TEXAS DANCEHALL STANDARDS: Rhine Winkler / Senftenberger / Imperial 1101 / 1949

Reinhardt “Rhine” Winkler was a native of Schulenburg, TX, born to German immigrant parents Emil and Rosa on 11/19/19. At the age of 9 he began playing drums in his father’s orchestra. After his father retired from music making Rhine formed his own group, the Blue Jackets, followed by the Rhine Winkler Orchestra. He worked with his father in the transportation business in the 1930s and was a member of the U. S. infantry during World War Two. He married Jeanette Brooks of Columbus, TX in 1948, and worked as a clerk first at Lauterstein’s Department store in nearby La Grange, and later at Kasper’s Department Store.

From the late 1940s to the 1960s Winkler’s band worked the dancehalls of towns in the swath of south Texas between San Antonio and Houston with a large German and Czech immigrant population: Shiner, Sealy, Moulton, Yoakum, Nada, Bellville, Praha, Weimar, Hallettsville, Victoria, and his home town of Schulenburg. In the 1940s, Rhine had two recording sessions for Imperial Records, producing 14 dance instrumentals, 8 of which were grouped in the 4-disc 78 rpm album “German Folk Dances” in 1949. In the mid 1950s his recordings on Bob Tanner’s TNT label accounted for the first 8 releases of the 5000 series of German and Czech polka bands from Texas.

A member of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, the Waco Musicians Association Local 306, and the American Legion Post 143, Rhine Winkler passed away on May 6, 1975 at the age of 55.

[Senftenberger, Rhine Winkler, Imperial 1101-A, recorded 1949, matrix XR-252]
The flip side of this disk is Kirmess Tanz:    • TEXAS DANCEHALL STANDARDS: Rhine Wink...  
This record was one of a four-record set, "German Folk Dances," issued by Imperial (FD-23).
Texas Dancehall Preservation: https://texasdancehall.org/
Polka Playlist:    • Polka Time