Coleman’s Dean Beard, an unsung "Rock-me boy," often referred to as the "West Texas Wildman," also shared the stage with Presley.  Beard was the opening act in Breckenridge on April 13, 1955, and later that night Dean witnessed Elvis as "he tore the roof off that place."  The next day a write-up appeared in the Breckenridge American by Ann Cowan that just might be "the first post-show review of an Elvis concert."  Beard was in
attendance for other Presley shows, including a July 4th appearance in Brownwood.  Afterward Dean recalled inviting Elvis over to Coleman for a visit:  "He [Presley] had a pink Cadillac.  Boy, I felt like something riding down the main street of Coleman in that pink Cadillac."   (Elvis's first pink Cadillac burned up on the road sometime in June 1955 (depending on the source, it happened on either June 5, June 16, or June 17), and he didn’t get a new one until the next month.  In all probability, Beard and Presley took their spin around Coleman in the Caddie on another date.

Dean Beard was a guy from Coleman, Texas.  And the day Jimmy Seals came through Cisco, their drummer got sick.  So they called me in to substitute, and they liked the way I played better than their old drummer, so they asked me if I wanted to go with them and I did.  And that's how we got started with Dean Beard.  We were doing some recording around Abilene, Texas with a guy named Slim Willet.  He was one of these big, loud mouth kind of managers.  His claim to fame was he wrote this song called "Don't Let the Sun Get in Your Eyes, Don't Let the Moon Break Your Heart."  It was a big hit.  He took credit for writing the thing, but I think he stole it from somebody.

The Champs were forming out in California, the group that recorded "Tequila."  They needed a drummer and a sax player, so they called us, and Dean told them they couldn't have us, that we were his musicians.  He said 'if you want Jimmy and Dash, you'll have to take me too.'  So they hired all three of us.

They had just released the single and it was climbing the charts, but the folks they had hired to make the record were all studio musicians.  They couldn't get them together as a group, so they put us together, and we became the group.  So we stepped into instantaneous fame.  I think we did re-record the song so that it would be legitimate, but I don't know which one of them became the big hit, the first one or the second one, but it was number one for like 48 weeks in New York.  Later on, we had a car accident, and Dean Beard was injured to the point where he couldn't tour anymore, so he left the group.  We toured with that group for eight years, and we kept telling them we could sing, and they'd say, "Okay, we'll get to you guys."  Then later, after the Champs were over, we formed up with some other people, and when that group broke up, the only people left were me and Jimmy.  So we went out as a duo!

obituary to be added.
 

COLEMAN - When it came time here to say farewell to Dean Beard, no one referred to him once as the “West Texas Wild Man” or mentioned his hit records “Rakin’ and Scrapin’ ” or “On My Mind Again.”  No one mentioned how, had fate been kinder to Dean rather than Elvis Presley, the Coleman County native might have swiveled his way from Sun Records’ studios into the national spotlight.  And nary a word was offered about how Dean once showed Elvis around his hometown.  Rather, Dean Beard’s funeral Friday was characterized by his driving obsession in recent years,  devotion to his God and fellowship at the Emmanuel Baptist Church.  And when time came to sing a song over him, the old standards “Precious Memories” and “Peace in the Valley” filled the air.

Although it was one of the most touching funerals I’ve witnessed, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that, in life, Dean Beard’s contributions to early rock weren’t better-known.  But Dean, who died last week at age 53, had found new priorities in his final years.  Friends like Don Harmes, who performed during the funeral, and former Crew Cats band member Chris Herrera, now co-owner of Casa Herrera in Abilene, say Dean was on his way with songs like “Party, Party, Party,” that his fame seemed assured as the “Rock Me Boy.”

“Back in the ‘60's, we used to play with guys like Roy Orbison,” Herrera recalled.  “And people like Willie Nelson used to play with our band. We didn’t sing with him.  Dean was the star and at that time he was the better known one.  However, Dean’s earlier, short-lived association with Sun Records in Memphis cast a long shadow on later music-making.  Although he refused to detail what happened, Dean once told a reporter his break with Sun Records had something to do with all the women and the partying.  Whatever happened, Dean’s work as a recording artist of promise in the 1950's was, sadly, all too brief.

Although he continued to perform, ill health soon plagued him.  His father Raymond said Dean suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and a horribly crippling arthritis stemming from an auto accident years before that broke his back.  Turning to religion, Dean put aside forever hopes of a music career, but never music-making.  Near the end, he entertained the grand notion of putting together a service of song and worship with the help of Rev. Terry Moffett.  He wanted to help witness to a few lost souls, Dean told friends.   Rev. Moffett said Friday it wouldn’t have mattered to Dean had the event been staged under some sweltering tent out in the middle of nowhere, if only five or six people showed up.  “He was getting ready to just praise God anyway he could.

