Biography
Mildred Good and her younger sister Dorothy, who performed under the name Dolly, came into the world in St. Louis, Missouri, during 1913 and 1915. They later cited Muleshoe, Texas, as their birthplace to strengthen their cowgirl image. Cowboy songs from the Southwest filled their early years, and the sisters received recognition for carrying that regional flavor into the broader mix that became country and western music. Their duo began with informal performances for relatives and friends at home. Listeners gravitated toward the western and cowboy material, yet the siblings themselves favored pop songs. Dolly was fourteen when they secured their first professional engagement at St. Louis station WIL. After relocating near Chicago, the Girls of the Golden West maintained a steady presence on radio programs that reached listeners from northern Canada to points south of the Mexican border. Starting in 1933, regular spots on WLS’s National Barn Dance opened doors to guest appearances on Rudy Vallee’s syndicated NBC broadcast. Strong audience response on the Vallee show prompted NBC to grant the sisters their own weekly program, after which a recording contract followed promptly. Dorothy supplied most lead vocals and delivered uncomplicated guitar accompaniment suited to supporting roles; she avoided Maybelle Carter-style lead fills and concentrated instead on strong harmony singing and distinctive yodeling. Roughly half the studio material consisted of newly written western-themed numbers, while traditional cowboy songs drawn from oral folk tradition and cover versions of favored pop standards filled out the remainder. The sisters’ longstanding interest in pop grew stronger over the years, gradually claiming a larger share of their recording sessions. Performances and recordings continued on an occasional basis until Dorothy’s death in 1967. Their catalog comprises three albums issued by the Fort Worth Bluebonnet label. Sonyatone brought out a 1978 anthology devoted to their cowboy- and western-oriented recordings.
Albums