Bob Hames

Robert "Bob" Earl Hames (January 22, 1920 – September 6, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist from Texas who had played with the dance orchestras of Jan Garber, Orrin Tucker, and Stan Keller – and, in the early 1950s, was a staff guitarist for live productions at WFAA-TV, a Dallas-Fort Worth broadcaster that, since its inception, was a pioneer of national rank producing live and studio music for regional and syndicated television.[1] Down Beat magazine rated Hames as one of the top ten guitarists in the US.[2]

Bob Hames
Birth nameRobert Earl Hames
Also known asBob Hames
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsGuitar

Growing up

Hames was born January 22, 1920, in Wolfe City, Texas, to Joseph Irl Hames and Jessie Lynn Hames, née Kiser.

Education and early professional career

Hames graduated from Wolfe City High School in Texas in 1937.

In the mid-1940s Hames was a member of the Jan Garber Orchestra and the Orrin Tucker band[3] before enrolling at the University of North Texas. In 1945 he enrolled at the University of North Texas College of Music. While there, he played electric guitar in 1945 with the Aces of Collegeland,[4] the forerunner to the One O'Clock Lab Band. He also taught guitar on and off campus. One of his high-school students, Jack Petersen, went on to become a well-known jazz educator and jazz guitarist.[5][6] Hames introduced Petersen to jazz recordings of Karl Kress, Tal Farlow, Chuck Wayne, Herb Ellis (then a student at North Texas), Barney Kessel, Barry Galbraith, Remo Palmieri, Oscar Moore, and Charlie Christian.

While a student at North Texas in 1946, Hames was one of eight student musicians from North Texas to guest star on Interstate's weekly musical radio show, 3:30, Sunday, April 14, 1946, aired on WFAA. Betty Cooper (vocalist) featured with the Blue Notes, a quartet composed of Lynn McClain, June Heitt, Bonnye Williams, and Elsie Mae Cooper. Bob Hames (electric guitar), Jim Bob Floyd (piano), and Bill Meeks (clarinet) were featured as a trio.[7] Hames was a guitarist on the Jerry Haynes Show on WFAA TV in the mid-1950s, which aired Monday through Friday at noon.[8]

In 1951 Hames received a bachelor of music from the University of North Texas College of Music and during the early 1950s Hames also played guitar for several well-known bands, including Stan Keller and His Orchestra.

Hames also had a music store in Greenville, Texas, on Washington Street. He died in Texas in 1998.

Selected compositions

Music and lyrics by Bob Hames except where noted

  • "Lonely Vagabond" by Bob Hames and David Chenault (written 1947) (1983)
  • "I Didn't Know My Heart Could Fly" (1972)
  • "Happiness is Loving You" (1981)
  • "Tell Me a Story" (written Aug 1972) (1981)
  • "Bar Whiskey Fool" (written June 1975) (1981)
  • "Just a Step Away" (written 1979) (1981)
  • "Lovers Waltz" ("A Million Dreams From Now") (The Young and the Restless episode 7512) (1983)
  • "Wasted Love" (1983)
  • "Have You Ever Heard (a Lonely Heart Cry)?" (key of C) (1983)
  • "My Blue-Eyed Girl" by Bob Hames and Frank J. Milton (1983)
  • "Come Back My Love" (1984)
  • "Whistle Britches" (1988)
  • "'Til the Day You Passed Me By" (1989)
  • "After You Know It All" (1990)
  • "There Goes My Heartache" (1990)
  • "Are the Kids Still Cruising Main?" (1991)
  • "I Just Laughed 'Til I Cried" (1991)
  • "You Are My Rainbow" (1991)
  • "Your Next Stepping Stone" (1993)
  • "If You Don't Have a Heart (Please Don't Steal Mine)" (1997)
  • "Jackhammer Boogie" (1997)

Family

Robert Earl Hames was married twice:

  1. On December 31, 1942, he married Billye Mildred Goin (August 24, 1921, Bailey, Texas[9] – January 11, 1972, buried Mount Carmel Cemetery, Wolfe City, Texas). Bob and Billye had a son, Robert Barry Hames (born 1945, Denton County, Texas), who is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, Texas, and is married to Ellen Mary Hames (née Erickson).
  2. On August 30, 1975, he married Helen Juanita Bullard (August 30, 1928 – March 4, 1993) in Tarrant County, Texas. Helen had three daughters and a son by a prior marriage to Claude Marvin Hodge, all of whom were adults in 1975.
gollark: I don't think lyricly realized that umnikos is my alt yet.
gollark: `git clone https://github.com/osmarks/skynet`
gollark: Not dead, that would be ridiculous.
gollark: I will be *immortal* before LyricLy writes "mindbreak".
gollark: They will never exist.

References
  1. Advertisement: "WFAA Telethon benefiting the March of Dimes", The Dallas Morning News, February 18, 1954 (Hames is listed as a WFAA-TV personnel member).
  2. "Obituary: Bob Hames", The Herald Banner, Greenville, TX, September 8, 1998.
  3. "Notes Off the Gulf", Dallas Morning News, February 22, 1942.
  4. Aces of Collegeland Orchestra Has Started Many on the Road to Stardom, Denton Record-Chronicle, sec. 5, p. 5, September 10, 1945.
  5. Tim Schneckloth, "Jack Petersen", Down Beat, Vol. 44, March 24, 1977, pp. 32–33.
  6. Maurice J. Summerfield, The jazz guitar: its evolution, players and personalities since 1900, Gateshead: Ashley Mark (publisher) (1998), p. 209 OCLC 39780618, 473292272
  7. "Radio: NTSC Students Guest Stars on Showtime", The Dallas Morning News, p. 9, April 14, 1946.
  8. "Musical Round Table", Dallas Morning News, April 15, 1955.
  9. Fannin County, Texas, Birth Book 11, Certificate 1838
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