The name Lloyd Copas is virtually unknown to many country music fans today. The name Cowboy Copas doesn’t generally register much higher on the recognition chart. In fact, many people only recognize the name as a footnote of trivia in a story that’s been told over and over – the death of Patsy Cline.
On March 5, 1963, the plane carrying Cline crashed in the mountains of Tennessee. Not to trivialize that loss, but Cline wasn’t the only passenger. Also on that flight was Grand Ole Opry member Hawkshaw Hawkins. The pilot of the flight was Cline’s manager, Randy Hughes. Hughes was also the son-in-law of the fourth passenger, Cowboy Copas.
Born in southern Ohio in 1913, Lloyd Copas grew up playing music with friends and family. He decided to try his luck at being a full-time musicians and he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio accompanied by his friend Lester Vernon Storer, who adopted the character Natchee the Indian. The pair became a popular regional act both at live venues and on local radio stations.
But Copas wanted more and soon struck out on his own. He fronted his own band and recorded for King Records charting with “Filipino Baby†and “Tragic Romance.†Soon he came to the attention of Grand Ole Opry star Pee Wee King who asked him to consider joining his band. Copas signed on and became a regular on the Opry playing with Pee Wee King and his Golden West Cowboys.
Copas still recorded his own songs for King Records and left Pee Wee King after a few years to again strike out on his own. His records were selling well and he became a member of the Opry. His career was doing so well that Billboard magazine featured him on the cover with King Records owner Syd Nathan and Opry manager Harry Stone as they both offered him ten-year contracts.
As the years wore on Copas’ music began to fall out of favor with radio audiences as the new Nashville Sound began to take over the airwaves. His records weren’t selling as well and he took many low paying solo gigs just to pay the bills. It was then that Don Pierce, owner of Starday Records, entered the picture.
Starday was the “Real Country Alternative†label of the day, sticking with the steel guitars and fiddles that many Nashville Sound artists put aside. Copas was used to recording for a small label with King and felt it would be a good fit.
While at Starday, Copas recorded one of his most well known songs, “Alabam,†a song his father Eldon used to play for him as a boy. The song went to #1 on July 4, 1960 revitalizing Copas’ career and putting him back in the spotlight. Record sales dramatically increased and he became a sought after, and better paid, live act.
On the day of the plane crash in 1963, Copas, at age 50, was experiencing a career resurgence. He was back on top where he belonged.
There are dozens of artists whose stories are similar to Copas’ in that they are unfortunately being lost to time.
John Roger Simon, a southern Ohio native and professor of music at Shawnee State University, has taken on the honorable task of producing a thoroughly researched and enjoyable biography of a deserving artist. In the first several chapters, Simon takes a keen and personal interest in the conditions under which Copas grew up. He interviews many people who knew Copas and his family and draws a portrait of the community that contributed to the character of Lloyd Copas.
The theme of community that is established early in the book in talking about the small communities in which Copas was raised carries on throughout the book as those communities are replaced by the community of country music singers. In hearing the stories of country stars of this time, the late-1940s through the 1960s, there was a sense of community that appears to be lacking in today’s music world.
The subtitle of the book, “And The Golden Age of Country Music,†is covered in the book through interviews with and anecdotes concerning stars like Ralph Emery, Johnny Wright, Kitty Wells, Jimmy Dickens, Lazy Jim Day, Pee Wee King, Hank Williams and many other country music stars of the 1950s and ‘60s. Several of the artists interviewed have passed on and it is good to have their stories and recollections recorded for posterity.
Simon has written the only full-length biography of Cowboy Copas. With much detail and style he has captured the story of one of country music’s stars that runs the risk of being forgotten by today’s fans. Fans of country music history will want to have this book in their library for the firsthand tales of the road from many of the stars of yesteryear and to honor the memory of a great artist.
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How may I obtain a copy of the book, "Cowboy Copas And The Golden Age of Country Music," by John Roger Simon. I saw it quoted in Bluegrass Unlimited.