The Larks were an extraordinary group: beloved by collectors today and revered by their peers at the time. The only ones who didn’t seem to idolize them were the record-buying public. Only two of their songs ("Eyesight To The Blind" and "Little Side Car") ever made the national R&B charts, and then only for a week each. And yet, the influence they had on up-and-coming groups is incalculable.

The history of the Larks begins with spiritual singer Thermon Ruth, who had formed the Selah Jubilee Singers in Brooklyn around 1927, By the 1940s, they were operating out of North Carolina and were composed of Thermon Ruth, Alden ("Allen") Bunn, Junius Parker, Melvin Coldten, and Jimmy Gorham. The Selahs had a daily program of jubilee music that aired over WPTF in Raleigh.

When the Selahs decided to change over from jubilee to gospel singing, their established audience didn’t take kindly to the switch, which caused baritone Ruth and baritone/tenor Bunn to leave in mid-1949. They decided to form their own group.

Allen Bunn came from Wilson, North Carolina, and there was a spiritual group there that had a Sunday morning radio show. Thermon could hear the show in Raleigh, and he asked Allen to go around to the studio and try to recruit them.

This quintet (whose name Raymond Barnes has forgotten), consisted of bass David McNeil, baritone Hadie Rowe, Jr., tenor Raymond "Peewee" Barnes, lead Freddy Rowe (Hadie’s brother) and guitarist James Finch. After some negotiations, Raymond, David and Hadie agreed to join with Thermon and Allen. Thermon hired two teachers to get them into shape according to his standards, and for a few months they were taught how to sing together and to have stage presence. Calling themselves the Jubilators, they then competed against other spiritual groups in the state, even winning a 50 pound cake in a contest with the Selah Jubilee Singers!

The Jubilators weren’t a quintet, however, but a sextet. Back in early 1945, Thermon had heard Eugene Mumford singing with the 4 Intermes, and was determined to get him as a tenor lead for the Selahs. However, that goal became impossible to achieve due to some bizarre circumstances.

In July 1945, Mumford had been arrested and jailed by the army Military Police. It was innocent enough at the start: the MPs were rousting people looking for marijuana. They turned him over to civilian authorities, whom he satisfied of his innocence. But just as he was leaving police headquarters, a white woman pointed at him and said "He’s the one!" Subsequently re-arrested, he was charged with attempted rape, housebreaking and assault. The case took a year to come to trial (during which time he was free on bail) and, in spite of an alibi, he was found guilty, a conviction that was upheld in the subsequent appeal. Sent to prison, Mumford spent two and a half years on a prison work gang maintaining the roads in North Carolina. But Gene’s father never lost faith and never stopped working on his behalf along with the State Bureau of Investigation. Finally, enough evidence came to light that he was granted a full pardon from the governor of North Carolina. (This was treated as a miracle; a black man in the 1940s South being pardoned after having been accused by a white woman.) In June 1949, after having served 29 months in jail, Gene Mumford was a free man.

This happy occurrence coincided with the formation of the Jubilators. When Thermon heard that Gene had been released, he wasted no time in recruiting him for the group. (It’s not that Gene could have been forgotten over the years. Each day, as Thermon was heading to the radio station, he passed Gene on the work gang.)

In October 1950, the six Jubilators decided it was time to get on record. So they piled into Bunn’s car and drove up to New York to what was possibly the most amazing day of recording in history.

First, they went to Jerry Blaine’s Jubilee Records (at 315 West 47th Street in Manhattan). There, they recorded four gospel songs: "Why Not Today" (led by Hadie Rowe and Allen Bunn), "Down Here I’ve Done My Best" (Thermon Ruth), "Sorrow Valley" (Allen Bunn and David McNeil) and "Since Mother’s Been Gone" (Hadie Rowe; note that the song was mistitled "Since Mother’s Done Gone" on the label).

So far, nothing unusual. However, the Jubilators were broke, and Thermon had been around long enough to know that they’d never see any royalties, only up-front payments for the session. So they told Jubilee that they were the "Selah Singers," got their money and headed across the Hudson River into New Jersey. (All of the Jubilee material was released later in October.)

Their first stop in New Jersey was the Braun brothers’ Regal Records at 20 East Elizabeth Avenue, in Linden. This time they used the name "Jubilators," and recorded another four songs: "Mother Called My Name" and "Get On The Road To Glory" (both led by Allen Bunn), "Seek And Ye Shall Find" (led by Gene Mumford), and "I’ve Got Heaven On My Mind" (fronted by Hadie Rowe). "Mother Called My Name" and "Seek And Ye Shall Find" were released in November; the other two in March 1951.

