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June this year saw me making a trip to
Texas for two of the foremost western swing festivals that
take place at Snyder and Wichita Falls. My trip actually
started at Oklahoma City where the American Indian Red Earth
festival kicked off on Friday 1st June with a parade through
downtown Oklahoma City. The annual event brings together
members of the many Indian tribes for three days of traditional
Indian dance competitions that includes the men’s,  women’s
and children’s section at the city’s Cox Centre. Taking
a little time out from the dance completions, several hours
can be spent browsing around the many art and craft stalls
selling fine Indian made artefacts and jewellery. Taking
an afternoon out from the Red Earth event I drove over to
the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum and spent
some time looking through the many wonderful exhibits. The
museum covers all aspects of cowboy culture involving both
the working cowboy and the silver-screen cowboys and includes
cloths, tools, guns as well as famed paintings and sculptures
with James Earle Fraser’s 1894 End Of The Trail sculpture
dominating the main entrance hall.
Heading south my next port of call was
the township of Gene Autry (named after the famous movie
star and cowboy singer) and can be found a short drive from
Interstate 35. A small museum here is dedicated to Gene and
run by a dedicated group of volunteers who keep the memory
of the actor/singer alive today. A whole range of
memorabilia has been donated by various sources including
Gene Autry himself and also cover many other silver-screen
cowboy actors.
The main purpose of my trip was to attend
the western swing festivals that take place each year at
Snyder and Wichita Falls. Snyder is found in the county
of Scurry west of Dallas and Southwest of Lubbock. Its beginnings
go back to 1878 when buffalo hunter and trader William Henry
(Pete) Snyder built a trading post on the banks of Deep
 Creek.
J. Wright Mooar was another buffalo hunter who on 7th October
1876 shot arare albino buffalo near to Deep Creek which
was a sourse of water for the roaming buffalo. A statue
of the white buffalo was placed in Snyder town square.
Snyder western swing festival started
around 1990/91 and was hosted at their fine coliseum, which
is rare to find in the towns of West Texas. Talking to Jim
Shearer who is currently one of the co-directors of the
western swing committee explained a little about how the
festival started out. “The originators of the western swing
festival needed the town and the county’s co-operation,
because it’s heavily supported by volunteerism and without
that I don’t think you could put one of these events on
and also needed some brakes on the financial end. After
about four years the organisers decided to re-locate elsewhere
and kinda took the Chamber Of Commerce by storm!!! My sister
Donna Fowler was the director of the Chamber Of Commerce
at the time and she was very enthusiastic with anything
to do with Snyder….anything that put us on the map…she was
for!!! She enjoyed the national attention that western swing
brought to Snyder. It gave us a national event and it utilised
some of the facilities that were not being used to their
maximum such as the coliseum.” When the festival moved away
from Snyder, Jim and several other people who were involved
with the festival approached Donna and they decided to start
their own festival which over the years has gone from strength
to strength. Donna passed away several years ago and in
July 2007 she was inducted into the Western Swing Hall Of
Fame along with Gloria Miers  (Legends
Of Western Swing) and Barbara Martin (editor of Western
Swing Monthly).
The four day festival took place at the
town’s coliseum over 6th – 9th June. Three bands each day
with afternoon and evening performances starting on the
Wednesday with the popular Clyde Brewer and the River Road
Boys from Houston giving us two great shows. Playboys II
sees former members of Bob Wills Texas Playboys coming together
with Leon Rausch on vocals, Johnny Gimble on fiddle and
mandolin and steel guitarist Herb Remington heading the
band. The third band of the day was a new name to me fronted
by Nashville’s western swing performer Mike Siler. Some
excellent western swing from this artist……as well having
a great singing voice Mike entertained the audience with
his easy humorous style. Thursday had famed Texas singer
Curtis Potter opening the day’s entertainment, followed
by Kelly Spinks and to close both the afternoon and evening
shows the Austin All-stars featuring Asleep At The Wheel’s
piano pounder Floyd Domino and steel player Cindy Cashdoller
who left AATW a little while ago, plus ex-Hot Club Of Cowtown
vocalist and fiddle player Elena James giving us top class
shows.
The main hall contained numerous stalls
selling everything from jewellery, to cloths, to American
Indian style rugs, to German roast nuts and of course CDs
and DVDs. One stall was dedicated to Mike O’Daniel a very
popular DJ and MC who tragically died in July 2006 while
fishing on a Texas reservoir. Mike was a great nephew of
W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel the famous Burrus Flour Mills manager
who hired Bob Wills’ earlier band The Light Crust Doughboys
and  now
a scholarship fund for young musicians has been setup in
Mike’s name.
More fine western swing started at noon
on the Friday with Billy Mata and the Texas Tradition, Wild
River Band (with Herb Remington on steel) and the ever popular
Jake Hooker and the Outsiders all giving class performances.
The Saturday started off similar to the first three days
with favourite Bobby Flores and the Yellow Rose Band. Bobby
is a fine vocalist and multi-talented musician who usually
plays fiddle on stage and can be found playing fiddle with
Ray Price and The Cherokee Cowboys. Eddie McAlvain and the
Mavericks took the middle spot with top western swing band
Jody Nix & The Texas Cowboys rounding off the entertainment.
