Foreward by “Buzzbin” Mike Nasvadi: Would you believe me if I told you that Canton, Ohio was once the hotbed for classic country music in the United States? What about if I told you there was once a record label that put out Billboard hits? Yep, it is all true. About six months ago, while digging around for stories, I found a true treasure that rounds out the city’s music history like never before. Folks, we’ve finally connected the dots here. It all starts with a media outlet covering both national and local bands. Through that a scene is created. Sound familiar? I digress. WWVA is a radio station out of Wheeling West Virginia that covered all things hillbilly. This included mega stars Hank Williams, Gene Autry and more. Like now, the idea was to get your band on the radio and be famous. The formula hasn’t change much in sixty-plus years. The scene started brewing near the Barnsville area of Ohio. There were a handful of small venues there that would be home to such acts as the Sunset Rhythm Boys, Cherry Hill Boys, The One-Armed Fiddler, Arlie Kinkade and others as they tried to get their music out to the people. However Canton had the Canton Auditorium which was the big venue in Ohio, much like how The Q in Cleveland is to us nowadays. So if Hank Willliams were touring through in the ’50s he would play Canton, not Barnsville. After a few years the scene shifted to Canton, and Cleveland Avenue was hot for young new acts. The smaller venues in Orville, Barnsville, Zanesville would all be practice points for up and coming bands, and opening up for a touring act at the Canton Auditorium was necessary for launching a serious music career. Previously, two young men by the names of Arlie Kinkade and Chuck Secrest met. These were the masterminds behind the Canton music scene. Together they formed Canton Records, which was located right by Taggart’s Ice Cream Parlor. The break out band was named the Western Spotlighters; a modified version of the popular Sunset Rhythm Boys. Secrest was the main songwriter and singer on all of the recordings while Kinkade, a songwriter himself, handled the business operations. He had purchased a vinyl press and pushed out one 78 rpm and four 45 rpm records in the early ’50s before the company vanished. I was able to gather up the twelve recordings. This is stuff you have to hear. Its hillbilly, it’s weird, it’s wonderful. Best of all it was the lifeblood of Canton from 1950 to 1956. After careful inspection I noticed that the numbering on the 45s was off so I know there are more. Where though, is the question. For a few months I was at a stand still trying to find out more about the illusive Chuck Secrest. He was a genius songwriter, yet seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth after 1956. I was stumped. I was discouraged, but hungry for more. About ready to throw in the towel and write the article with what we had, I gave it one more try to find out about Chuck. Then I found Judy Storm, Chuck’s only living daughter who currently resides in Florida. With one awkward phone call I was able to secure information that opened up the whole story. For months now Judy and I have been talking on the phone, reconstructing the entire decade in Canton. Before Chuck died in 1987 he left a tape to his wife and kids where he explained his life, sang songs to his family and wished them farewell and a happy life. Special thanks goes out to Al Turner (hillbilly-researcher.blogspot.com/) and Dan DeClark (www.45rpmrecords.com) for helping me gather up the original music put out by Canton Records. Thanks also to Judy Storm for spending countless hours talking with me and helping me reconstruct her Dad’s life, and to ArtsinStark and the Canton Special Improvement District for listening to my crazy idea to revive this once florishing label. The story goes like this… By 1956 Charles Secrest, driving force behind country- and western-label Canton Records, had been all over “Billboard” magazine, shared the stage with Gene Autry, rubbed elbows with Minnie Pearle and helped launch the career of country legend Dotty West. And these guys were all tromping around Canton on a daily basis. They worked at places like Timken and Ohio Sheet Metal by day and played in bands by night. Secrest played under a number of aliases — The Phantom, Abe Link, A. Blink — and two country and western groups — The Sunset Rhythm Boys and The Western Spotlighters. Though his career as a working musician started well before the establishment of these groups. He had built a reputation for himself as an expert yodeler and went by the moniker Yodelin’ Chuck in his younger years. At the age of 16 Secrest left home and hopped a train to Canton where, after a brief stay with his sister, he found work on a farm milking cows and plowing fields. Following the farm, he worked for a brief stint near