Custer's Backstory

Warnings for discussions of alcoholism, depression, and terminal illness.

The characters Jesse, Ray, and Penny all belong to their respective owners.

This backstory is slightly shorter than my others because I may rewrite it one day. The gist will stay the same, though.

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General backstory

Born in 1933 to Wilbur and Ruby Buckley, Custer lived in Texas for another two years before his parents moved with their single child to England due to the big economic problems in America at the time. The couple were once part of a crime gang during the prohibition years and had a lot of wealth, but by the time they were in England, they'd lost almost everything and had to start all over. Thus, Custer grew up working class. His father would often be away from the house working two to three jobs at one time while his mother took up most of the parenting. He'd mostly adopt a rugged English accent but still said certain words in a southern way due to his parents, and as he grew older, he would start to love his roots.

By the time he turned 16 in 1948, he saved enough money for a cheap guitar and worked hard at learning it. He began to do gigs around the area made up of both his own original work and covers of famous songs. Through a lot of determination, he was finally able to snag a few auditions. One record company in particular would see potential in the young songwriter. In an excited rush (and some pressure by the company), he recorded and released his first album in the year 1953. Although he lived most of his life in Britain, he was a country man through and through, and his '50s albums were heavily influenced by folk music. That first album, titled "Texas Man", was somewhat rough around the edges and didn't achieve the success that was expected from his record company. He was almost dropped then and there when, miraculously, he achieved a hit with his first single.

He would go on to release four successful albums before the end of the decade, all the while performing several times on television. People flocked to buy his records and he thrived off of the positive reception that his music received. His sales would especially spike in his country of birth, and by 1955 he was already booked a flight to America. For the first time since he was two, he stepped foot on American soil, and it was there that he met television personality Charlotte "Lady" Gamble.

Now Lady Gamble was somewhat of a notorious figure in the entertainment scene, not that Custer would've known. She was able to hide her secret life well. Through her charms, she lured in the much younger man as she'd done with many in the industry and they had a very brief fling. Both were against a long-term relationship, however, and it was kept under wraps as to not stain their respective images. For Custer himself, it would be the only time he was intimate with a woman, but that was how he wanted it. The experience made him realize that the vulnerability was not for him.

Aside from that one stumble, he sailed through the '50s quite smoothly. The love from his audience made him happy enough. But by the time the '60s came around, his burst in fame began to gradually fade. His 1961 album "Believe Me" and subsequent singles would be released to little fanfare. In an attempt to salvage his fame, he joined a pop group called the Poppyseeds in 1963, his first venture into working in a band just as he reached his thirties. This would force him to change up his sound to something newer and more hip, but it seemed to be a worthwhile cost.

That being said, things didn't go too well with the group. The members didn't like each other as is, and any attempt for Custer to work things out only seemed to make it worse. He was typically pushed aside by them and given little space for input. It certainly didn't help when he came to the studio one day to find his position in the band replaced with someone else, and decided to promptly quit the Poppyseeds. The group would soon disband before quickly falling into obscurity just two years after their formation.

After that debacle, he ended up taking a hiatus from music altogether at the age of 33 and hardly touched his guitar for the next 4 years. This marked the start of his first mental decline wherein he turned towards alcohol as a way to distract himself. Taking hold was a vice that never completely fell off of him.

Having lived alone since the mid-50s, he had nobody to turn to and survived off of his parents' money and the money he still had from his hits. Eventually, however, he was at a bar one day waiting for his drink when he was approached by a young man named Ray Richards who recognized him from one of his songs being a long-time favorite. After Custer gave his signature and they both exchanged a few words, Ray eventually brought up his new band Fire Magnolia and asked if Custer would like to join. At the time, however, Custer had politely refused, no doubt remembering how the Poppyseeds went. Almost immediately after Ray left, however, a song from Fire Magnolia's first album came on the radio speakers and Custer ended up choking on his drink. Although psychedelia was already beginning to pick up, he'd never heard a sound like it at the time. Only remembering Ray's name from the signature he wrote, Custer called him up from a phone book as quickly as he could, telling him that he'd changed his mind and wanted to join.

At the age of 36, Custer ended up being the oldest of all the members by a lot, but he was very open to all of their ideas and started writing his own songs specially for the group. When given a mic or a guitar, he certainly still had an amazing sound that transcended genre and their album of 1969 ended up being a bigger hit than their last. So of course, Fire Magnolia thought about keeping him for a while. He went with them on their tour following the release of the album, and slowly became good friends with the members, particularly Jesse Kinsman whom he shared a southern heritage with. Overall, his fame finally began to turn back around.

That being said, one thing he never particular enjoyed were the interviews. He'd done them before, of course, but there suddenly seemed to be much more expected of him. Said expectations seemed impossible for him to meet. He'd often both drone on and go nowhere, stopping between sentences to struggle on details. The other members made it a habit to all walk off camera when he spoke and mess around the studio. Finally one of them would tell him that perhaps he just wasn't cut out for interviews, to which Custer would respond "it's- it's... it's that bad?"

Thus, in Fire Magnolia's last few with him still as a member, he'd only sit and say nothing. In one, the interviewer would even ask him specifically a question, to which he'd only wave his hand and say "talk to one of the others, they have more to say on that."

Although it certainly was one reason he soon left the group just before work on their next album, it wasn't the main reason. He mostly just itched to get back into releasing solo albums. He had Fire Magnolia to thank for opening his eyes to what both he and new music were capable of, as well as bringing him back into the spotlight. But he still felt his true nature was that of a lone wolf.

