Smith Ballew - Not That I Care

Smith (né Sykes) Ballew (1902-1984) was an American actor, singer and orchestra leader. He began his singing career on the radio, and in the 1930s became one of the earliest of the singing cowboys on the movie screen. He did a series of musical Westerns for Paramount Pictures and one for 20th Century Fox, continuing in supporting roles until the 1950s. Starting in the late 1920s he became one of the most recognizable vocalists on hundreds of dance band and jazz records (during this time, Ballew along with Scrappy Lambert, Dick Robertson, and Chick Bullock were the most prolific vocalists), and in the early 1930s had his own band. Between 1929 and 1935, he made scores of records were issued under his own name for OKeh, the dime store labels (Banner, Domino, Jewel, Regal, Perfect, Oriole as Buddy Blue & His Texans or Jack Blue's Texans), Columbia, and Crown. On this great 1931 record he is accompanied by the band of a very young B. Goodman.