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Black & Kiddo: A True Story of Dust, Determination, and Cowboy Dreams
2019 WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARD 2019 BOOK OF THE YEAR, Ozarks Writers League 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award, Cover Design Finalist for the 2019 INDIE Book Award Hear the music of a singing cowboy--who almost becomes Roy Rogers--as he finds love with a hat-wearing, quirky lady. Their coming-of-age stories converge, revealing lives honed by life-threatening hardship in the flatlands of Texas, the high plains of New Mexico, and the green hills of the Arkansas Ozarks. In an unlikely "Land of Opportunity," their young sons rise, and Black & Kiddo turn weathered hands to new work, heartened by the long arc of dreams.
342 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 31, 2018
Endearing family story of the author's in-laws. Told in a collection of short stories, the reader travels through the Depression and Dust Bowl, from West Texas and New Mexico into the Arkansas Ozarks where Black & Kiddo raise two sons. Black, a singing cowboy, was almost Roy Rogers. Kiddo was the love of his life. Sweet and heartwarming. A reminder of another time.
January 4, 2019
She called him Black. He called her Kiddo. Keith Leroy Black and Johnnie Dorris McSpadden.
I called them Mom and Pop though they were not my parents. They belonged to my soulmate but treated me as their own. This compilation is my song to them in gratitude for enriching my life. It is a three-part symphony...
Thus opens a story that—and of all the books I've ever read in my generously long life, this has never happened—fills my mind with a background line-up of many of my decades-old favorite cowboy songs. Nearly all the chapters are titled with Western-swing-era songs. For instance, the first chapter title: "Yellow Rose of Texas," where we meet Dorris (with two r's, she always says) in Lubbock, TX.
Dorris has grown up poor, one of seven children of her tenant farmer father and his wife, hard-working parents who care well for their family despite the challenges of working a farm. Unable to attend college, Dorris nevertheless feels lucky to have graduated from high school and have a clerking job at Montgomery Ward.
Now, in February, 1940, Dorris is 22 and dreaming of becoming a real lady who wears fine clothing and shoes, like her mother's clothes from long ago that are packed in a trunk in the attic. She walks into a college party her cousin has invited her to. Through the noise and clamor of the packed house, she hears singing, loud applause, and learns that Blackie is in the living room. She's met the handsome singing and trick-riding cowboy—a friend of her cousin, Truva—and she's heard him sing on the radio. He's a nice guy, small compared to his big guitar, but she loves Blackie's wavy dark hair, the charming grin that makes her think he has a secret, and his rich tenor voice.
As Dorris moves through the crowd into the living room, Blackie starts to croon Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Rousing applause encourages him to sing several more songs. When he takes a break, he spots Dorris leaning on a wall. She catches her breath as he seems to look into her soul.
Thus began their lifetime together, the man who almost became Roy Rogers in Hollywood and the woman who dreamed of becoming a lady.
Throughout their lives, Black and Kiddo were oral storytellers. Kiddo also kept a diary for decades while Black began writing his stories in his 80s. Thus, they bestowed upon their loving daughter-in-law, Brenda Clem Black (who married their youngest son Russell Owen Black), a huge cache of their history with which to compile their story.
Without reservation, I invite you into the pages of Black & Kiddo: A True Story of Dust, Determination, and Cowboy Dreams to walk with this salt-of-the-earth couple as they meet whatever life brings their way—the trials and the victories. Be near as they, in return, give back their rich rural values: love of family, friend, and neighbor, and hard work. Enjoy the wonder and fullness of their lives. And, if you listen closely, you may hear the music that accompanies the words as you read.
by Mary Jo Doig
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
I called them Mom and Pop though they were not my parents. They belonged to my soulmate but treated me as their own. This compilation is my song to them in gratitude for enriching my life. It is a three-part symphony...
