Cowboy Copas Died On This Date In 1963

March 5, 2009

One of the hitmakers of hillbilly music had a long distinguished career. In fact, he had an interesting record of some sorts at the time that we've not heard of anyone else topping it. By 1948, they said that in the 15 years previous to that, he had appeared on a total of 204 radio stations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. This was on top of his being a member of WSM's Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. It wasn't until January 1946 that his career began to take off. He appeared on WSM's Grand Ole Opry at that time and in just the first week after that appearance, he got more than 3,000 fan letters! Around October 1948, he signed a recording contract with the King Records label.

How folks get their start is always something worth learning about. For Cowboy Copas, he made his first appearance on stage on a dare. When he first started out, he actually did not sing that much. He depended solely on his tricky guitar playing to entertain folks and friends.

Along the way, he met a little Indian boy by the name of Natchee. Cowboy it turns out was also one-quarter Indian. Cowboy Copas and Natchee became good friends and it was Natchee who dared him to enter an amateur contest with him in Cincinnati. Cowboy Copas didn't have much confidence in either of them, but agreed to go along. He played the guitar and Natchee played the fiddle. And wouldn't you know it, they won first prize in that competition.

From that point, they began to play other entertainment gigs at fairs, night clubs or any other venue that came along, a trail of one night stands. While on the road, they began conducting fiddlin' contests of their own. To help increase the attendance at their personal appearances, Copas would make a point to stop by the local radio stations and plug their engagements. It was how he got exposed to the radio business.

Along about 1940, he and Natchee went their separate ways. Cowboy Copas moved to Knoxville and started entertaining the folks on the radio there. Later on, he returned to Cincinnati and appeared on several shows there.

It wasn't until January 1946 that his career began to take off. He appeared on WSM's Grand Ole Opry at that time and in just the first week after that appearance, he got more than 3,000 fan letters! Around October 1948, he signed a recording contract with the King Records label.

Think Hillbilly music didn't draw crowds? Consider this. Cowboy Copas and his group drew over 22,800 folks on August 22, 1948 with their appearance at Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Indiana.

Cowboy Copas died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963, along with Hawkshaw Hawkins, Patsy Cline, and the pilot and son-in-law, Randy Hughes.

Dave Sichak
Hillbilly-Music.com