July 4, 2009
PARALLEL UNIVERSE: 'The Day the Music Died' 50 Years Ago and 'The Roots of Texas Music'
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
It's been 50 years and several months since three outstanding rock 'n' roll stars -- Charles H. "Buddy" Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in the crash of a small plane Feb. 3, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa. The crash, which also took the life of the pilot, Roger Peterson, has gone down in history as The Day the Music Died.
I was reminded of this anniversary while reading a wonderful book about music, "The Roots of Texas Music" (Texas A&M University Press, 2005) edited by Lawrence Clayton and Joe W. Specht. Two of the three on board the plane -- Holly, from Lubbock, and Richardson, from Beaumont -- were Texans. Valens (born Valenzuela) was from Pacoima, CA, in the San Fernando Valley. He was only 17. Holly was 22 and Richardson was 28.
The book describes the many varieties of Texas music, explored by experts in the music of the Texas Germans and Czechs, black Creoles, Tejanos, blues and gospel singers, jazz stars and -- of course -- country and western music exemplified by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Ernest Tubb (from Crisp, Texs), Gene Autry (born in Tioga, Texas) and Tex Ritter (born in Panola County, east Texas).
As befits a state as big -- the size of France and Belgium combined -- and as diverse as Texas, the book offers new perspectives into the influence of Texas in American music. The book doesn't actually cover Holly and Richardson, let alone Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings or Chicago native and transplanted Texan Richard "Kinky" Friedman -- it ends with 1950 -- but we can see how the pioneers influenced Texans like Janis Joplin from Port Arthur and many others. An eerie note: Waylon Jennings (1937-2002), from Littlefield, Texas, gave up his seat on the fatal plane and took the unheated bus to the concert in Moorhead, Minnesota.
The influence of Texans Scott Joplin, the king of ragtime, from Texarkana and Charlie Christian, electric guitar pioneer from Bonham (he moved as a young child to Oklahoma City) cannot be overestimated. Christian (1916-1942) is a jazz legend, having played with Benny Goodman, a Chicago native who integrated jazz and swing music with black stars like Lionel Hampton and Christian at a time when bands were strictly segregated. Goodman was the first white bandleader to feature black musicians — he hired Fletcher Henderson as arranger and pianist Teddy Wilson in 1935, and in 1936 added Hampton on vibraphone. Goodman hired Christian to play with the newly formed Goodman Sextet in 1939.
Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter ("The Midnight Special," "Goodnight Irene") was born on the Louisiana side of the Texas-Louisiana border, but he's included in the book because of his work in Texas, as well as the time he spent in Texas prisons.
Bob Wills from Kosse in Limestone County, south of Corsicana, Texas, was an influence on many artists, including Autry and Ritter, as well as a group formed in West Virginia, Asleep at the Wheel.
Formed in Paw Paw, WV, in the state's Eastern Panhandle In 1969 by Ray Benson and Lucky Oceans (Reuben Gosfield), Asleep at the Wheel began big, opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna in Washington, DC. They moved to Oakland, California in 1970 at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. At the invitation of Willie Nelson, born in Abbot, Texas, they moved to Austin, Texas, the state's music mecca, in 1974.
(If you can remember Commander Cody, you're probably ready for Medicare!)
Jazz legends like trombonist Jack Teagarden, born in 1905 in Vernon, Texas, and his trumpet playing brother Charlie, are included in the book. In addition to covering white jazz stars like the Teagarden brothers, the book explores the influence of African-Americans in the development of jazz, with Texans like trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page, from Dallas; Teddy Wilson, born in Austin; and bassist Gene Ramey, also born in Austin, represented.
Jazz stars from Texas include two immortals: Ornette Coleman from Fort Worth and Illinois Jacquet from Houston. The book describes how Coleman, born in 1930, was influenced "early on by the blues, Mexican American and country western sounds that he heard around him." Other "Cowtown" (Texan for Fort Worth) jazz stars included clarinetist John Carter, tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman and drummer Charles Moffett.
If you're a dedicated music fan, "The Roots of Texas Music" belongs in your library. More than two dozen copies were listed on Amazon.com, with prices under $10.
