It was only a few weeks ago that I went to La Feria, Texas, and had lunch with a fascinating friend, who is truly an extravagant lady. And, of course the story about her, ran a few weeks ago, in this paper. 

   After my friend left, I took some time to drive around that great little city. It has changed quite a lot since the days, when we visited tha businesses where alcoholic beverages were consumed. Businesses like, The Alaskan, The COWBOY Inn, and The GLASS Hat, were all on West Hi-way 83. The TEXAS ROSE, LENNY’s Place, and The Veterans’ Legion hall were on East Hi-way 83. I know there were more, but I just don’t remember them all. Tha two places that I am more familiar with, were The GLASS Hat and The World Famous COWBOY Inn.

     Back in those days, I was working in Harlingen, Texas at Cooper Airmotive, an airplane factory at the Harlingen, airport. After work, on my way home, I would stop at good old La Feria and visit some of their friendly watering holes. After a long hard day of work, a man should be aloud to stop and enjoy a cold drink; not to overflow, only a relaxer.

     At any rate, it was at The GLASS Hat that I first listened to some country music recorded by a great singer, unknown to my knowledge of country singers; I knew most of them, back in tha day. As I listened to the famous Hank Williams song, that had been recorded in a bi-lingual style, I said to myself this fella is great! I called the waitress and when she came to my table, I asked her who was the singer on the juke box. And smiling she replied, “Oh, that’s Eloy. Isn’t he great?” And so I asked her, “Do you know him?” and she said, “Everybody knows Eloy Martinez, he is from here.” 

     Incidentally, the Hank Williams song I was listening to was ‘I CAN’T HELPT IT’. Eloy Martinez had recorded it, and he had written some Spanish verses for the song. Before I left, I asked the waitress, on what days did Eloy come by and she told me, she didn’t know, but if I kept stopping by The GLASS Hat, sooner or later I would  meet him. 

     And so every day I would stop by for only one cold one, and wait a while, but no luck. Finaly, on a Friday after I had cashed my check, I stopped by and tha place was packed. I had to sit on a bar stool cause tha tables were full. Later, as the juke box started playing the song that Eloy had record, the waitress tapped me on the shoulder and as I turned, she smiled and said to me, “This is tha man.” I stood up and looked at a tall fella wearing a John B. Stetson hat. And as he reached out his hand to shake mine, he said, “How you doin? My name is Eloy Martinez. The waitress told me, you wanted to meet me.” It was awesome. I didn’t expect to meet him in this manner. I was very impressed with his humble manner of introduction. To me he was a special person at that specific point in time; I always had a lot of respect for Eloy Martinez.

     After the introduction, Eloy invited me to his table, where a few of his closest friends were sitting, and we all shared a lengthy conversation. To make a long story short, after that specific day and unexpected meeting, our friendship grew to a greater level. Our biggest common denominator was music; that was the way it was and that was the way it would be.

     Eloy put together a band to accompany him at bars, clubs, and dances, and his band kept busy. He had already recorded a few singles when I met him, but it was time to record some more songs. I told Eloy his music needed to be on tha radio to gain more popularity, and he agreed with me. 

     It wasn’t long before I went to work at a new radio station, that set up shop in Mercedes, Texas.  And so I called Eloy and told him about it, and I emphasized, that it was a Country Music station. I told him once I got my feet established, I would help in promoting him and his music. And so we had another lengthy conversation at The Famous COWBOY Inn, located in La Feria. That day Eloy told me he had two new ideas; one was to rename his band. He told me that his band would now be known as ‘ELOY and The Ghost Riders’. After he said that I reminded him, “You said you had two ideas.” I remember distinctly. that he smiled and told me, “I want you to be my manager.” And I agreed.

     That following week I went to Edinburg, Texas and I got Eloy a contract to play at Joe Cantus’ SILVER SPUR; that was the nicest club in Edinburg. After Joe heard Eloy sing, we discussed a life recording of an album there at Joes’ place; it would be called, ‘ELOY and The Ghost Riders . . Life at The SILVER SPUR’.

     Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I guess there is a reason why some things don’t happen. Some time later, much later, tragedy struck; Eloy suffered a stroke, which left him partialy paralized, and it greatly affected his vocal cords and speech; the golden voice was now silent.

     It was sad cause my dreams and his were gone. I wanted to take him to Nashville, Tennessee; I know he would have put on a great show at the World Famous Grand Ole Opry.

    Afterwards, I went to live in Georgia, and it was while I was up there that I got the sad news; my true friend and Compadre, Eloy Martinez had passed to be with our LORD. That night I know he dined with our LORD and he sang for his supper. 

     GOD Bless Eloy . . DUKE MARTELL