photo courtesy Texas Music Museum and Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina (1887-1975) Birthplace: Delaney, Arkansas Genre: country Influenced: all later country fiddlers, also Bob Wills and New Lost City Ramblers

Country fiddlers have always been plentiful in Texas, but the acknowledged early master was Amarillo's Eck Robertson, who had the self-confidence to persuade a hard-nosed New York Victor Records exec to record him in 1922. His versions of the classic "Sallie Goodin," "Turkey in the Straw," and "Arkansas Traveler" were not only the first Country tunes recorded, but they also set the standard for decades to come.

Born in Delaney, Arkansas, in 1887, Alexander Campbell Robertson came to Amarillo, Texas, with his parents at the age of three. The persistent story that he skinned a family cat to make his first fiddle is probably apocryphal, but he did somehow manage to get expert on the guitar, banjo, and fiddle by the time he left home at the age of 16 to tour with a medicine show in Indian Territory before Oklahoma became a state. With the advent of silent films Robertson played at theaters dressed in Western getup and became known as the Cowboy Fiddler. In June, 1922, after an engagement at an Old Confederate Soldiers reunion in Virginia, Robertson persuaded fellow fiddler and former Confederate soldier Henry Gilliland, 76, to drive to New York City and record, although neither had been invited. Dressed in their reunion finery, Robertson as a cowboy and Gilliland as a soldier in gray, they persuaded the studio to record them practically on the spot.

When Victor released the recording of "Sallie Goodin" and "Arkansas Traveler" in September, 1922, it represented the first commercial Country recording ever. The following spring Robertson promoted his recording on WBAP in Fort Worth, which was also a first. Soon "hillbilly" bands were playing on radio stations from Chicago to Nashville.

Robertson's remoteness from the recording capitals of the industry prevented him from making any further recordings until 1929, by which time the industry was reeling from the stock market crash. Although his local fame was great--he bested the young Bob Wills in many an Old Fiddlers contest--Robertson never built a national career on his "firsts." His moment of glory in his waning years was an appearance in 1964 at UCLA. He died in 1975 in Borger, Texas.