In high school, Dave McEnery would often sing Red River Valley, which earned him the nickname, Red River Dave.

In the early 1930s, McEnery, barely out of his teens, was trying to be a singer-songwriter. There was no TV, but there was radio, and he sang and played on a station in San Antonio, Texas.

He also performed at rodeos, where he sang country songs, yodeled, and twirled a rope.

He was tall and good-looking, but in the 1930s there were hundreds just like him: handsome young fellows who could sing and play guitar.

In 1937, he and his road band were in New York, working their way toward Chicago, where they hoped to play on a large radio station. They were poor as can be, so along the way they’d perform in nightclubs and at churches and fairs, trying to earn enough money to sustain themselves and continue their trip.

At this time, everyone’s thoughts were on Amelia Earhart, who had disappeared during her attempt at a round-the-world flight. It was thought that Earhart’s plane had run out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. People prayed that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had survived and would be found alive, but as time wore on, hope waned and people ached in their hearts for the loss of Amelia and Noonan .

One evening, McEnery sat on a rock next to a campfire and wrote a song called Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight. He and his band were in Buffalo, New York, trying to get a gig at a nightclub.

The club owner said he couldn’t afford to pay them anything, but they could keep any money that was thrown onto the stage, which is how audiences sometimes tipped performers that they liked.

That evening, McEnery didn’t introduce the song or even say the title. He simply began to sing, “A ship out on the ocean, just a speck against the sky, Amelia Earhart flying that sad day; With her partner, Captain Noonan, on the second of July, Her plane fell in the ocean, far away.”

There was a reverent silence that deepened as Dave sang the chorus, “There’s a beautiful, beautiful field, Far away in a land that is fair. Happy landings to you, Amelia Earhart. Farewell, first lady of the air.”

The song continued for several verses and repeats of the chorus. When it was over, the room exploded with applause that went on and on. And money rained onto the stage.

Dave and his band made it to Chicago.

In 1939 at the New York World’s Fair, McEnery sang Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight as part of the world’s first live television broadcast.

The man known as Red River Dave was born in 1914 and died in 2002. During his long career, he wrote thousands of songs – many of them based on stories he’d heard on the news. His songs are sometimes described as hillbilly ballads. They are interesting and engaging, but the most famous and well-loved, even to this day, is the one about Amelia.

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