Cracker Jim Brooker

Cracker Jim Brooker - A Miami County Music Veteran

"Cracker Jim" Brooker was one of the most influential DJs in Miami country music. But his efforts were not limited only to South Florida, he was also one of the founders of the Country Music Association (CMA), one of the driving forces of country music business and industry to this day. Brooker was a stalwart in Miami from the  1940s until the 1960s, promoting country music in the area like no one else probably did. He brought many Grand Ole Opry acts to Miami, including Hank Snow, Webb Pierce, and Johnny Cash. He was also an avid salesman, selling goods of every kind on his radio shows.

Information on Brooker is scarce though he played an influential role in the history of country music. I reconstructed his full name James Earl Brooker from official census records that can be accessed at ancestry.com. Though, I cannot really determine which of the many men named James E. Brooker he is. Born probably around 1911 in Georgia, Brooker was living in Daytona Beach, Florida, with his wife Mabel by 1935 and worked as a salesman. 

Brooker came to Miami in 1943 but World War II interrupted his life. However, he had started his career as a disc jockey on WBAY by 1947. By December 1950, he had switched to WMIE, Miami's primary country music outlet at that time. He not only had his own DJ show, which broadcast live from a booth at Shell's City, but also put on live stage shows with local talent and even bigger shows featuring top Nashville stars at the Dade County and Dinner Key Auditoriums. He also dabbled in TV, hosting on Saturday afternoons "Cactus Jim's Talent Ranch" on WTVJ (which, at one time, featured a young Kent Westberry) and the Big Orange Jubilee for some time. Although Brooker had found his profession in the radio and TV business that did not mean he gave up being a salesman. He continued to sell all kinds of goods via his radio shows.

Cracker Jim Brooker, ca. 1954

Contrary to many other Miami country DJs like Happy Harold, Uncle Harve, Uncle Martin Wales, Dale Wasson, or Buddy Starcher, Brooker was not a musician. Though, he was so popular in Dade County that Nashville and other parts of the country got notice of him. He was a featured act on the first Hank Williams memorial day held in Alabama in 1954. In addition, he attended Country Music DJ Conventions there as early as 1954 (they had not begun until 1952) and connected with the scene there, becoming acquainted with many of the influential people. Brooker was a member of the Country Music DJ Association and also its president at one time. The association held its annual meeting in the winter of 1957 in Miami at the Gay's Everglades Hotel but was slowly dying, however, and it was decided to form a new organization that was not only for DJs but for every aspect of the business. The Country Music Association came into existence in September 1958 and Brooker served on the first board of directors.

Though Brooker left the board eventually, he retained close connections to the CMA throughout the years. He continued to spin records on WMIE but added another show five days a week on WEDR in the summer of 1963. A year later, when WMIE was sold and changed programming, he switched to WIII and WQAM. He continued to promote country music concerts in the Miami-Dade area, including those by Johnny Cash, whom he knew since the 1950s and who came frequently to South Florida.

It was Brooker who connected Cash with Ervin T. Rouse, composer of "Orange Blossom Special". Cash would record it and made it a part of his routine live set. Cash remembered in an interview for "Life Magazine" in 1994: "I recorded 'Orange Blossom Special' in the mid '60s, and in those days everybody that recorded it claimed the 'arrangement' because no one knew who wrote it. But Mother Maybelle Carter was at the session, and I asked her, 'Do you know who really wrote 'Orange Blossom Special?' She said, 'Sure I do. Ervin Rouse and his brother Gordon.' And I said, 'Where are they?' She said, 'Last time I heard, they were in Florida.' It was the only clue I had. I called a disc jockey down there named Cracker Jim Brooker, and I asked Cracker Jim, 'Did you ever hear of Ervin Rouse?' And he said, 'Aw, I know Ervin. He lives with the Seminoles out in the swamp, and he makes swamp buggies for a living.' I said, 'You got any idea how I could talk to him?' And he said, 'Sure. I'll announce it on the air: 'Ervin, call me and I'll give you Johnny Cash's number.' It wasn't an hour till Ervin Rouse called me from some little settlement in the swamps. I said, 'Ervin, I happen to be coming to Miami on tour. Would you come to my show and do 'Orange Blossom Special' with me?' He and Gordon came in the clothes they worked in. I brought Ervin up to play the fiddle, and he absolutely killed them. At the end of the song, they were applauding and he literally got down on his knees. He was such a sweet, humble man. Gordon's still living. I still see him every time I'm down there."

"Another Cracker Jim Promotion" - Brooker promoted country music events
at the Dade County and Dinner Key Auditoriums with great success

By the mid 1960s, Brooker dropped out of the picture. If anyone has more information about Brooker or memories concerning his shows, please feel free to contact me.

Sources
• The Montgomery Advertiser (September 30, 1954)
• Country Music Association: CMA Honors Its 60th Anniversary (see also Randy Noles' book "Orange Blossom Boys")
• Entries by Don Boyd on PBase.com: [1], [2]
• Bluegrass Messengers: Orange Blossom Special - Version 2, Johnny Cash
• Ancentry.com
• Kent Westberry: "I've Got a Song to Write" (Dorrance Publishing Co), 2020, page 6