At Kitchen Music the other night we delved into some nostalgia with some good old tunes. And Pat S. sang “Amelia Earhart, the Lady of the Air.”
Tragedies such as the disappearance of Amelia Earhart were the specialty of Vernon Dalhart, a talented song writer/singer who took his stage name from the cities of Vernon and Dalhart in Texas. Evidently he really did cowboy in Texas for a brief period, “somewhere between Vernon and Dalhart.”
There’s a lot of space between Vernon and Dalhart in Texas. But it’s a good story.
Vernon went to New York City and actually sang light opera for a time. But he found his niche in writing songs about the tragedy of the day. Floyd Collins stuck in that cave, for example. If it was in the news, people would buy the record. His recording of “Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven” went viral. So did “The Prisoner’s Song;” both huge sellers. He recorded under a number of different pseudonyms. He might even be the most recorded singer of all time. He kept his southern accent for his recordings; said he could turn it off and on.
So we saluted Vernon Dalhart at Kitchen Music. But he didn’t write the Amelia Earhart song. Red River Dave McEnery did. Go figure.
I get a lot of pleasure from the old songs, strumming along, three chords on the guitar. Takes me to a younger, simpler place. Something we could all use.
Dac Crossley
October 29, 2013
“No woman ever shot her husband while he was doing the dishes.” – motto pasted on the window over Doc Crossley’s kitchen sink.