HSU Insider

Dubbed “the Den Mother of Music Row,� because of the songwriters she helped during her career, Hall of Fame songwriter Marijohn Wilkin, HSU alumnus, Distinguished Alumnus, Honorary Doctor of Music, and Hall of Leaders inductee passed away at 1:00 a.m Saturday morning at age 86.

A groundbreaking Music row executive, who blazed a trail for all women in today’s Nashville music business, she is mourned by HSU and the Nashville music community.

Marijohn Wilkin

Her songs have been performed by dozens of musical greats, including Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Patsy Cline, Rod Stewart, Joan Baez, Burl Ives, and Ray Price. As a publisher, it was Marijohn who signed a young writer to Buckhorn Music who would change the face of country music and become a show business phenomenon, Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson was flying helicopters for the Army, and writing and performing in a soldier’s band when a relative of his suggested he contact Wilkin. She encouraged him to write and eventually signed him to Buckhorn Music in 1965.

Marijohn with Kris Kristopherson after writing "One Day at a Time"

We contacted Mr. Kristofferson to ask for a reflection on the life and influence of Marijohn, and he graciously replied, “Marijohn embodied the spirit of the way of life to which I was to commit myself some 40 years ago. A highly respected artist - singer, songwriter, publisher - she was a tough, intelligent, and funny woman making it in a man's world. She taught me more in the first couple of years I was in Nashville about the heart and soul of the Nashville music world than I could ever have learned on my own. I'll be forever grateful to her for saving my life."

Marijohn Wilkin is a native Texan. Born in Kemp, she attended public school in Sanger and a year at Baylor University, before transferring to HSU. She graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1941. Marijohn paid her college tuition by singing in the Hardin-Simmons University Cowboy Band as its first female member.

One month after graduation, in February 1941, Marijohn married Bedford Russell, a former star football player for Hardin-Simmons, who had recently earned his airman wings and was a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He was deployed to North Africa in December 1942, and his B-17 was shot down in a fierce battle with German Messerschmitt fighters. He survived the bail-out and was interred in a prisoner of war camp. As he was being transferred with other prisoners aboard an Italian submarine, the boat was sunk by British fighters and all lives were lost.

She taught music in the public school system in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before beginning her long career in the music industry. In Nashville, Marijohn joined the staff of the prestigious publishing company, Cedarwood, where within six months, she penned her first hit song Waterloo which would become a country classic, shortly followed by more to-be-classics: Long Black Veil, PT 109, and Cut Across Shorty. This kind of success earned her Nashville Songwriter International’s highest honor, “The Manny,� placing Marijohn in the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1975.

Marijohn (second from left) inducted into the Country Music Writer's Hall of Fame with Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.

The songwriter broadened her scope within the music industry with the formation of a recording back-up vocal group dubbed “The Marijohn Singers.� The group was to be heard on hundreds of Nashville recordings which led to appearances on the then widely viewed “Good Ole Nashville Music� television show.

Coupling the experience gained in the world of music with business acumen, Marijohn established her publishing interest, Buckhorn Music, in 1964. The company began with the hit song GTO written and performed by her son, John “Bucky� Wilkin (Ronny of Ronny & The Daytonas).

Marijohn produced many record sessions, outstanding among those are Marijohn’s own recordings. With an original recording contract with Word Records, Marijohn recorded four albums, all songs self-penned. All four albums are still in distribution and still popular selling favorites today.

By the early 1970’s, Buckhorn’s business was booming, but Maryjohn’s personal life was in disarray. Substance abuse, marital problems, the deaths of her mother and business partner, and prolonged depression led to a spiritual reawakening. As a prayer, she wrote “One Day at a Time.� After Kristofferson helped her complete the song, it became a hit for Marilyn Sellers in 1974, and won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association in 1975. Charted Top Ten in seven different countries by seven different artists, the song went on to earn a BMI Millionaire award. To date, the song has been recorded over 750 times worldwide in numerous languages, styles, and genres.

In the 1990s, at a time when many of her contemporaries were retiring, Marijohn was enjoying the awesome success of then newcomer LeAnn Rimes, who had recorded not one, but three songs from Marijohn’s publishing company on albums Blue and Unchained, the Early Years. Between 1996 and 2000 numerous artists, including Darryl Singletary, the Dave Matthews Band, and the Chieftains, all recorded Marijohn’s song Long Black Veil, establishing it as a recurrent classic. The Chieftain’s album entitled Long Black Veil was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1996.

Marijohn was inducted into the Southern Songwriters’ Guild Hall of Fame in 1995 and into the North American Country Music Association International as “Hall of Fame Legendary Songwriter� in 1999.

