Garrison, Homer 1989-11-21
Homer Garrison reviews Gospel music in West Texas region, as well as local history.
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name:Homer Garrison
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 21, 1989
Location: Hereford, Texas
Interviewer: Richard J. Mason
Length: 120 minutes
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1: Garrison Homer,
Gospel music,
No music in country schools in Seagraves 1920,
His father near Seagraves for 2 years,
Moved to Brownfield 2 years Gomez 2 years,
Moved to Lehey school between Brownfield and
Seagraves,
Moved to Lubbock County 1928 near Idalou in
Liberty community,
West Texas schools in 1920’s were 8-12 miles apart no busing,
Deaf Smith County at one time 12 schools now 2,
His first singing school at Lehey in 3rd or 4th grade,
Teacher was Tomlinson of Brownfield,
Basic program of sing, lines and spaces time,
Singing school at Liberty community,
“Professor of Music” S. V. Summers lived in
Liberty near Garrison’s,
He taught with assistance of Uncle Tom
Nelson,
Nelson became
father-in-law of Garrison’s sister,
No music in the rural schools just Lubbock,
He finished 10th grade at Liberty,
He attended Lubbock High School in 1932 to get classified for
college work,
Summers insisted Garrison attend a Music Formal
School,
Hosted by Stamps Baxter Music Company
in Dallas Texas,
V. O. Stamps was the leader,
Garrison attended in fall 1933 for 6
weeks,
18 years old, train to Dallas, 1st
time away from home,
Back to Lubbock,
Music training from Odis Echols of
Lubbock,
Echols later moved to Clovis,
Stamps Baxter Music Company (again),
V. O. Stamps had music studio in Oak
Cliff,
Above a large drugstore 40 students,
He invited Garrison to be in a Stamps
Quartet,
Selling song books,
Back in Lubbock,
Echols group called Melody Boys,
Odis Echols Henry Shipp Don Smith
and a 1st tenor,
Clyde Burleson formed another quartet with Menace
Beak, Wilson Carson,
Garrison sang for a month,
Homer Garrison was 19 and getting married,
1932 at Texas Tech 1933 back at Tech
and just married,
Wife pregnant he had to work so
stopped school,
Worked for Clyde Burleson at $18 per
week,
Singing on the road,
Good money for the height of the
Depression,
Clyde Burleson (again),
He sang with Stamps for 25
years Lubbock was hometown,
They sang together from 1933 to 1936,
After 5-6 months they went to
McKinney Texas to sing,
Recruited young piano
player Marion Snyder,
Wilson Carson had being
playing guitar for them,
Piano players got most
attention at conventions,
They sang in Texas New Mexico
Louisiana and Oklahoma,
Oklahoma for 3-4 months,
Baby was born,
Altus Oklahoma ,
high school program in July,
Wet baby diaper in Homer’s pocket,
Singing conventions,
Usually 6-8 groups
promoting at a site,
Altus had 4 groups,
Melody Boys of
Echols,
Stamps Quartet
of Dallas,
Lubbock Stamps
Quartet,
A. J.
Showalter of Tennessee,
Each group sold song books
for 25 cents,
Quartet paid
12 ½ cents, plus free copies,
Used profit to
defray travel expenses,
Clyde Burleson (again),
He bought 1934 V-8 Ford
for $26 per month,
Group paid for car
expenses, family at home,
All country boys with
limited training,
Didn’t go
after “big money”,
Shaped-noted method,
Garrison couldn’t read
conventional music,
Stamps Baxter (again),
Lubbock Stamps Quartet represented
them,
Stamps Baxter supplied
with song books and cash help,
Oklahoma hotel room for 3 weeks,
Rain no business,
V. O. Stamps wired $50
Burleson had $20 in his shoe,
Lots of good times,
Two week singing schools,
Teach basics, shaped-note
timing,
Brought singing to
communities,
Developed local music
leaders,
Lubbock Stamps Quartet disbanded after 4-5 years,
Beak to California Snyder to Dallas,
Garrison learned to serve people
training for latter life,
Clyde Burleson was high-pitched 1st
tenor,
Garrison’s mentor
outgoing loved to entertain,
Homer Garrison was lead singer,
Beak was bass but could sing any part,
Had been in
Harley-Sadlers’s tent shows in 1920’s,
Tall boy with him became a
Methodist preacher,
Some of the men were clean others
untidy,
Living with 5 men in a car,
Conflicts while traveling
together,
Menace Beak was only one who could
write music,
Marion Snyder later wrote
songs,
He married
sister of wife of V. O. Stamps,
V. O. Stamps (again),
He came to Lubbock 2 times
for 3 week singing schools,
A singing person is a happy person,
They used mostly Gospel music, but
also some “tricky tunes”,
Stopping at a country
school to promote a Friday program,
Two week singing schools
for $75,
Year-round but better in
the summer.
