tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75207430858344617382024-03-14T01:38:14.692-05:00Wired For SoundUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-58008474099740438202022-04-23T20:25:00.002-05:002022-04-23T20:29:56.909-05:00Rusty McDonald and the Cocoas on Chesterfield 364<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsdiOA4UB9ge7AnKpJSxLSjmOOpSyVLBs7RCtLfg-cNdqeTP_OUWt3lfGJiDi-7sQjznGKfaSFx-BomyfRCtj02nIHkrTEZHSAeRHdSxSJyjPZYKbeU_Es9oSwPUEiLvw3srsXXXJ083Dy18LFWanMB3zO4DGshvgE510WVpTsCa9Mum6inhGlUyUjtQ/s2146/Cocoas_RustyMcDonald_Flip.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2099" data-original-width="2146" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsdiOA4UB9ge7AnKpJSxLSjmOOpSyVLBs7RCtLfg-cNdqeTP_OUWt3lfGJiDi-7sQjznGKfaSFx-BomyfRCtj02nIHkrTEZHSAeRHdSxSJyjPZYKbeU_Es9oSwPUEiLvw3srsXXXJ083Dy18LFWanMB3zO4DGshvgE510WVpTsCa9Mum6inhGlUyUjtQ/s320/Cocoas_RustyMcDonald_Flip.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Cocoas - Flip Your Daddy / Ooooo! Ooooo! (Chesterfield 45-364)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For grizzled old excavators of America's vinyl underground, it sometimes feels as if everything has by now been discovered, documented, filed away, enumerated, and locked up. There are no surprises left, we grumble to ourselves, no lost treasure to be mined, no "great unknowns" still lurking in the shadows anymore. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Thus, it comes as a shock to discover that Rusty McDonald had a second release on Chesterfield. His first release, the great "Dirty Pool" (which we explored <a href="https://wired-for-sound.blogspot.com/2009/12/rusty-mcdonald-on-chesterfield-354.html" target="_blank">in this previous post</a>), is rare and obscure enough, but at least it was issued under his real name. I've never heard or found any indication that he had another release from the same late 1954 session with Maxwell Davis in Los Angeles, but indeed he did. What kept it buried from the view of Rusty's fans was the label's decision to release the single credited to a non-existent group, "The Cocoas" -- probably in late 1955, while McDonald was hosting a country music TV show in Albuquerque, New Mexico. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADAgl_C9wKB4H9JVxLiTzVwzB8fR6AqlM7kF_Hq4h2MTcC-VlnCakKXiBJxwAwIgAGtTnv7EroVTlIzSLhsXoN24mkyBCEmnSo7xa4zVBavC2Uxeiy8XbXzi8CCpuabSQeByWgUjyLwcfeR6Xozy4xd3uYn39zwSVwBYOUsLVrq9aGYSpvZYWyZ4-yg/s900/RustyMcDonald1960s.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADAgl_C9wKB4H9JVxLiTzVwzB8fR6AqlM7kF_Hq4h2MTcC-VlnCakKXiBJxwAwIgAGtTnv7EroVTlIzSLhsXoN24mkyBCEmnSo7xa4zVBavC2Uxeiy8XbXzi8CCpuabSQeByWgUjyLwcfeR6Xozy4xd3uYn39zwSVwBYOUsLVrq9aGYSpvZYWyZ4-yg/s320/RustyMcDonald1960s.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Myrl "Rusty" McDonald (1921-1979)</span></b></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Cocoas record has been known to serious collectors, it just has never been associated with Rusty McDonald, a name that means nothing to rock and roll enthusiasts. Why the fake band name? We can only speculate. Chesterfield may have thought that a group name would increase sales potential. Rusty may not have wanted his country fans to know that he had made a rock record. But if that's the case, it's hard to explain his first release. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The lyrics to "Flip Your Daddy" and "Ooooo! Ooooo!" are silly and trivial enough, and I'm sure if Rusty had ever been interviewed, he would have dismissed this record with an embarrassed laugh. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grab a-your lid</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Put it on tight</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">We're gonna rock</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">With pressure tonight</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"Faded Love" this is not. Rusty altered his voice in imitation of Big Joe Turner, but not enough to fool those intimately familiar with his style. The record is saved by a couple of intensely rocking tenor sax solos from Davis. McDonald may not have thought much of the songs, but he surely enjoyed working with such great musicians. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1255820944&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="WiredForSound">WiredForSound</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas/the-cocoas-rusty-mcdonald-flip-your-daddy-chesterfield-364-a" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Cocoas (Rusty McDonald) - Flip Your Daddy (Chesterfield 364-A)">The Cocoas (Rusty McDonald) - Flip Your Daddy (Chesterfield 364-A)</a></div>
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1255821949&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="WiredForSound">WiredForSound</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas/the-cocoas-rusty-mcdonald-ooooo-ooooo-chesterfield-364-b" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="The Cocoas (Rusty McDonald) - Ooooo! Ooooo! (Chesterfield 364-B)">The Cocoas (Rusty McDonald) - Ooooo! Ooooo! (Chesterfield 364-B)</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-60627619202660550982022-03-11T19:24:00.004-06:002022-03-11T19:24:59.165-06:00Frankie Miller unissued Starday demo: "The Wagon Yard"<p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Frankie Miller unissued Starday demo: "The Wagon Yard"</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Disc three of Bear Family's 2008 compilation of Frankie Miller's post-Columbia recordings (for Starday, United Artists, Cowtown Hoedown, and Stop), entitled <i>Blackland Farmer: The Complete Starday Sessions, And More</i> contains some unexpected surprises: sparse demos that no one knew had been languishing in Gusto Music's vault for 40 years. These unknown gems are worth the price of the set alone. Some were Miller's own songs, some were songs pitched to Miller by friends, and some were things that his producer Tommy Hill received in the mail unsolicited, thought might have some potential, and wanted to hear. "The Wagon Yard," which wonderfully evokes the by-gone era in Old America before cars, was written by Frankie's friend Bob Graves, the Fort Worth-area guitarist who also wrote "Living Doll" and "The Power of Love" -- two strong songs (but also unfortunately unissued at the time) that can be heard on Frankie's first Bear Family CD, <i>Sugar Coated Baby</i>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's a shame that Starday ultimately decided not to put "The Wagon Yard" on record, either by Miller or anyone else. Listen and see if you don't agree. </span></p><p><br /></p>
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1228294321&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="WiredForSound">WiredForSound</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas/frankie-miller-the-wagon-yard-starday-unissued" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Frankie Miller - The Wagon Yard (Starday unissued)">Frankie Miller - The Wagon Yard (Starday unissued)</a></div>
<p><i>Below: Chuck Jennings and Frankie Miller on the Cowtown Jamboree in Fort Worth in 1965. </i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh88L_3u-beYE1AwJutLlme9QNiSKtuKYTezBkMvBo40n6UwfH5ibnJb9ozx9Ys8yx-CBkaUYd0KWVkVGQIWe5XaNRG3sm2b7wqncLI7xGUodXw_xG6w4wdqFvIhkOT-RpsMas8cZQzckq5qDKuw534O_Wg21onB8mIIFDOia52duN1RgATtCkTonsrZw=s808" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="640" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh88L_3u-beYE1AwJutLlme9QNiSKtuKYTezBkMvBo40n6UwfH5ibnJb9ozx9Ys8yx-CBkaUYd0KWVkVGQIWe5XaNRG3sm2b7wqncLI7xGUodXw_xG6w4wdqFvIhkOT-RpsMas8cZQzckq5qDKuw534O_Wg21onB8mIIFDOia52duN1RgATtCkTonsrZw=w323-h409" width="323" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-51151292245435779902021-06-06T13:39:00.002-05:002021-06-06T13:39:55.830-05:00Revisiting Billy Briggs on Time 103<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OrgLW-0jrc8/YL0ObdQlDqI/AAAAAAAACXc/hYnlcJqAhy8YmesA2tQCKKgMDFAK_OuVACLcBGAsYHQ/s937/billy%2Bbriggs%2Btime%2BD.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="937" height="542" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OrgLW-0jrc8/YL0ObdQlDqI/AAAAAAAACXc/hYnlcJqAhy8YmesA2tQCKKgMDFAK_OuVACLcBGAsYHQ/w606-h542/billy%2Bbriggs%2Btime%2BD.png" width="606" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Billy Briggs and his X.I.T. Boys - X.I.T. Song (vocal: Briggs) / Autograph Your Photograph (vocal: Jess Williams) (Time 103)</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It would an exercise in futility to determine why some records survived in quantity, and others did not. The life cycle of a record was generally shorter than that of a dragon-fly, going from birth at the pressing plant to commercial death within a month or two. Of course, records usually did not immediately <i>die</i> -- they sat on shelves, in the warehouse of a distributor, waiting for a hopeful resurrection, when the song or artist eventually had a hit. For most, this day never came, and their purgatory status ended abruptly when the distributor sold his business. The boxes of unwanted old records were carted off to their grave, the city dump. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is a mystery why Billy Briggs' other Time singles survived in quantity but Time 103 did not. Perhaps when his "Chew Tobacco Rag" hit in 1951, the older, unsold singles were resurrected from the warehouse, and therefore survive in larger numbers, or possibly were re-pressed to meet the new demand. For whatever reason, Time 103 was not among those either resurrected or repressed. Today, it is among the rarest of Texas country singles, alongside other "black swans" such as Homer Clemons on Swing, the Bar X Cowboys on Eddie's, Link Davis on Gold Star, and Al Urban on APU. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">For more information about Briggs, see our <a href="https://wired-for-sound.blogspot.com/2009/08/billy-briggs-and-his-x.html">post from 2009.</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aUD8nb4RG5Q/YL0OSqC7oBI/AAAAAAAACXY/wSj3GkOLMxUZetU_4ko50E3QmftJsWOKACLcBGAsYHQ/s907/billy%2Bbriggs%2Btime%2BA.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="907" height="539" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aUD8nb4RG5Q/YL0OSqC7oBI/AAAAAAAACXY/wSj3GkOLMxUZetU_4ko50E3QmftJsWOKACLcBGAsYHQ/w580-h539/billy%2Bbriggs%2Btime%2BA.png" width="580" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<br /><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="WiredForSound">WiredForSound</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas/briggs" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Briggs">Briggs</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-31934054728868532382021-04-02T21:28:00.002-05:002021-04-02T21:32:49.744-05:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 11)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YbgONrFsIU/Xb9Pc_LoRUI/AAAAAAAACEo/UiW3kZaF-joY25S9VEMERYQ1qydUQDA0gCPcBGAYYCw/s650/hendon%2Bheader.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="650" height="398" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YbgONrFsIU/Xb9Pc_LoRUI/AAAAAAAACEo/UiW3kZaF-joY25S9VEMERYQ1qydUQDA0gCPcBGAYYCw/w638-h398/hendon%2Bheader.png" width="638" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i></p><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">Part 11: "On Tour"</h2><div><br /></div><div>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">The main attraction of being a member of the Western Jamboree Cowboys was having the crowd come to you, rather than the other way around. While other musicians had to devote countless hours driving from town to town, setting up and tearing down equipment, sleeping in cars or buses (or, more typically, not sleeping at all), the Cowboys simply had to show up at 105 1/2 Main every day. Musicians coveted such "sit-down jobs," as they were known, and R.D. Hendon could have easily enticed the finest musicians in the state to play for him had his overbearing personality not made the job insufferable.</span></p></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The group played six nights a week, every week, at 105 1/2 for at least five-and-a-half years. This would total 1,793 gigs from January 1, 1951 (and the club probably opened before this) through August, 1956. Subtracting vacation days and holidays, plus Bill Taylor's memory that in 1956 they would sometimes only be open on weekends, the actual total of shows at 105 1/2 was perhaps around 1,500-1,600. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">We would also have to subtract some travel days, because the Cowboys <i>did</i> occasionally play elsewhere. We have already mentioned their 1951 appearance at the <i>Louisiana Hayride</i>. They also played the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival in Meridian, Mississippi, every year from 1954 to 1956, and Hank Williams' Memorial Day in Montgomery on Sept. 20-21, 1954. These were most likely purely promotional appearances to generate publicity for the club. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="text-align: left;">When asked if they played outside of Houston much, Hamp Stephens replied, "Very little. We tried it. Nobody knew us." Joe Brewer had a somewhat different memory, stating that, at a certain point, R.D.</span></span><span> "started booking in other bands to take our place, and then he would tape our radio show. One place I remember real well was the Officer’s Club in Amarillo. We’d go out like that occasionally. We’d have a guest band at the club. Then, the next day, coming back, we could hear our show on KLEE."</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks to the ongoing digitization of newspapers, added to the band's memories, 20 appearances by the Cowboys away from their home on Main Street can now be documented. There were undoubtedly more.</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1951</b></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May 15- Waco, 31 Club</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Late) Shreveport, La., Louisiana Hayride</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Houston, Policemen's Ball</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0T8Ww2QQy7A/YGeN50BeKAI/AAAAAAAACVw/2GmE4l-DqVkN8t0BiTFdUX_vIXUSPK1BgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/hendon%2Brockdale%2Breporter%2Bjan17%252C%2B52.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="400" height="286" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0T8Ww2QQy7A/YGeN50BeKAI/AAAAAAAACVw/2GmE4l-DqVkN8t0BiTFdUX_vIXUSPK1BgCLcBGAsYHQ/w374-h286/hendon%2Brockdale%2Breporter%2Bjan17%252C%2B52.png" width="374" /></a></div><br /><span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Rockdale Reporter, Jan. 17, 1952.</span></b></div></div><div style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></div></span></span></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">1952</span></b></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">January 19 - Giddings, Airline Park</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">January 28 - Beaumont, March of Dimes Benefit, City Auditorium (w/ Floyd Tillman, Dickie McBride, and many others) </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>November - </span></span><span>Cedar Bayou, </span><span>Cedar Bayou High School</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Houston, Policemen's Ball</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">(circa) Amarillo, Officer's Club</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bM2mBOrS3hA/YGe5ZrmJ_TI/AAAAAAAACV4/a7kn2-GIYI0DhTImru7xRz_aOX-KUys1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1082/hendon%2Bat%2Bcooks.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1082" height="421" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bM2mBOrS3hA/YGe5ZrmJ_TI/AAAAAAAACV4/a7kn2-GIYI0DhTImru7xRz_aOX-KUys1ACLcBGAsYHQ/w532-h421/hendon%2Bat%2Bcooks.png" width="532" /></a></div><br /><span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Cook's Hoedown Club, Houston, c. 1953. L to R: Harold Sharp, Gig Sparks, R.D. Hendon, Hamp Stephens, Tiny Smith, Chester Sky-Eagle. An appearance at their local rival club suggests this was a benefit of some kind. </span></b></div></div><div style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></div></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1953</b></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">January 28 - Baytown, March of Dimes Benefit, Robert E. Lee High School (w/Smokey Stover, Bozo St. Clair, and others)</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">June 8 - Baytown, Waco tornado relief benefit (w/Smokey Stover, Hank Locklin, and others)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">(circa) Houston, Cook's Hoedown Club (benefit?)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RltJqlDF_fg/YGfFmAHudiI/AAAAAAAACWA/mxEI-XDVgfQtnPCSXXatu5KniDrXYk5DgCLcBGAsYHQ/s573/csr%2B54.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="441" height="439" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RltJqlDF_fg/YGfFmAHudiI/AAAAAAAACWA/mxEI-XDVgfQtnPCSXXatu5KniDrXYk5DgCLcBGAsYHQ/w338-h439/csr%2B54.png" width="338" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival, Country Song Round-Up, 1954. </span></b></div></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1954</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>(May 25) </span></span><span>Meridian, MS, </span><span>Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>September 20-21 - </span></span><span>Montgomery, AL, </span><span>Hank Williams Memorial Day</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>October 2 - </span></span><span>Silsbee, </span><span>Industrial Round-Up, Santa Fe Park, 3:00-5:00 pm (with Hank Locklin and the Chelette Sisters)</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TOp8tp8dhz0/YGdcSGSn-qI/AAAAAAAACVg/7ahOrQCLzjcxN75if6miLrvICU8cqJ-vgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/RD%2BHendon%2B1955%2B0408%2BAustin%2BAmerican.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1151" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TOp8tp8dhz0/YGdcSGSn-qI/AAAAAAAACVg/7ahOrQCLzjcxN75if6miLrvICU8cqJ-vgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RD%2BHendon%2B1955%2B0408%2BAustin%2BAmerican.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Austin American-Statesman, April 8, 1955.</b></div></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1955</b></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">February - Rockdale, Supper Club</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>April 8 - Austin, </span></span><span>Dessau Hall</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>May 25-26 - </span></span><span>Meridian, MS, </span><span>Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival </span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4PNvnmJCIo/YGddEGmYRCI/AAAAAAAACVo/ijQjTbVKPNoBXW_XxvVjdEnF92NiqiLSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s813/baytown%2Bsun%252C%2Bmay%2B3%252C56.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="306" height="597" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4PNvnmJCIo/YGddEGmYRCI/AAAAAAAACVo/ijQjTbVKPNoBXW_XxvVjdEnF92NiqiLSwCLcBGAsYHQ/w224-h597/baytown%2Bsun%252C%2Bmay%2B3%252C56.png" width="224" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Baytown Sun, May 3, 1956.</b></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1956</b></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Early) Houston Fat Stock Show</span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">May 18 - Baytown, National Guard Armory (Optimist Club benefit)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>(May 25-26) </span></span><span>Meridian, MS, </span><span>Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival, National Guard Armory</span></span></div><div><br /></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-61487155699086971462020-12-29T12:45:00.010-06:002020-12-29T14:20:56.366-06:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 10)<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/s650/hendon%2Bheader.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="650" height="381" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/w610-h381/hendon%2Bheader.png" width="610" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i></p><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">Part 10: "The Glamour is in Your Heart: When Sig Byrd Met R.D. Hendon"</h2><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">On May 3, 1952, <i>Houston Press</i> columnist Sigman "Sig" Byrd published an article about his recent visit to the Western Jamboree Club. It was rare for Houston newspapermen to take notice of local musicians, especially of the country variety; and it was even more rare for them to write about what went on inside night clubs and dance halls. This was not considered within the purview of a journalist, but Sig Byrd was not a typical newspaperman. His column <i>The Stroller</i> strove to capture some of the street life of Houston and the surrounding environs, its characters and their foibles. His eyewitness report of a typical night at 105 1/2 Main is the only testimony we have of an outsider visiting the hall, and is reproduced in full below, thanks to its recent discovery and digitization by <a href="https://thedigitalsigbyrdproject.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/a-moon-cant-last-forever-the-sun-will-rise-forget-the-night-ill-never-twas-paradise/#more-5992" target="_blank">The Digital Sig Byrd Project.</a></span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><h1 class="site-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); clear: both; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", sans-serif; font-size: 1.75rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"></h1><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Byrd's column provides us with some small details that would otherwise have been lost: there was a cover charge (50 cents, the value equivalent of $5.00 today); at the top of the stairs, R.D. Hendon himself stood behind a windowed booth, such as one would find in a movie theater, to collect the cover; the "dim" overhead lighting was red and green; 18-to-20 year-olds were allowed in, but only to dance, not drink;<b> four </b>policemen were present; and patrons were carefully "culled" (carded) at the door and at the bar to ensure they were legally old enough (21 or older) to drink. This detail is perhaps the most surprising. Night clubs and dance halls in Texas reportedly flaunted such legalities before the 1970s and regularly served beer to older teen-agers. It may suggest that 105 1/2 was popular with young people, and that the 18-to-20 year-olds who came to dance also tried to sneak drinks; perhaps the club had gotten in trouble for this, necessitating a stricter "culling" regimen by 1952. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WTcJurdtWMY/X-tyu4o9bHI/AAAAAAAACT4/GNlAWQqCi0Iy-WJq5sc_YH04JxWdX2EwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s526/SigByrd_HouChronicle.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="351" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WTcJurdtWMY/X-tyu4o9bHI/AAAAAAAACT4/GNlAWQqCi0Iy-WJq5sc_YH04JxWdX2EwwCLcBGAsYHQ/w428-h640/SigByrd_HouChronicle.png" width="428" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Sig Byrd (Houston Chronicle Archive).</span></b></div></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Byrd assumes that the <i>Press</i>'s readers have never heard of the Western Jamboree Club. They are, by contrast, assumed to be so familiar with the Empire Room and the Emerald Room that Byrd doesn't even need to cite the hotels that these swank clubs inhabit (the Rice and the Shamrock, respectively). The inference is that respectable, middle-class Houstonians patronize night clubs where pop orchestras play and people dress up in fine clothes, not western dance halls so decrepit that they don't even have air-conditioning, and where "perfume is rare." Deflecting the risk of unwisely offending Hendon, Byrd cheekily writes that 105 1/2 Main is "just as glamorous as the more expensive places, but the glamour is in your heart." </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">The column must have elicited some hearty guffaws from regular patrons when Byrd wrote, with apparent seriousness, that "you never see a drunk at the Western Jamboree. There's never trouble of any kind ... maybe you'd have more fun where you can pick a fight with the waiter or trip up a busboy and get your name in a column." It's hard to believe that Byrd had never heard of drunk or disobedient patrons getting thrown down the stairs of what Eddie Noack called "the roughest place in town"; but then, Byrd had never been there before, and naively assumed that the well-ordered atmosphere he witnessed that night was the normal state of affairs. The presence of <i>four</i> policemen (one city cop, plus three military policemen) should have alerted him that there was something unusual about the place. There certainly was nothing like that at the Empire Room. </span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">We need not take too seriously the column's central frame of a young couple who met at the hall, got married, returned the same night, and were now celebrating their second anniversary there. Columnists like Byrd routinely invented or exaggerated situations like this to add human interest to their stories. If remotely true, however, it would provide the additional helpful detail that the Western Jamboree Club had opened by May, 1950. </span></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">THE STROLLER </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; text-align: center;">By Sigman Byrd</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><i>The Houston Press, Saturday, May 3, 1952</i></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">"A Moon Can’t Last Forever; the Sun Will Rise; Forget The Night I’ll Never; 'Twas Paradise" </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">(transcribed by Robert Kimberly, with corrections)</span></p><p class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Nine p.m. A warm spring night at the foot of Main street. Northbound traffic jockeying for the inside lane on the Viaduct; off the big bridge fighting for the green light at Franklin. The fetid smell of the bayou, that makes Houston smell like no other city in the world, floats on the balmy air like a curse shouted from a gutter.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is the heart of Houston Town, Allen’s Landing, where the greatest city in Dixie was born.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Produce Row. The dark, grimfaced bank buildings. The glittering neon of a restaurant. The redpainted iron front of the Heitmann hardware store. And on the skyline the high arch of the ugly bridge and the rectangular sierra of the M. & M. Building -- a building erected in the most unlikely spot on the whole urban prairie. Oh, yes, and one other thing. The lighted stairway at 105 1/2 Main, and the sign: R. D. HENDON’S WESTERN JAMBOREE – DANCING NIGHTLY.