Lake Cable for a “mean son of a gun,” according to tapes Secrest left to his family. It was after this he moved to 10th and Rowland Ave. in Canton. It was at this time he met banjo player Dutch Kelly and after trading a rifle he had for a guitar, Secrest learn to play the harmonica and two formed a group. Kelly got him a job at General Planting and the two began playing around town at places like the Ninth St. Grill. “We were playing the Grill on the day beer became legal,” Secrest said on the tapes. “They served Schooners for a nickle. Everyone got loaded and made fools of themselves and that’s when I decided I would not become a drinker.” In 1933, the duo began playing a radio broadcast on WHBC as The Smokey Mountain Ramblers. During his time playing with Kelly, Secrest met his to-be wife, Freda, who’s parents lived across the street from the musician. The two would be married in 1937, having two children Sherry and Judy. While The Smokey Mountain Ramblers were regionally known, Secrest felt the need for something new. This resulted in the forming of The Sunset Rhythm Boys during 1939. Later in his career he would record under the previously mentioned aliases as the result of wanting to use a name that was easier to spell. It was with The Sunset Rhythm Boys, for which Secrest wrote many of the songs, that he began playing larger venues. In addition to playing The Orr Theater, in Orrville and the Canton Auditorium, where the group shared the stage with Gene Autry, they also had a running radio program on stations such as WAND for many years. It was with the Sunset Rhythm Boys that singer Dotty West would cut her teeth before heading out to become a leading voice of female country performers, along with Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. The group would also be the impetus of Canton Records. Prior to the birth of Canton’s label, Secrest recorded with Sunset Trail Records. It was also around this time in the 1950s that the Barnesville and Zaneville, OH, music scenes began to be noticed nationally. However, they were without large venues such as the Canton Auditorium, resulting in the larger national acts making stops in Canton. This soon led to the city being recognized as a magnet of what was then the popular music. This burgeoning scene was spurred on by local stations such as WHBC, which was home to Secrest’s radio broadcasts, and WWVA out of Wheeling, WV, a station that played both local, regional and nation country and western acts, and introduced one of the earliest live country music broadcasts. During the course of his career, Secrest recorded at least 32 songs, according to documents provided by his family. However, it is believed that there might be a sizable amount of recordings and songs that have yet to be released. To help archive and restore this material and any subsequent findings, Canton Records has been revived to release Secrest’s catalog and the music traditions he forged in the city. As the result of a partnership between Canton Records, Buzzbin Magazine, Chris Bentley (The Most Beautiful Losers), ArtsInStark and the Canton Special Improvement District, a special double disc record will be released comprising Secrest’s discography, with some songs that have never been released. In the mean time Canton Records is already releasing some of the best bands going in Northeast Ohio including Steve Trent, Super Predator and Son of Neckbeard. The double disc will cover all of Secrest’s various recording nom de guerre including his later work with The Western Spotlights and his recordings with Arlie Kinkade on one disc. On the other disc we will have choice artists cover Secrest’s tunes. The package is due out in November 2012. Kinkade, better known as the one-handed fiddler, came to fame with the group The Cherry Hill Boys and played a large part in the original Canton Records. Kinkade and Secrest formed the nucleus of what was once described as a “songwriting gentry in Canton” by Billboard. While he and Kinkade made up the bulk of the songwriting, the Western Spotlighters were comprised of Secrest, Dusty Linn and Rusty Stanley, the later of which was killed in a boiler explosion in an Akron factory. The death was the lead story in the “Around the Horn” column in Billboard, March 9, 1957. Kinkade was to follow the guitarist five years later. Having never been married, Kinkade left his songs to Secrest as well as his fiddle, an old country tradition and a sign of respect among musicians. Following the loss of Kinkade and seeing the future of music moving away from country and western during the ’60s, Secrest retired from performing. In 1978, he retired to Florida with Freda where he lived until his death in 1987. Check out KeepingitCanton.com to stay up to date on the latest developments on the Secrest project and new releases from local acts.