A Saline County native became a musician and songwriter who made her mark in Tex Ritter’s band. Bonnie Dodd was born in 1914 and while in her teens formed a duo that performed on KTHS radio in Hot Springs.
She later performed in Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis’s band and co-wrote a song that became a top 5 country and western hit in 1944. She had a long stint in Tex Ritter’s band and while billed as the queen of the steel guitar also was known by Ritter’s nickname for her, “Little Blossom.”
She wrote “You Will Have to Pay,” a number one hit for Ritter in 1945, Dion recorded one of her songs in 1963, and a song she co-wrote was nominated as a bluegrass Song of the Year in 2001. Her 1930s steel National guitar is exhibited in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Poor health curtailed her musical career and she died in California in 1984. She is buried in Saline County’s Antioch Cemetery.
To learn more, visit encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
