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KATHY DELL
A COWBOY’S SWEETHEART;
the life of a famous unknown
by Mel Brown
Photos courtesy Dorothy Alsbrook |
| “The
Sweet Sixteen Singing Sweetheart of KCFH” described Katie Doehl perfectly.
Here she stands in the western shirt she sewed herself with her new
SILVERTONE guitar on KCFH’s first day of broadcast, March 1, 1949.
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The
history of American country music is often thought of in terms of
its many stars, icons, and legends. These same individuals are commonly
believed to represent the spirit, nature or even the ideals of this
music in their lives, efforts or accomplishments; this is a justifiable
belief. But for every star performer who has made it big in Nashville,
New York or Hollywood since this music began, there are dozens of
other singers, song writers and musicians with equal or occasionally
greater talent who never made it big but who shared other traits with
their famous colleagues, those of the dedication, commitment and desire
to entertain. Their roles in the overall history are as worthy of
documentation as any, since they are perhaps the real heart beat of
the music ... steady, true and essential.
Cindy Walker, Texas Ruby, Laura Lee McBride, Charline Arthur, Goldie
Hill, Jeannie C. Riley, Tanya Tucker, and Barbara Mandrell are all
Texans recognized for the special legacies they each created for the
musical history of their home state. Kathy Dell is one more name which
could be added to this list as she was just as much a pioneering woman
of country music as some of those named. Dell was not well known statewide
during her performance career; however, in that area of South Texas
made up of the broad Coastal Bend and multiple county “Crossroads”
regions below San Antonio
she was a very well known, popular and a significant figure for nearly
half a century.
Dell’s true importance to the state’s music history is found in the
pioneering spirit and unconventional accomplishments of her career.
She was a strong willed, self directed woman who broke ground in significant
cultural ways while finding relative success in two male dominated
professions. She did this before the modern feminist movement began,
first as a rodeo star and then as a country musician and band leader.
That she began her careers midway through the 20th century is exemplary
of a unique woman who was possessed with uncommon ability and courage.
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| Eighteeen
year old Katie Doehl practices the “Cossack Drag” on Pevo, the Golden
Palamino gelding that she owned for over twenty five years. His pale
golden coat reminded Katie of beer, which in Polish is pevo.
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| “Coming
out of chute number 7 is Miss Katie Doehl of Cuero, Texas!” Wearing
monogrammed chaps and holding on until the buzzer, Pro Cowgirls were
required to smile during their wild rides on the “rough stock.” |
| Two particular
aspects stand out in her musical history; the first being that she
was a self made musician and band leader in a male dominated industry
which routinely expected deference from its women. In contrast to
the more common, country performance careers of women in America’s
post World War Two
era, no stage minded father, ambitious husband, or crafty manager
pushed her onto or along the path which she alone chose for herself.
Secondly and perhaps more significantly, in the mid-1980s Dell added
Texas-Mexican players to her group and incorporated songs of música
tejana into the band’s set lists. She sought out jobs at predominantly
Mexican American venues and adapted her shows accordingly. Those interracial
bands eventually represented models of cultural diversity that were
rare for her contemporaries and for her gender in particular. |
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| The
Square D Ranch Hands about 1960 were, L to R, Johnny Naunheim on lead
guitar, Glen Halmark on drums, Kathy Dell with her new “moss green”
Gretsch Anniversary model guitar and “Lefty” Heine on fiddle. Wearing
the bright red tunics Kathy made for the band, they were at the Westhoff
American Legion Hall for a Saturday night dance. |
However, unless
one was familiar with the hundreds of beer joints and dives, V.F.W.,
American Legion, and S.P.J.S.T., K.J.T., or Sons of Hermann dance
halls, German shooting clubs, the annual Cuero Turkey Trot, various
Chili Cook Offs or any of the Catholic or Lutheran church festivals
of South Texas in the 1960s, seventies and eighties one probably never
heard of Kathy Dell, as she came to be known professionally. Anyone
who did frequent some of those places may recall her clear voice and
lively shows. For those who do not know of her, it may be surprising
to learn that a very talented Texan devoted most of her life to the
public performance of country music. Indeed, Dell entertained many
thousands of fans for over four decades across South Texas but never,
as the saying goes, “made it big.”
