Lefty Frizzell always claimed Corsicana as his hometown even though his family left East Texas about five months after he was born. Nearly 20 years after the country singer’s death in 1975, the city proudly erected a statue and a small museum in his honor.
Frizzell’s music maintains a timelessness, 50 years after it was recorded, that has been copied, but never duplicated. The hillbilly twang of his voice is accented by a commanding vocal phrasing and solid background instrumentation. Frizzell created a bridge between the folk music of Jimmie Rodgers and the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens and others.
In 1986, Don Steely and Bobby Fulker started work to get a historic marker for the birthplace of one of country music’s legends. After talking with Frizzell’s father, who was living in Honey Grove, Texas, at the time, Steely (who has since died) came up with the idea for the statue of the native son that now stands in Jester Park in Corsicana, Fulker says.
“It took us about five years to raise the money for the statue,” Fulker says. The life-sized granite monument was unveiled on Frizzell’s birthday in 1992. More than 5,000 fans attended the Tuesday afternoon ceremony and concert. One of the greatest moments of the day was seeing the pride of Lefty’s father, Naamon Frizzell, as he signed autographs and told stories about his son, Fulker says. “I never fully realized how influential Lefty was until the day of the dedication,” he added.
Born William Orville Frizzell in 1928 in an oil-field boomtown called Tucker Town on the outskirts of Corsicana, his father and grandfather were employees of Pure Oil Co. By the time Frizzell was 12 years old he was a regular on a children’s radio show out of El Dorado, Ark. When he was 19, he had his own radio show in Roswell, N.M. The origin of his nickname has been disputed as coming from a bout in the local Golden Gloves tournament, but could have come from his early jobs playing in honky-tonks.
By 1950, Frizzell had come to the attention of Jim Beck, a studio manager making landmark recordings in Dallas. “Beck built all of his equipment from scratch and was leading the way for the recording industry at the time,” Fulker says. If Beck hadn’t died in 1956, Dallas might have become the recording center that Nashville ultimately became.
Working with Beck, a young, square-jawed Frizzell landed a contract with Columbia Records that would last for 23 years. The first year, he recorded his first two of three No. 1 hits — “If You’ve Got the Money (I’ve Got the Time)” and “I Love You a Thousand Ways.”
For most of the 1950s Frizzell was one of the dominating musical figures on the national charts with 13 songs to crack into the Top 10. By the 1960s his career had stalled, and he was slipping into depression, booze, and drugs. In 1964, he released his last No. 1 hit, “Saginaw, Michigan.” Frizzell refused to take his heart medication because he was afraid it would interfere with his drinking. He died of a heart attack at 47 years old in 1975.
Two years after the statue was dedicated, Corsicana opened the Lefty Frizzell Country Museum. Housed in a shotgun house similar to the ones in Tucker Town, the museum is a collection of memorabilia and artifacts from Frizzell’s meteoric career.
The collection includes handwritten lyrics, records, posters, and a sequined suit made by Nudie, the noted costume designer. Before he died, Lefty’s father supported the museum, but most of the items were donated by Ralph Spicer and Jimmie Colburn, two former bandmates. “The Nudie suit is real pretty,” Fulker says, “but the pair of Lefty’s boots with his name on them is a real treasure.”
The Frizzell Museum is part of a compound of historic buildings that includes several extensive archives of unique photographs, guns, and tools from the area’s colorful past. Pioneer Village is in Jester Park on the west side of Corsicana off Second Street (TX 22) at 912 W. Park St. The museums are open Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm, and Sunday 1-5pm. For information, call 903/654-4846.
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This article appears in June 27 • 2003.
