Tex Harper (aka Rudy Preston) (August 17, 1936 - October 9, 2023) was a very talented musician, singer and songwriter from Texas.
Tex was born as Freddie Jean Harper, in Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas. His father was Charlie Childress Harper from Angelina, Texas and his mother was Nancy Lorene Repp, usually known as 'Flossie,' born in Oklahoma. She was 21 when Freddie arrived to join his four year old brother Oscar and his two year old sister Opal. Freddie attended Jacksonville High School where he was pictured in the school's Yearbook, 'The Indian,' during eighth grade, looking just that little bit different, more knowing, rebellious maybe, than the other kids. Freddie's early interest in music was fuelled when his sister Opal met and married an older local man, James Byron Paris.
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| Jacksonville in the 50's |
He was a songwriting associate of the pioneering honky tank singer Al Dexter, also from Jacksonville, who had recently had a big hit with Pistol Packin' Mama which Paris may or may not have written. Paris wrote many other honky tank and popular songs and Freddie later said, "back when 1 was a kid my musical influences had nothing to do with other singers, but with my brother-in-law, J. B. Paris, who was a big influence on me learning to play and write music. East Texas was always a hot bed of entertainment.
All of the 'Louisiana Hayride' shows that would come through town would come to the Tomato Bowl, our football stadium. 1 would always get out there and sell cold drinks. One of my best customers was singer T. Texas Tyler. All the other kids knew I sang, and they would say, 'Hey Freddie, get up and sing one'. Finally, when I was sixteen or seventeen, Tyler asked me if I would come on his show. 1 did a take-off on him doing Remember Me. He nicknamed me 'Tex' that night." Freddie also listened to the Grand Ole Opry radio show and kept up with the exploits of musicians like Stringbean, remembering, "when the Tommy Scott Show came through they had Stringbean [with them]."
Freddie went to see the Tommy Scott show one day in 1954. By now he was 18 and out of school, looking for something to do with his life. His parents had divorced, and his mother married Curtis Austin from Fort Worth, now in Jacksonville. Freddie didn't see a lot to keep him home, and said he asked Scott, "What does it take to get in this business? Tommy found out I was a singer and he got to talking with me. He told me that “It took a lot of work, and to listen to whoever is telling you what to do”. So, Tommy Scott talked to my mother and my stepdad and I wound up on the Scott travelling show. I jumped on the train the first part of the year and stayed for twelve years."
He continued with Tommy Scott’s shows into 1965, singing less and playing anything from guitar to drums as required. After he left Scott, he continued to record occasionally as Rudy Preston on various labels until 1970. He went on to perform at the Grand Ole Opry with artists such as Roy Acuff, Dolly Parton, Bill Anderson, Buck Owens, and Porter Waggoner among many others. As Rudy Preston he has written and co-written music with Gene Watson, Charley Pride, Dolly Parton, and so many other great country performers.
Rudy Preston and the Showman Band was known around the music industry for many years until his death in Jacksonville on October 9, 2023 age 87, and was buried in the Resthaven Memorial Park Cemetery.
(Edited Bear Family liner notes & obituary @ Hope Prescott.com)