Editors Note:
The following autobiography was written by Burton Harris and was given to Carr Denman after Carr purchased the Pleasant Jamboree from Burton and Anna Harris. We do not know when it was written, but probably in approximately 1999-2005.
It is presented unedited as Burton wrote it, and provides a glimpse into Burton's varied and interesting musical background.
Burton's autobiography also provides a glimpse into the golden age of radio before radio stations and the national music scene were absorbed by faceless mega-conglomerate corporations. In the early days, it was common for "national acts" to appear in small towns, both to perform at local clubs and to be heard on small local radio stations to promote themselves and their music.
The autobiography is used with the permission of both Anna Harris and Carr Denman.
Robert Turner
BURTON HARRIS
May 24, 1926 - February 14, 2006
When I was eight years old I started playing around with my dads old "taterbug" mandolin.
Shortly after that my uncle gave me a fiddle and I smarted playing it. During the next few years I took music lessons from a neighbor, Bill Elder. I played in his musical group which he called his "orchestra".
When I was about ten, my grandmother gave me a guitar. The neck of the instrument was warped so badly that I had to play it with a steel bar in the manner of two well known musicians of that time, Peg Moreland and Lew Childre. The guitar was tuned in an open 'E' and I played rhythm on it-no leads or fills.
When I turned twelve, in 1938, my parents bought me a good quality, new guitar from Montgomery Ward. For a while I just played rhythm on this guitar but soon started picking out melodies and fills behind, singing. I played guitar in the church band headed by Bill Elder.
There would always be an exceptional musician or two in our community and from time to time we would form small musical groups. Older boys (musicians) who had commenced driving would sometimes take me to dances which were usually held in private homes. A collection hat would be passed around and I quickly learned that playing music was easier and more rewarding than farming.
During the 30s I also took guitar lessons from John Hays and piano lessons from Eleanor Horn, both of these provided free by the NYA, a similar program to the WPA and CCC.
The Shelton Brothers, Bob & Joe, recorded 'Just Because' in 1931 and they had a long career in broadcasting and recording. They first recorded for 'Bluebird' (an RCA affiliate). They were then on Decca for almost two decades with a string of hits such as 'Deep Elem Blues'. I managed to get many of their records which I played over and over, carefully learning the chord progressions, hoping someday to meet them.
In 1939 I learned that The Shelton Brothers were coming to the Maples Springs Gym for a concert. I rode my bicycle which was approximately five miles each way. These were my heroes and I just 'had' to see them! I was terribly disappointed when I caught a glimpse of Bob. He had on overalls, an old slouch hat, he was bare footed and had some front teeth blacked out. At the moment I didn't understand that he was the comedian.
During my teen years I was always learning new songs of the day, not limited to country but also Big Band Songs and instrumentals. When a Jr. and Sr. at Talco high school I was a member of a musical group and we often played for the entire school at assembly
I had recently turned seventeen and I had a 1934 Ford coupe. A fellow musician and I were riding around Mt. Pleasant one night and we stopped in front of Henry Talley's cafe that also featured a dance hall. We were surprised to hear some good singing and playing coming from within the building. The two of us barged right in, announced that we were musicians and that we had our instruments with us. We were asked to sit in. Their band consisted of an amplified Hawaiian guitar, two rhythm guitars and a mandolin. I played fiddle and my friend played stand up bass. We ware hired immediately.
This band, headed by Newt Day, quickly booked several good jobs and it was in this band that I got my first taste of night club life. The Paradise Club in Kilgore, TX hired our band to play six nights a week. This job didn't last very long due to the great distance we had to travel as well as other problems which we had not anticipated. The band broke up.
I then buckled down to a series of regular jobs such as auto mechanic and aircraft worker until I received my draft notice shortly after turning eighteen in 1944. I took my guitar with me during basic training but there was little time to devote to music. I sent my guitar home for safekeeping before heading overseas.
The two years spent in the Army went by quickly and at age twenty I decided that I needed to commence my life's profession. I realized that playing music usually didn't provide much security but I knew quite a lot about radio and I felt that there would be a good future in radio repair. I bought a half interest in a radio repair shop and a string of juke boxes and marble tables (pinball machines).
Before going into the army in 1944 I had occasionally played music on radio station KPLT in Paris, TX. This was an amateur show sponsored by the Lowry Furniture store of Mt. Vernon. This program was later carried by KPLT Paris, KSST Sulphur Springs and KIMP Mt. Pleasant.
