J. L. Frank
Musician · 1900–1952 · Limestone County, Alabama
Best known for
Songwriter
J.L. Frank was one of the founding promoters and song-pluggers of the postwar country music industry — the man who managed Gene Autry, Pee Wee King, Eddy Arnold, and Roy Acuff through the 1930s and 40s and who set up the booking infrastructure that made the Grand Ole Opry a national act. He is credited as a writer on several Pee Wee King-era country songs, among them “My Main Trial Is Yet to Come.”
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- Born Joseph Lee Frank on April 15, 1900, in Limestone County, Alabama.
- Managed Gene Autry in Chicago in the early 1930s before Autry’s Hollywood years.
- Managed and promoted Pee Wee King (his son-in-law), Eddy Arnold, Roy Acuff, and the Golden West Cowboys.
- Built the road-show booking network that took the Grand Ole Opry beyond Nashville and made country acts a national touring industry.
- Credited as co-author on a number of Pee Wee King-era country songs, including “My Main Trial Is Yet to Come.”
- Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967.
- Died May 4, 1952, in Nashville.
