Editing Gene Autry (section)

=== Singing career ===
[[File:Vlcsnap-2011-01-24-17h29m05s104.png|thumb|Gene Autry with [[Smiley Burnette]], 1934]]
While working as a [[telegraphist|telegraph operator]] in [[Chelsea, Oklahoma]], Autry would sing and accompany himself on the guitar to pass the lonely hours, especially when he had the midnight shift. This later got him fired. One night, he was encouraged to sing professionally by a customer, humorist [[Will Rogers]], who had heard him singing.<ref name="delong">{{cite book|last=DeLong |first=Thomas A. |title=The Mighty Music Box: The Golden Age of Musical Radio |publisher=Amber Crest Books |location=Los Angeles |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-86533-000-9}}</ref><ref name="smith">{{cite news|last=Smith |first=Ardis |title=Autry, First Cowboy of Land, Makes $300,000 Annually |newspaper=Buffalo New York News |date=November 13, 1940 }}</ref><ref name="encyclopedia-ok">{{cite web |last=Dabney |first=Eric |title=Orvon Gene Autry (1907–1998) |publisher=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AU004.html |access-date=May 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103055642/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AU004.html |archive-date=November 3, 2012  }}</ref>

As soon as he could save money to travel, he went to New York. In the autumn of 1928, he auditioned for the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]], shortly before purchase by [[David Sarnoff]]'s [[RCA|Radio Corporation of America]] (RCA). According to [[Nathaniel Shilkret]],<ref>Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Niel Shell and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8108-5128-8}}.</ref> director of Light Music for Victor at the time, Autry asked to speak to Shilkret after finding that he had been turned down. Shilkret explained to Autry that he was turned down not because of his voice, but because Victor had just made contracts with two similar singers. Autry left with a letter of introduction from Shilkret and the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two. In 1928, Autry was singing on [[Tulsa, Oklahoma|Tulsa]] radio station KVOO (now [[KOTV (AM)|KOTV]]) as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy". The Victor archives<ref>Victor Recording Book, p.&nbsp;7247. (This is a page from Victor's daily log of recordings.)</ref> show an October 9, 1929, entry stating that the vocal duet of Jimmie Long and Gene Autry with two [[steel guitar|Hawaiian guitar]]s, directed by L. L. Watson, recorded "My Dreaming of You" (Matrix 56761) and "My Alabama Home" (Matrix 56762).

Autry signed a recording deal with [[Columbia Records]] in 1929. He worked in [[Chicago]] on the [[WLS (AM)|WLS-AM]] radio show ''[[National Barn Dance]]'' for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer-songwriter [[Smiley Burnette]]. In his early recording career, Autry covered various genres, including a labor song, "The Death of [[Mary Harris Jones|Mother Jones]]", in 1931.

Autry also recorded many "[[hillbilly]]"-style records in 1930 and 1931 in New York City, which were certainly different in style and content from his later recordings. These were much closer in style to the [[Salty Holmes|Prairie Ramblers]] or [[Dick Justice (singer)|Dick Justice]], and included the "Do Right, Daddy Blues" and "Black Bottom Blues", both similar to "[[Deep Elm Blues|Deep Elem Blues]]". These late [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]-era songs deal with [[moonshine|bootlegging]], [[Police corruption|corrupt police]], and women whose occupation was certainly vice. These recordings are generally not heard today, but are available on European import labels, such as [[JSP Records]]. His first hit was in 1932 with "[[That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine]]", a duet with fellow railroad man Jimmy Long that Autry and Long co-wrote.

As Autry's movie career flourished, so did his record sales. His unofficial theme song became the [[Raymond Otis Whitley|Ray Whitley]] composition "[[Back in the Saddle Again]]".<ref name=pc9>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19757/m1/ |title=Show 9 – Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis. [Part 1] }}</ref> Autry made 640 recordings, including more than 300 songs written or co-written by himself. His records sold more than 100 million copies and he has more than a dozen [[music recording certification|gold and platinum]] records, including the first record ever certified gold.

Today's listeners associate Gene Autry with Christmas songs, which are played perennially during each holiday season. These include "[[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town]]", his own composition "[[Here Comes Santa Claus]]", "[[Frosty the Snowman]]", "[[Up on the Housetop]]", and his biggest hit, "[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song)|Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]". He wrote "Here Comes Santa Claus" after being the Grand Marshal of the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade (now the [[Hollywood Christmas Parade]]). He heard all of the spectators watching the parade saying, "Here comes Santa Claus!" virtually handing him the title for his song. He recorded his version of the song in 1947 and it became an instant classic.

In the late 1950s he began recording other artists, as the original owner of [[Challenge Records (1950s)|Challenge Records]]. The label's biggest hit was "[[Tequila (The Champs song)|Tequila]]" by [[The Champs]] in 1958, which started the [[rock and roll]] [[instrumental]] craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He sold the label soon after, but the maroon (later green) label has the "GA" in a shield above the label name.