Donn Reynolds was the self-styled "King of the Yodelers." Donn started yodeling at the age of 10 after he heard a recording by Harry Torrani, a British yodeler popular during the 1920s and '30s. By the age of 14 he'd turned professional, and in 1940 he was serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he aided in deep sea rescue operations and was transferred to the "Joe Boys," a professional touring group similar to the USO, after an officer overheard him yodeling on deck one day. I'll let the album's liner notes speak for his post-war activities:

"Donn Reynolds, a Canadian and proud of it, has entertained armed forces camps in Canada, U.S., Britain, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Country Music Association in Nashville dubbed Donn "Country Music Ambassador" because of the number of countries in which he has entertained. His title "World Champion" and "National Champion" yodeller has been unchallenged since the 1956 National Championship in Washington D.C. Among the American radio and T.V. programs Donn has appeared on are, Big D Jamboree out of Dallas, Texas, California Hoedown from Los Angeles, W.W.V.A. Jamboree, Wheeling, West Virginia, Louisianna Hayride, Shreveport, La., and the Chicago National Barndance.

Donn met and married Cindy in England in 1960. She was a member of the popular "Skylarks" trio. Their honeymoon was a six-month tour of Europe, where they entertained at clubs and armed forces bases all over the continent. He brought Cindy home to Canada and settled for a time in Winnipeg where they starred on CBC's Red River Jamboree and CTV's Cross Canada Barn Dance. Since coming to Toronto, Donn and Cindy have been in great demand as night club performers all over Ontario. He has made a number of guest appearances on Carl Smith's Country Music Hall over the CTV network. Present plans include another tour of England."

It sounds as though Donn was quite the traveler. But one, confronted with the primitively-cropped album cover, has to wonder if he'd actually visited the Blue Canadian Rockies.

As a showcase for Donn's yodeling prowess, "Texas Yodel" can't be beat, especially towards the end where he sustains a single note for a full 30 seconds. This actually might not have been that big a deal for Donn, who (according to his website) "set the world record for the longest yodel by yodeling non-stop for 7 hours and 29 minutes." Not only that, but "In 1984 he established a world record for the fastest yodel by achieving five tones (three falsetto) in 1.9 seconds...achievements that earned him fame in both the Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not!"

Texas Yodel