Smiley Burnette

about

Lester Alvin Burnett (March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967), better known as Smiley Burnette, was a popular American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who could play as many as 100 musical instruments, some simultaneously. His career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades, including a regular role on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction in the 1960s. Lester A. Burnett (he added the final "e" later in life) was born in Summum, Illinois, on March 18, 1911, and grew up in Ravenwood, Missouri. He began singing as a child and learned to play a wide variety of instruments by ear, yet never learned to read or write music. In his teens he worked in vaudeville and, starting in 1929, at the state's first commercial radio station, WDZ-AM in Tuscola, Illinois. Burnette came by his nickname while creating a character for a WDZ children's program. He was reading Mark Twain’s "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" at the time, which included a character named Jim Smiley. He named the radio character Mr. Smiley and soon adopted the moniker as his own, dropping the title. His break came in December 1933, when he was hired by Gene Autry to play accordion on National Barn Dance on Chicago's WLS-AM, on which Autry was the major star. As sound films became popular, Hollywood sought musical talent for Western films; and in 1934, producer Nat Levine

top songs

albums

Halloween Classics: Songs That Scared The Bloomers Off Your Great-Grandma

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From The Sony Vault: Silly Scary Songs

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That Devilin' Tune: A Jazz History (1895-1950)

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Ole Frog (Original Starday Recordings)

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That Devilin' Tune - A Jazz History, 1895-1950 Volume 3 (Disc 1)

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Smiley Burnette

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Ole Frog

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Hillbilly Boogie: The Roots of Rockabilly from Bullet Records of Nashville

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That Devilin' Tune: A Jazz History (1895-1950) Vol. 3

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KidSongs

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Year-Round Cowboy

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The Bullet Records Story: The First Americana Label

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