![]() Morris appeared on a few of Wills’ singles recorded at the station and for the RCA Victor record label. One of his early jobs as a musician occurred circa 1953 when he played guitar for Bob Wills’ younger brother, Johnnie Lee Wills, who had a radio show on Tulsa radio station KVOO. To be located near the city where Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys had a home base at the famed Cain’s Ballroom had to have made an impression on young Bob. ![]() ![]() His family moved to Oklahoma, and he attended high school in Bixby, a town a few miles southeast of Tulsa. Music was a love, especially the fiddle, which he picked up at an early age with his talents extending to guitar. The journey began February 3, 1930, when Morris was born into a family of 12 children. This is also the birthplace of Robert Dean Morris. The Champs in late 1959 (clockwise from top left): Bob Morris, Dash Crofts, Glen Campbell, Jerry Cole and Jimmy Seals. The Buffalo River flows through here, and there’s even a designated point where whitewater enthusiasts can launch their kayaks and canoes. Random buildings are located acres apart amid fields and meadows. The only real sign of activity comes from Arkansas 123, which stretches by a small post office and bisects a smattering of county roads – some paved and some gravel. Hasty, located a few miles east of the northwest Arkansas town of Jasper in Newton County, is a typical rural Ozark community. Remember The Champs? The rock ’n’ roll group best known for its iconic, one- hit wonder, “Tequila”? Morris was a member of them, too.Īnd if this sounds like another one of those Arkansans-who-left-the-state-for-bigger-success-only-to-never-return stories, guess again. Merle, and countless others, sang his songs. When Morris recorded with Merle Haggard, he was definitely credited as a Stranger, as in Merle Haggard and the Strangers. In fact, he was credited as such on sporadic pressings of Buck Owens’ 1965 LP, I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail, along with sidemen guitarist Don Rich, drummer Willie Cantu, pedal steel guitarist Tom Brumley and bassist Doyle Holly – probably the most heralded lineup of all the Buckaroos’ incarnations. Some say this made Morris a bona fide member of Owens’ backing band, the Buckaroos. Owens would have had to settle on a different bass player for his early albums, find someone else to manage his Blue Book Music publishing and trust that someone nearly as capable could run his studio. Without the Newton County native, Buck would have never had his signature theme song, “Buckaroo.” There would have been no “Made in Japan.” Bob Morris publicity photo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |