McCamey, Texas Most Famous Native Son  Mr. Dan Seals

Jimmy was born in Plainview, Texas. While in the Air Force he joined a singing group “The Tennessee Haymakers” amd then moved to the Washington, DC area in 1948. In 1952 he formed his own group “The Texas Wildcats” signing with 4-Star Records recording his first hit “Bumming Around” #5 country in 1953. By 1957 he had his own network TV series on CBS becoming a pioneer in televising country songs. Patsy Cline became a regular on his show boosting her image and exposure. After leaving 4-Star and signing with Columbia he recorded a novelty Christmas song “Little Sandy Sleighfoot” that charted in the pop field at #32 for one week. While on a plane trip in the sixties he wrote, his biggest hit, “Big Bad John” that went to #1 on both the pop and the country charts earning him a Grammy. Jimmy Dean had a total of 8 pop and 26 charted country songs including 4 duets with Dottie West. In 1962 he recorded a song, based on John F. Kennedy’s torpedo boat sinking in 1943, entitled “PT 109” co-written by Maijohn Wilkin (From the little West Texas town of Merkel). Marijohn’s “Long Black Veil” had helped Lefty Frizzell make a come-back in 1959. PT 109 went all the way to #3 in the pop charts and #8 in country. Most of Dean’s recordings were more spoken than sung and his “I.O.U.” in 1976 (for his Mom) went RIAA certified gold reaching #9 Pop #35 Country. Jimmy would leave the entertainment business devoting full-time to his business “Jimmy Dean’s Pure Pork Sausage”. Jimmy Dean was another one of popular music’s good guys and is especially remembered for his smash recording: “At the bottom of the mine lies one hell of a man Big John”