Melody Ranch was a country western dance hall located in the Four Corner’s area.
Operation Dates: 1947 – 1957
Owner/Operator: Lloyd “Grandpappy” Smith was an upright bass player and bandleader of the Western Valley Boys, the Melody Ranch house band.
Location: 2272 Roosevelt Blvd, Eugene, Oregon
Attracted Grand Ole Opry touring performers such as Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, and even Little Richard. Here’s a great story about a young Willie Nelson.
While Willie was working at KCNC in Fort Worth, he sent a demo tape to Grandpappy Smith, the man to see when it came to country and western music in Eugene, Oregon. Grandpappy owned the Melody ranch Dance Hall and was bandleader of the Western Valley Boys, the Melody Ranch house band, and hosted a show on KASH radio. He also had a small recording empire going on, with two record labels, Orbit Sound (for country acts) and Willamette Records, and a song publishing company, Myrtle Mountain Publishing…Grandpappy liked the demo well enough to book Willie at the Melody Ranch in May 1955. Grandpappy’s twelve-year-old son, Leon Smith, played lead guitar behind him on the dates. Grandpappy liked Willie, but not enough to offer a recording contract or more bookings. Source: Willie Nelson’s Epic Life, 2008
Music History
- Gene Autry (1955)
- Willie Nelson (1955)
- Johnny Cash
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Ernest Tubb
- Hank Snow
- Little Richard
- Gene Vincent
Building History
Originally an old barn
1947 – Lloyd “Grandpappy” Smith converted it into the Melody Ranch “honky tonk” / country dance hall
1957 – New Years Eve was the last event before closing their doors as a music venue.
1958-1960 – Used location as a recording studio (Orbit Sound and Willamette Records)
1959 – Reopened as a dance hall, Rendezvous
Later became Sherm’s grocery store?
Darla Kerr says
Lloyd Smith was our neighbor and he was nice enough to let me sing with band a couple times. Went to school with Robert, babysit Leon few times while they went to dance.
Good friends of my parents..always wondered if Leon went on to play, he was good.
Fun to remember old times.
Monica says
My grandmother Lorraine is in this picture! She sang with the band and is still alive and well at 89 years old!
Dave Wilson says
My parents had the Wilson’s sausage kitchen at the corner of the drive going to Melody Ranch. They sold the little ex army surplus store fixed up as a butcher shop to Sharon who later turned it into a grocery store. At the age of six through eight years old before we moved to Oak Ridge I remember going down the long driveway to the parking lot and I remember a little wooden ramp that people would walk up to to get into the Dancehall. After the weekend I would crawl underneath that little ramp or porch and find some coins that people would drop on the way to paying to get in. I would get really excited when I found a quarter or a 50 Cent peace wow I thought I was rich. It was always fun to peek in the door when people were dancing and listening to the live music I do not remember if my parents ever went there to dance but I’m sure they did and left a babysitter for myself and my sister . Such good childhood memories
Don Kuykendall says
I remember this place well, my mother, Opal ,her sister Dollie and her brother Junior would go dancing there. I remember a little cafe right outside to the right of the door where you went in that had big glazed donuts, yum. The night Little Richard was there, I was sitting on the edge of the stage, when the piano player picked me up and sat me on top of his piano while they played. What memories. Ahh the good old days !!!! And yes, I remember the ramp, and the sawdust they would put on the dance floor. We moved out from Texas in 1955, so this was ’55-’57.