[1] He had traveled to New York where he became a construction worker on the Empire State Building and the George Washington Bridge.
[1] He then traveled with the World's Championship Rodeo organization, under the ownership of Colonel Johnson, renaming his band "Ray Whitley and The Six Bar Cowboys.
"[1] Whitley was skilled in the use of the bullwhip and could remove a cigarette from a man's lips with a single stroke, using either hand.
RKO also gave Whitley a starring series of his own: 18 two-reel musical short subjects, produced between 1937 and 1942.
Ray Whitley died on February 21, 1979,[1] while en route to a fishing trip to Mexico with his son-in-law, Hal Bracken.
[1] Ray Whitley's original Gibson SJ-200 is on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville Tennessee.
1027 (Rosewood back & sides, "bat wing" shaped bridge) Total of 170 – RK Ray Whitley Model No.