Dottie Rambo: The Gifted Songwriter of the Twentieth Century (Part 3)

Reba Rambo-McGuire at age 3



Dottie Rambo on Dove Nightline (Part 2)



Part 3



In picking up where I left off from last week I need to mention the night that Dottie was converted.  Her father was so angry because of her conversion that one night he torn down a whole acre of corn that they were raising for her mother to can.  The night she was saved she came home and woke her mother and father and told them what had happened to her.  Her mother was excited and was shouting.  Her father was so furious that he tore down the acre of corn they were raising out in the field.  He was furious because she had gotten saved and it had brought conviction upon him.  He wasn't saved at the time.  He had no desire or use for Christianity.  It was there he had presented Dottie an ultimatum: either sing gospel or leave home or sing country and stay home.  She chose to leave home.  It was difficult for Dottie to leave home but with the gift God had endowed her with and her desire to sing praises unto the Lord, she couldn't fulfill those desires staying home.   So her mother packed up her belongings, her guitar and her Bible.  Dottie's mother Elizabeth also took her best Sunday dress and had a woman to tailor that dress to fit Dottie.  Then when it was time for Dottie to leave her mother took her to the bus station so she could board the Greyhound bus to begin her singing journey.  Dottie's mother told her "I'm going to worry God to death over you."  The Lord would hear her mother's prayers over the years and God protected Dottie throughout the next few years.  

Dottie started singing with a group from the church that she had been attending.  They knew she could sing due to her singing country music prior to her conversion.  So she started singing and traveling throughout certain parts of the country.  I know she traveled to Evansville and Indianapolis to sing in churches, to name a few.  I don't know all the different places that she had traveled, but she did travel quite often.  She would participate in revival meetings throughout the areas she traveled.  She would write songs and sing in the revival meetings.  She would play her guitar.  Many young and old would come listen to Dottie sing.  They enjoyed her singing.  She would also testify and speak in between the songs she had sung.  It was unusual for a woman back then to play an electric guitar, especially in churches.  When she first started traveling she would play the homemade guitar her brother made for her during World War II aboard a ship.  Over the years Dottie would purchase new guitars.  On Dove Nightline where Dottie was interviewed by Joanne Thompson, she mentioned about a couple from church that had asked Dottie what plans she had for one particular Saturday.  She said she had nothing planned.  So she was taken to Evansville to look for a guitar to purchase.  Dottie had already been saving up money for a guitar anyway.   The man that took her to the shop in Evansville told the salesman, "Show this young lady one of your finest guitars."  She didn't have the money with her at that time.  The salesperson showed her the beautiful red, electric Gibson guitar.  She had plugged the guitar in the amplifier and she played it for the salesman.  She thoroughly enjoyed playing the guitar.  The man who took Dottie to the guitar shop told her a few weeks later that he was going to purchase the guitar for Dottie because she needed it.  He said she could pay him whenever she saved up enough money for the guitar.  Dottie assured him she would pay him back, which she did.  Somebody had given her an amplifier.  However, she needed a microphone.  The church took up an offering to purchase Dottie a microphone.  Dottie also needed a stand.  So Dottie called her mother.  Dottie's father had worked for the federal government taking care of the German prisoners-of-war.  Dottie felt those German prisoners-of-war should be able to construct a stand for her microphone.  So Dottie drew a picture and described it to her mother.  The German prisoners-of-war made her a stand so she could place her microphone upon it.  Dottie said she was a traveling gypsy with her electric guitar playing and singing in churches.

Dottie Rambo was enjoying writing songs and singing in churches.  Being a young girl between the ages of 12-16, she was making good money for a girl her age.  She said those Greyhound busses made good money off of her.  With the money that Dottie had earned singing in churches, she spent that money on new guitars, nice clothes, and her mother.  Dottie said even after leaving home, she would periodically come to visit her mother.  She was so homesick to see her mother.  She would come to visit and talk with her.  Her mother was mistreated by her father for a number of years.  When Dottie visited her mother, she never spoke much to her father during that time.  Dottie mentioned that one of the items she purchased her mother was a brand new electric washing machine.  She was so thrilled to do it.  I believe Dottie also bought her mother a new dress as well as payback for the dress her mother had given to her when she left home at the age of 12.  Dottie told the story about one time she had made a surprise visit to her parent's house.  She stated the washing machine had scratches on it and she took the household paint to paint the washer.  She said her mother had come in from fishing and said, "I Smell paint."  Dottie showed her what she did and her mother laughed and was tickled. 

In the midst of Dottie's traveling, there was one negative aspect about her singing journey.  When Dottie was a singing revivalist, she would stay in preachers' home.  Their wives would fix a room for her to stay during the time she would sing at the church.  Back then there weren't any motels for her to stay in.  At night when it was time to go to bed, Dottie would have hide in closets or go into the bathroom and lock the doors.  She would have to hide from preachers because they would try to rape her or make some kind of sexual advances toward her.  Their precious wives would know nothing about it.  When those incidents would take place, Dottie would notify the congregation it was time for her to leave.  She had no choice.  I doubt Dottie had told the preachers' wives about the sexual advances the preachers made toward Dottie.  She would leave without getting in trouble.  Sometimes she would stay for two weeks and then she would have to leave and move onto another church.  One important point I need to mention is Dottie said that whenever she had her guitar with her she would have her Bible placed by the neck of her guitar.  She mentioned that the Lord revealed to her years later that the Bible being placed on the guitar was God's sign "To stay away from me."  That was used as a means to protect her from men or anyone that would try to do her harm. 

I'm going to postpone discussing Dottie's meeting in Dawson Springs, Kentucky where she met her future husband Buck Rambo for the first time for next Sunday, August 14, 2011.   That's where I'll begin part 4 of next Sunday's post.