Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rogers records rich musical heritage
Before rock ‘n’ roll and the British invasion, western swing was an extremely popular style of music. The king of western swing was Bob Wills, and his band was the Texas Playboys. Three musical giants, Leon McAuliffe, Smoky Dacus and Clarence Cagle — who were members of the original Texas Playboys — lived and worked in Rogers.
McAuliffe was one of the best and most famous steel guitarists in the world. During McAuliffe’s days with the Texas Playboys, Bob Wills would introduce the steel guitar solo with, “Take it away, Leon,” and the phrase became a popular household saying throughout the south. McAuliffe’s original compositions included “Steel Guitar Rag,” “Panhandle Rag,” and he was co-author of “San Antonio Rose.” McAuliffe performed with the Texas Playboys until he left for the Navy during World War II. During the War, he was a flight instructor.
After the war, McAuliffe started his own band — McAuliffe and the Western Swing Band, which later became the Cimarron Boys. Before the group disbanded in 1965, McAuliffe had fans throughout the country from touring 25 days a month.
Bob Wills hired Smoky Dacus in January 1935
— the first drummer in country music history. Before Dacus, there were no drums in country and western music. Wills’ band mostly played dance halls in the early days, and the band needed a beat to make the music more danceable. Dacus started playing with the Texas Playboys for $55 a week — an astounding salary in those days, as most drummers only made $15 per week.
Throughout McAuliffe’s musical career, his manager was G. Don Thompson, and Thompson and McAuliffe started the first radio station in Rogers, KAMO. The station went on the air in 1954. In 1955, Thompson and McAuliffe hired Dacus — their friend and former drummer for the Texas Playboys — to be the morning disc jockey. Thompson and McAuliffe also owned the KAMO Record Ranch in Rogers, which became the House of Music, a music and record store in Rogers, in 1961.
Before World War II, the Texas Playboys’ popularity became a tidal wave across the country, and they were invited to play on The Grand Ole Opry. However, there was one problem: Drums and electrified instruments were not allowed on the Opry, and the Opry officials did not want Dacus to play. Bob Wills said no drummer, no Texas Playboys, so they played but were never invited back to the Opry again. According to Thompson, Dacus was considered the “forerunner” of all drummers including rock ‘n’ roll ( The Morning News, Oct. 10, 2001).
When Dacus switched careers to be a disk jockey, he had no experience in radio, and his unorthodox style was an immediate success. Dacus was an avid hunter and fisherman, and his popular radio show during the late 1950s and 1960s featured his faithful coon dog, Old Bud. The two were die-hard coon hunters, and Dacus proclaimed on the air that they would hunt at least four nights a week. Dacus said he didn’t really care about coon hunting, but his dog liked it and wanted to go every night. To keep his dog from going alone, Dacus would go hunting with him. One day, Dacus mentioned on the air, that after a hunt, he, the coon and Ole Bud had their picture made — and if anybody wanted one, to send a note. The radio station got more than 6,000 requests for a picture, and Roy Ritter of AQ Chicken footed the bill. This was astounding, as the entire population of Rogers was only 5,700 people ( The
Morning News, Aug. 30,
1998).
After Dacus left the air, he remained with KAMO until he retired in 1975. He died in Rogers in 2001 at the age of 90.
Clarence Cagle was the legendary pianist for the Texas Playboys. He began playing violin and banjo at house parties at age 9. By 1943, Cagle had married his wife, Kathrean, and switched to the piano — the instrument that made him famous. In 1943, Cagle began playing for the Texas Playboys. It was during his time as a Texas Playboy that Cagle’s wellknown “Boogie Woogie Highball” was developed. When Cagle left the band in the mid 1960s, he joined forces with McAuliffe. That musical pairing lasted 19 years, and the two also were partners in the House of Music. Cagle was admitted to the Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1988. The well-known musician and proprietor of the House of Music died Oct. 5, 2003.
Thompson was not a musician, but was a close friend and manager for McAuliffe and other popular musicians — including Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Fats Domino, Jim Reeves, Ray Price, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson and others. Thompson was one of the founding members of the Country Music Association in the late 1950s. About 1960, Thompson acquired the Victory Theater in Rogers and outfitted it with a larger stage and new sound system for live acts. During the 1960s, he brought to Rogers many of the major stars that he managed. Thompson was most famous for his music career, but he was a visionary and started many other successful businesses in Rogers. Jack Garner (deceased founder and owner of Garner Building Supply), in 2007 said about Thompson, “He was an amazing businessman who thought 10 years ahead of his time.” G. Don Thompson died March 1, 2000, at the age of 75.
OTHER STANDOUTS
In the mid-1960s, Gary Townzen and a group of local musicians joined together as the Outcasts, and played at many local dances in Rogers and all over Northwest Arkansas. Members of the group included Clyde Jackson, Vernon White, Randy Pennington, Kenny Shaw, Danny Clark and Dwier Brown. Later, the group became the Henchmen and continued entertaining until 1968. Today, Gary Townzen is a barber, alderman for the city of Rogers and an expert on Rogers’ history.
The River City Street Band attained regional fame and popularity with their “brassy new sound” in the early 1970s. The members were all from Arkansas, and two of the musicians — Tom Jones and Dale Marlow — were from Rogers. After their short career with the River City Street Band, the two members from Rogers came home and remained outstanding members of the community. Jones became a prominent businessman and owner of Howard Jones Electric. Marlow taught at Rogers High School for 27 of his 31 years in education, retiring in 2008.
Joe Nichols is another Rogers native who achieved fame in country music. He was born in Rogers in 1976 and began playing guitar as a kid. His family left Rogers when Nichols was in high school. He released his first album in 1996 at the age of 20, but did not really achieve fame until 2002 with his number one hit, “Brokenheartsville.” Probably his most popular and well-known song was “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,” and it sold more than 500,000 records. Joe Nichols has had many hits and continues to entertain today in 2017. (Wikipedia)
Rogers has been blessed with many other musicians too numerous to mention here. (All data from the book, The Fabulous 1960s in Rogers, Arkansas by James
Hales)