Mathis Brothers Furniture

Oklahoma Connections To American Music

Even in the summer of 1969, I had no television in my room in one of the high-rise, Oklahoma State University dorms. The only television was on the verandah, which was a large floor, above the ground floor, that had steps leading up to it. I had won a Economics, summer workshop at OSU, that started about June 1 through July 30, tuition free. There was about 75 high school teachers from all over the United States, gathered to study Economics, and get some ideas, with which we could take back to our high school Economics class.

On the first day, I set the dress-code, ... BIG TIME. Everyone else showed up in white shirts and ties and beautiful dresses, except me. I showed up in "Jesus sandals," bermuda shorts, and a ragged t-shirt. Not an OU t-shirt. No since in flaunting it, right?

The roll call gave us each a time to tell everyone who we were, and where we were from. Then the two professors started talking about the "scope and sequence" of the summer class. For Bro. Cecil, that means: What we were going to study and when we were going to study it? Or, what we should teach in high schooI and when should we teach it. I suppose, in today's terms, it meant, "What was our agenda?"

After the first break, we came back in and sat down. One of the guys below me, said, "I think I will go ahead and sit here below "Jesus," referring to my sandals. ROTFLMHO!

The thing that I did bring was my stereo system, which had a FM/AM radio with it, and a turn table for my records. I know this is very hard for Bro. Cecil to believe, but I bought the system for music and not to listen to nonsense, political, or religious programs, like "Paul Harvey."

Harvey was probably the first "far right" radio program, that dealt with news-cast, with his "Other Side of the story - Page 2." Harvey was a graduate of Tulsa Central High School who refused to come back and speak without a "15,000" up front payment. Nice alumn, right? The problem with him, and yes, his son has taken the mantle and carried on with the same quirky dialect as his dad, is that you can't tell the difference between news and commercials, since both are done by him. Little ol' ladies, listening, might not be able to discern the difference. My bet is, that he sells lots of Bozz Music Systems. You wanna' bet?

I digress, so back to the topic at hand. I would always end up in front of the television on Saturday afternoons, watching, first the Buck Owens Show, The Wilburn Brothers, and, my favorite, Porter Wagoner Show. No one else was usually there at that time, but by "Hee Haw" time, 7 pm, the seats filled up. Little did I know at the time, just how Oklahoma was involved in all four of those programs.

Years before, Mathis Brothers Furniture, saw the rise of an upstart Country Musician in Bakerfield, who had started a "back to the roots" style music. Nashville, forced its singers to use studio musicians, and then slap the songs full of orchestral strings and lushy oboes. Owens was different. So, ... I will give my impression of the Country Scene, which I developed at Oklahoma University and in my '65 Volkswagon. Listen to a Toby Keith song. To me, many of them are overproduced.

The VW came with an FM/AM radio, which was an iffy investment, because there were so few FM stations at the time. But, Oklahoma City, had a great Country Station, KEBC. (Keep Every Body Country) That station was not smothered with commercials and one song every 15 minutes like KLPR was on the AM dial. We're talking music, here. And the station seemed to lean to the Backersfield Sound, that Buck Owens started in California.

Find out how Owens got his first Fender Stratoscaster, non-accoustic sound, heavy on the elctric amplified solid body, strong drums, and high on the high harmonies, which set him at opposition in Nashville. It was different, and KEBC played the Backersfield Sound. Little did I know, that the Buck Owens Ranch programs were shot right in Oklahoma City, at the WKY-TV studios, now KFOR. Here's how it happened. (Read his lengthy biography

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/owens_buck/artist.jhtml

This is a CMT, or Country Music Television website, so there are pictures, a long bio, and tons of other stuff. After you study it, and Bro. Cecil, selects some Buck Music for you to hear, you can go back up to that link, and then sign in a comment, like, "Buck was my main Country Star, back in the '60s," and for me, he came close to being just that. His songs were easy to play, without difficult melodies. (The way the song sounds)

Mathis Brothers Furniture is a high volume, million dollar a day business, and back then, they had a Mathis Brothers Music Show that they sang on and sponsored. They would use any Country Musician, who happened into town that day. The Nashville artists, usually starving artists, could always be assured that they would have good food, good living quarters, and get paid for being on the Mathis Brothers program, once they made it to the parking lot, near I-40 and the 235 junction, across and south of the old fairgrounds. Though the geographic middle of the nation is just above, Lebanon, Kansas; for Country musicians, OKC was the center of the states. Back then, the Country Music was still in its infancy, and getting some fast, easy money, by performing on the Mathis Brothers Shows was a given. They could do some clips and actually get paid and with money, the band players could get paid also.

Not only that, the Country Musician found a friend in the furniture store. If their bus broke down in Colorado, all the bus driver had to do was call the Mathis Brothers, and they would get a tow and an engagement. I talked to some salesmen back then, and all they said was, "There's a lot of money to be made if you are a good Mathis Salesman who can really close a deal."

http://mathisbrothers.com

It is fun to explore google.com using the words, "mathis brothers furniture," especially on how they affect this entire continent and much of China. Maybe Bro. Cecil's wife can come in and read some of the Chinese webpages. There are listed many more hits than you can find, and I am pretty sure, some of the web pages would be government censured, without the Mathis Brothers name in it. Can you believe that!