(In 1956, Beard cut two demo sessions in Memphis for Sun Records, but Sam Phillips decided not to sign him. One of the demos was “Rakin’ and Scrapin,’ ” which Dean recorded again the next year in Abilene for Slim Willet’s Edmoral label.  A tenor sax, piano-driven pounder (members of
the band included Jimmy Seals on tenor sax and Dash Crofts on drums), “Rakin’ and Scrapin’” was leased to Atlantic Records for national distribution but for naught.  Beard continued to perform locally in Texas, and he recorded regularly through the mid-60s.  At one point, he was even out on the West Coast as a member of the Champs of “Tequila” fame, but ultimately Dean’s story is another one of those what if ... )

Hi, my name is Danny Ray from Coleman, Texas, home of Dean Beard and birthplace of Ronnie Dunn of the Country Music duo "Brooks & Dunn". I was raised on the music of Elvis Presley at the age of five. I won a boppin' contest at age six dancing to "Hound Dog". My dad Leonard Ray used to play lead guitar for Ray Thompson's Band (Country Star Hank Thompson's brother). My dad (who passed away in '93) used to set Dean on his knee when he was a kid and show him chords on the guitar. This encouraged Dean to get involved in music and he later learned to play the keyboards. After Dean graduated from Coleman High he began futhering his musical career. He also had a crush on my older sister Elizabeth. He had to come to our house quite often to not only watch my dad play, but to eye my sister. When Dean got his band "The Crewcats" together, he began moving up in popularity.

Here I was age six in 1957 and everytime Dean came home and staged a dance, I either had to get my sister Liz or my dad to take me where Dean was playing. I couldn't go inside, but I would bop on the sidewalk outside. People would get excited watching me bop and they would go in and tell Dean that he had a young fan outside dancing. Dean would have them open the door wide enough so he could see me. Dean would wave at me and I would wave back. He would dress in a nice black outfit with a Spanish lace white shirt underneath. He would cut down on one of his tunes and I would cut down on my dancing. Then Dean had purchased an old transit bus in an auction and he brought it to my dad to fix-up for a band bus. My dad was a auto-bodyman at the time. He stripped out all the seats in the bus and put in an ice-box, stove, fold-down table that the sections laid across the booth-type seats and made a bed. He built more bunk-type beds at the rear of the bus. My mom made curtains for it, my dad also carpeted the floor. Then my dad and I grabbed sandpaper and began sanding this big bus all over, worn my fingers to the bone. After we got it all sanded, then dad primed it out, and we sanded it again until we got the primer smooth. Then we had to mask-off all chrome and glass and my dad painted it a pretty blue with white top. That was Coleman's school colors. Then in real fancy letters, my dad painted "Dean Beard and the Crewcats" on both sides. I almost forgot, my dad had to overhaul the engine in this bus too.

Then Dean and the band took off on tour. I didn't see him for a long time. Then when I had my 12th birthday in '63, The Beatles struck America. I went from Elvis to "The Beatles". At age 13th, I received my first set of skins and my younger brother Bob at 5 years old was playing guitar. He and I started our own band together and began playing on television for charity and around Abilene, Texas, where we were living at the time. We played on the stage with many famous television stars and music groups. Then at age 15, I was asked to play my first professional gig with Eddie Burns. I would go to school M-F, and Friday and Saturday nights I was Honky-tonky with Eddie. His wife was a cousin to B.B. King. I got the honor to jam with B.B. for nearly an hour. Then Eddie, me, and a white guy named Bill Holman playing bass guitar. He could eat that bass up.

I recorded two 45rpm records with Eddie on "Plantation Records". His two big hits from these were "Color Me Country" and "The Southside of Chicago." Then my parents moved back to Coleman, thus ending my career with Eddie. We heard that Dean had been involved in a car wreck and messed his back up. I began playing in a rock band named "Showboat" here in Coleman and played with them all through high school. I graduated in '69, got married in '71, went into the U.S. Air Force in '72 and got out in '75. Served some time in Vietnam. Messed me up nerve-wise. Couldn't hold a job until I finally found a job that didn't pressure me in '76. Worked for them for 21 years, was forced to quit in '97 because of health problems due to being exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. I played drums in a country music band my brother Bob started named "Southern Cross".

The Lord finally got me out of the honky-tonks in '86 and called me to preach. I thought Dean Beard was dead until my cousin told me that he was bed-fast living in the government apartments. I called him and he was glad to hear from me. He invited me over and I went to see him. When I knocked on the door, He said,"Come on in Danny." When I walked in, there was his piano setting against the wall and a big oil painting of Elvis hanging on the wall. When I got to his bedroom door, He said, "Hello Danny, Long time no see!" I grabbed him and hugged him, both of us had tears in our eyes. I told Dean I was a Minister and he was so glad. Then I found out that no one was coming over and giving Dean his baths. He said everyone that wanted to do it asked for money. I said, "No more Dean-O, I am going to come over here at least three times a week, carry you to the bathroom, set you in that chair in the bathtub, so you can take your shower, and I will not charge you one cent." He couldn't believe it...

