| My first trip
to Texas was June 2001 when my wife Marlene and I spent three
weeks on honeymoon travelling around the Lone Star State.
We started at The Legends of
Western Swing Festival, Wichita Falls where
Mrs Gloria Miers who organises the three day event made us
very welcome. In 2005 I was invited to the Academy of Western
Artists convention and the Will Rogers Award show where I
met Jim Anderson from Amarillo. Jim heads the western trio
Palo Duro named after the second biggest canyon in America
(biggest being Grand Canyon) and subsequently we become very
good friends.
The historic U.S. Route
66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway
after the humorist, and colloquially known as the
"Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road")
was a vision of business man Cyrus Avery. Route 66 was established
on 11th November, 1926 with road signs erected the following
year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads
in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
and California, before ending at Los Angeles, covering a
total of 2,448 miles. In Amarillo the heart of Route 66
runs through 6th Avenue where Jim’s son Cody has the restaurant
and ice-cream parlour Cowboy Gelato. Over the weekend of
9th-12th June the Route 66 International Festival took place
on 6th Avenue (locally known as 6th Street) celebrating
85 years of the Mother Road.
6th Street was closed to traffic on Saturday giving fans the
freedom to wander around and admire the many exhibits of classic
cars, pickups and motor cycles that lined both sides of the
street. An open-air stage offered music all day with five bands
playing, including Texas Crossroads out of Shamrock, Wheeler
County and Road Crew from Nashville playing 50’s & 60’s style of
music. Authors and Artists set-up camp in one of the many
buildings to meet fans and offer all sorts of goods for sale
associated with Route 66. Bars and restaurants on the street did a
roaring trade with Cowboy Gelato offering the best Italian
ice-cream in Texas as well as plenty of fine food. Portable
toilets and plenty of garbage bins were set in place for the
anticipated crowds that were to come including many families with
young children.
Sunday (12th June) Kenny Rogers
came to town for a concert at the Amarillo Civic Center
Auditorium. With tickets for the show, Jim Anderson along
with his wife Ann, Marlene and I went along to see his great
show. Opening was Billy Dean who will be remembered from
the 1990’s. Dean made his chart debut in the late 90’s with
the single "Only Here for a Little While" and
followed-up with "Somewhere in My Broken Heart",
both #3 hits on the Billboard country  charts.
Even though he never reached the top of the Billboard country
charts on his own, he reached #1 in 2000 when he joined
Alison Krauss as guest vocalists on Kenny Rogers' "Buy
Me a Rose". At the age of 73 Kenny still puts on an
excellent show, throwing $10 bills at a guy on the front
row for every hit song he remembered.
The following Tuesday we went for dinner and a musical
show in the beautiful Pioneer Amphitheatre, carved out of
and nestled into a natural basin in the majestic Palo Duro
Canyon. This year is the 45th Anniversary Season of the
official play Texas.
This Family-Friendly Show is set against an authentic tapestry
of history with the show’s fictional characters bringing
to life the stories, struggles and triumphs of the settlers
of the Texas Panhandle in
the 1800s with song and dance plus a generous helping of
good ol’ Texas humour and spellbinding lighting effects.
Wednesday morning was a short Texas drive (225 miles)
down to Wichita Falls for the Legends
of Western Swing Festival and meet-up with
more friends and a pre-festival dinner with Eddie McAlvain
and his band Mavericks providing the music. Eddie who lives
in Wichita Falls began his professional career in the 1950's
as lead singer for legendary Bobby Koefer who was a former
steel guitarist with The Texas Playboys. Eddie has also
been inducted into Western Swing Hall of fame in Sacramento,
Seattle and the Cowtown Society of Western Music in Fort
Worth.
With a very warm welcome from Miss Gloria we had three
days of wonderful western swing at the Multi-Purpose Events
Center. On the Thursday it was both my birthday and 10th
wedding anniversary and some of the best western swing bands
in the country. Three bands performing each day for both
afternoon and evening shows saw John England & The Western
Swingers from Nashville opening the festival, followed by
Grammy Award winning Bobby Flores & Yellow Rose Band.
The final band for Thursday was Austin’s Red Voelkaert Band
that included steel player Cindy Cashdoller and piano pounder
Floyd Domino who both played with Asleep At The Wheel some
years ago. Friends Betty & Doug Carter from Albuquerque
made the arrangements to celebrate our wedding anniversary
with a large cake to share with the many fans during the
evening, giving us a wonderful day to remember. Also celebrating
his 50th birthday was Bobby Flores who was surprised on
stage by a group of friends with a birthday cake. Fans came
from as far away as Britain and Japan, included young children
and mature fans heading towards their 90’s. A young 8 year
old called Jackson who was there with his grandparents from
Louisiana attached himself to our group showing of his new
cowboy boots, hat twirling and buck-dancing skills.
Friday and the music continued with Jimmy Burson &
Texas in the Swing, the great Dennis Ivey Band who I hadn’t
seen before, plus Ted Scanlon & Desperados from New
Mexico. With two large dance floors the swing fans were
well accommodated to two-step around the floor from 12-30pm
until 11-00pm. Saturday opened with Tony Harrison &
Hot Texas out of Austin. Tony hails from London and told
me that he and his wife (both hairdressers) moved to the
USA in the 1960’s when Tony worked for British hairstylist
Vidal Sassoon and relocated to the New York salon. Eddie
McAlvain & The Mavericks next on stage giving a thrilling
performance and offering tribute to American service veterans
with Elton Britt's song "There's A Star Spangled Banner
Waving Somewhere". Britain’s own Swing Commanders had
the privilege to close both the afternoon and evening shows.
This was the second time the Swing Commanders had played
The Legends Festival and once again they took the place
by storm, thrilling the crowd with some great western swing
and  showmanship
along with their D.J. friend, GI-Jive (Ian Hartley) and
his wife Sheilagh demonstrating their terrific 40’s dance
routines. Saturday evening also saw a group of young men
and women trainees from the nearby Sheppard Air Force Base
being invited to join the festivities. It is
the largest training base and most diversified in Air Education
and Training Command.
This was my fourth time at the Legends of Swing Festival and
I look forward to the next time I can make it to Wichita Falls!!!
Driving on to Grapevine close to Dallas/Fort Worth airport,
Marlene and I came across the
Southwest Bluegrass Club that was started back in
1974 and meets the third Sunday of each month at the Founders
Building, 701 S. Main St. in Grapevine (just across from the
railway station). On this Sunday the Shady Grove Ramblers gave a
stunning performance headed by Tom Uhr who has written several of
their numbers, making the perfect conclusion to our celebratory
Texas trip.
June 2011 |
