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The Starlite Wranglers
When Scotty moved to Memphis after his hitch in the Navy was up it didn't take long for him to start another band. This one, a Country and Western band, before the term was used, featured Bill Black on Bass, Tommy Seals on fiddle, Doug Poindexter on vocals and guitar, Millard Yow on steel guitar, Clyde Rush on guitar and Scotty on lead. They called themselves the Starlite Wranglers.
They played regularly at the Bon Air club and occasionally at the Kennedy Veteran's Hospital. He did not write any songs for Elvis or for Sam. When Scotty took the Starlight Wranglers to Sun, they played what they did on stage. Sam told them to bring back something original and he would listen. Scotty and his brother, along with Doug Poindexter, wrote "My Kind of Carrying On" and Sam recorded that. He did not do any of the covers that they had done earlier, although Scotty said they were better songs, got a better response from the band's live audience.
When Sam teamed Scotty and Bill with Elvis their days with the Wranglers were short lived. Initially they brought Elvis on some of their gigs at the Bon Air club to play their songs though when Elvis performed the others would have to leave the stage. This likely didn't sit too well with the band so it was agreed that they should part ways.
At least one more time, Scotty reconnected with Doug at Sun, on July 5, 2004. It would be the last time before Doug's death the following October, see ReUnion with a Wrangler. Added October, 2002 Las Vegas by
Cowboy Joe
It’s come up before, the suspicion that Scotty (and Bill), had two sets of Western Wear they initially wore with the Starlite Wranglers and then in the early days with Elvis. Scotty though, when asked, maintained, or recollected, that they only ever had one, and that they were gray with black yokes and cuffs. Nancy Shockley, Bill's daughter, though young at the time somewhat agreed with Scotty's recollection at least according to what she remembers hearing about from her mother.
The questions came up again as a result of the recent pages and updates to the site regarding the Starlite Wranglers. This time using a high-res copy of the first picture of them on the Hayride and comparing it to the promotional photo of the trio it clearly shows a slightly but distinctly different embroidery pattern on Scotty’s shirt, in addition to a different color/shade. Bobbie (Moore) Weil, Scotty's second wife, on the other hand remembers him only having one pair of matching pants but thinks he had two shirts. Though not 100% certain she thinks there might have been a blue one (or possibly green) and the other probably tan.
David Keeler, a press photographer who is also a fan and an avid collector of guitars and vintage clothing identified their western wear as the Cowboy Joe brand, made of gabardine cotton, specifically the Las Vegas style replete with elaborate multi-colored embroidery on the yokes and collars. He has several types, including a gray and black one like he believes Scotty had. He said he recently missed an auction for a green one.
Strangely enough, last year (2016), a tan shirt was up for auction at Julien’s that was claimed to have been owned by Elvis. According to the provenance Elvis was said to have got it when he started performing with Scotty and Bill and only wore it once when sitting in between sets with the Starlite Wranglers at the Bon Air Club in Memphis. He gave it soon after, to one Mary Joyce, a friend of his then girlfriend Dixie Locke, and the shirt was with the family until sold by her nephew in 2009. It had previously failed to sell at another auction in 2012.
Oddly though, we’ve seen no pictures of Doug Poindexter, the singer with the Wranglers, wearing one and have to wonder why Elvis might have been given one since there was no mention of him ever being considered an "actual member" of that band. Bobbie, though, was at the Bon Air club the night Elvis performed with Scotty and Bill between sets with the Wranglers. She seems to recall that Elvis only did that with the band at the Bon Air one time. She said on that night he did not wear a western shirt. She can't say whether or not Elvis might have sat in on another gig at a different location but commented that western shirts were not his style.
The Las Vegas style was available in varied colors, gray, green and tan circa 1953 at the very least that we know of. Cowboy Joe was one of many companies designing and producing a western wear style that was introduced in the ‘40s, possibly as early ‘30s, likely growing in popularity in no small part due its use by Western Swing and hillbilly bands, rodeo and movie cowboys (and cowgirls) long before the term country music was in use. Since the ‘50s and more recently it found a new popularity with the rockabilly crowd.
The Las Vegas style, as worn by Scotty, Bill and the Starlite Wranglers was just one of several styles the company offered and the brand itself lasted till at least the ‘60s, later made by Atlantic Westerner till the ‘80s. Susan Norton, owner of Showin’ Style, said she’s carried a few original Cowboy Joe shirts, but they are not as easy to find now. Most of what she currently has is the Atlantic Westerner version which as she says isn’t nearly classy as the original.
section added August 15, 2017 Two more examples courtesy of Stephen Cohen and Showin' Style
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