The Hodde Trilogy

By Gary E. McKee
From the August 2015 issue of Texas Polka News

This journalist after hearing: my cousin, father, sister, grandfather, uncle, etc. played in or has a polka band, is beginning a random series attempting to untangle the family grapevine that is prevalent in this culture. If any readers have a musical family they would like documented please contact the Texas Polka News or Polkabeat.com.

The Hodde musical legacy began in a blackland prairie town named Cele, founded in the 1890s, southwest of Taylor. The social center was the Richland Saloon, established in 1891. In 1951 the Weiss family purchased it and began servicing the farmers of the area with gasoline and basic food items including beer. The Weiss families were musicians and their weekly jam sessions at the store invited other folks to come sit in and play. Lorenz (“Boots”) Hodde and his uncle, Fritz Wendland were regulars, with Lorenz playing banjo and Mr. Wendland playing guitar with popular and traditional songs, such as You Are My Sunshine.  Playing with them was a young Fritz Hodde. The many jam sessions paid off with Lorenz forming a small combo that went by the name of Boots and His Buddies.

The first “professional” gig came when the band scheduled to perform at a family reunion cancelled the morning of the reunion. Lorenz received a call to see if they could come play. Several phone calls later they showed up and a band was born.

The word-of-mouth gigs kept coming and soon they were playing live on KGTN radio out of Georgetown. This free publicity increased their bookings and the need for a name soon. A.J. Zrubek, a band member, suggested Fritz Hodde’s Fabulous Six and the name stuck, mostly, an advertisement in a 1968 West newspaper invited folks to Linden Hall in Elm Mott for a wedding dance by Fritz Hodde’s Fabulous Five.

Fritz’s family was growing, and son, Scott, began showing interest in music. At the age of nine, he began keeping rhythm with a pair of spoons to his Dad’s music. His persistence convinced his dad to buy him a button accordion and within a year he had mastered If I Were A Bird. After several years of learning the songs and stagecraft, Scott formally joined the band in 1990. Father and son were playing even more frequently and doing studio recording. Scott, like his father, was becoming proficient on saxophone, trumpet, and drums. When the time was right, Scott married Diane Pavelka (an accomplished accordionist) and a son, Brandon, was born. Between hanging out with his future bandmates at picnics and festivals Brandon’s desire to play music took the lead.

At the age of twelve Brandon became a full-fledged member of his Grandfather’s Band. He started on drums, learned the saxophone, guitar, and is presently teaching himself the steel guitar. He is currently working for the county while taking online college classes in business management. When asked whom he wished that he could share the stage music there were two choices, one was Tommy Strmiska, a drummer with the Vrazels, who has passed on, and Vince Gill, the country music performer.

Growing up in family band, Brandon spent many hours hanging out with the children of other musicians as their parents were on stage or meeting fans. The frequent exposure to music at an early age implanted the songs in their brains and when they started to learn instruments the melodies were known to them so they just had to figure out how to apply the music to their chosen instrument. As he and his friends (still mostly pre-teen) were learning their chops on stage, they began to get together to play without adults. These informal gatherings soon led to The Ennis Czech Boys and then All Around Czechs was formed.

Brandon’s perspective for playing is fairly common in the music world: “I do it because I love it, when you’re on stage, particularly with my dad and grandfather, there’s not a feeling like it on earth, the bonding on stage with other musicians. As my friend and bandmate Jerry Petter says, the money we receive at gigs is for the setting up and tearing down of equipment, the time between spent playing music is pure pleasure.”

In 2015, Brandon entered the Accordion Kings and Queens contest, sponsored by Texas Folklife. The contest is aimed at giving young accordionists a chance to compete with others of their genre. Brandon won the state wide contest in the Czech polka category and recently performed at the Miller Outdoor Theatre to a crowd that was larger than most of the towns he had been playing at in the Central Texas area. His experience humbled him as he shared the stage with others in his age group that were playing Zydeco, Cajun, and Tejano styles along with the masters of music such as Los Lobos and the Texmaniacs.

Along with one of his bands, All Around Czechs (all under 30), he hopes to inspire other “youngsters” to keep carrying on the tradition.

The Hodde family is a fine example of keeping the music tradition alive. Brandon said that when he starts a family, he hopes there will be a musician included, but “no pressure, of course.”

New Release: Fritz Hodde and the Fabulous Six

Fritz and the Fab Six Continue the Journey

By Theresa Parker

Fritz and the boys celebrated the band's 50th anniversary with a party at SPJST Lodge 18 in Elgin in September 2013, and just recently released a CD – Fritz Hodde’s 50-Year Journey with The Fabulous Six. The band chose the songs to record based on what their fans request the most at dances.  “While it’s difficult to record all songs requested on one CD, we recorded a few on this CD and will select others on the next CD.  We do try to record new songs for each CD, as well, in hopes that they might become synonymous with our group’s name.  Others may have recorded the same song, but we hope that people might like our rendition of ‘The Fabulous Six’ style,” Fritz says.

Fritz is the only original band member still playing after 51 years. His son, Scott, joined in 1984. Russell Kalkbrenner became a member in 2002; Scott’s son, Brandon, in 2005, and Gary Greener, joined the group as the drummer last year although he sat in on occasion for about four years. Gary is also a good dancer, as he and his fiancé, Kara Walker, were voted King and Queen of this year’s National Polka Festival in Ennis.

Although the group numbers five, they decided to keep the Fabulous Six name to honor those who have gone before them. 

“After losing many band members over the years, we decided we wanted to continue with our trademark, the original name The Fabulous Six,” Fritz says.

