 Summer 1969 |
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| Starting with the picture on the left:
[Left to Right], Buster Wells on Standard Guitar;
Jim Carpenter, also Standard Guitar; Frank Muns, Fiddle; Junior Chapman, Banjo.
This picture was taken in the summer of 1969 while Jr. Chapman was still physically
able to play the banjo. Later his right hand became impaired to the point that he was
unable to do the fingering required for the right hand of the banjo.
Picture on right: [Left to Right], Frank Muns, Fiddle; Jim Carpenter, Standard Guitar; Buster Wells, [seated], Fiddle; Jack Wallace, Banjo; Junior Chapman, Standard Guitar. By November 1, 1969, Jr. Chapman had switched to playing the standard guitar and Jack Wallace took over the banjo. It was either later in the month of November or sometime in December that Jr. Chapman died of a brain tumor. That's what was preventing his playing the banjo. This picture was taken at the last practice session for the group. Jack Wallace usually played the Bass Fiddle but he also could burn the strings off a banjo. Buster Wells played the fiddle and guitar and was the lead singer. He was good on both. Junior Chapman played the banjo and guitar and sang tenor. Frank Muns stuck to the fiddle. He was one of the best I've heard. He entered several fiddle contests around the area, and won most if not all he entered. He was a professional in every way. I play the rhythm guitar and the radio, both about equal. I have trouble tuning both. We all did a little singing but Buster Wells was the "real singer" of the group. I like to sing but have trouble with the coyotes howling and throwing me off key. Or maybe it's the other way around. I always enjoyed hearing Frank play the "Chicken Reel" on the fiddle. He made those clucking and cackling sounds so realistic that chickens would wander in from miles around. Finally we tired of hearing the song so often, but we ask him to keep playing it because, as the old joke goes, we needed the eggs. [Sorry about that, but old jokes are all I know.] As of now, 2012, I'm the only one shown in these pictures that is still living. Junior Chapman died in 1969, about a month after this second picture was taken, of a brain tumor. He was only 40 years old. Jack Wallace died in 1992 of a heart attack. He was 87. Frank Muns died in 1999 at the age of 86. Buster Wells died on Jan. 2, 2012 at the age of 77. I'm in my mid 70's, now, so it won't be long until I will be playing in another band. I would hope to be playing with the same old group, but if not, I hope they will have a good fiddle player and lots of chickens. . . . Jim | ||
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