Sebastopol, Texas

Everything Sebastopol is known for

4 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in Sebastopol

Songs About Sebastopol

On My Way to You
Cody Johnson
45%
The Painter
Cody Johnson
45%
Til You Can't
Cody Johnson
45%
Wild as You
Cody Johnson
45%

Artists From Sebastopol

C
Cody Johnson
country Pop: 77

Rivers & Roads in Song near Sebastopol

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Sebastopol.

Trinity River 10 songs Kickapoo Creek 4 songs U.S. Route 59 7 songs Interstate 45 7 songs

Musical Heritage

Texas Prison Rodeo RoadyGoat

1931

Every Sunday in October, for fifty-five years, the toughest ticket in East Texas was outside the walls of the Huntsville Unit. The Texas Prison Rodeo started in 1931 — a prison manager's idea to fix the system's reputation and raise a little money — and the inmates built the first grandstand themselves, eight hundred seats of chopped oak on an old baseball field. Within ten years it drew a hundred thousand people a season. The competitors were convicts. No pay, just commissary cash and a shot at a Top Hand buckle. They ran wild bulls in the Mad Scramble and grabbed cash sacks tied between a Brahman's horns. In 1959, Johnny Cash played his first prison concert right here — nearly ten years before Folsom. The Judds closed it out in 1986. Today the arena's a parking lot.

RoadyGoat → · 18.6 mi away

History of Sebastopol

Trinity, TX RoadyGoat

The most famous person to ever come out of Trinity was a man who seemed to embody its scrappy, larger-than-life East Texas spirit: Congressman Charlie Wilson. You might know him from the book or movie, 'Charlie Wilson's War.' Long before he was secretly funding Afghan rebels against the Soviets, he was a kid right here. As a teenager, his political career began when a city councilman killed his dog. The thirteen-year-old Wilson retaliated by driving dozens of voters to the polls, successfully ousting the man from office. That mix of charm, audacity, and political savvy was pure Trinity. The town also produced the acclaimed novelist William Goyen, whose dreamlike stories were deeply rooted in his East Texas upbringing here. Both men, in their own way, took the unique character of this small town and projected it onto the world stage.

5.8 mi away

Charlie Wilson's Trinity Roots RoadyGoat

It's hard to imagine the Cold War being influenced by a politician from a small town like Trinity, but that's the story of Charlie Wilson. Before he was the subject of the movie 'Charlie Wilson's War,' he was a boy here. His political career started on these streets. The legend goes that as a thirteen-year-old, his political career began with an act of revenge. After his next-door neighbor, a city official, killed his dog by feeding it crushed glass, Wilson got a driver's permit, drove ninety-six voters to the polls, and told every one of them what the man had done. The official lost the election by sixteen votes. That combination of charm and political hardball defined his career. He never forgot where he came from, and his larger-than-life personality was classic East Texas. As you look at this town, you can imagine how its scrappy, determined character helped shape the man who would go on to secretly help win the Cold War.

5.8 mi away

Riverside, TX RoadyGoat

Riverside has always been a place shaped by the Trinity River. It gave the town its name, and it’s always been both a blessing and a challenge. We're all aware of the old stories of the big flood way back when, but just a few years ago, people were really starting to worry about the lake. Lake Livingston, which is so vital for recreation and even for the water supply down in Houston, started dropping. The drought really hit hard. You could see how much the water level was affected; boat ramps were high and dry, and suddenly there were new stretches of beach. Folks who've lived here their whole lives said they'd never seen it that low. It wasn’t just about recreation, though. Farmers worried about irrigating their fields, and some small businesses that relied on the lake for tourism started to feel the pinch. Even though we're used to the slow pace of life, it felt like things were grinding to a halt. Thankfully, the rains came back, and the lake filled up again, but it was a stark reminder of how dependent we are on the river and the weather, and how quickly things can change, even in a place as steady as Riverside.

