Elton Britt

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Elton Britt (July 27, 1912–June 23, 1972), born James Britt Baker, was a country music yodeler, singer, songwriter and author who sang and played guitar since his mid-teens.

Considered the finest yodeler in western music, Elton Britt was born in Marshall, Arkansas, (actually in Zack, just outside Marshall) and gained his first success as a yodeling sensation with the Beverly Hillbillies in Los Angeles before moving to New York City in the mid-1930's. He recorded over 600 sides and 60 albums for RCA and other labels in a more than thirty year span, and is best known for such hit songs (several of which he wrote or co-wrote) as Detour, Chime Bells, Maybe I'll Cry Over You, Pinto Pal, and the million-selling wartime hit There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere. A singer, bandleader, radio and television artist, songwriter and standard-setting yodeler, he starred in at least two films in the late 1940's and had hit records as late as The Jimmie Rodgers Blues in 1968. He died June 23, 1972.