 
Chester Rosson (May 1997) Red River Dave McEnery has had one of the longest careers in Country music, beginning in the early thirties, when he sang on San Antonio radio, and continuing today, health permitting, to occasional outings at folk festivals and on local television shows, where he is as likely as not to debut a new song he has written on some heated topic of the day. His classic song "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" has inspired many a would-be folk-singer and at least one short-lived annual festival, and with the recent publicity surrounding the efforts of a Texas aviatrix to recreate Earhart's planned world-circling flight, a revival may be in order. Red River Dave still lives in San Antonio, the city of his birth. Early on he learned to play the guitar, often strumming "Red River Valley," the song that named him. His singing and his penchant for show business made him welcome on live radio broadcasts as far from home as Chicago and New York City. And in the mid-thirties his writing talents blossomed in the form of lyrics of historical and topical interest--"The Battle of the Alamo" and "Pony Express," for instance. But in 1937 he came up with a memorable song that captured the national feeling of loss at the unexplained disappearance of pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart. When commercial television debuted at the New York World's Fair in 1939, Red River Dave was there to broadcast live what is still his most famous creation, along with other country and western songs, both traditional and original. In the early forties Red River Dave returned to San Antonio and broadcast his songs on Border Radio XERF, offering copies of his songbooks for sale as well. He also appeared in several Western films, including 1944's Swing in the Saddle, which featured cameos by the Hoosier Hotshots and Nat "King" Cole. But Red River Dave McEnery is probably best-known for his ballads written on the spur of the noteworthy news events. Among the topics covered in his songs over the years are the ill-fated flight of Gary Powers and the triumph of Apollo 11 as well as such gripping stories as Watergate and the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. It remains for some future historian to piece together the possible Hispanic connection--topical ballads are a strong tradition on both sides of the Texas border with Mexico. |
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