Thursday, December 21, 2000

Cowboy Ball may knock your hat off

By Bill Whitaker

When the band strikes up tonight at the 66th re-enactment of Anson’s famed Texas Cowboy’s Christmas Ball, 48-year-old fiddle player Bishop Powell will find himself swept up in a new experience rich in old-time ways.

Which is why he was furiously brushing up on the Virginia reel earlier this week.

Although Powell, 48, is no stranger to the ways of Jones County, he, his sons Mark and John and the rest of the band Lariat found they had some learning to do when they were lassoed to perform during the three-night Texas Cowboy’s Christmas Ball, where authenticity ever reigns supreme.

That goes for musicians on stage as well as dancers on the floor.

“For us, it means certain songs have to be played,” the easygoing fiddler told me last Saturday at Anson’s old Pioneer Hall, where ball organizers were busy decking the walls with festive colors.

“For instance,” he explained, “they have a grand march that’s real important where all the participants come in and, well, they do something. Just what, we’re not sure yet. But we’re learning!”

Martin Murphey is once again playing the ball’s Friday night dance — and, as usual, the place will be jam-packed. Tickets were virtually sold out last January for his appearance.

But the rest of the time Powell’s band Lariat is doing the honors. And while making merry amid readily danceable tunes might seem a fairly easy order, certain traditions must be recognized at the Texas Cowboy’s Christmas Ball.

That includes the women showing up in dresses. Slacks for the ladies are out at the ball, and so are split skirts. Ordinarily, ball officials keep some dresses handy for women who arrive in the wrong duds.

Meanwhile, the men have to part with their hats before venturing onto the dance floor. Hats and coats are checked in at the rate of 50 cents each. The loot goes to the Hawley FFA, which oversees both the concession stand and hat check operation.

Some of the ball’s old-timers, such as 87-year-old Gladys Holt, even gave Hawley FFA boys a twirl on the dance floor last Saturday morning, just so they wouldn’t embarrass themselves when the ball began for real.

“There’s no ‘pumping’ arms,” pixieish ball volunteer Suanne Holtman, 56, reminded the awestruck lads. “And we also think it’s important to know where to hold a lady. You don’t want to put your hand where it shouldn’t go!”

In other words, clutching your partner’s posterior is also out.

“They’re real sticklers about tradition all right,” 17-year-old Dusty Barbee assured me. “So much of it really comes down to manners — exceptional manners.”

Organizers like to remind folks the event is not just a dance but a “re-enactment” of the Texas Cowboy’s Christmas Ball mounted in Anson’s old Star Hotel in 1885, subsequently immortalized in Larry Chittenden’s beloved 19th-century poem, “The Cowboy’s Christmas Ball.”

Even before Lariat agreed to play this year’s ball for the first time, Powell had a good indication Chittenden was deeply revered. At one point, Powell served on the town’s library board at a time when they were trying to carve out some more space.

“Well, I noticed we had a bunch of books and things off to one side called ‘The Larry Chittenden Collection’ except some of it didn’t even have anything to do with the Old West,” Powell said. “So I suggested we get rid of them or stick them somewhere out of the way.”

Judging from the reaction Powell got, you would’ve thought he’d worn his hat out on the dance floor.

“Boy, you could’ve heard a pin drop,” he told me. “And that’s when I learned that, in Anson, Larry Chittenden is right up there next to the apostles!”

The Texas Cowboy’s Christmas Ball at Anson’s Pioneer Hall runs from 8 p.m. to midnight today through Saturday. For ticket information, call 823-3259. Contact associate editor Bill Whitaker at 676-6732 or whitakerb@abinews.com. Check out his previous columns at www.brazosbill.com.

Contact associate editor Bill Whitaker at 676-6732 or whitakerb@abinews.com. Check out Bill’s previous columns at www.brazosbill.com.