There once was a man who became The King of Western Swing. He was a fiddle player with his own band who was starring in movies, had his own radio and television shows, had a beautiful young wife and three children. But he also had a dark side. He drank and was known to have angry outbursts. In 1961, his demons got the best of him and it resulted in a tragedy. It was murder! Today I bring you the dark story of a fiddle player named Spade Cooley. 

Links to the sources I used to write today's story
The Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing By Jean A. Boyd
Spade Cooley: Western Swing’s Killer Cowboy
Forgotten Hollywood Scandals That Would Still Stun the World Today
Bakersfield's trial of the century: The talented and tormented Spade Cooley
MOOD SWING by Steve Gerkin
People v. Cooley
Spade Cooley BY David Krajicek
Spade Cooley - Wikipedia

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