Mac Curtis with Chris Zalez and The Pistoleros will perform at Craig’s Music Store Saturday, March 13, to benefit the American Legion Post No. 163.
Two performances are scheduled -— 6:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $25 at the Weatherford and East Parker County chambers of commerce, Community Media Group on the square, Craig’s Music Store and the American Legion Post No. 163. There are about 200 tickets available for each show.
Post 163 Commander Ron Chandler said funds raised from the benefit will go to the Post’s veteran transportation fund and the rebuilding fund.
The Post makes three or four trips a week to the VA Medical Center in Dallas and other clinics assisting veterans whom either can’t afford to drive or are not able to drive.
An average of 20 veterans are transported by the Post each month. The service is open to any resident of Parker County, not just American Legion members.
“There is not enough transportation available within the community,” Chandler said. “And to keep doing things like this we need a place to work from.”
That is where the Post rebuilding fund comes into play.
Constructed in 1920, the building located at 703 Eureka St. has been occupied by the Post since 1936. The building has so many maintenance problems, Chandler said they are planning on rebuilding at the same location.
“We’re trying to stay where we are,” he said. “We’ve been raising funds for over two years.”
Craig’s Music owner Craig Swancy said he didn’t even ask the American Legion what they were raising money for when he offered the use of his venue.
“All you got to do is tell me it’s for the good of the city and the citizens, and I’m there,” Swancy said.
For more information about the concert, contact Chandler at (817) 223-8926 or at legionpost163@aol.com.
The Story of Mac Curtis
Born Wesley Erwin Curtis, Jan. 16, 1939, in Fort Worth, Curtis’ grandparents raised him near the farming community of Olney. At age 12 he purchased his first guitar for $10, and within a year placed second in a talent contest taking home a $15 prize. It was then Curtis realized he could make some cash with his talent.
It was his sophomore year of high school, 1954, when Curtis relocated to Weatherford. After forming a friendship and band with Jim and Ken Galbreaith, the trio set out to create their own music blending hillbilly, gospel and the new sounds of rhythm and blues.
They started playing a cover of “That’s All Right Mama” by Marty Robbins, and one day a friend told them their song was on the jukebox down at Dairy Queen.
“We piled in the car and got up there and he started it up,” Curtis said. “I saw a yellow label spinning around with someone sounding like me. It was Elvis. It was the first time we ever heard of Elvis.”
Soon after, the groups’ Elvis-like performance caused an uproar when playing at a high school show. Outraged by their behavior, school officials removed the boys from the stage for “lewd and suggestive gyrations.” A few of their female classmates walked out on the performance.
In 2007, at his 50th high school reunion, Curtis said one of his classmates that walked out publicly apologized for her behavior.
“I told her, ‘You don’t have to apologize. Ya’ll did me a great big favor because people started showing up at our shows after that,” Curtis said.
Performing as “The Country Cats,” the trio played gigs around the Weatherford and Fort Worth area and added a drummer. They were signed to King Records in 1955, and released their first single, “If I had me a woman,” in 1956.
Several other singles followed and Curtis performed at the 1956 Christmas Rock ‘n’ Roll Revue at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. The album received positive reviews and fan mail started coming in from around the world.
Curtis returned to Weatherford in 1957 to finish up his senior year at Weatherford High School and shortly after, was hired as a DJ for station KZEE where he broadcast during the day and performed at night until the end of the year when he joined the Army.
Most of his military career was dedicated to the American Forces Radio is Seoul, Korea, where he was a DJ and the network country music director. He continued performing at nights as part of a military country band that won second place in the recorded division of the 1959 All-Army Talent Contests.
Curtis returned to Texas in 1960, as the upbeat combination of rock and country was on a downturn. He redeveloped his roots in traditional country music and focused in on his broadcast career working at stations in Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Nashville, all the while performing on the side producing two albums and several singles. His 1969 release, “The Sunshine Man,” reached No. 35 on the country albums chart.
By the early 1970s, rockabilly music, as it is now known, was taking off again, especially in Europe. Curtis teamed up with Ray Campi for some recording sessions and was signed to Ronnie Weiser’s Rollin’ Rock Records.
“Rollin’ Rock Records started up in 1977 when I was living in Los Angeles,” Curtis said. “Ron Weiser wanted a raw sound. We never really knew what we were doing. We were just playing our music like we knew how.”
The two toured Europe, and Curtis continued touring the circuit through the ’80s and ’90s. His song, “Baby, for your love,” appears in the 1998 movie Finding Graceland. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in the late ’90s.
He continues writing music and his most recent release, “Then I Wrote,” contains 18 demo tracks from the ’70s and ’80s. The collection is available for download on iTunes.
He last performed with his high school buddies Jim and Ken during a benefit for the Weatherford High School track some 30 years ago.
“We had a marvelous time,” Curtis said. “Unfortunately I have had to attend both their funerals since then. I live near where they are buried. Moving back to Weatherford has been a back to the root experience.”
Curtis sticks to benefit performances these days. He said he’s looking forward to assisting the American Legion.
“I’ve always had a place in my heart for the American Legion,” Curtis said. “They’ve done a lot to help me.”
