The duo of Lonzo & Oscar ranked as the Grand Ole Opry's premier musical comedy team for a quarter century, performing both original humorous songs and parodies of current hits. Actually there were three "Lonzos" during the team's four-plus decades of existence, with John Sullivan being the most significant; the original was Lloyd George (better known as Ken Marvin) and the third was David Hooten. Toward their last decade as an act, Lonzo & Oscar abandoned much of their zany comedy, becoming a nearly straight Country Bluegrass duet, placing a serious song on the Billboard charts and working numerous Bluegrass festivals.

The Sullivans grew up in a family of 10, not far from the cave country of south central Kentucky. Rollin and Johnny began playing square dances at a fairly early age and also played in a local group called the Kentucky Ramblers. About 1939, Rollin went to WTJS Jackson, Tennessee, and began playing in a band led by Cousin Wilbur Webrooks (later a comedian with Bill Monroe on the Opry) where he received the nickname "Oscar." Later Oscar went to Louisville for a while, but in 1942 journeyed to Nashville's WSM and the Opry, finding a job picking mandolin with Paul Howard's Arkansas Cotton Pickers. Two years later, he became a sideman for the show's new superstar, Eddy Arnold, as did his brother John and an Alabama boy named Lloyd L. George (1924-1991). Oscar and Lloyd became a comedy team and Eddy finally hit upon the name "Lonzo" for Lloyd. Thus was born the team of Lonzo & Oscar.

The Tennessee Plowboy also helped the duo land a contract with his own label, RCA Victor. Their initial release, You Blacked My Blue Eyes Once Too Often and then I Am My Own Grandpa (1948 Top 5) became mild hits. Soon the duo went on their own, subtitling themselves the Winston County Pea Pickers (from a locale in the Alabama hill country) and became Opry regulars in 1947. George left the act in 1950 to embark on a solo career as "Ken Marvin."

Source: From the DEFINITIVE COUNTRY: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers by Barry McCloud