Poe Sisters - The Best of Friends Must Part (June 9, 1945)

The Poe Sisters, Nelle and Ruth, were members of the WSM Grand Ole Opry from June 1944 until November 1945. Originally from Big Creek, Calhoun County in north-central Mississippi, Nelle and Ruth Poe actually began their professional performing career in October 1943 at WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they had gone to work as radio inspectors for General Electric. Returning south in May 1944, they auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry the following month and were hired on the spot by Opry founder George D. Hay ("The Solemn Old Judge", whose voice can be heard at the end of this recording). During their stint at WSM, the Poe Sisters most notably spent much of 1945 as the "female songbirds" of the Ernest Tubb road show, and appeared weekly on the Ernest Tubb Song Book-sponsored portion of the Grand Ole Opry at 11:15 pm each Saturday night during mid-1945. After leaving the regular cast of the Opry in November 1945, Nelle and Ruth would make scattered guest appearances on the show from May to August 1946 before leaving for good. WSM and the Opry would actually be the last stop in the performing career of the Poe Sisters; by the end of 1946, both sisters had married, with Nelle and her husband returning to Bridgeport, Connecticut, while Ruth remained in Nashville. The Poe Sisters were actually among the last surviving 1940s Opry members, with Ruth passing away in 2015 at the age of 90, and Nelle passing away in 2021 at the age of 98.
During their brief professional career, the Poe Sisters never made any commercial recordings, and less than a dozen songs are known to exist on non-professional aircheck recordings made of their Grand Ole Opry spots. In this rare recording, Nelle and Ruth Poe sing the Roy Hall song "The Best of Friends Must Part" on the 8:30 pm "Crazy Water" segment of the Grand Ole Opry, June 9, 1945. Nelle Poe plays guitar and sings harmony to Ruth, who sings lead and plays the Gibson mandolin owned by and loaned to her by Bill Monroe to play during her time at the Opry.

Видео Poe Sisters - The Best of Friends Must Part (June 9, 1945) канала Robert Montgomery