Marijohn received the Hardin-Simmons Distinguished Alumni Award in 1994 and an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Hardin-Simmons in 2001. The Nashville Songwriter Association International honored Marijohn with the Stephen Foster Award for her many accomplishments in the field of songwriting in 2004, and HSU inducted her into the Hall of Leaders that same year.

She refused an additional medical procedure to correct complications from her coronary artery bypass from 2003, and asked to be moved from Vanderfilt University Medical Center to Alive Hospice at Saint Thomas late last week. Marijohn is survived by her son, John Buck Wilkin. Services were held Monday at 2:30 at Woodlawn Roesch-Patton Funeral Home in Nashville.

The 2006 version of the “All School Sing,� an annual highlight of this weekend’s HSU Homecoming festivities, is in final rehearsals. Although the theme is top secret (there is a persistent rumor that it has something to do with a dead and somewhat ignobly named HSU mascot) I can tell you a little bit about the completely outrageous emcee for the evening.

Coleen Mallette

Singer, actress, comedienne Colleen Mallette has been charming audiences across the US and abroad with her one woman recital spoof The Lamaze School of Singing Presents: HOW TO BIRTH A SONG! After years of serious study and numerous roles on the musical theatre and operatic stage, Ms. Mallette has combined her love for traditional singing with her love for having a good time into a career art form. Ms. Mallette received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, the oldest and largest arts festival on the globe. Her East coast premiere was at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival.

Most recently Ms. Mallette was the featured vocal soloist with Van Cliburn and the Fort Worth Symphony New Years Eve 2003 where it was noted that ….Colleen Mallette “caressed� the song Somewhere and romped through the sexually impish I Can Cook Too and led tuxedo clad audience members in a conga line to close the evening…Star Telegram. Ms. Mallette recently performed with theTCU Voice Faculty at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

Ms. Mallette’s unique approach to singing improv and audience involvement has kept her in demand in such places as North Carolina Museum of Fine Art. The Spectator of Raleigh Durham says… she’s carving out a niche for herself…her career should go far! Other concerts have taken her to Winchester England, Grand Rapids Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony and West Palm Beach, Florida where critics acclaimed…Ms. Mallette was easily the plum in this holiday pudding…her lyric tones outright stole the show! (Palm Beach Post) Ms. Mallette is currently on the touring roster for Texas Commission on the Arts and The Heartlands Touring Roster.

Ms. Mallette has performed and worked with children through Young Audiences and Opera to Go, and she is currently developing a new children’s television series entitled Two Bad Aunts, an educational program featuring the antics of two prankster aunts who teach children through whimsy and mirth.

Mallette received her classical training at Hardin Simmons University (30 miles from the nearest sin) and completed her Master’s in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas. Ms. Mallette was on the voice faculty for Texas Christian University for 12 years.

All School Sing tickets are on sale daily from 10am until 2pm in the lobby of Moody Center up to and including Homecoming Oct. 27, and 28. Ticket prices are $11, $10, $9, and $6 depending on where you sit. Sing is Homecoming weekend October 27 and 28 at 8pm in Behrens Auditorium and is produced by Sigma Alpha Iota and Phi Mu Alpha, both music fraternities of the School of Music.

Several of our students just returned from the Collegiate Journalism Conference held by the Baptist Press at their headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the first time HSU has been represented. Although we don’t have a journalism school, it is vital that students in key journalism roles have the opportunity to network and receive outside critique of their efforts.

This year, we sent Bronco staff photographer, Tiffany Turk; Brand editor-in-chief, Christa Cantu-Harrison; and Brand managing editor, Rebecca Heard. Although we learned that this is an annual event for many universities, our students felt a little like they were going to “Antiques Roadshow� as they dusted off samples of their work and lugged them along for a little professional feedback. They discovered they all had hidden treasures. Tiffany learned that the HSU Bronco yearbook (with its innovative images, graphics, and layout) would be an instant award contender. The Brand editors learned that our student paper is a but a few changes away from entering award territory as well.

Our trio prepares for the BP awards banquet

The conference was a real confidence builder for all. The networking among peers, critiques, awards, fellowship, and learning sessions (all in the nurturing environment of the Baptist Press corporate building) were an invaluable learning experience. Most of all, our kids learned that they aren’t alone; and, even though HSU doesn’t have a “J� school, we have the talent and vision to produce journalistic material that will compete with the largest schools.

There was a little time to take in the sights, the Country Music Hall of Fame and a Nashville Ghost tour made the list, and Tiffany took her camera along just in case there was an Elvis sighting. She didn’t see Elvis, but she did meet “Officer Bling.� Nashville must take really good care of its police force, because we noticed 3 large diamond rings and a diamond encrusted watch in the candid photo below.