9.9 mi away

Chita Cemetery

1861

The earliest known burial in this cemetery is that of Virgil Foster, who died in 1861. According to local tradition, Peter Parker, who died the same year and is interred here, chose the site for the burial ground. Used primarily by residents of Chita, Sebastapol and other communities, the cemetery is a reflection of the area's pioneer heritage and burial customs. Tombstones bear inscriptions disclosing the military service of Civil War, World War I and World War II veterans, and mark the graves of many who died of typhoid fever, an indication of the harshness of pioneer life in the area. (2001)

Historical Marker →

Carlisle Cemetery

1867

This cemetery originally served residents of the Vaughns Mill community (later Bold Springs and then Carlisle). The settlement was named for Moses Bond, who donated property for this burial ground after coming here with family in the 1870s. The oldest marked grave here is of Civil War veteran William Cooper (d. 1867). Others interred here include area pioneers, community leaders, and two original cemetery trustees, W.E. Clark and Charity Hall. The cemetery features grave slabs, vertical stones, A false crypt and curbing. John and Alice Chessher deeded additional land in 1941 and acreage was again added in 1990. Today, the Carlisle Cemetery Association, organized in 1980, cares for this historic burial ground. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2008

Historical Marker → · 3.8 mi away

Harris, Rebert H.

1916

Rebert H. “R. H.” Harris, gospel singer, was born on March 23, 1916, in Trinity, Texas, to James and Katie Harris. He was the sixth of nine children. He grew up on a farm thirteen miles outside of Trinity in Trinity County northeast of Huntsville. The Harris family lived about 300 yards from the Eastham Prison Camp. Harris grew up listening to the mixture of spirituals and blues sung by the prisoners, and at the age of seven, he started arranging his first gospel quartet called the Friendly Four. While still a young child, Harris wrote the song “I Want Jesus to Walk Around My Bedside.” When Harris moved to Trinity to start seventh grade at Trinity Colored High School the group became known as the Friendly Gospel Singers. After tenth grade, fifteen-year-old Harris was attending seminary at Mary Allen College in Crockett, Texas, when he met Silas Roy Crain and was asked to join Crain’s Houston-based group, the Soul Stirrers , a jubilee group that sang up-tempo poppy songs such as “Down by the Riverside.” Harris agreed and joined the group in the mid-1930s as tenor and innovatively changed their sound by directing the group away from the old jubilee style to a slower, deeper, and more passionate and modern gospel style. In addition to Harris’s first tenor vocals, Crain brought in another tenor, James Medlock, who served as a second lead vocalist. Harris and Medlock traded lead vocals, using what Harris deemed “delayed time,” with one singer crooning high and sweet and the other shouting hoarse and low, creating irresistible syncopations. In the late 1930s the group moved to Chicago but spent much of their time touring the country and performing on the gospel circuit. The group was nationally known by the early 1940s. In 1947 Harris with other quartet lead singers organized the National Singing Quartets Union of America to promote their music. Harris was later named president. The Soul Stirrers recorded for Aladdin in 1948. Eventually, the extensive touring began to take its toll on Harris and in 1950, despite the Soul Stirrers being signed to the Specialty label earlier that year, he announced that he was leaving the group. Before his exit, the group recorded more than twenty songs for Specialty that appeared on their highly-rated album Shine On Me. After Harris’s departure, the group replaced him with Sam Cooke, a young singer who idolized and modeled his singing style after Harris. After leaving the Soul Stirrers, Harris formed the group the Christland Singers with ex-Soul Stirrers James Medlock and Leroy Taylor. The group recorded for the Peacock and Nashboro labels. He later sang for the Gospel Paraders, which recorded on Sam Cooke’s label, SAR Records, about 1960. He was also a member of the Masonic Quintet. However none of these groups experienced the success Harris had with the Soul Stirrers. Harris moved on to work as a florist to support his ex-wife Jeannette Harris (ex-Golden Harps singer) and their four children, but he always remained close to gospel music. In 1972 his career experienced somewhat of a revival after his performance at Radio City Music Hall, and in 1973 he sang three songs on Precious Lord: The Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey, an anthology for Columbia. In 1975 Harris recorded the album The Father of Them All with his Masonic Quintet for Nashboro Records, and in 1978 he recorded another album, Because He Lives, for his own RHJC label. This was his last recording. Due to a throat ailment, Harris was unable to sing the last several years of his life, but he remained active in the National Gospel Quartets Union. Despite his many musical projects after the Soul Stirrers, Harris will always be remembered as one of the original Soul Stirrers. In 1989 he was inducted as an early influence into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Soul Stirrers. He was also inducted as a member of the group in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. Harris was married twice: first to Jeannette Harris, with whom he had four

