R.I.P. Ronnie Dawson

and yet another....

Dallas singer Ronnie Dawson dead at 64

10:03 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2003

By THOR CHRISTENSEN / The Dallas Morning News

Dallas rock pioneer Ronnie Dawson, the "Blonde Bomber" who enthralled fans
at the Big D Jamboree in the '50s and Carnegie Hall in the '90s, died at his
East Dallas home Tuesday afternoon. He was 64.

He continued to sing after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002. One
of his last gigs was an emotional performance at the Rockabilly Rave
festival in England in February.

"Word had gotten out about my situation, and I could see people crying even
before I finished the show - I wasn't prepared for that," he told The Dallas
Morning News in May.

Fans and colleagues around the country had rallied to help the singer pay
his medical bills. In June, more than a dozen bands played a concert in his
honor at Dallas' Sons of Hermann Hall, and there were more benefit shows in
Chicago and his childhood hometown of Waxahachie.

Mr. Dawson never racked up a Top 40 single or a gold album, but he was one
of Dallas' first bona fide rock stars. As a lanky, burr-haired teenager in
the late '50s, the singer - then known as Ronnie D. - cut a series of
swaggering, influential tunes like "Action Packed" and "I Make the Love." He
had young girls squealing during his Sportatorium performances at the Big D
Jamboree, and he held his own against fellow Big D acts like Elvis Presley.

Although soft-spoken in conversation, Mr. Dawson was famous for his hellfire
live performances in which he'd jump off the stage, run through the audience
and play his guitar standing atop a table. He said he was inspired by
watching his mom sing in the church choir.

"That's probably where I got a lot of what I do when I come on the stage,
because I take on this different persona. I've always been kind of a shy
person until I get in front of a crowd, and then something clicks and I
become this showman," he told The News in 1996.

"The stage really is his church," Dallas record producer David Dennard said
earlier this year. "He's not doing it for the glory. He's doing it for the
music. He's the real deal."

Just as Mr. Dawson's career was about to take off in 1959, the New
York-based Swan Records pulled its promotional support, and his first shot
at the big time disappeared. But he refused to give up.

He recast himself as an R&B artist named Snake Monroe, signed briefly with
Columbia Records, and then joined the local Western swing pioneers the Light
Crust Doughboys. In the '60s, he packed the Levee Club on Mockingbird Lane
with the Levee Singers, a folk act that glimpsed national stardom by
appearing on The Danny Kaye Show and The Jimmy Dean Show.

After the Levee Singers broke up, he formed a country band, Steel Rail, and
later sang TV and radio jingles to pay the rent. Just when it looked like
his career was over, it took off again amid the rockabilly revival of the
mid-'80s: The New York band the Cramps had cut a new version of Mr. Dawson's
"Rockin' Bones," and record producers were suddenly calling him back into
the studio.

In the '90s, he played twice on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and performed
at New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Reviewing the Carnegie Hall
show in 1994, The New York Times called him "superb - a guitar-toting answer
to Jerry Lee Lewis."

"In the one sense, I thought I'd be [more] successful, but on the other
hand, it's been amazing. It¹s been a wonderful ride," he said in May.

In 1996, after 50-some years of bachelorhood, he married Chris Davis, a
former singer he'd first met in the 1960s at the Levee Club. In recent
years, he had been semi-retired: He played the occasional rockabilly
festival, but his only regular gig was a daily 10-mile jog around the M
Streets and Lakewood.

"Don¹t feel sorry for me, man," a typically upbeat Mr. Dawson said in
February, after doctors told him the cancer had spread to his lungs and was
now terminal. "Last year was the first time I was ever in the hospital.
Sixty-three years of quality life - are you kidding? I'm celebrating."

Mr. Dawson is survived by his wife, Chris, and a half-brother, Louis Dawson.
Services are pending. But a memorial gathering will be held Sunday from 3 to
6 p.m. at Sons of Hermann Hall, 3414 Elm St.

He was a stellar entertainer right up to the end. One of the most amazing original rock 'n roll guitar players I have ever seen. He ranks up there with Larry Collins. He never tried to update his sound - he sounded authentic, pure, and soulful. So sad to see him go so young because he had so much energy the last time I saw him perform. And he looked so young for his age that it seemed he could perform for another 30 years.

Ronnie Dawson has been on my broadcast since it's conception. A true rebel and pioneer. He will be missed.