Officer "Bling"

Check out a few of the images from Nashville:

Rebecca and Christa take a time-out on the way back from the Country Music Hall of Fame

Rebecca pauses by the entrance to the Baptist Press offices

Tiffany mugging with "Officer Bling"

The consensus was that this should be an annual trek. The information and networking opportunities are invaluable, plus HSU can rack up even more awards (at the risk of making Baylor and Mary Hardin-Baylor feel insecure) for things that our students are already doing.

The October 2006 Hispanic Business magazine published its list of the 100 most influential Hispanic leaders in the United States. The annual listing, based upon career accomplishments and the scope of influence for individuals nominated, is considered the most comprehensive compendium of Hispanic leaders in the nation. Hardin-Simmons University’s own Dr. Victor Carrillo was selected at one of the “100 Most Influential� in this year’s edition.

The Honorable Victor Carrillo

A graduate and former HSU faculty member, Commissioner Carrillo was elected to the Abilene City Council, and later appointed Taylor County Judge. Texas Governor, Rick Perry, hand-picked Commissioner Carrillo to fill a vacancy on the Texas Railroad Commission, and colleagues unanimously elected him Chairman of the agency in 2003. He was elected for a six-year term in 2004, and continues to serve Texans as its chief energy resource administrator. When asked for a reaction to his selection, he said simply, “I am honored to have been selected. I am honored to be able to represent the 22-plus million Texans on energy issues at the statewide level.�

Commissioner Carrillo is Chairman of the Texas Energy Planning Council, and was recently appointed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as Texas’ representative on the Outer Continental Shelf Advisory Committee. He is also Governor Perry’s official representative to the interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission whose mission is to improve cooperation between state oil and gas regulatory officials and the federal EPA. Commissioner Carrillo holds the distinction as Texas’ highest ranking Hispanic elected official.

Much of Carrillo’s education and professional experience relate to oil and gas exploration and production. He has a B.S. degree in geology from Hardin-Simmons University and a M.S. degree in geology from Baylor University. In 1988, he joined Amoco Production Company in Houston as a petroleum geophysicist where he gained experience in the full spectrum of oil and gas exploration and production activities.

In 1996, Victor and his family returned to Abilene, his hometown, where he served as assistant city attorney and later taught political science and legal studies at Hardin-Simmons University, his alma mater. He ran for and won election to the Abilene City Council, where he served until he was appointed as Taylor County Judge. In November of 2002, he was elected to a four-year term as Taylor County Judge, the position he held when the governor appointed him to the Texas Railroad Commission.

A host of organizations have benefited from Victor’s commitment to volunteering and public service, including: Salvation Army of Abilene, Keep Abilene Beautiful, and the Abilene Hispanic Leadership Council. Victor proudly served on the Military Affairs Committee of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce where he promoted Dyess Air Force Base on a variety of military issues.

The Abilene Young Lawyers’ Association honored Victor as the Young Lawyer of the Year in 2001. In 2003, Victor was awarded the first Young Alumni of the Year award from Hardin-Simmons University and received the Honorary Doctor of Letters degree during Spring 2006 commencement exercises.

Victor and his wife, Joy, have been married 21 years. They are blessed with three daughters whom they home educate: Laura, Christina, and Grace.

Hispanic Business magazine won the prestigious Maggie Award for "Best Business & Finance Magazine," and is syndicated by the New York Times Company. For more than 25 years, Hispanic Business magazine has been the market leader at delivering the Hispanic market.

As year-long festivities celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, Hardin-Simmons University School of Music and Fine Arts hosts the first performance of an incomplete fragment of Mozart’s Credo, from the Mass in C, K. 337, as the composer left it, and as a completed performance edition; a rare double world premiere.

The very special concert includes two rarely performed sacred choral works, the Kyrie in D minor, K.341/368a, and his well-known beautiful setting of Psalm 117 (“Laudate Dominum�) from the Solemn Vespers K. 339.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Just before Easter of 1780, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was furiously working on the Credo (a statement of faith that is the longest part of the Catholic liturgy) of the Mass, when he inexplicably set down his pen, turned the page, and began a second, more compact version of the Credo.

One popular explanation for the incomplete work is the mandate by the Archbishop of Salzburg that masses last no longer than 45 minutes. Many scholars assumed that the original framing of the Credo would simply have made the mass too long. However, HSU music librarian and musicologist, Dr. Murl Sickbert’s completion of the Credo proves that its probable length is well within the acceptable time at just under 7 minutes.

