Charlie Fitch (c) with Faron Young (l) and Webb Pierce, Luling, 1951
CHARLIE FITCH 1918-2006
Charlie Fitch, whose
Sarg Records released the recording debuts of
Doug Sahm and
Willie Nelson, died May 7 in Luling, his home of more than 55 years. A native of Hallettsville, Fitch enlisted in the
Army Air Corps in 1940, served as a tail gunner on B-17 bombers during World War II, and was a German prisoner of war in 1944-45. He married
Bennie Lou Bassett of Luling in September 1945 and worked at San Antonio's
Brooks Air Force Base until his honorable discharge in 1950. He then moved to Luling and started the
Luling Phonograph & Record Shop, and began Sarg Records in December 1953 with
Neal Merritt's "Korean Love Song." In 1954
Dave Isbell & the Mission City Playboys, featuring Willie Nelson on lead guitar, recorded for the label, and a 12-year-old Doug Sahm released "A Real American Joe" in January 1955. Drawing from a talent pool that stretched from Houston to San Antonio to South Texas for more than 35 years, Sarg released more than 150 singles in Western swing, country, polka, rockabilly, rock & roll, R&B, and conjunto; its biggest hit was
Cecil Moore's 1964 instrumental "Diamond Back." Fitch was also Caldwell County's Veterans Services Officer for several years and is survived by three daughters and a son. In 1999, Dutch label
Bear Family released the still-available 4-CD box set
The Sarg Records Anthology. Charles Wesley Fitch was 87 years old. (Thanks to
Andrew Brown and the
Luling Newsboy & Signal.)
