Spade Cooley

A neighbor several doors down in Long Beach, California, had a television set, black and white.

My parents used to haul us down there to watch Spade Cooley.

And, uh, I don't remember what night Spade Cooley was on, but we watched Spade Cooley, and that's all we ever watched.

And then we trucked back home, children in tow, and, uh, listened to the radio.

The radio was it then.

Preferably teachers who have a rural background and who could make the hillbillies feel at home.

In other words, he's looking for a cross between Albert Schweitzer and Spade Cooley.

Brainy, but homespun.

Yeah, that's about it.

Sioux City Sioux, who's your hot shots? My dad used to sing that all the time.

And this one's Spade Cooley.

Now Lulu, are you gonna do an album with old stuff like that?

We'll talk about

I, you know-

My next book, by the way, is, uh, Spade Cooley, so.

[laughs]

Oh, really? Okay.

[laughs]

So.

Well, Spade Cooley is, you know, was, is not well known now, but in the '40s and '50s he was a bandleader, violinist, and he was ranked on KTLA Channel 5 and Western TV.

He was right up there with Lawrence Welk and, and the Desi Arnaz shows.

My next book, by the way, is not on Carl Etter like it should be.

It's on Spade Cooley, who was a very famous bandleader in the 1940s and 50s, very famous, right up there with Lawrence Welk.

And he ended up torturing and murdering his wife and ultimately got a pardon from his life sentence from Governor Ronald Reagan.

That book's about two thirds done, trying to get that done by early next year.

And I'm still working on that.

But meanwhile, almost complete is a book on a fellow named Spade Cooley.

So unless you were a country Western fan, 1940s and 50s.

Then you almost have to be in the...

I remember listening to him because my stepfather loved country western.

And then this guy Spade Cooley was a hick, basically, from Oklahoma, came out to California in the 30s.

He was a heck of a fiddle player, a fiddler, got a band going.

And at one time... on KTLA Channel 5 out here, he rivaled Lawrence Welk.

[laughs] Look, we get way more complaints than we do song and artist requests.

[laughs] All right, email me, hello@jacknortonmusic.com. Well, coming up, we've got Precious Price and Spade Cooley doing Heartaches, Sadness and Tears, but first, we'll listen to Brother Paul Buskirk and his little men, Chapel of My Heart.

[upbeat music] High up on a windy hill, the angels sing, the world stood still.

There you whispered vows that made a chapel of my heart.