H.W.
Pappy Daily left the railroads for nickelodeons. The reason was simple:
security. During the Great Depression, jukeboxes offered security; railroads
didn't.
"I
was an accountant 14 years in the tax department at Southern Pacific",
Pappy, 75 at this time recalls "I had less seniority than anyone else
there, so with the Depression going on in 1931, I knew I'd better look
around".
Pappy
found the security he sought when he wrote the Bally Manufacturing company
in Chicago and asked them why Houston had no distributor for Bally's
coin-operated phonographs.
"They
wrote back and said "You do it", says Pappy. thus he changed the
course of his life and started on the path to a music career that led from
Houston to Nashville and back again.
At
first Pappy kept his job at the railroad and worked part time in his new
jukebox distributorship. Business grew and in 1933 he left the railroad and
opened his store at 1419 Travis in front of a printing shop.
Pappy's
jukebox business boomed when WWII came along. Records were rationed because
the government said that a dealer had to turn in 2 records to get one. Then
a ban on jukebox manufacturing came along. "That killed the sale of
coin operated machines" said is Pappy.
Pappy
managed to stay in business a while longer. He found a small Los Angeles
record manufacturer that would sell records to him. "I bought from them
for my machines and for other machines and for other machine dealers"
Pappy said. But he was looking around again for a more secure line of work.
Soon
he found what he was looking for. In 1946 he opened his first record store,
a business that had little competition in Houston. records cost 23 cents and
45 cents wholesale, depending on the artist, and retailed for 35 cents and
75 cents. "Bing Crosby records retailed for 45 cents," said Pappy.
"Tommy Dorsey and Kay Kaiser records sold for 75 cents"
Gradually
more record stores sprung up in Houston, and in 1951, Pappy went into
wholesale records. In 1959 he sold the record business, Cactus Records and
The Record Factory, to his two sons Bud and Don. "The parent company is
named H.W. Daily Inc., but no one knows me by any other name than Pappy. I
even have my phone listed as Pappy. No one would know H.W. Daily" says
Pappy.
He
acquired the name Pappy when he started music publishing and recording in
the late 40's. "New singers and writers would come to me, introduce
themselves and call me Pappy. I didn't know why until I learned that my clients
referred to me as Pappy when they talked about me, and when they sent
newcomers to me the newcomers just thought that was my name."
Pappy
and Jack Stames started the Starday label in 1952, and Pappy was building a
reputation as an A&R man, meaning artist and repertoire. He put the
artist and songs together and supervised the record sessions. "Few
people realized then or now how much recording goes on in Houston" ,
Pappy says. "Until 1956 we recorded many popular artists at the Gold
Star Studio on Brock Street.. I expect there is a lot more recording going
on here now than there was then."
Pappy's
most notable stars were the Big Bopper, George Jones, Jimmie Dean, Eddie Noack, Roger Miller and
Hank Locklin.
The
Big Bopper's recording of "Chantilly Lace" in 1958 was Pappy's
biggest seller of all and it is still selling.
The
Big Bopper was killed in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and Richie
Valens at the height of his career, but the record is still making money for
his wife and two children. Pappy points to a stack of royalty checks and
envelopes waiting on his desk. " We send these all out twice a year.
It's about $60,000 in all and goes to 25 or 30 people."
Not
all of Pappy's artists recorded in Houston. Many such as Judy Lynn and Melba
Montgomery recorded in Nashville. Jimmie Dean recorded in Washington D.C.
where he did a TV show.
Pappy
"discovered" Roger Miller while staying at the Andrew Jackson
Hotel in Nashville. "Miller was a bellhop at the hotel and George Jones
brought him to my room and had him sing for me," Pappy recalls . As a
result of the audition, Miller soon came to Houston to record for Pappy.
"Everyone thought those records were recorded in Nashville, but plenty
were done here. Nashville did record most hits, but they also recorded most
dogs too".
Pappy
says no one can tell a flop from a hit until the record is out. "There
are no experts in this business, just a lot of people who think they are. I
was never an expert - other people's opinions are valuable to me."
