Dub Adams
CW "Dub" Adams (born June 20, 1919 in Comstock , Val Verde County , Texas , † February 5, 1987 in San Angelo , Texas) was an American western swing musician and later rancher. Adams ran K-Bar Ranch Hands in the 1940s and 1950s and established the American Cattle Breeders Hall of Fame in later years .
Life
Childhood and youth
Dub Adams was born in Comstock in 1919 and grew up in West Texas. His parents were Harmon and Alice (Martin) Adams.
Career as a musician
Adams mainly directed the K-Bar Ranch Hands , a western swing band made up of many different musicians, between 1945 and 1950 . Adams himself played guitar and fiddle , but never came to the fore. The first appearances were made on the radio station KIUN in Pecos , while Adams later relocated his base to San Angelo, where he quickly gained popularity. The K-Bar Ranch Hands were the house band of the Hanger Club, a large dance hall. Adams and his group also performed regularly at the Ace of Clubs in Odessa , played a few shows with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and with the Light Crust Doughboys, and performed at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas .
Around 1947 Adams met the DJ and studio owner Jim Beck , who was then heard on KSKY and owned the Dude Records label . Adams and K-Bar Ranch Hands made their first recordings in San Angelo (1947) and Jim Beck's Studio (1948), including Pocahuntas Stomp and Income Tax , which were released on the Dude label. In addition to Adams as background musicians, these songs feature Jelly Greene (fiddle), “Roly Poly” Pete Atchison ( steel guitar ), Bill Freeman ( piano ), Gordon “Jelly” Teagarden ( drums ), Elgin “Tex” Johnson ( bass ), Hal Tennyson ( clarinet ) and an unknown trumpeter can be heard. The band's style was very much based on swing , which is not uncommon in western swing. The use of drums, on the other hand, was unusual even with many western swing orchestras at this time, as drums were "frowned upon" in the country scene.
Other members of the K-Bar Ranch Hands over the years have included Joe Penny (guitar), Claude Fewell (fiddle), Vivian Earle (piano), Charlie "Snuffy" Smith (bass), Bud Ashcraft (steel guitar), Mal Rhinehart (prob . Drums) and others. Adams and his band also recorded records for Swing and Bullet Records , but his career as a record artist came to an end in 1950 at the latest. For some time afterwards he continued to lead the band. Until at least 1954, Adams could be heard on KVOU in Uvalde, Texas.
As a rancher
After his career as a musician, Adams tried his hand at ranching. Being a rancher was deeply rooted in Adams' family as great-grandfather Dave Adams and grandfather Lum Adams raised cattle. At first Dub Adams concentrated on common cattle, sheep and horses, but switched to Charolais cattle from the age of 30 .
Initially, he partnered with his uncle PE Adams and then built his own business. He himself brought the first six Charolais cattle to the United States and settled in San Angelo. He founded the American Cattle Breeders Hall of Fame and was a member of the International Charolais Cattle Association . Adams was married a total of eight times. He died in 1987 at the Shannon West Texas Memorial Hospital at the age of 67 after a long illness. His son JD Whittenburg is also a musician in Dallas today.
Discography
| year | title | Label # |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Pocahuntas Stomp / Income Tax | Dude 1498 |
| 1948 | Arkansas Traveler / Cripple Creek | Bullet 665 |
| ? /? | swing |
Individual evidence
- ^ Billboard of May 1, 1954: "Folk Talent and Tunes"
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Adams, Dub |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Adams, CW |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American western swing musician and rancher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 20, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Comstock , Texas |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th February 1987 |
| Place of death | San Angelo , Texas |