The Imitation Stats are a quartet that was formed in late 1980 and began performing for the public in 1981. Originally, the quartet did not have a name for the group. In the beginning they were singing gospel music all over the town of Seymour, Texas, their home town, but finally ran out of places to sing. The original group was made up of lead singer Clifton Talley, baritone Ron Reeves, tenor was Bob Bartley, and the bass was Curtis Priddy. The only musician was Billie Gene Young on the piano.

The group kind of slowed down to nearly a halt and then Mack Bibb, originally from Seymour, moved back from Lubbock, Texas and took over the tenor spot in place of Bartley. Bartley didn’t have the time that he thought was needed and he couldn’t travel out of town to any of the singing jobs that the group was offered. Bibb also played the bass guitar. Mack then suggested that the quartet possibly try a few songs by the Statler Brothers. The Statler Brothers songs are very similar to the good ole four part harmony that the quartet enjoys so it wasn’t a very hard transition.

 Rosanne Priddy joined the musicians; playing rhythm guitar; along with Royce Miller playing the drums.

The first Statler Brother’s song that the group learned was Bed of Roses. It was learned while practicing at the funeral home chapel where Reeves worked at the time. The guys thought it sounded pretty good so they decided to enter the local PTA Show that was coming up in February of 1981. They had to decide how they wanted to be introduced and since they were singing Statler Brothers songs, the name Imitation Stats came up and the rest is history. That was the start of something that would get bigger than these guys could ever believe. They also performed for the West Texas Fireman’s Convention that was held in Seymour and the high school All Sports Banquet. They were then on their way.

The group then faced a big dilemma. Reeves was offered a job in New Mexico and decided that it would be good for him to leave. As luck would have it, the First Baptist Church had a youth director named Phil Townley that enjoyed singing and also played guitar. Phil joined the group in 1982. The group started going out of town on a few jobs and the word got out quickly about them and their music. Their first out of town job was in Munday, Texas. They would sing for just about anything. Most of the time it was for a Chamber of Commerce banquet or some kind of benefit.

The first time most of the group had the chance to see the real Statler Brothers was on November 26, 1982. This was one of the first shows that Jimmy Fortune sang with the Statlers because he had a music stand in front of him for the whole show. It was quite a treat to see the real ones in person and Bibb and Priddy had their picture taken with Harold and Don Reid, the only real brothers of the group. They also got to see Carl Perkins and Reba McEntire. No one even knew who Reba was at that time but, she opened for the Statlers that year.

The group sang for so many chamber banquets and Lion’s Clubs, they thought they were full members of these organizations. They also sang at rest homes and started doing a benefit concert each year for the Cancer League of Seymour each year for four straight years.

The group knew that eventually Townley would be moving on but wasn’t ready when the time came. Well, the time did come for Phil and he moved on to bigger and better things. The Stats found another guy that had moved to Seymour because he had married a Seymour girl. Rusty Rose joined the group in 1983. Rusty had married Lisa Robertson of Seymour and they moved to Seymour. Rusty had gone to work for Lisa’s dad at Robertson Electric. The first job with Rusty joining in the group, was for the Graham Lioness Banquet.

The first big paying job that the Stats had was the Texas County Agent Convention in Wichita Falls, Texas. Charlie Myers of Seymour had donated the money to pay the Stats and it was a whopping $1200. We never thought we would see that much money for doing something we enjoyed.

The Stats then grew past their usual boundaries, and had their first recording made in Wichita Falls. They produced their own cassette tape at Blair Sound Studio; recorded by Rick Blair.

In 1984, the group was invited to do two shows at the Dalhart, Texas all school Homecoming. We borrowed a trailer to haul our equipment to Dalhart and the trailer had Kountry Kings written on the side. We always joked about that trailer through the years. Believe it or not, we ended up buying that trailer later on. Of course we took the Kountry Kings name off of the trailer and painted the trailer blue and white. We proudly had Leta Slaggle artistically paint the words “Imitation Stats” on the sides.

The group was asked to do what was called the Show of Shows, a talent show in Haskell, Texas, to help Haskell raise money to build a Civic Center. We did that show on one condition. They let us be the first group to perform in the new Civic Center. They were good on their word and we got to do a show on this huge concrete stage in the new building to help them raise money for air conditioner compressors. We are still being invited back to Haskell about every year.

On a sad note, the Statlers tenor singer Lew Dewitt, had left the group because of health problems. We wrote Lew a letter supporting him and in return, received a card and a guitar pic with his name on it. It is very proudly displayed in the Stats scrapbook.

The Stats really got their name out in the public by this time and were invited to so many places that they had to turn jobs down. Most of the jobs were still benefits and chamber banquets. The big jobs were about to hit though. Bibb’s father-in-law had got their name out to the people in Muenster, Texas where they have a big festival called German fest. Thousands of people attend this event and the Stats were really surprised to be asked to perform at this event. They did four shows on a Saturday and four shows on Sunday during German fest. The crowds got bigger and bigger and the group thought they had hit the big time. The group was asked to come back a second year and do the same thing, four shows each day. The second year that we were there, we got to sing on the main stage, which is normally reserved for German type music. After one of the shows, a lady by the name of Julie Fairchild came up to Priddy and asked if they would be interested in coming to Dallas and perform for Larry Hagman and the cast of the TV show Dallas. Can you imagine the surprise and disbelief on the groups faces when Priddy told them what had been offered. This was to be a party at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas. The Hagman’s, Larry and his wife Maj, held a party at the end of each season’s filming. The Stat’s really gave Priddy a hard time because they thought he had been fooled by this girl. Every time any of the group was around Priddy, they asked when are we going to Dallas. Priddy couldn’t say anything and eventually thought what they were thinking was probably true. Finally, after about three weeks, Julie Fairchild contacted Priddy and the job was offered. The Stats were to perform on the 17^th floor of the Crescent Hotel for the cast of Dallas. On June 3, 1987 the group traveled to Dallas and got to rub elbows with the stars. All or most of the cast was there along with other stars. Hagman’s Mother, Mary Martin, who was the original Peter Pan was there and also H.Ross Perot. There were mink coats, sequins, and tuxedos that night. We were told that the dress was “Texas Chic”; which none of the band members knew what that meant. Come to find out, it was tuxedo jackets with Levis. They had the whole 17^th floor rented for this party. There were three bands playing in separate rooms and the people just wandered around listening to whatever music that they liked. We even were asked to come back again in 1988. They had told us that there were to be no pictures taken but after asking Hagman himself, he said take all the pictures that you want. He even danced around the room with Royce’s wife, Brenda, and Rusty’s wife, Lisa to the tune of “Sweeter and Sweeter”. It was a great experience for a group of guys and girls from a little town of 3,000 people to see what the stars are like.

1987 was really good to the Stats. We had hit what we thought was the big time by doing the German fest twice and also singing for the cast of Dallas twice but one of the biggest thrills came at the Seymour Chamber of Commerce Banquet that year. We were invited to the banquet mainly because we had written a little song about Seymour for the Keep Texas Beautiful campaign. The title of the song was The Cleanest Town in Texas. The words were written by Bibb and Priddy and sang to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” We performed the song at the banquet but later on, they named the citizens of the year, which Billie Gene was named one, and then they had a special award. It was called the Friend of Seymour Award. The Mayor at that time was Nolan Davis and he said that we were the best Goodwill Ambassadors for Seymour. We won the Friend of Seymour award in March of 1988 and that was one of our biggest highlights.

A couple of other highlights for the group was to get to sing in front of now Governor Rick Perry and now President of the United States, George W.Bush. They weren’t as well known back then, but Perry was Ag Commissioner and Bush was running for Governor of Texas. We had sung for Perry a couple of times before when he was running for Ag Commissioner.

There are so many memories that the first group of Stats have but, time moves on and so do the people. Believe it or not, Rusty took a job in Stephenville, Texas and it worked out just great because Ron had moved back to Seymour and bought the funeral home where we had learned the first song. The group stayed as busy as we could, especially with all of us having full time jobs and kids in school. We traveled all over the state of Texas and even did jobs for the Good Sam’s Club in Oklahoma and Arkansas. We even got to tour Bo Pilgrim’s (Pilgrim’s Pride Chicken) garden behind his house in Pittsburgh, Texas. It’s so big that we rode around the grounds in Royce’s van. The Mayor of Pittsburg, which at that time was the oldest Mayor in the State of Texas, then made the Imitation Stats Honorary Citizens of Pittsburgh and gave each of us a lapel pin.

The original group came to an end in 2001. Mack Bibb had taken a job in Lubbock, Texas and was leaving. We all thought that it would only be fitting that we hold a farewell concert to give all of our fans a last time to hear the group. At this time we did not know that the Statler’s were also calling it quits. We were quitting after 20 years and then the Statler’s ended up quitting after 40 years. Our concert was held on June 26, 2001. It was the first time that we had worn tuxedos in a show. It was a great night but also sad. We all thought that this would be the last time we would be on stage and trying to make people happy with our harmonies.

Curtis missed the performing and association so he decided to try and get another group together after laying off for three years. He talked with Clifton and Ron to see if they were interested. Clifton was tied up following his grandchildren in their school and church activities and Ron didn’t want to get back into going out of town to perform quite as much as Curtis wanted to do. So, Curtis went out trying to recruit singers and musicians. Curtis didn’t have a hard time convincing Billie Gene and Rosie to get back into the Stats. Getting singers to fill the parts was the problem. Curtis had sung in a quartet with Tim Nix at one time and had known Tim for several years. Tim has a beautiful voice but really didn’t know if he could sing the high tenor that Curtis wanted him to sing. Curtis was real scared to let Royce try and sing because of past experiences while Royce was drummer. Royce is such a cut up that it scared Curtis to death of what Royce might come up with, if he was out in front. Ended up, Royce was a perfect fit for the group as the baritone. Lead singer was a real problem. Finally, Curtis talked to Sid Winn in hopes that Sid would sing the lead. Sid didn’t want to at first and told Curtis that if he absolutely couldn’t find someone else, that he’d try. Guess what, Sid is now singing lead. Still, the band was a problem. Billie Gene and Rosie were set to go but we had no bass guitar or drummer. Curtis finally convinced Marvin Griffin to try playing bass and believe it or not, SHS band director, B.J.Brooks, decided to play the drums on his keyboard. The “New Imitation Stats” was born and started working on songs in August of 2004.

The first concert held by the New Imitation Stats was held on January 26, 2005. Members at that time were Billie Gene Young on the piano, Rosanne Priddy on the guitar, Marvin Griffin on the bass guitar, B.J. Brooks on the keyboard playing drums. The quartet consist of Sid Winn singing lead, Royce Miller singing baritone, Tim Nix singing tenor, and Curtis Priddy singing bass. The group has now changed bass guitar players twice. Don Welch played a few shows and now Cory Butler has taken the job. Bobby Bohanan plays his keyboard, sounding like a lead guitar and string instruments throughout the performances. We now have a full time drummer, Baldo Campos.

The group now consists of Billie Gene Young, a retired choir director and now piano teacher-piano, Rosanne Priddy- Works for the State of Texas- guitar, Bobby Bohanan, formerly of Seymour but now living in Iowa Park - keyboard, Cory Butler-Senior at SHS -bass guitar, Baldo Campos-Electrician- Drummer, and Joe Pat Wright-retired banker- sound technician.

The Quartet consist of Sid Winn-Postmaster for Seymour, Lead

Royce Miller- Farmer/Rancher- Baritone

Tim Nix- Physical Therapist for Seymour Hospital- Tenor

Curtis Priddy- School Resource Officer for SISD- Bass

The New Stats started practice in October of 2004 and had their first show on January 26, 2005. It was decided that they would do no more than 8 or 9 shows a year. They traveled to Haskell, Wichita Falls, Munday, Goree, and Spur, Texas in 2005 and have already done concerts in Seymour, Haskell, and Knox City in 2006. Up coming shows will be two in Wichita Falls and one in Spur. They are booked for the Airstream International Convention in March of 2007.

This group is willing to do what it takes to make the shows as good and as close to what the actual Statler’s show was and hope that a lot of people can and will come out to see them in concert. The Statler’s are missed by all but we hope to be able to keep what they started alive and kicking for a few more years.