In early 1947 I was invited to sit in with a group of high school boys who were in the process of organizing a musical group called 'The Jamboree Boys'. Bob Dunn was the leader, Robert Colley played steel and sang, Bruce Buckner played rhythm guitar. I became a member that same night. Shortly after that Roy Key and Smoky Coe joined the group.
In 1948 our local radio station, KIMP went on the air and we had two thirty minute broadcasts daily. This was a great time for radio (no FM then). We had excellent coverage reaching out at least 60 miles in every direction and over a hundred in many cases. Several of the original Jamboree Boys had dropped out of the band by this time. I took over as leader, we hired Pee Wee Walker as fiddler and Dock Knipe as bassman. About this time I bought out the half interest of the business which my partner held.
Our band then accepted a full time job (6 nights a week) at Chaylors night club located on the Arkansas side of Texarkana in 1949. Being the leader of the band I felt responsible for everything, including transportation, so I bought a new Hudson automobile. We carried the bass on a rack mounted on top of the car, our other instruments and the five band members rode inside the car. With such a hectic schedule there was no way I could operate my radio repair and amusement business. I sold the radio shop to a man named Reppo and my amusement route to Doyle Amerson.
Bob & Joe Shelton had been my idols when I was a kid and in the late 40s I had the privilege of doing several shows with them, getting well acquainted with them as well as their brother Merle. In 1949 I hired Joe as a member of my band at the time we were playing at Chaylors. When he left the band I acquired his custom wade 1936 model Martin mandolin which I have made many recordings with and still have to this day.
During the period of time from 1948 through the early 1950s the Jamboree Boys shared the studio at KIMP with many stars of the Louisiana Hayride and the Big D Jamboree. Some of them were: Hank Williams, Red Sovine, The Bailes Bros., The Wilborn Bros., The Delmore Bros., The Shelton Bros., Bill & Joe Callahan, Slim Whitman, Riders of the Purple Sage, Riley Crabtree, Webb Pierce, Johnny & Jack, Kitty wells and Shot Jackson.
In the summer of 1950 I went to work in a band headed by Ben Bryan and we moved from Texarkana to Kilgore. We were working at the Paradise Club where I had been 7 years earlier. I met Jim Reeves at the Paradise Club in 1950 and our association would last for 3 years. At that time Jim had not been able to land a major recording contract but he had recently cut 4 sides for Macy records in Houston, TX in either '49 or '50.
Anna Davis and I got married Nov. 19th, 1950 while I was living in Kilgore. I decided to leave the Ben Bryan band and move to Mt. Pleasant in early 1951. I owned a one room building there which I used as a storeroom. I planned to build on to it and live there.
With my dad's help we completed the building and moved in. Our first child was born that year, in 1951, I organized another Jamboree Boys band and when the owner of the Mint Club, in Gladewater, came and offered us a job I accepted. I was with the band during the week but I worked elsewhere with Gene Wortham and the Circle 'O' Ranchboys on Saturday nights in order to make more money. This arrangement didn't last long, I went to work for Gene Wortham full time at the Mint club.
Part of the time Gene Wortham would use Jim Reeves as his featured singer and sometimes it would be Jimmy Dennis or Curtis Kirk. Doc Shelton and Leon Hays played bass, Bobby Garrett played steel and I played lead guitar. Whoever was there as featured vocalist always played rhythm guitar and sometimes Little Red Hays would play fiddle in the band. Jim Reeves signed an 'Abbott' recording contract with Faber Robison while he was in our band and his first release was, "Wagon Load Of Love" b/w "What Were You Doing Last Night". Jim recorded 4 songs with Tom Perryman as sound engineer at KSIJ, probably in late 1952. Jim sang and played rhythm guitar, Bobby Garrett played steel, I played lead guitar and Doc Shelton played electric stand up bass. (Hill) Billy Barton also squeezed in a couple of songs on the same session using our band.
In 1953 Jim Reeves got his first hit with 'Mexican Joe'. We had no doubt that he was on his way to stardom. Dubby Cornett made the decision to accompany him. I had a wife and two children and I was ready to settle down and lead a normal life. I found a job as draftsman with General Dynamics in Lone Star, Texas and tried to forget about music.
Songwriter, Jack Rhodes from Mineola had approached me in 1951 about helping him promote his songs. He had written and co-written about 150 very good songs and we had a verbal agreement that we would split anything we made from the songs if I would provide the musicians and record the songs in my makeshift recording studio at Mt. Pleasant. We picked out 22 of what we thought was his best songs, figured out arrangements and recorded them. Amazingly about 15 of these songs became hits, some very big, such as 'Satisfied Mind' recorded by Porter Waggoner, Red Foley and Jean Shepard. Jim Reeves later recorded one of them, 'I've Lived A Lot In My Time'. Jean Shepard got a big BMI award with 'Beautiful Lies". Ferlin Husky and Jean Shepard recorded many of the songs and Slim Whitman did one. I never received a cent from any of the songs but I did learn a valuable lesson....to have a written contract.