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Let’s Dance </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A taxicab pulls up before 105 1/2. This is rare. A young man in a green sports shirt and a young woman in a red print dress get out. He won’t let her climb the high curb but picks her up and puts her on her feet on the sidewalk. Together, they climb the ancient, creaking, pale-blue stairway, under the twin gas meters.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At the head of the stair there is a man’s face at a window. The young man takes a half-dollar from the pocket of his shirt and lays it on the shelf. The face, which belongs to R. D. Hendon, looks at the couple curiously, then nods. They go in.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Western music from a band in cowboy getups. Loud, heavy. rhythmic music, like the hoofbeats of a trotting pony. Dim lights, red and green, on the ceiling. Rows of tables with red-checked tablecloths. Twenty couples on the dance floor, swaying, turning, dipping, stomping. A uniformed city policeman and three Air Police M. P.’s (military policemen) looking on, alert, disinterested.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R3j5X64WSG4/X-t3kriWBVI/AAAAAAAACUE/Xm6aw96MGA4Vy_vNT5Zn7y9DpG6NV8OnwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1321/WJCc1953.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1321" height="432" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R3j5X64WSG4/X-t3kriWBVI/AAAAAAAACUE/Xm6aw96MGA4Vy_vNT5Zn7y9DpG6NV8OnwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h432/WJCc1953.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>"Loud, heavy, rhythmic music from a band in cowboy getups." From left: Hamp Stephens, Gig Sparks, Harold Sharp, and (seated) Chet Sky-Eagle at 105 1/2 Main, circa 1953. (Hamp Stephens Collection)</b></span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The couple take a table near a post decorated with cattle brands. A fire extinguisher hangs on the post. They sit under the fire extinguisher and smile at each other.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Culled</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> Behind his ticket window, R D.. Hendon tries to think why the couple seemed so familiar. There’s something special about them, but he can’t recall what it is. … They are getting up. Now they’re dancing. Very close, cheek to cheek.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Three young males appear at the window. And each lays down a quarter. “How old are you?” asks R. D.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“I’m 19,” says one. “They’re 18.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“Let’s see your registration cards," says R.D. When they can’t produce cards, he shakes his head. The kids go off down the creaking stair.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The city policeman sees the dancing couple who got out of the taxi. They seem familiar, but he can’t place them. He never forgets a face, though. He goes over to the ticket window to ask R. D. about it.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The big exhaust fans turn briskly, like airplane props, pulling the Houston smell, the bayou smell, into the dance hall. But mingled with the diluted stink of the bayou is a perfume. Perfume is rare at the Western Jamboree. The girl in the red print dress is wearing it.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Glitter </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">All right, so you’ve been dancing at the Empire Room, and the Emerald Room. But you don’t know the Western Jamboree. Well, the Jamboree is kind of different. It’s just as glamorous as the more expensive places, but the glamour is in your heart.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The sparkle here is not in the prisms of a crystal chandelier, but in the eyes of the girl you’re dancing with. There are certain rules at the Jamboree. You must be 18 to dance and 21 to drink beer or order a setup. Military personnel must show I. D. cards You get culled at the door, at the tables and at the bar. You can’t step up to the bar and order three beers for yourself and companions, either. You have to bring your companions with you to the bar.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You never see a drunk at the Western Jamboree. There’s never any trouble of any kind. Just good American music and dancing and polite drinking. Plus whatever romance you brought on your arm and in your heart. I don’t know. Maybe you’d have more fun where you can pick a fight with the waiter or trip up a busboy and get your name in a column.</span></p><p class="has-text-align-center" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; text-align: center;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Intermission </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Anyway, we’ve got this young couple out there dancing.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“You happy, honey?” he says in her ear.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“Un-huh,” she says in his ear.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When the music ends, they clap their hands appreciatively, then go back to their table where they order two pale drys from a demure waitress in slacks. The waitress looks at the girl closely, decides she’s barely old enough, then notices the wedding ring. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Over at the ticket window, the policeman says, “It all come back to me now. Those are the kids that went out and got married between dances two years ago.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“Doggoned if I don’t believe you’re right,” says R. D. “I know how to find out. I’ll get the band to play ‘This Moon Won’t Last Forever.'”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“It all comes back to me,” the policeman says. “They danced up to me, and showed me the license, and asked me where they could get married quick. I sent them to our preacher, and they were back in less than an hour, dancing again.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Pretty soon the band starts playing “This Moon Won’t Last,” and sure enough, the boy in the green sports shirt kisses the girl in the red print dress, and they get up and dance, very close, very intimate, until the music ends.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When they come back to their table, R. D. and the policeman are waiting for them. “Congratulations, folks,” says R. D., “On your anniversary."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“Me, too,” says the policeman, touching his cap.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Well, sir,” says the young man, “that’s right. This is our second anniversary.” He shakes hands vigorously with R. D. and the policeman.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span id="more-5992" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a;"></span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a;"></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The girl smiles prettily. “Well, gee!” she says.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">--</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(26, 26, 26); color: #1a1a1a; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thanks to <b>The Digital Sig Byrd Project</b> for discovering this article and making it available on the Internet. </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-66293701543179257282020-12-05T17:06:00.013-06:002020-12-05T17:45:06.456-06:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 9)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/s650/hendon%2Bheader.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="650" height="350" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/w558-h350/hendon%2Bheader.png" width="558" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i></p><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">Part 9: "Nervous Breakdown"</h2><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Western Jamboree Cowboys that ushered in the new year on December 31, 1951, looked and sounded quite different from the band patrons had known twelve months earlier.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">The most significant new addition was vocalist-lead guitarist Harold Sharp. Born in </span><span style="font-family: Times;">Crockett, Texas, on February 26, 1924, Sharp's family (like Hendon's) had migrated to Houston before WWII. Unlike many of his peers, Harold did not grow up in a musical family, and only began learning guitar when he was about 20 years old. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">"A preacher from the church I’d go to brought me a cheap little guitar, and I taught myself how to play it," Harold said in a 2004 interview. "I picked it up as a hobby. When Ernest Tubb come out, I got to liking him, and I started playing lead like Jimmy (Short). And I’ve been playing lead ever since. I never could play rhythm."</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">Sharp began playing professionally in the mid-1940s in Houston and Galveston, initially only as a lead guitarist. Singers he worked with included Texas Bill Strength, Bennie Hess (with whom he recorded on Mercury in 1948), and Bob Jones. A young Sonny Burns would hang around them, and Harold taught him the basics of guitar. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">Bennie Hess and Harold traveled to Shreveport and appeared on the <i>Louisiana Hayride</i> around the time of their Mercury record. When few gigs were on offer in the area, Hess returned to Houston. Harold stayed for awhile and picked up jobs where he could. One of the singers he worked with there was newcomer Hank Williams. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I made a few rounds with him," Harold said. "I got along fine with him, as long as we was on the road. I left him because I walked in on him while he was in a restroom one time shooting up with a needle. A couple of days later, I was headed down here (to Houston-Galveston). I didn’t know Hank had a back problem. He never mentioned it." </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>In Galveston, Sharp worked with singer Bob Jones at a dance hall called the Racetrack. "</span><span>Just me and him by ourselves. We played there for years. After we got off at midnight at the Racetrack, we went next door to the Rodeo Club, and we played there until four the next morning." According to Harold, the atmosphere at the Racetrack was similar to that of 105 1/2 Main. Such clubs were known as "bloody buckets" by musicians because of the frequency of brutal fistfights that would break out among the clientele. "</span><span>It was pretty rough, all right. There were some battles in there pretty near every night."</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span>Charlie Harris was still playing lead guitar when R.D. hired Harold. "A</span></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span> couple of days later, he fired Charlie," Harold remembered. "</span></span><span>Charlie was a pretty heavy drinker. He had a half-pint in his boot all the time." This anecdote perhaps help explain why Charlie had been fired so many times in the past. Drinking on the bandstand was usually not allowed by managers. Harold became the <i>de facto</i> leader of the band, a position he would hold until 1956. He was, of course, never acknowledged as such publicly, something that would create resentment toward R.D. at the time, and bitterness in later years. </span></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NitVrWbzrjw/X8vuWsfz4FI/AAAAAAAACTA/MrghFtaVdnkqEd2lrUO251bySpRycUbagCLcBGAsYHQ/s786/sharp%2Bat%2Bmike.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="626" height="563" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NitVrWbzrjw/X8vuWsfz4FI/AAAAAAAACTA/MrghFtaVdnkqEd2lrUO251bySpRycUbagCLcBGAsYHQ/w449-h563/sharp%2Bat%2Bmike.png" width="449" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Harold Sharp singing at 105 1/2 Main. (Photo courtesy Harold Sharp Collection)</b></div><p></p>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span>Harold's recollection was that Johnny Cooper was still involved in the band somehow when he joined, but would soon depart, and Don Brewer was still playing drums. Eddie Noack had come on board in 1951, and steel guitarist Joe Brewer returned by October of that year. Tiny Smith remained the bassist, and Cecil "Gig" Sharp played rhythm guitar and sang along with Cooper and Noack. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Eddie (Noack) was a doggone good musician," Harold said, the only time I recall someone complimenting Noack's musicianship. "He wrote some good stuff. He was the only one in the band that could put up with R.D."</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">R.D. could be abrasive and overly demanding, but also charming in a "country" kind of way. He called people he didn't like "fumpballs," a word with no known etymology. Joe Brewer: "If you made a suggestion and it irritated him, he’d say, 'Well, there you are thinking again, you little ol’ fumpball.'" </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The group needed a pianist and fiddler, not another guitarist, but Hendon hired another string-bender anyway. Hamp Stephens (1922-2001) had been playing in area bands for many years, and he remembered going to 105 1/2 Main to see bands years before Hendon acquired the place. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">"During the war, a group of safety wardens got together, rented the place, and started hiring bands," he said in 1994. "Jerry Irby played there, both Elmer and Ben Christian’s band played there, Dickie McBride, Floyd Tillman." </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LBNXn3WmaQk/X8v-OiRKf0I/AAAAAAAACTM/ebOsa3xKCRUVd2hoEceMibeuQXdsioUzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s711/hamp.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="571" height="619" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LBNXn3WmaQk/X8v-OiRKf0I/AAAAAAAACTM/ebOsa3xKCRUVd2hoEceMibeuQXdsioUzwCLcBGAsYHQ/w496-h619/hamp.png" width="496" /></a></div><br /><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Hamp Stephens, 1951. (Photo courtesy Hamp Stephens Collection)</b></div><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Cowboys played at 105 1/2 Main every night except Monday, when Hendon would hire other local groups to fill in. One such group was Bill Freeman's Texas Plainsmen. When two of their members were drafted by the army in late 1951, the band broke up. That put their lead guitarist Stephens out of work. </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Just killing time, I went down to 105 1/2 Main, just to see who was playing there," Hamp recalled. "When I walked in the door, R. D. motioned toward me. He took me in his office and said, 'Your band busted up. What are you going to do?' </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I said, 'I don’t have any plans.' </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"He said, 'Have you got your instrument with you?' </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">'Yeah.' </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"He said, 'Go get it and get on the bandstand. I want to hear what you sound like with this band.' I did, and he hired me." </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Like Sharp, Stephens would prove much more reliable than Charlie Harris, remaining in the band until late 1954. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">"R.D. was a very unique individual, to say the very least," laughed Hamp. "He never got on the bandstand (and sang) -- that came later. Harold Sharp and I played together there more than any other two. We played lead and Sharp did most of the singing. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">"Noack (also) did most of the singing. He was a Bohemian. He used to call himself 'The Chucklin’ Czechoslovakian Kid.'"</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0hPtEaLA6mA/X8wBBA15nWI/AAAAAAAACTY/_dF-HdQInogNjrLj0g6ktu7V3mXOglOWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s598/gig%2Bsparks%2Bat%2Bmike.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="598" height="483" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0hPtEaLA6mA/X8wBBA15nWI/AAAAAAAACTY/_dF-HdQInogNjrLj0g6ktu7V3mXOglOWQCLcBGAsYHQ/w516-h483/gig%2Bsparks%2Bat%2Bmike.png" width="516" /></a></div><br /><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"></span><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b>On the bandstand, late 1951 or early 1952. From left: Gig Sparks, Tiny Smith, Eddie Noack, and Harold Sharp. The shirts were satin red and gold. (Photo courtesy Joe Brewer Collection)</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harold's recollection was similar: "Hamp come up there one night and sat in. Me and him were playing twin guitars on some stuff. That struck R.D. just right. So he hired Hamp. So when Hamp and I were there, we played mostly twin guitars on everything."</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The group finally acquired a fiddle player in late 1951 when Woody Carter was hired. But he didn't last long. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Woody had an alcohol problem," Harold remembered. "I think R.D. fired him. He’d get up there and play, and he’d either fall asleep, or miss a couple of notes. You could tell he was drinking."</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">At this point, memories become quite confused. A guitarist named Johnny Greer <i>also</i> joined the group during this period. The fact that Harold Sharp and Hamp Stephens had no recollection of him suggests this occurred before they joined the band. Joe Brewer had a vivid remembrance of Greer playing with the group while Charlie Harris was still with them. Sharp and Stephens also didn't remember Harris returning to the group after they joined. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Greer definitely plays lead guitar on "Nervous Breakdown" (4-Star X-41, released c. January, 1952), as R.D. calls him out during his solo. Perhaps this was recorded several months before it was released. It cannot be certain that Greer plays on any other Hendon sides.*</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Who was the mysterious Johnny Greer?</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"He came to where we were playing at 105 one night," Joe Brewer said. "He said he picked a little guitar. He was so country, we didn’t know whether to believe him or not. For one thing, Charlie Harris immediately thought he was a cornball guitar player. We always had somebody coming up there wanting to play (i.e., sit in with the group). But this guy was different. He was from South Carolina. R.D. didn’t allow people to set in, but I talked him into letting him (Greer) get up there. Greer talked so corny, he’d make Andy Griffith look sick. R.D. said, 'I think I’ll let that little old fumpball get up there and play with y’all.' Charlie didn’t care. Charlie said, 'There ain’t no way in the world that that guy can blow me out of a guitar.' Charlie was a fabulous guitar player. But he got up there, and I’m telling you, he mortally played. He just baffled everybody. The crowd, even. Man, that guy smoked that guitar and old Charlie, he had egg on his face, man. Bad.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"R.D. hired him right there, that night. Put him right up there with Charlie. See, Charlie got hired and fired so many times, it was an everyday occurrence. For no reason."</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">But Greer didn't last long with the group.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joe: "I called our clothes, 'Barnum and Bailey band shirts,' especially when Tiny (Smith) had it on. Had a red suit with gold shirts. Fire engine red with stain gold and red trim. R.D. had Greer one made. Greer lived in some hotel on Main. He walked to work every night. On the way to work, he’d stop in all those little beer places. So, I said, 'Man, don’t wear that red suit in no bar. You’ll get in trouble. I wouldn’t wear that thing in a bar for nothing.'</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Anyway, Greer come in one night, and he was beat to a pulp. His eye was black, jaw was cut, blood all over that gold shirt. I asked him what happened, and he said he was sitting there in a bar, minding his own business. And there was these guys shooting pool. And one of 'em came over there and made jokified remarks about his uniform. He said, 'Now look, you guys, I like this uniform.' He said, 'One thing led to another, and one of 'em hit me with a cuestick.' (Laughter) They had a big fight. But he never wore that suit into that bar again. Matter of fact, he said he never went into that bar again. So, needless to say, he didn’t stay too long. He told us he roamed all over the country, played in bands in California -- he played a bunch of guitar."</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pPHWGQS9qoA/X8wMAQs4veI/AAAAAAAACTk/QyArGc64tzQOCaKiVLZL0-ed8fTclSsPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s797/sharp%252C%2Bstephens.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="609" height="630" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pPHWGQS9qoA/X8wMAQs4veI/AAAAAAAACTk/QyArGc64tzQOCaKiVLZL0-ed8fTclSsPgCLcBGAsYHQ/w483-h630/sharp%252C%2Bstephens.png" width="483" /></a></span></div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Harold Sharp (drinking a Coke) and Hamp Stephens on the bandstand. (Photo courtesy Harold Sharp Collection)</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The band rushed out three singles in the wake of the regional success of "I Can't Run Away." The first covered a current (December, 1951) hit by Hank Snow, "Music Making Mama From Memphis" (4-Star 1595); the second paired two originals, "Please Mr. Postman" b/w "There's a Place in My Heart" (4-Star 1599); and the third paired a cover of the current Webb Pierce single "I'm Going to See My Baby" with the aforementioned instrumental, "Nervous Breakdown," featuring Woody Carter, Joe Brewer and Johnny Greer.</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The purpose of releasing cover versions of current hits was presumably to steal nickels on jukeboxes that did not have access to the hit versions. Jukeboxes were controlled by distributors who were limited to carrying only certain labels, and not every jukebox owner had access to every label. 4-Star may have also hoped that their covers would become hits in their own right, just on the strength of the song's popularity. "Covers" were a routine part of the record businesses, but these examples didn't bring any recognition to the Western Jamboree Cowboys. Eddie Noack would soon depart to re-form his own band. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">The eventful year of 1951 closed with R.D. Hendon marrying Mary Kozik on December 5. It was his final marriage. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/riZp6VOI6LA" width="560"></iframe>
<p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">* This is despite what I wrote in the discography to the Bear Family release <i>Eddie Noack – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i>, which states that Greer plays lead guitar on three of the records Noack made with Hendon. While possible, I now think it is more likely Harold Sharp or Hamp Stephens is the guitarist. </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sources:</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harold Sharp, interview by Andrew Brown & Barbara Dunn King, April 24, 2004.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large; text-align: left;">Hamp Stephens, interviewed by Kevin Coffey & Andrew Brown, Sept. 25, 1994.</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span>Joe Brewer, interviewed by Andrew Brown, Nov. 14, 1994, and April 2, 1995.</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">
</span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div></span></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-47740756558184350782020-09-05T15:56:00.010-05:002020-12-05T13:59:32.303-06:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 8)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/s650/hendon%2Bheader.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="650" height="391" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/w625-h391/hendon%2Bheader.png" width="625" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div><i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i><br /><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2><h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">Part 8: "Pure Corn"</h2><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Today, Eddie Noack is the best-remembered of all the musicians who played with the Western Jamboree Cowboys at 105 1/2 Main. Although only 21 when he joined, he had already released five singles on Gold Star by that time, and had become a familiar presence in the booming Houston country music scene, if not a "star." Still a student at the city's university in 1951, musical pursuits and financial problems contributed to him spending six years to obtain a Bachelor's degree (in English). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">Noack </span><span style="font-family: times;">(1930-1978)</span><span style="font-family: times;"> had a troubled life that included alcoholism, failed marriages, self-destructive bouts, and the suicide of his last wife. His songs became fairly well-known to music industry insiders, but only one of his many records (1958's "Have Blues - Will Travel") broke through to a general audience. His death was noted by the Houston newspapers only because he had written songs for famous people that their readers might recognize. Fortunately, he has retained a reputation among country music fans, and now most of what he recorded has been reissued. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Thanks to recent digitization of newspapers, we can now pinpoint about when Noack joined the band, and how long he stayed. He joined as a regular member no sooner than May 2, 1951, when an ad for his band appeared in an area paper; and left before June 25, 1952, when he was back to being advertised as a solo artist.* </span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOuyddSFSqo/X1OlkBnUVXI/AAAAAAAACPM/X7mGgTdbXioopnq4VT-I4HMOShArf3yyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1199/noack%2Batmike%2B105%2Bmain.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1199" height="354" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOuyddSFSqo/X1OlkBnUVXI/AAAAAAAACPM/X7mGgTdbXioopnq4VT-I4HMOShArf3yyACLcBGAsYHQ/w500-h354/noack%2Batmike%2B105%2Bmain.png" width="500" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Eddie Noack at 105 1/2 Main circa late 1951 or '52. (Photo courtesy Joe Brewer Collection)</span></b></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: times;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">"He (Hendon) called me and told me he needed a singer and a (lead) guitar man," Noack remembered in his 1976 interview with Bill Millar and Ray Topping. "Sonny (Burns) and I went out there. R.D. told me, 'I'm gonna make something out of this place.' It had been one of the roughest places in town." This is the only memory of Burns ever having been a member of the group, and must have occurred during one of Charlie Harris's many firings. Eddie took the job undoubtedly because of the lucrative $70.00 a week paycheck that Hendon offered (the equivalent of about $700.00/week today). </span></div><div style="font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">"We were on the radio every Saturday night on KNUZ, which was the first country station <i>per se</i> in Houston. We broadcast live on Saturday nights, and later R.D. got us on KLEE every day." Noack, who chose diplomacy over candidness in his Millar/Topping interview, gave no indication that there was any tension or resentment toward Hendon by any of the band members. </span></div></div><div style="font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Eddie's original song "I Can't Run Away" would be the focus of their next recording session, which probably occurred around September, 1951, at Floyd Tillman's new studio. Joining Eddie was Cecil "Gig" Sparks (1916-1995), a blind singer and rhythm guitarist who had come aboard the band a few months earlier. Their voices didn't blend particularly well, but "singing brother" acts were pretty popular at the time. (The Delmore Brothers had recently moved to Houston, and Noack had been photographed with them.) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The band now had three lead singers (Harris, Noack, Sharp), but still no piano or fiddle. </span></div><div style="font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br />
