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Michael Barr
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The
ghosts are thick as weeds in the parking lot at the old Cherry Spring
Dance Hall, located on Highway 87 between Fredericksburg
and Mason.
Herman
Lehmann established the original Cherry Spring Tavern in 1889.
Lehmann was the adopted son of Quanah
Parker and the second most famous Indian captive in Texas after
Quanah's mother.
The place was known as Klingelhoefer Hall in the 1930s and 40s after
owner Alfred Klingelhoefer, and for a time it was called the Last
Chance Tavern. But the name was of secondary concern. What mattered
most was the music. |
| March
2016 photo © Michael Barr |
Cherry Spring
Dance Hall
17662 North U.S. Highway 87, Cherry
Spring, Texas
March 2016 photo © Michael Barr |
A
lot
of people are rumored to have played Cherry Spring, including Hank
Williams and Patsy Cline, but the ones who definitely played there
constitute a list of music legends.
Lefty Frizzell
was the headliner at Cherry Spring on March 14, 1953. A little known
balladeer named Marty Robbins played there on September 16, 1953.
Grand Ole Opry Stars Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours played
there twice: on January 27, 1962 and July 3, 1962. George Jones came
to town on June 30, 1962.
Other artists who played Cherry Spring included Hank Locklin, Claude
King, Charlie Walker, Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys, Tommy
Duncan, and Darrell McCall. Bill Mack, WBAP's Midnight Cowboy, played
there on June 4, 1977, but the gate was smaller than usual. The big
crowd that night was in Luckenbach
to hear a rising star named George Strait and the Ace in the Hole
Band.
Although Cherry Spring's bread and butter was country music, the old
hall presented a remarkable variety of entertainment. The Negro Swing
Band rolled in on Christmas Eve 1941, just over two weeks after Pearl
Harbor. On January 17, 1954 the hall presented King Perry and his
Colored Recording Orchestra, featuring singer and dancer Del St. John.
King Perry was a jazz saxophonist who played and recorded with Nat
King Cole.
On March 2, 1954 Cherry Spring hosted Decca Recording Artist Johnny
Long and his orchestra including 16 musicians and 4 vocalists. After
paying off the band that cold Tuesday night, the hall lost a bundle.
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The stage where
Elvis played
March 2016 photo © Michael Barr |
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But
October 9, 1955 was a night for the ages. That Sunday Cherry Spring
Dance Hall booked a traveling show sponsored by the Louisiana Hayride
and radio station KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana. Price of admission
was $1.50.
The lineup included Sun Records recording artist Johnny Cash with
Wanda Jackson - the Queen of Rockabilly, Johnny Horton, Floyd Cramer,
and an unknown vocalist from Missouri named Porter Wagoner. Filling
out the card that night - a three-man band featuring guitarist Scotty
Moore, bassist Bill Black, and a 20 year old singer from Tupelo,
Mississippi named Elvis Presley.
Advertisements called him Clovis Presley, but no one noticed the
mistake until Elvis had left the building.
© Michael Barr
"Hindsights" April
2 , 2016 Column
Sources:
The Llano News, October 6, 1955
Fredericksburg Standard, June 27, 1962, September 9, 1963, August
24, 1977
The Handbook of Texas, Cherry Spring Dance Hall
Brownwood Bulletin, October 9, 1955
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