Kasper "Stranger" Malone

Who was Kasper "Stranger" Malone?

Kasper Delmar "Stranger" Malone was an American musician. Malone's career as a recording artist spanned 77 years and, according to his biographer George King, is recognized as the longest by the Guinness Book of World Records. His first recording, eight 78 rpm sides, was made by Columbia Records in 1926; his last one, with Elise Witt, by EMWorld Records in 2003. Malone was one of the first documented clarinet players in country music.

Malone was born on a farm near Paducah and christened as Kanoy. Later, when he obtained a birth certificate, he preferred to change his first name to Kasper. He started playing the cornet the age of three. At the age of fifteen he left home, and joined a band of traveling musicians playing in silent movie theaters in Georgia. He learned the trade of playing clarinet and in 1926 joined Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers. In the same year Clayton McMichen and Malone left Tanner and set up The Melody Men. On November 4, 1926 they made their recording debut, Let Me Call You Sweetheart. The band continued recording twice a year, first on a mobile rig sent from New York City, and since 1928 at Columbia's permanent studio in Atlanta, Georgia. According to Malone himself, the nickname Stranger was inspired by a yell from the crowd: "Who in the world is that little stranger playing the hell out of that saxophone?".