JAY BRAKEFIELD ellum1@aol.com Jay Brakefield is a retired print journalist who lives in Bryan, Texas, where he continues to research history and music and volunteer as a DJ at a community radio station, KEOS, 89.1 FM. “I put in more than four decades at Texas newspapers as a copy editor and writer. The longest stint was almost 18 years at the Dallas Morning News where I worked on both news and features copy desks and wrote numerous features, many on music.”  Jay has co-authored two books with Alan Govenar. The first was republished in an expanded edition in late 2013 by Texas A&M Press as Deep Ellum: The Other side of Dallas. The second book is a photo-intensive book, The Dallas Music Scene: 1920s-1960s. Jay also contributed to the book-length liner notes for a 2013 Bear Family Records box set of music from the Big 'D' Jamboree, which broadcast from the Sportatorium from 1947-66 and presented everybody from Johnny Cash to Gene Vincent. Jay won a Katy Award in the late 1990s for a headline portfolio that was titled, half in jest, "Five Headlines in Search of a Gestalt." Also wrote regularly for the late Southwest Blues. Jay moved to Brazos County (Bryan-College Station) in 2004. He’s now working on a long-planned book on the musical and agricultural heritage of the Brazos Valley (or, as one musician put it in seeking a job, "Man, get me outta this cotton patch!"). Jay is married to a wonderful woman named Shirley who helps him remain more or less sane. enough My Essays 1 Fathers and Sons: A Difficult Journey 2 Tales from the Road: Whiskey and Crackers in a Broke-down RV on Highway 61 3 Satchel Page was right, petty much 4 Nuttin’ Honey 5 Double Vision 6 What Should I Wear to a Nuclear Holocaust? All my Friends Will Be There 7 Turn the Page

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