It's never too late for a comeback tour. Ask Cher.

Then again, forget Hollywood; go to Dormont and ask Thomas Hoyt "Slim" Bryant. At 98, Mr. Bryant, a country music legend, is making a comeback of sorts with the release of a new CD of his old favorites.

	Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Slim Bryant, Dormont icon and country western singer and leader of Slim Bryant and the Wildcats, has released a CD with 31 of his songs on it. Click photo for larger image.

Slim Bryant and His Wildcats, a quintet of singers and musicians, were a Pittsburgh institution noted for influencing the sound of country music by inserting jazz. From 1940 through the 1950s, on radio and early local television, Slim and his Wildcats were the sound of country music to most in this region.

"Ours had more of a beat, an up-tempo,'' Mr. Bryant said. "We did our own arrangements.''

Fans who miss that unique sound can recover it -- and new fans can discover it -- when Mr. Bryant introduces his new CD at 2 p.m. on May 19 at Borders Books and Music at Norman Center II, 1775 North Highland Road, Upper St. Clair. The center is located between the Galleria and South Hills Village on Route 19.

The CD contains 31 songs that were recorded more than a half-century ago. Mr. Bryant wrote music and or words for a number of them. Among the tunes are these titles: "Thunderstorm" "Penny Ante Polka" and "My Saddle, My Bronco and You.''

The still articulate and astute Mr. Bryant will meet and greet fans that day.

He wrote about 200 songs, including country western standards, as well as jingles for ad agencies.

"I wrote one for cattle spray for a cattlemen's group in just one day while I was on my way to Erie," he recalled.

Other jingles were written for Iron City and Duquesne beer companies.

Mr. Bryant still has a good baritone voice and sings those early lyrics with remarkable recall.

"In the band, we all sang," he said. "I still use my 1936 Gibson guitar, but only play a little now, because of arthritis.''

One of Mr. Bryant's most recorded songs is "Mother, Queen of My Heart." It was one of his first songs and it brought him attention in the 1930s. Jimmie Rodgers, acclaimed as country's first superstar, recorded it and Mr. Bryant accompanied him on guitar.

Mr. Bryant wrote and played cowboy, love and novelty songs. The most requested was one of the latter: "Eeny, Meeny, Dixie, Deeny," which he revised from a childhood ditty he sang while playing hide-and-seek. It, too, became a substantial hit.

He took lessons for 16 months, back in the early 1930s in his hometown of Atlanta.

"I learned how to read music and play solo, ''Mr. Bryant recalled.

Not long after that, "a record guy heard me play and we got a band together, called 'The Georgia Wildcats.' The leader wanted to go with a big band, but five of us stayed together and we became 'Slim Bryant and His Wildcats.' Every man was a star on his own. By myself, I would only have lasted one year.''

His late brother, Raymond, "Loppy," was one of the original Wildcats and later became a Dormont councilman. The other original Wildcats were Jerry Wallace, Al Azzaro and Ken Newton.

The group harmonized, sometimes crooned and could play styles from ballads to polkas to novelties. They came to Pittsburgh in August, 1940 and played on "The Farm Show'' on KDKA-Radio from then through 1959.

"We played, gave news and market reports for the farmers,'' he explained.

The group also kept busy, he said, playing venues from country clubs to state fairs, but despite all those years "never socialized after hours, this was strictly business,'' Mr. Bryant said.

Slim and his Wildcats recorded hundreds of songs for a variety of labels, more than 180 of them at NBC in New York.

"I still get royalties and I still get mail from everywhere.'' Mr. Bryant said.

" I've played with Joe Negri, Tex Ritter, Jimmie Rodgers, and the singing cowboy Gene Autry,'' he said.

Mr. Bryant called the legendary Mr. Autry a "generous, wonderful man. I got to know him real well. When he came to Pittsburgh we'd eat Downtown. He recorded my song, 'If You'll Let Me Be Your Little Sweetheart.'

Mr. Bryant's first television show was on WDTV and was broadcast from the Syria Mosque.

"The next day, Duquesne Brewery called for us to do a show, but we couldn't because the station only had a small room. Two years later, they had a studio and we had an hour show produced there. Rosemary Clooney, Burl Ives, and Snooky Lanson of "Your Hit Parade" were among the guests. There were about 30 people in the show, including dancers.'' he said.

In addition, popular Pittsburgh songstress Nancy Fingal sang with the group, specializing in Sinatra and pop tunes that could be fit into the format. She is now deceased.

When the music business slowed, Mr. Bryant taught guitar and along with his wife, Mary Jane, opened a card shop and a basement studio on Potomac Avenue where Bargain Books is now located.

Mrs. Bryant died of a neurological disease in 1997.

One of Mr. Bryant's students was Edward Cyphers, of Dormont, a disc jockey and a loyal fan who is helping promote the release of the new CD.

Although Mr. Bryant is in the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, Mr. Cyphers said he is working to "get Slim in the national Country Music Association Hall of Fame.

"A lot of us would like to see that,'' Mr. Cyphers said.

Mr. Bryant broke his hip three years ago, and he retired. He does limited driving; a friend drives him to Dormont Presbyterian Church most Sundays and he wrote words to the music of "Yes, Jesus Loves Me," for its 100th anniversary celebrated on May 6.

He said that his mother, Aurora, lived to be 104 and attributes the family's longevity to daily exercise. Mr. Bryant still does daily calisthenics.

Mr. Bryant's dad was an electrician who played the fiddle and mandolin. His mother was an amateur poet, sang and played guitar and piano. His son, Thomas Hoyt Bryant II, is employed at the Johnson County Community College, Kansas. He has two grown grandchildren.

For more, call Borders at 412-835-5583.