Then they drove up to Newark and knocked on the door of Savoy Records (at 58 Market Street). Another four masters were cut, this time secular tunes: "Easy Dying Blues" (led by Allen), "Got To Go Back Again" (David McNeil), "Lonely Heart" (Gene), and "Lemon Squeezer" (David). To further disguise their plans, the sextet called themselves the "4 Barons" on this session. "Got To Go Back Again" (a Korean War lament: "I just got home and I’ve got to go back again") and "Lemon Squeezer" ("The way I squeeze your lemons is a low-down dirty shame" - not exactly a song for gospel audiences) were subsequently released on Savoy’s Regent subsidiary.

Finally, they drove back to Manhattan, to the offices of Apollo Records at 457 West 45th Street. Calling themselves the "Southern Harmonaires" this time, they were taken back to the same Mastertone Recording Studios that the "Selah Singers" had used that very morning. Five gospel tracks were laid down: "Honey In The Rock" (led by Hadie), "Crucifixion" (Gene), "I’m So Glad" (Gene), "Who Will Your Captain Be" (Gene), and "Shadrack" (Allen).

And then disaster struck! Someone at the studio remembered them from the Jubilee Records session that morning and spilled the beans to Apollo owner Bess Berman. Bess decided she wanted them badly enough to make a deal with the other companies. When the dust had settled, Apollo had the contract, but Jubilee, Regal, and Savoy/Regent got to issue the masters that had been recorded under the "Selah Singers," the "Jubilators," and the "4 Barons." (Incidentally, they not only changed the group’s name with every session, but they also invented different names for themselves each time they signed on the dotted line.)

In one day: seventeen masters, for four companies, under four different group names. That has to be some sort of record.

Now they had a real recording contract. But it wasn’t quite the end of the beginning of the story. Bess Berman didn’t want a gospel group; she wanted a pop or R&B group. So the Jubilators faded into history (at least for several years), and the "5 Larks" emerged (even though there were still six of them). The name was deliberately chosen to fit in with the Ravens and Orioles, as a "bird group"

In November, Savoy issued "Lemon Squeezer"/"Got To Go Back Again" on their Regent subsidiary. It was reviewed the week of December 2, along with the Johnny Otis Orchestra’s "Rockin’ Blues," the Shadows’ "Jitterbug Special," the Orioles’ "Oh Holy Night," the Drifters’ "And I Shook," and Bull Moose Jackson’s "Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style Again."

Sometime in December 1950, they had their first Larks session for Apollo. During the month of November, they’d made the decision to move up to New York, so they were putting everything they had into this. The session produced two masters: "Coffee, Cigarettes And Tears" and a cover of "My Heart Cries For You" (a hit for Guy Mitchell, Dinah Shore, and Vic Damone; but not the Larks). Released that same month, neither side even hinted at the greatness inherent in the group; actually, both sides are rather boring.

On January 18, 1951, all that was to change. The sextet returned to the studios to cut a couple of classics. With Gene on the lead once again, they laid down "It’s Breaking My Heart" (a pretty ballad that Apollo chose never to issue), "When I Leave These Prison Walls," and "Hopefully Yours." The latter two songs had been written by Gene when he was in jail and show a certain hope for the future. "I’m gonna ball/When I leave these prison walls" and "Hopefully yours/That’s who I long to be/Darling when I am free/To be hopefully yours."

You want a mystery? OK, I’ll give you one. The masters of "When I Leave These Prison Walls" and "Hopefully Yours" were entered on the books of Jubilee Records on November 30, 1950 (two and a half months before they were seemingly waxed for Apollo). They were entered as by the Jubilators, with the same master numbers that were eventually used by Apollo (AP3373 and AP3374). Also entered under that date were "Your Family Prayer" and "In My Heart," but these had Jubilee master numbers (JR8008 and JR8009). I have no idea what to make of this (other than that recording companies don’t care at all about researchers), but it does fit in with the recollections of both Thermon Ruth and Allen Bunn that "Hopefully Yours" was recorded before "My Heart Cries For You." (However, neither Thermon nor Raymond remembers "Your Family Prayer" or "In My Heart.")

As was the custom, the record company presented past fact as future accomplishment. The signing of the 6-man "Southern Harmonaires from North Carolina" was announced in January. Apollo claimed that they’d be doing religious, pop and blues songs. Strangely, there was no mention of the Larks.

The Larks were then booked on their first tour, probably in February. They drove down to Washington, D.C., when they lost Hadie Rowe to the army. (He’d gotten his draft notice and now couldn’t continue on with the group. This is probably the reason that the "5" was dropped from the group’s name by the time "Hopefully Yours" was released—even though they now actually had five members.)

