Cadillac Home in My Model A

On a recent pit stop in West, the little Texas town known for its kolaches, I happened across what appeared to be an old Model A Ford on the back of a trailer. I say "appeared to be a Model A Ford" because I am no expert on cars, and also because a lot of the car's parts were being transported where the seats used to be. If you happen to know the make and model of this rusty little gem, please drop me a line.

Here's Bob Wills singing "Cadillac in Model 'A.'"

Parker County Peach Cheesecake

Around our house, cheesecake reigns as the supreme dessert regardless of whether it is National Cheesecake Day or not. Yesterday, although neither of us knew that today was National Cheesecake Day, Martina created what I would describe as a Parker County Peach Cheesecake. The peaches come from my aunt and uncle's place, known colloquially as Nanner Manor, out in Parker County.

Here is a piece of that fine local dessert.

Brand Books

Martina and I recently visited the Doss Heritage and Culture Center in Weatherford. Although I enjoyed all of the exhibits, today I would like to share a picture of one of the Loving family’s Brand Books. Oliver Loving, incidentally, was one of the namesakes of the Loving-Goodnight Trail. Gus in Lonesome Dove is based on him. Notice that the entry at the top of the page is from Larry McMurtry’s home county.

Brand Books, such as this one, are used to track livestock and help prosecute rustlers. 

From Dance Pavilion to Dust

On the weekend, I had business in River Oaks (Fort Worth) and while driving down White Settlement Road came to realize that I was a short distance from the site of the old Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion, which was the birthplace of Western Swing. According to Hometown by Handlebar, even Bonnie and Clyde used to go dancing to the music of Milton Brown at Crystal Springs.

I stopped the car in front of a business and walked across the street in the blistering summer heat to see what I could see. I had read an online thread describing the site of the old dance pavilion, which burned down in the 1960s, and the picture below matches the description. At the very least, the dance hall would have been in the general vicinity of the photo that I took.

Here is Bob Wills, who appeared regularly at Crystal Springs, playing Clyde Barrow's favorite song, "My Mary." According to Hometown by Handlebar, Clyde Barrow often requested Milton Brown to play this tune.

Wash Across Texas

While driving along this morning, I saw the Wash Across Texas Mobile Detail van. The name made me laugh, so I decided to make up some alternate lyrics to Ernest Tubb's country standard.

Wash across Texas
with a squeegee in my arms,
Rub a dub scrub, honey, do!

Here's The Mavericks playing "Waltz Across Texas" at Gruene Hall.

Take a Lefty Frizzell

My old man is a fine product of the Texas oral tradition, and he has always coined his own words and phrases. For example, when I am driving and he is passenging (yes, I make up my own words, too), he will tell me to "take a Lefty Frizzell." A "Lefty Frizzell," incidentally, is a left turn. I imagine the phrase is a play off of "take a Hank Snow," with "a Hank Snow" meaning a U-turn. "Pulling (or taking) a Hank Snow" is a fairly common phrase among the old timers, though I have never heard anyone other than my old man say "take a Lefty Frizzell." If you've heard this term before, drop me a line. I'm curious to know if other folks say it, too.

Here is a little honkytonk tune by Lefty Frizzell.

The 1890 Penny

For reasons I can not completely explain, I keep an 1890 Indian Head penny on my writing desk. Although I was drawn to the penny because many historians consider 1890 the end of Manifest Destiny, I still lament the settling of the West. 

I don't know. Perhaps somewhere deep in my mind the penny is a symbol of irrevocable change. Perhaps it represents my ambivalence toward modernity. Then again, perhaps I keep it there because I wonder where it's been. Regardless of the reason or reasons, the penny still remains.

Here is Texas' own Guy Clark singing "Indian Head Penny."

Panther City Review Launch

I am happy to announce that Panther City Review 2018 will launch at the Funkytown Creative Arts Lounge in Fort Worth at 4 pm on Saturday, August 18. The Creative Arts Lounge, which is located in the Fort Worth Stockyards, holds a special place in my heart. Not only is it the place where Waylon County: Texas Stories was launched, it is within moseying distance of the packing houses where three generations of my family worked.

Two of my new stories, "Honkytonking with the Silver Strings" and "The Pregnancy Test," will appear in this year's Panther City Review. Both stories are set in Waylon County and will likely be included in my next collection. Other writers in the anthology include Donna Walker-Nixon, editor of the acclaimed Her Texas: Story, Image, Poem & Song, filmmaker and writer Mark A. Nobles, author of Fort Worth's Rock and Roll Roots, and Rachel Pilcher, publisher at Sleeping Panther Press. More updates will be coming soon.

    

Grand Texas

July 14 is Bastille Day in France, so I reckon we can celebrate it in Texas with an old Cajun tune. The song I would like to share is "Grand Texas," a French number that was written by Chuck Guillory, a fiddle-playing Cajun from Mamou, Louisiana. Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," which was (possibly) co-written with Texas piano player Moon Mullican, uses the melody of Guillory's song. 

Here is a version of "Grand Texas" featuring Jules "Papa Cairo" Lamperez, who recorded with Dallas' Bluebonnet Records and toured with the Texas Troubadour, Ernest Tubb.

   

Musing on Shaver and Joyce

This morning I was thinking about a line from "I Feel a Change Coming On," a song written by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter a few years back. The line goes like this: "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver and I'm reading James Joyce."

