Music and Mayhem on Main Street:
R.D. Hendon and his Western Jamboree Cowboys in Context
Part 8: "Pure Corn"
Today, Eddie Noack is the best-remembered of all the musicians who played with the Western Jamboree Cowboys at 105 1/2 Main. Although only 21 when he joined, he had already released five singles on Gold Star by that time, and had become a familiar presence in the booming Houston country music scene, if not a "star." Still a student at the city's university in 1951, musical pursuits and financial problems contributed to him spending six years to obtain a Bachelor's degree (in English).
Noack (1930-1978) had a troubled life that included alcoholism, failed marriages, self-destructive bouts, and the suicide of his last wife. His songs became fairly well-known to music industry insiders, but only one of his many records (1958's "Have Blues - Will Travel") broke through to a general audience. His death was noted by the Houston newspapers only because he had written songs for famous people that their readers might recognize. Fortunately, he has retained a reputation among country music fans, and now most of what he recorded has been reissued.
Thanks to recent digitization of newspapers, we can now pinpoint about when Noack joined the band, and how long he stayed. He joined as a regular member no sooner than May 2, 1951, when an ad for his band appeared in an area paper; and left before June 25, 1952, when he was back to being advertised as a solo artist.
Eddie Noack at 105 1/2 Main circa late 1951 or '52. (Photo courtesy Joe Brewer Collection)
"He (Hendon) called me and told me he needed a singer and a (lead) guitar man," Noack remembered in his 1976 interview with Bill Millar and Ray Topping. "Sonny (Burns) and I went out there. R.D. told me, 'I'm gonna make something out of this place.' It had been one of the roughest places in town." This is the only memory of Burns ever having been a member of the group, and must have occurred during one of Charlie Harris's many firings. Eddie took the job undoubtedly because of the lucrative $70.00 a week paycheck that Hendon offered (the equivalent of about $700.00/week today).
"We were on the radio every Saturday night on KNUZ, which was the first country station per se in Houston. We broadcast live on Saturday nights, and later R.D. got us on KLEE every day." Noack, who chose diplomacy over candidness in his Millar/Topping interview, gave no indication that there was any tension or resentment toward Hendon by any of the band members.
Eddie's original song "I Can't Run Away" would be the focus of their next recording session, which probably occurred around September, 1951, at Floyd Tillman's new studio. Joining Eddie was Cecil "Gig" Sparks (1916-1995), a blind singer and rhythm guitarist who had come aboard the band a few months earlier. Their voices didn't blend particularly well, but "singing brother" acts were pretty popular at the time. (The Delmore Brothers had recently moved to Houston, and Noack had been photographed with them.)
The band now had three lead singers (Harris, Noack, Sharp), but still no piano or fiddle.
The old, familiar places
That we used to go
I can't stand to see them, dear
For I still love you so
The things you touched, the things you did
Are making me feel blue
I just can't run away from my love for you
You've been part of my heart for so long, dear
That I'd rather die than think we are through
I can run, I can hide, but you still remain inside me
I just can't run away from my love for you
After three releases that went nowhere, "I Can't Run Away" finally clicked with the public. Sales were brisk in the Houston/East Texas area. Frankie Miller covered it for Gilt-Edge.
"It was a territorial hit," Noack later said. "Sold maybe 1,500 or 2,000 in the Houston area. When I quit R.D. and got my own band (again), I went out to Pappy Daily. He said, 'Yeah, just on the strength of 'I Can't Run Away,' you can cut for 4-Star." Despite the song's importance to his career, it was excluded from his 1974 album, which can be considered a catalogue of original songs of which he was proudest.
The first promotional photograph of the Western Jamboree Cowboys, probably taken between May and September, 1951. Standing: Tiny Smith (bass), Gig Sparks (vocal, rhythm guitar), Eddie Noack (vocal, rhythm guitar), Don Brewer (drums). Seated: Charlie Harris (vocal, lead guitar), R.D. Hendon (manager), Jay W. Ingham (steel guitar). Shortly after the photo was taken, Ingham was replaced by Joe Brewer, Charlie Harris by Harold Sharp, and Don Brewer left. This was surely the largest group in Texas to not include a fiddle or piano. (Photo courtesy Frank Juricek Collection)
Steel guitarist Joe Brewer returned shortly before this, replacing Jay W. Ingham. He is the source for many of the photos that survive from this period (though he was never photographed with the group), and provided most of what we know about the band from 1951-52.
According to Joe, "I Can’t Run Away" -- which he called "pure corn," i.e., a song so simple that only true 'hillbillies' could enjoy it -- "got tremendous radio play here. It was very corny, but for some reason, it did sell. It got a lot of airplay over in Shreveport. That song was what we went up there on." The Western Jamboree Cowboys were invited to appear on the Louisiana Hayride on the strength of their regional hit, probably their only appearance on the show.
Herb Remington and Joe Brewer at KLEE radio studio, Houston. c. 1952 (Photo courtesy Joe Brewer Collection)
Joe had a fun recollection of the Hayride.
"R.D. had on a black western shirt with white trim. It was skin tight and he was pudgy, see. He looked like a little pig – with boots on. (Laughter) It was so tight on R.D., that when he went out on stage – he had a habit of opening his arms up and swinging his hands together, and rocking his foot on the floor – and that shirt ripped right down the back. I was looking straight at him, and so was Charlie (Harris) and everybody. (Laughter) He introduced the song, and Eddie was out there. And then he backed up off the stage. He didn’t turn around."
The flipside of the record was a ballad sung by Charlie Harris, "This Moon Won't Last Forever." For the first time on a Hendon release, a fiddle is heard, probably played by Woody Carter, who definitely worked with the group during 1952 and later.
4-Star pressed the record once again in their limited "X" series, but once it sold out of the initial pressing, they decided to re-release it nationally in their main series. By that time, Hendon had fired Harris for the thousandth time, and eccentrically, he insisted on re-cutting "Moon" for national release with his new replacement, Harold Sharp (even though it was the B-side). But the band did not change the key in the new version, resulting in an awkward, strained attempt by a baritone to sing in the register of a tenor. Gabe Tucker took a trumpet solo where the fiddle had been the first time.
"I Can't Run Away" was credited to "Hendon-Nowack" (sic). Hendon had nothing to do with the song's composition, but Noack refused to criticize him for this in his 1976 interview, unlike his blistering attack on 4-Star's Bill McCall for engaging in the same practice. (In 1953, the record was reissued on both 78 and 45, to compete with Hank Locklin's belated cover version.)
At least now they were getting some attention and sales.
"I Can't Run Away." 1953 reissue on 45 rpm.
"This Moon Won't Last Forever." 1953 reissue on 45 rpm. Despite the vocal credit to Harold Sharp, this is actually the Charlie Harris vocal version.
Sources:
Joe Brewer, interview by Andrew Brown, Nov. 14, 1994; April 2, 1995.
Millar, Bill and Ray Topping. "Talk Back with Noack (Part One)." New Kommotion #12 (Summer, 1976).