Each day I went over to give him his bath, we would talk about the old days. He would make me pull down his picture album and we would go through looking at all the autographed pictures of different musical groups he toured with. I remember "Buck Owens & the Buckaroos" was one. He showed me pictures of he and Elvis together in front of Elvis' '55 Cadillac. The Cadillac that Elvis and Dean dragged up and down our main street chasing girls. Dean had told Elvis that he had a dance to do here in Coleman and asked Elvis to front for him. Elvis did. Dean had met Elvis after Elvis had done his dance in Brownwood only 30 miles away from Coleman. They became best of friends. Elvis loved Dean's voice. Dean showed me the hand-written & hand-signed letters that Elvis sent to him for some time until Elvis started making it big in movies and he stopped writing Dean. He showed me the picture of his band bus and asked, "Danny do you remember this bus?" I replied, "Boy, do I ever!" He asked me to pull a box out from under his bed. When I pulled it out it was full of his records. He picked two of his hits out and autographed them for me. He said, "Keep these, they will be worth a lot some day. This is payment for your kindness.

I was setting there one day with Dean when the phone rang. Dean answered and he said, "Yes this Dean Beard. No I ain't dead yet." The conversation went on for a few minutes and he hung up. Dean asked, "Danny do you know who that was?" I said, "No Deano, who was it?" He said it was a big record promoter in London, England, and his song "Party, Party, Party" was still #1 in Europe. This made old Deano very happy and I was glad for him too. Dan Seals (Country Star and little brother of Jimmy) used to come by once a month to check on Dean. Jimmy Seals and Dash Croft used to play in Dean's band. When the band broke up in the mid 60s, Jimmy and Dash formed the famous rock duo "Seals and Croft." Dan Seals was also known as England Dan when he was duo with John Ford Coley.

Then Dean asked me to come to come get him on Sundays for church. I had just introduced Terry Moffet to Dean. I would pick Dean up and put him in his wheel chair, wheel him to my car, take him out and seat him in the back seat and take him to church. It felt good to him to get out of his apartment and meet people. He got up in front of the church and gave his testimony warning kids to stay from booze, chasing wild women, and popping pills. He said he was paying for his sins. There was not a dry eye in the church building. He thanked me and Brother Terry in front of the church for the kindness we had shown him. He said all he wanted to do was to go to Heaven and see his mother. We asked Dean if he knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior and he said "YES," but he had never been baptized. Brother Terry baptized him. Then a week later, Dean caught pneumonia and was rushed to the Brownwood Hospital. He was in there nearly two weeks. His body was so weak from his other health problems, he couldn't pull out. He passed away in 1989 at age 54. My wife and I, along with a few friends, threw Dean his last birthday party in his apartment. It thrilled him so much. My wife fixed his favorite meal, spaghetti and meatballs and chocolate cake with white icing. He ate until he couldn't eat any more. It was a thrill to me to be able to make this great rockabilly star of the '50s last few months of his life a little more comfortable. He was in constant pain all the time, but he always praised Jesus and witnessed to those who came to see him. He is missed.

Red Rover June 18, 1955 - Fox Label 45-405	Wake Up, Jacob (flip side)
Sing, Sing, Sing December 10, 1955 - Fox Label 45-408	Time Is Hanging Heavy On My Hands (flip side)
Rakin And Scrapin March 1957 - Edmoral Label 1011-45	On My Mind Again (flip side)
Rakin And Scrapin April 29, 1957 - Atlantic Label 45-1137	On My Mind Again (flip side)
Party Party November 4, 1957 - Atlantic Label 45-1162	Stand By Me (flip side)
Hold Me Close June 30, 1958 - Atlantic Label 45-1182	Take Time To Love Me (flip side)
Egad, Charlie Brown November 24, 1958 - Challenge Label 59033	Keeper Of The Key (flip side)
Little Lover June 15, 1959 - Challenge Label 59048	Holding On To A Memory (flip side)
Little Koko Herrera Villa VA-101	Moon Over Mexico (flip side)
(Cuidad) Villa Acuna 1962 - Gaylo Label BM-112	The Day That I Lost You (flip side)
Villa Acuna September 1962 (or later) - Candix Label 341	The Day That I Lost You (flip side)
Tropical Night (instrumental) December 1962 - Joed Label JT-715	Coffee Break (instrumental) (flip side)
The Red Rose August 25, 1962 - Winston 1063-45-1	I Don't Know How (flip side)
That's How It Gets Sunup April 1963 - Winston Label 1073	Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes (instrumental) (flip side)
My Roberta July 1963 - Winston Label 107	No Love For Me (flip side)
Strawberry Shake Gina Label RT-1116	You're The Nearest Thing To Heaven (flip side)
Party, Party Sangelo 1/2	You Don't Have To Go Home (But You Can't Stay Here) (flip side)
Pocketful Of Stardust 1966 (or later) - Sims Label 299	(Are There) Honkytonks In Heaven (flip side)
Dean also had a number of his songs included on compilations of Rock and Roll and Rockabilly records.