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/888305851&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: interstate, "lucida grande", "lucida sans unicode", "lucida sans", garuda, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="WiredForSound">WiredForSound</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/4578texas/rd-hendons-western-jamboree-cowboys-i-cant-run-away-4-star-x-33" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="R.D. Hendon's Western Jamboree Cowboys - I Can't Run Away (4-Star X-33)">R.D. Hendon's Western Jamboree Cowboys - I Can't Run Away (4-Star X-33)</a></div>
</span></div><div style="font-size: xx-large;"><br /></div></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>The old, familiar places</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>That we used to go</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>I can't stand to see them, dear</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>For I still love you so</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>The things you touched, the things you did</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Are making me feel blue</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>I just can't run away from my love for you</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You've been part of my heart for so long, dear</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>That I'd rather die than think we are through</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>I can run, I can hide, but you still remain inside me</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>I just can't run away from my love for you</i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">After three releases that went nowhere, "I Can't Run Away" finally clicked with the public. Sales were brisk in the Houston/East Texas area. Frankie Miller covered it for Gilt-Edge. </span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">"It was a territorial hit," Noack later said. "Sold maybe 1,500 or 2,000 in the Houston area. When I quit R.D. and got my own band (again), I went out to Pappy Daily. He said, 'Yeah, just on the strength of 'I Can't Run Away,' you can cut for 4-Star." Despite the song's importance to his career, it was excluded from his 1974 album, which can be considered a catalogue of original songs of which he was proudest. </span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p></span></div></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BL2wvNBBWIg/X1OqTlfiTSI/AAAAAAAACPk/yMylDnfdXWUw2EzUAStrW81qNnvmYjZIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1124/hendon%2Bfull%2Bband%2B1951.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1124" height="491" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BL2wvNBBWIg/X1OqTlfiTSI/AAAAAAAACPk/yMylDnfdXWUw2EzUAStrW81qNnvmYjZIgCLcBGAsYHQ/w625-h491/hendon%2Bfull%2Bband%2B1951.png" width="625" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>The first promotional photograph of the Western Jamboree Cowboys, probably taken between May and September, 1951. Standing: Tiny Smith (bass), Gig Sparks (vocal, rhythm guitar), Eddie Noack (vocal, rhythm guitar), Don Brewer (drums). Seated: Charlie Harris (vocal, lead guitar), R.D. Hendon (manager), Jay W. Ingham (steel guitar). Shortly after the photo was taken, Ingham was replaced by Joe Brewer, Charlie Harris by Harold Sharp, and Don Brewer left. This was surely the largest group in Texas to not include a fiddle or piano. (Photo courtesy Frank Juricek Collection)</b></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Steel guitarist Joe Brewer returned shortly before this, replacing Jay W. Ingham. He is the source for many of the photos that survive from this period (though he was never photographed with the group), and provided most of what we know about the band from 1951-52.</span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="text-align: justify;">According to Joe, "I Can’t Run Away" -- which he called "pure corn," i.e., a song so simple that only true 'hillbillies' could enjoy it -- "got tremendous radio play here. It was very corny, but for some reason, it did sell. </span></span><span style="font-family: times; text-align: justify;">It got a lot of airplay over in Shreveport. That song was what we went up there on." The Western Jamboree Cowboys were invited to appear on the <i>Louisiana Hayride</i> on the strength of their regional hit, probably their only appearance on the show.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><br /></div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ZTNhoe7Eu8/X1Oml_O0z5I/AAAAAAAACPY/gG8YO5qSzW4DZrHqNKKSa-f97sNp9qOGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s876/herb%2Bremington%2Bjoe%2Bbrewer%2BKLEE.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="658" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ZTNhoe7Eu8/X1Oml_O0z5I/AAAAAAAACPY/gG8YO5qSzW4DZrHqNKKSa-f97sNp9qOGQCLcBGAsYHQ/w375-h500/herb%2Bremington%2Bjoe%2Bbrewer%2BKLEE.png" width="375" /></a></div><b style="font-family: times;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Herb Remington and Joe Brewer at KLEE radio studio, Houston. c. 1952 (Photo courtesy Joe Brewer Collection)</span></b></div></b></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Joe had a fun recollection of the <i>Hayride. </i></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">"R.D. had on a black western shirt with white trim. It was skin tight and he was pudgy, see. He looked like a little pig – with boots on. (Laughter) It was so tight on R.D., that when he went out on stage – he had a habit of opening his arms up and swinging his hands together, and rocking his foot on the floor – and that shirt ripped right down the back. I was looking straight at him, and so was Charlie (Harris) and everybody. (Laughter) He introduced the song, and Eddie was out there. And then he <i>backed up</i> off the stage. He didn’t turn around."</span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">The flipside of the record was a ballad sung by Charlie Harris, "This Moon Won't Last Forever." For the first time on a Hendon release, a fiddle is heard, probably played by Woody Carter, who definitely worked with the group during 1952 and later. </span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: xx-large;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">4-Star pressed the record once again in their limited "X" series, but once it sold out of the initial pressing, they decided to re-release it nationally in their main series. By that time, Hendon had fired Harris for the thousandth time, and eccentrically, he insisted on re-cutting "Moon" for national release with his new replacement, Harold Sharp (even though it was the B-side). But the band did not change the key in the new version, resulting in an awkward, strained attempt by a baritone to sing in the register of a tenor. Gabe Tucker took a trumpet solo where the fiddle had been the first time. </span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times;"><p style="font-size: xx-large; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-size: xx-large; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I Can't Run Away" was credited to "Hendon-Nowack" (sic). Hendon had nothing to do with the song's composition, but Noack refused to criticize him for this in his 1976 interview, unlike his blistering attack on 4-Star's Bill McCall for engaging in the same practice. (In 1953, the record was reissued on both 78 and 45, to compete with Hank Locklin's belated cover version.)</span></span></p><p style="font-size: xx-large; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-size: xx-large; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At least now they were getting some attention and sales. </span></span></p><p style="font-size: xx-large; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;">* It's possible that Eddie was involved with the group earlier than this. A photo of him dated October 25, 1950, with the Delmore Brothers and Tiny Smith may have been taken at the club. </span></span></p><p style="font-size: xx-large;"></p></span></div></span></div><div><br /></div></div><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><p style="font-family: times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5dqs9nEXe2o/X1PJxLsG5uI/AAAAAAAACPw/udm0rsyCzoIlmYXQw0DGW1TplddrB7NcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/4Star%2B45-1590%2BHendon%2BICantRunAway.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2026" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5dqs9nEXe2o/X1PJxLsG5uI/AAAAAAAACPw/udm0rsyCzoIlmYXQw0DGW1TplddrB7NcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/4Star%2B45-1590%2BHendon%2BICantRunAway.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b style="text-align: left;">"I Can't Run Away." 1953 reissue on 45 rpm. </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-md6nMczHBYg/X1PJ1-XAiII/AAAAAAAACP0/2UyN-ASfrPYEdqp2c3mt2wtz8CzRNrkwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/4Star%2B45-1590%2BHendon%2BMoonWontLast.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2043" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-md6nMczHBYg/X1PJ1-XAiII/AAAAAAAACP0/2UyN-ASfrPYEdqp2c3mt2wtz8CzRNrkwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/4Star%2B45-1590%2BHendon%2BMoonWontLast.jpeg" /></a></span></div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;">"This Moon Won't Last Forever." 1953 reissue on 45 rpm. Despite the vocal credit to Harold Sharp, this is actually the Charlie Harris vocal version. </b></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><p></p><div><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div></span></div></span></div><div><br /></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Sources:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Joe Brewer, interview by Andrew Brown, Nov. 14, 1994; April 2, 1995. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Millar, Bill and Ray Topping. "Talk Back with Noack (Part One)." New Kommotion #12 (Summer, 1976). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-22704432418078576282020-06-28T17:30:00.005-05:002020-12-05T17:24:42.232-06:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 7)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/hendon%2Bheader.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="650" height="396" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8_ur1l7XLhM/Xsps7zaJxMI/AAAAAAAACKA/1ZNgSxGpZtY9-SvS8WNuonfIE7Wg5vKcACPcBGAYYCw/s640/hendon%2Bheader.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i><br />
<h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">
R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2>
<h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">
Part 7: "MacArthur and the Wandering Blues"</h2>
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<span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><font face="times" size="5">The Western Jamboree Cowboys' first record was still new when they began working on their second one. The rationale behind such a quick follow-up was not the success of their debut (which, in fact, barely sold any copies); it was the topicality of the biggest <i>cause celebre </i>of the moment, President Truman's dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur as General of the U.S. Armed Forces during the Korean War on April 10, 1951. This unexpected move was creating a furious controversy across the United States, generating Senate hearings, editorial condemnations, and at least one protest record. </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">"Oh! Mr. President" is one of those records that future collectors would loathe, bathed as it is in melodramatic lyrical sentimentality and completely lacking any musical interest. It was written by one Bernice Hicks, but the label solely credits R.D. Hendon. While many records were made about the MacArthur controversy, nearly all of them focused on MacArthur's farewell speech to Congress, in which he declared, "Old generals never die, they just fade away." Only Hendon's dared to directly reprimand President Truman himself:</font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>Oh! Mr. President</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>Do you know what you have done?</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>The people trusted you as a friend</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>But the thought of how</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>You hurt us all</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i>And brought about this tragic end</i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><i><br /></i></font></div><div><font face="times" size="5">It concludes by requesting that Truman "get down (his) knees" and ask God's forgiveness. Charlie Harris is the lead vocalist and guitarist heard here, probably backed up by Jay W. Ingham (steel guitar), Johnny Cooper or Gig Sparks (rhythm guitar), and Tiny Smith (bass). </font></div><div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTyLl9YtvQs/Xvnl7I61LvI/AAAAAAAACNE/1wQMpsTU9jYxopqj3mHQqpsImDsH7chiACK4BGAsYHg/s500/4-X-20-r.d.-hendon-oh-Mr.-President.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uTyLl9YtvQs/Xvnl7I61LvI/AAAAAAAACNE/1wQMpsTU9jYxopqj3mHQqpsImDsH7chiACK4BGAsYHg/s320/4-X-20-r.d.-hendon-oh-Mr.-President.jpg" /></a></div><font face="times" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="times" size="5">"Oh! Mr. President" was the group's first release on the 4-Star label, the Los Angeles indie that had contracted with jukebox mogul H.W. Daily in Houston since 1948 to supply them with local talent. It appeared in the "X" series (which may have stood for "experimental"), i.e., it would only be released in Texas in a limited pressing, having to prove itself before it could gain a national release. Improbably, the record generated enough interest to be re-pressed (though on the Gilt-Edge subsidiary, not the better-distributed parent label). The label credited R.D. <i>Henden</i>, the first of many typographical deformities that plagued the band's labels. </font></div><div><br /></div><div>
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<b>Alexandria, La. <i>Town Talk</i>, April 25, 1951. </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Cowboys' next record would be Johnny Cooper's only vocal effort with the group: "The Wandering Blues" b/w "Marking Time" (4-Star X-24), both Cooper originals in the Jimmie Rodgers vein. It sounds like it was recorded at the same session as "Oh! Mr. President." Johnny had been a singer with the group since the Sphinx Club days, but he'd moved to Bandera to perform with Gil Baca's band there, returning sometime in late 1950 or early 1951. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-60mRd6CxkEg/XvkZuftBnGI/AAAAAAAACMo/x05i7s1Srr0t02qVmSX5Zz77slVXnEPlACK4BGAsYHg/s593/johnnycooper.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-60mRd6CxkEg/XvkZuftBnGI/AAAAAAAACMo/x05i7s1Srr0t02qVmSX5Zz77slVXnEPlACK4BGAsYHg/s320/johnnycooper.png" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Johnny Cooper c. 1951. </b></div><div><b><br /></b></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Cooper was born in Tyler, Texas, but grew up in Houston. He joined the Marine Corps at age 17, and was stationed on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He survived WWII and made it back to Houston around 1947 after a few months of singing on the West Coast. "The Wandering Blues" aptly captures Cooper's restless career. In a 1995 interview, he recalled performing with bands all across the United States, spending time in Missouri, California, and the East Coast. After leaving Hendon's band, he played with Link Davis, George Jones, Floyd Tillman, Eddie Eddings, the Yandell Brothers, and the Williamson Family in Houston. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">"Hank Thompson came through and needed a bus driver," he said. "Billy Gray came through (Houston) and hired me. They billed me as 'the singing bus driver.' I drove the bus for 'em. I worked with Hank Thompson all over the country on one big, long tour. Come back, and I quit while I was ahead." </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The band made what was possibly their first out-of-town appearance in Waco at the 31 Club on May 15, 1951. Both "No Shoes Boogie" and "Oh! Mr. President" are listed in a local newspaper ad promoting their appearance, but not "The Wandering Blues," suggesting that it was released later that summer. There are two pressings of the record, one of them misspelling Johnny Cooper's name as "Coger." </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Cooper would be in and out of the band for the remainder of 1951. He was soon joined on vocals by a new kid, Eddie Noack. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Waco, Tx. <i>News-Tribune</i>, May 14, 1951. </b></div>
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<b>"Oh! Mr. President"
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<b>"The Wandering Blues"
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<b>"Marking Time"</b>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-42233964207481993602020-05-24T12:04:00.003-05:002020-12-05T17:22:13.028-06:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 6)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i><br />
<h2 style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;">
R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2>
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Part 6: "A New Beginning"</h2>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">The Hendon brothers were fast learners. The Sphinx Club had been a good education in how to run a night club, but it was strictly a small-time bar. Nobody made any money. The idea that money <i>could</i> be made with a country and western club in Houston had been demonstrated with the opening of two large ballrooms devoted to the music, Jerry Irby's Texas Corral on South Main and Old Spanish Trail, and Cook's Hoedown Club at 603 Capitol downtown (just a few blocks from the Sphinx) in 1948. Both had a capacity of around 2,000 people, and it was not unusual to draw crowds of 500 to 1,000 on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. Smaller venues such as the Hayloft Club, Hagee's, and the Sixth and Studewood Club dotted the landscape, and could also expect crowds well into the hundreds every night. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">By this point, country music had taken over completely in Houston. </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">This would have surprised anyone who had basked in the city's night life during the pre-World War II era, when pop orchestras had dominated the scene. The trend toward country music was driven, to a large degree, by the thousands of rural immigrants pouring into the city on a yearly basis. </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">But the urban generation born in the 1920s had grown up hearing country music on the radio, as well, and to them, pop music had become rather stale and pass</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">é by the war years. Country music was simultaneously old and new, and thought to represent emotions and experiences more "real" and closer to home than pop. It was imagined to be "authentic"; pop music was artificial, cooked up in far-away laboratories. It lacked the common touch. (It should be noted that nothing in the sociology of America is ever simple, and plenty of rural people loved pop music and loathed country, also.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">The triumph of the rural had not been complete, however. Most bands leaned more toward Bob Wills' style than Roy Acuff's. They tended to include drums and at least one horn. The piano</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;"> – an instrument that hard-core Southern purists like Hank Williams despised</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;"> – </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">was absolutely essential for most bands in Houston and Texas generally. This was drink-and-dance music</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;"> – just like pop music </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;"> – not sit-and-listen music. Pop-styled vocalists such as Dickie McBride, Floyd Tillman, and Charlie Harris generally prevailed over those with country accents, and helped ease country music's dominance among city-born audiences. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">It isn't known exactly when the Hendon brothers made the transition from the Sphinx Club to the Main Street Dance Hall several blocks to the north, but various clues indicate that it was most likely sometime in 1950, or early 1951 at the latest. They kept the neon sign of the old club, but renamed it the Western Jamboree Club to signal that country and western music would be exclusively featured. Most people never learned the new name, and instead called it by its street address (105 1/2 Main), during both its years of operation and in interviews decades later. This was in part to prevent confusion with the other Main Street Dance Hall, about seven miles away near Hermann Park, which also was known by a colloquial name, "The End o' Main Club." (It, too, featured country music after the war.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">The Sphinx had been a private club so that mixed-drinks could be served legally. It had also limited live music only to the weekends. The move to 105 1/2 Main was necessary to get a larger, beer-drinking crowd interested, and that crowd could only be retained with a band that played six nights a week, not just weekends. Hendon had no money, but given the supremacy of country music by this time, it would have been easy for him to have obtained bank financing for such an idea. It was almost impossible to lose money on a country music dance hall that served beer and wine in Houston. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">After refurbishing the club, R.D. next had to assemble a new band. </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">he South Texas Cowboys had apparently split up when the Sphinx club closed. Vocalist Johnny Cooper moved to Bandera to join the Bandera Ranch Hands, steel guitarist Joe Brewer left to play with Byrd & Bingo before joining Eddie Noack's new band, and lead guitarist Chet Sky-Eagle went elsewhere. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: medium;"><b>Jay W. Ingham</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">The new band would be named after the club: the Western Jamboree Cowboys. Charlie Harris (lead guitar and vocals), Grover Cleveland (vocals), Fred Deaver (rhythm guitar), and Don Brewer (drums) all came back to open the new club. Augmenting these Sphinx Club veterans was a new steel guitarist, Jay W. Ingham. Incredibly, R.D. still refused to hire a pianist, fiddler, or bassist, even though the much larger stage at 105 could accommodate them. Piano may have been considered essential for every <i>other</i> band, but not for Hendon. (Eventually, J.T. "Tiny" Smith was hired on bass, and pianist Theron Poteet was involved for a brief period, appearing on "No Shoes Boogie.")</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The original band was the best of all the bands that he ever had," Joe Brewer said. "Jay Ingham, Charlie Harris, Don Brewer </span><span style="font-size: large;"> – to me, the band never really sounded as good as it did (in 1950)."</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">R.D. Hendon. "</span>He wanted to be a hit. He wanted recognition."</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Only Fred Deaver lived to recollect this transition period. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"It was a dump," was Fred's frank memory of what the dance hall looked like before the band moved in. "It looked like a dump. And R.D. hired an artist to paint the entire wall in a huge cattle drive scene. But that was the only décor that was in there. (It had) subdued lighting. Tables all the way around on either side on the dance floor." Although it was much larger than the Sphinx, the Western Jamboree was still tiny compared to Cook's Hoedown or Jerry Irby's club. "</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Sixty, 70, 80 couples could dance there. On Saturday night we filled the place up. Maybe 300 people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"There was no air-conditioning. It was hot as hell. Of course, after they drank a little bit, it didn’t seem to make a difference. The building was very live. There were two big windows that opened</span><span style="font-size: large;"> –</span><span style="font-size: large;"> you could fall right out of the bandstand. Don Brewer sat in the back right by those big windows. We always warned him not to get too excited and fall out. He could very easily have just flopped out of the window."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the Sphinx, R.D. had never appeared on stage with the band. But the move to the new club had brought a change over him. Now he imagined himself becoming a country music star in his own right. In his mind, he was a bandleader by virtue of the fact that he hired the band and managed the club. The band were his employees. The situation, he reasoned, was not much different than that of W. Lee O'Daniel in the 1930s. O'Daniel was not a singer or musician, but by buying time on the radio and hiring a band, he was <i>de facto</i> "leader" of the band. The band wouldn't exist without him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This made a certain sense in the context of 1930s radio sponsorship and advertisement, and O'Daniel was only the most famous example of this somewhat common (now forgotten) tendency of that era. It did not make sense in the context of a 1950s night club, however. Hendon was not a salesman for a flour company. The band did eventually land a radio spot, but the product Hendon was offering was the Western Jamboree club. Thus, he was not the conventional radio salesman of the O'Daniel type. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Such eccentricity would have been better tolerated had R.D. viewed it all with self-effacing good humor, but instead he demanded to be taken seriously by his employees, the band. Making an awkward and embarrassing situation worse was his fighter mentality. Nobody said anything about how ridiculous it was, since they knew criticism would be met with instant dismissal from their well-paid job at best, or a broken nose or cracked rib at worst.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"I think R.D. really enjoyed fighting," Deaver said. "Because the least little provocation </span><span style="font-size: large;">–</span><span style="font-size: large;"> man, he’d throw the guys out of there. I mean, down the steps, head first. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">They didn’t tolerate any stuff up there. All the rough stuff – <i>they</i> did it." In other words, the club's rough reputation was established by R.D. and his brother E.J., not the clientele.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">R.D. did not sing with the band. Instead, he tried to emulate Bob Wills. Deaver: "He would get up on stage, clap his hands, stomp his foot, and go 'Ah-Ha' and all that stuff. He wanted attention. It was embarrassing as hell. No one liked what R.D. did. </span><span style="font-size: large;">But we had to put up with it – he signed our checks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"He wanted to be a hit. He wanted recognition. He was a very insecure person, in my opinion."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The new club thus got off to a rocky start. There had been no fights in the Sphinx Club; now, fights became a regular part of the club environment. One would think this would have hurt the club's reputation, but it seems to have done the opposite. The Western Jamboree became so infamous for its fights that patrons most likely came to the place expecting to see brawls as part of the entertainment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It became too much for Deaver, who either left the band or was fired in 1950. He sold his guitar soon afterward, never returned to the club, and never played music again. Lead vocalist Grover Cleveland left the group around the same time. But the new year would bring new faces to the group, along with a promising contract with 4-Star Records. </span></div><div style="font-family: times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: times; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ba0m6sYw8_c/X2KgGIRgI9I/AAAAAAAACQ0/S8vYL139ux4_2-lXAtYbTMgfD57xPCi5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1144/delmore%2Bnoack.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="1144" height="368" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ba0m6sYw8_c/X2KgGIRgI9I/AAAAAAAACQ0/S8vYL139ux4_2-lXAtYbTMgfD57xPCi5wCLcBGAsYHQ/w553-h368/delmore%2Bnoack.png" width="553" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 25, 1950. From left: Coye Wilcox, unknown boy, Alton Delmore, Tiny Smith, Rabon Delmore, Eddie Noack. This photo may have been taken at the Western Jamboree Club. (Joe Brewer Collection)</b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-64774834273981198672020-04-12T12:30:00.002-05:002020-12-05T17:37:55.688-06:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 5)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2>
