Connie and Babe and the Backwoods Boys

CONNIE AND BABE AND THE BACKWOODS BOYS

  • From middle Tennessee.
  • Connie Gately (guitar) and Babe Lofton (guitar). Band members included Thayer Washer (vocals), Red Roberts (fiddle), Fred Gately (bass) and Joe Drumright (banjo).
  • Recorded in the 1950’s for Starday Records.
  • They also recorded as “Connie and Joe and the Backwoods Boys.”
  • Drumright and Gately both worked for a short time with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.
  • Babe Lofton’s real name was Ernest Ward Lofton. He was given the nickname “Babe” when he was a baby.
  • The group’s sound is continuing with the music of Jody Drumright (son of Joe) and Fred Lofton (son of Babe) and their group “The Sons of the Backwoods.”
  • Babe Lofton died in 1993.
  • Connie Gately died in 2012.