Jack Anglin

The youngest of 10 children, Anglin learned to play guitar as a child and at an early age was singing in a trio with his brothers, Jim and Van (aka Red). Jack wrote songs, and the three began to appear at local venues and radio as the Anglin Brothers. He relocated to Nashville around 1930 and, in 1937, recorded with his brothers as the Anglin Twins And Red for ARC (now Columbia Records) in Birmingham, Alabama. Jack worked at a local hosiery mill and here became acquainted with his future wife Louise, and her brother, Johnnie Wright. At the time, Wright, his wife Muriel (Kitty Wells) and Louise were regulars on WSIX as Johnnie Wright And The Harmony Girls. The two men became firm friends and when, in 1939, the Anglin Brothers disbanded, Jack was soon performing with Wright as Johnnie Wright And The Happy Roving Cowboys with Jack Anglin. In 1940, they became Johnnie And Jack. During World War II, Jack saw military service in Europe as a medical orderly. After the war, he resumed working with Wright and Wells. Anglin’s career came to an untimely end on 7 March 1963. Driving to attend a memorial service for Patsy Cline and not far from his home, he rounded a bend on New Due West Avenue in Madison at high speed, crashed, and was killed instantly. Nobody else was with him in the car and no other vehicle was involved.