Members: Ben Christian, Bill Rose (4)

Western Swing Band

Members:

Fiddle: Ben Christian
Steel Guitar: John "Tommy" Treme
Electric Guitar: Jack Edwards
Guitar: Richard "Jerry" Jericho
Bass: Dick Haltom / John Wallace

Fiddler Ben Christian was, for twenty years, a steady presence on the highly competitive Houston scene. He reached his greatest popularity in the few years after WWII when the city, like so many others at the time, was enjoying something of a golden age of country music, boasting stars like Floyd Tillman, Leon Payne and Jerry Irby. Christian's star was vocalist Jerry Jericho, who never approached Tillman or Payne's stardom, perhaps but was a popular vocalist regionally for many years. Christian was essentially a breakdown fiddler and his somewhat variable bands straddled the fence between western swing and more straightforward country dance music, but he was a personable and astute businessman and the Texas Cowboys remained a top area draw for a surprisingly long period. Born in Rockdale, Texas in 1885, Christian formed the Bar X Cowboys in 1933, turning them into on of Houston's most popular bands before forming the Texas Cowboys at the end of 1940, at which point he turned the Bar X Cowboys over to his younger brother Elmer. Broadcasting initially on KTRH, Christian hit stride with the 1946 return of Jericho from war service. The Texas Cowboys made their first recording that year for the mysterious Melody label, a label associated with local distributor Pappy Daily or rival Hansell M. Crowe (or both?). Christian signed to Four Star in December 1947, though eventually the band's releases were being credited chiefly to Jerry Jericho, with Christian's name gradually disappearing from label credits. Jericho eventually went solo and Christian disbanded when his health failed in the mid-1950's. He died in 1956.