Alton Meeks Stricklin

Alton Meeks Stricklin. Legendary pianist Al Stricklin was born in Johnson County in 1908, he learned to play the piano at a very early age, accompanying his father who played fiddle. At age 15, Stricklin began playing at silent movies and at dances. After completing high school in Grandview, he attended Baylor University until the 1929 stock market crash. During the early 1930s, Stricklin played jazz piano for dances in Johnson County and surrounding areas and taught school at Island Grove. Stricklin was also staff pianist for Fort Worth radio station KFJZ and played with a band called the Hi Flyers. In 1935, Stricklin joined Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stricklin's jazz-influenced piano style added a new dimension to the musical style that became known as Western Swing. "Brother Al" played with the band during its heyday, entertaining devoted audiences at dances and through radio and recordings. When world war two broke up the band in 1942, Stricklin became foreman of a defense plant. After the war, Al, his wife Betty Zeigler Stricklin, and children made Cleburne their home. Stricklin's gregarious nature made him a superb salesman, a talent he used selling furniture and newspaper advertisements., Members of the prewar Texas Playboys were reunited in the early 1970s and formed Bob Wills original Texas Playboys. The group won a Cowboy Hall of Fame Award (1975) and a Country Music Association Award (1977), played at the Smithsonian Museum (1981), and traveled to Switzerland to perform on a U.S. State Department tour. Throughout his travels, Al Stricklin was a proud ambassador for his hometown, Cleburne, Texas.