Tape 1, Side 2: Garrison Homer (again),
Territory included Wichita Falls and
north and west from there,
New Mexico,
Oklahoma- Altus and
Ardmore,
Carson’s family from Gomez and Tokio
area west of Brownfield,
His father died early and
mother moved them to Lubbock,
Lehey (again),
Three room school and gin,
Liberty community (again),
Three room school and
added an auditorium,
Church held in
the addition,
Alternating by
Baptist Methodist and Presbyterian,
Church of
Christ usually did not participate,
Garrison was a Methodist his wife
Marie as a Baptist,
Married by a Presbyterian
minister,
The marriage “took”,
Texas Tech University,
North side of old Administration
building,
Library and Registrar,
New Engineering building in the corner,
His classes in old barracks by the
Pavilion,
8-10 cars parked each day on campus,
Convention/Gospel music not included
in campus Music,
Many Tech students had
learned shaped-note at hometown,
Lubbock
churchs had song books for them,
Lubbock area sings,
Held at local churches,
Garrison was president of Lubbock
County Singing Association,
Slaton Idalou Liberty Shallowater,
Campbell Boys Quartet nowdays,
Their parents “hooked in”
with a preacher Welch,
Little Baptist
church in Lubbock,
Crowds of 200-400 in Lubbock, 40-50 at
rural sings,
50% of crowd was singers,
Now fewer
spectators plus mostly older people,
Various songbooks quite similar,
Brownfield and Levelland still have
good sings,
Garrison lived at Hart Castro County after the Stamps Quartet
years,
Farmed 10-12 years, and with 2 sections and 7
wells,
Moved to Plainview in farm and auto business,
Sang with Plainview group about 10 years,
Real estate dealer Ernie Brock,
Car dealer Rylie Armstrong,
Grocer Emmett White,
Lincoln Mecury dealer Brunly Bracker,
Sang with Light-Crust
Doughboys,
Helped the manager become
Governor,
Went around
state playing accordion,
They sang half Gospel half “ditty”,
patriotic and barber-shop,
1930’s singing (again),
They sang mostly Gospel music limited County
music,
Party at a farm house every Friday night,
Piano, guitar and fiddle; sing and
dance,
Then Country singing was more in the Ranch county,
Dinner on the grounds,
Boys courting girls,
Sometimes a whole day included preaching dinner
and a sing,
Popular Gospel music versus Worship music,
Depended on the preacher and
background,
Gospel songs changed every few months
to sell song books,
A few continued to be
popular,
Convention singing would be
non-denominational,
Usually sitting by parts,
Garrison attended one Sacred-Harp
convention in Arkansas,
No changes in 140 years,
Techniques for singing shaped-notes,
Mr. Summers (again),
Odis Echols (again),
Good singer and leader and
in original Stamps Quartet,
Moved to Lubbock after
that,
Frank Stamps bass singer,
Frank Stamps
All-Star Quartet,
Echols was lead (tenor) for them,
He opened studio in
Lubbock to teach voice,
Garrison was 19 about 6
years younger than Echols,
Echols now passed away,
Melody Boys (again),
Odis moved to Clovis New
Mexico to music studio,
Later a Radio
station,
His son in New
Mexico legislature,
Put in an Albuquerque radio station,
Odis’ wife
died young and he re-married,
He died at
about age 67,
Echols and V.
O. Stamps did a National radio show,
Effect of radio on Gospel music,
Garrison sang while at
Dallas music school,
Three times
with a group,
They didn’t
realize future impact of radio,
When he moved to the
country (?Hart),
Radio to run
off a car battery,
Listened to
Amos & Andy etc.,
Radio made the
quality of singing better.
