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| Karl Farr photo courtesy of the Sons of the Pioneers Museum, Branson, Mo |
Karl Farr was born "deep in heart of Texas" on April 25, 1909, in a town called Rochelle. The Farr family was a musical bunch (eight children: five girls, three boys), and Karl was playing banjo, drums, and guitar professionally by the age of thirteen.
Karl's older brother, Hugh Farr, was the Sons Of The Pioneers' original fiddle player, and he encouraged Karl to also join the western music group; and so he did, becoming their lead guitarist in 1935.
Karl was Hugh's musical counterpart, and Hugh was Karl's. Each played their respective instruments in a unique way with a jazzy flair that suited and enhanced the cowboy and western songs on which they performed. They also wrote and arranged many instrumental numbers to showcase their style.
As a member of the Sons Of The Pioneers, Karl appeared in films starring Charles Starrett ("The Durango Kid"), Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and John Wayne, among others.
Although he has been described as "a hypochondriac," Karl was a kind man and well liked by those who knew him. He and his wife, May, had one child, Karl Farr, Jr.
On the evening of September 20, 1961, while doing a show with the Sons Of The Pioneers in West Springfield, Massachusetts, Karl suffered a heart attack. He was taken to a hospital, where he died—minutes after being carried offstage. "It was a terrible shock to all of us," said the Pioneers' then-baritone Tommy Doss.
May Farr lived to be ninety-seven, passing away in November of 2007. (Karl Jr. died a few years later on December 4, 2013.)
Karl was only fifty-two years old when he died, but he left a legacy of music still treasured today.
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| Karl, Hugh, Ken Curtis, Tommy Doss, and Lloyd Perryman in Rio Grande (1950) |
