ROOTS of Country Music

Jack Wesley "Cactus Jack" Call

(Dec. 22, 1923 ~ Jan. 25, 1963)

A local DJ in the Kansas City area, Cactus Jack Call had worked at KCKN, KANS and had started working at KCMK 93.3 FM one week prior to his death.

Cactus Jack earned his fame because he was a relentless promoter of new talent. Whether he was on radio or television in Sedalia or in Kansas City, Missouri, he always offered local talent a chance to be heard. Cactus Jack knew all the big names out of Nashville and everybody liked him. He just played country music everywhere he went, but he promoted mostly local talent exclusively.

Call was a small gentleman, but he had a deep bass voice that was really good for radio and television. That voice became even more familiar to Midwest fans when Cactus Jack moved to KCKN in Kansas City, Missouri. He also worked at KANS, and, just prior to his death, had been instrumental in formatting KCMK-FM, the first country and western FM station.

On January 24, 1963, Cactus Jack’s car collided with a transport truck at the intersection of U.S. 40 Highway and Sterling in Independence, Missouri. Jack died as a result of those injuries the following day. Call’s death caused a chain reaction of deaths across the country.

Since Cactus Jack had left two children, some country music personalities decided to have a fund-raiser for his family. After receiving a call from George Jones, Patsy Cline volunteered to be on the bill.

On March 2, 1963, Cline appeared at a concert with Tex Ritter and Jerry Lee Lewis in Birmingham Alabama. At that show, she and other country music celebrities agreed to perform the following day in Kansas City, at a benefit concert for the widow of Cactus Jack Call. On March 3, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins performed at the benefit concert. They were scheduled to return to Nashville, Tennessee after the concert, but due to bad weather, they were unable to depart.

Among the concert performers was Billy Walker who received an urgent phone call and needed to return to Nashville immediately. Hawkins gave Walker his commercial plane ticket and flew back later with Cline and Copas.

On March 5, Hawkins, Cline and Copas left for Nashville, Tennessee, USA in a Piper Comanche piloted by Cline's manager and Copas’ son-in-law, Randy Hughes. After stopping to refuel in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the craft took off at 6:07 p.m. (CT). The plane flew into severe weather and crashed near Camden, Tennessee, ninety miles from Nashville, Tennessee. There were no survivors. The reported time of the crash varies sometime between 6:20pm and 7:00pm. Patsy's watch was reportedly stopped at 6:20pm.

Ironically, Jack Anglin (May 13, 1916 ~ Mar. 8, 1963), another country music celebrity, died in a car accident while driving to funeral services for Patsy Cline. As a result of these tragedies, Tex Ritter re-wrote his song, I Dreamed of A Hillbilly Heaven, to include the names of Randy Hughes, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline and Jack Anglin.

Researched and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music, Nov. 17, 2011.