THE
ROGERS TWINS and THE PRAIRIE SONS
1949-50
In 1949 after graduating from high-school, my first full time job as a musician was with the Rogers Twins & The Prairie Sons, a western-swing band in Amarillo, Texas. Working full-time with an established band with a daily radio show and a DeSoto limousine band-bus was "big-time" for an 18 year old musician. I left the band to join the Army during the Korean War. The Rogers Twins became legends in the Texas Panhandle and were eventually inducted into the Western-Swing Hall of Fame. We remain friends after more than 50 years.
-1950 Photos
Gene Jones Bernie Rogers Jesse Bunch Buster VanHooten Boyd Rogers Roland Herring.
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My canary yellow 1941 Ford with chrome strips added to the trunk to make it look like a 1946.
I later traded the convertible for this 1941 Ford Business Coupe.
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"Shoot low sheriff, he's ridin' a shetland"
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(2002 photo)
Western-Swing Hall of Fame members Boyd Rogers & Bernie Rogers in Chula Vista, California
(photo courtesy of Cathi Parson.... President, Southern California Western-Swing Music Society
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The Rogers Twins and Gene during a reunion in 2003
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Reunion Jam in 2003
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I worked with the Rogers Twins until the Korean War began in 1950, then I enlisted in the Army and went to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for basic training.
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FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI
1950 - 1951
While stationed there I met the girl who I have been married to for 57 years. The "other girl" in the picture was my mother.
Yes, that's an oil well in the back yard....a very different Oklahoma in 1950 than in the "dust-bowl" days described earlier.
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While at Fort Leonard Wood I played music off-duty with the MACK BYRD band at the WAGONWHEEL on old US Highway 66 near Waynesville, Missouri. One highlight of that place was the still-remembered all girl gang-fight between girls from different towns in the area who decided to settle a dispute at our club. I was appalled, it was a knock-down, drag-out, bloody fight and I had never before seen girls involved in anything more violent than basketball. It took a considerable number of local police to finally get it under control. The band cowered at the back of the bandstand and played "Roll Out The Barrel" as fast and loud as we could until it was over.
Soon after that I was transferred to Texas and I was glad!
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1951 - 1952
WOLTERS AIR FORCE BASE
MINERAL WELLS, TEXAS
I was later transferred to Wolters AFB in Mineral Wells, Texas, where our Army unit, 950th Engineer Aviation Group (SCARWAF) was attached to the Air Force.
Even in Texas this was NOT our on-duty uniform
I played music off-duty at the WINTERGARDEN in Mineral Wells. We didn't make much money but it did allow us to have meat with our meals once a week. I remember one time the bandleader didn't make enough to pay me so he gave me a cowboy hat instead, already broke-in with a "bullrider" crease. It was a good hat by Texas standards and I was happy, however, someone stole it while I was loading my guitar after the job.
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In August of 1952, after about about 15 days of 115+ temperatures, it finally rained so we got in our old Ford and chased a little storm cloud down the highway to stay in the cool shade and rain, but it triggered the beginning of my pregnant wife's birth pains, and our first daughter was born that hot Texas night.
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I was discharged from the Army in 1952, but I was unable to get health insurance for our disabled child, so in 1954, I re-enlisted in the Army and was soon transferred to Japan. While there I met singer/guitar player HAROLD JENKINS later known as CONWAY TWITTY.
Go to the Conway Link to check out our musical experiences while in Japan.
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