The queen of western swing

Being inducted into a hall of fame takes some doing, no matter what the hall's size.

In music, guitar grinders and powerful vocalists are regularly received in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, while banjo pickers and mournful singers have been enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn.

But Virginia Dolle of Cape Girardeau has been welcomed into two musical halls of fame this year without singing a note or playing a lick.

Dolle was inducted into the Western Swing Music Society of the Southwest Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City in July and the Northwest Western Swing Music Society Hall of Fame in Seattle in August.

It's her dedication to western swing that opened the doors for her.

"It means a lot to me to help keep this form of music alive," said Dolle, 79. "I'm thankful for the opportunity to be in the western swing community."

For the uninitiated, western swing is a style of music that was most popular during the 1930s and '40s. Its distinctive sound is a combination of rural country music, polka, folk and blues mixed with big-band swing, played by a string band and sometimes a steel guitar. It was made popular by groups such as Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and Spade Cooley and his Orchestra to contemporary favorites like Asleep at the Wheel and The Hot Club of Cowtown.

Western swing hasn't returned to the levels of popularity it once enjoyed, but for the past 19 years Virginia Dolle and her husband Bob have remained tireless devotees of the music. Bob Dolle performs in western swing showcases across the country, and Virginia has been with him every mile they have traveled, selling tickets for the various shows.

"I'm known to a lot of people as ‘the ticket lady,'" she said. "I receive an allotment of tickets from venues where western swing shows are held, and I sell them at the door or to people who find me during the day. For the Bob Wills tribute show held in places in southern Texas, I've sold 1,600 tickets over the last eight years."

Virginia Dolle has personally sold an average of 200 tickets each year to other western swing shows around the country. Bob Dolle said his wife "goes all out" in making sure people wanting to attend a show get their tickets.

"She goes everywhere," he said. "If I'm performing in a show in Tulsa, she makes it known that she has tickets. Even if I'm not playing, she'll go ahead and sell them for the show we happen to be attending. She puts her hand in everything."

Western swing music has come to take over all of Virginia Dolle's spare time. After 26 years as the principal's assistant at Schultz Elementary School, she became a charter member of the Western Swing Music Society in Tulsa in 1998. She also became a strong promoter of the music through numerous activities with her husband, himself a member of four western swing halls of fame, and the Dolles travel in a motor home six months out of the year so Bob can play the music and Virginia can promote ticket sales in places like Amarillo, Texas, and Wagner, Okla. But Virginia Dolle's biggest effort goes into organizing the Western Swing Showcase held each May in Cape Girardeau.

"I love doing it," she said, "We've had people from 16 different states show up over the years. But the problem is musicians don't get paid for performing, and it's hard to get acts for the Cape show."

Virginia Dolle said money from ticket sales for the showcase goes for scholarships issued by the Western Swing Music Society of the Southwest.

"We have to keep this music alive through young people," she said. "We want to give scholarships to young musicians so they can study the music and keep the tradition alive. The society gave out 13 scholarships to young musicians last year."

Promoting the music doesn't come with any material gain for the Dolles. It's purely a labor of love.

"I feel blessed to use my talents in this way," she said. "Bob and I aren't making any money doing what we do, but we're having a whole lot of fun doing what we both love to do."

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635