The Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built

1. YOU ALL COME

3 1 YOU ALL COME Lefty Frizzell’s boyish good looks and quirky, swooping vocal style won him the hearts of millions of fans across the United States. By the end of 1951 he had appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride, had four songs in Billboard’s Top 10 charts simultaneously, and had just completed a nationwide tour with country music superstar Hank Williams. His 1 successes included “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time,” “I Want To Be With You Always,” “I Love You a Thousand Ways,” “Always Late,” “Give Me More, More, More (of Your Kisses),” as well as several other top chart entries. Frizzell certainly had talent. He also possessed charm. He had a Gibson J-200 guitar customized by Paul Bigsby and by 1951 had attained a celebrity status enjoyed by few other country music performers. By 1952 Frizzell had his own Cadillac. He also had a tour bus. He even had his own private plane. He had millions of adoring fans waiting for him to play their dancehall or auditorium and he also had women. The man who made Frizzell’s dream that reality, promoting him through the biggest boom of his career, was his manager and promoter Burl Houston Starns Jr., better known in country music circles as Jack Starns Jr. (the spelling of Starns has varied depending on the publication or family member, but on Starday legal documents and contracts the preferred spelling was Starns). Frizzell and Starns’s relationship began in January 1950 when Frizzell was booked at Neva’s Club in Beaumont, Texas. The club owner was Starns’s wife, Neva Starns Dupree, who maintained the adjacent café, cooked the food, booked the nightclub talent, and also managed a majority of the acts who played the club (via Neva’s Managing and Booking Agency). Neva, an experienced manager of East Texas nightclubs, purchased the café on Port Arthur Road that previously had been owned by western swingster Cliff Bruner. She had just begun booking hillbilly talent when Frizzell arrived in town. Frizzell at this time was still gaining national popularity, but had recently become frustrated and dissatisfied with his existing management team of Jim Beck and Art Satherley, who kept 66 percent of his total earnings. When Jack 4 YOU ALL COME Starns learned of Frizzell’s unfortunate situation, he thought he could be a better managerial fit for Lefty. Having become increasingly familiar with the ins and outs of the music business through Neva’s management operation, he then set out to convince Frizzell. Beaumont radio station KTRM disc jockey Boyd Whitney is said to have introduced the two. Starns followed Frizzell and his band for the next week, catering to their every need. If a band member didn’t show up, Starns would find another. If a club lacked a sound system, Starns would get one. Starns bought the entire Lefty Frizzell in the Starnses’s living room (Courtesy of Joyce Kelley and Darlena Blackwell) YOU ALL COME 5 band new duds as an advance against show royalties and also picked up their hotel tab for the week. He promised to promote Frizzell to the fullest extent and even offered to “take care of” the whole Beck and Satherley contract fiasco. All Frizzell would have to do is split his earnings with Starns 50/50. Those earnings included royalties from Lefty’s Columbia recordings, royalties from cover versions by other artists, royalties from sheet music sales, and money made from personal appearances as well as any radio, TV, and movie spots. After a week of deliberation, Frizzell accepted the offer. After all, getting 50 percent of his total earnings was a lot better than 33 percent. The deal became official on January 26, 1950. Early in the relationship, change proved positive. Starns assisted Frizzell in both the bus and plane acquisitions. He secured multiple show dates on the Louisiana Hayride and the Grand Ole Opry and, along with Neva, even bought a second club, the Reo Palm Isle in Longview, Texas, to give Frizzell and his band another home base. Further, when Uncle Sam acquired the services of three of Frizzell’s bandmates, including his brother, Starns went out and auditioned Blackie Crawford and his Tune Toppers to fill the vacancies. Unfortunately, the relationship soured not long after. Frizzell became agitated with Starns’s zig...