Sometime in March 1951, the Larks recorded "Let's Say A Prayer" (led by Gene) and "My Reverie" (Gene). Not long after, on March 27, the quintet waxed seven more tunes: first came "I Ain't Fattenin' Frogs For Snakes" (Allen and David), "Darlin'" (Gene), "What's The Matter" (Allen), "Ooh...It Feels So Good" (David), "Lucy Brown" (Thermon), and "I Don't Believe In Tomorrow" (Allen and Gene; this song was given to them by bandleader Lucky Millinder.) After graciously allowing June Gardner to record a couple of masters, the Larks came back to do "Eyesight To The Blind" (a down-home blues led by Allen Bunn, who also plays a mean gut-bucket guitar).

The classic from this session is, of course "My Reverie." It had been written by bandleader Larry Clinton back in 1938, and was the song that propelled him to stardom. Gene didn’t follow the original lyrics too closely, however. They should be:

Sometime in 1951, they got national exposure by singing "Lucy Brown" on the Perry Como TV show (the "Chesterfield Supper Club"). This was a song that had been recorded in 1938 by the Norfolk Jazz Quartet (as "Suntan Baby Brown"). Thermon had learned it from Melvin Coldten (of the Selah Jubilee Singers), who just happened to have been in the Norfolk Jazz Quartet.

Their next TV appearance was on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts show, where Gene Mumford led them to victory with their version of Patti Page’s "Tennessee Waltz," a song that was still riding the charts. Their win entitled them to appear on Godfrey’s morning variety show the next week.

"Hopefully Yours," backed with "When I Leave These Prison Walls," was released in April, and doesn’t seem to have been reviewed. However, "Hopefully Yours" was subsequently listed as a territorial tip in New York the week of May 5.

In May, Apollo issued "My Reverie" and "Let’s Say A Prayer." The record was reviewed the week of May 19, 1951, along with Roy Brown’s "Wrong Woman Blues," the Cardinals’ "Shouldn’t I Know," Joe Turner’s "Chains Of Love," and the Buddy Johnson Orchestra’s version of "My Reverie" (which got a higher rating than the Larks).

The Larks’ next session was on July 26, 1951. Only two songs were recorded this time: "Hey Little Girl" and "Little Side Car" (fronted by Allen). "Little Side Car" was a reworking of a wonderful double-entendre tune ("I’m in love with you baby/Let me ride in your automobile") that seems to have originally been done by Smokey Hogg (as "Too Many Drivers") for Modern in 1947. Other versions were by Rosetta Howard & Big Three Trio ("Too Many Drivers") on Columbia in 1948, Willie Love and His 3 Aces ("Little Car Blues") on Trumpet in 1951, Lowell Fulson ("Let Me Ride Your Little Automobile") on Swing Time in 1953, and Smiley Lewis ("Too Many Drivers") on Imperial in 1954.

In June, Apollo issued "Eyesight To The Blind"/"I Ain’t Fattenin’ Frogs For Snakes." The record was reviewed the week of June 30, 1951, along with the 4 Buddies’ "My Summer’s Gone" and Herb Lance’s "At Last." If you were a record distributor, the tip for the week in Pittsburgh was the Majors’ "You Ran Away With My Heart." The week of July 21 found "Eyesight To The Blind" to be a tip in Chicago. It was only on the national R&B charts for a single week, but it held down the Number 5 position.

August saw the release of "Little Side Car"/"Hey Little Girl." Both sides got excellent reviews the week of September 8, 1951. Other records reviewed that week were the Johnny Otis Orchestra’s "Harlem Nocturne," the Orioles’ "I’m Just A Fool In Love," Sonny Til’s "My Prayer," Little Sylvia’s "How Long Must I Be Blue," and Moose Jackson’s "Cherokee Boogie." "Little Side Car" became the Larks’ second chart hit, climbing to #10. However, it too only lasted a mere week, and these were the only two chart hits the Larks would have!

But Apollo, smelling sales blood, wasted no time in issuing another record in September: the beautiful "I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow" (which proved Allen Bunn could sing as sweet a ballad as Gene Mumford), backed with David McNeil’s rocker "Ooh...It Feels So Good."

On October 18, the Larks went back into the studio and recorded four more tunes: "How Long Must I Wait For You" (led by David), "My Lost Love" (Gene sings "I’ve placed ads in the Lost and Found/Still nobody’s seen my lost love around), "Christmas To New Years" (Allen), and "All I Want For Christmas" (Gene). For some reason, the two Christmas songs, which were never released, never received master numbers either. However, Apollo seems to be one of those companies that assigned master numbers on some basis other than actual recording order, so they aren’t completely helpful anyway.

November 11 found the Larks in Cincinnati, about to kick off a Midwest tour, along with Percy Mayfield.

