James E. Akenson
You never know. Events and relationships combine to make twists and turns that couldn’t be anticipated when they first occur. My friend and fellow educator Jerry Barthelemy…a.k.a. Jerry B… retired from teaching. His side gig was Your Rockabilly DJ From Algood, Tennessee. It also meant that he collected thousands…yes, literally thousands….of records.
I even helped him get the final 45rpm record in his Hank Williams Jr collection. I bet you didn’t know that Hank Jr recorded a 45 for the Consolidated Coal Company advocating mine safety. It’s not exactly a Top 10 hit.
Jerry B not only retired from teaching, but he’s at a stage in life for downsizing. He’s selling his record collection and even giving away some albums.
That’s where my long-term relationship with Jerry B, my long-term involvement in the educational applications of County Music, and my recent reading of a book about Country Music and the Cold War all came together.
Jerry B texted me to ask if I would like a Patsy Cline album. I said yes despite not knowing what I would do with it. Jerry B dropped it off at the house, we talked, and I put it in my vehicle to take to my office at Tennessee Tech.
It stayed in my vehicle and I frequently glanced at Patsy’s face on the album cover as well as the one time album owners name on the back of the album. It said “Reece Upchurch. H Btry 2/27 Arty. Maint. Sect.”
I thought Reece Upchurch might have been from the Upper Cumberland region surrounding Cookeville and Tennessee Tech. Years ago I had elementary education majors in class by name of Upchurch.
That brings us to the reading a recent book about the Cold War and Country Music. I knew a fair amount about Country Music after World War 2. Recently, though, I read Joseph Thompson’s Cold War Country: How Music Row and The Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism for a journal review.
It refreshed and expanded my knowledge of the role of Country Music with troops in Europe and Japan. Besides Country Music artists such as Roy Acuff performing on U.S. military bases, the military sold records on the base Post Exchange (PX). Country Music records sold very well.
Enter an “Aha moment.” A gestalt if you happen to like psychology. Enter a trip to Twang Town (a.k.a. Nashville and Music City) thanks to problems associated with a certain male gland and related blockages of liquid elimination.
Let’s get an additional opinion, input, about what might be done if a certain reservoir didn’t spring back to full functional life after a medical procedure. With daughter driving, my Life Partner (sometimes called a wife) Mickie in the back, and myself in the front…no sexism here as I offered to sit in the back…. we left for Music City.
Driving to Nashville on Interstate 40, I picked up the Patsy Cline album. Looking again at Reece Upchurch’s identification made it crystal clear. There is an intriguing article in this Patsy Cline record and the connection to Reece Upchurch and the Cold War. It also crossed my mind that I can develop a lesson plan about the Cold War and Country Music for my high school social studies methods course.
Daughter Ashley, who spent two years in Iraq, responded to my question about the 2/27 dealing with regiments and battalions. I was in the ballpark, but googling the 2/27 brought confirmation of regiment and battalion. Next came confirmation of the artillery being part of the 3rd Armored Division. Yes indeed, the 3rd Armored Division was stationed in Germany after WW2 as part of the Cold War.
The Cold War, pitting the U.S. and its allies versus the Soviet Union, dominated world politics. It even played into my life. I remember elementary school Duck and Cover exercises getting under our desks to be ready in case of nuclear attack. Of course, we would have been vaporized, but at least the government was helping us think preparedness.
High school classmates served in the Civil Air Patrol scanning the skies for Soviet bombers. That wouldn’t have helped either. I worried about airplanes flying over our Minneapolis, Minnesota home being Soviet bombers.
I remember my excitement when I got to tell my fifth grade class in morning Current Events about the U.S. Army’s new Atomic Cannon.
What about the Patsy Cline album and the Cold War? My guess says that Reece Upchurch bought the Patsy Cline album in the late 1950s or early 1960s at the PX of the 3rd Armored Division in Germany. It certainly fits with what I had learned about Country Music over the years.
It fit perfectly with the discussion in Joseph Thompson’s book on Cold War Country: How Nashville’s Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism. Does my interpretation hold water. Well, yes. On the major idea level, it all fits perfectly. But is that the same as having proof, ‘hard evidence.’ Not exactly.
I worked at searching Reece Upchurch as a general web search without finding anything. It might be that Reece was his middle name. Maybe he was Richard Reece Upchurch or Wiley Reece Upchurch.
I even asked Jerry Barthelemy if he knew anything about Reece Upchurch. He tried and found a John R. Upchurch. It wouldn’t have mattered if the R stood for Reece. John R. Upchurch died during World War 2 on the USS De Haven near Guadalcanal in 1943.
A high school friend with military experience found a Reece Herbert Upchurch who registered for the draft on 14 April 1942. I posted inquiries on 3rd Armored Division FaceBook pages. I emailed webmasters and directors. I tried. I’ll keep trying.
Well, what else can I suggest about all of this. Let’s talk the Patsy Cline album. It was Patsy Cline’s first album for Decca after releasing previous records on the Coral label.
As a subsidiary owned by Decca, Corral was lower status on the ‘food chain.’ Her hits elevated the Patsy Cline album to the bigger leagues of Decca. Patsy Cline had officially ‘arrived.’
The twelve songs on the Patsy Cline album didn’t strike me. I’ve heard but one song. Three Cigarettes In an Ashtray never struck me as a favourite like Crazy and I Fall to Pieces. The album cover photo wouldn’t be one I’d pick to announce Patsy Cline as a major force.
It’s simply a headshot. It doesn’t have any background images that say Country Music or Nashville. There are no images of Nashville, fringe, lace, or other cues on Patsy Cline’s clothing. There’s not even a hay bale. Then again, Patsy Cline also had crossover pop appeal.
The back of the album told a basic story of Patsy Cline growing up in Virginia, singing in church and winning the Arthur Godfrey “Talent Scout” show with Walking After Midnight.
The right column lists a variety of pop-oriented albums. At the bottom in smaller print, albums by Ernest Tubb, Kitty Wells, Red Foley, and Webb Pierce received attention.
All of these messages somehow resonated with Reece Upchurch buying the Patsy Cline album. On base, in Germany, during the Cold War about the time the Soviets built the Berlin Wall tensions ran high.
The Patsy Cline album certainly represented something near and dear to the heart of Reece Upchurch. As a probable Tennessee product born before World War 2 the love of Country Music should not be surprising. Most likely, Reece Upchurch attended Country Music performances on the 3rd Armored Division base.
It all fits. Can I prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt? No. But, Reece Upchurch and the Patsy Cline album all fit big patterns about Country Music and the Cold War era.
My friend Jerry Barthelemy, “Your Rockabilly DJ From Algood, Tennessee,” couldn’t have imagined that his downsizing created a special experience for me.
And, there is more yet to come. I’ve got to take the Patsy Cline album and develop engagement for my Secondary Social Studies course. Country music just rocks on and on and on.
