Hillbilly Barton was a hustler and a
huckster with big dreams and a bigger
mouth who, by his own admission, was
too drunk, too wild, too mean, and too
likely to make advances on other
musicians’ wives to establish many
friendships on the budding music scene
in Bakersfield, California in the early
1950s. Though not generally regarded as
a key pioneer of country music’s
‘Bakersfield Sound,’ Barton nevertheless
unwittingly set a series of events in motion
that made a major impact on the San
Joaquin Valley town’s development from
Dust Bowl refuge to country music’s
‘Nashville West.’
The brash Kentucky native was born
John Grimes, but relocated to Hollywood
in 1950 and was re-christened Hillbilly
Barton by Abbott Records’ Fabor Robison.
Signing him as the second Abbott artist
after Johnny Horton, Robison eventually
had a falling out with Barton. Billy packed
up and shoved off, heading 99 miles north.
“Bakersfield became my home when I was
home
,” he recalled.
“I was in and out of
there for three or four years
.”
Fabor Robison
- 5 -
by Scott B. Bomar
