Twin City Jamboree, former country music venue, to be honored on NELA Music Trail
A former local music venue that provided a stage for singers and musicians to hone their country music and bluegrass talents will be highlighted for its contributions to the Northeast Louisiana music scene.
The Twin City Jamboree will be honored Friday, Nov. 17 with a marker on the Northeast Louisiana Music Trail 5 p.m. at the West Monroe Convention Center, 901 Ridge Avenue, followed by a concert at the West Monroe Senior Center, 1800 North 7th Street.
It was held each Saturday night in the exhibit hall at the old Ouachita Valley Fairgrounds, which is now the site of the West Monroe Convention Center. However, when the Ouachita Valley Fair was in town, there was no Saturday night show.
The jamboree began in 1948 as the Ouachita Valley Jamboree, under the leadership of E.F. DeLoach and other stockholders − Hugh Taylor, L.L. Hislop, Callie Crow, A.L. DeLoach and Jack Hollingsworth, at the Officer's Club at Selman Field, which is now known as the Chennault Military Museum.
Regular performers of the Ouachita Valley Jamboree included emcee Hugh Taylor, Bob "Singing Ranger" Westfall, the Rhythm Harmoneers, the Southern Melody Boys, the Fire House Trio, Al Jordan and Jerry Lee Lewis known as the duo "Al and Jerry" and the Ouachita Ramblers.
The show quickly became popular both with performers in the area and audiences, and soon outgrew space at the prison war camp, moving to the fairgrounds. The jamboree promoted a "Hillbilly Wedding" campaign in the 1950s − inviting couples to hold their wedding at the venue of the rodeo grounds in West Monroe on Harrell Road with the Ouachita Valley Jamboree staff band. Other promotional activities including musical performances on street corners.
The show was rebranded as the Twin City Jamboree under new ownership − previous investors Hollingsworth and DeLoach with new investors Loy Wallace, Sam Davis, Fulton Mobley and Alex L. Myatt. Singers and musicians were backed by a new staff band with performers including Gene Stewart, Ray Price, James Burton, Bobby Bridger and Martha Carson.
The jamboree ended by the late 1960s with costs of holding a regular show became too much to maintain and the interest of folks waning with so many other venues for music and different styles of music beginning to grow.
Alice Prophit, daughter of former emcee Alex Myatt who performed on the Jamboree's stage at age nine, said it has been important to her to get the former regional music staple remembered because when her generation passes, no one will remember it.
"It has influenced so many musicians around that area," Prophit said. "For instance, everybody is responding so positively and people are coming with their stories of coming with their dads or their families singing and hearing the music, or when Jerry Lee or others came through and performed. The influence it's had in the region, not only on musicians and performers but other music venues that arose in the Northeast Louisiana area has been pivotal to the proliferation of music in the area. Live country music back in those days, those were really the only shows that you could go see − country music and gospel shows."
"We would go up there every Saturday and it was just a great place to hone your talents and work with other people. The influence of it − people are continuing to be excited about the fact that it's going to remembered."
Follow Ian Robinson on Twitter @_irobinson and on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3vln0w1.
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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Northeast Louisiana Music Trail honors country music venue
