All four of the Valiants songs were composed by Jerry Gillespie. The band was probably based in Lebanon, Tennesee, east of Nashville. They definitely sound like a real group, not a studio creation.

Members included Gary Gillespie, his cousin Jerry Gillespie, Jim Ladas and Donnie Scarlett.

Their first single was “I’m Getting Tired of You” / “All Night Long” MusiCenter 3102 from 1965 (RCA custom pressing SK4M-3501), produced by label owner Murray Nash.

Both songs are listed with By-Nash of Nashville BMI, though I don’t see copyright listings for either. According to an article on Mellow’s Log Cabin site, Murray Nash had Kenny Norton cover both songs, but these do not seem to have been released. Kenny Norton was a young singer from Texas who had a single on MusiCenter 3104, “To Know You” / “Oonie, Oonie, Yah, Yah, Yah”.

In May of 1966, the Valiants had their second release, “Don’t Make the Same Mistake” / “I’ll Return to You” on Dot 45-16884 (MB-20860/1).

Although “Don’t Make the Same Mistake” has song writing credits by Jerry Gillespie with Cedarwood Publishing (BMI) while “I’ll Return to You” is credited to Wayne Gillespie with Ivory Pub. Co. (Sesac), it seems likely this is the same person, Jerry Wayne Gillespie, from Decatur, Alabama who penned a good number of big country hits in the ’70s and ’80s. I suppose the Valiants were his first group, but do not have any information on that yet.

The sticker from the German division of Peer Music is interesting, however this did not see release in Europe, and even the US single on Dot is very rare now.

Produced by John E. Denny and Noel Ball as “A Jed Record Production”; they also produced the Mod Rockers “Lover’s Lane” (Kenneth Ball) / “Stop And Smell The Flowers” (David Ball) released on Dot Records 45-16907 only a month or two after the Valiants single.

John E. Denny produced the Uncalled For’s classic “Do Like Me” (by Larry Welding and Tollie Lee) for Laurie Records, as well as many country recordings.