Robert ‘Sunny’ Spencer, 75; Versatile Musician Added Humor to the Sons of the Pioneers

Robert “Sunny” Spencer, a 22-year member of the Sons of the Pioneers, the legendary western music group launched by Roy Rogers in the 1930s, has died. He was 75.

Spencer, who lived near Branson, Mo., died Feb. 5 of respiratory failure in a hospital in Tucson, where the group was performing, his family said.

A singer and self-taught musician who played 22 instruments, Spencer used seven of them -- guitar, saxophone, banjo, trumpet, fiddle, clarinet and jug -- on his trademark song “Mamma Don’t Allow No Music Playin’ Round Here.”

“He was such a consummate part of the group,” Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr., son of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, told The Times on Friday. “There wasn’t an instrument he couldn’t play; he was just an amazing musician.”

Like former Sons of the Pioneer member Pat Brady, Rogers said, “Sunny was the comedy side of the Pioneers, and there is going to be a huge void for them for a while.”

Rogers, who has his own group in Branson but frequently sang with the Sons of the Pioneers, added: “I don’t know anybody who didn’t like Sunny. My mom, Dale, just really loved him; he always kept her laughing.”

Roy Rogers was still known as Leonard Slye when he, Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer (no relation to “Sunny” Spencer) formed a western specialty act called the Pioneer Trio in 1933 in Los Angeles.

A year later, after adding another member and being told by a KFWB radio announcer that they were too young to be “pioneers,” they became the Sons of the Pioneers.

Rogers left the group, which gained national recognition with hits such as “Cool Water” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” when he signed with Republic Studios in 1937.

Over the years, the Sons of the Pioneers have had 26 members, including Ken Curtis, and a couple of alternates, including Wesley Tuttle and Doyle O’Dell.

With Spencer’s death, there are seven in the group.

“He was such a talent,” said Dale Warren, who has been with the Sons of the Pioneers for 53 years.

“He was just great to be around. If you’d feel a little low, he’d pick you right back up with something crazy he might say. He was our sparkplug,” Warren said.

Gary LeMaster, who has been with the group 18 years and was Spencer’s son-in-law, agreed.

“Sunny had that innate ability, if a bad situation came on, he’d look at it and accept it and start telling jokes again. He was always up. That’s how he got his name Sunny.”

And on stage, LeMaster said, “he could get more smiles and laughter with saying hello than the rest of us could working at it.”

Born in Bowen, Ky., Spencer had a long and varied musical career that included working with Al Hirt and Pete Fountain at the 500 Club in New Orleans, playing briefly with the Spike Jones band, appearing regularly on “The Midwestern Hayride” on WLS radio in Chicago in the early 1950s, and serving as musical director for Gene Austin and Rusty Draper.

He also led the Sunny Spencer Orchestra, and the Sunny Spencer Trio performed for many years at the Hacienda and at the Frontier in Las Vegas.

Spencer is survived by his wife, Linda; daughters Valerie LeMaster, Paula Ristau and Sherry Gilmore; brothers William “Ted” Spencer and Warren “Leo” Spencer; stepdaughter Theresa Coutts; stepsons Ken Coutts and Stacy Sandkulla; eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in the Happy Trails Theater at the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Branson.