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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Parker Family - Just A Real Nice American Family

Working On A Building
The Parker Family
Just A Real Nice American Family
King Records, Inc. Cincinnati, OH 932 1965

Great vintage instruments! Just A Real Nice American Family is wonderful name for the LP. I can't find one lick of info on The Parkers. So I don't know where they worked out of.

The music is an outstanding blend of gospel, bluegrass, country and rockabilly.

I choose the first track on the B side because it features great vocal work.

19 comments:

  1. Amazing, I was very surprised to find this on the net, and it was very cool to hear this song again. My mother is the seated woman on the far left of the cover. From the left, are Rexana Parker, Eleanor Parker, Charles "Rex" Parker, and Connie Parker. They were from Lerona, WV, and had radio and television programs with various stations over the years. They had live shows on WHIS radio in Bluefield, VA, WAEY radio in Princeton, WV, and WOAY television in Oak Hill, WV.

    Rex has since passed, but, believe it or not, Eleanor "Granny" Parker still has a radio show on Sunday mornings on WAEY radio in Princeton, WV. She is nearly 90 years old. She still plays the guitar, and her eldest daughter, Connie, sings along with her.

    Thanks for posting!

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  2. These were wonderful people! Connie, Rexanna, and Eleanor Parker are talented in so many ways.

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  3. Hello, thanks for posting the record of my mom, dad, sister and myself. Dad passed away in 1999, mom is now 90 yr old, we all live in West Virginia. Mom just recently had to give up her radio broadcast on W.A. E.Y.. IN PRINCETON West Virginia.

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    1. O' my gosh~I am so choked up and tears are streaming down my face. I was born and raised in Gary WVA. My mother was a Pentecostal Holiness Believer. We all gathered 'round the TV when You, Connie and your parents came on. Saddened to hear the passing of your Father. My entire family loved your entire family. God Bless You All.

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    2. Rexana,I knew you & your parents, & was so pleased to see the album covers on line which I remember my parents spinning on our turntable often. Has anyone thought about transferring all of the albums to CD, so people can still enjoy them? I think the Parker Family should be in the WV Music Hall of Fame. Great people, who made wonderful music!

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    3. Remember the Parker Family well from childhood & was aquatinted with them personally. My mother had their albums when I was a child & played them often. Wonderful!

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  4. Rita Lawrence Price September 2, 2013
    I was so pleased to find info on Rex & Eleanor ,Connie & Rexana. Thought so much of them, would love to contact them in Princeton, W.Va. , but don't know how.
    My brother Frank Lawrence, used to sing with them on TV in Bluefield , years ago, I would love to talk to Eleanor or Connie.If anyone knows how to contact, please let me know by e -mail -- rmj295@roadrunner.com.
    Thanks

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  5. Please tell me what kind of guitar Rex has on the cover here if you know. Thanks!!

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  6. I'm sorry to hear of Rex passing. I hope Eleanor is well along with Connie and Rexana and their families. I have known the Parker family since around 1960 when they came and sang at a church I attended as a child. I was so happy to once have had the opportunity to sing at church , while Rex backed me up on the mandolin. They are very talented musicians and fine Christian folks.

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  7. Loved the Parker Family, To my surprise, I just came across their 2nd Edition of Songs for Salvation. Took photo's of it, but , I have no turn table to play it on. I will get one just to play this album. In Cleveland Oh, Have great memories of growing up in WVa , With the Parker Family

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  8. I'm pleased that the Parker family is so well remembered. They were neighbors when they lived in Princeton and their son, C.C., was in one of my grade school classes at Knob elementary school.

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  9. My mother was the lead pianist and singer of the Hubbard Sisters who were on Oak Hill-TV with Rex and Eleanor Parker in 1963.

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  10. When I was a little girl I sang on the Oak Hill tv and radio station with the Parker family. Connie would take me every where with her. I am 61 now and oh what memories. My favorite song was Family Bible. God bless.

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  11. As a kid in Matoaka WV I would listen to Rex and Eleanor every Saturday on WHIS from Bluefield. For a while they were billed as Rex & Eleanor and the Lonesome Pin Fiddlers. The Fiddlers went on later to have a career in bluegrass music.

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  12. I just found this album on eBay and purchased it for my Mom. She grew up with Connie and Rexana and I remember watching the Parkers on TV with my grandmother. Sadly, both Connie and Rexana have passed on to be with the Lord and their dad,Rex.

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  13. Wow! I've been trying to find something about Rex and Eleanor for a few years. My dad used to watch them on WOAY when I was growing up. I didn't care for them, as a teen, I was listening to all the hard rock from the 70's. Now, I love the music my dad listened to back then (Lester Flatt, Charlie Poole, etc.). I'd love to have some video of their shows from WOAY in the 70's. I have an issue of Graffiti (entertainment magazine from Charleston, WV), from around the mid-90's (?) where Michael Lipton wrote an article about Rex and Eleanor, featuring them on the cover photo. Thanks for the music and the fond memories!

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  14. I knew the Parker family all of my life. In fact when I was saved out of bluegrass music. I had been in N. C. I was there with Ricky Scaggs and Keith Whitley and Ralph Stanley. When I got saved I called Bro and Sis Parker to tell them the news. She asnwered and when I told them the news. She started shouting and Rex had to get on the phone. The next week they were coming to Christiansburg Va to sing and they told me they wanted me to sing with them and I did. They were from Parkersburg WVA any thing else I can help with send and email to twfreetodream@gmail.com Warren Williams

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