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Thursday, October 17, 2002

Country music exhibit features Texans

By MICHAEL CORCORAN

Austin American-Statesman

AUSTIN -- The first thing you see is an 1820 fiddle that once belonged to Davy Crockett. This is the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, after all, where the heroes of the Alamo rule.

Once inside, however, the ghosts of Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills and lesser known but equally important Texas country greats such as Tiny Moore and Cliff Bruner take over at "Country Music From the Lone Star State."

The sawing fiddle of Eck Robertson on 1922's "Sallie Goodin," credited as the first country record, is piped in at the exhibit's first juncture, making for a chronological flow.

But then as the space opens up, there are rhinestone suits and musical instruments of every sort, from Flaco Jimenez's red accordion to the show's most awesome relic, a Hawaiian lap steel guitar that Bob Dunn used to introduce steel guitar to country music in the '30s when he played with Milton Brown.

Other key artifacts include the original lyrics to "So Hard To Say Goodbye," scribbled by an 11-year-old Willie Nelson, and the floral-patterned typewriter that legendary free spirit Cindy Walker used to write such tunes as "Dream Baby" and "You Don't Know Me." Also displayed: Ray Price's spectacular Cherokee-themed glittering Nudie suit.

Since Texas, arguably the state with the richest musical tradition, doesn't have an official music museum, "Country Music From the Lone Star State," which opened Sept. 28, is as in-depth a Texas music exhibit as has ever been staged. And it only scratches the surface.

At times the show is as remarkable for what it doesn't have as for what it does. Curator Pat Jasper (former director of Texas Folklife Resources) was wise to include producer Jim Beck, for instance.

But this important yet little known Texas music figure, who died young after accidentally inhaling cleaning-fluid fumes in his small Dallas studio, is just represented by blurry photos and an old logo.

You wonder what happened to the equipment Beck used to record Lefty Frizzell, Marty Robbins and others.

There's a nice photograph of Buddy Holly, but where are the black horned-rim glasses found in an Iowa cornfield near a crashed plane in 1959? (Answer: Lubbock's Buddy Holly Museum wouldn't part with them.)

About 20 percent of the pieces came from the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and the rest from 50 different lenders, from the artists themselves and private collectors to smaller museums like the one devoted to Frizzell in Corsicana.

Some items did not come easily, and Jasper says she had a particularly tough time prying a historic five-string mandolin from the family of former Texas Playboy Tiny Moore.

"They were very particular about how it was transported and how it would be handled in the exhibit," Jasper says. "It's kind of overwhelming to think about the collective sentimental value of all these pieces."

One artifact also symbolized corporate value, which made it hard to procure. It's an old-styled radio microphone bearing the call letters WOAI. The Clear Channel radio empire, now more than 1,200 stations strong, began with tiny WOAI in San Antonio. The old mike, when it's not at the Bullock museum, is proudly on display in a glass case in corporate headquarters.

The show is a pleasant diversion for an hour or so. Stand in front of Frizzell's red-and-white sparkling suit circa 1953-'54 for a minute and you can almost feel the presence of the great singer. Almost. With all that glass and those tidy summations on the walls, you never forget where you are.

The artifacts -- not even the notebook holding the lyrics to Townes Van Zandt's most desolate song, "Marie" -- don't come to life.

The true definition of country music from the Lone Star State can be found, not behind glass, but in the playing and the storytelling.

Organizers were keen in scheduling three programs to coincide with the exhibit. Recently a sold-out crowd of 200 was regaled with stories, advice and fiddle-playing from Johnny Gimble, protegs Jason Roberts and Randy Elmore, with Gimble's son Dick on bass. When Gimble described how a look from Wills was all the instruction and motivation he needed, it said more than the 15-minute multimedia theater piece on Wills performed daily in the Texas Spirit Theater.

Next up is an Oct. 30 program on the women of country music, with Kelly Willis, Rosie Flores, Valerie Ryals-O'Brien, Lisa Pankratz and Cindy Cashdollar chattin' and jammin'. On Nov. 6, the great Floyd Tillman will talk about how he invented the cheatin' song with "Slippin' Around" and do a little picking with Johnny Gimble, Dick Gimble and Roger Wallace.

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Distributed by The Associated Press

from the Reporter-News