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The Quebe Sisters by
Bob Bowman | |
If
Bob Wills
were around today, the chances are good that he would be delighted with three
teenage sisters from Burleson.
Listening to the Quebe Sisters play the western swing music pioneered
by Wills
in the 1930s and l940s, you realize they are special musicians who love what they’re
doing.
Grace, 19, Sophia, 18, and Hulda, 15, went to a fiddling contest
near their Burleson
home six years ago and decided they wanted to play the fiddle, too.
Their
mother convinced veteran Texas musician Joey McKenzie to teach her daughters.
“They were naturals and they fell in love with traditional Texas fiddle music,”
said McKenzie, who with bass player Mark Abbott, accompanies them on guitar at
performances throughout the country. |
In
those six short years, the Quebe Sisters have captivated audiences. They have
been crowned Texas fiddling champions, played at the Grand Ole Opry, toured with
Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs, performed before Duchess of York Sara Ferguson,
and chalked up dozens of impressive credentials in music.
The sisters’
popularity has taken them to places few teenagers ever go--venues such as the
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, the National Folk Festival in
Bangor, Maine, the Michael Martin Murphy Christmas Ball in Oklahoma City, the
Cowboy Hall of Fame, also in Oklahoma,
and country music capital Nashville, Tennessee. |
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Perhaps the gig they
enjoyed the most was “A Ride With Bob,” when they played with Ray Benson of Asleep
at the Wheel to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wills’
birthday.
The Bob
Wills music the sisters play so well was the creation of a Kosse-born farmboy
who learned to play fiddle from his father and grandfather.
In 1929 he
organized the Light
Crust Doughboys and played for future Governor
W. Lee (Pappy) O’Daniel during his campaigns Later, Wills
organized his Texas Playboys and “San Antonio Rose” made him a national figure
in popular music in 1940. Wills
died in 1975 after suffering a series of strokes.
Country
music fans have embraced the Quebe girls with a passion usually reserved for Wills
himself, but with good reason. The unique multiple-fiddle renditions sounds remarkably
like Wills’
own music.
The Quebe Sisters will be performing Saturday night, December
12, at Lovelady’s old Gym--one
of East
Texas’ best country music venues.
Bob
Bowman's East Texas
November 15, 2009 Column
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
Copyright
Bob Bowman | |
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