This 45 record has created some confusion in the community. This is not the Ray Ellis that was a household name with The Four Lads or his Orchestra, but rather a pseudonym for most likely Gene Holcomb, his name being credited as a producer. Going through family lineage, it was apparent someone with the initials “M. L.” Holcomb was not in the family tree, is guaranteed to be Gene himself or a direct family member.
Local radio personality and long-time music connoisseur Earl Freudenberg says this of Chattanooga Records, “I remember this label when I first started at WDOD radio in June, 1965. I’ll have to look thru some of my old 45’s. Seems like Dalton Roberts may have had something to do with this label but l’m not sure. Dale Meador worked at WDOD in the late 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. He played with the Riverboat Ramblers on the Southern Belle. Dale also recorded several songs but this label (when asked about Rexell Records) doesn’t ring a bell.”
This was recorded at 1077 Duncan Ave in Chattanooga Tennessee in 1965. In the years prior this property was co-owned by Virgil Hale & E. Betterton Wallace. At the time of this pressing the building was known as “Hale’s Specialties, INC”, sole owner then being Virgil Hale. There is not much public record from this era, however I included a photo from 8 or 9 years before this record was made of the building exterior. It is now home to “The Montessori School”.
Skip Phillips, local resident, had this to say of the 1077 Duncan Ave building: “I have recorded in that studio back in the day. The building was owned by Paul Gray. One side was the Go Go Club, managed by Billy Hull. The other (back) side housed the old Gray Cab taxi company and the small four track studio.” This gives us an understanding of how this building was throughout the years by someone who can tell you from direct memory.
It appears “Ray” frequently cowrote alongside “Harley Rex Rockholt”, and together they would write music as “RayRex Music Co”. There is BMI information present of Harley Rex, as well as evidence of him being a Chattanoogan, but there is no evidence of his contributions to music other than these BMI filings. Also worthy of note is the Rexell Records company, which has a Chattanooga P.O. Box only on music related to RayRex Music, any other record has a Nashville P.O. Box. Rexell Records has direct affiliation with Raymon Ellis and Rex Rockholt, frequently releasing tracks they wrote together.
With the limited information available I cannot say for certain if they owned this record company together, however with their pre-existing music company, RayRex Music Co, it is extremely likely they have a hand in the mysterious record company’s origins. At the very least they were frequent collaborators with the company and had a hand in releasing music in the Chattanooga area, eventually through the Rexell Records company.
[Included at the end are PDFs showing the BMI songwriting credits for both tracks on the 45 as well as the “Cedar Forest Music” group and their music publishing history.]
