Lattie Moore

Singer (Country/Rockabilly), born 16 October 1924 in Scottsville, Kentucky; died 13 June 2010 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Although he's best known to rockabilly collectors, Lattie Moore was a real-deal, hardcore honkytonker. Although he was born in bluegrass territory, Moore moved to Indianapolis in the early 1940s, and established himself as a Midwestern artist, recording for various labels, but mainly for the King label, in nearby Cincinnati.

Lattie Moore worked on the family farm raising tobacco until he was seventeen. He developed an interest in music at an early age and, as a boy, learned to play the guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Lattie's first musical idol was Gene Autry. He was also impressed by Roy Acuff and, later, by Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb and Hank Williams. At age 19, Moore hitchhiked 200 miles north to Indianapolis, a city that seemed to offer good opportunities for the professionally minded musician. A brief stint in the Navy interrupted his intentions, but he didn’t have to serve very long and by the end of 1944 he was back in Indiana, playing small clubs and other minor venues. Later he hosted a radio show on WISH and by 1951 he emceed the Mid-Western Jamboree on WIBC (both stations located in Indianapolis).

His first record, “Hideaway Heart”/“Married Troubles” (on the Arrow label from Indianapolis, is extremely rare. One year after this 1951 debut came the disc that can be considered as the first rock & roll record out of Nashville, though at the time nobody knew it. It was the original version of “Juke Joint Johnny” (Moore’s own composition), recorded for the Speed label. The disc featured a very heavy drum sound, in part to cover up the fact that the musicians, apart from Moore and the lead guitarist, hadn’t had time to really learn the song. It was way ahead of its time. Jim Atkins and the Pinetoppers covered “Juke Joint Johnny" on Coral. Lattie himself did a flat-out rock ’n’ roll version (as “Juke Box Johnnie”) in October 1956, for Arc Records ; this time there was a cover version by Red Sovine on Decca. Eddie Bond has also recorded the song, in 1969.

Lattie Moore cut some 25 tracks for the King label of Cincinnati, over two periods : 1953-1956 and 1959-1963. In 1958-59 he made two good singles for Starday, “Why Did You Lie To Me” and Eddie Noack’s “Too Hot To Handle”. During the 1960s, Lattie shifted more toward straight country music, abandoning rock and roll and rockabilly. King's offshoot Audio Lab releaed two highly acclaimed LPs of Moore's King work, "The Best Of Lattie Moore" (1960) and " and "Country Side" (1962). He also released a single on Olimpic in 1962. After leaving King for the second time in 1963, recorded only sporadically. There was an album for Derby Town (1971) and singles on WPL (1971), and Quitz (1973). He continued to perform well into the 1970s, though. After his retirement from music, he returned to his birthplace of Scottsville and worked in law enforcement for a couple of years. Lattie Moore died of natural causes on June 13, 2010, at the age of 85.