Bobby Bearpaw, teen idol
Part I
Local musician was a "teen idol" in his heyday
by Renee Fite
City of Stilwell Director of Public Relations and Media
Those of a certain age may remember when the Beatles took the stage in the 1960s and girls screamed, had tears running down their cheeks and fainted. Or when Elvis swiveled his hips and the fans went wild?
Adair County, like communities all across America, had musicians picking up guitars and girls swooning over the notes played and guys strumming them.
Bobby Bearpaw is one of those musicians who has been performing for decades and was known as “Stilwell’s teen Idol” back in the 1970s.
“Music is my life,” said Bearpaw, 78 and still a bachelor.
He performed with older brother Leon Bearpaw, and they played with local favorites such as Joe Young as the Spyders and Mack Johnson and the Wild Bunch. He played with Cherokee Express and Red Fourkiller, and performed on a recording with the Chieftain Quartet.
“I was the musician for Cherokee Word for Water, the movie about Bell,” he said.
Bobby Bearpaw plays his guitar to relax.
photo: Renee Fite
Those days are happy memories for Bearpaw who sometimes sings at the Community Center on Fridays. Gospel, country and rock and roll are what they usually play.
“We always say we’re lucky to still be playing,” Bearpaw said.
It was at the center where Ramona Byrd joined friends for lunch, and Bearpaw was known as a teen idol in the 1970s.
“He was really popular,” Byrd said. “They sang funny songs, like “The Old Man from the Mountain.
She really liked when he sang Tequila Sunrise.
“He was so cool. He had his head down and his long hair hanging down and I loved the way he sang,” she said.
Byrd recalled her sister and friends really enjoying their music.
“One day she heard my friends and I talking about them and she told us they pinned after him, too. Everybody liked them and they played a lot with Mack Johnson and Farren Tidwell. They were so good,” said Byrd.
One more memory Byrd recalled was Debbie Crittenden’s 16th birthday. “He was there playing with Guy Hawk, he played drums. And later Debbie and Guy got married,” she said.
A fan who often goes to the Community Center to play cards, Wanda Gilliam, said he is a good musician.
“He plays good and blends right in with the rest of the band,” said Gilliam.
Rocky Jones was a bouncer in his younger days. He was also playing cards at the center.
“They played a lot of country. Bobby played gospel with Red Fourkiller and the Chief’s,” said Jones. “He’s always been quiet.”
Also at the Senior Center was Janet Proctor.
“They were well known,” Proctor said, as the band tuned up for a Friday morning jam.
“Bobby and Leon were great. They could play and sing a lot of good songs like the Eagles,” said Proctor.
The brothers were invited to Joe Young’s brother-in-law Ernie Collins place. He’d built a slab and invited them to play.
“We went out there one night and a bunch of high school kids came out, I don’t know how they found out. They started dancing, it was a lot of fun,” Bearpaw said.
Some asked if the band would play Friday night at a home in Fairfield, which they did.
“They put lights on the carport,” Bearpaw said. “That was about 60 years ago, I was 17 or 18,” he said.
It was fun, and the musicians made $23.
“We didn’t know you could make money playing music,” he said. “That was a lot of money then.”
Part 2
Music was in Bobby Bearpaw’s roots
Music was in Bobby Bearpaw’s roots.
Renee Fite | City of Stilwell Director of Media and Public Relations
Before Bobby Bearpaw became a “Teen idol,” his musical influence was his mom, Mary, who played gospel and was a first language Cherokee speaker.
“My mom played guitar, piano and fiddle. She showed me a few chords,” he said.
They always talked in Cherokee back then, said his niece, Glenda Sellers.
“His dad, Shakey Bearpaw, spoke very little English,” said Sellers.
Bearpaw recalled the beginning of their musical adventure.
“We were bashful, we didn’t know we were idols. My brother and I just liked playing music in our room. We just practiced,” he said.
The brothers became well-known musicians around the county and beyond, in spite of being soft-spoken.
It’s all he’s done, he and his brother, said niece Glenda Sellers, who was visiting her uncle as she does most weeks.
“When Uncle Bob was younger, he lived at home with his parents. Our mom, Ruth, was his older sister and she took us to their house every weekend,” Sellers said. “I remember how Uncle Bob and his brother Leon spent hours playing music, and his mom and dad (our grandparents) never complained.”
Bobby Bearpaw played guitar and Leon Bearpaw played drums, but in this picture they’ve traded instruments.
photo: Renee Fite
Her twin sister, Brenda Fitzgerald, said she appreciated her Uncle Bobby.
“He would share his Teen Magazines with us. We always got caught up with Teen Beat and Tiger Beat and the goings-on in the world. He also had the Archie comic books that I just loved,” Fitzgerald said.
It was friend Joe Young who liked playing with the Bearpaw brothers Bobby and Leon, and encouraged them to play.
“When Joe came to visit, he’d walk down the railroad track into town to visit, “said Bearpaw. “He would carry his guitar and leave it at our house and mom would play it. That’s where I picked it up.”
Joe played the blues and all the latest songs, Bearpaw said.
“That’s how we got started,” he said.
In 1964 a cousin, Sam Rider, started playing and got a gig at the Strawberry Festival.
“Leon and I walked behind the stage and Sam told us to get up and play. I just knew chords. That was the first time I played in front of a crowd,” he said.
Bearpaw played in Stilwell a lot in the 1960s.
“We liked the Monkees, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. That music was popular back then, and we played some cover tunes,” he said.
He’s met so many people through music.
“We played every night at house parties around the county,” he said.
A longtime friend and fellow musician, Tom Duncan, also said Bobby was the original idol.
“I’ve known him about all our lives, we met in the 60s,” said Duncan. “Bobby mostly plays lead guitar, and I like the way he plays.”
Duncan said it is his friends’ talent and personality he enjoys and appreciates their friendship.
By the 70s Bobby played lead guitar and Leon played drums.
“Back then we were one of the only groups playing here,” he said.
In the 70s the brothers played with Mark Johnson, mostly country, in every bar in Adair County. Also, in the Seventies they played with a band called The Shades, with Foreman Steel and Leon Frog.
The 80s brought a group known as Cherokee Express.
“I played with Leon for 50 years, including on Channel 8.
They performed on the John Chick Show on Channel 8. If the name is familiar, Chick was also Mr. Zing on the Mr. Zing and Tuffy Show.
Still soft-spoken, Bearpaw enjoys playing his guitar, even for his own enjoyment.
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