A Saturday Night with the Reavis Brothers Band

A Saturday Night with the Reavis Brothers Band
Special thanks to Andy Reavis

 
If you were living in the Southwest Missouri area in the 1950s or 1960s, you probably danced to the music of the Reavis Brothers Band on Saturday nights. This country music combo, which really consisted of seven brothers, was based in Southwest Missouri and entertained audiences with their music from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. The Reavis Brothers are today largely forgotten outside the southwestern region of the state in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, which is much due to the fact that they never released any records that could give collectors a hint to their existence. Coincidentally, Andy Reavis, a son of one of the Reavis Brothers, contacted me (actually to correspond about another Ozark country artist, Red Yeager) and provided me with details on his family's journey in Ozark country music.

The Reavis Brothers hailed from the small community of Crane, Missouri, a small, rural town with a population of nearly 1.000 habitans in the 1950s. The brothers' parents, Loren Elmer "Buck" Reavis (1904-1970) and his wife Thelma (McCullah) Reavis (1909-1974) cultivated a farm and Buck worked in the construction business most of his life. "His emphasis on being independent and being your own man carried forward with each son and made them strong as a family despite no formal education," remembers Andy Reavis, the grandson of Buck and son of Ted Reavis. Times were hard and life was not easy in the rural areas of the country. The oldest of the seven brothers was Robert “Bob” Reavis, born in 1929, followed by James “Jim” Reavis in 1930, William “Bill” Reavis in 1936, Jerry Reavis in 1937,  Teddy “Ted” Reavis in 1938, Gary “Butch” Reavis in 1945 and Kenneth “Kenny” Reavis in 1946.

Likely main street in Crane, Missouri, ca. 1940s

In the 1950s, Southwest Missouri became a country music hotbed and at one point rivaled Nashville, which had established itself as the capital of country music. The importance of the area to country music was mainly due to the production of the Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri, a local TV show hosted by Red Foley and featuring such notable artists as Brenda Lee. Other television shows like the Porter Waggoner show and Slim Wilson show soon appeared as well.  Many country music stars became regulars on the Ozark Jubilee and the music and entertainment business gained ground in Southwest Missouri. However, Springfield never outstripped Nashville as the epicenter of country music. But there were other hot places in the Ozarks for country music, too. In 1959, when Springfield's popularity as a country music hotbed declined, the Mabe family band started their "Baldknobbers" act in Branson, Missouri, followed by the Presley Country Jubilee in 1967. Both shows are still in existence and started Branson as an entertainment spot.

The rising of Southwest Missouri as a country music and entertainment region influenced the Reavis Brothers to start a band. None of them had completed high school nor had they any former musical education but they discovered they were musical inclined, nevertheless. "As brothers they stuck together which brought them into the band idea. They were never afraid to try something new," explains Andy. It was around 1957 when they decided to start a band. They borrowed money to purchase instruments and learned to play by ear. Inspired by such country artists as Ray Price or Faron Young, they started out as a honky tonk dance band and soon played weddings, political events, coon hunts, on local radio and several of the pubs and watering holes around Southwest Missouri. Their stage act also featured comedy routines in the style of such duos as Lum & Abner.

The line-up of the newly born band consisted of Teddy Reavis on vocals and guitar, Jim Reavis on vocals and electric guitar, Jerry Reavis on vocals and rhythm guitar, Bob Reavis on steel guitar, Bill Reavis on vocals and bass as well as Butch Reavis on drums and Kenny Reavis on vocals. Shortly after they started the band, the Reavis Brothers landed a spot on radio KRMO, a station in Monett, Missouri, featuring live Saturday morning performances. Other local radio stations KBHM, KSWM and KWTO also featured their music. It is needless to say that their regular radio appearances boosted their popularity and led to other engagements with a loyal group of regular followers.

Monett, Missouri, home of KRMO, in the 1950s

In 1957, the band made their first recordings at KRMO. These were not professional recordings but demo tapes that are in rough shape today. The cuts, done in a traditional country style, included two songs from 1955, Elvis Presley's “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” and Jimmy Works’ “Don’t Knock, Just Come On In” (which was not actually a hit recording but Work was a popular artist), or classics like “San Antonio Rose.” They stirred up some attention by a Nashville agency. In the end, however, nothing came of it. The brothers did another recording session in the 1960s, likely in 1966. They recorded one of that year’s hit, Jim Reeves’ “Blue Side of Lonesome” and Hank Locklin’s “I Feel a Cry Coming On,” which was the flip side to his Top 50 hit “Insurance.” Both songs were originally urban Nashville sound recordings but the Reavis Brothers Band managed to bring an ancient country charm to them. The session also produced an untitled instrumental and a version of Marty Robbins’ “The Hands You’re Holding Now,” which had been covered during the 1960s by different artists.

The Reavis Brothers Band, ca. 1960s, when they were featured acts at the Hillbilly-Land USA auditorium in Eagle Rock, Missouri

Through the 1960s, the Reavis Brothers continued to perform at talent contests and radio stations as well as other occasions. They were offered to promote two big and popular brands, Mountain Dew and Hillbilly Bread but declined the offer, which probably prevented wider recognition. They were also associated with Hillbilly-Land USA in the 1960s. Hillbilly-Land USA was an auditorium located on the banks of Table Rock Lake in Eagle Rock, Missouri, near the Missouri-Arkansas state border. It hosted popular music shows on weekends for years, including shows by the Reavis Brothers band. The brothers also featured guest musicians to boost their act, including fiddler Paul Thomas from Purdy, Missouri, or female vocalist Reitha Bigelow. Both appeared several times with the band in the 1960s.

In the early 1970s, the Reavis Brothers called it a day and retired from performing in public. "After the length of time involved in entertaining I think they just tired of the commitment. Kids were getting older and everyone pursued different vocations which drew them away from music," assumes Andy Reavis. They continued to play music at private family gatherings, however. Butch and Bill Reavis continued to perform with other bands, while Jerry and Ted both sang in church. Bill died in 1997, Jim im 2000, Ted in 2003, Bob in 2017, and Butch in 2019 leaving Jerry Reavis and Kenny Reavis as the remaining surviving brothers. Musical talent has been handed down through generations of the Reavis family, as Bob's grandson Caleb Reavis became a country and gospel performer. Bill's son Dusty Reavis also went on to become a musician, though he preferred other music genres.

Although they were not as famous as such Ozark performers like Slim Wilson or Speedy Haworth, the Reavis Brothers were popular enough in Southwest Missouri to earn them a display at the Ralph Foster Museum at the College of the Ozarks in Hollister, Missouri. Thousands of people danced to the music of the Reavis Brothers on a Missouri Saturday night - an effort worth enough to remember them.