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Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends
of West Texas Music
"Indeed, Oglesby's introduction of more
than two dozen musicians who called Lubbock home should be required
reading not only for music fans, but for Lubbock residents and
anyone thinking about moving here. On these pages, music becomes
a part of Lubbock's living history."
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One of my
greatest pleasures editing virtualubbock is the e-mail I receive
from readers with valuable pieces of lore about Lubbock music
and art. Some of the most precious stories I've collected have
come from the suggestion of readers' comments. I'd like to share
some of that gold, below. Thank you for your contributions!
- Chris Oglesby
From: Nancy Reyes -----Original Message----- I played drums in that band the spring semester at Texas Tech in 1969. It was Tim and Danny Atchison , Joe Don Davidson and me on drums. I remember playing on the Tech campus for the name change concert or protest. Some wanted "Tech" out of the name. The alumni didn't. Anyway ift was a good band. We really worked on doing good covers. "Sookie Sookie" by Steppenwolf was one of my favorites. I think of that when I see the "Sookie" character on "True Blood." LOL! The Sparkles were big then. At the end of May I headed to Austin and so did The Sparkles. I saw their drummer in a night club, and it freaked him out that I was also from a Lubbock band. That drummer pulled out a flute for the end of "Fool on the Hill" I believe. Man that was the golden age of great sounds and songs. I remember a really good band in Lubbock called The Brutes. There was also a guy on campus that played guitar and percussion instruments at the same time. Had a huge voice. John Deutschendorf was his name. Later changed to Denver. Far Out! Regarding Jerry (Goolsby), I bet he joined the Salesmen after I left. Danny had decided to go back to drums, from bass anyway. They had top notch equipment. Double bottom Custom amp for bass. Tall Custom for Joe Don. Maybe it was his? Custom for Rhythm guitar also and a McIntosh P.A.. They did have a recording contract with RCA and showed me one of their songs on a juke box. I never recorded though. Those three guys could sing. We did a kick ass job on "Eleanor" by The Turtles. I prided myself on the doing a good job on "Good Times, Bad Times" and "Communications Breakdown" by Led Zepplin. Also "The Wind Cries Mary" by Hendrix. This is the story of my musical career. - Dan Atcheson When I was in early grade school, everyone thought I was stupid; especially the Click here for more stories and photos about the Velveteens and Travelling Salesmen New Music from Rita Box Peek Go to - http://ritaboxpeek.com/ Message from Rita Box-Peek: -----Original Message----- I found your website via The Flatlanders FB page and took notice of your book and its theme. Let me introduce myself a bit. I was born in Lubbock, grew up there attending several elementary schools and junior highs, inc. J.T. Hutchison and Monterey High School. My family moved to Colorado Springs, CO during the summer of 1961…just before my senior year. But I made it back to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech. One reason was because I missed the cotton fields and the big skyline. One of my friends from junior and senior high is Phil Eagleton. In my Monterey High School yearbooks are photos of Phil, Jo Carol Pierce, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and others you might know. I knew Buddy Holly an d Elvis sort of. You may have found in your research of Lubbock the story of the original KDAV. That was the fulfillment of my step-father’s dream. Dave Stone. He started working at KSEL as a bookkeeper. KSEL used block programming back then and had a 30 min. country music show. The DJ on that program hated country music. Dave loved it and took over. Dave had a smile in his voice and literally put on a big smile each time he spoke into the microphone. Dave came to dream of building his own radio station and that dream came to fruition. He had two partners – Dave Worley and Leroy Elmore. KDAV went on the air in 1952 as the first full-time country radio station. KDAV’s signal reached into New Mexico. Dave promoted country music and country artists with every thought and breath. And he promoted the local talent. Every Sunday afternoon KDAV aired live music on a program called the Sunday Party. Buddy Holly and the Crickets played regularly on the Sunday Party as did Buddy Knox, Ace Ball, Billy Walker, Sonny Curtis and Terry Nolan. During the hours of the Sunday Party the radio station was packed full with people, standing room only with lines out the door of area folks that came to see the live entertainment. It was Dave Stone that took a tape of Buddy Holly’s to the record company. The call came to our house that they wanted to sign Buddy. My mother answered the phone and t ook the message. I watched and listened to her and I can remember her facial expressions, excitement during the call and even what she was wearing. Without Dave’s recognition of Buddy’s talent and Dave’s encouragement Buddy’s story might have turned out differently. During those early years of KDAV there was a teenage boy that attended Lubbock High who DJ’d the last hour of the schedule playing rock n roll music that appealed to the teenagers. His name was Cary Hobbs. Now as a retiree he is living in a small town outside of Salt Lake City and he’s a DJ again at a small local station. And he deserves a lot of credit for his contribution to the music scene in the middle 50s. Dave Stone promoted country music. He eventually came to have other radio stations – KPEP in San Angelo, KZIP in Amarillo and KPIK in Colorado Springs. He sponsored concerts