I met up with my friend Cindy Wood the other day. She had some gifts for me. Some people are naturally talented gift givers, who bring something special to us all. Cindy is one of those people. She gave me a hard to find copy of the book The Nice and Nasty in Brown County by Ruth Griffin Spence. I was flipping through the pages, thinking what an amazing thing it is to receive a gift like this. I read a story about a multi-talented twin duo called the Farren brothers, who used to have a radio show out of Brownwood in the 1950s. They gave many performances here, often playing for free downtown on a Saturday. Quite a few people today can recall the Farren Twins’ music, and the joy these two brothers brought to the community with their musical gifts.
In reading Ruth Spence’s recollections regarding Eddye and Jimmy Farren, along with their younger sister, Pat Farren Davidson, who performed with Eddye and Jimmy, I found her description of their father, Jack Farren interesting. His personality was perhaps a major catalyst for forming, by opposition, what would become the most well known musical trio in Central Texas during the ‘50s. Spence wrote, “Jack Farren was an oilfield worker who moved his family to Texas, first to a place called Rattlesnake Canyon, then Olney, next the Buffalo Community in the Thrifty area where the seventeen-year-old identical twins graduated from high school. Then, finally, the family moved to Bangs in Brown County.” Farren senior was a strict disciplinarian. “Jack, their father, in addition to being an oilfield worker, was described by Bonnie Farren as a ‘fire and brimstone Pentecostal preacher,” I read. The talented twins honed their innate musical abilities throughout childhood. Their first public performance was in Brownwood, at the Pentecostal Church on Belle Plain.
Eddye and Jimmy received a musical scholarship to Hardin-Simmons University, but attended only for one day–perhaps among the shortest careers in higher education ever. “The following morning, the Harley Sadler Road Show came to town, and at that moment, Eddye and Jimmy knew exactly what they wanted to do. And they did it, in spite of their parents’ heartfelt religious objections. These two seventeen-year-old boys had never been to a movie, and now they were joining a live road show that was surely more sinful than a ‘picture show’,” Spence related.
The boys traveled with the Sadler Road show, performing musical and comedy routines across the country. They played and sang “Hill Billy Music” as it was called then–today known as country-western. “In 1950,” Spence said, “The Farrens returned to Brownwood to stay.” They were hired by local radio station KBWD, where they hosted a thirty-minute show in the afternoons, playing and singing music. “As the program attracted a bigger and bigger audience, the Farren Twins Show became a two-hour production. Next, Jimmy and Eddye began a regular Saturday night amateur program on the Daniel Baker Campus that attracted many local performers and a large audience,” the book states.
“The twins played back-up for Elvis Presley when he performed in Memorial Hall in Brownwood on July 4, 1955. (the Farrens found it strange that such a flamboyant, outgoing performer before an audience could be so shy offstage.) They were playing for March of Dimes fund-raisers and for numerous political rallies. And, in addition, they were booking into Brownwood numerous country-western bands for concerts and dates.”
The Farren twins’ gift for music touched many lives in Brownwood, and had a hand in developing its culture. The desire the boys had to share their gifts outweighed the initial opposition of their family. By forging ahead in that calling, they were able to accomplish much and develop a significant career. Out of that, others began to learn and enjoy the craft of music. Locals joined in, and a musical movement caught hold in our quiet town.
Gift giving can spread like that. A small initial gesture, such as my friend Cindy’s gift to me of Spence’s book, or the Farren boys’ decision to join a travelling road show, can sometimes take off in ways that defy reason. They say it is better to give than it is to receive. Many of us have gifts to give today to our friends and community. Maybe you are one of those who has something to give.
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Diane Adams is a local journalist whose columns appear Thursdays on BrownwoodNews.com. Comments regarding her columns can be emailed to [email protected].
