Vernon Dalhart was born Marion Try Slaughter on April 6, 1883 in north east Texas. Marion took his professional name from Vernon and Dalhart Texas, the towns between which he had punched cattle in the second half of the 1890's. His first commercially released recording was Edison Blue Amberol #3185 "Can't Yo' Heah Me Callin' in June 1917. Dalhart's first Victor recording was recorded in 1918. His first Victor side "The Pickaninny's Paradise" went on sale in February 1919. He recorded his biggest hit "Wreck of the Old '97" first for Edison in May of 1924 and again for Victor on July 13, 1924. Dalhart's Victor recording of "Wreck of the Old '97" and "The Prisoner's Song" sold six to eight million copies. His lifetime record sales is in excess of seventy - five million records. More than two thirds of the material was country. Dalhart recorded with the following groups or using the following pseudonyms: James Ahern, Jon Albin, Mack Allen, Wolfe Ballard, James Belmount, Harry Blake, Harry Britt, Billy Burton, Jeff Calhoun, Jess Calhoun, Jimmy Cannon, Jimmy Cantrell, Ed Clifford, Al Cramer, Al Craver, James Cummings, Frank Dalbert, Frank Dalhart, Cernon Dall, Charles Dalton, Vernon Dell, Hugh Donovan, Joseph Elliot, Frank Evans, Clifford Ford, Jeff Fuller, Jep Fuller, Albert Gordon, Leslie Gray, David Harris, Harry Harris, Francis Harold, Lou Hays, Fern Holmes, Howard Hull, Frank Hutchinson, Joe Kincaid, Fred King, Louis Lane, Hugh Latimer, Hugh Lattimore, Tobe Little, the Lone Star Ranger, Bob Massey, Guy Massey, B. McAfee, Bob McAfee, Carlos B. McAfee, Warren Mitchell, George Morbid, Dick Morse, Charles Nelson, Gwyrick O'Hara, Sam Peters, Joseph Smith, Josephus Smith, Cliff Stewart, Edward Stone, Howard Stone, Billy Turner, Sid Turner, Bill Vernon, Billy Vernon, Herbert Vernon, Val Veteran, Vel Veteran, Tom Watson, Bob White, Bobby White, Robert White, Walter Whitlock, George Woods, Mister X, Allen and Parker, the Archie Ruff Singers, the Arkansas Travelers, the Arkansas Trio, Ballard and Samuels, the Barbary Coast Four, the Birmingham Blue Bugles, the Broadway Quartet, Calhoun and Andrews, the California Ramblers, the Cramer Brothers, Dalhart's Big Cypress Boys, Dalhart's Texas Panhandlers, the Domino Quartet, Evans and Clark, Fred Ozark's Jug Blowers, the Harmony Four, the Jewel Trio, the Jones Brothers, the Kanawha Singers, Ladd's Black Aces, Mitchell and White, the National Music Lovers Quartet, the Old Southern Sacred Singers, the Oriole Trio, Peter and Jones, the Regal Rascals, Salt and Pepper, the Smoky Mountain Sacred Singers, the Virginians, the Windy City Duo, and the Windy City Jazzers. Dalhart recorded his last songs for Bluebird in 1938. He Died in Bridgeport Connecticut at 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday , September 14, 1948. The death certificate indicated the immediate cause of death as a coronary occlusion. HOME TID BITS