Parker County Today December 2016 | Page 35

David S. Irvin’s Positively Parker County Red and Gail Steagall R About Irvin PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY David S. Irvin, The Portrait Photographers, is nationally recognized photographer. Irvin has photographed six presidents and a variety of celebrities, including Garth Brooks and Nolan Ryan. He has also been recognized by Kodak as one of the top 25 photographers in the United States. Irvin photographs notable families in the Fort Worth area who have ties to area businesses. To see additional photos by David S. Irvin, visit www.dsirvin.com DECEMBER 2016 ed Steagall’s career as a musician and entertainer began after he battled polio as a teenager and started playing the mandolin as therapy. His career has spanned more than four decades and has crossed the globe from Australia to the Middle East, to South America and to the Far East. He has performed for heads of state — including a special party for President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983 — and played three overseas tours. As a native Texan, Red Steagall enjoyed a career in Agricultural Chemistry after graduating from West Texas A&M University with a degree in Animal Science and Agronomy. He then spent eight years working as a music industry executive in Hollywood, Calif., and has spent the last 37 years as a recording artist, songwriter and television and motion picture personality. The Steagalls currently live on a ranch in Parker County where in addition to his entertainment activities they are involved in numerous horse-related interests. Although Steagall is best known for his Texas Swing dance music and compositions that include, “Here We Go Again,” “Party Dolls and Wine,” “Freckles Brown,” and “Lone Star Beer and Bob Wills Music,” he is also beloved by Texas cowboys for the quiet times they have spent with him around chuck wagon campfires. In their opinion, the public has never heard Steagall’s best music. If you ask Red where his favorite place to play music is, he might say The White House, some famous stage in Nashville, California, Spain, or Germany — or he might say at some lonesome cow camp in Texas. 33