"The Early Years"
by Jim Glaser
(Page 1)
Photos this page are the courtesy of Jim Glaser

Jim recalls: "We lived on a 1,200 acre farm and the work was hard.  The older siblings had it harder as I had the advantage of the advances in farming technology, which were really beginning at the time.  I went to elementary school at a little country school house, which averaged 12-15 students at that time. It was called Pibel School, District #9.  I attended the Spalding Academy High School, graduating in three years.".

"My first memories of playing the guitar was when I was five years old. I was taught by my older brother, Tompall. My hands were so small I couldn’t reach all six strings to make chords and at first, only played the first 3 strings my fingers could reach." "Being brothers, we sang together pretty much all of our young lives. Tompall  was the motivator and the one who had the all-consuming drive to make singing his career He was that way as far back as I can remember and without his ambition and drive, I may well not have chosen music as my career. But I love the music business and Nashville, and I’ll always appreciate the motivation he supplied in those early years. I joined him first and then Chuck made it a trio, known professionally as "Tompall and The Glaser Brothers". "The songs we sang when we were young reflected the music of the times; Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, The Ames Brothers, The Sons of the Pioneers, etc. Creating our own style of harmony was a long process as I did it all by ear with no musical training or singing lessons. At first it was two part, just Tompall and me, then when Chuck joined us, I had to figure out a third part. I suppose that's why our sound was a bit unique. I loved the Louvin Brothers harmony and loosely based some of our parts on their style, adding Chuck's part, of course."

"Being brothers, we sang pretty much all of our young lives."

"This  little farm boy was seriously hooked on the music business."

To Page 2