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Topic: Benny Garcia ?? |
Jason Odd
From:
Stawell, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 12 Mar 2001 8:57 pm |
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I'm trying to work out who Benny Garcia played with in the L.A. dancehalls, it seems he worked with a couple of bands at once, but is that right?
As far as I can tell, he joined Tex Williams & The Western Caravan in 1948, and might be on transcriptions as late as 1951-1952.
Yet, he was apparently working with Hank Penny as early as 1949. As I understand it Penny had his band at the Cowtown, which did not include Garcia, but when he played the Rvierside Rancho, Garcia and Doye O'Dell were added to the group, but wouldn't Tex Williams have been also playing the dance hall scene or touring at the time?
Also Garcia appears on the 1950-1951 transcriptions by Penny and apprently worked with Penny on the Dude Martin show as well, did he moonlight or was his stint with Williams a lot shorter than I thought?
Jason
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The future ain't what it used to be |
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Gene Jones
From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
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Posted 13 Mar 2001 8:28 am
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Jason.....some of this info may be redundant or may not specifically respond to your question, but it is from an interview with Benny just last month.
According to Benny, he was hired from his job at Radio KOMA in Oklahoma City in 1948 by Tex Williams who was appearing in a theatre across the street...this was when he first went to California. Benny worked for Williams three years and later with Hank Penny for a stint before Benny was drafted into the Army during the Korean War.
There is a book by George Haslam, "Workin' Man Blues: Country Music in California" that outlines the history of western swing in California during that era.
Gene Jones www.genejones.com |
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Jason Odd
From:
Stawell, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 13 Mar 2001 4:57 pm
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Gene, I know Gerry and might drop him a line, I really loved the book 'Workin' Man Blues.'
The thing I can't quite work out, is that Speedy West once metioned that Benny was working with Hank and the band on the ballroom gigs, while the smaller version of the group with Speedy, Pee Wee Adams, etc worked the Cowtown. Now this would have been in 1949 as Speedy left Hank Penny's group to join Cliffie Stone's band.
I dunno what to think?
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