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Part 5: "A Good, Solid Beat:" The South Texas Cowboys at the Sphinx</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prior to taking over the Main Street Dance Hall around 1950, R.D. Hendon managed a smaller night club, the Sphinx. Located on the second floor of 811 Capitol, a short distance from Hendon's later place, the Sphinx had opened in 1946 as a private lounge. It is not known to have been a live music venue until Hendon and his brother E.J. became involved. Country music was exploding in popularity in Houston during the post-war years, and it didn't take a genius to realize that a live band would draw a much larger number of alcohol-consuming patrons than a mere jukebox. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">None of the people involved with the formation of the house band at the Sphinx, the South Texas Cowboys, lived to be interviewed about how they connected with R.D. Hendon, but two people who joined later, Joe Brewer (steel guitar) and Fred Deaver (rhythm guitar), could still dredge up memories about the band 45 years later. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The South Texas Cowboys' original line-up may have been Charlie Harris (lead guitar), Grover Cleveland (vocals), Chet Sky-Eagle (steel guitar), and Don Brewer (drums -- no relation to Joe). Harris would have turned 19 in 1948, therefore not old enough to legally drink (21 then being the legal age in Texas), but this was rarely an impediment to employment as a musician in 1940s Texas clubs. The Cowboys were unusual in that they had no fiddle, piano, or bass, three instruments that were typically considered <i>de rigueur</i> in any country band. This was probably due to the small size of the Sphinx, with limited stage space. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fred Deaver and Joe Brewer drove from Fort Worth to Houston after the bands they were playing with had broken up. "</span><span style="font-size: large;">We decided to take off and get out of town," Deaver told me in 1994. "We heard about Houston being big and dynamic, and all this stuff. Just Joe and I. It must have been somewhere in ’48."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fred and Joe played with different bands before hearing that there was an opening at the Sphinx Club. Hendon had just fired Charlie Harris for the first of many times, which forced Chet Sky-Eagle to move to lead guitar. Lacking a steel guitarist, Hendon hired Brewer, and Brewer probably recommended Deaver, as well, since the group had no proper rhythm guitar. When Harris was re-hired, Sky-Eagle was forced out of the band. At a certain point, Johnny Cooper took over as lead vocalist. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Sphinx Club gig was only for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It was a private club. This legal loophole allowed the bar to serve mixed drinks, but inhibited potential clientele by forcing them to pay an extra $2.00 to join the club. The club undoubtedly drew in many patrons from the Texan movie theater across the street, and the City Auditorium one block away. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">"The Sphinx was done up in blue, blue-greenish lights," Deaver remembered. "It was just a cheap, broken down joint for somebody to come in and get a beer. Or pay to get a mixed drink. On Capitol Avenue, in that part of town, (it) was not the highest class part of town to be in."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="text-align: justify;">"The Sphinx Club was very small," Brewer said. "It’d hold about 150 people. It wasn’t a country and western nightclub, it was more of a plush lounge-type. Small dance floor." </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Neither Joe nor Fred remembered any fights at the Sphinx Club, and both had rather pleasant memories of Hendon during this freewheeling early period. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">"I liked R.D.," Joe said. "He was a guy who really wanted to do something in music, but I don’t think he realized it when he had the Sphinx Club. He worked all of his life in the oil field. He was a roughneck in the oil fields. I have no idea of his educational background, but he sent his brother E.J. through college. I think E.J. got a degree in business administration. E.J. was the bartender at the Sphinx Club and 105 1/2 Main."</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="text-align: start;">Fred Deaver concurred: "R.D. was not a cross-type guy. Sometimes, after we’d close up on Saturday night/Sunday morning, we’d all pack up and go out to the San Jacinto River and fish."</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none; font-size: large;">There are no records by the South Texas Cowboys, but the later record by the Western Jamboree Cowboys, "No Shoes Boogie" and "Those Tears in Your Eyes" probably gives us a good idea how they sounded: country boogie with drums. "</span><span style="font-size: large;">We played a good, solid beat," Deaver explained. "(It was a) dance rhythm band. We weren’t a listening band, we were a dancing band. It was really gratifying to play and watch 50 or 60 couples dancing to your music. That’s the only real thrill I got out of it. To watch the people enjoy what you were doing. To me, that was a lot of fun." It was remarkable for me to hear Fred brag about playing with "a solid beat," a rare observation among country musicians (even ones who played with a drummer). And Fred was unconsciously echoing the chorus of "No Shoes Boogie" ("It's the no shoes boogie with </span><b>a solid beat</b><span style="font-size: large;"> / The only way to dance it is with your bare feet"). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">The Sphinx was fun but limiting. The stage was too small, the dance floor was cramped, the band only played three nights a week, and being a private club greatly limited the ability to sell alcohol. Toward the end of 1949 or 1950, R.D. began dreaming of bigger things. Not only would he acquire a much larger place, he would try to become a disc jockey and country music star in his own right.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-31115690526492998292020-02-16T18:55:00.002-06:002020-09-05T19:42:59.069-05:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 4)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></i><i style="color: #29303b; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</span></b></i><br />
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R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2>
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Part 4: The Road to 105 1/2 Main</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Little in Rigsby Durwood Hendon's background suggests a mid-life foray into the entertainment business. He was born March 5, 1915, in Leon County, Texas (near Marquez), the same isolated, farming hamlet where Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins had entered the world three years earlier. His parents, Emmett Hendon and Jewel Bryant, had presumably grown up in the area, but soon after Rigsby's birth they were, like thousands of other rural dwellers, hubbin' it to Houston, where Emmett would find work as a butcher. Most or all of R.D.'s formative years were spent in the Houston area. He first appears in the <i>Houston Chronicle</i> as early as May 5, 1934, where he is identified in a photograph as the "king of the North Side Methodist Church May fete." He remained active in the Methodist Church for several years. On </span><span style="font-size: large;">April 23, 1936, the <i>Chronicle</i> lists him among the cast appearing in a play at the Y.M.C.A., sponsored by the Methodist Young People's Union. He would have been 21 at this time.</span><br />
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<b>R.D. Hendon in the Houston Chronicle, May 5, 1934. (Bill McClung)</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first of several marriages terminated not long after this, and Hendon's next notice in the <i>Chronicle</i> was on February 17, 1938, announcing his second marriage to Freda Mae Bolgiano. This second attempt must also have been short-lived. By the time R.D. appears in public records again, he is living in Wharton, about 60 miles southwest of Houston, with his third wife, Bessie Cathan. An attempt to have a child resulted in a miscarriage, documented in a death certificate for Leroy Garrett Hendon, dated Sept, 12, 1940. He is not not known to have had any children with any of his wives, possibly a factor in both the marriages' dissolutions and his later depression. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It must have been around this time that Hendon worked as a driller in oil fields, as his guitarist Hamp Stephens later remembered. The 1940 census locates R.D. and Bessie living with Bessie's mother in St.James' Parish, Louisiana, not far from New Orleans. (This is the only time Hendon can be found living outside of Texas.) </span><span style="font-size: large;">He was living there on October 16, 1940, when he filled out a draft card, listing his height as five feet, seven inches, weight 190 pounds, his hair as brown, and eyes as blue. Two years later, on October 15, 1942, he would enlist with the Navy, where he worked as a chief shipfitter, given the classification CSF. It's possible that he spent some or all of his wartime experience in Port Arthur, Texas, since the Navy had a large shipbuilding installation there. He was honorably discharged on November 7, 1945. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">R.D.'s activity between his Naval discharge and management of his first nightclub, the Sphinx, about three years later, is unknown. In the 1949 Houston City Directory, R.D., wife Bessie, and younger brother E.J. (born 1920) are all listed as living in a house at 315 Coronado. Bessie is working as a nurse, E.J. as a bartender, and R.D. has no profession. </span><span style="font-size: large;">("Hendon" sounds like it would be a relatively common name, but it is actually quite rare. Only seven people listed in the directory have this surname.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">R.D. had only to turn on the radio to comprehend that the city's country music scene was booming. Every station had live broadcasts by local bands programmed several times a day. He undoubtedly patronized local clubs, as well, and would have noticed the huge crowds that bands led by Ben Christian, Floyd Tillman, Dickie McBrde, and Jerry Irby were commanding six nights a week. It is likely that R.D. had always been a country music fan, but now he felt the time was right to convert fandom into a vocation. At age 33, it was time to look for a night club -- and possibly a band -- of his own. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Next installment: "The Sphinx Club." </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Thanks to Bill McClung for his help with this installment.</i></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-33977744891228371342019-11-03T18:06:00.003-06:002020-06-07T17:24:47.111-05:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 3)<br />
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Part 3: The Freedom Session</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first record by the Western Jamboree Cowboys comes as a surprise to anyone familiar with their other recordings. The 4-Star and Starday singles are fine but conventional country music efforts; "No Shoes Boogie," on the other hand, is raucous country boogie that veers on western swing or proto-rockabilly. Few country bands bragged of playing with "a solid beat" in 1951, even if the drumming is quite understated compared to what was to come a few years later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"No Shoes Boogie" is the debut recording of Houston native Charlie Harris (1929-1979), the vocalist-lead guitarist best-remembered today for his tours and recordings with Ray Price's band in the 1960s. Harris was the epitome of what Spud Goodall called a "beer joint picker" -- someone who actually <i>enjoyed</i> playing in smoke-filled night clubs and dance halls, year after year. Long periods of his career were spent in San Antonio, and on tour with vocalists such as Price and Stonewall Jackson, but he was back where he started from, playing in Houston-area clubs, at the time of his death at age 50.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Houston country audiences of Harris's childhood and early adulthood preferred pop-style vocalists like Dickie McBride, and Harris styled himself in this mold, emulating vocalists such as Frank Sinatra rather than "hillbillies." He progressed rapidly as a guitarist, also, and by the early fifties he was already considered one of the best lead guitarists in a city full of them. </span></div>
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<b>Freedom 5033. Courtesy 55bluesman / 45 Worlds. </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"No Shoes Boogie" and the ballad "Those Tears in Your Eyes" (it is not clear which song, if any, was intended as the A-side) were both copyrighted on March 12, 1951, and the recording probably dates from around that month. The Freedom label was still flying high at this point, but, like Macy's and Gold Star, would come crashing down by the end of the year. It is believed that Bill Quinn's refusal to pay the Federally-mandated luxury tax on record manufacturing -- which inspired an IRS investigation -- led to these labels' demise, as Freedom, along with many other local labels, was pressed by Quinn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rhythm guitarist Johnny Cooper remembered recording "No Shoes Boogie" at Gold Star Studio, but had no other recollections of the session itself. The listener is taken aback by the wild Speedy West-styled steel guitar solo. Both Jay W. Ingham and Joe Brewer played steel with Hendon during this period; in 1994, during my initial research into the band, Brewer was still living but Ingham could not be located, and was believed to be deceased. Brewer denied being on the record. Since I knew that Herb Remington had been used as a session guitarist on other Freedom singles, I sent a cassette to him of "No Shoes Boogie," and he replied that he believed that he was on this record. This was duly published in the liner notes to the <i>Heading Back to Houston</i> compilation on Krazy Kat (1997). Since that time, I've wondered if I acted too hastily. Ingham was a respected steel guitarist, so it should still be thought possible that Ingham, not Remington, was the musician heard on "No Shoes Boogie." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The public was not impressed. "No Shoes Boogie" was not a hit, and copies are rare today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large;">Charlie Harris's tenure with the group came to an end not long after "No Shoes Boogie" was released. Most bands were commonwealth groups, with profits split evenly among the players. But the Western Jamboree Cowboys were employees of R.D. Hendon, who could hire or fire musicians at will. The generous weekly salary he paid them ($70.00 each, the value equivalent of $745.00 today) was offset by R.D.'s over-demanding, egotistical, and tempestuous nature. Many musicians refused to work for him at any price. </span></div>
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<b>Charlie Harris and fan.</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This took its toll on Harris especially. "R.D. was a very strange man, to say the least," remembered Fred Deaver, who played rhythm guitar in the band for a couple years in the early period. "He had an ego that couldn’t be satisfied. He fired Charlie Harris more times…and re-hired him, just strange things. Charlie would always come back." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Steel guitarist Joe Brewer confirmed this: "A</span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">bout every three or four weeks, R.D. would fire Charlie off the bandstand. About mid-range of the dance, and Charlie would get up and walk out. Nobody ever knew why – but in about three weeks, he’d hire him back. He did a lot of guys that way."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">It's hard not to notice a sad, psychological dimension to Hendon's relationship with Harris. Charlie was everything that R.D. wanted to be -- young, tall, handsome, a talented musician. By firing him from the band, he was acting out his jealousy the only way he knew how. By late 1951, Harris had finally grown tired of this game. When Hendon fired him again, he went to work for Gabe Tucker's band, and never returned. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joe Brewer, interview by Andrew Brown, Nov. 14, 1994. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Johnny Cooper, interview by Andrew Brown, Sept. 4, 1995.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fred Deaver, interview by Andrew Brown, Dec. 28, 1994.</span></span></div>
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<b>Charlie Harris with R.D. Hendon's Western Jamboree Cowboys. The date of this photo is unknown but was probably taken in 1951. From left: Charlie Harris (vocals, lead guitar), Cecil "Gig" Sparks (vocals, rhythm guitar), R.D. Hendon (manager), J.T. "Tiny" Smith (bass), Johnny Cooper (vocals, rhythm guitar). Photo courtesy Johnny Cooper. </b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-55035466531111024652019-08-26T20:36:00.002-05:002020-05-27T09:00:06.137-05:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 2)<br />
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R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2>
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Part 2: "The Dance"</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A lot is made of "Texas Dance Hall Music," though this social phenomenon is now largely a thing of the past. A music enthusiast born after 1960 can live his entire life without ever experiencing a dance hall, or understanding the special purpose such buildings once served. Dance halls have become so antiquated that the ones still standing have applied for special historical markers in some cases, designating a building where something significant happened a long, long time ago. A small number of them remain open and thriving, but most are only spoken of in past tense. This includes R.D. Hendon's now almost-forgotten Western Jamboree Club (105 1/2 Main) in Houston, which was demolished 60 years ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The point of going to a dance hall was <i>to dance</i>. That might seem obvious, but for the last 50 years, the most common way of experiencing live music has been at night clubs (not dance halls), in which the patron stands the entire evening gawking at the band on stage -- not dancing -- and applauding after each song. There is typically very little, if any, dancing at modern night clubs, even when the band specializes in dance music, like rockabilly. It sometimes seems like people don't understand that virtually all pre-1960s popular music was dance music. Not dancing to dance music doesn't make much sense, but once something becomes </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "times"; font-style: italic;">pass</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(41, 48, 59); color: #29303b; font-family: "times";"><i>é </i>in American cultural life, there is usually no going back. The remarkable thing is that anyone still plays pre-1960 genres of music at all. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">No one going to the Western Jamboree Club went there to stand around and watch the band all night -- anyone who did so would have been pitied by the other patrons, for it would show that sadly, they had been unable to find a dance partner. They did not go to the club to see the band. The dance <i>itself</i> was the main event of the evening. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The 100 block of Main looking south, Houston, Tx., c. 1957. The Western Jamboree Club (105 1/2 Main) was located on the second floor of the first building on the left (the F.W. Heitmann Building). (Houston Chronicle Photo) </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A typical evening at 105 1/2 Main would begin at 8 o'clock and last until about midnight. Some patrons drove to the club and parked in a nearby garage or lot -- parking was a serious problem for all downtown nightlife, even then -- while some took a cab. Many took the city bus, a method of transportation unthinkable to future generations of club goers. Some still lived close enough to walk from where they lived. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Under a flashing neon sign that read "Main St. Dance Hall," patrons would open the door and ascend a flight of stairs to the second floor. A small cover charge would be accepted by a doorman -- sometimes R.D. himself -- and one would be ushered into a huge room filled with tables and a long bar at one end. (The "one-half" address designated garage apartments and other small living spaces when used residentially. When applied to commercial property, however, it usually applied only to the doorway that was separate from the building's main doorway, indicating a separate business. New patrons at 105 1/2 may have been confused by this, and went in expecting a small club.) One wall featured a large, detailed mural of a western ranch scene, the only attempt at decoration. Large ceiling fans circulated a smoke-filled room. This was the extent of the "air-conditioning," and while off-putting, it also facilitated the thirst for more beer. Like all night clubs in Texas at the time, 105 1/2 Main only sold beer and wine, mixed drinks being forbidden by state law. The club and patrons got around this absurdly archaic rule by bringing their own whiskey and purchasing "set ups" -- a bucket of ice, a Coca-Cola, and drinking glasses for a small fee, usually $1.00 or so. R.D.'s brother E.J. tended the bar most nights. (Only in the 1970s did Texas become so "liberal" as to allow mixed drinks direct from the bar.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On an elevated stage with a band stand in the middle and a "kitty"(for tips) underneath, stood the Western Jamboree Cowboys in matching suits. It was a medium-sized band, usually no more than six pieces. Emceed by guitarist-vocalist Harold Sharp from late 1951 to 1955, their set list would consist of the hits of the day, plus a smaller percentage of standards ("San Antonio Rose," "Pistol Packin' Mama," "It Makes No Difference Now," "Slippin' Around"), and one or two square dance numbers per set ("Put Your Little Foot"). On rare occasions, they would play an original. "No Shoes Boogie" was a hit with the crowd early on, but when its singer and writer, Charlie Harris, left the band, his song left with him. Longer lived was Eddie Noack's "I Can't Run Away," introduced in 1951. It became perhaps the only original song associated in the public mind with the Hendon band, and was a local hit when they recorded it for 4-Star. