AICGOld | Champions

The Side Street Ramblers grew out of disbanded Stage Door Four quartet with Keith Houts and Jim Law looking for a bass with Dennis Malone slotted for the bari. One night in late 1975, 6'5" Earl Hagn appeared at a Dallas Vocal Majority rehearsal.

Jim, Keith and Earl began rehearsing and sent tapes and music to Dennis who was still living in California. In August, just three short weeks before the divisional contest, Dennis moved back to Dallas and began rehearsing with the trio. They placed a close second but qualified for District.

On October 23rd, in San Antonio the Ramblers stole the convention and the contest with two excellent sets highlighted by the song Dennis brought from Illinois, "Gotta Be On My Way". Being named district quartet champions only 90 days after forming made them an "overnight success". They are perhaps the only SWD champion to win the title of novice champs in the same contest.

They qualified for the 1977 Intl in Philadelphia where they placed 28th. They qualified for the 1978 Int'l in Cincinnati. But Jim Law decided to retire from his law practice and move to New Mexico. This was just about the time the Dealer's Choice were breaking up and lead Bill Thornton (also the Rambler's coach) was looking for another quartet. He replaced Law.

In Minneapolis at the 1979 Int'l in addition to winning the chorus gold medals with the VM, they placed seventh.

In 1980, the Ramblers decided to try something new. They would attempt to carry a theme throughout all three sets during the Int'l contest in Salt Lake City. They staged different phases of the Civil War:

A: West Point Cadets,
B: Officers with patsy Keith Houts as their prisoner

C:Post War Lincoln, Grant, Custer and a "war-torn Johnny Reb".

They again placed 7th.

Bill decided to move to Oklahoma City for business reasons and The Ramblers were again shopping for a new lead. Once again they would call upon their coach, who at this time was Brian Beck (bari, Dealer’s Choice).

At the 1981 Int’l in Detroit, The Ramblers placed third and won a bronze medal and repeated that feat again the next year.

In the 1983 Int'l. in Seattle they were selected to sing 22nd in the quarter finals Thursday afternoon, singing "Smile Medley" and "I Wonder What's Become Of Sally." Their fans were a bit worried when only after naming the other top 19 quartets, they finally announced the Ramblers would be singing last in the Semi-finals.

There they sang "Heart Of My Heart" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone". The Ramblers were picked to sing last in the top ten finals. A screenplay writer couldn't have placed the Ramblers in a more dramatic position. Singing as the last quartet of the entire competition, the Ramblers breezed through, "Put Your Arms Around Me Honey" and were definitely the crowd's favorite. Then the song we were all waiting for … or rather the TAG!

Brian had written and arranged a very beautiful ballad entitled "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry". Later coach Don Clause added a "killer" tag. This now popular gut buster had all four hitting, in unison, a high F sharp and building in full voice up to the 139 decibels that knocked the audience against the back of their chairs. They then peeled off, with three parts working their way into a perfectly balance major chord and ending.

This performance received the only standing ovation of the entire quartet contest and everyone felt sure they had just heard the last song of the Ramblers as competitors. They were right. The Ramblers were announced as the gold medal winners in Seattle and their long sought after goal was accomplished.

Their championship year included several special events. In addition to attending the Int'l Mid-Winter convention (that year in Hawaii - nice timing, guys) they also toured Europe including Switzerland, the Alpine foothills, saw DaVinci's 'The Last Supper", the French Riviera, the leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome, Pompeii, the Isle of Capri, and the Vatican. These trips and other performances throughout the year had them in great demand, and deservingly so.

Thankfully, the Ramblers recorded two fine albums. The first was entitled Side Street Ramblers, released in 1982, and featured many of the songs they sang in competition plus "Everybody Loves A Lover", "Here's That Rainy Day", "Bye, Bye Blackbird" and everyone's favorite, "1927 Kansas City".

Their second album was even better with many of their show songs like "My Blue Heaven", "Kitten on the Keys", "Yes Indeed" and a studio version of "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry".

The Ramblers continued to tour, sing on hundreds of annual shows over the next six years. They traveled a great deal overseas including Singapore (1985), Innsbruck, Austria (1986), Australia & New Zealand (1987), England's BABS convention (1988), and even a Love Boat cruise from Acapulco to Los Angeles.

It was Jim Law who designed and created the new Int’l quartet championship trophy introduced in 1988.

In 1988, Brian left to rejoin the reunited Dealer's Choice so the others asked "super lead / super coach" Jim Casey to join the quartet (lead #4). The Ramblers continued to sing for another year. Their last song was for the 1989 AIC show while they were still going strong. They did reunite for a Dallas Town North show to celebrate their gold medal 10th anniversary in 1993. The last time they sang together was for Heather Hagn's (Earl's daughter) wedding in 1994.

Earl Hagn was named SWD Barbershopper of the Year in 1997 and inducted into the SWD Hall of Fame in October of 2005. He was joined on stage by nearly all of the Ramblers. He died January 16, 2006, after a six-year battle with esophageal cancer. He was 59.

written and researched by Grady Kerr

HISTORY