Today’s post was written by Paul.
“Cross the Brazos at Waco” is one of my favorite story songs. When I was little and Pap would sit around picking and singing to pass the time, he would sometimes sing the chorus of this song. It always stirred my imagination.
Pap didn’t know the rest of the song, but he told me a prose summary of the last verse. He sang the chorus in second person, as if someone were telling the protagonist how to get there.
Many years later, I found the song by Billy Walker on RealTek Audio. It was like a forerunner of iTunes, except owned by IBM or someone other than Apple. Of course I downloaded the song, and it was every bit as good as I hoped it would be.
Billy Walker released the song in 1964. It only reached number 128 on the Billboard country charts, which tells me there must have been some mighty tough competition that year (or somehow the song was smothered by some funny payola business). Seems like a top 5 song all the way.
When I downloaded the song, I noticed that Billy Walker sang every chorus in first person, as if it were the interior monologue of the protagonist. When I sing the song, I always sing the first chorus in 2nd person, the way Pap did. I think it adds a layer of complexity to the plot by more strongly suggesting that the whole thing was a trap for the protagonist.
In Walker’s version, the only information that the unnamed messenger provides is that Carmela was spotted in San Antonio. The way Pap sang the fragment that he knew, suggested that this unnamed character may have provided the location and timing so that the Ranger could be there waiting for the protagonist (El Bandito).
A gunfighter trying to reform is a common theme in many western movies, TV shows, and stories, and the reform is often attempted for the love of a woman. The attempt usually ends sadly when the gunfighter is forced to revert to his gunslinging.
This song executes that scenario better than any movie or TV show that I’ve ever seen. It manages to vividly show the setting, rising action, and denouement in less than 3 minutes! Plus, it features a tragic plot twist by having the gunfighter defenseless when he meets his end.
The song was written by Kay Arnold. I know little about her. She was born in 1926 and passed away in 2005. From quick looks online, it appears that she recorded quite a few great songs that were hits for other singers, which naturally makes me wonder if she wrote some of them. She’s no relation to Eddy Arnold. I will have to find out more about her!
Several years after I downloaded Billy Walker’s recording of “Cross the Brazos at Waco,” I found a video of him performing it. You can see it here.
When I watched it, I was excited to see that his superb guitar player on the song was none other than Steve Chapman. Chapman also sang excellent harmony with Walker. Chapman started out very young with Reno and Smiley, playing electric guitar. I had always wondered what happened to him because it seemed he was only with R & S for a couple of years. I know little about Chapman, and I used to wonder if he might have lived near Reno when he was growing up in VA.
An electric guitar is out of place in bluegrass music, but Chapman kept everything tasteful and managed to not clash with the other instruments. He played on several R & S records and can be seen on the album cover that I showed in a previous video inside my studio control room. There are some videos online of Chapman playing with R & S on their Kroger TV show. Here’s one.
He did an excellent job on the TV show and even played acoustic guitar on a few numbers, but I still always wondered if Reno was just helping him get his start. No matter how good you are, someone has to give you that start. It’s hard to explain how glad I was when I saw Chapman with Billy Walker. I didn’t know him, but I always root for anyone who tries to make it as a genuine musician. Most likely, you’re not going to make a lot of money regardless of how good you are, but if you can just survive and make a living, you’ve accomplished a lot.
In uploading this video, I did a Google search and found that in addition to Billy Walker, Chapman played with Bill Anderson, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and more. Not too shabby. He passed away at age 74 in Nashville.
When I bought my new piano, I knew that it would record itself. Some guitar breaks just don’t sound good without rhythm behind them, so I didn’t play any breaks when I sang the song. As an experiment. I played rhythm on the piano and recorded it so I could play it back and pick a break with it. It sounded much better than I expected. I considered playing the entire song that way, but I was just too lazy! Maybe I’ll give it a try in a future upload. We have two story songs left for this year’s series. I’ll try to make sure that at least one of them is less sad than the first three!
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
For those of us who live in central Texas, the geography doesn’t add up. I think it would be nigh onto impossible to cross the Brazos at Waco and ride to San Antonio by dawn, the distance being close to 170 miles crow-fly. And, the Chisolm Trail – I live right by where the cattle were trailed – went a bit West of Waco. San Antonio is fair distance by car from the Brazos even at its closest point.
Those errant facts might account for the song’s failure to hit it big.
Even a story told in song needs to be close enough to the truth to be believable.
You did a great job on the tune, Paul; but the story in it is weak.
If errant facts in song lyrics prohibited success there wouldn’t any big hits! They bend the facts to make their lines rhyme. They couldn’t find a word to rhyme with dawn so they shortened San Antonio to San Antone.
I was 14 in 1964 when that song was released. Like Pap I usually only sing the chorus, I do remember the rest of the song but I keep getting it confused with Marty Robbins’s El Paso.
Paul, as usual good story, good music!
What a wonderful “story” song. I think it’s so special that Pap first introduced it to you when you were little. Thanks for sharing the history of it. Great job!
I remember when it was a hit. I knew his dau in Nashville..she ran his little office.
I agree that the song should have made it to the top five while your version deserves to be in the #1 spot. Thank you for the story song and its history. I was surprised to learn it was written by a female.
Paul discovered Cross the Brazos at Waco was written by Kay Arnold. I believe she was Tom Armold’s aunt (comedian and Roseanne Barr’s ex-husband). Kay Arnold was a singer and actress who did some USO shows in Vietnam when I was there.
So many possible takeaways from this song. Guess each person would take the one that most closely matches their experience? Arching over all of them though would be that life and death can be tragic and we just have to deal with it. You sure do know a very great deal about music and songs and recording, each foreign subjects to me. And I suspect you might well differ with that because you have an informed understanding of how much there likely is that you don’t know. Often the way with many things. Thanks for the song and the background.
A sad and tragic but wonderful story song. Thanks for sharing the song and the background with us.
Thank you for the “story” songs and all the history and research you provide. The background information is fascinating. I look forward to reading more!
good morning Paul, I enjoyed that song the first time I heard you play it, I played it again this morning, thank you and God bless you and your family in Jesus mighty name
Thanks Paul for this wonderful story. We live an hour and a half from Waco and this will make me think of you each time we go through this town. We have a local radio station (KBEC) and I’m going to drop this link to to them. they will most likely check out the song in their library and if they have it will play it. The stations format of classic C&W music.