In tribute: Longtime musician 'touched lots of lives'

File photo

Fred Chandler plays the fiddle in the 2011 Floyd Lions Club Country Jamboree. Chandler, a long-time performer of the 65-year tradition, died last week.

Dave Nash, longtime emcee at the Floyd Lions Club Country Music Jamboree, said this is what it was like to be around Fred Chandler:

“The air around him was just friendly and loving and positive and he never got twisted.

“Everybody loved him. Everybody loved his music. The band enjoyed being around him, the singers enjoyed him, the audience enjoyed him. He was always so kind and supportive.”

Chandler, 83, died Friday after an automobile accident near the Farwell cemetery on U.S. 60.

Grandson Matthew Williams said Chandler was driving to play golf at the Farwell Country Club when he turned into the path of a truck. He died a few hours later at the hospital in Friona.

By profession, Chandler was a farmer and grain elevator operator who lived in Farwell about six decades after growing up near Hollene in rural Curry County.

Most of the region knew him as a musician who, for years, had been the oldest performer at the annual country music gathering in Floyd each March.

“He was a pillar of the band,” Nash said, describing Chandler as an all-around performer who could sing, tell jokes and take a joke, too.

“I can tell about ol’ Fred doing this and yada yada yada, and then two or three songs later he might throw something right back at me,” Nash said.

Williams said his grandfather had multiple skills, but it was the music that helped him stand out.

“From what I know, he’s been doing it all of his life,” Williams said. “We found pictures of him when he looked to be in his teens with his guitar.

“He was in a band in college in Las Cruces and my mom remembers him traveling around.”

In addition to decades performing at Floyd’s Jamboree, Williams said his grandfather was a regular performer and emcee at Border Town Days in Texico-Farwell.

“And he played at church and at nursing homes in Farwell and Clovis and all around,” he said.

Chandler also entertained his family, bringing out the guitar for Christmas carols and other holiday gatherings. He had his own makeshift recording studio at home, Williams said.

His grandfather loved the country music of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Bob Wills, but also sang Gospel.

Linda Miller Brown, 55, who lives in the Bethel community northeast of Floyd, said she’d known Chandler most of her life and they played together many times at Floyd.

“In 2000, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the show, they asked me to put together a group for Thursday night,” Brown said. “So what I did was I just called some of the performers from back in the day and Fred was one of those. He’s played every year since then.”

Friends said he could play multiple instruments, including mandolin, guitar and fiddle.

“He played bass years ago with several different local bands,” Brown said. “When we needed a fiddle player for the Jamboree, Fred did that. Later, when we needed a guitar player, Fred did that. He played whatever was needed.”

One of Chandler’s bands, the Castaways, performed at an inauguration ball for Gov. Bruce King in 1991.

Brown said Chandler had a “quick and clever” sense of humor.

One year at the Jamboree, Brown said her young son was playing with a Slinky, which became tangled.

“He brought his messed-up Slinky to Fred and Fred made that the theme for the rest of the show.

“If something happened that was an opportunity for humor for the rest of the night, Fred was on it.”

Nash said Monday’s memorial service provided one last reminder of the impact Chandler had on those he met.

“By the crowd that showed up,” Nash said, “you could tell he touched lots and lots of people in a very positive way.”