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The dance floor would be full. After each song, the couples would return to their tables. There was no applause. A visitor from today's night clubs would find this -- after the dancing -- the most striking aspect of the dance hall experience, as applause after every song is simply automatic in night clubs. Finally, at around midnight, the band would play one last song, typically an instrumental, that would signal to the crowd that the evening was finished. There would be no phony "encores," a stupid charade that modern night clubbers have been conditioned to enact at every show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The band's set list was oriented toward a variety of dances. A waltz would be followed by a jitterbug number, followed by a square dance, followed by a polka, then by a schottische, and so on. You would never play the same style of song twice in a row. After 45 minutes, or about 15 songs, the first set (of four) would conclude, and the band would take a break. The four-hour set, broken by 15-minute intervals, was a standard established by the musician's union, and would remain the norm for most bands until the 1970s or even later. Since the union had little sway in Houston, it's doubtful any punishment would have been visited on musicians had they only played three hours. But such a break would have angered club patrons, and this was unthinkable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "times";">"105 covered one-sixth</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "times";"> of a block," remembered guitarist Hamp Stephens. "It was the old F. W. Heitmann Hardware building. Brick, three stories. It was on the corner of Commerce and Main. The bottom floor was an interior decorator, and there was a gym on the third floor."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "times";"><b style="font-family: -webkit-standard;">Detail of the above photo. The first floor below the Western Jamboree Club is highlighted in red. The club's neon sign ("Main St. Dance Hall") is clearly visible behind the street lamp. "Dancing"is painted in vertical letters on one of the columns. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was a popular place, even with stiff competition nearby at Cook's Hoedown Club, plus other downtown nighteries. Steel guitarist Joe Brewer, who worked in the band off and on for several years, believed that the hall could hold 500 people, and many nights, the building was at capacity: "</span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Full house – six nights a week," Joe said. There is no reason to doubt him. It was what musicians called a "sit down job," meaning that -- unlike most bands -- they didn't roam from club to club or town to town. The crowd came to them, not the other way around. Infrequently, they would play another club, or travel out of town. But for most of 1950 to 1956, you could find the Western Jamboree Cowboys planted right there on Main Street. </span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">They played every night except Monday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">"He had a mixed crowd up there," Brewer remembered. "If you played up there every night, you could spot it. You could see five or six couples come in together, men and their wives. They probably never went out but two or three times a year – those type of people. Clean-cut people…their mannerisms. I could spot 'em every time they come into the club. They’d sit there real stiff, you know, just afraid to move, because we had a very mixed crowd. You had a crowd that was noisy…you had everything there. But along about mid-range of the dance, you'd look out there, and that same crowd that come up there that was so nice, the wives would be out there dancing and darned near stripping the clothes off of 'em. They probably got up the next morning and thought, 'My God, what did we do?' I could spot those people."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><b>Patrons posing for a photo at the bandstand at 105 1/2 Main c. 1954. Harold Sharp peers out above them. (Harold Sharp Collection)</b></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">If this all sounds rather innocent and idyllic, it wasn't. Fist fights were fairly common in Houston night clubs during this period, but only 105 became infamous for them. It's not too difficult to speculate here. In addition to regular country music enthusiasts, the club attracted its share of tough customers who came to the dance looking for a fight. After a few drinks, a man would want to dance with another man's woman (or wife). If the man said no (the woman having no say in the matter), the recipient was expected to accept this rejection. Many instead used this as a challenge to their manhood, and fists would soon begin flying. Hendon himself would get in the middle of such fights, and heaven help anyone whom he wrestled to the door. They were not simply shoved out of the door, but forcibly pushed down the stairs, undoubtedly resulting in broken bones, skull fractures, and smashed teeth many times. Such brutality would be unthinkable in a club today, not the least due to the lawsuits that could result from such assaults -- by the club's owner, no less! But Texas courtrooms in the 1950s had no time for such "frivolous" legalities. If the club owner decided you broke the (unwritten) rules of his club, it was simply assumed that the law was on his side. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Most would never have considered a lawsuit, regardless, since this would have constituted public admission of being a wimp. It was better to remain anonymous, and lie to your doctor privately. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">R.D. Hendon acted as his own bouncer. "</span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">He was bad about fighting," Brewer said. "If you made a mistake in his club -- it didn’t have to be very much -- you could get beat up on the way out and thrown down the stairs. By him. </span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">He was pretty tough, but E.J. was a lot tougher. If he couldn’t handle a fight – if two or three guys got on him – E.J. would come over the counter, and it was all over after that. And then <i>all</i> </span><span style="font-size: large; text-align: justify;">of 'em went down the stairs. And the music played right on, you know."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>E.J. Hendon. "R.D. was pretty tough, but E.J. was a lot tougher." (Courtesy Bill McClung)</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Harold Sharp said that fights would break out "e</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">very night. They used to call it One-Oh-Fight and a Half. It got so bad that the city made R.D. hire a cop (i.e., an off-duty policeman). </span><span style="font-size: large;">Two of 'em on Saturday."</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Floyd Tillman, who became a regular guest artist on Wednesday nights, recalled that "they throwed out so many people, they even got <i>me</i> once."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">Joe recalled the times that a customer would make the mistake of bringing his own set-up into the club. This would be a minor infraction in any other club except 105: "You could bring your own liquor, but not your own ice. R.D. would go over there and tell them they couldn’t do that, and if one of 'em said something, he’d just grab 'em. There went him, and the ice, and everything. (Laughter) That was unreasonable. He did a lot of unreasonable things like that."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">The young Frankie Miller, just beginning his career, remembered dropping in at 105 every chance he was in Houston. "I had a cousin who lived there who liked country music," Miller said. "I'd stay with him, and we'd make the clubs. 105 1/2 Main was upstairs. It got a little rough down in that area after dark. Me and (my cousin) decided we'd go up there one night. First time we'd ever been there. So we're going up the stairs, and all of a sudden, the bouncer (probably E.J. or R.D.) comes out at the top of the stairs -- he has some guy by the seat of his pants, and he throws him down the stairs ... we had to dodge him. My cousin turns to me and says, 'Frank, maybe we better come back another night.' And the bouncer goes, 'You fellas come on up and have a good time!'" Miller recalled meeting Eddie Noack at the club, so this had to have been no later than 1952, when Noack still sang with the group. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">After midnight, R.D. and E.J. and their wives would begin counting the evening's money, sweeping up the cigarette ashes piled on the floor, washing down the bar, and shutting down the club. The 500 revelers would descend the staircase, swarm Main Street, jump into a cab or bus, and begin planning their next visit to 105 1/2 Main. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joe Brewer, interview by Andrew Brown, November 14, 1994.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Frankie Miller, </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">interview by Andrew Brown & Kevin Coffey, 1994.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-20581981449451001062019-08-15T19:53:00.004-05:002020-05-26T16:36:45.331-05:00Music and Mayhem on Main Street (Part 1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Music and Mayhem on Main Street:</i></h2>
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R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context</h2>
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Part 1: Introduction</h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">by Andrew Brown</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a series of posts over the next few months, we will examine in-depth, for the first time, the lives and music of R.D. Hendon's Western Jamboree Cowboys, one of Houston's most neglected country music groups of the post-World War II era. Theirs has been a markedly dispirited afterlife, as the popularity they enjoyed during their seven years together did not translate into anything resembling a legacy. When this writer first began looking for any information on the group in the 1990s, the bandleader had been dead for 35 years, and Houston itself had been so utterly transformed that it seemed like almost everything from the past was beyond recovery. Was there <i>really</i> ever a time when a country music dance hall operated on Main Street? It must have been a dream. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But youth is blessed with stubborn persistence, and to my surprise, I discovered that several members of the band still lived in the city. The interviews that followed were done with considerable mixed emotions. I had not anticipated that anyone would have anything but pleasant memories of R.D. Hendon </span><span style="font-size: large;">(March 5, 1915 - September 6, 1956), since most old-timers looked back on their band days with a wistful fondness, and were happy to revisit those carefree times for interested observers. But Hendon, I would soon discover, ran his band "like an army," hogged the spotlight, threatened to fire musicians who didn't toe the line, beat up anyone who rubbed him the wrong way, and threatened to kill himself several times before he actually did. Most of his former musicians did not attend his funeral. I had unwittingly stumbled into something rather dark and unpleasant, dredging up memories that had actually wanted to stay buried. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The most difficult thing about R.D. Hendon for people to understand today is how anyone could have such an enormous ego as to name himself the band leader when he did not actually sing or play an instrument. No modern band would allow this, and indeed most bands of Hendon's time would not have allowed it, either. We have lost track of an earlier time, when it was not that unusual for a private businessman to purchase blocks of airtime on a local radio station, hire a band to fill the time, and name the band after himself or his product. One of the most famous bands on Texas radio, W. Lee O'Daniel and the Light Crust Doughboys, did precisely this. Perhaps because O'Daniel attained a degree of fame that R.D. Hendon did not, it doesn't seem as eccentric in his case. And O'Daniel was hardly the only person to engage in this practice, which seemed perfectly normal from a 1930s live radio perspective. Hendon undoubtedly remembered this when he began assembling a band for the Main Street Dance Hall, not realizing that such an idea was anachronistic by 1950, and would lead to great resentment among the musicians he hired -- a resentment still raw, in some cases, decades after his death. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The dance hall he operated was better remembered for its fistfights than its music. It was a rough place, and patrons who acted unruly were likely to get punched and thrown down the stairs by Hendon himself, or his even tougher younger brother, E.J. Such bone-breaking altercations would be treated as assault and battery cases today, resulting in a frenzy of lawsuits, but the legal climate of the time prevented this from happening. If you were beaten up, thrown down stairs, and suffered a fractured rib and broken teeth, that was your problem. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But we cannot allow this story to sound too grim. Plenty of memories of Hendon and his band members were good ones, and we can be assured that most of the people who went to his club had a fine time, entertained by one of the best bands in town. A lot of laughs were recorded in my interviews, and all this will come out in the stories ahead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>R.D. Hendon (1915 - 1956)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The street address painted over the door -- "105 1/2 Main" -- was altered by musicians to "One-oh-<i>fight</i> 1/2 Main," and they were happy to laugh about it, provided that they were not the ones getting thrown down the stairs. (The hall was on the second floor of a three-story building.) The "1/2" represented an improvised entryway that had probably been added years after the 19th century building that housed it had been erected. It did not mean a small place, as "half" designations usually do, especially in residential addresses. The club could hold several hundred people. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The location in the heart of downtown Houston is a major point of interest to this story. Country music dance halls in Texas have always tended to be a rural phenomenon, catering to a rural clientele. Even those located in cities were usually strategically placed on the outskirts of town, the idea being that the drunkenness and violence that were expected of such places could only be tolerated if it was quarantined well beyond the business or residential districts. Houston's lack of zoning laws (which one city councilman argued in 1948 was communism) meant that anyone could put a night club or dance hall anywhere within city limits, so why not have it centrally located -- in fact, why not put one in the heart of the business district, on Main Street? The hall pre-dated Hendon's residency there, and may have opened as early as the 1930s. It was a well-known night spot in Houston for quite a long time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But we are getting ahead of ourselves. All these topics and many more will be explored as this series unravels. Stay tuned. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-36641701952238119052019-07-21T17:44:00.001-05:002020-05-26T16:45:44.260-05:00Floyd Tillman: His Final Interview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">On September 1, 2002, I interviewed Floyd Tillman at his home in Bacliff, Texas. This was in anticipation of a career-spanning Bear Family boxset, which did eventually appear in 2004. Prior to then, I wasn't sure if he wanted to be interviewed again -- some people had apparently tried without success. It wasn't a top priority of mine, since he had been interviewed in the past, and his Decca and Columbia sessions seemed to have been pretty well documented. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">With the help of fiddler Clyde Brewer, I was able to contact Floyd's son Larry, who said he'd be glad to arrange a meeting. I came prepared, with a stack of Tillman's original singles plus a full discography spanning 1936 to 1958. My goal was to try to draw out anything possible about his early days, about how he transitioned from a pop music singing lead guitarist with the Mack Clark Orchestra to a "hillbilly" singer and songwriter with groups like the Blue Ridge Playboys -- and no longer known as a lead guitarist. It seemed like a strange transition, but for anyone who knows Houston, it really wasn't. Many local musicians (George Ogg, Tony Scanlin, Smitty Smith, Jimmy Wyble) moved between pop orchestras and string bands. Houston audiences tended to prefer their country music on the pop side, as well, with smooth vocalists like Floyd, Jerry Irby, and Dickie McBride. This was part of a broader cultural pattern in which Houstonians imagined themselves as somehow better and more urbane than Southerners, though of course this attitude didn't extend into such areas as desegregation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The interview went well enough, just not as revelatory as I'd hoped. Floyd was friendly and cooperative, but didn't remember too much from his early days, and I mostly received very short answers to my questions. I was able to clarify a few confusing things (why did he switch to the Columbia label in 1945 after having such success with Decca?), but for the most part, Floyd didn't elaborate on his answers. This is in no way intended as a criticism of an ailing 87-year-old man; I've interviewed many people 20 to 30 years younger that were far less lucid, not to mention less polite. I believe that this was Floyd's final interview, as he passed away a year later, on August 22, 2003. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Although he was retired, Floyd continued to perform on special occasions during these later years, such as the annual Shelly Lee Alley celebrations in Columbus alongside his old bandmates Leon Selph and Cliff Bruner. These gatherings were the only time I actually saw Floyd on stage. It was great getting to hear "Slipping Around" from the man himself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also present at the interview was Larry Tillman, who helped clarify some of his father's answers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Floyd Tillman</b>: ...I had never made any songs on a record yet (as a soloist). Dave Kapp, I'd heard a lot of people talk about him. I wanted to know if he had any room for me (on Decca), so I wrote a letter to Decca (stating) that I sing and play guitar. He wrote me a letter and said, "Yeah, if you got any songs like 'It Makes No Difference Now,' we sure need you bad. We'll take anything." So when he came to the Rice Hotel to record a band -- was busy recording -- I told him I was Floyd Tillman. (Note: Floyd has forgotten that he recorded prior to this, for Vocalion, but we get to those records shortly.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He said, "Wait'll I get through recording this band, then I'll talk to you. Do you sing?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I said, "Well, I try to." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He said, "I heard you try to copy everybody. Don't be a copycat, just sing like yourself. Also, I've heard that you try to sing like Bing Crosby -- just forget about Bing Crosby, sing like yourself. Don't sing like anybody you know of." And he said, "I'll listen to you real good when I get through recording this other band." He finally got through, and said, "Now let's see what you got." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b><i>I played lead guitar, and I was gonna stay with that, but I thought, "Well, heck, why shouldn't I write songs and make some money?"</i></b></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I sung one song and he said, "That's pretty good. Let's keep it." Then I sang another, and he said, "It stinks -- throw it away." (Laughs) He said, "Always remember when you write a song, put the title in at least twice or more in every song. A lot of songwriters forget to put the title in a lot."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">That was the way I started singing. I couldn't sing worth a darn -- I played lead guitar, and I was gonna stay with that, but I thought, "Well, heck, why shouldn't I write songs and make some money?" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Larry Tillman</b>: Was the Aragon Ballroom where you sang earlier than that?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I was playing with a hillbilly band (The Blue Ridge Playboys) -- they called us "hillbillies" then. This pop bandleader (Mack Clark) came over to see me and said, "Would you like to go to work for me? I could pay you at least $15 a week." I was making about that much anyway. So I took a chance, and I worked with them (as an electric guitarist) about half-a-year...then I got a raise to $45 a week, if the band made it. If they were good. So I kept it for about three years. The crowds finally started falling off, so I went back to the hillbilly band I was playing with. I had "It Makes No Difference Now," but (Clark) didn't want it. He said, "We don't record hillbilly songs."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Aragon Ballroom was located right close to the Gulf Building. The Gulf Building was on Main Street, and this here was on another street across Main (1010 Rusk St.). It had one of those spotlights on the sign. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Andrew Brown</b>: So you played with the Mack Clark Orchestra about three years?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">The first band I worked with was Adolph Hofner. I left home and stayed with my sister, who was married to a railroad man in San Antonio. I thought, "Well, maybe I could get a job here in San Antonio." I took my guitar and my old Ford...</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You'd never played with any bands prior to Hofner?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Except Hofner. They had a three-piece country band, and they were good. I asked them if I could sit in. They said, "Sure, get your guitar out." So I started playing lead take-off choruses, and oh, they really admired it. They offered me a job, but the guy who run the place couldn't afford another musician. So they all decided they wanted me anyway. They chipped in 25 cents apiece, we all worked for 75 cents a night and tips. This was 1932, 1933.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>The Blue Ridge Playboys, Houston, 1935-36. Floyd on resonator guitar.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Who inspired you on take-off guitar? Because that seems a little early for people to want to play lead guitar.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: On the radio, I'd heard some kind of program that was selling medicine. Somebody played real fine lead guitar on it. I got to listening to that; that got me started a little bit into it. I really practiced. I figured that if I just stayed with it and practiced, I'd be a fine lead guitar man and somebody would hire me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did you hear anybody on records during that time, like Eddie Lang, Nick Lucas, people like that?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I heard Nick Lucas...he'd play little runs before the song, then sing along with it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: But it was mainly off the radio that you'd hear lead guitar players?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. I had two brothers that played on the side, because they both had jobs. One of 'em played fiddle, the other one (Ernest) played guitar and banjo. And he also played a cornet. Occasionally, they'd get a country dance and I'd play with 'em. We'd go out on the plains. Usually, a dollar night would be all you'd make. Finally, they jacked it up to where they'd get a dollar-and-a-half, then two dollars. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: This was in Post?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. Post, Texas. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So how long did you work with Hofner?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I worked with him about six months. Things were closing down. That guy decided to close his place (Gus's Palm Gardens). It was just a little place. I couldn't get no jobs there, so I went to Houston. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Circa 1939-40.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: How did you meet Leon Selph? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I just went up to the station (KXYZ), sat in with them, played a little guitar. That's when I wrote "It Makes No Difference Now." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Now, Adolph Hofner told me a story that, while you were playing with him, you offered him "It Makes No Difference Now."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No...I don't know why people get that idea. I never did offer to play it with them. I'd record it with them, but not give it to them. I knew it was pretty valuable, 'cause everybody was liking it. We started using it with Leon Selph's band as a theme song, because we were getting so many requests for it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Who else was in the band when you joined? I don't think Ted Daffan had joined yet. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, he hadn't. Later on we got him. We had a meeting. Leon wanted us to make some suggestions. We needed somebody who had a sound system and a car, and that fit Ted perfect. He played Hawaiian guitar then, he'd never played country and western or hillbilly music. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So, your first electric guitar was one that Ted fashioned?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, it was a new guitar, a name brand. But he sold a lot of them to people who...he had a coil winder that he'd built. He was kind of good with electronics, and I was too at that time. I used to love electronics so much. I'd build one tube radios, crystal sets...in Post, I liked the one tube radios better 'cause they'd reach farther. 'Cause the closest station was Fort Worth or Dallas. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was a messenger boy for Western Union. I'd go back behind the furniture place there (in Post), look through their garbage and find some old tubes and take 'em. I never spent any money on any of my radios. I didn't have it to spend. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: Dad, what was it you bought from Ted?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I bought a Vol-U-Tone amplifier. I traded him a Model A Ford and a lot of little things for it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Your first session with the Blue Ridge Playboys was at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah...I was playing with the Mack Clark band then, but I asked the leader if I could get off to make some records. He said, "Sure, we ain't having any good crowds anyway." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had no problem getting board, because I had a sister there who had a husband that worked for the railroad. I got one of the spare bedrooms. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Dave Kapp was the only teacher I ever had that showed me how to sing, or anything.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></i></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Where did they record in the Gunter Hotel?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Most everybody, even in Nashville, would hang up burlap all over the place. None of them were a regular recording studio. Later on, they built a pretty regular one in Houston, of all places. And I'd get better sound there than I would in California. (Note: According to Al Dexter, the November 1936 ARC sessions were held on the 7th floor of the Gunter.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">One 'em was the Rice Hotel...it was a big room. They'd turn off the fans and sweat while they was making records, 'cause the fans would make the sound wavy or something. But after he (Dave Kapp) got through recording that band and listened to me...he was the only teacher I ever had that showed me how to sing, or anything. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Floyd in the Hillbilly Hit Parade song folio (1940). Click to enlarge. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: At the session at the Gunter, I assume that was the first time you met Art Satherley and Don Law. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I suppose it was. Both of them was with Columbia then. <i>(Note: it now seems clear that Art Satherley was not present at any of the American Record Corporation's San Antonio sessions.)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Yeah, actually it was the American Record Corporation at that time. Did you find it unusual that these two British guys were overseeing this session?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, as far as I know, Don Law wasn't (British). But I do know Uncle Art Satherley was from England. He had the accent all the time. He was always a character, the way he talked: "Do it again, m'boy." (Laughs)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Don Law was British, too. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I didn't know that. See, he talked quite American. I never did know he was British. Later on, I produced my own records without either one of 'em. And I think I did better than they did, 'cause they didn't know what they wanted. I'd take a slow song, and they'd say, "Step it up, step it up, play it faster." Art Satherley turned down "I Love You So Much It Hurts Me" three times. Three different sessions. He finally let me record it when we needed one more song. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So you felt that Satherley exerted too much control? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Oh, yeah. From then on, I controlled my own band. I did my own (producing). I set the tempo like I wanted it. But both Art and Don Law would want to play 'em too fast on everything. He said, "We've got to get fast records, they're the only things that sell." And I thought to myself, "'It Makes No Difference Now,' we didn't play it fast, and look how it sold." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Goose Creek Daily Sun, August 10, 1936. Floyd and the Blue Ridge Playboys are guests to "hostesses" in Pelly, near Baytown. </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Bob Wills seemed to have a good personal relationship with Satherley, but it sounds like you were a little more distant from him. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: It sounds to me like Satherley thought he knew a lot about country music. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, he knew what he was told, anyway. Somebody must have told him to get fast songs, that any time a song was fast, it's good, that'd sell it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: (Reads line-up of Nov '36 session.)</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I play lead on some of 'em, and some of 'em Herman Standlee would. I remember that. Herman Standlee played too much take-off. He couldn't play lead and swing it along <i>with</i> the melody like me. I was...it's easier for me to just play a <i>little</i> melody, along with the melody. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So that explains why there's two electric guitars on that session -- you just went along as guest, and a vocalist. You sang, "Take Me Back to West Texas."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: All of those songs I wrote. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: "Blue Monday" and "Rhythm in the Air" were Dad's first two songs he wrote when he was a night watchman at Post. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That's where I learned how to play guitar. Night watchman, I had 45 minutes off every hour. It'd take me about 15 minutes to make my rounds. I'd work 12 hours a night. That was a lot of hours. But I'd use 'em by learning and practicing on lead guitar. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>AB: So "Blue Monday" and "Rhythm in the Air" were the first songs you wrote </i>and<i> recorded?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, that's true..."It Makes No Difference Now" was turned down by Vocalion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: At this first session, you auditioned "It Makes No Difference Now," and they refused to record it?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: They said it was too slow, and too sad. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: They didn't have any problem with "Blue Monday" and "Rhythm in the Air"...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, because I did them a little bit faster. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So, Herman Standlee was the Blue Ridge Playboys' regular lead guitarist at that point.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: At that point, he was. But he just comes and goes. He'd work awhile, then he'd decide to go out and go to work in the carpenter business for some reason. He'd make more money that way. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Moon Mullican was such a great piano player. I mean, he'd put on a show, even wear the piano out when he gets through with it.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></i></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: How did Moon Mullican get involved with the group?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, we (hired) him to play some other instrument -- I forget what the other instrument was now. Oh, it was a bass -- but we had a bass. We didn't need a bass man. But he ended up playing piano. He was such a great piano player. I mean, he'd put on a show, even wear the piano out when he gets through with it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: He auditioned as a bass player, and you said, well, do you play anything else. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. And he said, "Piano." And he got on it, played "Rosetta" in G or something like that and just started really going. He wanted to sing one of my songs, and I said, "Good, nobody wants to record this." "I'll Keep On Loving You." He did a good job on it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was a very good entertainer for the band. He'd roll up his britches leg like a woman and say, (effeminate voice), "Oh, I don't know that one." And everybody would laugh at him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: After you got back to Houston after this session for Vocalion, you went back to Mack Clark's Orchestra?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That's right. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: What instrument did Clark play?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: He didn't play. He just led the band. He didn't play at all. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did the Mack Clark Orchestra have a radio program?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, we had one called "Noon Serenade." Every day at noon, they'd come over to KXYZ and set up. But at night, just before the dance started, we'd start one from the Aragon Ballroom. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Do you recall any of the other members of that group? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, Smitty (Ralph Smith), the piano player, went to work for me later on when the band folded up. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Somebody told me he was from Nebraska...is that true? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. All of the Mack Clark band was from the middle western states. [Note: Ralph Smith was from Yankton, South Dakota.]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So he came down with that band?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. I think they got the job (while they were) up there. 'Cause they came down in an old bus that was about dilapitated. And they got a job playing at the Aragon Ballroom. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: Dad, didn't you tell me once that Helen Smith was a vocalist with 'em for awhile?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That's right. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So you played lead guitar with them for about three years? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You didn't sing with them?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Once in a while they'd introduce me, 'cause they had all girl singers, you know, they needed at least one male voice. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">They had a good, popular band. For a while, when I first went to work with 'em, they were doing good. And it just finally faded away. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did you ever see any of the other big jazz bands in Houston at that time, like Peck Kelley's?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, I forgot the name of all of 'em. After we'd get through, I'd go out and sit in with 'em, just for the fun of it. Peck Kelley, I knew him well. I came out and sang with him. (He'd say), "How 'bout that 'World Keeps On Turning' song ("I'll Keep on Loving You")?" He'd like 'em about that tempo. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Floyd Tillman's Lone Star Melodies song folio (c. 1945). </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So when you left Mack Clark's Orchestra...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: He didn't have another guitar player to replace me. I just quit, and he just left the guitar out of the band. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: That was when you decided you were going to concentrate on songwriting and singing...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, that and running a little band. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Floyd (far left, with resonator guitar) with Shelly Lee Alley (far right) and his band. Photo taken in Houston in 1936 during the Texas Centennial celebrations. (Shelly Lee Alley, Jr. Collection) Click to enlarge. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: I wanted to ask you about this picture taken for the Texas Centennial...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Oh yeah, that was when I first rode a freight train to Houston. There's Shelly Lee Alley. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You're playing a resonator guitar in that picture.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, that's the one I learned on. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So this band was prior to Leon Selph's?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, I think it was on the side. This other guy was getting a band together. He was supposed to be the leader, but he wasn't much of a leader. This was taken at a studio in Houston somewhere. All we did was have rehearsals. Then I went back to the Blue Ridge Playboys, stayed with them a little while. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So during this period (1936) you played this resonator guitar...you hadn't gone electric yet.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, but later on Ted Daffan had something called a Vol-U-Tone (amplifier)...where you'd stick the coil under the strings. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Here is, I think, the earliest picture I have of the Blue Ridge Playboys. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Oh, yeah. This is the first picture we took together. (Studio portrait with circular design on wall.) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Your next recording session was with the Blue Ridge Playboys again. March 6, 1939, at the Rice Hotel. (Names song titles.)</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">That was the first time you recorded at the Rice Hotel, with Dave Kapp. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: First time we recorded at all was with Dave. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Where did they set up at the Rice Hotel? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: In one of the rooms. A big one. They had a little partition to keep the sound out of the control rooms. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Dave Kapp seemed more experienced and knowledgable about this type of music than Art Satherley and Don Law, in your opinion?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I think he was, because he wasn't doing exactly what he was told to do, he just did it. Because he knew what sells and what didn't. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Once I run into Dave Kapp in California. That's when I was with Columbia. And he said, "Oh, I hear you're doing good. That 'Slippin' Around' sure did sell good." He knew all about it...after I got out of the army, I signed up with Columbia records. Ted Daffan got me a job with them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Later on, I got my own studio. I built that studio on Robert Lee (Street) in Houston. I'd make my records there, and sometimes I wouldn't even have somebody to come out and tell me what to do (i.e., a producer). I would just do it. (Laughs) [Note: Floyd opened his recording studio in 1950.]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: The session with "I Didn't Know..."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Those were original songs. I didn't have a band to play with then. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Musicians just loved him (Bob Dunn), but the average person didn't understand him. He didn't play simple enough choruses, you know. </i></b></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: (Names musicians) What do you remember about Bob Dunn? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, a lot of people thought he was an excellent guitar player 'cause he played some great take-off choruses, but I don't think he was real good at playing just straight leads. He was very good on take-off. He was one you might call a "national" guitar player -- everybody knew of him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Musicians just loved him, but the average person didn't understand him. He didn't play simple enough choruses, you know. But he was a great steel man. His notes were good, but they were just good for somebody who liked that sort of thing. Kind of like Django Reinhardt. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did you listen much to Reinhardt?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, somebody loaned me one of his records -- "Night and Day" -- and it knocked me out. I played it over and over 'til I wore it out. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Dunn was never a member of your band? J.D. Standlee played in his style, though. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: J.D. Standlee played a very good steel guitar. He played a great introduction on "I Gotta Have My Baby Back." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: At a certain point, you joined the Village Boys. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. I even named the band. I just thought it'd be a good country name. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: How did it come about that you met Jimmie Davis, and sold him songs? 'Cause one of the Village Boys records is credited to Tillman-Davis. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I sold him "It Makes No Difference Now." He came down to see me one time, and he offered me $300 for it. I think I sold him half of several. He said, "I don't want to buy anything full, because you'll get it back anyway after 28 years." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Floyd at Magnolia Gardens, Houston, early 1950s. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You must have been pretty bitter at the time, selling this song that became a national hit. You weren't making any money off of it. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That $300 was a lot of money. I paid down on a new car with it. That's how I got my new car. Later on, I made more money the year I got it back than what I sold it for. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since I've always done it (sold songs), then I have nobody to blame but myself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So you had a pretty good relationship with Davis?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. He died at 101. I know one time when he was governor, I had dinner with him. He invited me to come to a real dinner. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Your next session is credited to "Floyd Tillman and his Favorite Playboys." </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, I went to Dallas to make that session. Some of 'em were from the Blue Ridge Playboys. They busted up, I think, about that time. Howard Oliver, he was a good banjo player. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: That was April 30, 1941, Sound Recording Studios, Dallas. That was the first time you recorded in an actual studio, not a hotel?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I believe it was, it looked like one, but it wasn't exactly the polished, refined thing like you'd think it would be. All the studios were like that, except for the one in Houston, the guy [Bill Holford] called me and said, "I'd like for you and your band to come up and make a record for free." That's where I recorded "Slippin' Around." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Shortly after that session, you joined the Air Corps, or got drafted? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I was in the Air Corps. At first, I was at Ellington Field (near Houston), and I went in as a radio mechanic, it was called. Stupid name for a radio man. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So, the whole time period of WWII, you were stationed at Ellington? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. The whole time. Something always happened (to keep him there). I said, "How can I get out of here? I want to get out and help win this war, instead of just doing nothing." I wanted to be a radio gunner. Finally, I got a chance to go to one of the other camps. I was rushing home to tell my wife and family what happened, and I scraped my thumb on a flat tire I had -- was trying to change it. Made a black streak go up through here. So I called the seargeant, and he said, "You better rush back here." They put me in their hospital and they said, "Yeah, you got blood poisoning." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did you play at all during this time? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. Sometimes when we'd be off on Saturday night, I'd play with bands. Then I had my own band. On Thursday nights I played for the NCO -- Non-Commissioned Officers Club. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Jerry Irby, Floyd, Hank Williams. Houston, circa 1948-49. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Who was in that band -- was that local guys? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Some of 'em were. One of 'em went through WWII, and he was coming home, and he got killed in an automobile accident. He was a good friend of mine. I had a hard time organizing another band after that. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: That brings me to this next session you did, that I don't know anything about. You turned up in New York...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Oh yeah, I was going to tell you about that. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: I assume you'd gotten out of the Air Corps --</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, I wasn't. I was just on furlough. I was eligible to get these round-trip tickets to New York for $37. That was a lot of money then -- there and back. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: How did that session come about? Did you contact Dave Kapp?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I just walked in his office. He said, "What are you doing here?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Oh, you just showed up unannounced?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. Unannounced -- I didn't call him on the phone or anything. He said, "What are you doing up here?" That's when I made this one here (pointing to record): "GI Blues" and "Each Night at Nine." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So you recorded these at Decca Studios in New York City, April 20, 1944?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Who is the band on that record? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: We didn't have an organized band. We just had to get the musicians up together. I never played with any of 'em before. Whoever it was (producing), said, "What is the name of the band (for the labels)? Is it just plain Floyd Tillman, or..." I said, "Well, Floyd Tillman <i>and</i> his Favorite Playboys." So they called it that. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Judy Canova sang it ("Each Night at Nine") every Thursday on her network show on the radio. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: Was it at that time, or later with Columbia, where you got the $5,000 advance?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I think it was with Columbia. No -- the Aberbachs give me $5,000 once. The publishing company. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: Hill and Range. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: But they gave advances to anyone they thought could sell. Ted Daffan got a good advance from them once. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: I'm curious why you didn't remain on Decca, after your records for them had sold so well. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, because I found out that I could make more money on Columbia. Ted Daffan talked me into it. He said how much he was getting, and we compared what we were getting. He said, "I can get you on Columbia if you want to." I said, "Okay. I'll soon be discharged." I was waiting for my discharge. Then I got on Columbia.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Do you remember when you received your discharge from the Air Corps? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: I've got those papers in here somewhere with the exact day. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: It was '45. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: And that's when you set about organizing your band with the Raley brothers, Lew Frisby...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. I had all my band picked. All I needed was to get my discharge and go to it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Floyd Tillman band at KTHT radio studio in Houston, c. 1946. L to R: Von Reece (announcer, kneeling), Red Raley, Sam Balker, Marge Tillman, Floyd, Leo Raley, Darold Raley, Lew Frisby. (Kevin Coffey Collection.) Click to enlarge. </b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: And the rest of them had already gotten out?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I think I was about the only one in there except Smitty. He'd been in a little while. Lew, he wasn't in. He had some kind of ailment. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">(Looking at c.1946 picture with pianist identified as "Sam Balker.")</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Sam Balker, I'd never heard that name. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I haven't either. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Now, your first session was done at Columbia Studios in Hollywood. February 11, 1946. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I remember it. We went out on a train that time. We didn't go in cars. They paid our way. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: That's when you recorded "Nails in My Coffin."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Jerry Irby sent me a telegram that said he'd give me half of the song if I'd record it. I answered. I said, "Well, I'm going to record it, but I've got to take one of my songs out." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So, when you went out there, you really hadn't had any intention of recording that? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No. I played it for the Aberbach boys and they went crazy over it. Said they'd give me a thousand dollars guarantee right now if I could get the song (rights). I said, "Well, I'll try it." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Promotional postcard datestamped April 10, 1946. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: (Names songs)</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: "Sign on the Dotted Line," I didn't write that. Some boys in East Texas wrote it. I can't think of their name offhand. It wasn't a very good song. It kind of broke meter to get all the words in. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Looking at Air Corps discharge papers.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You were discharged November 29, 1945. This says Randolph Field? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That's where I had to go to get my discharge. The war was over, and we were still in it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: (Reading from paper.) "Date of enlistment, November 2, 1942." And it was right after your discharge that you organized your band? So it was probably December, 1945? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, I got it all ready. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: And you immediately got a radio show on KTHT.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, I saw that announcer, Von Reece. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did you just go down there and audition in person? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. I'd call 'em on the phone, and if you can't get 'em on the phone, just go down there in person. They was glad to have us back. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: During this time, there were a lot of clubs in Houston. It seems like a lot of your early shows were at 105 1/2 Main. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, I played there regular. Every Wednesday night, or whatever night we played there. They throwed out so many people, they even got me once. A lot of people would ask me, "Well, are they going to get thrown down the stairs this time?" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Kind of a rough place. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: It was rough. There was a lot of fights. We had two auxillary policeman, but they couldn't stop it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Floyd on the cover of Billboard, April 15, 1950. (San Antonio Public Library.)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You mentioned Jerry Irby...I guess you knew him from your earliest days in Houston. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah, he was playing for the kitty the first time I saw him. That's what I had to do. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Irby said that he used to play root beer stands on Washington Avenue with Ted Daffan. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That's true. Right after I left Ted, he got Jerry. I played right there with Ted. We played for the kitty. And then I had a chance to go somewhere with somebody, and that's when Jerry Irby took my place and started playing with Ted. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Were you pretty good friends with Jerry? Or did you see him as a rival, or...</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, I always was friendly with him. He was friendly with me. On my night off, I'd sit in with him sometimes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Your next Columbia session was in Chicago. March 25, 1947. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that. I think I flew. That's before I had learned to fly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Oh, you mean you took a passenger jet. You didn't actually fly yourself. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. Later on, I traded my plane in on an Avion. It would cruise at 200 mph. So, when I'd go to California, I'd stop once in El Paso to eat, and then go on to Los Angeles. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Was Don Law still involved at this point (1947)? Or was it just Satherley? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Don Law, he come out to my studio once and A&R'd. He was out there one time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"The Worm Has Turned," that was a remark made by Smitty, playing poker. He'd say, "The worm has turned -- I'm going to win next time." I thought, "Well, that's a good name for a song." You always get good ideas that way.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></i></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: What inspired you to build your own studio?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Just for fun. I had nothing else to do. (Laughs) I built it in the living room. You walk right in, and you're in a recording studio. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: You used an Ampex tape recorder? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Exactly. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>The Floyd Tillman band with Marge and new pianist Bennie McNeil. KTHT radio studio in Houston, late 1940s. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Larry: You used to cut your own masters, 'cause you'd give me and Don all that fuzzy stuff that used to come off of 'em. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Now Ted, later on, bought the house from dad. And dad put in a mobile home right next to it. So they were neighbors for a few years. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I wasn't really making much money on it (the studio). Once in awhile, somebody would want to record something. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So everything you did for Columbia after 1950 was done at this studio?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Uh-huh. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: (Names some song titles.)</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: "The Worm Has Turned," that was a remark made by Smitty, playing poker. He'd say, "The worm has turned -- I'm going to win next time." I thought, "Well, that's a good name for a song." You always get good ideas that way. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Your next session (in 1947) was done in Nashville. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That was where I recorded "I Love You So Much It Hurts." That was where they had toesacks hanging up all around. It was at some hotel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: The Castle Studio at the Tulane Hotel. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Babe Fritsch wrote "Gals Are Funny That Way." He'd been after me a long time (to record one of his songs). He'd been our announcer, so I figured I'd record it and see what it was like. It was a good song. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: And about a year later was when Bill Holford called you. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: And I did "Slippin' Around." He said, "If you've got anything you'd like to record, come on over." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: So Don Law wasn't at that session. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, Don Law didn't show up for that one. I was the A&R man. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: I guess that was when Holford was still on Westheimer. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That's right. He'd made a studio in his house. That was before he had that fine studio he had over there on Washington Avenue. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: At your next session you did "This Cold War With You."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: I did that for Holford, I remember. At his new studio. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Leon Payne, Jerry Irby, announcer Biff Collie, Floyd. Circa 1950. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: I wanted to ask you about some of the other clubs, like Cook's Hoedown Club. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: That used to be an automobile mechanic's shop. Cook needed some advice...he said, "Do you think we could build a dancehall out of this garage? I've got a chance to buy it." I told him "I think one place is as good as the other one. You need room, but you've got plenty of room." (The floor) wasn't quite level. They had to build a platform over the floor. One time I got Elvis Presley...he called me "Mr. Tillman." I met him in Shreveport. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: At the Hayride?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Link Davis with Floyd and band, late 1940s. (Link Davis Estate)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: I think the first gig he played in Houston was at Eagle's Hall. You and Link Davis were on that bill. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Eagle's Hall was kind of a (private) club. I never did join the club. The first time I played it was with Leon Selph and the Blue Ridge Playboys. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cook told me, "Don't ever book that kid in here again."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I say, "What's wrong, Mr. Cook?" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He said, "I had to turn away too many people that weren't of age. Teenagers." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elvis played with us at Magnolia Gardens. I had a little trailer, I'd go out there and offer him to stay in it. I said, "I've got some soda waters and beer in that icebox." He said, "Have you got any food in that icebox?" (Laughs) Finally, he went on the job. I didn't think he'd ever make it. I never did understand rock and roll. "That's All Right," I heard that on jukeboxes several times. And that was a good song, I thought. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At one time, I booked him. I'm not a booker, but there was a disc jockey (at KNUZ), Walter Colvin, he said, "You know what? That kid's gonna make it. If somebody would loan me some money..." I said, "I will, how much do you need?" He said, "If I could borrow $1,000, I could get Elvis booked at Magnolia Gardens." Luckily, I happened to have a little bit then, saved up. And we got him four times. Paid him $1,000 (total) to book out there four times. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Did Link Davis play in your band at this time? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Well, I played in <i>his</i> band. I'd been out to El Paso and come back, started all over again. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Link Davis, he had to go to a corrections school (in the 1940s) for taking some "tea" (marijuana), as he called it. But he told me he had a ball at that corrections school, 'cause he could do most anything he wanted to. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">He'd talk right off the bandstand to some girl that asked for a request. He'd say, "Baby, I got eyes for you. I'll sing anything you want." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: (Shows him a copy of "Save a Little for Me" on Western.) Was this recorded at your studio? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: No, it was done at another studio. It was on Telephone Road...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: Oh, Gold Star. Bill Quinn. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: "Baby I Just Want You" on Sarg -- was that done at the same time as this?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">AB: With Hub Sutter on clarinet? </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">FT: Yeah. He had tunnel vision. He could just see a little bitty image. He never could drive because of that. (But) he was a very good musician. </span></span></div>
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<b>Below: Billboard, April 15, 1950.</b> </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-80158041060411218382019-07-01T19:03:00.002-05:002019-07-07T19:59:49.680-05:00Robey's Bluff, or the Curious Case of Peacock 1506<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The emergence of Don Robey’s Peacock label was a minor item of interest in the December 24, 1949 issue of the trade publication weekly <i>Billboard</i>. “The label, which sells for 79 cents a copy, is building a roster of talent,” the unsigned item read, mentioning unknowns like Edward “Skippy” Brooks and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. “Distributors include Chord, Chicago; Major, New York; and Pan-American, Detroit.” Since new labels were by then appearing faster than anyone could keep up with, the remarkable thing is that <i>Billboard</i> had singled out Peacock at all. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Peacock’s bow thus seems fairly straightforward to us today. The first release must have been the lowest number, which was advertised in the same December 24th issue as Gatemouth Brown’s “Didn’t Reach My Goal” b/w “Mercy on Me" (1500). Also listed were a second Gatemouth single (“My Time is Expensive,” 1504) and one by Bea Johnson (“Glad You Let Me Go,” 1502). From this, people infer that the first few Peacock releases must have all hit the market in November or early December, 1949. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This timeline also accords well with a note in the January 21, 1950, edition of the <i>Houston Informer</i>, the city’s black newspaper. Music columnist Sid Thompson observed that “Gatemouth Brown, Orange, Texas, lad who is making good in the entertainment world, has a string of one-nighters coming up for Texas and Louisiana, a fine station wagon newly bought and lettered with all his latest hits, (which) sure hits the yokels in the eye when he arrives in their town. His latest song hits ‘Didn’t Reach My Goal’ backed up by ‘Mercy on Me’ are going like wildfire on the jukeboxes.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Peacock 1500 was actually released twice. The alternate issue contains an instrumental, “Atomic Energy,” instead of “Mercy on Me” on the flipside. No trade publication ever mentioned “Atomic Energy,” and Brown never gave an explanation for the dual release. Surely it was released prior to “Mercy on Me” — but when? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span>Early Peacock stationery. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The <i>Houston Informer</i> is of no help here. One would think that the debut of the Peacock label would have been big news in Houston’s black community, but if it was, no trace of this has been found in the paper. Records only rarely elicited any notice; Lightning Hopkins may have charted nationally with “Tim Moore’s Farm,” but no one reading the <i>Informer </i>would have known about it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Historical perspectives attempt to impose a certain logic and order on the past in order to make sense of it all. Collectors today expect singles to have been released in chronological order by catalogue number; they expect that when <i>Billboard</i> or <i>Cashbox</i> reviewed a release, that the record was actually new at that time. But if 50 years of research has taught us anything, it is that record companies quite often made decisions that confound later expectations. We cannot take anything for granted. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Anyone looking closely at the trade magazines from December, 1949, through the early months of 1950 might notice a strange omission. <i>Billboard</i> had mentioned that Peacock had signed the pianist Skippy Brooks, but there is no mention of Brooks’ sole release for the company: “Across the Country Blues” b/w “Skippy Blues” (1506), which probably features the local Sherman Williams Orchestra as the uncredited backing unit. Advertisements and reviews cite every release on the label -- except this one. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Peacock ledger for Skippy Brooks. Click to enlarge.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>(Center for American history, University of Texas at Austin.)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Luckily, an explanation is at hand. A ledger sheet for Skippy Brooks survives at the Center for American History (UT-Austin). Peacock 1506 was released in <b>July, 1949</b>, about four or five months prior to when we thought the label started up, and prior to lower numbers 1502 and 1504. Accepting that Robey started Peacock to record Gatemouth Brown, the “Atomic Energy” version of 1500 is certainly the first Peacock release, and therefore pre-dates July, 1949. And if <i>this</i> is true, Peacock really debuted in the first half of 1949 -- but, amazingly, no one noticed at the time. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The ledger tells us, not how many copies of 1506 were sold, per se, but how many were shipped to distributors. Breaking this down in type, it looks like this:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>1949</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">July 7 - 50 records</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Aug 23 - 25</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sept 6 - 100</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sept 12 - 75</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sept 10 - 100</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sept 16 - 3</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Oct 19 - 100</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Dec 14 - 100</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nov 30 - 100</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Dec 16 - 500</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Dec 28 - 25</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>1950</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">May 13 - 25</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">July 31 - 15 ret'd (returned)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>1951</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">(no date) - 263</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>1952</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Mar - 4</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">From this we can gauge that 1,470 copies of Peacock 1506 were shipped to distributors between the release date (July 7, 1949) and March, 1952, the majority coming within 12 months of release. From distribution points in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and elsewhere, copies were then resold to hundreds of jukebox operators across the country. Probably few, if any, sold retail, though since many jukebox ops also owned record stores, it's likely that some did have a copy or two available in stores. Only 15 were returned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">After months of inactivity, Robey was making a big push in December, 1949. The largest batch of 1506 (500 copies) were shipped on the 16th of that month, along with copies of the re-cut 1500, the <i>new</i> Gatemouth single (1504), and the Bea Johnson (1502). Perhaps 1503 had been assigned to one of these artists, as well, but ultimately went unused. All these post-dated 1506, but Robey’s new distributors were unaware that with Brooks, they were buying a six-month old single that had done nothing in other territories. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Edward "Skippy" Brooks. </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If Brooks had been paid two cents per record royalty (as the ledger states) for all 1,470 records, he would have been owed a total of $29.40 by 1952. Since the session costs were always charged against royalties, and would have exceeded this, he wouldn’t have been owed anything. It’s likely that he had been given an “advance” against royalties, not knowing that this so-called “advance” was merely the bait used by Robey to get him in the recording studio in the first place. (Most record companies operated under such parlor tricks, so this isn't meant to castigate the Peacock boss.) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But neither can we assume that the distributors all paid Robey, or if they did, <i>what</i> they paid him. If the retail price was 79 cents, the wholesale price would have been half that, or even less. Taking this as a hypothetical, 39 cents multiplied by 1,470 copies is $573.30. Subtracting studio costs, session fees and advances, manufacturing and pressing costs, plus freight for shipping, Robey still would have turned a decent profit — assuming he was paid for all 1,470 copies. Distributors had a few tricks of their own, chief among them withholding payment long past the "Net 30" day invoice date, or until they were ready to order the next release. Even veteran, highly experienced record men like H. W. Daily could complain that "having a hit would kill me," since he could never expect to get paid for all the copies he shipped by crooked distributors. Perhaps Don Robey's tough reputation made them think twice about double-crossing him. Peacock's survival while all his local competitors (Gold Star, Freedom, Eddie's, Macy's) soon died on the vine may have been due to Robey's steely resolve to fight fire with fire when it came to dealing with the big boys. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One last mystery remains. Why release higher catalogue numbers before lower ones? It seems strange to us today, but it wasn’t that uncommon for a label to assign numbers to certain artists prior to release, and then schedule releases by the artist rather than numerically. This practice must explain the large amount of unused numbers between 1500 and 1600 in Peacock’s discography. Robey assigned these numbers to specific artists, and never reassigned them after changing his mind on an artist or a song. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And that, Dr. Watson, concludes the curious case of Peacock 1506. </span></span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LCyJTWezEpI" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-54107578461236676742019-06-29T20:05:00.000-05:002019-06-29T20:56:10.890-05:00The Death of Homer Zeke Clemons<br />
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<b>Shreveport Times, August 14, 1961. Click to enlarge. </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We've ventured into the world of Homer Zeke Clemons many times on this blog. First, we explored his <a href="https://wired-for-sound.blogspot.com/2010/12/homer-clemons-on-swing-10012.html">rare Swing release.</a> Then, we shifted gears into his excellent Imperial era with <a href="http://wired-for-sound.blogspot.com/2011/02/homer-zeke-clemons-on-imperial-8088.html">"Sell the Coldest Stuff in Town"</a> and <a href="http://wired-for-sound.blogspot.com/2010/11/homer-zeke-clemons-on-imperial-8091.html">"Dallas Limited."</a> These records stand out among an increasingly pedestrian trend in country music from 1947 onward. When most artists were becoming more staid, more commercial, Clemons was acting as if little had changed in music since the 1930s. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But what had happened to him? The last known musician from the Dallas scene to have contact with Clemons, Johnny Gimble, remembered only that he had been involved in a serious car crash around 1954. It wasn't fatal, but Gimble never saw him again, and never knew what his ultimate fate was. Other Dallas old-timers either faintly remembered Homer Clemons, or had never heard of him in the first place. He had left few lingering memories. It was a frustrating mystery to those who, like me, valued the man's music. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Therefore, it comes as a bit of a shock to read one of the headlines on the front page of the <i>Shreveport Times</i> on August 14, 1961: <b>WANTED MAN KILLS SELF IN HOME HERE.</b> The article reports that a Hinesville, Georgia man, Homer Zeke Clemons, age 48, was hiding out in Shreveport. He was wanted in Georgia for the felony of selling mortgaged property (buying a car on an installment plan, then turning around and selling the car). How Shreveport police were able to find Clemons is not explained, but after excusing himself to go to the bathroom, Clemons "walked back inside and into the bathroom where he shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber rifle." His wife and teenaged son were in the house at the time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The article does not mention anything about Homer's music career, which indeed must have ended around 1954. The next seven years were spent in grim decline from his freewheeling past, as he suddenly found himself in his forties with a wife, a son, a long recovery from his injuries, and few if any job prospects. Something had brought him to Hinesville, Georgia, but if it was a job, it didn't last. In desperation, he turned to a career in crime. Perhaps he thought that Shreveport was far enough from Georgia to elude detection. But he kept guns nearby just in case. It all ended suddenly, and terribly, on the night of August 13. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">His body was taken to Cool Springs Cemetery in Van Zandt County, Texas, probably the same area where he was born in 1913. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rest in peace, Homer. </span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-16044608302278773132019-06-25T18:51:00.002-05:002019-06-26T06:40:19.500-05:00Jessie Martin with Jack Floyd and Band on Pearl 712<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Jessie Martin (with) Jack Floyd and Band - Blues of New Orleans b/w Star Dust (Pearl 712)</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Late 1957</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Late one night after a gig in 1957, Moon Mullican and a pick-up band decide to drop the "hillbilly" schtick and have some fun with a few R&B numbers. Somebody is there to capture a little of the party on a beat-up reel-to-reel, and soon this clever mole hands the tape over to Pearl Records (based in Houston with a fake "Hollywood" address). Afraid of a lawsuit from Mullican's regular label, Decca/Coral, it is released under the pseudonym "Jessie Martin" and given no promotion. The perpetrators carry the secret of this in-joke to their grave, and only now -- 62 years later -- can this lost gem of the Mullican discography be revealed in the clear sunlight. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You could be forgiven if you had initial thoughts along these lines after hearing "Blues of New Orleans," but Jessie Martin was indeed a real person, and this was the first of two singles he cut for the colorful record entrepreneur Bennie Hess, most likely in Hess's Jensen Drive recording studio on the north side of Houston (8613 Jensen -- <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/8613+Jensen+Dr,+Houston,+TX+77093/@29.8383039,-95.3427255,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x8640b9b74051db5b:0x390a0673b5472d1b!8m2!3d29.8382809!4d-95.3430603">the building currently at this location is probably the original</a>). The rough sound quality and whimsical tape editing suggests this was the same locale as Hess's much better-known "Wild Hog Hop" single the following year. Vocalist Martin, whose real name was <b>Jesse Martinez</b>, certainly gets a tough, driving sound here, with some solid help from the otherwise unknown Jack Floyd (presumably the pianist). Martinez made a lesser single, "The Vampire," under his real name with the Famous Flames about a year later on Major 1008. Martinez may also be the saxophonist heard here. He continued to perform in Houston clubs into the 1960s, but made no further known recordings. </span></div>
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<b>"Blues of New Orleans"</b></div>