In December 1951, Apollo released "My Lost Love"/"How Long Must I Wait For You." This was followed by "Shadrack"/"Honey In The Rock" in January 1952 (songs that had been recorded by the "Southern Harmonaires," at their first Apollo session back in October 1950; "Shadrack" is led by Allen Bunn, and "Honey" is fronted by the long-departed Hadie Rowe). "My Lost Love" was reviewed the week of January 26, 1952, along with the Johnny Otis Orchestra’s "Oopy Doo," the Ray-O-Vacs’ "She’s A Real Lovin’ Baby," and the Jive Bombers’ "Brown Boy."

The last regular Larks session took place on February 18, 1952. That day, they waxed four ballads, all led by Gene Mumford. This has been rightfully placed in the running for the finest single session by an R&B group. The tunes recorded were: "Stolen Love," "Hold Me," "I Live True To You," and "In My Lonely Room." "Hold Me" had been written by Jack Little, Dave Oppenheim and Ira Schuster in 1933; that year it was a hit for both Eddy Duchin and Ted Fio Rito.

In February 1952, the first Allen Bunn record appeared on Apollo. One of the sides ("She’ll Be Sorry") has a master number that, if it can be trusted, places it as the first song recorded at the October 18 Larks session. The other side ("The Guy With The .45") could have been done at the February 18 Larks session, along with "Discouraged" and "I Got You Covered"; two more solos which were released in July. "The Guy With The .45" got excellent reviews the week of March 22, 1952. Other records reviewed that week were Roscoe Gordon’s "No More Doggin’," Wini Brown & Her Boyfriends’ "Be Anything - Be Mine," and Calvin Boze’s "Hey Lawdy, Miss Claudie."

Also in February, Apollo issued "Stolen Love" and "In My Lonely Room." As beautiful as these songs were, the public wasn’t buying. The record was reviewed the week of March 15, 1952, along with Joe Turner’s "Sweet Sixteen," Ruth Brown’s "5-10-15 Hours," the Clovers’ "One Mint Julep," the Dominoes’ "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano," Buddy Johnson’s "Root Man Blues" (with vocal by Geezil Minerve), Moose Jackson’s "Nosey Joe," and the Heartbreakers’ "You’re So Necessary To Me." For all the good it did, "Stolen Love" was a tip in New York the week of April 19.

Apollo’s next release, in April, was "Darlin’" and "Lucy Brown" (one of my personal favorites), the song that they’d sung on the Perry Como show a year before.

The Larks final Apollo session took place sometime in May 1952. This time they were used to back up gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Four masters were recorded: "In The Upper Room, Part 1," "In The Upper Room, Part 2," "He Said He Would," and "He’s My Light." Both parts of "In The Upper Room" were released in June. While all these masters would be issued eventually, the Larks received no label credit for them.

After this session, the disintegration began. Allen Bunn left to concentrate on his solo career and Raymond Barnes just left. Since the Larks had some contractual appearances to fulfill, Bunn and Barnes were both replaced by baritone Orville Brooks, of the Golden Gate Quartet. This only lasted a short time before David McNeil left to join the Dominoes, which effectively broke up the first larks group.

The final Larks record came out in July 1952: "Hold Me"/"I Live True To You." The Larks had recorded "Hold Me" in February 1952; the 5 Keys waxed the tune some two months later; both versions were released in July. The Larks record was reviewed the week of July 26, along with Jesse Belvin’s "Baby Don’t Go," the Red Caps’ "I Went To Your Wedding," the 4 Jacks’ "Last Of The Good Rockin’ Men," and the Freddy Mitchell Orchestra’s "Delicado."

Another Allen Bunn record appeared on Apollo in September: "Two Time Loser"/"My Flight." It was reviewed the week of October 11, 1952, along with Willie Mae Thornton’s "Mischievous Boogie," Little Esther’s "Mainliner," Paul Bascomb’s "Mumbles Blues," Ray Charles’ "I Can’t Do No More," and Annie Laurie’s "You Belong To Me."

This was almost the end of the line for the Larks. Around October, Apollo released "He Said He Would" (the flip was a Mahalia Jackson song without the Larks). Sometime in 1953, "He’s My Light" was issued. In June of 1953, the final Allen Bunn solo record on Apollo came out: "Baby I’m Gonna Throw You Out," backed with "Wine."

There was one more record to go: in March 1958, Apollo released "Honey In The Rock" and "I’m So Glad" by the "Southern Harmonaires," two of the songs recorded by the group back in October 1950.

The Larks, who had such a beautiful sound, got very little out of their singing career. With virtually no hits, appearances dried up and they had trouble finding work (a major problem when the main source of your income comes from appearances). Even when they got to perform, the money was never enough to support a full-time career. Their managers didn’t help much either; the first one was Lou Fromme, followed by Beverly Green.

This is what subsequently happened to the Larks: