The David Box Story

Harold David Box was born August 11, 1943 in Sulphur Springs, Texas. David 
moved with our parents, Virginia and Harold Box, to Lubbock, Texas in 1946. 
Daddy was a self-taught Western Swing fiddle musician. He and two other 
musician friends with their families wanted to stay just long enough in 
Lubbock to earn extra money for the remaining journey to Las Vegas, Nevada 
where they expected to become professional entertainers. Unfortunately, they 
stayed in Lubbock too long, so the dream of moving West grew faint, while 
their roots grew deeper into the West Texas soil.

Daddy and his friends played at public performances whenever they could, and 
working various day jobs to pay the bills. It's only natural that David 
inherited the gift of music, and began his singing career at the age of 3. 
David clearly possessed the ingredients of becoming a performance artist.  

I was born April 18, 1948 in Lubbock and David liked being my big brother. 
Western music was always in the air around our house. As kids, David and I 
enjoyed watching daddy play and sing; he had a good tenor voice and knew how 
to make the fiddle bow dance across the strings! Music was a common 
occurrence, and the unspoken idea was everybody can do this and they live 
like we do. Sometimes, Saturday evenings would be spent with daddy and his 
friends practicing music, while the ladies made coffee and cooked dinner. 
Sunday afternoons might offer a time for us as a family to sing hymns, and a 
few times, we sang at College Avenue Baptist Church in Lubbock. 

Christmas time was spent with the grandparents who lived in Commerce, Texas 
and farm land near Sulphur Springs, Texas. Driving there would be done at 
night, so that more daytime could be spent with the relatives. While stopping 
for the traffic lights in those little East Texas towns, we would role down 
our car windows and sing Christmas carols. Daddy would sing in the lower 
range, mother would sing alto, while David and I sang the high pitched 
melody. As we grew older, David's voice became the one to hear, and I 
adjusted my soprano voice to harmonize with him whenever possible.  

David loved music! He had an unending appetite for it, and was delighted when 
our father bought him a guitar, showed him the basic cords, and left the rest 
for David to discover for himself. Did he ever! David took off like a comet 
on fire. I remember seeing the painful calluses on the tips of his fingers 
from their press on the guitar strings. He spent a lot of his time inventing, 
perfecting cords with rhythm combinations, and singing.  Then, came Buddy 
Holly of Lubbock, and David's new music influence took a dramatic hold on 
him! David enjoyed playing music with school friends, and planning his future 
in the recording industry. Eventually, David would have another giant serving 
of rock n' roll in his life, Roy Orbison. I remember David becoming more 
serious about his direction in music, and in a way, it became his daily 
bread.   

David possessed a vast amount of talent. He loved to draw and sketched with 
pencil, pen and ink. Mother saved just about every crayola picture from his 
elementary school days. Junior high and high school art classes in those days 
were not very directive for his interest. He was happy to express his work at 
home the best way that he could, especially focused on illustrative art. 
Special paper and other related materials usually cost too much, so he would 
frequently use scrap pieces of cardboard or whatever was handy. He used a 
piece of lumber to paint a contemporary abstract portrait. David could draw 
just about anything without having to look at the object. A few times, I 
would join David at the kitchen table to draw, and of course, he was the 
teacher. Once, we bought paint by numbers sets, and thought that might be 
helpful with the learning process. We were both hungry for visual art. One 
summer, we walked from our house at 2313-47th Street to a retail furniture 
and accessory business named Design Today, located on 2313-34th Street, to 
see everything in the store; we thought that it was like a museum! We would 
talk about what we saw as we walked along, and how beauty and design was 
wrapped all together. With the passage of time, David knew that commercial 
art would be waiting for him to pursue in the event that his music career did 
not materialize. 

David matured into a strong singer, songwriter and guitarist. I observed his 
amazing transformation as someone very much ahead of his time. We talked a 
lot and his hopes and dreams were grand, so I wanted to be apart of them, 
too. He was looking higher above the horizon line than most people his age, 
and working to achieve his goals. Ego was never a factor with him. I think 
that is what drew people to him. I also think that is what drew more of 
SPIRIT that fed his heart and soul which resulted in his music. There is a 
message in the music of DAVID BOX. Do your best, whatever it is, and don't 
let the negative of people, places and things take one ounce of it away from 
you. You Are Worthy. The gift you possess is yours and yours alone. Let it 
fill every part of you. Shine brightly! The extra light may be just enough 
for someone to find their way on the path and connect with their destiny. I 
know personally that it did for me.

Enjoy the music and detailed booklet of THE DAVID BOX STORY CD, and know that 
he gave his best with the time he had to the early 1960's rock n' roll music 
history. His sudden and tragic death was in a small plane crash on October 
23, 1964. However, his voice and guitar lives on to say, "I'll Sing 
Throughout Eternity".