Tsha Handbook → · 7.7 mi away

Soul Stirrers

1929

The Soul Stirrers was one of Texas’s most innovative gospel groups and pioneers of the contemporary quartet sound. It was the first gospel group to incorporate two lead singers. Their unique arrangements, which served as the basis for doo-wop and R&B, set the pace for gospel and pop vocal groups making the Soul Stirrers forefathers in the development of R&B. The musical group traces its beginnings to two different quartets. Silas Roy “Senior” Crain had been performing since the mid-1920s in Trinity, Texas, when he formed a quartet with some of the other teens in his church and named themselves the Soul Stirrers after an audience member told Crain how their music had stirred his soul. When Crain’s group fell apart, he relocated to Houston. There he met Walter La Beaux who, in September 1929, had organized the New Pleasant Green Gospel Singers with himself as tenor, Edward Allen Rundless, Jr. (second tenor), C. N. Parker (baritone), and W. R. Johnson (bass). Upon Johnson’s passing four years later, O. W. Thomas took his place and a year later, upon Parker’s passing, he was replaced by Crain. Crain joined La Beaux’s group with the condition that they change the name to the Soul Stirrers. In 1934 La Beaux left the group to preach the gospel and was replaced by A. L. Johnson. Two years later, in 1936, Jessie James (J. J.) Farley (bass) joined the group. It was this same year that Alan Lomax first recorded the group for the Library of Congress. About this time M. L. Franklin of Trinity, Texas, sang second tenor. Around 1937 first tenor Rebert H. Harris of Trinity, Texas, joined the group. Harris, who admired blues artists such as Leroy Carr, Blind Lemon Jefferson , and Lil Green, brought a new sound to the group’s old-fashioned Jubilee harmonies. Soon Crain recruited another tenor, James Medlock, who served as the second lead vocalist to complete the classic early lineup of the group. Under Harris’s direction, the group began to develop their innovative modern gospel style by creating the “swing lead” concept by combining four-part harmony and two alternating lead vocalists. His other concepts included introducing ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, repeating words in the background, and having its members move about stage in time to the music. These new ideas differentiated the Soul Stirrers from other groups, causing their popularity to quickly grow. The group moved to Chicago in the late 1930s and toured the gospel circuit across the country. In 1939 they began performing on radio alongside the Stamps-Baxter Quartet , becoming one of the superior gospel groups by the 1940s. During World War II they played in USO shows. The group’s popularity led them to perform at the White House for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In 1948 the Soul Stirrers made their first public recording with Aladdin, and in 1950 they were signed to Specialty Records where they recorded more than twenty tracks for their album Shine On Me, including their debut single “By and By,” which was followed by originals “I’m Still Living on Mother’s Prayer” and “In That Awful Hour.” Through the years the group was joined by other great singers such as Leroy Taylor, Julius Cheeks, T. L. Bruster (Brewster), and R. B. Robinson, founder of the Highway QCs, which drew several of the group’s lead singers. The 1950s brought many changes to the Soul Stirrers. Near the end of 1950, Harris left the group and was replaced by nineteen-year-old Sam Cooke, singer with the Highway QCs, who had idolized and modeled his style after Harris. The group also added Paul Foster to be the new second tenor (replacing Medlock). In 1951 the Soul Stirrers recorded their first album featuring Cooke, entitled Jesus Gave Me Water. Cooke’s youthfulness, angelic voice, and idol good looks brought a sexual presence to the group causing women, even in this religious setting, to faint. Their single “Peace in the Valley” featuring Cooke became a classi

