Steelers for late COWBOY COPAS ????

Ed Naylor · From: portsmouth.ohio usa, R.I.P.

Cope was born here in Adams co and I am doing some research on his career.I got a tape from Howard White playing on some Copas projects. I have a photo of Copas on his last show here in his home co. The Steeler was a young Jimmie Crawford playing a D8 Sho-Bud. It will be nice if I can find out some of his musicians names. Anyone able to help??? ED Naylor Steel Guitar Works

Roy Ayres · From: Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

Yes, I can help. Lloyd (Cowboy) Copas was one of the vocalists with Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys when I joined them. Prior to my arrival, Don Davis had backed him up on his King Record Company records. We called him "Cope." He had the King Records contract during the whole time he was with us, and -- as far as I know -- after that. I played on a number of records with him. When Pee Wee moved the band to Louisville, Cope stayed behind in Nashville. I'm sure everyone knows that he was killed in the plane crash with Patsy Cline. I don't know who played steel with him the last few years.
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Edited to say that he was great fun to be around, and I could tell some funny stories about him.

[This message was edited by Roy Ayres on 22 October 2003 at 03:10 PM.]

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

I'm pretty sure these guys either toured and/or recorded with Copas:
Slim Idaho
Don Davis
Bob Foster
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and . . .
. . . Roy Ayres

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edited for two more
Frankie Kay
and maybe Johnny Sibert
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 22 October 2003 at 04:21 PM.]

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Roy, please don't hold back on telling us about 'Cope'. I dig his 'Alabam' from a '50s TV show video I have, and he's certainly never gotten his due mentions in the last few decades. You could help fill in some of the many voids about him and his much too short career. Fortunately, there have been a few CD releases of his material lately.

Rick Collins · From: Claremont , CA USA

I heard an old recording, "The Party Is Over" by Copas,___sure sounded like Jerry Byrd to me.

Rick

Roy Ayres · From: Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

OK, Ed, I might as well start with the first day I met Cope. Pee Wee had booked a fair in a small Mississippi town where I had auditioned and been hired. I was living in Meridian at the time. They were traveling in regular automobiles, and Copas owned and drove one of them. (Another was owned by String Bean, who did not drive, and was driven by his partner, Lou Childers.) Pee Wee asked Cope to take me by Meridian to pick uo my belongongs. This was right after WWII and practically nothing made of metal had started to be manufactured since the war. Being unable to find a stand for my double-neck National, I had gone to a machine shop and had one made out of 3/4" pipe. It could not be disassembled, so I had to set it behind the driver's seat where the framework at the top that held the steel was behind the driver's head. Every time Cope would hit the brakes, the contraption would tilt forward and hit him in the back of his head. It turned out that I had to carry the stand there on every leg of the tour. Cope nicknamed me "Plumber" and said the first time we came to a lake or creek, he was going to throw the danged thing in. I searched unsuccessfully for a folding stand of some kind in every town we played in.

Then One day we were booked in an open-air park someplace in Indiana. We were unloading the cars when one of the guys shounted, "Hey, Roy, there goes Cope with your stand." When I looked up, Cope was headed for a little creek that ran through the back of the park -- and he had the stand up over his head as if he was about to throw it in. Of course, it all was a very melodramatic joke with Cope and me both "overacting" but the guys got a kick out of seeing me negotiate with Cope not to throw my stand away. I finally found a nice folding stand and set the pipe contraption in the attic of Ma and Pa Upchurch's rooming house where I lived in Nashville. The last time I was there to visit, my stand was still in the attic being used as a clothes rack -- and Copas finally came to like me.

He was one swell guy and so funny to be around.

Ed Naylor · From: portsmouth.ohio usa, R.I.P.

Cope"s cousin lives about 2 miles from me. He sounds like Cope and I have done shows with him. Also "NATCHEE the INDIAN" was with Cope. His name was "Storer" and maybe a little relation. Freddie Evans and the "Hencacklers"played with Cope in early days. I think Copas had "Filipino Baby" as his first single on King #505.Ed

Andy Alford · Posted 23 Oct 2003 4:26 am

Ted Crabtree

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

HI there Rick Collins! You're indeed right!
Jerry Byrd did a whole bunch of teriffic records with Copas. At least a dozen that I can think of right off the top of my head.
"Sorry" with daughter Kathy.... "I'm Waltzing with Tears in my Eyes"...."Fuedin' Boogie" w/Grandpa Jones (A REALLY GREAT part)
and "Tennessee Waltz".........are only a few.
My Byrd was everywhere back in those days.

Al Johnson · From: Sturgeon Bay, WI USA

i don't have proof at this moment, but I believe that The steel guitar on I'm waltzing with tears in my eyes had the talents of Bobby Foster. I used to listen to Cope on his 15 minutes on the Opry, I believe at that time this song was his big one. The steel work is beautiful, but not quite Jerry Byrd's sound. Al

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

Hi Al! With all due respect, the King/Copas Record I have of "I'm Waltzing With Tears In My Eyes".......it's JERRY BYRD. No doubt about it. The phrasing, Ricky tone and all else that is Jerry Byrd, tells the story.

Doug Seymour · From: Jamestown NY USA (deceased)

Ray, I'm with you on this one. That recording (I'm Waltzing With Tears In My Eyes)that I had (on King) was Jerry Byrd
for sure. I suppose there could have been another version, but the one I had was Jerry for sure......Don't think as many hours as Ray & I have spent drooling over the "Master of Touch & Tone" back in the late 40s & early 50s, we could be wrong. or could we? Never heard anyone fool me, but I was wrong
once......but that's another story!

Roy Ayres · From: Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.

You guys are no doubt right about the old master, Jerry Byrd, playing on a lot of Cope's records. King Records, where Cope recorded, was in Cincinnati, and that's where Jerry and his cohort, Zeke Turner, were located at that time. I cut 3 or 4 sessions with Cope, but Don Davis before my time and Jerry and others after my time cut a lot more than I did. The first "big one" for Cope, as I recall it, was "Filipino Baby" which was already big when I joined Pee Wee.

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