Musician’s granddaughter honors his memory with display

MOSES LAKE — That old mandolin has been a lot of places, from Depression-racked Arkansas to the Grand Ole Opry. And now it has a home. 

“My grandfather inherited this when he was 4 years old, (in) 1928,” said Nickey Groff of Moses Lake, as she hung the mandolin up on the wall of Moore Brewing Company on Tuesday. 

“He had many businesses in town, but what he was known for was being a musician,” Groff told the Columbia Basin Herald in an earlier interview. “He's kind of (known) for bringing music to Moses Lake when he moved here. He had a booking agency, as well as performing himself in local bars.” 

Groff’s grandfather was Wayne Thomas, who lived the latter part of his life in Moses Lake operating a gas station and playing western swing music as the opportunity arose. He passed away in 1988, when Groff was 17 years old. But in his younger days, Thomas recorded and performed with some big names: Hank Williams Sr., Spade Cooley, T. Texas Tyler and the King of Western Swing, Bob Wills.  

“My grandfather would always have these old people hang out at the gas station with him, and I didn’t know who they were,” Groff said. “But then a month or two later I looked into the magazines at the gas station, and one of the guys who was visiting him was on the cover of a guitar magazine. It was Eldon Shamblin, who was the lead guitar player for Bob Wills. I didn’t know that he was famous; he was just a friend of my grandfather’s.” 

It’s a little dated today, but Western swing music was a big part of the music scene in the 1940s and ’50s and formed one of the bases for later country and rock and roll. Also called “Okie jazz,” it was a mixture of big band, hillbilly and blues music, overlaid with steel guitar and played with a swing made for dancing. 

Wayne Thomas was born in 1924 in Arkansas, the oldest of three children, Groff said. His mother died when he was young and his father wasn’t up to raising children, so young Wayne took up the task. 

“He told me he would go to school with no shoes, and the basketball team all wore their coveralls,” Groff said. “He dropped out of school when he was 9 years old, and he heard there was work in Washington in the orchards. He taught himself Spanish, and he came up here and he was an interpreter.” 

Thomas never put down the mandolin, Groff said. He went to work in Portland at KBKO radio, in 1949, according to his biography in the Northwest Western Swing Association Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1998. While he was there, Thomas put together his western swing band Wayne Thomas and his Dance Caravan, a couple of whose recordings can be found on YouTube today. He opened for Spade Cooley in 1951, and played with his hero, Bob Wills.  

KBKO foundered in 1952, and Thomas headed out the next year on a tour with the Grand Ole Opry. He moved with his family to Moses Lake in 1957, where he took over the Gull gas station on Stratford Road where Papa John’s Pizza is today. 

“He is known for bringing live music to Moses Lake,” Groff said. “Back in the ’60s and ’70s, live music was such a vibrant thing in town.” 

Thomas played at the Turf Cafe, which is now Michael’s Bistro, and at the Porterhouse, and at Barney Google’s, which is now the home of Moore Brewing Company, which is why Groff felt that was a good place to bring his mandolin — and his memory. 

Thomas’ mandolin, along with some photos and other memorabilia, are hung alongside a picture of Moore Brewing co-owner Lorie Moore’s father, whose guitar is kept at the brewpub for anyone to play. 

“My dad was a musician before I was born,” Moore said. “My dad played the trumpet, he played the sax, he played banjo. He did everything from bluegrass to top 40. I lost him a couple of years ago, and he played at places like this all over Michigan. I knew that if he could be here, he’d be playing.” 

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about (my grandfather),” Groff said as she gently put the mandolin on the wall. “I do feel like there's a resurgence of live music coming back to Moses Lake, and I know that my grandfather would be very happy to see that.” 

    Nickey Groff, left, and Moore Brewing co-owner Lorie Moore stand in front of memorabilia from Groff’s grandfather Wayne Thomas and Moore’s father, who was also an avid musician.
  

    Along with Wayne Thomas’ mandolin, Nickey Groff donated a few other items from her grandfather’s musical life.