Howard Vokes
Cowboy Howard Vokes, Pennsylvania's King of Country Music, was born, June 13,1931 in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. He got interested in country music at an early age; his Mom and Dad always seemed to have either the Grand Ole Opry or the Supper Time Frolics on during the evening. The sounds that caught young Howard's ear got his attention and by the time he was six years of age, he was playing the haromonica. Later on, he learned to play the guitar when he was eleven years old. He remembers that first guitar he got was when he walked to a hock shop with his dad and got it for five dollars.
His dad was Benjamin George Vokes, was a coal miner. His mom was Agnes Rose. The Vokes family was quite large, 13 siblings in all, six girls and seven boys. One sister Betty Ann was killed in an auto wreck April 24, 1967; the event was one of the family's saddest moments.
At 15 years of age Howard started singing at a lot of parties and working with different bands in places he wouldn't think about working in these times. Some of the spots were plenty tough and living and working around mining towns like Renton and Barking, Pennsylvania you can about guess the rest. While he was listening to those Saturday night Opry shows, he was attracted to the sound of Roy Acuff's singing and listened to the records of Gene Autry and Jimmie Rodgers.
The guitar and Howard were constant companions and he sang over Radio WKPA in New Kensington and WAVL Apollo, both in and several other stations in Pennsylvania. His sister Barbara used to help him sing and together they sounded really good; however she didn't have the same interest in the music business that Howard did.
In those days Howard was barn-storming all over the place, singing and playing for anyone that would listen as many hillbilly singers were doing to make a go of it. He was a great favorite at most local parties and other events. He was on the verge of forming a band when tragedy struck.
A hunting accident put Howard in the hospital for 6 weeks. He was shot in the right ankle by a high-powered rifle and the slug dust about tore his foot off. He feared that he might lose the foot and doctors warned that even if they didn't have to amputate the foot, he probably wouldn't walk the same again. Howard did a lot of praying and had to endure about 300 shots to save his foot.
But perhaps such an event turns out to be a blessing in disguise. It was while in the recovery period that Howard wrote many songs and perfected his guitar work. He still lives with the effects of this accident and walks with a slight limp, but feels it worked out okay in the end and his faith was strengthened.
After he recovered, Cowboy Howard Vokes dug into his song-writings and formed his now famous "Country Boys" band. He went to work at PPG Industries in Creighton, Pennsylvania.
To read the rest of Howard Voke's biography - Hillbilly-Music.com
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