebe & Rabe upon the new act. The following year the singers relocated to Birmingham and quickly established themselves on WVOK, remaining mainstays there for the next ten years while gradually enlarging the ensemble. Electric guitarist Charles Franklin joined, a step that departed from strict bluegrass practice at a time when the genre’s conventions were still fluid; banjoist Hubert Davis and fiddler Curley Fagan supplied more conventional instrumentation. The group repeatedly filled high-school gymnasiums and auditoriums, sometimes adding two extra performances in a single evening to accommodate demand. Tales persist that both in 1948 and 1951 the musicians declined invitations to the Grand Ole Opry in favor of steadier earnings in Birmingham—an unsurprising choice given the Opry’s historically meager fees.
Rebe & Rabe cut their first sides for MGM in 1951, aided by an introduction from Ernest Tubb. In 1952 they recorded for the Tennessee and Republic labels, again featuring Franklin and Fagan along with pianist Del Wood. Subsequent sessions appeared on smaller Alabama imprints, and Perkins occasionally ventured into solo work. Gosdin’s composition “Helen,” originally waxed by the duo, later entered the standard bluegrass repertoire through versions by the Country Gentlemen, Red Allen, and J.D. Crowe. Other numbers, among them the affecting “Mother, Sweet Mother,” were jointly written. The rise of rock & roll in the 1960s dispersed many country acts; Gosdin moved to Montgomery and took up radio advertising sales, while Perkins gravitated toward gospel material and composed several pieces that were recorded, including “I Went Back Again.”
The pair reunited in the late 1960s and appeared during the 1970s at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. Gosdin’s death from a heart attack in 1978 ended the partnership. Perkins thereafter operated a service station, continued occasional gospel performances with family members, and remained on the air at WVOK into the early 1980s.
By 1946 the two men found themselves employed at the same cotton mill and soon encountered one another in a barbershop where customers routinely sang and played. Their voices meshed so naturally that a duo seemed inevitable. Chester Studdard, half of the team Chester & Toby, bestowed the name Rebe & Rabe upon the new act. The following year the singers relocated to Birmingham and quickly established themselves on WVOK, remaining mainstays there for the next ten years while gradually enlarging the ensemble. Electric guitarist Charles Franklin joined, a step that departed from strict bluegrass practice at a time when the genre’s conventions were still fluid; banjoist Hubert Davis and fiddler Curley Fagan supplied more conventional instrumentation. The group repeatedly filled high-school gymnasiums and auditoriums, sometimes adding two extra performances in a single evening to accommodate demand. Tales persist that both in 1948 and 1951 the musicians declined invitations to the Grand Ole Opry in favor of steadier earnings in Birmingham—an unsurprising choice given the Opry’s historically meager fees.
Rebe & Rabe cut their first sides for MGM in 1951, aided by an introduction from Ernest Tubb. In 1952 they recorded for the Tennessee and Republic labels, again featuring Franklin and Fagan along with pianist Del Wood. Subsequent sessions appeared on smaller Alabama imprints, and Perkins occasionally ventured into solo work. Gosdin’s composition “Helen,” originally waxed by the duo, later entered the standard bluegrass repertoire through versions by the Country Gentlemen, Red Allen, and J.D. Crowe. Other numbers, among them the affecting “Mother, Sweet Mother,” were jointly written. The rise of rock & roll in the 1960s dispersed many country acts; Gosdin moved to Montgomery and took up radio advertising sales, while Perkins gravitated toward gospel material and composed several pieces that were recorded, including “I Went Back Again.”
The pair reunited in the late 1960s and appeared during the 1970s at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. Gosdin’s death from a heart attack in 1978 ended the partnership. Perkins thereafter operated a service station, continued occasional gospel performances with family members, and remained on the air at WVOK into the early 1980s.