Pete Pike - Recommended Recordings & Link to MP3s

Pete Pike was an accomplished country music artist who occasionally performed hardcore, traditional bluegrass music. He is best known in bluegrass music circles for his 1950s work with Buzz Busby, a legendary, tortured soul (Busby is fondly known as the “Father of Washington, DC Bluegrass Music”). The duo, while co-leading the Bayou Boys, were popular on stage, radio and television. Here’s a brief biography, a list of recommended recordings and a link to a Google Drive folder with 20 favorite MP3s from the early period of Pike’s career (recorded from 1954 to 1963).

In the late 1940s, while still teenagers, the Pike brothers and Austin relocated to Washington and began playing bluegrass music, performing there with guitarist and banjoist Roy Clark (later of “Hee Haw” fame) and bassist Curly Irvin.

In the early 1950s, Pete Pike bounced around, at times appearing on stage and radio stations in Georgia and West Virginia (at this point Pike was performing regularly with Irvin’s son, banjoist Smitty Irvin, and for a while in West Virginia, with fiddler Toby Stroud and guitarist Dean Queer).

In 1952, Pike joined the United States Armed Forces and married Glorine Jeannette Shafer. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1953. Returning to Washington, Pike met guitarist and mandolinist Busby, who hailed from the small town of Eros in Jackson Parish, LA.

Busby had formed a band named the Bayou Boys (initially with fiddler Scotty Stoneman, Dobroist Ralph Jones and bassist Jack Clement). in late 1953, Pike joined the Bayou Boys and was given co-billing with Busby for fronting the act. Other members during this period were banjoists Donnie Bryant and Don Stover, fiddler John Hall and bassist Lee Cole.

Buzz and Pete and the Bayou Boys performed weekly on radio station WGAY in Silver Spring, MD (fortunately, a tape of a ca. 1954 show survives). The Busby and Pike duo also performed as the comedy act “Ham & Scram.” Recordings from this era were issued about a decade later on the album “Country Comedy: Songs & Frolic” (Mount Vernon Music MVM 176, 1963).

Also in 1954, Buzz and Pete and the Bayou Boys appeared regularly on the television program “Hayloft Hoedown” on WRC-TV in Washington. The group relocated to Shreveport, LA in 1955 to perform on the “Louisiana Hayride,” but by that time Charlie Waller (later of the Country Gentlemen fame) had replaced Pike, with Busby again taking sole leadership of the band.

Around this time, Pike recorded several country music sides at Ben Adelman’s low-budget Tru-Tone Studio (where country music legend Patsy Cline recorded multiple times in 1953 and 1954). He was accompanied by various musicians including Stoneman, Smitty Irvin, Roger Woodward and Michael Woodward.

Pike soon had a hit record to his credit, “I Can See An Angel Walking” (the song was penned by Adelman, with the copyright assigned to his wife, Kay Adelman). It was initially released in October 1954 on a 78 RPM record, Coral 64186, with a flip side titled “House Of The Lord” (a fine Lawrence Lewis composition). Both sides feature excellent fiddling by Stoneman.

Between July 1955 and February 1956, Coral issued another 3 Pike country music singles (“I’m Walking Alone” b/w “Yellow Leaves,” “Happy Birthday, Sweet Jesus” b/w “Old Fashioned Christmas” and “Friend Of The Bride” b/w “At My Side”).

Also during 1955 and 1956, for 6 months, Pike led a United Service Organizations (USO) tour of Southeast Asia (accompanied by Hall, electric guitarist Ray Loy, bassist Stoney Edwards and a group of 10 dancers named the North Carolina Cloggers). The USO is a nonprofit organization which provides programs, services and entertainment to military personnel and their families.

In 1960, Pike switched to the newly formed Mount Rainer, MD based Rebel label (which had yet to begin issuing bluegrass music records). From 1960 to 1963, Rebel released 5 more Pike country music singles. A handful of the sides were recorded with legendary session musicians Chet Atkins, Pete Drake and Floyd Cramer at Owen Bradley’s famous “Quonset Hut” studio in Nashville, TN.

Standout tracks on the 5 Pike Rebel singles include “Making Love To A Stranger,” “Cold Gray Dawn,” “Cotton Dice” and a remake of “I Can See An Angel.”