Daily
says his only talent was his ears, his ability to listen and see if he
thought a record would be a winner. He has 37 plaques and trophies on his
wall to attest to his success. The winners are old , but still memorable:
"She Thinks I Still Care", "Walk Through This World With
Me", "My Father's Voice."
The
only hit record he missed was "Rag Mop". "I was in Beaumont
to see a show when a writer came to me and asked me to go listen to a band
play that song. My son and Jerry Jericho were with me, and we went to hear
the group play." Pappy listened to "Rag Mop" and said,
"that's not country and I don't see anything to it. It turned out to be
a hit and I sure had passed it up."
Other
apparent flops made good too. "Willie Nelson recorded on my D
label in the 1960's, but he wasn't a hit. Neither was Roger Miller on my Starday
label. Both changed from country & western and went on to be
stars," Pappy says. Not everyone is lucky as Nelson and Miller.
"Some people will go 10 or 20 years to make it. It reminds me of
someone taking dope. They are addicted and they can't quit the music
business. They'll go on although they they'll never make it."
Pappy
recalls a man in his 50's who never quit and never made it either. "He
was less than mediocre at his peak. Now he makes personal appearances that
supply just enough for him to eat." Pappy tried to tell him to get out
of the business. "He told me he would never quit. That was 25 years ago
and he still hasn't quit. Back then he made about $5.00 a night, maybe he
makes $50.00 or so now." People will do anything to get into the music
business. The mammas with the nine year olds were the worst. They couldn't
realize that a nine year old might be cute on stage, but of no interest on a
record," he adds.
Spending
45 years in the music business, Pappy has seen a wide range of human nature,
"I didn't socialize much with show business people," says Pappy.
"I could have taken the time, but I didn't." Pappy also says he
didn't see the organized crime that is often said to go with the music
business. "When I left the business there was no organized crime in the
music business in Houston. When I left the business no one was shot while
sitting on their porches and no policemen were shot while checking driver's
licenses. Crime is the biggest business in the world now, but no gangsters
were in the business in Houston," he maintains.
While
Pappy was in the music business, in his heyday, hardly a day passed without
one person wanting to sing for Pappy. The phone rang constantly. Now Pappy
and his long time secretary, Sunshine Tucker, preside over a quieter office
style. "Now when the phone rings it's someone wanting to sell
something," Pappy says.
Pappy
says he doesn't miss his heyday at all. "I never did like Nashville
either," he says. "They didn't let you sleep. The time of night
made no difference. At 4:00AM they beat on my door. It was always a
hassle." Pappy recorded his last session February 1971, in Nashville,
with four George Jones songs. None of the four were hits, Pappy says.
Pappy,
who has never tried to write a song, sing a lyric or play an instrument,
says his career made him a lot of money. To attest to his financial comfort,
he has a ranch between Wimberley and Dripping Springs that he enjoys with
his wife of 53 years. Pappy made a quarter of a million dollars when his
business was thriving and he is content with his life. "I was surprised
by life. It was a natural flow. I didn't push. Things just came to me and I
had no set goals."
Pappy
didn't plan to go into the coin-operated phonographs or music. "I would
have stayed with the railroads if there had been any security, but they were
cutting people off. I didn't know anything about the coin business or
phonograph records or music."
Pappy
confided he didn't even like country and western music in the beginning.
"It was all heartbreak stuff and I preferred happy music." Country
and Western was at one time as unpleasant to him as rock music is now. He
says he learned to like Country & Western music over the years. His son
Bud is more outspoken. Sitting in his office within view of thousands of
records, mostly rock, Bud say, "I can listen to a record and if I like
it, it is the kiss of death. I can be pretty sure it is a flop. They quit
making my kind of music years ago." All three Dailys like "pretty
music," Big bands.
When
Bud & Don bought the record business, it took Pappy a long time to keep
his nose out of their business. "I had to educate myself to leave them
alone and now the company is more progressive than when I had it. The record
business is booming."
None
of the three Dailys like to listen to the big sellers. "We probably
don't understand it, but we don't have to sell it," says Bud. "But
you need good advice obtained from listening to customers and sales
people," Bud adds. "Music moves fast. It's like a load of
vegetables. Today you have a good load, tomorrow they're all rotten."
