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TUMBLEWEEDSMITHForget the face. Remember the voice.By Mary Frances BeverleyThe face may not be | familiar, but the voice quite likely will ring abell.Tumbleweed Smith, for almost 20 years, has inter- 1 viewed some of the state’s more colorful characters on his daily, syndicated radio show, The Sound of Texas. More than 80 Texas stations broadcastthe show which, this year, also will be heard in Australia as part of that country’s Sesquicen-tennial celebration.Listening to one of Tumbleweed’s broadcasts jogs memories of sitting around a stove in a country store, hearing the local characters talk — characters you are more likely to hear about than actually meet.Take, for example, Tumbleweed’s recent radio discourse with T-Bone Randolph of Brownwood, a self-professedexpert on catfish grabblin'.T-Bone, during the interview, explained how he swims under water to a catfish bed, toting a nylon cord.“You find a yellow catfish, stroke it like you would a house cat while carefully tying a loop around the fish’s body.” T-Bone explains patiently. “Then you scoot back up above the water, get on the bank, and pull in the catfish.”And, perhaps to hammer home the point that it takes a brave soul to tackle the chore, T-Bone boasts quickly that a 40-pound catfish can swallow a size 10 or 11 shoe. And any foot that may be in it.Smith, whose real name is Bob Lewis, travels across Texas in search of those withinteresting tales. He’s found a bunch.Take, for example, the Per-ryton lady who can predict weather with onions. Or the man who burned shoes for firewood during the Depression and has put the memory far enough behind him that he can laugh at it.Smith owns an ad agency and production company in Big Spring where he produces radk) and TV commercials. His face is probably familiar to most Texans from a mobile home TV commercial that ran during 1983-84. He teaches radio classes at the University of Texas at the Permian Basin in Odessa and is a popular after-dinner speaker.The radio shows put on by Tumbleweed Smith are rich with such sounds as the slap-pedy-whack of the shoeshine man, goat callers competing for a championship, and expert pig-squealers who, together, form an audio tapestry of Texas and T exans.Tumbleweed frequently takes his show on the road to Texas fairs and festivals such as the Hushpuppy Olympics in Lufkin, Brady’s Goat Pill Flip-off, and the annual Cowboy Christmas Ball in Anson.Everywhere he goes he finds the most unusual person around and tapes their easy conversation.But Tumbleweed has done his share of celebrity interviews, too. Take the time he got the late humorist, H. Allen Smith, to talk frankly about his dislike of parties — “the silliest institution invented by man.”Tumbleweed Smith (Bob Lewis), has been a stable for Texas radw listeners for yearscelebrationAnd that’s not all. Astronaut Charles Duke described his moonwalk to Tumbleweed. And Tumbleweed even got a few words from the late great Texas folk hero Hondo Crouch, the man who put Luck-enbach on the national map.Tumbleweed’s daily broadcasts make Texans take a second look at themselves from the way we talk to our folklore, traditions, history and humor.Even a hint of Texas values often is caught on Tumbleweed’s microphone. One case in point came when Tumbleweed found Cowboy Doolittle of Seminole who talked about the importance of always having a good hat, “no matter how broke you are,” the poke said.. “There’s nothing more embarrassing than going broke and having your hat wear out at the same time.' ’That’s something that we Texans need to teach them Aussies.IT’S OFFICIAL-TINS4if *4#✓ *FULL SIZE 2V« x 3 ViOfficial Texas HistoricalSesquiccntcmu.il commcmorath iBell Buckle HMti- ifmtiDRESS SIZE*V« • VM□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□Mail To Texas 160 Yeats JV • P O Ho* 366/ • Mumble Texas 7734 / 366/ • (713) 446 3063 or 446 8221Brass $30 Check MO Visa MC American Express • Expiration Date_S»i vare Plate $70 24K Goid/Sil vaft Plate $100 24K Gold Plate $120 Solid Silver $440Solid Gold (c*U)Texas residents include 6 126% sales taxPrices include shipping handlingNAMfc _ ..........ADDRESS ___________CITY STATE ZIP_________SIGNATURE __WHERE WAS AD SEEN9ALLOW 4 6 WEEKS DELIVERY AVAIL ABLE AT ALL FINE RE TAIL OUTLETSMARY FRANCES BEVERI EY
Newspaper Details
Big Spring Herald
Big Spring, Texas, US
Sun, Jan 26, 1986
Page 78
Full Page
Clipped by
James J.
USA 06 Sep 2020
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