Miss Emily’s JukeJoint 5/8/12: Pops

  As many of you have already heard, Denton’s long-time blues emissary and character, Pops Carter passed away a couple weeks back at age 93. Much has been written about him over the years and it doesn’t take long to find some of it so I won’t recount his life here. You might want to check out his Facebook page and communicate with them, perhaps. I do, however, want to tell a couple personal stories and share some of Alec Williams’ pictures from the Fry Street book he and we published last year.

One of my first live music experiences in Denton was in the Fall of 1987 when my then-roommate in Bruce Hall, John Rylander, got a gig for a night playing bass with Pop’s band at the Char Hut (later the site of Jackson’s Pizza and Texas Jive- now demolished). I went to hear them and wished I could’ve been playing with them but what I remember most is how wiped out John was when he got back to our dorm room. He wasn’t a regular gigging musician at the time and was concentrating on his music composition studies, so playing several hours was a workout. Never let anyone tell you that playing blues is “easy”.

Pops at The Depot, 1983

    Pops also sat in with my band on at least two occaisons- there may have been more but that was a while back. I bet most if not all musicians around here who had Pops sit in would to a man or woman tell you how his presence lit up the joint. And, if your gig was dying, as some of mine surely did, he made you feel good about what you played and could make the people like you for at least as long as he was onstage. Well, that was my experience, at least. Thanks, Pops.

Online Genealogy Class, May 5th 2012

   The Emily Fowler Library Special Collections Dept. will be presenting a class on Online Genealogy research and resources this coming Saturday, May 5th at 10am. Join us for this informative program about how to get the most out of your genealogy research using online resources. This class is free as always but, please call (940) 349-8752 to register.

Epperson Family

In The Weeds 4/22/12: Postcards From The Hedge

   We have some ancient postcards here in the Special Collections Department that you might enjoy seeing. Two of the buildings depicted are gone, the others are still in existence, albeit altered physically or their names have been changed perhaps. You’ll notice that some of the postcards have names on them, but no addresses. I’ll let you figure out which one’s are gone and where and what the others are. Some are easy, a couple-not so much. Click on the picture for full view and write your guesses/answers in the “reply” box at the end of this blog post. Ready, Set….Go!

 

In The Weeds 2/20/12: Sam’s Own Jockey

     Welcome to “In The Weeds”, a new feature for the DPL blog where we’ll look at local history through our awesome archival assemblage here in the Special Collections Department at the Emily Fowler Library. What does “in the weeds” mean? For our purposes, my definition would be: “deeply distracted by details” or “overwhelmed with oddities”. To be in the weeds when you love History with a capitol “H” as I do, is not something to be feared. So, without further adooo…

 

 

A while back I mentioned that Denton County’s outlaw history will be mined for years to come. Well, time has come and I’m about to do some mining…   

 Last week we received an inquiry in the Special Collections Department here at the Emily Fowler Library for an image of the famous “Denton Mare”, Jenny, from a man who said his grandfather rode the horse for notorious Denton County outlaw Sam Bass. Unfortunately, no picture exists as far as we know, having consulted also with local historian Alec Williams whose family goes back to Denton’s earliest days.

 

What was the Denton Mare, you ask? Apparently, Sam Bass raced horses before he went into the outlaw business and the Mare was eventually sold. The man’s grandfather was one “John A. Hudson” and, although we could not find that picture of the Mare, we did find the following documents:

 

Death Certificate

 

 

 

Hudson Obit, 1936 DRC

You can read much more about The Denton Mare and Bass here , here and here. There is also a fictionalized account of Bass’ life entitled The Denton Mare. You will see in your research how involved he was in the lives of Sheriff Egan’s family (yes, the same at the Denton street) and other law enforcement officials in Denton and surrounding counties before he “went bad”.

 

     In my Bass research, I also discovered that he was immortalized in song:

A local performance can be seen here by a member of Denton band TrebucheT and a more traditional performance by the great Alan Lomax.

