ABSTRACT
Harold Westcott Daily was born in Yoakum, Texas. In 1932, he left the Southern Pacific Railroad to launch South Coast Amusements, distributing jukeboxes and pinball machines. During World War II, Daily moved into record jobbing, and in 1946, launched a retail store, Daily’s Record Ranch. He discovered and produced Webb Pierce and Hank Locklin for 4-Star Records (Locklin dubbed him “Pappy”), and, in June 1953, he and Jack Starnes started Starday Records. In January 1954, they signed George Jones, but in 1959, the Starday partnership (by then including Don Pierce) dissolved. Daily kept Jones’s management and started “D” Records. “D” was the first to issue the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace,” and the first to record George Strait. Daily also produced Jones for Mercury, United Artists, and Musicor until 1971.