at the Fairpark Auditorium in Lubbock and later at Jones Auditorium on the Tech campus. Sometimes he promoted the shows in e ach town he had a radio station as the Highway 87 Tour. Dave made it a point to know the artists and their stories and gave tidbits of that when he was on the air playing their music. I like to think that his interest, participation and promotion of country music left a legacy to others and for others to follow. Of course, others got involved, i.e. the Corbin brothers opened KLLL playing only country music. And now there is another KDAV in Lubbock emulating the original KDAV. There was a springboard effect encouraging those with a longing to sing, write and perform. People worked as DJs that later became known as country artists – Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller, Arlie Duff (This ole House), Charlie Phillips (wrote SugarTime) and Bill Mack. And one of the partners of KPEP wrote “Don’t let the Stars get in your Eyes”. Lots of talent everywhere. I like to tell people about the friendliness of folks in Lubbock, saying that they’re friendly because there’s nothing else to do. Back when I was young most families had someone in the family that could play the guitar and someone that could sing. Before TV became popular people entertained themselves in the evenings often by pickin’ and singing. 0AFriends and family gathered around the kitchen table and joined in. Everyone was welcome and encouraged to join in. And as someone expressed in one of the Lubbock youtube videos…the weather etches something on the psyche…and that’s true and I had an ah ha moment when I heard that because it gave an explanation to something I couldn’t quite capture with words that explains my own psyche. Living through intense dust storms, tumbleweeds, tornados and sudden blizzards does that. The older generations that carved out farms, ranches, towns on the plains left tenacity and talent that imprinted the following generations. I do hope you read this and if you do, I thank you and hope to hear from you. And thank you for writing your eloquent book about west Texas music. Darlene Youts From: Cindy Martin I’m looking for information on the Heart Beats, the all-girl band in Lubbock in the late 1960s. Members of the band were: Linda Sanders -Drums, lead vocals They were on Happening 68 and won $10,000 and opened for Glen Campbell at Municipal Auditorium in 1969. Do you know where any of them are today? Cindy Martin From:
Renee Emmett Chris, I ran across your website
on a Linked-in group discussion from Johnny Hughes. I accidentally sent him the message
below which I am now forwarding to your attention: Renee Emmett
I was on your website and could not
find anything on Jack Huddle and the Circle 13 Dude Ranch.
My dad, Harold Giese, played the base fiddle in the band. Charlene Hancock
sang in the band and I sent Conni
Hancock pictures of her mother,
in the good ole' days. Everyone wants my recording of "Starlight,
Starbright" by the band. KDAV played it for me and
Jerry Coleman could not believe anyone would ask for it!
He had great memories of Jack Huddle. Enjoyed the article about the Maines Brothers. I was too young for the Cotton Club but remember Mom and Dad going. The Palm Room was the other gathering place. Many Tech parties being held there! Sandra Giese Snowden Chris,
Hi Chris - My friend, Sandy Snowden, recently sent you info on Jack Huddle. I have what I think is an interesting story, but it doesn't go with the theme of West Texas music, but it's close. For what it's worth... In 1967, Sandy and I worked, for free on Saturdays, at KLBK-TV on their dance show Swingin' Set. Every week we had a band on the show to lip sync their latest song. On one show we had THEM. Van Morrison had recently left the group and Kenny McDowell had taken his place. After the show, Sandy and I went with THEM and their driver to the Embers for lunch. A few days later they played at one of the local clubs and I had a date with Kenny and Sandy had a date with Alan Henderson. After they left town, Kenny called me from Los Angeles, but my parents wouldn't let me come to the phone!!! So, I never heard from him again. I was 19 yrs. old and he was 23 yrs. old. Flash forward to Aug. 2007 - I'm preparing to move back to Lubbock from Los Angeles and while packing, I find the old snapshots that I took that day at lunch. I decided to try and find Kenny, wouldn't THAT be fun. One day my search paid off, I got an email from Kenny. Today he is singing the blues at the local pub in Belfast, living with his second wife and doing well. He still had his copies of the pictures I took that day in 1967! He said they traveled with him in 43 states, Canada and Europe. We have emailed now for a year and he sends me music (some are his "garage tapes" from the 70's and 80's) Kenny left his family band at the age of 15, after hearing Buddy Holly. He replaced Van in the group and by 1967 he came to the states for a few years where he got to meet the Crickets and Buddy's brothers. What blew me away is that he became a Plains Indian buff while living here. He loves Buddy Holly and the Indians. I also sent him the link to VirtualLubbock today since he knew Sandy. I get an email from him nearly every day - I hope that you find this interesting. Sincerely -----Original Message----- Greetings Chris, Just getting in touch with some
personal news. Last May I married my former ALWAYS,
PATSY CLINE! p.s. Here
is my new print "Jones for the Nazz" -----Original Message----- Hi Chris, Jean Patterson From: Tommy
Hancock Dear Editor, Most people already know of the many
well known musicians from Lubbock but this show included only
the as yet unknown. It verified the theory that there is a continual
phenomenon of terrific musicians in Lubbock--for whatever reason.
