Abbie Neal had the first live color TV Show with Abbie Neal and Her Ranch Girls. She called Lois for an audition and said she had heard Lois yodel on the Pinehollow Jamboree when their group was driving through the area a few years prior. One of the girls in her group, Mary June had worked with Lois on the Pine Hollow Jamboree. When Abbie found this out she asked Mary June if she had a number so Abbie could get in touch with Lois and the rest is history. Lois told her supervisor at work that the audition went well and Abbie wanted her to go to Canada for two weeks with the group and if Lois was comfortable with Abbie and Abbie was comfortable with Lois, then Abbie would hire her.
After two weeks, Abbie hired Lois. Lois went back to work and talked to her supervisor and he was so excited and gave Lois the option to return if it didn't work out. So Lois thanked her boss and worked another week and left for Pittsburgh to meet up with Abbie Neal and Her Ranch Girls.
Lois accepted the offer from Abbie and needed a place to stay the night before she was to meet up with Abbie in Pittsburgh. So Lois's mother who as good mothers did in those days, arranged Lois a place to stay overnight until Abbie picked her up. Lois's mother Mary Floyd is in the first slideshow photo on the right holding the black purse. Lois took the Greyhound bus to Pittsburgh and when she arrived at the place her mother had arranged for her to stay the night, she noticed young girls walking around and they were all pregnant. The lady who received Lois showed Lois to her room where she would be spending the night. The room had three beds and Lois thought it was very odd. Abbie had told Lois to call when she arrived and she would pick Lois up the next morning. When Lois called Abbie and told her the name of the place (which she doesn't remember anymore) Abbie said, "Dear, don't tell anyone who you are going to work for, I'll be right there to pick you up". The place was housing for wayward girls...Yikes! After Abbie picked Lois up, the rehearsals started and the reality set in.
Abbie Neal and Her Ranch Girls worked Pennsylvania and the surrounding states, also had a TV Show in Butler Pennsylvania for about 26 weeks that was sponsored by Acme Supermarkets. The Ranch Girls did all their store openings etc.
The group received an offer from a booking agent to go work out West. That meant Vegas and surrounding area circuit, i.e . The Showboat, The Golden Nugget in Vegas, The Mapes Hotel & Harrahs in Reno & Lake Tahoe Nevada and many other venues in Nevada and nearby areas. They worked several years in this particular circuit until Lois left the group due to throat problems in or around 1962.
Lois then met her first husband Bobby Gibson, singer, songwriter, music engineer and guitar player in Winnemucca, Nevada where her group Abbie Neal and Her Ranch Girls were working opposite shifts of The Gibson Trio. Then in 1962 Lois and Bobby got married, Lois joined the The Gibson Trio. Continue Reading More About Lois and the Bobby Gibson Trio