Goin’ To The Barn Dance Tonight
(Carson J. Robison)

An exciting song about the fun of attending a barn dance published in 1932 by Carson Robison, one of the earliest stars of Country music, and recorded by his band The Pioneers. Born in Chetopa, Kansas in 1890 and raised in Oswego, Kansas, he eventually ended up in New York, where he became famous as a session musician, two-tone whistler and songwriter. Robison performed on recordings with Vernon Dalhart from 1924 to 1928, before forming his own band. Known as the Buckaroos in America and the Pioneers in England, where they toured in 1932, 1936 and 1938, Robison’s band was the first country band to tour the U.K.

Carson Robison’s repertoire consisted mainly of topical songs and cowboy and western material. He came to Kansas City in 1920 and crossed paths with Kansas City ragtime composer Charles L. Johnson, author of the famous Dill Pickles Rag (1906). (See notes to Harvest Hop.) By 1922, Robison was performing on radio station WDAF in Kansas City, and had written three songs with Johnson: Colorado And You, Everybody Calls Her Sunshine, and Spanish Moon, all published in Kansas City in 1922. His most famous songs are Life Gits Tee-Jus,Don’t It (1948), My Blue Ridge Mountain Home (co-written with Frank Luther, 1926) and

Barnacle Bill The Sailor (1929). Robison continued to be active in music into the 1950s, recording a square-dance album and a rockabilly hit Rockin’ And Rollin’ With Grandmaw. Carson Robison died in Pleasant Valley, New York, on March 24, 1957. Robison was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Foundation in 1971, however, he has yet to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, even though he played a critical role in the development of early commercial Country music.

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