Country Music Is Alive & Well & Living In My Heart

I began this oral history on Country by talking with my Aunt Mary (Herr). Her late husband, Bill Herr, played under the name Slim Dolan and fronted The Rock Hill Mountaineers. Rock Hill, where Mary still lives, is a tiny corner of the world along the Conestoga River in Conestoga, which is in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Rock Hill Mountaineers did not leave much behind but they were very successful on a regional level, having a regular Saturday Morning radio show and having regular gigs at the handful of country music parks in the area, including the legendary Sunset Park. Besides one professional photo of Bill taken with a hillbilly comedian, snapshots from the time, and Mary's stories, only two newspapers ads could be found. They made no records, but it is safe to say they probably owed a substantial debt to Hank Williams. They were able to see Bill's idol in person at Sunset Park before Williams' untimely death on New Years Day 1953. Robert Kreid