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Peck Kelley was born John Dickson Kelley in Houston, Texas on October 22, 1898. During the 1920s, he was a popular bandleader who led his own band, Peck’s Bad Boys. The group included players such as Jack Teagarden, Louis Prima, Terry Shand, Wingy Manone, Leon Roppolo and Pee Wee Russell, several would go on to have successful recording careers of their own. Despite the apparent success of this group, no recordings survive from this period.

Rarely played anywhere outside of Texas, however, early in his career he did perform in Missouri and Louisiana. Throughout his career Kelley repeatedly turned down offers by other musicians of the day to play outside of Texas like Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey and Paul Whiteman. Joining the Dick Shannon Quartet with Glen Boyd on Bass Fiddle, the only studio recordings from this musician to survive were made in Houston in 1957.

He enjoyed playing at the sessions and subsequently listening to the tapes but he refused to allow them to be released. They were eventually released in 1983 by Commodore Records as the Peck Kelley Jam Sessions, Volumes 1 & 2. Some private recordings of this same period have been released on the Arkadia record label.

Throughout his career he wished to remain anonymous, a private man who did not wish fame for himself. Pianist and bandleader Peck Kelley eventually became blind, developed Parkinson’s disease, and transitioned on December 26, 1980, at 82.

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