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"I Was Country When Country Wasn't
Cool" was a big hit for Barbara Mandrell.
Harry (Hap) Peebles was country
before Barbara Mandrell was born. Hap has been serving the country
music industry for 60 years, booking artists at the age of 18 and
has spent his entire life in the business. In fact, he toured Miss
Mandrell when she was eleven years old!
In the old days, Hap would take
several acts for the entire season. It wasn't unusual for him to
work the entire season and not make a dime off the acts, but he gave
them work. In the early days of booking country music into fairs and
festivals, these acts would include Tex Ritter, Red Foley, Smiley
Burnette, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, the Wilburn Brothers, Pee Wee
King, the Duke of Paducah, Roy Acuff, Martha Carson, Hank Thompson
and many others.
Hap has been associated with the
Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals for 22 years,
bringing top acts to showcase for its members. He has served as a
member of the Board of Directors, representing the Associates, and
was named a Lifetime Director in 1988. Among the acts he has
brought to L.A.F.F. were Shotgun Red, Clyde Foley Cummings
(grandson of the legendary Red Foley), the Ark Valley Boys and
Connie Smith.
In addition to serving on the board of L.A.F.F.,
Hap is on the Board of Directors for similar associations in Kansas
(his home state), Colorado,
Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is in
the Hall of Fame in Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Kansas,
Colorado, Nebraska,
South Dakota, and North Dakota. He has been
named Fairman of the Year in North and South Dakota,
Iowa, Missouri,
Colorado and the Rocky Mountain
region (Wyoming, Idaho and Montana).
He was one of the founders of the Country Music
Association CMA) and he founded the International Country Music
Buyers Association and served as its President for six years. He is
currently Chairman of the Board, a post he has held for sixteen
years.
He has been nominated for the Country Music Hall of
Fame.
The number of stars he has given
breaks to are innumerable, but include Johnny Cash, Roy Clark,
Loretta Lynn, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Price, Johnny
Horton and many, many more.
Truly "The Dean of Country Music
Promoters", Harry (Hap) Peebles has made his mark on L.A.F.F.
as well as all other areas of the Fairs and Festivals industry. |