I suppose that the Mathis Brothers decided that it would be to their advantage, to get a broader "audience," buying base, they could hire a professional Country Musician and his crew, and do the program from WKY Television; at that time it was owned by E. K. Gaylord, who owns The Daily Oklahoman. Who was their first pick? None other than the upstart, Country Musician from Bakersfield, California, Buck Owens. Buck saw this as a way to market his music, quite effectively. At its peak, Owens had his 30 minute show in over 100 television markets across the US.

Now you can do a lot of research on Buck, because he did a lot of new stuff in Country Music. You can read his, difficult and lengthy biography here. It is not grammatically perfect, but it is a long, comprehensive read. But the neat thing, is that you don't have to read it all in the first sitting. I am sure the Prof finds all this information, news to him.

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/owens_buck/artist.jhtml


Find out, where Buck grew up and what happened to him. Was he rich or was his family as poor as Dolly Parton's and Loretta Lynn's families? What did he share with Oklahoma, back in those days. What were their occupations? Who named Buck, "Buck?" How did Buck get started in the business? What was the defining, musical instrument of his band?

Believe me, Buck had a head for getting-ahead in the business and staying there. It seems he loved to snub his thumb at Nashville; the way they "over-produce" their records. Find out, if you can get rich in Nashville on one song? If you need some help, I can get you some neat websites, and will probably be adding them, as I go along. After you study them, you may not decide to become a popular recording artist.

I worked at Central State Hospital, while attending the University of Oklahoma, on the Maximum Security Unit, a floor where they sent all the fighters (combative) patients and also, men from McAllister State Prison, who the judge would send them there for observation and testing, before they went in front of their parole committee. They talked tough, but I wasn't scared of them. I acted tougher than they did.

I told one of the Big Mac guys, off-handedly, that I had to "register my hands at the police office, because they're considered lethal weapons!" LOL!

Then one day, one of the prisoners came up and asked me, "Is it true you have to have your hands registered at the police station?"

I stared at him a bit, and said, "What do you think?"

I worked from 3-11, and by that time my shift was over, KEBC was playing only music with little commercial time. I listened to a lot of Country Music back then, and still sing a lot of the songs that were made popular back in the late 50's and 60's.

But, basically, here is what Buck would do. First, he built himself a set at WKY TV, and then two times a year, he and his "Buckaroos" would show up and do a bunch of shows that would last for a season. But ol' Buck had a computer mind, clear back in the 60's.

He thought, "What the hay? Why don't we just lay down the tracks here in Backersfield, and get our great sound, then bring 'em to OKC, get up and play along with the already, ready for hearing, performances." The same thing we do with computers. Why should one start from scratch, a document that you have to use all the time. Just make a template, and pull it up, and use it over and over. Buck was doing that back then, and was really setting the "paradigm," for Country Music, and the Mathis Brothers paid them handsomly and set no limits on how the programs would go. The only thing was, that at each commercial time, Mathis Brothers was the sponsor.

Now days, Mathis Brothers is a mover in Oklahoma City, as well as in the nation. They seem to have their hands in many areas. Don't believe? Do a google! Try "Mathis Brothers Furniture+China."

Matt Hoffman, the world's greatest "stunt bicyclists," came from Chickasha, Oklahoma. He now lives in OKC, a multi-millionaire, with almost ever bone in his body mended, went in with the Mathis Brothers to build two great, we are talking, GREAT, skateboard and bicycle parks in OKC.

My son, Darrin, skates them all the time. There is never a time, that when Darrin takes me to one of them, there are cars there with out-of-state licenses. These are free parks made out of cement, with cement bowls, ramps, drop offs, ...! I'll put some pictures on here to show you. Maybe even Darrin getting some air! (That means, you take a picture of him when his skateboard is not touching the cement.) Darrin is a big time skateboarder freak, a great Macintosh user, and is 30 years old, "... still skating strong." He's also getting ready to have a brand new baby boy named, Seth.

I sold Bibles in the summer, so I listened to the radio a lot. TLC was big then, which stood for Tender, Love and Care. Guess who wrote a song about it? Of course, Buck. Other songs he did, that I liked are, too many to count. "Together Again." "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail." (Big!) "Waitin' In Your Welfare Line." "Under Your Spell Again." "Tall Dark Stranger." "Sweet Rosie Jones." "Streets Of Bakersfield." (Twice, one with Dwight Yokuam.) "Love's Gonna Live Here," "Truck Drivin' Man," ... . (He had always hoped that Ray would cover that one.) "Act Naturally." (He didn't write it, but he published it, and the Beatles covered it twice, as did hundred other artists.)

There are just too many of his songs to list here. Now Ray Charles had enough clout to own his on masters. Buck did the same thing. He started a publishing company, and thus, he got all the royalties from his songs, and a percentage of the others. But, on most of those "Copyrights" you will see another name, "Don Rich." I'll write about him later. Buck made a deal with Capitol, that after four years of his songs on the radio, any song he wrote would revert right back to him.