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<b>"Star Dust"</b></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-58275988612602298742019-04-14T12:00:00.002-05:002019-04-14T13:11:27.570-05:00Durwood Haddock on Caprock 108<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Durwood Daly (Haddock) - That's the Way It Goes b/w I'm a Lonesome Old Boy (Caprock 108)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Four long years elapsed between Durwood Haddock's debut single (the original version of his song "There She Goes") and his second one for the Caprock label of Big Spring. Although popular histories would lead you to believe otherwise, the music business operates under no logical or predictable rules, so having the co-writer of one of 1955's biggest hits go unsigned by any record or publishing company is hardly surprising or atypical -- especially when the song's other co-writer (Eddie Miller) was only too glad to hog the spotlight. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Haddock recorded "That's the Way it Goes" at Ben Hall's Studio in Big Spring in 1958. The melody is basically "Folsom Prison Blues," and the entire performance sounds like a Johnny Cash Sun outtake. In my <a href="http://wired-for-sound.blogspot.com/2010/07/durwood-haddock.html">2006 interview with the artist</a>, Durwood admitted that was the intended effect: "</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">I liked Cash’s stuff. I was really impressed with his songs ... m</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">y idea was, 'If I can do something that’s kind of happening today, and do something like a Ray Price sound on the flipside, maybe one or the other will work.'" Weldon Myrick supplies the lead guitar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The most surprising thing about "That's the Way it Goes" is the first verse:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She packed her dirty clothes in a duffel bag</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Said, "Listen here, sonny, it's a-time for me to <b>shag</b>"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">This sense of "shag" as a verb meaning "leave" is unknown to the <i>American Heritage Dictionary</i>. Perhaps it had evolved out of local Odessa barroom slang, or more likely, Durwood simply needed a word to rhyme with "bag" and thought, "Why not 'shag'?" </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Considering that Durwood would rhyme "blade" with "dead" in his composition "East Dallas Dagger," he clearly wasn't too concerned with rigid restraints on lyrical vocabulary or pronunciation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The other striking thing, to modern ears, is the lyric, "</span><span style="font-size: large;">who's gonna fix me something to eat, and wash my dirty clothes?," as if the most important aspect of the male protagonist's female companion is her role as his cook and maid. If the listener is supposed to feel sorry for the man, the song utterly fails. Such sentiments were already becoming embarrassingly outdated, even in 1958. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The flipside is a pleasant Ray Price-inspired mid-tempo song that features Johnny Porter (fiddle), Bobby Tuttle (steel guitar), Deana Hall (bass), and Bill Johnson (drums). Johnny Porter also worked with Adolph Hofner, Eddie Shuler, and probably dozens of other bands through the decades. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jack Rhodes called Haddock after the record was released in early 1959 and said he had somebody interested in covering "That's the Way it Goes," but Caprock owner Hank Harral refused, hoping to make it a hit on his own label. This would have probably involved handing over one-third of the song's ownership to Jack, since he made hundreds of similar transactions. Such were the dilemmas that songwriters and small label owners and publishers often found themselves embroiled in during this era. Ultimately, "That's the Way It Goes" was not a hit, nor was it covered by anyone on a bigger label. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>"That's the Way It Goes"
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>"I'm a Lonesome Old Boy"
</b></span><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/605637648&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-50476872524423141792019-04-07T13:01:00.000-05:002019-04-14T20:15:55.725-05:00Marsha Carlile with Paul Buskirk Band on B&B 333<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vl91TFPLv_M/XKomZVse1YI/AAAAAAAAB3o/jLS2DlTgiIgHI-cHMjcj4vtIOSXQr0gcACLcBGAs/s1600/B%2526B%2BMarsha%2BCarlile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vl91TFPLv_M/XKomZVse1YI/AAAAAAAAB3o/jLS2DlTgiIgHI-cHMjcj4vtIOSXQr0gcACLcBGAs/s320/B%2526B%2BMarsha%2BCarlile.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Marsha Carlile with Paul Buskirk Band - Nite Life / He Gave Us a Heart (B&B 333)</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Between Willie Nelson's original version in 1960 (which sold no copies), and the Ray Price hit version in 1963, "Nite Life" was only recorded once, by Marsha Carlile on the tiny B&B label in Houston. This version, also, received no attention. The $150 that Paul Buskirk, Walt Breeland, and M. Matthews had spent purchasing the song from Nelson (the value equivalent of $1,300 today) must have seemed like a huge waste of money at the time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In its June 12, 1961, issue, <i>Billboard</i> reported that "Walt Breeland, of Country Music Promotions, Houston, is on tour of New Mexico, Arizona, and California spreading the gospel on Claude Gray, whose new Mercury effort is due almost any day now. Breeland says he has available deejay copies of Gray's gospel release on 'D' Records, 'Homecoming in Heaven,' and Eddie Noack's latest for Mercury, 'Shotgun House' b.w. 'Where Do You go,' as well as the first release by Marsha Carlile, 17-year-old miss from Ingleside, Tex., 'He Gave Us a Heart' b.w. 'Nite Life,' which was released Friday (26). For copies of the above three, write to Breeland at 8618 Anacortes Street, Houston 17."</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T6ei0OVp08g/XKo5gyDxgXI/AAAAAAAAB30/XQHpDI0er4Mhi9-jaTttgbTvcxaTSANtQCLcBGAs/s1600/paul%2Bbuskirk%2Bharvey.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="442" height="262" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T6ei0OVp08g/XKo5gyDxgXI/AAAAAAAAB30/XQHpDI0er4Mhi9-jaTttgbTvcxaTSANtQCLcBGAs/s320/paul%2Bbuskirk%2Bharvey.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Paul Buskirk in the early 1960s.</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These are Gold Star recordings, and the release date given by <i>Billboard</i> (Friday, May 26, 1961), allows us to date this with unusual precision. The B&B (which presumably stands for "Breeland & Buskirk") label still has the original publisher, Reeney Rhythms BMI (the same publisher as the Moonlighters' "Rock-A-Bayou Baby"). By the time Price recorded it two years later, this had changed to Pamper and Glad Music, and "W. Nelson" would finally be listed in the writer's credits. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Musically, this differs from Nelson's original in that a steel guitar (undoubtedly played by Herb Remington) plays the solos, rather than Buskirk's lead guitar. It's a fine version, sung well by a vocalist sounding rather more mature than her 17 years.</span><br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/602362080&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-81053435897201573922019-03-31T13:10:00.000-05:002019-04-14T20:16:07.108-05:00Frankie Miller on Hilltop 15<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ESTH1tmH1ik/XKD3A-7jfeI/AAAAAAAAB3E/ZCuNzrY3a541tZUGpNq4PcTLwkArISnZACLcBGAs/s1600/Frankie%2BMiller%2BHilltop%2B15.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="1330" height="280" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ESTH1tmH1ik/XKD3A-7jfeI/AAAAAAAAB3E/ZCuNzrY3a541tZUGpNq4PcTLwkArISnZACLcBGAs/s320/Frankie%2BMiller%2BHilltop%2B15.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Frankie Miller - I Can't Run Away / I Won't Forget (Hilltop 15)</b><br />
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Definitely the most unusual release in the Frankie Miller discography, "I Can't Run Away" and "I Won't Forget" must have sounded archaic to anyone who purchased this new release in 1964. The Victoria-based singer had recorded these for Gilt-Edge in the early 1950s, and there they would have remained if not for 4-Star/Gilt-Edge owner Bill McCall's retirement in the 1960s. The budget label Pickwick, sensing an opportunity, leased or purchased many of his old masters in 1964 and launched a new label, Hilltop, to re-release some of these, and would soon begin recording new artists for the label, as well. <i>Billboard</i>'s November 28, 1964, issue noted that Hilltop albums were being sold in 23,000 retail outlets across the USA, and sales of some albums had reached 100,000.<br />
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There was no indication on any of Hilltop's releases that these were old recordings, reaching back to the 1940s in some cases. Hilltop tried to disguise the age of the songs by bathing them in echo and even overdubbing new musicians when they felt necessary. Had Europeans not intervened in the 1980s, such practices would have undoubtedly continued by American record companies on reissues of vintage material into the new millennium. Fortunately, there is very little doctoring of these two Frankie Miller masters, and the engineer actually does a good job of bringing out the vocals without damaging the music. Both songs originally had different flipsides.<br />
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"I Won't Forget" dates from Frankie Miller's first session in the Summer of 1951 at ACA Studio. The musicians are: Norman Miller (guitar), James Calhoun (steel guitar), Dutch Wells (fiddle), Jack Kennedy (piano), and Hezzie Bryant (bass). Dutch Wells is known for playing fiddle on some Leon Chappell Capitol sessions from this same period, and Jack Kennedy had recently quit Jerry Irby's band.<br />
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"I Can't Run Away" is a cover of the Eddie Noack/R.D. Hendon regional hit, and dates from late 1951 or early 1952. It is also an ACA recording and features: Norman Miller (guitar), Jimmy Summey (steel guitar), Dutch Wells (fiddle), Jack Kennedy (piano), Shang Kennedy (bass).<br />
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"I Can't Run Away"
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/598823871&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/598824324&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-45864683055909385222019-03-15T17:53:00.002-05:002019-03-15T17:58:15.235-05:00Charlie Harris and the Cherokee Cowboys - (My Friends are Gonna Be) Strangers (live in San Antonio 1965)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="text-align: left;">Charlie Harris and the Cherokee Cowboys - (My Friends are Gonna Be) Strangers (unissued live in San Antonio 1965)</b></div>
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Another song from the Cal Berry tape, this captures Charlie Harris handling the lead vocal on a version of Merle Haggard's recent hit. The group has changed the arrangement to begin with the chorus, and have greatly expanded the instrumental break for solos by Buddy Emmons, Keith Coleman, Harris, and then Emmons and Coleman again. </div>
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Berry only used one mike to record the band from the side of the stage, therefore the vocals are lower than they would have been with a separate vocal mike. Nonetheless, this is quite listenable. </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wzWYaiA9np4/XIwqI7eqTwI/AAAAAAAAB2w/kM6hQ_1TwIQef20mvJIqzrmVpYitcOCIACLcBGAs/s1600/ray%2Bprice%2Bcherokee%2Bcowboys%2Bc65.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="935" height="198" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wzWYaiA9np4/XIwqI7eqTwI/AAAAAAAAB2w/kM6hQ_1TwIQef20mvJIqzrmVpYitcOCIACLcBGAs/s320/ray%2Bprice%2Bcherokee%2Bcowboys%2Bc65.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-4108606020765146662019-03-12T21:42:00.002-05:002019-03-13T16:32:12.876-05:00The Cherokee Cowboys - Little Liza Jane (live in San Antonio 1965)<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/589226550&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<b>The Cherokee Cowboys - Little Liza Jane (unissued live in San Antonio 1965)</b><br />
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In April or May, 1965, Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys returned to play San Antonio -- possibly at the Farmer's Daughter -- for another triumphant engagement. What made these shows different from hundreds of others that year is that they were recorded by local musician Cal Berry. A few copies circulated among local musicians and enthusiasts, but to my knowledge they have never been released to a wider audience.<br />
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Berry did not intend these to be professional audio, and like most live recordings made by amateurs during these years, there is no attempt to have a separate microphone feed into the vocal mike. Berry simply used one mike on the stage to record the whole band. The instrumentals, consequently, are far more listenable today than the vocals.<br />
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"The Other Woman," introduced the first time as "our new record out this week," was released as a single on Columbia in late April, 1965, which allows us to date these performances to that month or early May. The second tape may be from the next night.<br />
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The tapes allow us to experience what a typical Ray Price and his Cherokee Cowboys dance would be like: the opening act would be the Cherokee Cowboys for about seven songs, divided between instrumentals and vocals by Charlie Harris. Then Price would come out and perform a set heavy on his hits, Bob Wills standards, and more instrumentals (see set list below). As with all dance hall audiences, there is no applause after each song like there is in today's night clubs. The most unexpected song in the repertoire is "Good Rocking Tonight," sung by Charlie. Unfortunately, flutter begins to be audible at this point in the tape.<br />
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The Cherokee Cowboys on this tour included Harris (lead guitar), Buddy Emmons (steel guitar), and Keith Coleman (fiddle). The bass is possibly Pete Burke, Jr., and the drums are possibly Johnny Bush.<br />
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The night begins with a storming "Little Liza Jane." The band had recorded a hot version of this old folk standard for their December 1964 album <i>Western Strings</i>, but this live version is ten times hotter. The entire tape captures Emmons, Harris, and Coleman in their prime.<br />
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"Howdy, y'all -- a little bit of theme song," Charlie says after the first song concludes. "Welcome to the Wild One."<br />
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We will present more songs from these tapes in future posts.<br />
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Thanks to Cal Berry and the E.A. "Junior " Mitchan Archive for making these available.<br />
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Tape 1<br />
Little Liza Jane (opening song)<br />
There'll Be No Tear Drops Tonight (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
I Can't Help It (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
My Friends Are Gonna be Strangers (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Milk Cow Blues (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Deep Water (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Love's Gonna Live Here (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
San Antonio Rose (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Release Me (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
B. Bowman Hop<br />
What in the World (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
I'll Sail My Ship Alone (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Beaumont Rag<br />
Burning Memories (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Here Comes My Baby Back Again (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Hold It<br />
The Other Woman (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
This Cold War with You (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Medley: Crazy Arms/Heartaches by the Number (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
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Tape 2<br />
Talk Back Trembling Lips (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Dear Heart (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Boogie Blues<br />
Sing Me a Sad Song (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
The End of the Line (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Woodchopper's Ball<br />
Together Again (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
Here Comes My Baby Back Again (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Bubbles in My Beer (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Please Talk to My Heart (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
The Other Woman (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Nite Life (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
Good Rocking Tonight (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
San Francisco (vocal - Charlie Harris)<br />
My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You (vocal - Ray Price)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-7899598500685373312019-02-27T20:25:00.001-06:002019-04-14T20:16:29.385-05:00Leon Payne on Hacienda 008<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zN0mu1WOIJ4/XHc3v5pe4TI/AAAAAAAAB1I/OReURviUEdsZBWswOCwh3sEMuLtnaSj3QCLcBGAs/s1600/LeonPayne.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="411" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zN0mu1WOIJ4/XHc3v5pe4TI/AAAAAAAAB1I/OReURviUEdsZBWswOCwh3sEMuLtnaSj3QCLcBGAs/s320/LeonPayne.png" width="265" /></a></div>
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<b>Leon Payne at WOAI in San Antonio, circa mid-1950s. </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><b style="background-color: white;">Cry Baby Cry b/w Lot's Wife Looked Back (Hacienda 008)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">One of two singles Leon Payne made for the San Antonio-based Hacienda label around 1961 (the other was "Reflex Reaction" b/w "The Banter Song," Hacienda 003), "Cry Baby Cry" has never been reissued. Payne's "San Antonio Years" are not well-documented, despite lasting 17 years (1952-1969) as opposed to his brief but far better documented "Houston years" (1948-1952). Soon after these singles for Hacienda, he re-signed with Starday, recording a series of albums and singles for the rest of his career. Having no further hits after his massive "I Love You Because" (#1 for two weeks in January, 1950) did not affect his income, as royalties from other artists covering his songs is rumored to have made him one of the wealthiest people in country music in Texas. The Associated Press reported that his estate was worth $40,000 at his death in 1969, the value equivalent of $277,000 today. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br />
</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">"Cry Baby Cry," not a particularly memorable lyrical effort from Leon, nonetheless is worth keeping for the fine steel guitar solo. "Lot's Wife Looked Back" is a novelty-gospel number, a rarity in Leon's songbook. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Postscript: it is possibly Jerry Shea playing steel guitar. </span></div>
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<b> "Cry Baby Cry"</b><br />
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/580143834&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<b>"Lot's Wife Looked Back" </b><br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/580144428&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7520743085834461738.post-40694718806240548022018-12-29T17:50:00.000-06:002019-04-14T20:16:41.340-05:00Harry Choates's 1942 Draft Registration Card<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZW6o80FHow/XCfmWg8WTiI/AAAAAAAABzk/oY1Me_s12xQ0KfMNyMcyvN-QUrDrLF-TACLcBGAs/s1600/47348_b350768-00169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1600" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZW6o80FHow/XCfmWg8WTiI/AAAAAAAABzk/oY1Me_s12xQ0KfMNyMcyvN-QUrDrLF-TACLcBGAs/s320/47348_b350768-00169.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SofB6U5184Y/XCfmZJS46nI/AAAAAAAABzo/yqE1EgBw64wlOfh16oojy0mT8lIK77ppwCLcBGAs/s1600/47348_b350768-00170%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1097" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SofB6U5184Y/XCfmZJS46nI/AAAAAAAABzo/yqE1EgBw64wlOfh16oojy0mT8lIK77ppwCLcBGAs/s320/47348_b350768-00170%25281%2529.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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<b>Click on images to enlarge.</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On Tuesday, June 30, 1942, a slight young man walked down the stairs and into the basement of the Lake Charles City Hall, sat down, and waited for a clerk to call his name. He had been asked to register for the draft, and probably was joined there by a couple of dozen others around his age. After a short waiting period, the young man was called to the desk by a woman, Alma Kurtz, who calmly told him it would only take a few minutes. After reciting to the government registrar the basic facts of his existence, 19-year-old Harry Choates left for his nightly performance at the nearby Hill Top Club.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Harry Choates's World War II draft registration card simultaneously tells us little about the man, and a lot. The most important piece of information on the card is his place of birth -- Abbeville, in Vermilion Parish. If the teenaged boy casually relating this to the clerk could look into the future, he would have been amused to learn that Rayne would get repeated endlessly as his place of birth, then "corrected" to the equally wrong New Iberia -- never Abbeville -- possibly because his parents actually did live in Rayne for a while when he was young, and his fellow musicians misinterpreted "I grew up in Rayne" as "I was <i>born</i> in Rayne."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The other striking thing is the confusion over the spelling of his surname. The clerk originally spelled his name "Choats," and his father's name the same way. Perhaps this influenced Harry to also sign it "Choats." This must have prompted a puzzled question from the clerk, who thought it looked strange, and she asked, "Is it spelled 'Choates' with an 'e'?" When Harry replied in the affirmative, she changed both her handwriting and Harry's signature. Either she or another official wrote "CHOATES" in all capital letters at the top of the card.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This incident would also presage much future confusion. Early local pressings of his hit record "Jole Blon" would spell it "Shoates," and the national release on Modern would say "Harry <i>Coats</i>" -- perhaps not a typo, but a harebrained decision by the record company to make it sound more Anglicized. His proper birth name was actually "Choate," but for some reason known only to himself, Harry usually spelled and pronounced it with a final "s."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Other than the spelling confusion, Harry's signature here -- as it is on other documents -- is perfectly legible. The notion that he was illiterate was to be yet another myth told and retold about him decades after his death, popularizing the idea of Choates as a <i>wunderkind </i>who effortlessly mastered music despite severe learning handicaps (which did not, in reality, exist).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Harry lists his employer as John Davis (better known by his middle name, Quincy), and his place of employment the Hill Top Club near Westlake. The card asks for a street address, but the best information Harry can offer is "3 1/2 miles from Lake Charles" -- that is, 3 1/2 miles <i>west</i> of Lake Charles on Highway 90, where the Hill Top existed alongside many other night clubs, restaurants, and hangouts, all the way to the Texas border. This stretch of two-lane highway was a buzzing hive of nonstop traffic, noise, people, and activity at this point, being not only the main road into Texas from the east, but the only real entertainment district to be found for miles around. A musician could expect crowds of no less than 300 every night, seven days a week. Life was giddy, and Lake Charles would have seemed like paradise to anyone trapped in the hellish deathscape Hitler had created in Europe. Charles Delaney, a local guitarist, recollected in a memoir that "World War II turned Lake Charles from a one-horse town to a thriving town. The economy ... was based on agriculture before the war. it was a poor, stagnant town, but the war changed all that. The government built defense plants, the Air Force Base, and Camp Polk, pouring millions of dollars into the economy."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The rest of the card is less interesting, though it contains information found nowhere else: Harry's height (5 foot 7 inches), weight (135 lbs.), eye color (brown), and hair color (brown). Such a slight physical appearance on stage would be striking to an audience today, but not at that time, as photographs of Harry standing among his peers demonstrate (he is <i>taller</i> than bandmates like Joe Manuel, and everyone is skinny in those days before processed foods and high-fructose corn syrup). His only physical defect was a "scar on (his) left first finger," possibly incurred while engaged in one of the many fistfights that often broke out in clubs like the Hill Top. Surprisingly, the card does not ask if the draftee was married. Choates's marriage the year before was probably a short-lived affair, as none of the musicians who knew him could recollect his first wife when interviewed later. His second wife Helen would be referred to as his only wife in all writing about Choates until 2002.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lake Charles drummer Crawford Vincent remembered first meeting Choates at the Hill Top Club during this period. This may suggest that Choates was relatively new to the area in June, 1942. He had spent his early teenage years in Port Arthur, Texas, and was working in Houston with Shelly Lee Alley in the summer of 1940. Choates was gaining a reputation as a promising fiddler, electric guitarist, and electric mandolinist, and indeed he was playing lead guitar with either Happy Fats or Leo Soileau at the time he filled out his draft card. Later researchers would be surprised to learn how highly his peers regarded him as a guitarist, since all but one of his records feature him instead as a fiddler. It seems likely that Choates mostly worked as a guitarist between 1941 and 1945, doubling on fiddle and/or mandolin when needed. This period was the beginning of the emergence of the electric guitar as a major instrument in popular music, and it is intriguing to think of Choates as an important innovator and popularizer of "lead guitar" in Louisiana and Texas -- a role completely eclipsed by his fame as a fiddler, and almost permanently lost after his death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Harry probably gave no more thought to the matter after leaving City Hall that day. A full year-and-half would pass before he was called up for active duty, in January, 1944. He only served nine months, instead of the usual twelve, and may not have ever left the states. His older brother Edison died during the war, and his father Clarence had passed away in 1943. These deaths possibly explain his early discharge from the army. He was now his mother's sole support, and would soon take on a new wife and try to build a family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thanks to Bill McClung for finding this important historical document and making it available to us.</span><br />
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