Perry Botkin

A successor to Eddie Lang, Botkin recorded back in the day with the likes of Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Glenn Miller, The Dorsey Bros., Benny Goodman, Paul Whiteman, The Boswell Sisters, Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers, Hoagy Carmichael, Spike Jones and Fred Astaire just to name a few. Whenever he played his small bodied L-5 on a radio show with a large band you could still hear him. No mean trick in those days of mono AM. His guitar-tuned plectrum banjo style, spotlighted on the 1942 Spike Jones RCA recording “Clink Clink, Another Drink” (along with Mel Blanc’s hiccups), possesses a right hand that was reminiscent of “Banjo King“, Eddie Peabody. He performed ukulele solos with symphony orchestras. A feat thought to be achieved only by Roy Smeck, The Wizard of the Strings. In addition to being a pioneer electric guitarist, his Bakelite Rickenbacker solid body, which can be heard on Hoagy Carmichael’s “Hong Kong Blues”, predates Les Paul’s log guitar by at least a few minutes.

In addition to his musical career, Perry was also a character actor (Birth Of The Blues ‘41), a composer and band leader. In 1958 he scored the movie “Murder By Contract” and accompanied it entirely by his multi-tracked self. In 1962 he composed and arranged music for the Beverly Hillbillies television show providing the most identifiable TV guitar anthem what’s left of my childhood brain cells can recall, Elly May’s Theme. Contrary to popular belief it was Botkin and not Telecaster master Jimmy Bryant that played the theme.

Botkin also heads a family dynasty that has been carried on through Perry Botkin Jr., a musician, producer, arranger and song writer who is one of the only artists whose recording session credits rival his fathers.

Think about it folks…here we have two lives whose careers span the entire 20th century of American popular music. From the Ragtime era to experimental, post modern and avant-garde.

Bakey Baker 2007

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