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PARALLEL UNIVERSE: 'The Day the Music Died' 50 Years Ago and 'The Roots of Texas Music'
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
It's been 50 years and several months since three outstanding rock 'n' roll stars -- Charles H. "Buddy" Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in the crash of a small plane Feb. 3, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa. The crash, which also took the life of the pilot, Roger Peterson, has gone down in history as The Day the Music Died.
I was reminded of this anniversary while reading a wonderful book about music, "The Roots of Texas Music" (Texas A&M University Press, 2005) edited by Lawrence Clayton and Joe W. Specht. Two of the three on board the plane -- Holly, from Lubbock, and Richardson, from Beaumont -- were Texans. Valens (born Valenzuela) was from Pacoima, CA, in the San Fernando Valley. He was only 17. Holly was 22 and Richardson was 28.
The book describes the many varieties of Texas music, explored by experts in the music of the Texas Germans and Czechs, black Creoles, Tejanos, blues and gospel singers, jazz stars and -- of course -- country and western music exemplified by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Ernest Tubb (from Crisp, Texs), Gene Autry (born in Tioga, Texas) and Tex Ritter (born in Panola County, east Texas).
As befits a state as big -- the size of France and Belgium combined -- and as diverse as Texas, the book offers new perspectives into the influence of Texas in American music. The book doesn't actually cover Holly and Richardson, let alone Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings or Chicago native and transplanted Texan Richard "Kinky" Friedman -- it ends with 1950 -- but we can see how the pioneers influenced Texans like Janis Joplin from Port Arthur and many others. An eerie note: Waylon Jennings (1937-2002), from Littlefield, Texas, gave up his seat on the fatal plane and took the unheated bus to the concert in Moorhead, Minnesota.
The influence of Texans Scott Joplin, the king of ragtime, from Texarkana and Charlie Christian, electric guitar pioneer from Bonham (he moved as a young child to Oklahoma City) cannot be overestimated. Christian (1916-1942) is a jazz legend, having played with Benny Goodman, a Chicago native who integrated jazz and swing music with black stars like Lionel Hampton and Christian at a time when bands were strictly segregated. Goodman was the first white bandleader to feature black musicians — he hired Fletcher Henderson as arranger and pianist Teddy Wilson in 1935, and in 1936 added Hampton on vibraphone. Goodman hired Christian to play with the newly formed Goodman Sextet in 1939.
Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter ("The Midnight Special," "Goodnight Irene") was born on the Louisiana side of the Texas-Louisiana border, but he's included in the book because of his work in Texas, as well as the time he spent in Texas prisons.
Bob Wills from Kosse in Limestone County, south of Corsicana, Texas, was an influence on many artists, including Autry and Ritter, as well as a group formed in West Virginia, Asleep at the Wheel.
Formed in Paw Paw, WV, in the state's Eastern Panhandle In 1969 by Ray Benson and Lucky Oceans (Reuben Gosfield), Asleep at the Wheel began big, opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna in Washington, DC. They moved to Oakland, California in 1970 at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. At the invitation of Willie Nelson, born in Abbot, Texas, they moved to Austin, Texas, the state's music mecca, in 1974.
(If you can remember Commander Cody, you're probably ready for Medicare!)
Jazz legends like trombonist Jack Teagarden, born in 1905 in Vernon, Texas, and his trumpet playing brother Charlie, are included in the book. In addition to covering white jazz stars like the Teagarden brothers, the book explores the influence of African-Americans in the development of jazz, with Texans like trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page, from Dallas; Teddy Wilson, born in Austin; and bassist Gene Ramey, also born in Austin, represented.
Jazz stars from Texas include two immortals: Ornette Coleman from Fort Worth and Illinois Jacquet from Houston. The book describes how Coleman, born in 1930, was influenced "early on by the blues, Mexican American and country western sounds that he heard around him." Other "Cowtown" (Texan for Fort Worth) jazz stars included clarinetist John Carter, tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman and drummer Charles Moffett.
If you're a dedicated music fan, "The Roots of Texas Music" belongs in your library. More than two dozen copies were listed on Amazon.com, with prices under $10.
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
