Back in the 50s and on into to 60s the different beer companies would hire bands to promote their product. A local Austin band, Jesse James and All The Boys was one that Pearl Beer Sponsored.

Pearl also had another band, Adolph Hofner and the Pearl Wranglers that was more widely recognized than the James band. I used to hear radio promotions for Adolph Hofner, mostly playing in San Antonio, on up into the 70s.

I mention Jesse (William Howard “Jesse”) James because he used to come to our house “On The Creek” just out of Jollyville. He was a guy I remember that always had a practical joke ready to go. He carried little trinkets with him. Maybe a bug he could drop in a persons drink, then point it out to get a reaction. He had some tiny cuff links (ever important attire of that time) that were little pistols. They actual had a small charge and would shoot a small pellet, that probably wasn’t lethal but would break the skin if shot with one.

We knew him through our Aunt Netta. She was very much a product of the 50’s nightclub scene, along with a couple of her sisters. She and Jesse dated.

He took Kenny, my brother and me on our first and only snipe hunt. He played it up to the max, leaving us both out in the pasture with toe-sacks open and ready, as we called the little snipes. We finally figured it out and headed to the house to a room full of amused and laughing adults.

Several years later we stopped to see him up in Laramie, Wyoming when we went on a family trip (1966 I think) to a Yellowstone. His music and band days were over and he was running an insurance business. I’m not sure what drove him from Austin, but he didn’t seem the same when we saw him. He had married and he wanted to be sure that Cecil or Bonnie, my parents only called him at his office. His new wife didn’t like anyone from his past contacting him.

I found an obit where he died in 1972.

By the magic of the internet I ordered a CD of his: Jesse James and the Boys, the band he had before the war and that he brought back together after the war.

I guess a kids first snipe hunt is like a first kiss. Something you remember for a lifetime.

Music from Jesse James and All The Boys

That’s Jesse on the guitar.

My Mother’s oldest brother was a fiddle player and had a band in the 50s.

He was known as Oscar “Falstaff” Boultinghouse.