Jess Morris
Jess Morris
Boiled Shirt and Cowboy Boots
This chapter describes the recordings of Jess Morris, a classically trained violinist and former cowboy living in Dalhart, Texas, who played at ranch dances throughout the Panhandle. Jess lived many of the realities that Gene Autry portrayed on the movie screen. Like the wide open spaces Autry traversed by projectionist's lamp, Jess knew firsthand the unbroken range of the Texas Panhandle, the last of the long-distance cattle drives, and the all-night ranch dances reachable only by horse-drawn wagon. He also embodied a cultural breadth that exceeds cinematic stereotype. His community remembered him especially for “Goodbye, Old Paint,” a song he learned in childhood. It became his signature number, one that he copyrighted and published. His contribution to the piece mattered to him to the end of his life as he waited anxiously for its release on a Library of Congress album of cattle calls and cowboy songs.
Keywords: Jess Morris, violinists, Library of Congress recordings, Texas Panhandle, cowboy songs
Illinois Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