I just finished your book. Thank you, thank you, thank you for Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air! Finally I have something to counter the "You're not just a liar you're a damn liar" look I get when I tell people the truth about Lubbock talent. Have you ever gotten that look? I imagine that most Lubbock expats have at one time or another. It's happened to me so often I really try to behave myself now. I'll be at a party just introduced to a stranger and the conversation will go something like the following:
Now here is where if my better angels are not asleep at the switch, I just toss off Dixie Chick Natalie Maines (Yes, that Dixie Chick) and maybeMac Davis and we're done. But no. As often as not I hurl myself right into the "You're not just a liar you're a damn liar" look by saying something like: "Well, let's see. If we shorten the list by limiting it only to the kids I personally walked the now hallowed halls of Monterey High with in the four years from fall 1955 to spring 1959, we have:
Generally by this time the "You're
not just a liar, you're a damned liar" look is replaced
with frantic searching over or around my head for someone, anyone,
to bring into this conversation and break it up.
My first exposure to the Maines Brothers was at the KLLL Saturday Night Oprys they had at the Municipal Auditorium for a few years. An excerpt from one of those shows is on their first album. My wife taught Lloyd Maines' oldest daughter, Kim, in second grade, and our oldest daughter is named after her. Kim was nice enough to remember her favorite elementary school teacher and invite us to her wedding, so we were in Lloyd Maines' Austin backyard along with the Dixie Chicks (pre-controversy) a few years ago to see Kim get married. My wife, Karen, and I were at the first two Tornado Jams, including the deluge. We took a couple of tarps due to the threat of rain. She went to stand in the tremendously long line for the port-a-potties. Karen was in that line when the cloudburst hit. She told me that five or six people were cramming themselves into each portable toilet to get out of the rain. Given that choice, Karen decided she's just rather be wet. After the rain, she finally got to do her business and returned to the spot we had staked out, looking like a drowned cat. I started to gather up our stuff, figuring she'd want to leave. Karen said she was as wet as she was ever going to get so we just stayed and enjoyed the rest of the concert. I believe my daughter has my Tornado Jam and Maines Brothers T-shirts with her up at Tech. I think I still have my T-Jam cap here somewhere. Your dad must be Corky Oglesby, and I'll be he knows my dad, Gerald Rogers. After he coached at Monterey, where he gave Gerald Myers his first coaching job, my dad was the public address announcer for Tech football and basketball for thirty-one years. Though many of my growing-up friends have left Lubbock, I still have a good friend there who works at the A-J, Joe Gulick. I'm mostly an old talk radio junkie these days, but I still have all the Maines Brothers albums, several Joe Ely albums and Terry Allen's "Lubbock...On Everything" album, all on vinyl. I'll have to find those CDs, or figure out how to convert my albums to MP3s so I can share them with my kids. Thanks again for a great website and I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of it. I had searched in vain for a Maines Brothers website for several years, and my wife told me yesterday that they finally had one. I had toyed with the idea of putting up a fan site for some time but never got around to it. A Google search for "Maines Brothers Band" led me to your interview with Lloyd, the Tornado Jam stories, etc. Steve Rogers
Hey Chris, Also, do you know Ralph De Witt
of Ralph's
Record Store? There's another Sincerely,
Sent: Tue,
5 Feb 2008 12:09 pm Chris- I'm in Thailand playing the
craziest tour of all. spent 2 weeks in Vietnam playing sometimes
twice a day and now here. the king's sister dies and a lot of
shows were cancelled for a mourning period but's we've been playing
a t colleges. my guitar was smashed on the trip, we've been crazed
and exhausted and want to get home. playing for the US Ambassador's
party tonight. see you soon, click here to read more archived letters from our readers |
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teachers, so when they pulled out all the percussion instruments for us to play, I ALWAYS got stuck with the damn sticks--the stupid instrument. I so longed for the more colorful things such as the triangle, bells, tambourine, etc., I promised myself I’d someday earn a more sophisticated instrument. God eventually gave me the ability to play six of them. But in the end, a drum set was my bag, so I once again ended up with nothing but some damn sticks.
Coronado High School sweetheart from
68/69, Caralyn
Pendley. ( Cara Daniel
was her stage name before changing to Caralyn Snyder professionally.)