Local music promoter Lillian Clairborne won them a recording contract with the newly formed Dot Records, established by Randy Wood. Their first record, credited to Margie Day with the Griffin Brothers Orchestra, "Street Walkin' Daddy" / "Riffin' With Griffin", became a no.7 hit on the Billboard R&B chart in late 1950, with sales reportedly reaching over 15 thousand a week.Biography by Rovi at Allmusic.com. Retrieved 30 June 2013 The follow-up record, "Little Red Rooster", not directly related to the Willie Dixon song but drawing on the same folk traditions, reached no.5 on the R&B chart in early 1951. Wilson, Reeves and Shields were replaced by Noble "Thin Man" Watts (tenor sax), Wilbur Little (bass), and Belton Evans (drums). The Griffin Brothers toured widely in 1951 and 1952 with Amos Milburn, Paul Williams and others, and continued to record both with Margie Day, and with singer Tommy Brown. They had two R&B hits with Brown, "Tra-La-La" which reached no.7, and "Weepin' and Cryin'" which reached no.1 in January 1952.
