Tracy Pitcox
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 3 Oct 2016 7:21 pm |
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Mr. Cotton Eyed Joe" Al Dean has passed away in hospice care in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 85.
“Al had been battling cancer,†Heart of Texas Records President Tracy Pitcox said. “He passed away very peacefully on Monday afternoon about 4:30. His last professional appearance was in June.â€
Dean’s career started in 1952, when he formed his first band in Freer Texas. "The Texas Teenagers" played dances, school functions and benefits all over South Texas. Dean began recording in the late 1950's including some rockabilly singles.
In 1967, he hit paydirt with an old fiddle tune titled "Cotton Eyed Joe" for KIKR Records. The song dated back many generations and had been recorded in 1941 by both Adolph Hofner and Bob Wills.
"It was a song that I heard as a kid," Al said. "No one had ever heard of the song. It had died. I had a cowboy from South Texas come up to me and ask if I knew ‘Cotton Eyed Joe.’ I said I did, but I had not sung it in years. We sat down and taught the guys in my band, note for note, how I remembered the ‘Cotton Eyed Joe.’â€
The “Cotton Eyed Joe†inspired a new round dance polka for couples. This dance was adapted into a simplified version as a nonpartner waist-hold, spoke line routine. Heel and toe polka steps were replaced with a cross-lift followed by a kick with two-steps. The lift and kick are sometimes accompanied by shouts of "whoops, whoops," or the barn yard term "bull shit", mimicking the act of kicking off barnyard muck. .
"This guy found a girl to dance with every time that we would play 'Cotton Eyed Joe,'" Dean recalled. "He started kicking around on the dance floor and the poor girl walked off in the middle of the dance. Every time we had a show he would ask us to play the song and he would drag a poor girl out on the dance floor and every time she would walk off. It started to spread from there and now everyone does the 'Cotton Eyed Joe.'"
The song would become a standard in bars, clubs and dance halls all over the United States and make Al Dean and the Allstars a much sought after commodity on the music circuit.
"I got an award in 1987, from the American Music Association of Texas," Al said. "It was for having the most programmed record in the history of the jukebox. Every band I go see that has a fiddle player will come up to me and tell me that they learned to play the fiddle listening to my records."
During his career, Dean recorded for Stop, Manco, Paid, KIKR and most recently Heart of Texas Records.
Dean's last album was "Al Dean Still Kikn': King of The Cotton Eyed Joe." He continued to perform and record and was frequently joined on stage by his son Galen.
“We were honored to be associated with Al Dean during the last several years of his life,†Pitcox said. “Al loved Country Music and truly loved his fans. He was always talking about how excited he was to be able to perform and it thrilled him to hear from his fans from many years ago. He made a great contribution to the Texas Country Music scene.†|
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