My View from 1958

Becoming Hound Dog

Headliner and Leisure Suits

Times were good in the 1970’s and early 1980’s in my hometown of Shenandoah. The farm economy was strong, a new Eaton’s Transmission factory just opened (eventually employing about 400 people) there were 4 Seed and Nursery companies, a gate factory and a robust main street. Main street included 3 pharmacies, 5 clothing stores, a sporting goods store, JC Penny, Sears, Woolworth, Western Auto, Gambles, Spurgeon’s, Montgomery Wards, a movie theater, photography studio and two shoe stores. For a small midwestern town of about 6,500 people the future was bright, and people were enjoying life.

Time for a party. Dad and his buddies came up with an idea: a 4^th of July pig roast and live country music by dad and his bandmates. The party would be at our home as we had the space, and we lived on the outskirts of town. This would serve as a public “coming out” for the band. My dad would often say later, “This was an Event”.

We lived on a small acreage (about 10 acres) with a barn, detached garage and a large metal shed. There was about an 8-acre pasture; plenty of room for parking. A friend of my dad’s brought over a spit for roasting the pig. Dad’s good buddy, Thayer provided a hay wagon for the band’s stage and four large horse troughs filled with ice for soda and beer. The women brought all kinds of side dishes and desserts spread across multiple tables.

It was like a miniature Woodstock. The place was packed. There were so many people that the septic tank backed up and flooded our basement. Somebody had to make an emergency run for a sump pump.  The band was rolling, people were dancing, beer was flowing, the pump was pumping shit out of the septic tank into the neighboring field and nobody cared. It was an Event!  The picture below shows one of the earlier pictures of the band. Dad is second from the right. This is from a newspaper clipping.

Country music and country rock took off, across the nation, well probably around the world. Hell, everyone wanted to be a cowboy.  Waylon and Willie were at their peak. Other top performers were George Jones, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride and of course the ever-popular Elvis.  The ole classic Hank Williams songs were still common as well. In the early 80’s the movie “Urban Cowboy” made it cool to be a cowboy and wear boots and hat. Southern Rock was on the rise too. Charlie Daniels, Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Marshall Tucker just to name a few.  

With the rise of the economy, popularity of country music and a generation looking for a good time, the band really started to take off. They began with local gigs at the Elk’s Club and AMVETS, but the band became so popular that every weekend they travelled up to 50 to 60 miles to play throughout Southwest Iowa. If not on the road,  for sure they were headliners at the local clubs. Popular locations were Nebraska City, Creston, Percival, Norwalk, and Sidney. They played at multiple weddings including one at the Joslyn Museum in Omaha. A couple of times they headlined on the dinner train in Hooper, Nebraska. Probably the pinnacle of their travel occurred when a rich farmer in Indiana flew the band and all their equipment there to play at his daughter’s wedding.   When they flew back to Shenandoah they traveled though a violent storm. A few got ill and Don Stripe (lead vocalist) kissed the ground when he got out of the tiny two-prop plane.

Through this musical journey the makeup of the band changed multiple times. They finally settled on:

Don Stripe as the lead vocals. He was an auctioneer and man he had a great voice. Don also had a great sense of humor that would keep the audience engaged.

Dad on lead guitar and vocals.

Don Owens on rhythm guitar, his sons on sax and guitar.

Sam Irvin on drums and Charlie Ingram on the bass. Below is a picture of the band at the Shenandoah Elks Club. Dad is on the far right in the white leisure suit. Yup white

These guys were pretty good. Ok, not going to Nashville good, but local bar or club attraction good. And they packed the house. The band settled on the name “Harvey and the Hayshakers”.  Dad had the nickname “Hound dog” because one of his favorite Presley songs was “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog,” and of course he would sing it at every performance.

The dance floor would flow with couples doing the two steps, waltz, swing or twist. This generation was not afraid to get up and boogie! My mind is still clear with memories of Dad singing, “Take the job and shove it”, or Don Stripe and Dad performing the Waylon/Willie songs of “Good Hearted Woman” or “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys“. Dad was always looking for new music and asked me to write down the words for the Who’s, “Squeeze Box”, John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary,” and the Allman Brothers, “Ramblin’ Man”.  They performed those songs to everyone’s delight. Dad could country and rock!

Below is a picture of dad that appeared in the local newspaper, The Evening Sentinel. A reporter wrote a nice profile of his background and musical journey. The leisure suit was blue. My brother still has that guitar.

Dad and the band lived a bit like Waylon and Willie: work hard, play hard and party hard. He formed strong friendships not only with the band members but also with many other folks around town who shared his interests and desire for mischief. Dad’s gas station became a hangout for his “pose”. Seems like every day around closing time his buddies would show up for a bullshit session and of course a drink or two. There was always a bottle hidden behind the shelf of air filters. Kessler’s. The pop machine was loaded with beer.

Sometimes the pose would get a little carried away. On one occasion they had a few too many drinks and ended up buying a fire truck. Yup, a fire truck. Mom and I were sitting in the living room one Saturday afternoon watching TV when we heard a siren. We ran outside to see what the commotion was, only to find Dad and his buddies pulling in the driveway with what was probably a 1940ish fire truck. The pose bought it. Sometimes alcohol can impede your decision-making ability. On occasion, they would all climb aboard and drive around town with lights flashing. In those days, the drunk driving laws were not enforced. That ole truck sat in our pasture for years. I wonder if they ever thought, “what in the hell were we thinking?”

The Hayshakers rolled for several years, I would estimate 12 to 14. As best I can remember they played about every weekend.  Looking back, I really loved this period of our lives. These were good times, full of fun, adventure and life-long friends. I was away from home for a few years when I was in the Air Force. I was stationed in Germany and mom and dad flew over to visit. We took a weekend trip to Paris. I believe dad was the only one walking around the Musee du Louvre in a leisure suit and cowboy boots.  I kinda think Hank would have done it that way.