David McEnery (musician)

"Red River Dave" McEnery
Also known as	Red River Dave
Born	December 15, 1914(1914-12-15) San Antonio, Texas United States
Died	January 15, 2002(2002-01-15) (aged 87)
Genres	Western music
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1937–2002
Labels	Decca Records Savoy Records
Associated acts	The Swift Cowboys

Red River Dave McEnery (December 15, 1914 - January 15, 2002^[1]) was a musician and writer of topical songs. He was born in San Antonio, Texas. He got the nickname "Red River Dave" because he enjoyed singing "Red River Valley" in high school. He was the leader of The Swift Cowboys.

Career

As a teenager, he appeared regularly on KABC radio. Dave began his career by singing, yodeling, and performing rope tricks at rodeos. In 1936, he broadcast a live singing performance from the Goodyear blimp over CBS AM radio station WQAM in Miami. His career really took off with his song "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", broadcast in a pioneer television broadcast from the 1939 New York World's Fair.^[2] Her worked for radio station WOR (AM) in New York City.^[3] He was a radio personality in border radio for station XERF. He was a well known painter as well, he was known to paint nature on canvas as well as paint on the back of his guitars

Cinema

He worked in several westerns as a singing cowboy, including Swing in the Saddle (1944), Hidden Valley Days (1948) and Echo Ranch (1948).

Publications

• Dave, Red River; Betty Ann Fisher (1939). Red River Dave song book: marvelous collection of cowboy, hill-billy, mountain and home songs, all originals. New York: Stasny Music Corporation. 
• McEnery, Dave (1940?). Red River Dave's Louisiana Jamboree and Nashville Favorites. San Antonio, Texas: Red River Dave Music Company. 

Songs

Red River Dave's songs have been recorded by Hank Snow and Tex Ritter.

• "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" 1937
• "The Blind Boy's Dog" ("I'd Like To Give My Dog To Uncle Sam")
• "The Red Deck of Cards"^[4] 1954
• "Ballad Of Emmett Till"
• "The Ballad Of Francis Powers" 1960^[5]
• "Trial of Francis Powers" 1960
• "The Flight Of Apollo Eleven" 1969
• "The California Hippy Murders"
• "The Ballad Of Patty Hearst"
• "The Ballad of Three Mile Island" 1979
• "Shame is the Middle Name Of Exxon"
• "Atlanta's Black Children" 1981
• "Ballad to Pine Tar" 1983^[6]
• "Night That Ronald Reagan Rode With Santa Claus"^[7] 1984^[8]

References

1. ^ Social Security Death Index
2. ^ Wadey, Paul (2002-01-21). "Red River Dave McEnery". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/red-river--dave-mcenery-729682.html. Retrieved May 16, 2009. 
3. ^ Kingsbury, Paul (2004). The Encyclopedia of Country Music: the ultimate guide to the music. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 432. 
4. ^ Lyrics
5. ^ Ballad of Francis Powers lyrics
6. ^ Rogers, Thomas (1983-08-04). "Ballad to Pine Tar". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/04/sports/scouting-ballad-to-pine-tar.html?scp=2&sq=%22Dave%20McEnery%22&st=cse. Retrieved May 17, 2009. 
7. ^ Russell, Tony (2002-03-21). "Red River Dave". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/mar/21/guardianobituaries1. Retrieved May 17, 2009. 
8. ^ Gallagher, Peter B. (1984-12-24). "Red River Dave tries to keep America humming". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19841224&id=TwkOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y3wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2491,166557. Retrieved May 17, 2009. "The sleigh bells were playing Yankee Doodle in time" 

External links

Persondata
Name	Macenery, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 15, 1914
Place of birth
Date of death	January 15, 2002
Place of death