Miss Emily’s JukeJoint, 12.8.11: Herschel Evans

    In the late 1930′s, the Count Basie Orchestra featured two tenor saxophonists: Lester Young and Herschel Evans of Denton. Books, movies and thousands of words have, rightfully, been dedicated to the former. Only a true jazz geek knows of the latter. Herschel was born in Denton on March 9, 1909,  and is found at our Ancestry.com database in the 1930 Census where he appears to be living with an aunt in Bexar County, Texas (San Antonio) while working in the Troy Floyd Orchestra. Click on image below for larger size:

Herschel in San Antone, 1930

           In the census record you can see three important pieces of information that prove this is the same Mr. Evans: 21 years of age, Negro, and musician employed in an orchestra. Here is an early recording with Floyd from 1929, Dreamland Blues. His solo starts @ 1:58.

Lady Hersch

  There is a storied Texas Tenor saxophonist tradition going back to Herschel and on through to Buddy Tate, Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, David “Fathead” Newman, King Curtis, Donald Wilkerson, Booker Ervin, James Clay, Marchel Ivery, on up to UNT alum Shelley Carrol who performs regularly in Dallas. The thread that runs through all of them is a full-bodied tone that always has a blues flavor.

  By the mid-’30s, he was working in Kansas City and landed a seat in the Count Basie Orchestra when they expanded their size after being signed to Decca Records in 1936. In the Basie band, he finally achieved fame through the following recordings (with time his solos start): One O’ Clock Jump 00:45, Doggin’ Around 00:40, Texas Shuffle 1:56 and his most famous solo performance, Blue and Sentimental.

In the Basie reed section

                          

Herschel on left with fellow Basie-ite, Buck Clayton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Herschel died at age 29 in 1939 of a heart attack and was replaced in the Basie band by fellow Texan, Buddy Tate. It was said that Lester mourned his section mate, paid his funeral expenses, and Evans’ passing may have helped precipitate his leaving Basie the next year. Here is footage of the Count Basie Orchestra at Randall’s Island in New York City in 1938. The music on the video is overdubbed but, at 1:41, you can see him sitting down with his sax to the right of singer Jimmy Rushing who is standing.

posted by Chuck.

History of KDNT Radio in Denton

North Texas radio and television historian Mike Shannon has been tracking changes up and down the local dial since 1984.  He has spent most of the last decade reporting traffic over WBAP-AM in Fort Worth and WFAA-TV in Dallas, and currently hosts a syndicated radio program, “The Hi-Fi Club.”  But his on on-air roots began right here in Denton as a news anchor at both KDNT-AM and KNTU-FM while attending school at the University of North Texas in the late 1980s.  On Saturday, November 12^th, he will host a talk on the history of KDNT radio in Denton, Texas.  Also on hand will be Sandy Shepard, son of original station owner and founder, the late Harwell V. Shepard. 

 

On display throughout the month of November at the Emily Fowler Library will be various photographs and KDNT station memorabilia.

 

This program is free and available to the public.

 

 

When:             November 12th, 2:00 -3:30 pm

Where:           Emily Fowler Central Library, 502 Oakland

 

 For more information, contact Leslie Couture at 940-349-8762 or leslie.couture@cityofdenton.com.

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For other news items on the City of Denton, visit our website at www.cityofdenton.com, go to Quick Links and click on Press Releases.

History of KDNT Radio in Denton, Texas with WBAP’s Mike Shannon

KDNT Mobile Unit

North Texas radio and television historian Mike Shannon has been tracking changes up and down the local dial since 1984.  His website, www.knus99.com, is the culmination of years of research, and covers the entire history of North Texas broadcasting since 1920.  Shannon’s name and voice may be familiar to some, as he spent most of the last decade reporting traffic over WBAP-AM in Fort Worth and WFAA-TV in Dallas, and currently hosts a syndicated radio program, “The Hi-Fi Club.”  But his on-air roots began right here in Denton as a news anchor at both KDNT-AM and KNTU-FM while attending school at the University of North Texas in the late 1980s.  In fact, the latest addition to Shannon’s historical website is a thorough tribute to Denton radio station KDNT, complete with hundreds of photographs and interviews with former station personnel, including the son of original station owner and founder, the late Harwell V. Shepard.  “Although my employment at KDNT was brief,” Shannon said, “I was so proud to be a part of a local tradition.  Cataloging the history of KDNT was my way of preserving something I learned was very important to this community, and then doing so before the storytellers and storymakers were gone.”

