Cecil Campbell (March 22, 1911 – June 18, 1989) was an American bluegrass bandleader & musician, most famed as a steel guitarist for the Tennessee Ramblers during the 1930s and '40s, although he also played tenor banjo.
Born Cecil Robert Campbell in Danbury, North Carolina, Campbell worked on his father's tobacco farm and played occasionally on WSJS in Winston-Salem. He graduated from Walkertown High School in Walkertown, near Winston-Salem, and moved to Charlotte in 1935. He taught himself to play the guitar when he was 14 or 15 years old, sitting around the tobacco farm chewing on the home-grown leaf. Seeking new opportunities, Campbell hitchhiked in 1932 to Pittsburgh where he lived with his brother where he met Dick Hartman and was asked to join Hartman's Tennessee Ramblers, a large group that played both Western swing and old-time string music. And since many performers used nicknames, Campbell was often called "Curley" at that time.
The band continued to record until fall 1936, also as "Hartman's Heart Breakers" or "Washboard Wonders." This incarnation of the Tennessee Ramblers held its last session with RCA-Victor on October 11, 1936, in Charlotte. The Tennessee Ramblers kept on performing and also began appearing in various B western movies, including "Ride Ranger Ride" (1936), "The Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge" (1937, both starring Gene Autry), among others. Hartman left in 1938 but the band continued without him, simply calling themselves "The Tennessee Ramblers"
Campbell played on radio broadcasts and Bluebird sessions with the band throughout the '30s, taking over the leadership of the Ramblers' by-then skeleton crew in 1945, when the only original member left was guitarist Harry Blair.
He sold nearly a Million copies of his 1947 recording of "Tryon Street Boogie." Carolina themes wound through many of Cecil Campbell's 100 or so songs, including (Catawbay River Blues,""My Little Hut in Carolina" and "North Carolina Skies." Campbell also wrote and recorded Hawaiian tunes such as "Little Hula Shack in Hawaii" and” Neath Hawaiian Palms." He wrote country music back when it was called "hillbilly music" and appeared on WBT's Briarhopper radio show in the 1930s and '40s. During his RCA tenure, "Steel Guitar Ramble" became Campbell's only hit when it reached the country Top Ten in May 1949. Many of his 1940s RCA sides showcase his skills on the steel guitar, as Campbell and the Ramblers included many instrumentals in its repertoire.
In the early 1950s, the Western Ramblers did an unusual number called "Spooky Boogie". Cecil was looking for an "...unusual hollow type of rattling sound designed to send cold chills rushing down the spine." He couldn't find that sound on the musical instruments. But as fate would have it, one of the members of the Tennessee Ramblers had false teeth and that mysterious sound that appears on the tune "Spooky Boogie" was made by a pair of chattering false teeth. The flip side of that disk was another unusual tune called "Steel Guitar Dig." That record was the follow up to his "Proud Papa Polka" and "Serenade To The Winds."
By 1951, Cecil was living in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Katherine and their daughters, Joretta Kay, and Linda Lee. From there, he traveled to New York for his recording sessions usually. Campbell also recorded for Disc and Palmetto Records during the early '50s, but signed with MGM in 1955, mixing some rockabilly material in with his traditional swing. After his stint with MGM, Campbell took a break from recording but continued to do personal appearances. However, his popularity had waned since the beginning of the decade. Although he tried his hand at rock'n'roll to refresh his sound, his age and dated western swing sounds were not pleasing the young audiences anymore. In 1958, he went into the real estate business and remained active in this field until the 1970s.
Campbell recorded for Starday in the 60’s and in 1965 he founded his own Winston label, on which he occasionally released recordings. He continued to perform live with the Tennessee Ramblers, often appearing at the annual Western Film Fair in Raleigh, North Carolina, well into the 1980s. He also appeared often at the Western Film Fair (held in Raleigh, NC) until his death at the Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 18, 1989. He was 78.
(Edited from Rocky 52, Mellows Log Cabin, Discogs & Hillbilly Music.com)