FINEST FASHIONS A CHAT WITH COWBOY BOOT MAKER LISA SORRELL Q: How did you become a cowboy boot maker? A: I was raised in a conservative little church where the ladies all wore long hair and long dresses. As a girl, I was expected to graduate high school, marry, have babies, and take care of a home, so when I was 12 years old, my mom began teaching me to sew clothing. By 14, she was coming to me for sewing tips; at 15, I started sewing for women in my church, and by 18, I was making prom and wedding dresses. I could look at a picture of a dress in a magazine and understand how to recreate it. I married my husband Dale when I was 20, and we moved from Missouri to Guthrie, Oklahoma.
I’d left my sewing customers behind in Missouri and wasn’t having much luck restarting my business in Guthrie, so after six months in a three-room apartment, I got bored and answered an ad in the newspaper looking for someone to “stitch boot tops.” I had no idea what that meant, and I’d never worn cowboy boots. As fate would have it, the ad was placed by Jay Griffith, a legendary cowboy boot maker. He was also an alcoholic who loved to scream and cuss. Since I’d never been around anyone who drank or swore, I used to hide in the bathroom and cry. But as soon as I figured out what we were doing, I knew I’d found my craft. Jay hired me as an
Cowboy boot maker Lisa Sorrell
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employee — that means he only taught me what I needed to know to do my job. After I left Jay’s shop, I paid another bootmaker, Ray Dorwart, to teach me boot making, and I opened my shop in 1996. Q: Do you have a favorite piece or project? A: That would definitely be Taylor Malpass’s “Satan Is Real” boots. The “why” is kind of a long story. My daughter Paige started working with me in the shop at age 12. She had drive, passion, and talent, and she was becoming a fine shoemaker, but she died of suicide at age 20 because she also suffered terribly from depression and anorexia. I was just drifting and going through the motions of living after she left. A year or so after, I attended a Malpass Brothers concert and really liked their music. I approached Taylor and Chris after the show and asked if I could make them each a pair of boots. I think they were somewhat suspicious of this strange lady offering custom-made boots, but we began chatting about possible boot designs. Chris said I could design whatever I wanted, and he’d be happy, but Taylor asked if I could make him a pair of “Satan Is Real” cowboy boots. I was raised on the gospel music of the Louvin Brothers, and I’d occasionally considered making a pair of “Satan Is Real” boots, but I’d never pursued the thought. It was a moment of serendipity that confirmed my decision to approach them, and making
HONKY TONK TIMES