One band member they’ll never forget is George Strmiska. George played for years with the Vrazels then became one of the Fabulous Six, playing from 1998 to 2002. George passed away in 2003. “One of the songs chosen for this CD - I Told a Lie to My Heart - is dedicated to George.  His guitar playing was remarkable and Brandon, following in George’s footsteps and loving George’s musical ability while playing guitar, did a great job emulating George’s unique style on this song,” Fritz says.

Fritz is happy that his son and grandson are continuing the polka band tradition. “Not only do they exceed my musical ability with all of the instruments they play, but both have excelled in the pronunciation of the Czech language and we couldn’t be more proud. I respect and admire their many talents and I’m proud and honored to share the stage with them,” he says. 

Brandon has also produced his own CD – All By Myself (A JA SAM) – in which he plays and sings all parts. He has also gotten some of his polka buddies together to form a new band - The All Around Czechs. Their debut performance is set for Saturday, December 13, at Sefcik Hall in Temple.

Over the years of performing, Fritz has noticed the generation gap among the dancers widening. “But we are very proud to see the younger generation’s involvement of late to help carry on the polka tradition.” 

One thing that hasn’t changed are the band’s fans, he says. “We have maintained quite a few loyal followers over the years that have always been there for us and we are proud to call them friends.” 

Fritz Hodde and the Fabulous 6
Fritz Hodde’s 50-Year Journey with the Fabulous Six
15 tracks: 6 polkas, 5 waltzes, 4 country
Polkabeat faves: Who’s Gonna Love You Polka, Grinders Polka, Katherine’s Waltz, I Told a Lie to My Heart

Brandon Hodde All By Myself (A Ja Sam)
15 tracks: 8 polkas, 6 waltzes, 1 country
Polkabeat faves: A Ja Sam, El Golpe Traidor, Isabella Waltz

Available: Polka On! Store

Fritz Hodde: 50 Years of Making Polka Music

Congratulations to Fritz Hodde on 50 years in the polka music biz! Fritz and the band, the Fabulous 6, will celebrate by having, what else, a polka party! The free event is set for Saturday, September 14, from 1 to 7 p.m. at the SPJST 18 in Elgin. To help Fritz commemorate this special anniversary, polkabeat asked polka musicians to send their congrats.

Dear Polkabeat: We really want to say a “Big Thank You” for all you did to promote Fritz Hodde and The Fabulous Six's "50th celebration."

Also, thank you very much for all the other promotions that you do for the band. Sometimes we forget to say thank you and we want you to know that we are grateful.

A big thank you for reaching out to polka musicians to comment on Fritz Hodde and The Fabulous Six's 50th anniversary. I copied some of those e-mails and placed them in a memories book on the band table Saturday night. Hope you don't mind. I saw quite a few people looking at them.

This was a special day for Fritz Hodde & The Fabulous Six. A day we'll never forget. A great big thank you to our fans, friends and family for helping us make this day a huge success. Many memories to be thankful for. -- Fritz Hodde

Musician Well Wishes Congrats Fritz on 50 years of music. In these years your music has obviously entertained thousands through live performances, radio and recordings but my highest respect is seeing you handing down that family tradition of Czech music in Texas to your son and grandson. That is a legacy that will hopefully continue for more generations and be such a wonderful contribution to the culture we all know and love. Prost, zivili, nazdravje, cheers on this important milestone. Alex Meixner

We would like to wish our good friends Fritz Hodde and the Fabulous Six congratulations on 50 years of great music! Keep up the great music! Brian Klekar and the Czechaholics

Congratulations on 50 great years of music, and thank you all you have done for the Czech Culture and heritage. Trey Sylvester and the Ennis Czech Boys

Congratulations Fritz and all the members of the band on your 50 years of entertaining! Vrazels’ Polka Band always looked forward to and enjoyed playing alongside with you at the many performances that we worked together over the many years. Your band always was and still is very popular on our radio show on KMIL Cameron every Sunday. We wish you many more years in the entertainment business. Alfred Vrazel

Congratulations on making great music in the fantastic world of polka for 50 years! And thank you for your devotion to the cause. We all appreciate your efforts and contributions and look forward to the next 50! Polkatively, Carl Finch and Brave Combo

I have fond memories of the Fabulous Six going way back to the '60s when I first started playing music. We often crossed paths as our bands played in the same venues (Granger, Holland, Seaton, Taylor). I was struck that this was a “family” band like ours and that Fritz and his father both played. I greatly enjoyed and admired Fritz’s talent on trumpet and accordion. We sometimes played “battle dances” and it was always an honor to have the “jam” session with both bands! Over the years, as the band changed, I enjoyed many talented musicians that played with the Fabulous Six. Then as the family influence increased with Fritz and Scott (and Dianne) playing together and now Brandon, it only got better! Fritz was always kind to me (even as a kid starting out) and it was always a nice conversation about how the music was going at the various halls, the different bands and musicians who were around, and the different events that were taking place in Central Texas. The Fabulous Six (Fritz or Scott) always acknowledged us if we were in the crowd at a dance and I was often invited up to play a number or two with the band, which I always enjoyed and appreciated. Lots of fun times and enjoyment brought to many by the Fabulous Six. I congratulate the Fabulous Six on this notable benchmark of 50 years and wish the very best in the future. Jerry Haisler and the Melody 5

Congratulations, Fritz! I remember back in the '70s watching you play accordion and trumpet at the same time down at Bill Mraz Hall. It was amazing and inspiring! Mike Gest, Texas Legacy Czech Band and Moonglow Orchestra

Congratulations Fritz! Keep the great music flowing and looking forward to jam with y'all again soon! Chris Rybak