In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Leake County Revelers became Mississippi’s most renowned string band. Based in Sebastopol, the quartet consisted of fiddler Will Gilmer, mandolinist R. O. Mosley, banjoist Jim Wolverton, and guitarist Dallas Jones, though not all came from Leake County despite the name given them by Columbia Records producer Frank Walker. They first came together in Sebastopol, where Mosley ran a hardware and record store, and played local schoolhouses before talent scout H. C. Speir recommended them to Columbia. At their first recording session in New Orleans in April 1927, they recorded “Wednesday Night Waltz,” which became their biggest hit and sold nearly a quarter million copies. Through 1929 and at a final session in Jackson in December 1930, they recorded forty-four sides ranging from traditional string band tunes to vocal pop, vaudeville, blues, and yodeling. Their popularity led to live performances across the Southeast, appearances with Huey Long during his 1928 gubernatorial campaign in Louisiana, and a regular Saturday evening radio show on WJDX in Jackson beginning in 1930. The group ended after R. O. Mosley’s death in 1931, though Dallas Jones continued performing for decades and descendants later carried on the musical tradition as the Leake County String Band.