Tsha Handbook → · 7.7 mi away

Taylor, Johnnie Harrison

1925

Johnnie Harrison Taylor, singer, was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, on May 5, 1937, to Willie Taylor and Ida Blackman. Taylor grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, but spent much of his adult life in Texas. Inspired by blues and gospel music , he recorded with a doo-wop group called the Five Echoes during the early 1950s. While still a teenager, he joined such gospel groups as the Highway QCs and the Texas-based Soul Stirrers, in which he replaced Sam Cooke as lead singer. The Soul Stirrers, who traced their origins to Trinity, Texas, in the mid-1920s, are considered the founders of modern gospel, an urbane, secularized variation of rural church music. One of their innovations was to employ two lead singers. In 1963 Taylor was signed to Cooke's SAR label, where he recorded the hit single "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day." Although by that time he had found secular music more lucrative, Taylor's vocal style continued to reflect his strong religious roots. SAR folded after Cooke's death in 1964, and Taylor signed with Stax Records in Memphis in 1966. There he recorded his biggest hit to that time, "Who's Making Love?," which went to Number 1 on the R&B charts in 1968 and sold a million copies. This was followed by a string of bestsellers, including "Take Care of Your Homework," "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby," "Steal Away," and "Cheaper to Keep Her." Although such big names as Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, and Sam & Dave all recorded with Stax, Taylor was that label's all-time best-selling artist. During the early 1970s Taylor continued to score with Top 10 R&B singles, including his second Number 1 in 1971, "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone," and his third in 1973, "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)." When Stax folded in 1975, Taylor went to Columbia Records, where, in 1976, he had the biggest hit of his career, "Disco Lady." The song was the first single ever to be certified platinum for two million copies. Eargasm , the album from which the single came, was banned by many radio stations because it was considered too suggestive. Nevertheless, the record's success demonstrated that Taylor's sexually-charged soul music appealed to popular audiences. Because the single was released in the middle of the 1970s disco era, Taylor found himself incorrectly tagged as a disco artist, a label he disavowed. Temporarily unable to generate additional success, Taylor left in 1982 for Beverly Glen Records, where he climbed back onto the charts with the single "What About My Love?" His final stop (1984) was at Malaco Records, where he made well-received albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s, such as This Is Your Night , Wall to Wall , and Gotta Get the Groove Back . Although his career had waned considerably, Taylor continued to tour across the country and draw respectable crowds in various R&B venues. Known as the "Philosopher of Soul," during his long career he incorporated blues, soul, pop, and funk into his repertoire. He scored eleven Top 40 hits on the Billboard pop chart, and recorded about twelve albums for Stax alone. Taylor was the recipient of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award in 1996. He made his home in Duncanville, Texas, and died of a heart attack in a Dallas hospital on May 31, 2000. He was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. During his life, Taylor was married twice and openly acknowledged his paternity of six children. He died intestate, and during probate proceedings, three more individuals (one woman and two men) came forward as his children. DNA tests confirmed their claims, and Taylor’s estate was divided equally among his nine children. The case was later featured in an episode of Investigation Discovery’s documentary series The Will: Family Secrets Revealed in 2011. In 2016 Taylor’s life and career were featured in an episode of the documentary series Unsung .

Tsha Handbook → · 7.7 mi away

Texas Long Leaf Lumber Company

1907

In 1907, Thompson Brothers Lumber Company built a mill and 37-acre pond at Trinity. Texas Long Leaf Lumber Company, which started at Willard in 1912, bought Thompson Brothers’ Trinity Mill in 1922. Under management of Paul Sanderson for 22 years, the company was one of the nation’s most successful manufacturers of yellow pine and southern hardwoods. Working with forest landowners in Texas, Sanderson promoted selected cutting, reforestation, fire protection and removal of defective trees. By 1937 the mill was producing 3.5 million board feet monthly. The commercial species of lumber cut were long leaf, short leaf, and loblolly pine, oak, gum, ash, magnolia, and various other woods. The main office of Texas Long Leaf Lumber Company was the 205-acre mill site in Trinity, with additional sales offices in Houston and St. Louis. The company was one of Trinity’s largest employers, with as many as 450 employees. During World War II, production reached 140,000 board feet daily, resulting in lumber flown to Europe and Africa and the awarding of the Army-Navy “E” Award in a march 17, 1944, ceremony in Trinity. Sanderson turned to a widespread public campaign for postwar planning and perpetuation of the timber industry in Texas with emphasis on timber as a renewable natural resource. At the time of his untimely death in October 1944, Sanderson held many civic and lumber industry offices, including President of the Southern Pine Association, President of the Texas Forest Association and Chairman of the Texas Prison Board. In 1953, Texas Long Leaf timber interests totaled 252,230 acres in six East Texas counties. The closing of the mill in 1955 had a devastating impact on the local economy and ended a long chapter in the history of the community.

Historical Marker → · 8.6 mi away

Things to Do in Sebastopol

spooky 21.6 mi away
Demon's Road & Martha Chapel Cemetery

Texas's most haunted road. An 1830s cemetery on Bowden Road near Huntsville where cars rock on their own and handprints appear on windows.
quirky 22.9 mi away
Cowboy Boot House

A 35-foot-tall house shaped like a cowboy boot built from salvaged materials by artist Dan Phillips and completed in 2017. He added a matching…

Everything Near Sebastopol

121 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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