Week 19: Spade Cooley

Spade Cooley was no stranger to sin. Getting the nickname Spade after a poker game, this great fiddler went on to not only help bring into being but actually coining the term Western Swing in the early 1940´s. As the years and the roads went on his sound waned in the ears of the public. All coming to a brutal end. He tried to get back by putting together an all-girl hillbilly band, but the public didn´t bite and the show was cancelled. On april 3rd, 1961, he made a housecall to his estranged wife Ella Mae. As the moon rose over the desert ranch in Mojave a drunken Spade went into the bottomless pit; kicking, beating and eventually strangling his wife, forcing his 14-year old daughter Melody to look on. Only a few days later, with Spade pleading for his life, Capitol cynically rush-released the song Cold Gray Bars trying to cash in on it all. As the trial went on Spade tried to blame his fit of rage on an anonymous sex cult Ella Mae was supposedly involved with. Spinning his tale on the stand he soon descended into a very graphic tale of sodomy. None, which did him any favours with the jury and the judge. Finding him guilty of first degree murder Spades lucky cards definitely ran out, and he was sentenced to life in prison. A few years later, in 1969, he was allowed to perform for a sheriffs benefit concert, when returning to his dressing room the Devil finally came to claim his dues and Spade fell to the floor in a final heart attack.

'Spade Cooley Show'

19 Devils Dream – Spade Cooley

Earlier posts 'Christianity Vs. Satanism', (Christianity:) Week 13 - Week 14 - Week 15 - Week 16 (Satanism:) Week 17 - Week 18