Jack Voyles was born in Belle Fourche in 1920. He married his wife Alyce Pritzkau on May 19, 1946. He was an Abstract Land Title Insurance salesman for many years. Jack has participated in the Cowboy Band for about 15 years.

The Cowboy Band was disbanded for about ten years. Then about fifteen years ago Vic Fondy and some of the other guys got together, and organized the reunions. That`s what brought the band back. People like it, they play in it and they enjoy it.

I`ve got old friends in the band, some for fifty years or longer. Some of them come back in the summer now to the reunions and things. They`re a lot of fun.

One friend who I played in dance bands with was Joe Gordan. He was in the band until he died. His dad was in before him. Teddy Baird comes back from Sandpoint, Idaho, every summer now. He plays a tuba and brings his along with him. Vic Fondy comes from Alaska. Folks come from California. I can remember a time when Cathy Chasel came up from Florida. Silvia Fox comes from over on the west coast somewhere--in Washington or Oregon. Olene Osloond is from Idaho Falls. They come from all over. Some of them come to the reunions every year, never miss. Some of them only come every couple of years.

Charles McClung was an old time band master and band player. He played in Broadway shows with Victor Herbaspreadmill. When he was young. Charlie was one of the ten best trumpet players in the country. He was a good musician. He had a sudden temper. He`d get mad pretty quick, but he got over it pretty quick too. He was a good band instructor. The kids liked him.

The kids didn`t have any money, so the only time they had a chance to go anywhere, was with the band. Kids didn`t have cars like they do now. There were no buses. The parents took us. We went to Deadwood and the Days of 76, sometimes we went for each day of the celebration. There was an Alzada Days. Newell always had a farm picnic that we played at. A lot of times we played jointly with the Newell High School Band there.

The Roundup was a three day rodeo. The band played in the Grand Entry, we not only played in it, but we were also in the procession. We entered the west gate and came down in front of the stands. After our band came the horses and riders. Instead of drum majorettes, we had about three or four girl rope twirlers up front. One of the twirlers walked through the gate and a clown roped her. She was not happy. I thought that was going to be the end of the clown for a minute. At that time, there were bandstands in the box seats, so we would sit with the crowd. I don`t think the crowd could hear us well because we were facing away from the people. We had about the same program as we do now--the three rodeos, but there were no night rodeos. There was one parade on the 4th. Sometimes we wore white pants and red shirts, instead of blue jeans on the 4th--that didn`t last long though.

The original band had cream colored corduroy, with black belt loops and black slashes on the pockets. They had green cowboy boots, which the members furnished, red shirts, and cowboy hats. Some of them had neck kerchiefs. Now we have the blue jeans and red shirts.

It`s a pretty good band--of course we pick up people that don`t play all year, and it`s amazing how well it sounds. Some years we have a terrific band at that concert.

I`ll tell you the funniest thing that ever happened. The band shell used to be right across the street from Common Cents. That band shell is now the cook shack over in Herman park. We were playing a concert there one night. A gal by the name of Fern Sankey was playing on one of those big, silver Kong sousaphones. Boy, she was a rompin` along, and here come one of those big, gray grasshoppers. It went right down the front of her dress. She took that big silver Kong and threw it over her head. It went out of the band shell and landed clear in the street! You can believe the concert was over. People were laughing and honking their car horns. Charlie was doubled up, he couldn`t wave his arms any more. Then she was after the grasshopper with both hands. That, you should have seen!

Cowboy Band has been a great thing for the town. To start with the whole idea of the band was to advertise Belle Fourche, to promote the town. It has been the best advertising we have. That`s why they still like to go to Aladdin and Hulett and places like that. They`re still doing it. They go to the county fair, and to Aladdin. Everybody knows a bunch of people up there, they`re friends. Hulett is the same way. But sometimes we get to a place where we can`t get enough people--like on Labor Day. The kids are going back to college, the summer is over. We just can`t get enough people together to make a band.