Although I had a regular job now I still wanted to be involved in music, records and publishing. In 1954 I purchased two new tape recorders, a mixer, some more equipment and started my own record label. For the lack of a better one I called my label 'HARRIS'.
During the next several decades I released records using a number of labels; 'JAMBOREE', 'LIBERTY', 'NET', 'SUGAR HILL', 'SOLID GOLD' and 'SECURITY'. In some cases I found that someone else already had a claim to a name and in others someone would file a claim who had lawyers and money-where I had neither. As far as I know, no one ever disputed my right to use the name 'Security'.
In 1956 I released a record by Jerry Arnold from Linden, Texas. It was straight county and I got little response from it. In 1957 I released another record by Jerry who was now 17 years old. It was ROCKABILLY and it got the highest rating of the week when reviewed in New York by Cashbox and Billboard. As a result of this I was able to lease the master to Cameo Records of Philadelphia and New York. Although I felt that the quality of this recording was one of the worst things that I ever did it resulted in my eventual induction into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and multiple re-releases of Jerry Arnold recordings over a period of the next 46 years - the most recent on ABKCO in 2005.
I formed 'Security Publishing Co.', a BMI affiliate, in 1957 which I still have and operate. I publish and clear all songs that I promote through BMI. Riley Crabtree, a local songwriter and singer, who recorded for several labels including Columbia, placed many of his songs with me. I had a recording studio and did commercial recording for a number of small independent record companies. In many cases I acted as their publisher, clearing songs thru BMI for them. I provided commercial recording facilities to the general public from about 1956 until 1996.
I met Jim Hightower in 1952 and when he started the Winfield Jamboree I became a member of his band. This Jamboree operated from 1970 until sometime in 1975. About this time Jesse Pate again became active in musical promotions and I played lead guitar in his shows as well as Parkers Cookville Opry and several other musical venues.
In 1977 I renewed my association with Joe Shelton who had the Riley Spring Jamboree in Sulphur Springs for many years. We did a lot of shows together and I produced an album, 'Tribute To Bob & Joe', the Shelton Bros. I played and sang all the parts on this album and it was received well in this part of the country. Bill Mack played it on WBAP and many other large stations played it as well. Joe Shelton and I made many personal appearances together while promoting this album.
It was about 1978 when I met Christine Gentry from Scottsdale, Arizona, who played organ and piano. She was one of the most talented musicians I ever met. Christine played all the hit songs, themes from movies, big band, country, everything...I felt very flattered when she asked me to play guitar with her whenever she was touring anywhere close to Mt. Pleasant. I worked with her for several years and we recording almost 100 instrumentals together.
In 1979 I received a call from Harlan Craig who lived north of Sulphur Springs. He wanted me to play for a dance in a farm house on his ranch. At first I turned him down but he called back and I finally agreed to do so. I wound up playing for him for several years. This turned out to be very interesting for he knew many important politicians, former governors, congressman, senators, Dallas cowboys and other interesting people. We were involved in several political campaigns together.
It was not unusual to work with several bands at the same time. It was about this same time that I joined Doug Harris' band. He and most of the band members lived at Greenville. One place that we played regularly was the Cypress Springs Country Club.
I was also a member of Truman Griggs' band. He lived at Purley and we played many events together in the early '80s. He, like Harlan Craig, was civic minded and we were involved in several political campaigns.
In 1981 I was hired to play a three day and night show at Horatio Arkansas. Many stars, record producers and other celebrities were there including Faron Young, David Houston and the Stonemans. Bill Mack from WBAP was there also. Pee Wee Walker and l were part of the house band along with members of Leo Castleberry's band from Hot Springs.
I did many personal appearances with acts headed by Leo Castleberry during the 1980s. Some of the long running stage shows were; The Pleasant Jubilee and Parker's Cookville Opry.
I met Tillman Franks when he played bass for and managed Johnny Horton. Tillman managed many of the biggest acts to come out of the Louisiana Hayride. It has been my pleasure to work with and know Tillman Franks well for a very long time.
Pee Wee Walker and I were members at the Texas Old Time Fiddlers Assn. We formed a band consisting of Ted Cook, Pee Wee Walker, Burton Harris, Hugh Blair and Ray Gamison in 1981. We played for dances and other events. We also provided the house (or host) band for the Gilmer Yamboree every year from 1981 thru 1987.
