Victoria Hallman

Victoria Hallman's show biz career centered upon Hee Haw, the country spin on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In which thrived in syndication after being removed from CBS in 1971. Hallman joined the cast deep into its syndicated run, becoming a Hee Haw Honey in 1980 and remaining one until 1990. Early in her time on the show, she cut an album with Hee Haw star Buck Owens serving as her producer. The album was lost until Omnivore released it as From Birmingham to Bakersfield in 2023. Born in Mobile, Alabama, Victoria Hallman spent most of her childhood in Centreville, a small town about an hour south of Birmingham. After entering a televised Shirley Temple lookalike contest as a child, Hallman wound up appearing on a show called Talent Showcase broadcast out of Birmingham. That gig led to her recording two songs, "Send My Daddy Home" and "Merry Christmas Time," when she was six in 1960; the single eventually appeared on Briar International in 1961. During the early '60s, she appeared regularly on local television, sometimes earning spots on The Merv Griffin Show and The Steve Allen Show. As she grew into her teens, she continued to perform professionally, landing such plum spots as singing at the Republican National Convention in 1968 and becoming a finalist in the Miss Alabama pageant. Hallman's big break arrived when she was booked as an opening act for Bob Hope concert at the University of Alabama. Hope became a fan of Hallman, introducing her to manager Bill Loeb once the singer relocated to Los Angeles in her early twenties. She cut an album called Now and Then as Vicki Hallman but was still struggling to find her footing. Loeb wound up introducing Hallman to Buck Owens, the country superstar who had been co-hosting Hee Haw since its inception in 1969. A decade into its run, Owens remained in the spotlight, but his career was in transition. Still reeling from the 1974 death of his partner Don Rich, Buck left his longtime label Capitol for Warner and was looking to refresh his sound when he met Hallman. Owens made her a Buckaroo in 1979, having her sing a four-song set at each of their concerts as well as take over the Emmylou Harris part when he performed their duet "Play Together Again Again." He brought her to Hee Haw in October of 1979 and by 1982 she became a regular cast member, playing Miss Honeydew and adopting the stage name of Jesse Rose McQueen. Around that time, Owens started work on a Victoria Hallman album, serving as a producer and enlisting the Buckaroos as her backing band. The finished product didn't sound much like the twangy country associated with both Bakersfield and Buck Owens: it was slick country-pop designed to get on country radio in the early '80s. Hallman's record never got the chance to compete in the marketplace -- it was upended in the turmoil of their personal lives, eventually falling away from view of both Buck and Hallman. After issuing the single "Next Time I Marry" on Evergreen Records in 1987, Hallman started to retreat from performing. Hallman left show biz after leaving Hee Haw in 1990. She and fellow Hee Haw alumnus Diana Goodman wrote a memoir called Hollywood Lights, Nashville Nights: Two Hee Haw Honeys Dish Life, Love, Elvis, Buck, and Good Times in the Kornfield. Not long afterward, she was contacted by a record collector who discovered an acetate of the only known existing copy of the Buck Owens-produced Victoria Hallman album. He sent her the acetate and Omnivore Records released the album as From Birmingham to Bakersfield in 2023.
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