Childhood

CHILDHOOD
Question: When did you first learn to play the guitar and sing?

Answer: “Some of the first recollections I have, are of my mother and father giving me a guitar for my sixth birthday. We moved from Vernon, Texas, where I was born to Ft. Worth, Texas. World War II was going on at the time and I had uncles and cousins who would come by our house in Ft. Worth to play and sing. We would undo the strings on the guitar, put the microphone inside, then put the strings back on the guitar and we’d have an amplifier. I remember my Uncle Kenneth played guitar and was an early influence. My father taught me how to play guitar and the first song I learned was You Are My Sunshine.

I learned my first songs when I was six and seven, and then, when I was eight years old, I moved back to Vernon, Texas and I was on a radio show there. Every Saturday there was a talent show, so you could go down to the radio station and sing your songs, and I went every Saturday. I kept coming; showing up so often that they asked me to be a regular. So that was when I was eight years old; I was singing on the radio then. When I moved to Wink, Texas, which is West Texas, and started singing for the school assembly, you know, in the auditorium at school. There would be a play and then I would sing with my guitar. That was at the age of 10. Then by the time I was 15, I had my own group, and we were playing on radio stations in West Texas.”