Hi Fount, May I offer my condolences on the loss of your banjo picker. Your reference to bluegrass records that this fellow played on "years ago" caught my eye. My cousin and I have been trying to find out what happened to a bluegrass performer named Paul Howard and I was wondering if you have ever heard of him and could help us. Paul Howard had a band called the Cottonpickers back in the late 40's and early 50's. They travelled all over the place but he met our cousin Rosella Dean in Portsmouth OH - that's southern OH, on the OH River - and married her when she was only 15. I have a photo of them together - it looks like one of those "8 x 10 glossies" in which Paul is wearing his cowboy hat and shirt with a bolo and Rosella is cheek to cheek with him - and it looks like he was at least 30 or 35 yrs. old. I was told that my aunt signed permission for them to get married because she was afraid Rosella would run away anyway. Rosella travelled around with Paul and the Cottonpickers and - get this - a pet pig. This was way before the pot-bellied variety was brought over from SE Asia, so we're talking about an ordinary porker. Well, I guess you couldn't exactly call a pet pig who stayed in motels and traveled by car "ordinary," could you? Paul and Rosella didn't stay together long. She went on to marry a few more times, including once to a DJ at WLS in Chicago named Jim Runyon. I see his name mentioned from time to time. I don't know if Rosella actually sang with Paul or not, but she became a nightclub singer. Her daughter has letters that she wrote to this cousin of mine about Julius LaRosa sending her flowers and wanting to date her and hanging out with Patti Page, meeting Ella Fitzgerald, and the like. I used to love playing dress-up with her fancy, sparkly clothes that I would find in my aunt's attic. Rosella died at age 43 of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1977. But I digress - as usual. Back to Paul Howard, the bluegrass man, which is why I wrote. My cousin and I have been unable to find out anything about him. My cousin has gone to some bluegrass sites on the Internet and placed queries but got no responses. I have placed queries on some KY genealogy lists I used to be on but no one had heard of him. He did put out some records back in the late 40's or early 50's - the cousin remembers our family playing them - so that's why I decided to take a stab at asking you about him. My cousin thinks Paul Howard was from Alabama originally but maybe he just thinks that because his band was named the Cottonpickers. Herma Armsrong near Buffalo, NY hrarmstrong@juno.com

Herma, Sorry, afraid I never heard of Paul Howard. I didn't know any Blue Grass pickers, being from MS. Now, I could name a lot of Blues singers and Red Neck Country pickers. # :-)) Fount ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herma R Armstrong" <hrarmstrong@juno.com> To: <ARMSTRONG-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 10:07 AM Subject: [ARMSTRONG-L] bluegrass picker Paul Howard > Hi Fount, > May I offer my condolences on the loss of your banjo picker. > > Your reference to bluegrass records that this fellow played on "years > ago" caught my eye. My cousin and I have been trying to find out what > happened to a bluegrass performer named Paul Howard and I was wondering > if you have ever heard of him and could help us. Paul Howard had a band > called the Cottonpickers back in the late 40's and early 50's. They > travelled all over the place but he met our cousin Rosella Dean in > Portsmouth OH - that's southern OH, on the OH River - and married her > when she was only 15. I have a photo of them together - it looks like > one of those "8 x 10 glossies" in which Paul is wearing his cowboy hat > and shirt with a bolo and Rosella is cheek to cheek with him - and it > looks like he was at least 30 or 35 yrs. old. I was told that my aunt > signed permission for them to get married because she was afraid Rosella > would run away anyway. > > Rosella travelled around with Paul and the Cottonpickers and - get this > - a pet pig. This was way before the pot-bellied variety was brought > over from SE Asia, so we're talking about an ordinary porker. Well, I > guess you couldn't exactly call a pet pig who stayed in motels and > traveled by car "ordinary," could you? Paul and Rosella didn't stay > together long. She went on to marry a few more times, including once to > a DJ at WLS in Chicago named Jim Runyon. I see his name mentioned from > time to time. I don't know if Rosella actually sang with Paul or not, > but she became a nightclub singer. Her daughter has letters that she > wrote to this cousin of mine about Julius LaRosa sending her flowers and > wanting to date her and hanging out with Patti Page, meeting Ella > Fitzgerald, and the like. I used to love playing dress-up with her fancy, > sparkly clothes that I would find in my aunt's attic. Rosella died at > age 43 of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1977. But I digress - as usual. > > Back to Paul Howard, the bluegrass man, which is why I wrote. My cousin > and I have been unable to find out anything about him. My cousin has gone > to some bluegrass sites on the Internet and placed queries but got no > responses. I have placed queries on some KY genealogy lists I used to be > on but no one had heard of him. He did put out some records back in the > late 40's or early 50's - the cousin remembers our family playing them - > so that's why I decided to take a stab at asking you about him. My > cousin thinks Paul Howard was from Alabama originally but maybe he just > thinks that because his band was named the Cottonpickers. > > Herma Armsrong > near Buffalo, NY > hrarmstrong@juno.com >