Mike will share the history of KDNT on Saturday, November 12th at 2 p.m. at the Emily Fowler Central Library.  For more information contact Leslie.Couture@cityofdenton.com. 

 

 

Fowler Files, 10/10/11: Sam Bass Pays His Tax

While Pilot Point is celebrating its connection to and history with Bonnie and Clyde this weekend, I thought y’all might get a kick out of seeing an entry for one Sam Bass in the Inventory Book Precinct 1 For 1874 (Tax List)  we have here in the Special Collections Department at Emily Fowler Library. Denton County’s reputation as a destination/hideout/home for outlaws is well known and that history is likely to be mined for years to come.

Click on the image to see the entire document:

Bass Tax

  Maybe paying your horse tax was a good way to keep the law off your trail for other “activities”? 

We have a photocopied version of the book on the shelf and the original in our archives. The story behind the book is interesting and sadly, all-too-typical of public records in the 19th century. That is to say, it escaped the 1875 courthouse fire by pure chance whereas its brethren were incinerated.

Miss Emily’s JukeJoint, 9.22.11: Puppets Rock & an Historic Marker for the Texas International Pop Fest

As was proven this past Sunday nite @ Dan’s Silverleaf, puppets and rock (or at least a rocking style of folk music) do mix. For those who haven’t heard about the Sunday residency of Hares on the Mountain at Dan’s (are there any of you left?), consider this your wake up call.

Ryan Becker and Friend

 

George Neal Rocks It.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, Jim Henson knew about the power of puppets…

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    On Saturday October 1st, a new historic marker will be dedicated at the Hebron Station of the DCTA A Train in Lewisville commemorating the 1969 Texas International Pop Festival that featured acts such as Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King and many others. Go to the link to learn more about the dedication. Led Zeppelin and Santana tribute bands will perform and the event is free.

Pop Fest Poster

   Personally, I’d love to see more historic markers that deal with cultural events such as this one does. Don’t get me wrong, I love old buildings and history in general but it seems like cultural events may get lost in shuffle. How does one commemorate something ephemeral like creativity?

Miss Emily’s JukeJoint, 8/3/11: A windfall of New Music CDs/Denton Blues Festival

Greetings JukeJointers. On Sept 18 and 19th, the 13th Annual Denton Blues Festival comes to Quakertown Park in Denton. Perusing the website I see that one of my favorite DJs on Soul 73 KKDA, Bobby Patterson, is performing on Sunday! KKDA is an old-school AM R&B station out of Dallas that has actual R&B performers/legends as DJs. You remember them, right? I’ve heard some of the best music I’ll ever hear on that station-too bad they are lousy at naming who the artists are that they put on the air…

Bobby in the Booth

 

Young Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of new CDs in. Here we go…

Killer Mike- Pl3dge

Jadakiss- I love You

Beginners- Soundtrack

Moonshine Bandits-Whiskey and Women

Aventura-14 + 14

Sondre Lerche- Sondre Lerche

Tech N9ne- All 6s and 7s

Jolie Holland- Pint of Blood

Trin I Tee 5:7- Angel & Chanelle

Youssou NDour- Dakar Kingston

Kasey Chambers- Little Bird

Matt Nathanson- Modern Love

Chloe Hanslip- Chloe

Ema- Past Life Martyred Saints

Grayson Capps-The Lost Cause Minstrels

Ben Allison- Action Refraction

JIll Andrews- The Mirror

Stephen Marley- Revelation Part 1

Los Tigres Del Norte- MTV Unplugged

King Creosote- Diamond Mine

Yael Naim- She Was A Boy

Dinastia De Tuzantla Mich- Te Seguire

Mynabirds- What We Lose In The Fire We Gain

David Bazan- Strange Negotiations

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.- Its A Corporate World

Curren$y- Weekend At Burnie’s

Bobby-Bobby

City and Colour- Little Hell

DJ Kazzanova- Reggaeton Mix

Jorge Santacruz- La Supermacia

Eleanor Friedberger- Last Summer

Random Axe-Random Axe

Shabazz Palaces- Black Up