Also in 1960, Pike’s first full length album was released, “A New Star On The Horizon” (Audio Lab AL 1559). It is comprised of a dozen tracks from 1954-1956 Tru-Tone Studio sessions (with most cuts having been previously released on Coral, 4 Star and Blue Ribbon).

Around 1961-1963, Pike waxed about 10 wonderful, intense bluegrass music tracks at Pete Kuykendall’s Wynwood Recording Studio in Falls Church, VA. He was accompanied by John Duffey, Lamar Grier, Billy Baker and others. Several of these tracks surfaced in 1965 on an influential set of Rebel mail-order compilation albums (with another track seeing the light of day in 2005).

Pike’s last hit single was produced by Carlton Haney and Drake, “Little Bitty Teardrops” (Music City MC-45-201, 1968). The prominent weekly music publication “Billboard” awarded it a “Five Star Pick Hit” designation. The flip side is “DR1-7309 (Dr. Seventeen, Three-O Nine).” Follow-up releases include “Make Him Stop” b/w “Tall Walkin’” (Stop ST 277, 1969) and “Somewhere In Georgia” b/w “Baby Go Bye Bye” (Major Recording Company MRC 1179, 1969).

Also in the 1960s, Pike began his own record label, Virginia Recording Company (VRC), as well as LeRite Publishing Company. In 1970, Pike and his family began holding an annual bluegrass music festival on their farm in Amelia County. Also in the 1970s, Pike opened a farm equipment dealership. He later worked in the timber trade and successfully ran a restaurant (Namaw’s Country Diner). Pike was an avid aviator and boater, owning a Cessna Skyhawk plane and a 46-foot yacht.

In 2005, Pike made a comeback with a solid album, “Rolling Again” (Copper Creek CCCD-0239). The release features 8 newly recorded tracks in which Pike is accompanied by the Black Diamond Band (renamed for the project as Country Bluegrass). Among these is the first song Pike wrote, as a teenager, “Virginia Lou.” The album also features 4 vintage recordings, including a robust, previously unissued version of “Little Maggie” from the ca. 1961-1963 Rebel sessions.

Pike passed away on August 27, 2006, at age 76. He is buried at Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery in Wilsons Corner, Amelia County. While never a huge star, Pike had his fair share of fame and success, leaving a legacy of excellent country and bluegrass music recordings for future generations to enjoy.

Cover of 1960 LP album “A New Star On The Horizon” (Audio Lab AL 1559)

~ Recommended Recordings ~

• Pete Pike, “A New Star On The Horizon,” Audio Lab AL 1559, 1960 (12 track album featuring country music material)

• “Country Comedy: Songs & Frolic By Ham & Scram Featuring Buzz Busby,” Mount Vernon Music MVM 176, 1962 (anthology album featuring 10 tracks recorded 1954-1959; photos on front cover do not feature Pete Pike but photo on back cover possibly does)

• Various Artists, “70 Song Package,” Rebel R-1473/R-1474/R-1475/R1476, 1965 (influential 4-LP set sold by mail-order with records only in paper sleeves; reissued as “70 Song Original Bluegrass Collection” using same catalog numbers ca. 1980; features 7 wonderful Pete Pike tracks)

• Various Artists, “Rebel Records: 35 Years Of The Best In Bluegrass 1960-1995,” Rebel RB CD 4000, 1997 (4-CD box set which features “In The Pines” by Pete Pike, recorded in 1963 and initially released on Rebel R-1473 in 1965)

• Buzz Busby, “Going Home: Greatest Starday Records Recordings,” King SD-0123-2, 2003 (must-own anthology album featuring 19 recordings spanning the years 1956-1959, 5 of which were previously unissued; Pete Pike performs on 8 of the 19 tracks)

• Pete Pike and Country Bluegrass, “Rolling Again,” Copper Creek CCCD0239, 2005 (features 8 newly recorded tracks along with 4 vintage recordings, a pair of which were previously unissued)

• Pete Pike, “The Virginia Hillbilly,” British Archive of Country Music BACM CD 683, 2021 (26 track anthology featuring mostly country music material)