Elvis was in the building

It's not exactly a new Elvis sighting. But it does offer a bit more insight into the guy who became the king.

And it's brought to you by Bellinda Myrick-Barnett, a 1966 Odessa High graduate who went on to be Miss West Texas and Miss Texas as well as a professional singer and actress. She tells the story of Presley and her dad, Bill Myrick, back in the day. Her father still calls Odessa home.

As a sidelight, we should point out that Myrick-Barnett has penned three novels and that her eldest son Logan Barnett made his pro acting debut as a Dillon High football player in the critically acclaimed television series "Friday Night Lights." Interestingly enough, her dad appeared in the "FNL" movie along with some of his older vehicles.

All of this has nothing to do with Elvis, but a whole lot to do with the family's Odessa connections.

Anyway, here's her story:

By Bellinda Myrick-Barnett

Bill Myrick and Elvis Presley both began life with their births in Mississippi and would be shaped by growing up in gospel music and their weekend dedication to listening to the Grand Ole Opry. And they would both later appear on the Louisiana Hayride. But they didn't meet at any of those places. They would, indeed, meet in the birthplace of Rockabilly out in West Texas - Odessa to be specific.

My father, Bill Myrick, joined the Army's 25th Division during World War II and served as a combat medic in the Pacific inclusive of the Philippines.

After the war, Bill's first professional country/bluegrass music job was with the "Father of Bluegrass" whom he had listened to so reverently on the Grand Ole Opry, Bill Monroe. He was with Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys from 1947 to 1950. That's when we moved from Louisiana to Texas.

And that's where my father formed the first bluegrass group in the state of Texas with his Army buddy, Ed Mayfield. It was called Bill Myrick and the Mayfield Brothers and included Ed and his brothers, Smokey and Herb, ranchers from the Panhandle of Texas where we lived for about a year.

They quickly became the talk of the industry and were asked to be regulars on the Louisiana Hayride when Smokey decided he wasn't cut out for the music business and returned to ranching.

With their cowboy good looks and cowboy style and wonderful music they created, their rise to stardom was about as guaranteed as any could have been. But the group disbanded.

Bill and wife LaVerne moved with their daughter, Bellinda (me) to Odessa on the advice of Bill's friend, Hank Williams. And Bill created a place for himself in the country/rockabilly music scene of West Texas with his nightclub performances and, especially, with his monthly "opry" venue, "The Pioneer Jamboree," that he hosted at the Ector County Coliseum. He also hosted a weekly Saturday television show on KOSA-TV that bore the same name. And he had a daily radio show at KECK where he would be one of the earliest promoters of the records of Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley's record, "Blue Moon of Kentucky," written by Myrick's old boss and mentor, Bill Monroe, showed up on the desk one day at the radio station. Bill certainly responded to the sounds of music that he had grown up with in gospel, country and bluegrass that could be heard in the voice of Elvis.

Immediately, Bill began playing Elvis' records and asking fellow disc jockey, Keith Webb, to do the same at his station in Midland. Bill's response the records is what created the first early success for Elvis and his music.

It is a year in history that had, until recently, been neglected by Elvis' historians until Sony Records researcher, Ernst Jorgensen, on loan to RCA, began tracking down the information and found himself visiting with Bill Myrick and saying that all roads led to him as being the one who launched the groundswell for Elvis' career.

Jorgensen initially wrote one book about Elvis that mentioned Bill Myrick, but now has another one covering the "missing year" of Elvis' early success.

Shortly after Bill started promoting Elvis' records, Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black were on their way into West Texas when Elvis' Cadillac broke down on the outskirts of town.

Country singer Gordon Terry drove by and gave them a lift into town where Elvis called Bill Myrick. He picked them up and called a tow truck to take the car to the mechanic.

While they waited, Elvis asked Bill Myrick if he wanted to go see "Jailhouse Rock" with him as he noticed it was playing at the Ector Theatre.

Now, all biographers that I've ever read say that Elvis never did see the movie "Jailhouse Rock" because he was too broken up about the car accident death of his co-star Judy Tyler and her husband.

But, indeed, Elvis did see the movie with my father that day. While watching the movie, Elvis kept telling Daddy about various things that had happened during filming and there were two teenage girls behind them who leaned forward and asked them to "be quiet!"

Well, Daddy got quite a giggle out of telling the two girls that it was Elvis himself they had told to be quiet.