Bob Mooney

Bobby Mooney (and his Automobile Babies) backed his brother Tommy Mooney on two 78 rpm issued by the Floto label in 1952/53. ("That's My Baby/Bingo Boogie" and "A Thousand Times Ten Thousand"/Rose Covered Garden"). The unusual name for the backing group was obviously derived from Bob Mooney's 'Automobile Baby' which was released on John Bava's Davis, West Virginia based Cozy label (#317). The Mooneys were then, as it seems, residents of Kenova, West Virginia. Next Bob Mooney cut the single for Kentucky Records and afterwards participated with Estel Lee in the operation of the Excellent and Arvis recording labels. In opening the Lexington studio in his own hometown, in 1960, Mooney declared, "I'm going to cut real country music records, whether they sell or not." For years, he sold REM-produced records out of the back of his car. He recorded numerous bluegrass bands from the Southwestern Ohio and Kentucky area.