Stuart Hamblen

Stuart Hamblen’s very name conjured the image of a burly, hard-living character, and that description fit the man to perfection. In the 1940s he earned widespread notice by performing such well-known numbers as “My Mary” and “Texas Plains,” while his established fondness for drink also secured him repeated parts as the gruff ranch hand in Western movies of the time. Following a religious awakening he abandoned country music completely and instead launched an Los Angeles radio broadcast titled The Cowboy Church of the Air, a title stamped with his signature flamboyance.