Thus opens a story that—and of all the books I've ever read in my generously long life, this has never happened—fills my mind with a background line-up of many of my decades-old favorite cowboy songs. Nearly all the chapters are titled with Western-swing-era songs. For instance, the first chapter title: "Yellow Rose of Texas," where we meet Dorris (with two r's, she always says) in Lubbock, TX.
Dorris has grown up poor, one of seven children of her tenant farmer father and his wife, hard-working parents who care well for their family despite the challenges of working a farm. Unable to attend college, Dorris nevertheless feels lucky to have graduated from high school and have a clerking job at Montgomery Ward.
Now, in February, 1940, Dorris is 22 and dreaming of becoming a real lady who wears fine clothing and shoes, like her mother's clothes from long ago that are packed in a trunk in the attic. She walks into a college party her cousin has invited her to. Through the noise and clamor of the packed house, she hears singing, loud applause, and learns that Blackie is in the living room. She's met the handsome singing and trick-riding cowboy—a friend of her cousin, Truva—and she's heard him sing on the radio. He's a nice guy, small compared to his big guitar, but she loves Blackie's wavy dark hair, the charming grin that makes her think he has a secret, and his rich tenor voice.
As Dorris moves through the crowd into the living room, Blackie starts to croon Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Rousing applause encourages him to sing several more songs. When he takes a break, he spots Dorris leaning on a wall. She catches her breath as he seems to look into her soul.
"Hi, Blackie. Remember me? I'm Dorris with two r's." she says.
"I remember you, Dorris with two r's," he replies, "I asked Truva to invite you." He paused and then said, "You look like a Kiddo to me, though, as in Kiddo with two d's."
Dorris didn't mind.
"Most people call me Blackie, but you can call me Black."
Thus began their lifetime together, the man who almost became Roy Rogers in Hollywood and the woman who dreamed of becoming a lady.
Throughout their lives, Black and Kiddo were oral storytellers. Kiddo also kept a diary for decades while Black began writing his stories in his 80s. Thus, they bestowed upon their loving daughter-in-law, Brenda Clem Black (who married their youngest son Russell Owen Black), a huge cache of their history with which to compile their story.
Without reservation, I invite you into the pages of Black & Kiddo: A True Story of Dust, Determination, and Cowboy Dreams to walk with this salt-of-the-earth couple as they meet whatever life brings their way—the trials and the victories. Be near as they, in return, give back their rich rural values: love of family, friend, and neighbor, and hard work. Enjoy the wonder and fullness of their lives. And, if you listen closely, you may hear the music that accompanies the words as you read.
by Mary Jo Doig
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
November 5, 2018
I absolutely loved reading and learning about the life and times of my Papa Cece and his amazing family! It is such an inspiring and heart warming story. Black and Kiddo is so well written that you feel like you are right there, along for the many adventures they had! Thank you for sharing and honoring their story.
February 3, 2019
Loved this..a sweet family story!
November 26, 2019
Never will you read a finer biography about a couple with more charisma and true grit. Winner of the 2019 Will Rogers Medallion Award, the 2019 Ozarks Writers League Book of the Year, and the 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award for Cover Design, this read promises to be one of your favorites of all time. Brenda Clem Black captures the heart and soul of her in-laws with love, passion, and accurate historical detail. A real cowboy, Black knows his horses and his dreams. Kiddo is a feisty little lady of grit and distinction. Take a stroll back in time to the early days of Hollywood westerns, where the cowboys sang their way into the hearts of fans and meet a man who almost became Roy Rogers! Think about the Lone Ranger, Gene Autry, Kit Carson, and hum Roy Rogers and Dale Evans’ Happy Trails to You and you get a glimpse of some of Black’s dreams; dreams that were within his grasp, dreams that could only be replaced by the love of one woman, Kiddo, and the desire to remain a true cowboy of determination. This book will entertain and enlighten the reader with the history of a bygone era; a time rich with music, radio, black and white television, and drugstore soda shops. A must read!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews