Herbert Mayfield
| Herbert Earl Mayfield
(American bluegrass musician) | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 20, 1920 Erick, Beckham County, Oklahoma, USA |
| Died | May 29, 2008 (aged 87) Amarillo, Texas Resting place: |
| Spouse | Dorothy McLain Mayfield (born 1931; married 1952-2008, his death) Children:
|
| Religion | Southern Baptist |
Herbert Earl Mayfield (December 20, 1920 – May 29, 2008) was a bluegrass musician and a member of the Mayfield Brothers band of West Texas. Playing the mandolin and the guitar, Mayfield played alongside his brothers, Thomas Edd Mayfield and Smokey Mayfield.
In the late 1940s, the Mayfield Brothers were warm-up musicians in Lubbock and Amarillo for Tennessee "Ernie" Ford, the Maddox Brothers and Rose, Hank Snow, and other country groups. After World War II, the trio went on the circuit playing Bluegrass until Edd left the band to join Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.[1]
Background
Mayfield was born in rural Erick in Beckham County in southwestern Oklahoma to William Fletcher Mayfield (1881-1952), and the former Penelope Ruth Drake (1887-1937). In January 1931, he moved with his family to Dimmitt in Castro County near Lubbock. He graduated from Dimmitt High School and was awarded a basketball scholarship to college. During World War II, Mayfield served in the United States Army Air Corps]], the forerunner to the Air Force. He participated in troop movements during the landings at Normandy, France , and in the Battle of the Bulge, in which his brother Smokey also fought.[1]
All of the Mayfield family played musical instruments, beginning with the mandolin. Herbert Mayfield recalled rushing from his ranch chores to devote time to practicing music.
Marriage and legacy
In 1951, Mayfield married the former Dorothy McLain in Hart in Castro County. Active in community affairs, he was a former president of the Dimmitt Rodeo Association and was a member of the Fair Board. He was also affiliated with the Panhandle Blue Grass Association. He was a Baptist. Two weeks prior to Mayfield's death, the Blue Grass Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, interviewed him in Dimmitt in preparation for a documentary film on the Mayfield musical family.[1]
For much of his adult life, Mayfield was a welder for cattle feedlots. He and his wife supported student scholarships for those pursuing the study of Bluegrass music at South Plains College in Levelland in Hockley County west of Lubbock. South Plains honored Herbert and Smokey Mayfield in a special ceremony in 1989 as pioneers of Bluegrass music.[1] Susan Dailey, the recipient of a Mayfield scholarship in 1993, recalled Mayfield as "an inspiration to me as a mandolin student. ... The stories of his early musical years on the Green Valley Ranch also fascinated me as a musician and as a visual artist.... I feel fortunate to have been acquainted with Herb. He was a wonderful man.... "[2]
Mayfield died at the age of eighty-seven of renal failure in an Amarillo hospital.[1] Some three months later, his brother Smokey died of a heart attack, a complication from neuropathy. Edd Mayfield died of leukemia in 1958 at the age of thirty-two in Bluefield, West Virginia, while he was on tour with Bill Monroe.[1] Services for Herb Mayfield were held on June 1, 2008, at the First Baptist Church of Dimmitt. Burial was in Hart Cemetery in Hart.[1]
References
