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Posted by Larry Jordan
on August 20, 2009, 9:18 am
69.66.111.56
James Travis Reeves came into this world on this date, August 20, 1923. He was the ninth child of Thomas Middleton Reeves, a sharecropper, and his wife, the former Mary Beulah Adams. It was 10 p.m. when he was born in an old cast-iron bed in the front room of the rented house that was home to the family at the time, located in a remote area near the tiny community of Galloway, Texas, not far from the Louisiana border.
The farmstead consisted of about 50 acres (not all of which were tillable), and a home that was little more than a rustic cabin. It had only two bedrooms, no indoor plumbing or electricity, a side hallway described as a "dog trot" with a door one each end, and two brick fireplaces for heat. Situated at the end of a narrow, winding path and set amidst some stately trees, the house was far from the road and even farther from creature comforts.
Incredibly, eight children -- five boys and three girls -- ranging in age from the newborn "Travis" to the oldest boy, who was 19, had to live crammed into this tiny shanty, along with two adults.
Like most of their fellow "flatlanders" in this part of the piney-wooded East Texas, the Reeves family knew little of the glories of the "roaring Twenties," and before long, their epic struggle against all odds would take a turn for the worse.
By the time James Travis was born in 1923, Tom Reeves was seriously ill, and would succumb within a year. When Tom became bed ridden, Beulah became preoccupied with tending to her sick husband, "Tommy" -- as she endearingly referred to him.
Growing cotton was the family's main means of subsistence -- though it was barely that -- and the children worked the fields. As their father's health worsened, there was a cotton harvest to get in, a harsh winter to endure, and planting to complete the next spring. Thirteen year old Louie Reeves assumed the role of surrogate mother to her infant brother Travis.
She would take him to the fields when she picked cotton, dragging him on her cotton sack.
When Tom died in May 1924, it was a devastating loss to the family. Beulah had a physical and emotional collapse, and the family faced a financial emergency. Understandably she had trouble making good on the note when the cotton was ginned that fall. Things became so bad that Beulah was hiring out to help pick other people's cotton in the year after her husband's death. As she regained her health, she raised the family all by herself.
Jim became the only member of the family to graduate from high school, was an outstanding athlete, and was offered a scholarship to the University of Texas (which, due to extenuating circumstances, he did not avail himself of). He later entered semi-professional baseball and, after a leg injury, turned to radio announcing for a career. It was then that he began concentrating more on his music, and the rest is history.
He never forgot his humble beginnings, or the role that his dear mother played in encouraging him throughout life. It is nothing short of astonishing that a man with this background would propel himself into international stardom. His unique voice continues to be known and discovered by new fans around the world. This is his lasting tribute.
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