During the long nights of the Great Depression, the only entertainment was often a battery-powered Atwater-Kent or similar radio. When dusk came and such major stations as WHAS Louisville boosted their power, families would often tune in to live studio music. One of the top attractions was the father-and-son team of Asher Sizemore and Jimmie. Reading the introduction on page 2 of the booklet below, we find that Asher was “discovered” as a singer while working for a Pike County coal company. Included are a few of the songs the pair would have presented to their listeners. Also included are a short biography of Little Jimmie and photos of his headstone and he and his father in the WHAS studio.
In the April 1994 issue (No. 20) of The Journal, Charles K. Wolfe touched on the life of Asher Sizemore and Little Jimmie by writing of a pamphlet he had and the importance of its use by Asher in a historical context. For our research, it was a bit more tangential of running across his name in promotional ads for others, recalling those “pamphlets” in our collection as well as a friend helping out finding information from sources not available to us. (The Journal No. 20)
It was in June of 1901 that Asher was introduced to the world by his parents John Taylor and Mary Ellen (Mattingly) Sizemore. When he was born, he had five siblings — Andrew, Nollie, Farmer, Martha, and Gilbert. Later came Ethel, Marvin, Woodrow and Howard Bazel, Walker, and Myrtle. The 1900 U. S. Census indicates the family was living in Upper Red Bird area in Clay County, Kentucky. His father was a farmer.
Perhaps one of the first mentions of Asher in the public light was a story about Island City in Owsley County Kentucky in March of 1922. At the time it was reported that Asher was in school at Scoville, Kentucky. He stopped at the home of the Reverend A. D. Bowman one Saturday and had dinner before heading on to his parent’s home in Taft, Kentucky (about a 15–20-mile journey). He was said to be doing well in school and “…speaks well of his teachers.”
In 1924 in the unincorporated coal mining community Corrigan / McKinney Steel Co. Greasy Creek, Kentucky, Odessa Lenore Foley married Asher Sizemore. Her father, the Rev. Walter B. Foley performed the wedding ceremony. Her sister, Lula, was one of the witnesses. By the time the 1930 U. S. Census rolled around, they were living in Ashland, Kentucky on Adams Street. His occupation was listed as life insurance salesman. But that perhaps was a starting point.
Corrigan / McKinney Steel Co., Greasy Creek
Little Jimmie was born to Asher and Odessa (Foley) Sizemore on January 29, 1927 in Paintsville, Kentucky. The Paintsville Herald reported the birth, he arrived weighing eight pounds. The article mentions Asher and his wife were living in Wolfpit, Kentucky, a town about an hour south of Paintsville. It appears that Odessa’s parents, the Reverend W. B. Foley and his wife were living in Paintsville.
Corrigan / McKinney Steel Co., Wolfpit
At the age of five, he began singing county music on the radio with his father. In 1933, the duo was hired by the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and were regulars for about ten years. He was made the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry. His program was syndicated throughout the Midwest through the 1930s and 40s. During that time, his younger siblings, Buddy, Nancy, and Joe, joined the singing group. Sizemore enlisted in the United States Army and served until his discharge in 1947. He held other jobs during his adult life, notably with a radio station in Jacksonville, Arkansas and as a home construction contractor in Muskogee, Oklahoma. However, even into his eighties, Little Jimmie continued to sing, play his guitar, and perform at small venues.