Dr. Sickbert began with the existing material, and used Mozart’s methods and orchestration to complete the final 7 bars. “I had to compose a transition to the next section of text using the Oboe note that was Mozart’s last bar, then reuse his music with appropriate changes to fit the remaining text until the end. There I composed a short ‘Amen’ section, as was usually done, using Mozart’s opening material,� comments Dr. Sickbert.

The Credo seems never to have been performed as a fragment, and Dr. Sickbert’s performing edition allows a complete performance—a double world premier of a masterpiece by the 26-year-old genius. The concert will be held 7:30 pm Tuesday Oct. 17 at Behrens Auditorium on the campus of HSU. There is no charge for admission and the public is cordially invited to this rare premiere.

Hardin-Simmons’ School of Music Chorale and Concert Choir, directed respectively by Drs. Loyd Hawthorne and Clell Wright, are joined by the Abilene Collegiate Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Peter Isaacson. Other soloists include Hardin-Simmons’ University Organist Prof. Hye-Jean Choi, and vocal faculty Drs. Kecia Ashford, Lynnette Chambers, Jaynne Middleton, Will Mouat, and Greg Church of Howard Payne University. The first half of the concert presents the Don Giovanni Overture K.527 (Busoni edition), the “Little� G-minor Symphony K.183/173dB, and the 17th and last of the Church Sonatas for Organ and Orchestra, K.336/336d. In addition, serving as fanfares will be selected movements from the Leopold/Wolfgang “Divertimenti�
K.187/C17.12 and K.188/240b for five clarino trumpets, two flutes, and four timpani, with Hardin-Simmons’ Dr. Leigh Anne Hunsaker, Abilene Christian University’s Prof. Marcia Straughn, and guest artists from Denton and Dallas.

As preface to the concert, Dr. Sickbert will present a short faculty colloquium in Moody Center 233 at noon on Thursday, Oct. 12, “The Unknown Mozart: Notes on the Journey to a Performing Edition of Mozart's Credo-Fragment, K.337.�

So why did Mozart leave this version of the Credo unfinished? Dr. Sickbert believes we’ll never really know, but offers two possibilities. It may be because he mistakenly omitted the phrase “sub Pontio Pilatio,� referring to Jesus crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, and simply decided to start over. More likely, Mozart was using a musical structure for the Credo called Chaconne, a popular stage dance form of the time, and may have felt this would be too secular for the Archbishop’s tastes. Whatever the reason, Mozart stopped composing the text at the phrase “et non erit finis,� which means, ironically, “and shall have no end.�

When HSU’s Steve Neves, assistant professor of art, was asked by the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council to produce a work for public display in Abilene, he was intrigued by the opportunity. The council didn’t specify a topic or theme, so Neves chose one that had special meaning to him.

The Biblical account of Jesus’ sojourn among the Geresenes, told in Luke 8:26-38, is an account of Jesus’ compassion for a demon-possessed man. The wretched man had, in fact, so many demons that when Jesus asked the demon’s name, the man replied “legion.� Knowing they would be removed from the man, the demons asked that they be allowed to go into a nearby heard of swine. Jesus obliged and the pigs ran down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.

Neves has been intrigued by this story since he first heard it as a child, “It is full of drama, mercy, and violence, all things that I find interesting. I was a little concerned it would not receive approval.�

It’s a story worth sharing, “Everyone struggles with their own ‘demons,’ and I want viewers to realize that Christ is willing to free them of this burden. I also hope to remind people that Christ is not merely passive and docile, but incredibly powerful and active,� says Neves.

The sculpture, named “Geresene� is currently on display at Everman Park on North 1st Street, near the intersection with Pine. The work depicts demons, leaving the terrified body of an obviously tortured soul, transmuting into the bodies of pigs, and falling half submerged into the water. The sculpture is oddly reminiscent of the power found in the tormented creatures of late Gothic painter Hieronymus Bosch, coupled with the urgency in the works of German Expressionist Edvard Munch. The effect is powerful.

Neves completed much of the work before moving it to the display site, “I first welded rebar to form a skeleton, or sorts. Then I stuffed the large cavities with plastic bags full of trash. Over this went several layers of chicken wire,� once assembled, he applied “handfuls of wet cement,� to finish the work.

Neves is among a small group of sculptors asked to produce a work that will be on display for a minimum of two years. At the end of this time they select a single work to purchase for permanent display. Abilene artists have produced work for the exhibit before, but this is the first time two local artists were asked to participate. Neves currently has a large sculpture, entitled “Tourist� on display at Buffalo Bayou Park in downtown Houston.