The Wilburn Brothers were a popular
country music duet from the 1950's
to the 1970's.The duo
consisted of brothers Doyle Wilburn (July 7, 1930 - October 16
1982) and Teddy Wilburn (November 30, 1931 - 2003). They were born
in Hardy, Arkansas. They were child performers in an act called
The Wilburn Family that were brought to the
Grand Ole Opry
by
Roy Acuff
in the 1940's. Due to the child labor laws the Wilburns were
forced to leave the Grand Ole Opry after only 6 months.
They continued to travel and were
regulars on the similar Louisiana Hayride program from 1948-51.
After the family act disbanded, and the brothers served stints in
the US Army during the Korean War, they continued on in country
music as The Wilburn Brothers and had their first hit record in
1954 titled "Sparkling Brown Eyes".
Their other hits include "Go Away With
Me" (1956), "Which One is to Blame" (1959), "Trouble's Back in
Town" (1962), "It's Another World" (1965), and "Hurt Her Once for
Me" (1967). They were Opry members from 1953 until the time of
Doyle's death in 1982 and Teddy continued on at the Opry as a solo
artist until his own death in 2003.
The Wilburn Brothers had a long
running syndicated television show that ran from 1964-1974 and
produced 354 half hour episodes. Reruns of their show can still be
seen on
RFD-TV
In addition to being successful artists, the Wilburns formed the
Wil-helm Talent Agency (with Don Helms) and the Surefire Music
Publishing Company. They were instrumental in launching the
careers of many country music legends, most notably
Loretta Lynn
whom they signed to their music publishing company at the
beginning of her career. Lynn was the "girl singer" of the
Wilburns touring radio show in the 1960's and she made weekly
appearances on their television show until 1971.