Book Reviews 45/47 Sounding Off

WOW. We are starting yet another new year, full of hope and optimism. Many take this time to reflect on days gone by, both to learn for the future and to remember those moments and people that affected our life. Please bear with me as, for the next few columns, I am going to take a ride in Ponca City’s past and remember some of the musicians who influenced me, and many others, to learn how to play an instrument, and then use our talents to entertain the public.

Local Star … Waddy Pass

I’m kicking off this series of locally famous bands with a return to the 1960s and “The Henchmen.” The picture of the band with the 1965 Pontiac GTO includes (below from the left) Dale Bacher, Waddy Pass, Pat Schultz, Mickey Skaggs and Steve Ellenwood. Back in the 60s, several Ponca City churches sponsored dances on Friday evenings each month. This provided a safe, chaperoned place for our city’s youth to go, and for local bands to play. I was a big fan of The Henchmen, and Waddy Pass was the guitar player I followed over the years as his career carried him to places that, at the time, a local boy could only imagine. Waddy’s musical career started at the age of 6 1/2, when a salesman from the local Pruitt Music store visited his family’s home looking to enroll students to learn to play guitar. Waddy’s hands were too small for a guitar neck at that age, so Bert Pruitt seated him at a steel guitar. Within a year, he could play every popular Hawaiian song on the charts. Eventually, he excelled on regular guitar as well, and by the age of 14, he was teaching at the store. Waddy’s first band was “The Blue Crystals,” named after the color on the drummer’s trap set. From there, he moved into The Deserters and eventually The Henchmen. The band was always well-rehearsed, and as such was in demand for not only the church dances, but at the VFW, the Armory and other events. By 1970, Waddy joined a Bartlesville-based band, The Skeptics, and toured clubs as far away as Chicago. From there, he joined Down Home, a group known for their horn section, a lot of fans and a touring schedule that covered multiple states, including club circuits throughout Georgia. In the 1980s, he joined Spunky Creek, a band he described as a cross between AC/DC and Merle Haggard, where his expertise on both steel and regular guitar were in demand. At one point, Waddy was contacted to play steel guitar on a debut album by a soon-to-be famous group, The Tractors, at Tulsa’s Church Studio (built by Leon Russell).

As if being a musical prodigy isn’t enough, Waddy is also talented with electronics. He spent several years working at Saied Music, where many musicians trusted him to repair their amplifiers and guitars.

The Henchmen 1969. (from the left) Dale Bacher, Waddy Pass, Pat Schultz, Mickey Skaggs and Steve Ellenwood.