Adopted Louisvillians
Randy Atcher (1918-2002) and Pee Wee King (1914-2000) are similar in many ways. Both were Greatest Generation, Western singing cowboys from Catholic backgrounds who lived and made their careers in Louisville. KHS has both oral history interviews with Pee Wee King and the personal papers of Randy Atcher.
(L): 1948 Rose-Acuff Pee record of Pee Wee King's hit single, "Tennessee Waltz," 1948; (M): Early headshot of Randy Atcher (c. 1940s); (R): Atcher poses with his guitar and signature cream colored hat (c. 1940s).
All images are from MSS 107, Randy Atcher Collection.
Catholic Influences
Randall Ignatius Atcher was born on December 7, 1918 in West Point, Hardin County, Kentucky. Atcher grew up on a family farm with seven siblings. Atcher began performing with his older brother Bob on radio stations in Louisville and Chicago during the late 1930s and early 1940s. After serving in Australia with the Army Air Corps during WWII, Atcher and his Australian wife Daphne moved to Louisville and Atcher began his TV career. Atcher starred in programs on WHAS, including The Hayloft Hoe Down and T-V-Bar-Ranch. Atcher was raised in a Catholic household, which is somewhat uncommon for Country singers. Southern Protestant cultural traditions were instrumental in the formation of Country music as a genre. In a 2000 interview with Randy Atcher, interviewer Wade Hall explains how Southern Protestant religious music influenced Country:
"This is what makes your interest and your reputation in country music different from that of a lot of people because most of these people grew up in communities and churches where you had this tradition–country religious music, you might say. So many of the composers–the folk, country composers–like Hank Williams–wrote religious songs–the kinds of songs he had heard in church . . . So, it was just natural for him when he started writing, not only to write those honky-tonk songs . . ."

Country Singer from Wisconsin
Pee Wee King also comes from an unusual background for a Western musician. King was born Frank Kuczynski in Milwaukee to a Polish Catholic family. King spent most of his childhood in Milwaukee but moved to Abrams, Wisconsin as a teenager and worked on his grandmother's farm. King grew up speaking Polish at home and sang Polish tunes in dance halls around Milwaukee with his first band, Frankie King and His Jesters.
(L): King poses for the cover of Billboard Magazine, January 1947.

Breaking In
King built up an illustrious career, beginning with radio appearances on WHAS in Louisville and at the Grand Ole Opry during the 1930s and 1940s. During WWII, King entertained American troops alongside Minnie Pearl on The Camel Caravan. King had two breakout hits in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Tennessee Waltz and Slow Poke, which topped the Billboard 100 charts for 15 weeks straight in late 1951. In the mid-1950s, King and his family moved to Louisville after living outside of Nashville for about a decade. King was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974.
(L) King's induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, 1974. From "Hell-Bent for Music: The Life of Pee Wee King," by Wade Hall (1996).
Special Bond with Fans
One of the most intriguing aspects of early Country music is the close bond formed between fans and entertainers. Randy Atcher starred as a singing cowboy for over twenty years on a WHAS children's program called T-Bar-V-Ranch. The show differed from other children's programs featuring cowboys in that it was primarily focused on celebrating birthdays. Parents would submit their children's names and birthdates to WHAS and a select few would be chosen to be featured on the show.
This episode of KHS' Kentucky History Treasures features items from the Randy Atcher objects collection, including the cowboy costume he wore on T-Bar-V-Ranch.