|
|
THE
QUEBE SISTERS
by Bob Bowman
|
|
If
Bob Wills were around today, the chances are good that he would be
delighted with three teenage sisters from Burleson.
Listening to the Quebe Sisters play the western swing music pioneered
by Wills in the 1930s and l940s, you realize they are special musicians
who love what they’re doing.
Grace, 18, Sophia, 17, and Hulda, 14, went to a fiddling contest near
their Burleson
home six years ago and decided they wanted to play the fiddle, too.
Their mother convinced veteran Texas musician Joey McKenzie to teach
her daughters. “They were naturals and they fell in love with traditional
Texas fiddle music,” said McKenzie, who with bass player Mark Abbott,
accompanies them on guitar at performances throughout the country.
In those six short years, the Quebe Sisters have captivated audiences.
They have been crowned Texas fiddling champions, played at the Grand
Ole Opry, toured with Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs, performed before
Duchess of York Sara Ferguson, and chalked up dozens of impressive
credentials in music.
The sisters’ popularity has taken them to places few teenagers ever
go--venues such as the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko,
Nevada, the National Folk Festival in Bangor,
Maine, the Michael Martin Murphy Christmas Ball in Oklahoma
City, the Cowboy Hall of Fame, also in Oklahoma, and country
music capital Nashville,
Tennessee.
Perhaps the gig they enjoyed the most was “A Ride With Bob,” when
they played with Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel to celebrate the
100th anniversary of Wills’ birthday.
The Bob Willis music the sisters play so well was the creation of
a Kosse-born farmboy who learned to play fiddle from his father and
grandfather.
In 1929 he organized the Light
Crust Doughboys and played for future Governor W. Lee (Pappy)
O’Daniel during his campaigns. Later, Wills organized his Texas Playboys
and “New San Antonio Rose” made him a national figure in popular music
in 1940. Wills died in 1975 after suffering a series of strokes.
Listening to the Quebe Sisters play at Crockett’s Camp Street Cafe
the other night, East Texans embraced the Quebe girls with a passion
usually reserved for Wills himself, but with good reason. The unique
multiple-fiddle renditions sounded remarkably like Wills’ own music.
The only thing missing was Willis’ trademark, “ah haaa.”
But in the audience there a few oldtimers who, remembering Bob Wills,
supplied the missing trademark with gusto. |
All
Things Historical >
November 27, 2005 Column
Published with permission
(Distributed by the East Texas Historical Association. Bob Bowman
of Lufkin is a past president of the Association and the author of
more than 30 books about East Texas.)
More Music |
|
|