Tape 2, Side 1: Garrison Homer (again),
County music today,
It is doing better than Gospel music,
Branson Missouri music is better than
Nashville,
Gospel quartets- Sons of
the Pioneers concert,
Gospel music decline and Country music,
Singing schools (again),
Techniques (again),
All-night sings in Lubbock 25-30 years ago,
V. O. Stamps did first about 1938,
He died about then
diabetes hard worker,
J. R. Baxter printed, V.
O. front man and singer,
Garrison has been in Hereford 20 years,
Group for 10-12 years with Eunice and Cecil Boyer
and J. B. Nowlin,
Garrison quit last year due to a heart problem,
Lazbuddie two years ago and 51 years ago,
About 6 remembered,
He does community service now,
He and wife Mary have 7 kids 9 great grandkids,
Oldest grandson is 36 and just moved
to Hereford,
Gospel singing (again),
In 1930’s it met a need during the depression,
Limited cash South Plains and
Oklahoma,
Farmers owned ¼ section with home
gardens and canning,
They would go to town once
a month for flour/meal,
Shelled corn
to the mill on shares,
Lubbock County Singing Convention,
Garrison was a former president,
Meet once a month locally,
Meet twice a year for big sing with
4-6 counties,
Meet in churches usually,
Four-Square Gospel Church
most often,
Nazarene and smaller
Baptist,
Slaton Liberty Idalou
Shallowater Wolfforth Levelland,
Tape 2, Side 2: Garrison, Homer (again),
“No more question” and will interview Lillie Belle Maxcey and
Boyers,
Old quartets (again),
Brownfield 25 year reunion with Tomlinson of Lehey,
Uncle Tom Nelson organized a Lubbock Quartet,
He had 11 kids,
Tom and Garrisons dad,
Becton Texas,
Garrison moved there in
1937,
He sang at
Methodist Church,
His 1st
sweetheart married Bill Becton,
Son ?Yub Becton,
Mac Becton, Bill Becton, 5
boys and girls,
Each Becton
had a section of land,
Meet every
Monday at Old Man Becton’s,
He
would dictate weeks work,
When he died
Becton’s were “lost”,
Garrison’s told him it was “sink or
swim” on your own,
Singer from Clovis New Mexico,
Organized and dominated several West Texas singing
schools,
Buster Keeton an old friend,
Garrison 1st met him in Central Texas,
Visited Keeton 2 years ago,
Buster and Marion Snyder very similar in piano
style,
Bula Texas,
$35 was top bid so they asked for hen donations,
Box suppers and bartering,
People in town had more problems in depression,
On the farm, 10 acres of pinto beans corn bread
buttermilk and onions,
He carried a bisuit and ham or boiled egg to
school for lunch,
Hog killing,
We are starting to get some “hog killing days”
(i.e. cold weather),
Two-bale cotton trailer used for killing 6-7 hogs,
Vat to scald the hair off rake it
clean remove guts,
Keep head and feet,
Breed the sows and “cut” the boars,
They had 8 brood sows sold 200-220 lb. “top” pigs,
Fatter hogs then lots of lard,
5-10 gallon bucket of lard
cracklings cornbread,
Soap with lye,
Washing machine demo,
1st Maytag salesman came and gave a 2 hour demo,
Garrison’s mother cried- “I don’t ask for much,
but I want one”,
They bought in 1930 for $6 per month,
Meat canners and pressure cookers,
Hog killing (again),
Women used entrails for sausage, meat in salt
brine,
Later a sugar cure would keep until
May,
Beef killing in December a 400-500 lb. calf,
Skin and gut hang in barn all winter,
Cut off meat as needed for 3-4 months,
Meat lockers in town about 1940,
Refrigerator off of butane about 1938,
Bill Baker of Slaton had a public meat locker,
Carbide lamps about 1932 Coleman irons about 1930,
Electricty in rural areas after World War II,
Hart Texas (again),
He moved there in 1941,
Electric wired by Deaf Smith County in
1944,
They bought their first fridge one
week later,
Planting wheat,
When oldest girl was 4 and a little baby,
They would park their car at edge of wheat field
in the fall,
Garrison would drive the John Deere D tractor with
a 12-foot one-way,
His wife would follow with the other tractor and a
12-foot wheat drill,
The kids would wait in the car.
Range Dates: 1920-1989
Bulk Dates: 1920-1940
Access Information
Original Recording Format:
Recording Format Notes:
Transcript:
Thank you for your interest in this oral history interview. Our oral history collection is available to patrons in the Southwest Collection's Reading Room, located on the campus of Texas Tech University. For reading room hours, visit our website. Please contact Reference Staff at least one week prior to your visit to ensure the oral history you are interested in will be available. Due to copyright issues, duplications of our oral histories can only be made for family members. If an oral history transcript has been made available online, the link will be provided on this page. More information on accessing our oral histories is located here. Preferred citation style can be found here.
