Sandy Coker, along with sister Alvadean, father Alvis (Al) Coker, Jr., and songwriting mother Geraldine Coker, was part of the Coker Family performing quartet. They appeared regularly on Tex Ritter’s Town Hall Party TV show in Bakersfield, California. The Coker Family was based in Bakersfield, where Sandy and his sister Alvadean were born. Father Al Coker had settled there in 1937 from Conway Arkansas.
Sandy wrote and played the fiddle on his instrumental recordings, “Meadowlark Boogie” b/w “Toss Over,” which Fabor Robison recorded for Abbott Records at Western Recorders on Sunset Boulevard in the fall of 1954. It came out in 1955 as Abbott 171 after Alvadean’s recording of her mother’s song, “We’re Gonna Bop” was released on Abbott as Abbott 176. “We’re Gonna Bop” was also released by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. The Cokers moved on from Abbott to United States based Decca records for a batch of releases in the mid 1950s. The Decca releases had two singles each from Alvadean, Al and Sandy Coker.
