Trivia

The Encyclopedic Guide to 78 RPM Party Records states that Rudy Sooter became something of an elusive legend in country music.

Bob Nolan, Tim Spencer, and Leonard Slye spent a lot of time during the depression years preparing for the infrequent times they played and sang for dances as well as The Texas Outlaws, a live radio show. They made little money and were paid nothing for their radio shows, using that means to generate other money paying musical jobs. Rudy formed a group called The Californians. He worked with the three on their guitar- and bass-playing skills. Their name, The Pioneers, came later. Rudy's three friends all gave up musical careers for a time in order to take regular jobs with steady paychecks. Rudy talked them into returning to music by allowing them to live in his three-bedroom Hollywood home until work picked up and they could afford their own places. Shortly after the radio emcee arbitrarily changed the name of The Pioneers to the Sons of the Pioneers because they were too young to be pioneers. Although this upset them, the name stuck and became well known in movie and recording circles.

The success of the Sons of the Pioneers spawned a thousand and one cowboy groups, many of which included Rudy Sooter among the sidemen, such as the Radio Buckaroos. On his own, Sooter tried out a variety of approaches, including string bands and Western swing efforts. The Cattle label has released several anthologies of Sooter's recordings from the '40s.

Rudy Sooter lived in Los Angeles, Califonia, USA with his wife Dora Lillian, six year old daughter Diana Jean., and twenty-five year old brother Louis Earl Sooter, an auto mechanic. The data recorded indicated Rudy was a musician working forty weeks for an income of $2,137 in 1939. The family paid $25 a month rent. Rudy was listed as a naturalized citizen who had completed eighth grade.