Jack Harold (Butcher) Barlow (1924 - 2011)

Born 18 May 1924 in Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois, USA

Died 29 Jul 2011 at age 87 in Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee, USA

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Biography

Born, Jack Harold Butcher. Stage name Jack Barlow. Radio Disc Jockey, Country Music Singer and Song Writer, Actor; Jack Barlow was well known at radio stations WQUA in Moline, Illinois and WXCL in Peoria, Illinois. He also worked as a disc jockey at KWPC Muscatine, Iowa and WIRE in Minneapolis. Jack was a country music singer at different venues around the country. He frequented places such as the Harmony Lounge in Moline, Illinois and the Wharton Field House in Moline where he shared the stage with Ernest Tubbs and pinned a birthday corsage on to Patsy Cline. Ernest Tubbs' manager Gabe Tucker invited Jack to go to Nashville with them and continue the tour but he turned them down only to return to Nashville himself and play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time in 1965 where he sang "I Love Country Music". He performed on the Grand Ole Opry stage no less than ten times and performed with such greats as; Johnny Cash, George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, Dottie West, Mel Tillis, Porter Wagner, Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph and Grandpa Jones, just to name a few. He was a charter member of the Mississippi Valley Country and Western Music Association, did many shows at the Landmark and Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas as well as the Montreal Worlds Fair and many country music venues around the country spanning his almost sixty year singing career. He recorded novelty songs under the name Zoot Fenster which was a name thought up by D.J. Fontana one of Elvis Presleys drummers. He recorded twenty five 45 records and four albums. His voice was used as a guest appearance on many other projects. He started writing and recording jingles for commercials in the early seventies and his first big hit was for big red chewing gum which went nationwide. This was the first commercial for big red chewing gum and many more commercials for other companies followed through the years such as; Chrysler, Kraft, Uncle Ben's Rice, Bob Evans Sausage, Dodge Trucks, K-Mart, Kellogs, Dollar General Stores, Budweiser, Busch Beer and many more. His voice can be heard off camera in the original 1970's movie "The Longest Yard" starring Burt Reynolds in which Jack can be heard singing "Roadside Roses". He also had a part in the movie "Murder in Music City" starring Sonny Bono and Claude Akins. In this movie he played a night watchman and supplied the singing voice for Claude Akins who was playing the part of being a country music singer. He also had a small part in the movie "The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James" in which he played Uncle George Hite, the uncle of Frank and Jesse James. He was a very proud Navy veteran of World War II having served on the USS Cogswell destroyer in the Pacific Theater.

Sources

• *https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81984893/jack-barlow