While I'm not foolish enough to pretend to know what's going on between the ears of Dylan and Hunter, whom I consider to be two of the greatest songwriters of the last century, I am foolhardy enough to discuss what the line means to me personally. 

To me, the line shows two different approaches to writing about one's homeland. James Joyce's approach to writing about Ireland was very studied and academic. He incorporated the lore and history of the Emerald Isle into his work. The writing of Billy Joe Shaver, on the other hand, seems to be instinctual. His writing about Texas has a salt of the earth feel to it. Both Joyce and Shaver, in my opinion, are very successful in conveying images of their homelands, though their approaches are very different.

Here is Billy Joe Shaver's "Live Forever."

  

   

A Name that Rhymes with Birmingham

Austin's own Jon Dee Graham is playing in the Fort tonight, and it's a pity we couldn't make the show. Jon Dee Graham, an Austin Music Hall of Famer, played with Jesse Sublett in the 1970s punk band, The Skunks, and played in the True Believers with Alejandro Escovedo after that. Fans of Ray Wylie Hubbard might remember hearing "Jon Dee Graham" rhymed with "Birmingham" in the song "Name Droppin'." I have to say I like the way that rhymes. Well, anyway, I hope we catch Jon Dee Graham on the next go 'round.   

Here is Jon Dee Graham, post Skunk punk, playing on an acoustic guitar.

The Singing Schoolteacher

Today I would like to share a tune by "The Singing Schoolteacher," Arlie Duff, who was born in Southeast Texas in 1924. After World War II, Duff earned a BS and an MA in education from Stephen F. Austin and went on to a teaching and coaching career. During his years in education, he moonlighted as a country singer and songwriter. He eventually achieved such a degree of success that he found himself playing at the Grand Ole Opry. Duff passed away on July 4, 1996.

If you would like to learn more about Arlie Duff, here is a link to a Texas State Historical Association article:

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fdu74

Here is Arlie Duff performing live on The Red Foley Show.

    

The Cemetery at D/FW Airport

In the introduction to Waylon County: Texas Stories, I talk about having family buried at Lonesome Dove Cemetery. This week I learned some other interesting facts about my family's past. I learned that my grandmother's ancestors, who arrived in Texas in 1840, received a Peters Colony land grant in what is now known as Grapevine.

One of my grandmother's ancestors, James Cate (1818-1908), gave 4.1 acres to his father-in-law, a lay minister by the name of Green W. Minter, for a chapel and a cemetery. Decades later, the chapel was moved to make way for D/FW Airport, though the cemetery is still there on the property of one of the world's busiest airports. A trip to visit this historical site is definitely in order.

Who were Cyril and Methodius?

Cyril and Methodius were two brothers born in Thessalonica in present-day Greece during the time of the Byzantine Empire. The two are known as "the Apostles to the Slavs" and are credited with creating the Slavic alphabet, which is based on the Greek alphabet. Languages such as Russian and Bulgarian use a modernized form of Cyril and Methodius' alphabet. These languages use "Cyrillic" script, with the word "Cyrillic" being derived from the name of Saint Cyril.

In Texas, there are several churches named after Cyril and Methodius, whose feast day is July 5th.  Towns such as Granger, Corpus Christi, Shiner, and Dubina, which was the first Czech settlement in Texas, all have a Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church.

Here is a video taken at the Painted Church in Shiner, Texas. The historical marker in front of the church is shown near the end of the video in case you would like to learn more.

Pickup Trucks and Roman Candles

In today's study of the mental processes of young males, I would like to share a Fourth of July story about pickup trucks and Roman candles. When I was seventeen, a couple of pickups filled with teenage boys were heading out to the lake to join other teenagers to shoot fireworks. However, rather than wait until we reached the lake to shoot our fireworks, those of us in the backs of the two pickup trucks began lighting Roman candles and firing them at our friends in the other pickup. I distinctly remember standing up in the back of the second pickup holding onto the top of the cab so that I could see the little fireballs that were shooting towards us.

No one was shot or injured during the pickup truck exchange of fire. However, once we reached our destination by the lake and were able to shoot fireworks from stable ground, a kid we did not know shot one of my buddies, who I will call Billy Bob, in the noggin with a fiery red ball. Ol' Billy Bob's hairdo was altered by this shot, for now he had a silver dollar size bald spot on the side of his melon. There was a heated exchange of rhetoric at that point, though the exchange ended in a harmonious understanding of the evening's purpose, and a peaceful teenage fireworks extravaganza ensued.

Today, from the hoary perch of adulthood, I now understand why municipalities ban fireworks within their boundaries and why one must often head to a firework friendly county to purchase lady fingers, Black Cats, and the like. Well, friends and neighbors, at this point I would like to wish y'all a safe and happy Fourth of July, and please be sure to heed the sagacious words of Evel Knievel, "Don't try this at home."


Here is "Roman Candles," a song off one of my favorite albums from my childhood.   

Remembering Hemingway

Back in my Yellowstone days, I once traveled to the Sawtooth Range, to Sun Valley, Idaho, to pay my respects to Ernest Hemingway. When I arrived at his grave, a chill ran through my body, for I realized that I had unknowingly arrived on July 2nd, the anniversary of his death. Today I pay tribute to him once again.

Here is Texas' own Guy Clark singing about Papa Hemingway.