Sebastopol in Scott County, Mississippi — The American South (East South Central)
Leake County Revelers
— Mississippi Country Music Trail —
Leake County Revelers Despite the implication of their name, assigned to them by Columbia Records producer Frank Walker, the members of this popular string band of the late 1920s and early 1930s didn’t come from only Leake County. They first came together and were based here in Sebastopol, Scott County, where the oldest of the four, R. O. (Robert Oscar) Moseley (1884-1931), who played the mandolo (a small banjo-mandolin hybrid), ran a hardware and record store. In the late 1920s, Moseley began playing informally with two musicians who actually were from nearby Leake County—Jim Wolverton (1895-1969) who played five-string banjo and farmed in Neshoba County, and the colorful Will (William Bryant) Gilmer (1897-1960), who worked at a drug store next door to Moseley’s hardware store and has often been referred to as Mississippi’s premier fiddler. They were joined in 1926 by guitarist Dallas Jones (1889-1985), also from Sebastopol.
The quartet was playing in local schoolhouses on Saturday afternoons when celebrated talent scout H. C. Speir of Jackson recommended them to Columbia Records. At their first recording session in New Orleans in April 1927, they recorded their hit instrumental “Wednesday Night Waltz,” based on a lilting tune Gilmer had learned in Texas, with a faster breakdown segment added half way through. Backed by the almost as popular “Good Night Waltz,” the record would sell nearly a quarter million copies and become a standard as an instrumental and later in a version with lyrics, recorded by Carson Robison and Frank Luther.
The Revelers would record forty-four sides for Columbia at sessions variously staged in Atlanta or New Orleans through 1929 and at a last session at Jackson, Mississippi, in December 1930. They recorded everything from traditional string band waltzes and breakdowns to strings-and-vocal hillbilly (“Johnson Gal”), harmonizing vocal pop (“My Wild Irish Rose,” “When It’s Springtime in the Rockies”), vaudeville (“They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me”), blues (“Make Me a Bed on the Floor,” “Dry Town Blues”), and even a “Rockin’ Yodel.”
The quartet made appearances with Louisiana’s Huey Long during his campaign for governor there in 1928; sales of their records made it possible for the full band to perform live across the Southeast. The four Revelers, who always kept their day jobs, also appeared in varied combinations as duets or as solo acts. The demand for their appearances increased in 1930, when they began a regular 6 to 7 p.m. Saturday night radio show on the 1000-watt, widely broadcast WJDX out of Jackson. Unfortunately, R. O. Moseley’s death the following year marked the group’s end, although Dallas Jones was still making appearances in the 1980s, and descendants, appearing as the Leake County String Band, provided music for the 1976 movie Ode to Billie Joe.
Erected 2010 by Mississippi Country Music Trail. (Marker Number 4.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment. In addition, it is included in the Mississippi Country Music Trail series list. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1927.
Location. 32° 34.324′ N, 89° 20.168′ W. Marker is in Sebastopol, Mississippi, in Scott County. Marker is on Mississippi Route 21 north of West Street, on the right when traveling north. Located at Sebastopol City Hall. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 17403 MS-21, Sebastopol MS 39359, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 17 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Walnut Grove Methodist Church (approx. 7.3 miles away); Neshoba County Fair (approx. 12.1 miles away); Neshoba County Fair© (approx. 12.1 miles away); The Neshoba County Fair Pavilion (approx. 12.1 miles away); Hillsboro Methodist Church (approx. 13.1 miles away); Carthage City Cemetery (approx. 16.1 miles away); Carthage United Methodist Church (approx. 16.2 miles away); Eads-Mansell-Sudduth House (approx. 16.3 miles away).
Also see . . . Biography of the Leake County Revelers. (Submitted on October 8, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)
Credits. This page was last revised on July 31, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 8, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 384 times since then and 80 times this year. Last updated on February 9, 2022, by Larry Underwood of Carthage, Mississippi. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on October 8, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 6. submitted on February 8, 2022, by Larry Underwood of Carthage, Mississippi.