Shamrock Rag, 1916

Noted ragtime composer, Euday L. Bowman (1887-1949), published Shamrock Rag in Fort Worth in 1916. Born in Fort Worth, he lived with his sister Mary, a teacher who taught him to play the piano. Bowman played in private and public venues including clubs and shoe-shine parlors in Hell's Half Acre, the bordello district of Fort Worth. He composed a number of ragtime and blues pieces between 1914 and 1917, at least three of which were named for Fort Worth locales -- Fort Worth Blues, Eleventh Street Rag, and his most famous composition, Twelfth Street Rag. Although Twelfth Street Rag became an enduring ragtime standard recorded by over 120 artists including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington, Bowman realized little profit from royalties as he sold the copyright shortly after it was composed in 1914. Bowman died in New York City in 1949 and is buried in Fort Worth's Oakwood Cemetery.

Jenkins Garrett Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington