Phil Baxter

Phil Baxter (né Philip Kerley Baxter; 5 September 1896 Rural Shade, Texas – 21 November 1972 Dallas) was an American songwriter, singer and band leader.

Baxter was born September 5, 1896, in Rural Shade, Texas — which after World War II became part of Kerens. He was raised in Marshall, Texas, and he graduated from Daniel Baker College.

At age 14, Baxter played piano at a roller skating ring. He knew only one tune, but "the skaters didn't mind, for the noise of their rollers was louder than the piano music."

During World War I, Baxter served at the Mare Island Naval Base in California. Violinist Paul Whiteman was also assigned to that base, and the two often entertained other sailors with musical performances.

Baxter is perhaps best known for his novelty song, "Piccolo Pete", a notable hit for Ted Weems and His Orchestra. Another song, "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas" was successfully recorded by many artists, including Sidney Bechet, Bennie Moten, Arthur Godfrey, Bob Wills and Louis Armstrong.

Baxter led his own orchestra in the 1920s through the mid-1930s, leading two recording sessions, the first in October 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri, and the second in October 1929, in Dallas, Texas.

In the 1920s, Baxter formed an orchestra in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, but by 1925 the group was spending its winters playing in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In June 1927, Phil Baxter and His Texas Tommies performed at the just-opened El Torreon Ballroom in Kansas City, Missouri, becoming, as Phil Baxter and His El Torreon Orchestra, the ballroom's house band from 1927 to 1933. Baxter would open and close each night with the band's theme song, "El Torreon", and their nightly performances were frequently broadcast by KMBC in Kansas City. Additionally, he was a staff musician at WDAF in Kansas City.

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