She was a highly motivated person who set and accomplished goals most
women of her generation did not consider appropriate, much less attainable
at that time. In a career lasting nearly fifty years Kathy Dell was
first a local radio celebrity, then a rodeo star and a regionally
popular, country music performer. She also formed and managed her
own country music groups, booked all their jobs, fronted the bands,
drove the band bus, sewed most of their stage costumes, played guitar
and sang most of the songs they performed. Dell also held regular
day jobs as well the entire time during which she was pursuing her
career in music. In doing so, she advanced equal rights for women
generally and breached specific cultural boundaries with a confident
smile, a fine voice, and a lot of popular country music.
In March 1999, my daughter Leanora and I went to Corpus
Christi during Spring Break when she was a junior in high school.
We started back to Austin
by going first to Victoria
where I lived briefly about 1957/'58 when my step father was stationed
at Foster Air Force Base there. I wanted to see the old air base which
was closed by 1960 and converted to the city's airport so we took
a look and hit the road. From Victoria
we went to Cuero
stopping there for lunch on a gorgeous spring day. While wandering
around the small downtown we happened into the smallish Cuero Music
Company where we met the amiable proprietress, a middle aged woman
named Katherine Doehl. As a few customers came in the went out with
new guitar strings, some old sheet music or a semi fresh CD, etc.,
I chatted with the Kathy Dell about Cuero not knowing who she was
other than the owner of the Cuero Music Co. Then I spotted the old
foto of a girl on a bull so asked her about it and quickly learned
that it was her about 1954 during her several year long rodeo career
which she began as a teenager. Close by on the same wall was another
foto. That one showed a band lined up next to a large travel coach
and my enquiry led to a short version of Kathy's music career as a
rodeo star then country band leader and singer beginning at age sixteen
and lasting over forty years. She had a lunch date so was moving us
toward the door but not before handing me an autographed copy of the
bus foto and an old but clean copy of a 45 rpm record she had cut
many years earlier. Leanora and I returned to Austin
that afternoon and had soon forgotten about spring break as other
adventures came along bringing us up to now. |
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| L to
R, The Country Kings were Jim Loving(steel), Rick Faircloth(drums),
Pee Wee Pittman(fiddle), Johnny Naunheim(lead guitar), Don Crockett(bass)
and Kathy Dell sometime in 1973. Behind them is the 1948 General Motors
custom coach, aka. “the Freight Train” that Kathy drove most of the
time. This promotional photo was glued to larger posters to advertise
upcoming appearances for the band. |
| Two years ago
I met Dr. Gary Hartman a history professor at Texas State University,
editor of the Journal of Texas Music History and a heck of a good
Texas country music singer and guitar picker. Gary also fronts an
Austin band named the Texas Swing Pioneers and they are damned good
at recreating the old time music made famous by Milton Brown, Bob
Wills, Adolph Hofner and so on. Being aware of his reputation
as a very knowledgeable authority on the country music of our beloved
state, I asked Dr. Hartman if he had ever heard of Miss Kathy Dell.
He had not so after hearing my brief synopsis of her life as I recalled
it, Gary suggested that I write it up for the Journal which he edits.
Not finding a current telephone listing for Kathy Dell or the Cuero
Music Company, I emailed the Cuero newspaper and they agreed to run
a small notice inviting anyone who knew of Katherine Doehl to contact
me. A cousin called me to say that Katie, as the family still call
her, was in a nursing home following a stroke and that they would
be glad to help me with information and fotos for an article. Two
road trips, several interviews and some digging at the Cuero Public
Library resulted in an article detailing the life and times of Kathy
Dell which was eventually submitted to the JTMH and has now seen publication.
I hope that the excerpt above will whet some appetites for some of
y'all who might want to learn more about a very fascinating Texas
woman and pioneer music personality. |
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| March
20th, 1999 Kathy Dell and Leanora Brown, the author’s daughter, stood
outside the rear entrance to the Cuero Music Company. Miss Brown holds
a gift from Kathy, an autographed copy of the Cherokee Records 45
rpm that was released in Jan. 1975. |
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