The evening shows started at 6.30pm and a little prior to
this the heavens opened with a raging thunderstorm, with
rain forming a solid sheet of water. Around twenty minutes
into Bobby Flores opening the evening’s entertainment the
whole area suffered an electrical blackout. Bobby along
with the band’s fiddle player and drummer keeping time tried
to carry the music on. It was a little reminiscent of the
string quartet seen in the Titanic movies!!! Eventually
the organisers had to move everyone out of the main hall
and into the  glassed
foyer for safety as the light faded. Around an hour later
the power was restored and the show restarted with Eddie
McAlvain giving us the very appropriate Bob Wills standard
“Deep Water”!!! Jody Nix brought Snyder’s 2007 western swing
festival to a close with another exciting performance. Although
there was the one setback with the weather, it was another
success for the Snyder West Texas Western Swing Festival.
The sound was supplied by Doyle & Mary Marshall and
spot-on everytime. Thanks to Sandra Salinas and Jim Shearer
for their hospitality and the kind invitation.
After a few days staying with friend
in Amarillo my next port of call was The Legends of Western
Swing Festival at Wichita Falls. I first attended this festival
with my wife in 2001 and was made very welcome by the lovely
lady Mrs Gloria Miers (known fondly as Miss Gloria). Each
year I receive a kind invitation to attend the Legends Festival
and had the greatest pleasure to go back in 2005 and once
again this year (2007). The Legends Festival was started
by Miss Gloria’s husband (who passed away in 2000) and others
nineteen years ago in Canton, Texas and has been in Wichita
Falls for several years now.
The Legends Of Western Swing Festival
runs over three days 14th – 16th June with four bands playing
an evening and afternoon show. Special recognition was given
to Mike O’Daniel, steel guitar ace Tom Morrell and James
Lane a long time sponsor of the Legends festival who have
all passed away over the past twelve months. Seating is
setup as a concert venue with a dance floor to the rear
where you can two-step to your heart’s delight. The excellent
sound  once
again was supplied by Doyle & Mary Marshall and several
of the stallholders who were at Snyder could also be found
at The Legends festival. For those who were feeling the
strain of the day, or the dance floor you could get a massage
from two professionals who had a special chair setup and
were kept busy throughout the three days bringing a little
relief to some of the fans.
Starting out on the Thursday Clyde Brewer
& The River Road Boys opened the afternoon show followed
by New Mexico’s Ted Scanlon & Desperados…both bands
being long time performers at the Legends festivals. John
England & the Western & the Swingers can be regularly
found playing at Nashville’s Robert’s Western World on Lower
Broadway, but on this occasion they played at the Legends
festival for the second year in succession. Band members
have played with the cream for country music stars over
the years including Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, Vince Gill,
Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and many more. The band also
brought songbird Carolyn Martin with them  from
Nashville who joined the band on stage for a couple of numbers.
The last band of the afternoon was the highly talented Quebe
Sisters Band who only played the one show. I first saw Grace,
Sophia and Hulda playing triple fiddle at Red Steagall’s
Cowboy Gathering in Fort Worth in 2003. Since then the sisters
have played at the Grand Ole Opry and been part of Ray Benson’s
(Asleep At The Wheel) Ride With Bob stage show. The girls
have now started singing in harmony very much in the style
of the 40’s singing group The Andrews Sisters...exceptionally
good and I’m sure these girls will go on to great things
in the music business. The other members of the Quebe Sisters
Band are their tutor and mentor Joey McKenzie and bassist
Drew Phelps.
The evening show was very much as the
afternoon, but with the legendary Ray Price and The Cherokee
Cowboys taking the second spot on the schedule. Now at 82
years of age Ray still has a great voice and pulled in a
near full house. The Cherokee Cowboys are the cream of the
crop with five fiddle players making up the string section.
All Ray’s top hits and more gave the fans a sensational
show, with Ray coming out at the end of his performance
to meet the fans for the customary photo shots and autographs
which lasted well over an hour.
Friday opened with Justin Trevino and
his band giving two excellent shows. Steel player Tom Morrell
passed away in January 2007. His band The Timewarp Tophands
has held together and was joined at the Legends festival
by Pee Wee Whitewing, best known as a member of Hank Thompson’s
Brazos Valley Boys. The other two bands of the day were
the ever popular Ted Scanlon & The Desperados and Billy
Mata and Texas Tradition. 
Saturday had Jody Nix & the Texas
Cowboys opening the show, followed by local band Eddie McAlvain
and the Mavericks. One-time member of Ray Price’s band (mid-60’s),
Johnny Bush and the Bandeleros have long been highly popular.
Since the late 70’s Johnny has suffered problems with voice
which was diagnosed as spastic dysphonia a rare neurological
condition. Recent treatment using botox injections has corrected
this problem and Johnny Bush gave two faultless performances
on the last day of the festival. Bobby Flores and the Yellow
Rose band were the last band giving two excellent performances
during the afternoon and evening. Saturday was also a special
occasion as it was my birthday with friends Betty and Doug
Carter surprising me with cards and a birthday cake that
brought many congratulations as folk joined in the occasion
and helped themselves to a slice of cake.
All the hard work by Miss Gloria,
daughter Melinda and the team of helpers once again paid off
with another successful Legends of Western Swing Festival. A
great big thank you to Miss Gloria for her kind invitation
and I look forward to the next time I can get over to
Wichita Falls for the Legends of Western Swing Festival.
July 2007
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