Onie Wheeler, Odessa

ONIE WHEELER - Closing Time (Okeh 18037)

Onie Wheeler is easily one of my top 10 all-time favorite country & western artists. I mean the guy is right up there with Fred Crawford, Eddy Arnold, Kenny Rogers, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kenny Chesney, etc... Obviously, the dude is like god.

But what is a clodhoppin' hillbilly from Missouri doing on a blog about West Texas music? Colin Escott's liners from the EXCELLENT Onie's Bop release give the rundown thusly...

Onie Wheeler, brothers A.J. and Doyal Nelson, and Ernest Thompson had worked the mid-Missippi region pretty hard in 1952 holding down a gig on radio station KSIM and running from honky tonk to honky tonk in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas. Deciding to try their luck in golden California the quartet made it as far west as Monahans, Texas where they made a connection with Doc Bryant ("Cotton Pickin' Boogie" on Doc Bryant Records). Doc got them a gig back east here in Odessa for a 6 month stretch. A problem with the state liquor board brought the gig to an end, but Onie stayed on to work- oil field no doubt- while Thompson and the Nelson's headed northeast for Wichita Falls. Onie eventually tracked the boys down and convinced them to return to Odessa to work for a Miss Mack, who would close the honky tonk each night by bellerin' "It's Closin' Time" at her patrons. A few months later, on the advice of "Mr. Personality" Little Jimmy Dickens, the band headed back east in hopes of chasing down a recording contract. They recorded their first session for Columbia subsidiary Okeh on August 28, 1953.

For the second session Onie took Miss Mack's nightly closing salutation, set it to a tune, and called it "Closing Time". Accompanied by Benny "Big Tige" Martin on fiddle, Onie and combo turn in a swift hillbilly shuffler. Onie's lyrics ring familiar to just about anyone that's ever been there when they've shut the joint down for the night. The harmonies thrown in by the Nelson Brothers give the song a gospel feel, a style of music Onie was quite adept at. In a sense Onie was singing about church. Miss Macks was church. It was the place Odessan's prayed, confessed, sang, and cried every Friday and Saturday night. The wine their communion, Miss Mack the leader of flock.

Onie would continue to record some INCREDIBLE music for Columbia, an awesome hopped up honky tonk 45 for Sun, and a handful of great sides for K-Ark and other labels. Though he never even broke the Top 50 he really gave it everything he had. He even died on a stage at Opryland, mic in hand. The man really should be more than the footnote he is today.

Damn the Kenney Chesney's of the world.
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Here's an Onie Wheeler clip that Dave Stuckey posted on Youtube... yeah... amazing, right?! That's the Nelson's to his left and right I do believe.


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I cannot recommend Onie's Bear Family release Onie's Bop enough. Simply incredible. The photo above came from Onie's, uh, Myspace page. Check it HERE. Why doesn't he twitter, though?

The Sparkles, Levelland / Lubbock

THE SPARKLES- Hipsville 29 B.C. (I Need Help) (Hickory 1474)

The history, or histories, of this sorta-Levelland combo are all over the place. The first release by the Stan Smith fronted Sparkles came out of the Clovis, New Mexico garage studio of Caron Records and was a very minor hit, though they had recorded with Petty a few years prior. The next few years the combo worked though a couple of different line-ups, including one with two drummers, and were eventually joined by the famed Gary P. Nunn and drumming vocalist Lucky Floyd. The UT frats loved 'em, as did West Texas teens in the know. During their tenure with Nashville based Hickory Records and producer Larry Parks, who was a drummer for local boy Roy Orbison, the Sparkles released five 45s with this being their last. And what a last...

"Hipsville 29 B.C. (I Need Help)". Just looking at the title is ALMOST enough. But that opening drum break... my gawd. The vocals... my gawd. The yelps! The guitar! That bass! My gawd! My gawd! My gawd!! Easily one of the heaviest records with West Texas roots.

Songman Don Turnbow was a member of the Ivy Jives, penned "Bread & Butter", and inked a tune or two for other West Texas combos including the Soul-Lutions on Dust Bowl Records out of Lubbock.

And it was issued in France with a famous picture sleeve.

Roger Young, Midland

ROGER YOUNG- The Reason Why (Chateau Permian 101)

The Chateau Club was a Midland, Texas bar/lounge that happened to dabble in releasing singles by local performers on their own Chateau Permian Records. This particular single by Midland's Roger Young was issued in the middle of 1970. It's easily a country record, but rather than getting its legs in a Texas honky tonk it has been filtered through a west coast ballroom, and then flavored by a campfire guitar pull or three. Then there's the dissonant strain of northern Mexico mariachi sounds heard in the muted and slightly out of step fiddle and the rhythm anchored by what sounds almost like a bass guitarron. And the guitar is picked in an almost bajo sexto style. If the sound had been born any further north it might have had a more pronounced bluegrass feel. But as it comes from where it does it sounds so completely west Texas. Given the opportunity "The Reason Why" has grown on me and I've found myself humming and singing the opening verse countless times

The flip of "The Reason Why" would be redone for a 45 on Roger Young's own label (picture sleeve below) and there would be a self-released lp as well, featuring band photos taken in the mesa and caprock areas down towards Fort Stockton.



