Fiddler Bert Layne is the Arkansas traveler if there ever was one, having crisscrossed the nation as both a touring musician and a rambling young boy. He is often associated with fellow fiddler Clayon McMichen, and with plenty of reasons. The two married a pair of sisters and were thrilled that they had not only music but an instrument in common. Layne went on to be a frequent collaborator with McMichen, often appearing as a guest in bands of his brother-in-law's, such as McMichen's Melody Men or the Georgia Wildcats. The two of them also played together in the Skillet Lickers, a famous old-time group led by comedian and fiddler Gid Tanner. Although Layne's father was more into dancing than playing music, many other relatives in the family played either fiddle or banjo, the latter instrument much to the detriment of the local feline population. "...They all played banjo, and he used to kill everybody's cat around there to get a hide for his banjo," Layne recalled about his father and aunts in an interview with Margaret Riddle. Layne started playing fiddle at dances when he was a youngster. Sometime around turning 16 he took off from Arkansas and made it all the way to Colorado, often hopping freights. He worked in mines and drove teams of horses, among other odd jobs. By the time he was 20 he was looking for something a bit more permanent and wound up going out to California with his sister and her husband, then rambled back east to Toledo, OH. He met McMichen for the first time in 1925 and the relationship quickly led to a series of professional involvements. These various bands had lineups that seemed to change every time a train pulled in or out of town. On his own, Layne also piled up many different credits, shining not only as a fiddler but also managing to work in a bit of comedy. He was known for an "Uncle Zeke" routine as well as horsing around in general. This kind of stagecraft was often required of a fiddler, and Layne felt it made their jobs harder as an audience would not be satisfied simply listening to straight-ahead good fiddling. Besides McMichen, Layne played with old-time musicians Lowe Stokes, Claude Davis, and Hoke Rice. This grouping cut a series of more than two dozen sides for the Brunswick label in the late '20s. Layne also recorded for Okeh, Gennett, Victor, and Columbia. The song I Love You, I Love You combined he and McMichen with old-time legend Riley Puckett on guitar and vocal. Layne was involved as part of the songwriting team behind classics such as My Carolina Home, Down on the Old Ozark Trail, and On the Banks of the Old Ohio. McMichen, Layne, and others broadcast over WLW in Cincinnati in 1931, and after the former ever-roving player took off for Cleveland, Layne inaugurated his own Bert Layne's Mountaineer Fiddlers. A popular feature of this group were two boys who yodeled in harmony. Layne came up with the stage-name the Yodeling Twins for Garner Eckler and Rolin Gaines. Other members of this group included Rod McQueen, Arnal Stanley, and Johnny Barefield. Layne's band managed to get a good deal of favorable publicity and bookings through the Midwest and West. Like many bands of this period, the group featured a triple fiddle lineup in the front, with Payne usually playing lead and the others covering harmony. But touring in a group such as this was hardly a luxurious past time. Bandmember Lowe Stokes seemed to have a particularly tough time on tour. Stokes was shot at a bootlegging joint, stabbed near the heart by a jealous boyfriend, and finally had his hand shot off at a Christmas party, which still didn't end this fiddler's career. Strangely enough, Payne's talent from his "straight job," as a mechanic and engineer, came in handy as he helped design a special hook that would allow Stokes to hold his bow! Payne later teamed back up with McMichen for a show at World's Fair in Chicago in 1933 and a spot on the WLS National Barn Dance that same year. They both recorded with the Skillet Lickers, and Payne also recorded with the Georgia Wildcats, the McMichen/Layne String Orchestra. In his later years, Layne never really stopped fiddling. He retired, so to speak, in Covington, KY, the town right across the river (and state line) from Cincinnati that was traditionally a haven for residents of that city seeking more liberal liquor laws or legal strip clubs. In his mid-eighties, he organized a reunion festival including a series of broadcasts out of the Arkansas stomping grounds of his early days. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi