Thanks to Dale's Sister,
Sue McBride-Osborne, for helping keep the facts straight, and for
her many contributions. Thanks also to
Noel & Vernon Newland, Don Wise
and to
Sarah Cravens and so many others
whose emails keep reminding me this is such a worthwhile tribute. I would like to
acknowledge Dale's daughter,
JoLea McBride of Austin, Texas, who, I'm
told, took such loving care of Dale during his long and painful illness.
I'd also like to mention Dale's son,
Terry Mcbride,
who has done a great job of carrying on the family musical
tradition.
This page is a capsule tribute to
one of the all time great performers, Dale
McBride. To tell the
full story would take the 50 odd years it took to live it. That's
how long this gifted guitarist, and prolific singer/songwriter
shared his remarkable talents with us.
Dale McBride was a grand performer, as much at home on the stage
as he was at a backyard barbeque. The
"Dale McBride Show"
was the whole package: A little Country, a
little Rock, spiced with blues, and flavored with pop, and nearly always
tendered
with a spiritual edge.
His love of guitar was evident in
every note he played. And when he was in between all that,
he loved to joke and laugh with the audience with monologues that were dry
and wry, witty and wild. And just when you thought it couldn't get any
better, Dale would mesmerize the crowd by busting loose with his
incredible impersonations of
Elvis, Walter
Brennan, Marty Robbins,
Roy Orbison and a host of others.
Dale's
small town (Lampasas, Texas) roots, and a deep spiritual upbringing,
kept him firmly grounded in a profession that swallows up a lot of
talented performers long before they have been in the business for the
three solid decades that Dale recorded his legacy. Hundreds of
recordings that provide a lasting memory, not only to his proud and loving
family and friends, but to countless adoring fans.
Performing since
the early 40's, Dale's recording history began in the late 50's when traditional Country Music was in a state of flux
and very hostile to newcomers. But the innovative Dale was
determined to make a living via his talent, and became one of the early pioneers
of Rockabilly music. From a memorable performance with
Gaylon Christie and the Downbeats on
Kobb Records "Because I love you so",
to Dale's solo performances on
Fame Records' Rockabilly Classic
"Prissy Missy"
to his
Teardrop Label classic swamp rocker
"Barbara". Dale's
early hits certainly fired up Biloxi, Mississippi's teen dancers on my Saturday
afternoon WLOX-TV dance program, "Teen Time".
Still,
Dale's heart never drifted far from his country roots, and the flip
sides of his rockabilly recordings generally featured a pure
traditional country love song, i.e.,
"Born to Love
You" and "I Can't Ever Free My Mind".
With
that rare crooning tenor voice that
covered more than a couple of octaves, and a falsetto that could
raise the hair on the back of your neck, Dale could have gone
in any
musical direction, perhaps even Opera, a fact that did not
escape
Dean Martin's
attention in the mid sixties when he heard Dale
and immediately signed him to a contract with his label
Reprise Records.
Although
Reprise was a huge and successful major record
subsidiary, its focus was on adult pop, mostly middle-of-the-road music,
which Dale was great at, but
he yearned for a more mass appeal sound, and something more attuned to his roots.
By 1970
Dale found a progressive Texas label, Thunderbird
Records, which was eager to give him a shot at some traditional country cover
songs, along with some of his own original compositions, including
"Corpus Christy Wind". And that
was Dale's first single to hit
Billboard Magazine's
Hot Country Chart. (see note below)
During the early to mid 70's Dale
produced a couple of albums on his own label which included a
"Live" album of one of his stage shows,
and also some of his wry monologues, plus some great impressions of
Elvis and Walter
Brennan.(see picture below)
It was around that time that Nashville
started perking up to Dale's music, and Jeff
Walker signed him
to
Con-Brio Records where he recorded a couple
of successful albums along with several hit singles, including his
career biggest
chart song, "Ordinary Man"
Dale's spiritual
roots also shown through in many of his songs -- even Louisiana's
former governor Jimmy Davis was enthralled by Dale's highly charged
spiritual rendition of Davis' famous "You Are My
Sunshine". Later, Dale would Record
"Let It Shine, Let It Shine" and other spiritual
rooted albums during the 80's.
And when it looked
like the sun would never stop shining on Dale McBride, the 1990s
crept in
under a dark cloud that came with the devastating news of his father's
death, and only a short time later Dale learned that he, himself, was had a terminal brain tumor.
One of Dale's loving sisters,
Sue Osborne, had this to say: "When we found out about the tumor,
they gave him 6 months but he lived 2 more years. He did great the first
year, we think because of his faith and his attitude. We thought
he was going to lick it."
Rest assured, faith is what makes me
believe I'll someday be
seeing old Dale again, in a place where pain and sickness are no more, and
where I'm sure
he'll still
be performing, not only for us but for the glory of God. But until that time, we'll be listening to
his many recordings, and missing him terribly.
(Note: Corpus Christie Wind was
written years earlier, and recorded by Dale on several labels.
So even though it only reached #76 The on the Billboard charts, it was
probably his greatest all time hit.)
