Old Shep

This article is about the song "Old Shep". For other uses, see Shep.

"Old Shep"
Single by Rambling Red Foley with Cumberland Ridge Runners
B-sideSing Me An Old Hillbilly Ballad[1]
PublishedJune 24, 1935 (1935-06-24)[2]
ReleasedMarch 18, 1936 (1936-03-18)[3]
RecordedDecember 9, 1935 (1935-12-09)[1]
StudioAmerican Furniture Mart ARC Studio, 666 N Lake Shore Drive, 21st Floor, Chicago
GenreHillbilly, Western
Length3:23
LabelMelotone 6-03-53[1]
Composer(s)Clyde Julian Foley[2]
Lyricist(s)Willis Arthur[2]
Rambling Red Foley with Cumberland Ridge Runners singles chronology
"I Got The Freight Train Blues"
(1934) 		"Old Shep"
(1936) 		"The 1936 Floods"
(1936)

"Old Shep" is a song composed by Red Foley, with lyrics by Willis Arthur, published in 1935,[4] about a dog Foley owned as a child. In reality, the dog, poisoned by a neighbor, was a German Shepherd called "Hoover."[5][6] Foley first recorded the song on December 9, 1935, for American Record Corporation (ARC) in Chicago, then re-recorded it on March 4, 1941, his first session for Decca Record Company, and again for them on July 31, 1946. He recorded for Decca the rest of his life, 1941 to 1968.

  1. ^ a b c "MELOTONE 1936 78rpm numerical listing discography". www.78discography.com. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  2. ^ Praguefrank (October 3, 2015). "Red Foley, part 2". Praguefrank's Country Discography 2. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  3. ^ Martin Popoff (2017). Led Zeppelin. All the Albums, All the Songs, Voyageur Pr, p. 87.
  4. ^ Wolfe, Charles K. (2015). Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky, University Press of Kentucky, p. 131.
  5. ^ The Encyclopedia of Country Music, Oxford University Press, (2012), p. 166.