You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On May 17, 1922, Leon Payne entered the Texas School for the Blind in Austin. Born without sight in Alba, Texas, in 1912, Payne performed with Bob Wills and others before establishing himself as a talented songwriter. He penned a number of tunes for such prominent artists as George Jones, Elvis Presley and Jim Reeves. However, Leon Payne may be best remembered for writing one of Hank Williams, Sr.’s biggest hits, “Lost Highway.”

Leon Payne died in 1969. In 1971, country music legend and fellow Texan George Jones recorded an entire tribute album of Payne’s songs. In 1997, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn about the first-and-only four-way-hit songwriter.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On May 8, 1957, news broke that the University of Texas at Austin had forbidden African-American student Barbara Smith from performing in an opera, simply because she was black. Smith was highly regarded within the Music Department, and the faculty had chosen her specifically to play the lead role in Dido and Aeneas. However, state legislators who opposed desegregation in higher education pressured the university president to remove Smith from the production. She found out about the decision only days before the opera debuted.

Barbara Smith’s plight became a national civil rights issue. Harry Belafonte offered to pay for her education elsewhere, but she remained at the University of Texas. After graduating, she left her home state and became a renowned opera singer in New York and Europe, performing under the name of Barbara Smith Conrad. Despite her difficult ordeal a half-century earlier, she returned to Austin in 2010 to be honored by the university and the Texas legislature.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll follow a songwriter down country music’s “lost highway.”

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On May 1, 1938, W. Lee O’Daniel filed to run for governor of Texas. The flour-salesman-turned-politician was born in Malta, Ohio, in 1890. In 1925, he moved to Fort Worth to become manager of Burrus Mills. O’Daniel adopted the nickname “Pappy” and started his own radio show to promote Burrus Mills flour. The program featured a local band, the Light Crust Doughboys, which included future Western swing pioneers Bob Wills and Milton Brown. In 1935, O’Daniel formed his own flour company, along with a new band, the Hillbilly Boys.

“Pappy” O’Daniel’s tremendous popularity as a radio personality prompted him to enter politics. With the Hillbilly Boys providing musical support, he campaigned to large crowds throughout the state. Although he proved to be a very controversial governor, O’Daniel still managed to defeat a young Lyndon Johnson during a 1941 race for the U.S. Senate.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll hear how the civil rights struggle took an operatic turn.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On April 23, 1984, Z.Z. Hill gave his last performance at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas. Arzell Hill was born in Naples, Texas, in 1935. He began his musical career at 19 when he moved to Dallas to sing gospel. However, Hill also enjoyed blues and R&B. In 1964, he recorded his first single, “You Were Wrong.” Hill did not record again until 1972, when he released a string of blues and R&B hits, including “Down Home Blues” and “Love Is So Good When You’re Stealin’ It.”

By the early 1980s, Z.Z. Hill was poised to capitalize on a growing interest in Texas blues. However, in February 1984, he was involved in a car accident that caused health problems from which he would never fully recover. Despite these difficulties, Hill continued to perform, giving his last concert in Dallas just days before his death.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a salesman who rode the airwaves to the Governor’s Office.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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Dolores Fariss was born Dolores Hanson on April 18, 1912, in Hutto, Texas. She began her musical career playing piano in her father’s polka band. In 1931, Dolores married Lee Fariss, and in the 1940s the two formed a group called Dolores and the Bluebonnet Boys. They became one of the best-known country dance bands in the Austin area and performed regularly at the legendary Skyline Club. Dolores Fariss led the band and composed many of their most popular songs, including “Austin Waltz” and “The Fiesta Waltz.” The group also recorded with such local music icons as Kenneth Threadgill.

Dolores and Lee Fariss stopped playing professionally in 1955. Dolores worked as a dietician in the Del Valle school system near Austin until the 1970s. She died in 1993.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet “the other Z.Z.” of Texas blues.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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Johnny Dollar died on April 13, 1986. The Creek Indian musician was born in 1933 in Kilgore, Texas. As a young man, Dollar traveled the state working in oil fields and lumberyards. In 1952, he recorded his first country single and joined the famed Louisiana Hayride. By the late 1950s, Dollar was performing mostly rockabilly. He joined the Big D Jamboree in Dallas and collaborated with songwriter Jack Rhodes to make a series of raw, high-energy recordings. Though unreleased until the 1990s, these records captured Dollar’s classic rockabilly sound.

Johnny Dollar moved increasingly into mainstream country music during the 1960s and became a successful Nashville producer. By the mid-1980s, however, Dollar’s struggle with throat cancer finally ended his singing career.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember a band that waltzed into Austin music lore.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On April 1, 1981, Billy Bob’s Texas opened in Fort Worth. Billy Bob Barnett and Spencer Taylor built the dance hall out of a 10,000 square-foot cattle barn in the city’s famed Stockyards district. Billed as the “world’s largest honky-tonk,” it soon became one of the most popular music venues in the state. Billy Bob’s has hosted a number of country music icons, including Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire and George Strait. The club also has helped foster new talent, with such younger artists as Rick Treviño, the Randy Rogers Band and Mickey and the Motorcars.

Billy Bob’s Texas, which hold as many as 6,000 people, includes a large dance floor and an arena that features live bull-riding.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a rockabilly singer who always had a dollar to his name.

You can download and subscribe to the podcast right here.

Paul’s previous podcast featured husband-and-wife duo Seth and Shawn Magill of Dallas’ Home By Hovercraft talking about their new album, Are We Chameleons. This time, Paul talks with Nicholas Altobelli about Without a Home, his new Salim Nourallah-produced album.

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You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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On March 28, 1928, Prince Albert Hunt first recorded in San Antonio. Born in Terrell, Texas, in 1896, Hunt had become one of the most prominent fiddlers in Dallas by the 1920s. His innovative style combined old-time country breakdowns with blues and jazz. Between his 1928 San Antonio session and another in Dallas in 1929, Hunt and his band recorded only nine tracks. However, they helped pave the way for the emergence of Western swing in Texas during the 1930s.

Prince Albert Hunt had developed his bluesy style in the Dallas neighborhood of Deep Ellum. It was also there that he met his demise, when a jealous husband shot Hunt at a dance on March 21, 1931.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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Harry James was born on March 15, 1916, in Albany, Ga. He got his start in show business as a circus contortionist. His father, the circus bandmaster, taught him to play drums, piano and trumpet. In 1931, the James family moved to Beaumont, Texas, where Harry concentrated full-time on playing trumpet. Five years later, he joined Benny Goodman’s orchestra and then formed his own band in 1939. Harry James became known for his sizzling trumpet solos and for recruiting talented collaborators, including a young Frank Sinatra.

Harry James married actress Betty Grable in 1943 and moved to Las Vegas. Prior to his death in 1983, Harry James continued to perform on his own, and he also appeared in a series of movies with the Benny Goodman band.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll go on the air with a pioneer in Spanish-language radio.