Addition: Roger Lee Young Passed away near Davis, Oklahoma on April 6, 2010.

Jack Reno, Lubbock

JACK RENO- The Biggest Man b/w You Love Another (Banner 102)

"Rambling" Jack Reno certainly did stay on the move during his 20+ years as a dee jay, with his mid-60s stop at Slim Corbin's KLLL in Lubbock being one of his shortest residencies. While in the area he managed to connect with Lubbock entertainment entrepreneur Bill Crawford. It was Slim's brother Sky that had kicked off Bill's Banner label in mid-'65 with an odd sorta-country, sorta-pop offering.

Jack Reno's first single for the label, "The Biggest Man", mines the ever popular Johnny Cash style of song in a rather convincing fashion. Not too far of stretch to actually see/hear the Man in Black belting it out. "You Love Another" jumps in another direction, sounding more like the pop/country hybrid found the Sky Corbin disc.

Jack Reno would record one additional 45 for Banner, as well as placing a few sides with other Banner artists. By late '66 Jack was on the road again, headed north, in search of a new time slot with a new station.

On a sorta related side note... on today's date, January 19, in 1957 Johnny Cash made his network tv debut on the Jackie Gleason show.

Bud Landon, Seminole (II)

BUD LANDON- Bud's Boogie b/w What Did I Do (K-Ark 959)

Just a couple of years after releasing a trio of primitive singles on Denver City's Belle label, Bud Landon somehow managed back-to-back discs with John Capps and K-Ark Records. Though released two to three years after the Belle recordings "Bud's Boogie" breaks little new ground.

A sometimes Rhythm Master recently mentioned that the sound of the Belle 45s was the sound of the combo's live show because patrons of West Texas honk n' tonks couldn't get enough of it. They wanted 45s that sounded like the show. Maybe Capps was convinced that Bud Landon and his Rhythm Masters were on to something with their retro stylings. On second thought Bud may have actually been ahead of the curve here as the 70s saw quite a few country artists cuttin' lame boogie records. "Bud's Boogie" isn't whole hog lame, but it ain't got the thump of the Belle records neither. That steel guitar sound though... that sounds just a bit like Buddy Charleston who was a Texas Troubadour for a stretch.

The b-side "What Did I Do" just might be one of the strangest things Bud ever recorded... a contemporary country record.

Bud's "Get Away" on Belle was Stomped HERE.

Wayne Angel, Albany

WAYNE ANGEL- I'm Gonna Rush Right Home b/w What Time IS It Reverend (Winston 1078)

As Slim Willet began to wind down his Winston label in the early 60s he obviously had a bit of faith in (Harold?) Wayne Angel, releasing three different singles by him. All roads point to tiny Albany, just a half hour east of Abilene, as being home to both Wayne Angel and John E. Beall who penned all 6 of Wayne's Winston recordings.

Of that 1/2 dozen songs, the two found on this last Winston release were the most interesting. "I'm Gonna Rush Right Home" sounds like something that one would have heard from the Everly Brothers had they spent the early years of their Warner Brothers contract soaking up the sounds of El Paso. "What Time Is It Reverend", the flip, heads off in another direction and is just a few desperate steps away from God Less America country.

It would seem that John E. Beall traded in crafting songs for crafting homes. And Wayne Angel has probably passed on.

Las Hermanitas Rodriguez, Del Rio / Acuna

LAS HERMANITAS RODRIGUES- La Vieja (Elena 134)

According to the liner notes for their Elena lp Alma Vacia Cauplito de Rosa Benita and Estela Rodriques(z) were residents of Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila just across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas.

At the time of this release Mexican-Americans were moving back towards their roots. The soul stylings so popular among groups like Sunny & the Sunliners in the early to mid-60s were pushed out with the advent of "La Onda Chicana" and there was a shift back to the ranchera and conjunto sound of the 40s and 50s. The organ, which had replaced the accordion, was being replaced by the accordion. And whereas the aforementioned Sunny was releasing albums with little to no Spanish in the mid-60s, by the 70s that had changed to little to no English.

The Rodriques(z) Sisters play in an extremely pure and traditional style, even moreso than the sound many of the other groups of the era sought to capture or recreate. In this instance it's the sound of guitars, with no additional obstruction. Perhaps the purity is owed to their being of Mexico itself.

Interesting that the sisters recorded twice for the Elena label out of Odessa given that Del Rio and Acuna are much closer to San Antonio.

The pictures above both come from the cover of their Elena long-player, Alma Vacia Capulito de Rosa.