In 1970, he was quick to release his first solo album in 9 years. The self-titled album adopted a little bit of Fire Magnolia's sound as it included a few songs he wrote that didn't make their album. 1971's "Jackalope" would bring back some more folksy tracks, but it also begun his slow development into country rock. Even as they both sold relatively well, his biggest breakthrough yet came in the form of "Head to Toe" in 1973. It remains his most well-known work and a staple of the country rock genre to this day. Although selling quite as much, 1975's "Stardust" was even better well-received by critics and the public as a whole saw him with a new level of respect. And of course, he was at a new high mentally at this time, too, and set a new record for himself at being alcohol-free. He also went from a clean-shaven face to a bushy mustache and goatee, and grew out the back of his gradually balding hair.

Despite seeing how well his solo career was going, the now 44 year-old Custer saw 1977 as no better time than to get back with his old friends from Fire Magnolia, who'd slowly transformed into a prog rock group at this time. He never stopped being good friends with Jesse, and the other guitarist encouraged him to return for their next album. That being said, his comeback wasn't liked by everyone in the group. Confident in the sound that he made for himself, he'd constantly try getting Fire Magnolia to go country rock this time around. Although it'd be easy to believe his intentions were just self-important, he truly believed that the band would be great at it and make a smash hit.

What the album ended up being was a somewhat awkward mix of prog rock and country rock- only a moderate success. The majority of critics felt ambivalent on the album at best. Though he was likely going to leave again, anyway, the band still decided that it was best they stayed separate. Fire Magnolia had found their sound, and Custer had found his. The two just simply didn't blend anymore musically. In the last years of the '70s, Custer would release two more albums that didn't quite reach the fame that his earlier ones had. Just like in the early '60s, it seemed he was becoming less and less relevant once again. Said albums would have elements of disco mixed into them, the first signs of Custer trying to "get with the times". Although the albums were still received well, the same could not be said for his music in the '80s.

At this time, Custer had gone from a household name in the early '70s to another dusty book on the shelf. The answer was clear: he'd need to do something drastic. And something drastic he did with the release of 1981's "Buckle Up". Almost everything was now electronic with more keyboard than you can shout about. Seeing as his balding situation had become quite extreme, he began to wear crazy wigs and copy many of the wacky outfits that were big at the time. Needless to say, this new look of his was bound to be dated as soon as it hit the shelves. Although the record sold just slightly more than his last, it was swiftly panned by critics for what was seen as a soulless cashgrab. "Yikes- what happens when '50s musicians try to be hip" one would comment.

These comments continued as he eventually joined the band Jynx in 1983 at the fresh young age of 50. Of course, he was the oldest by a lot here as well. The other members had been struggling to get their group off the ground and thought having a more experienced musician would help, as well as a big name attached to their records. The band was led by singer Darby Rockecharlie who was determined to reach rock stardom. His large ego and short temper ate away at the band's unity and he had little respect for the other members. This was especially true for Custer, who he saw as a weak link in the band and spoke multiple times of replacing. Drummer Monte Hoffman and keyboardist Rudolph "Rollo" Rodney were mostly indifferent to him, but he managed to find one small friend in the form of bassist Marshal Doyle whom he sometimes confided in.

But by the late '80s, Custer's mental health reached an all-time low. His father had eventually succumbed to illness, and aside from just the comments about his music being bad now, Custer himself didn't like the songs he was creating. To many, his loss of passion was evident in the music's quality as it began to degrade over time. But most destructively, he'd got back into heavy drinking once more to try and ease the pain. It'd gotten so bad that he arrived multiple times to Jynx's studio completely drunk, leaving the other members to waste precious studio time dragging him home. The toll it was beginning to take on his mind was becoming more obvious with each passing year as his speech and mannerisms grew noticeably more slow and fatigued.

First to be released was Jynx, and then Double Jynx. Both featured the occasional song written or even sung by Custer himself. He'd often vent his depression in his lyrics, but very few really payed attention to them. Instead, most spoke about the more egregious songs written by Darby who would then take full control of their third album, Jaguar. The last album to be released was Time In A Bottle, but by then, people were already moving on from Jynx. As their records were swiftly left to rot in bargain bins and their name slowly faded from papers, Custer too would disappear from the group.

Surprisingly, however, it wasn't the band that kicked him out. Custer ended up leaving himself in 1987, and at a loss for what to do next, Jynx broke up shortly afterwards. He continued to waste away for a few more months without a job again until one day his mother Ruby payed him an unexpected visit. Shocked at his condition, she laid some tough love on him, forcing him to go to rehab.

It was a long, hard battle, but Custer slowly started to get better. He finally let go of drinking and instead gave himself time to breathe, allowing his mind to slowly heal. When he learned to accept things as they were and accept himself, too, the way ahead seemed bright for the first time in years. He spent a while in Texas to help ease his mind with the images he loved best. Still, though, he couldn't help but feel just as loyal to the place where he grew up in England.

Shortly before moving back, however, he received a diagnosis in 1991 for pancreatic cancer. The news was beyond devastating. Custer was still only 57 at the time. Up until then, he thought he was going to live for a long time yet.

Of course, though, he tried his best to fight. He finally had to have the last remnants of his hair shaved and spent long weeks in therapy at the hospital. He recorded a little bit of music, but rarely shared it with anyone. A bit of his last few years was spent catching up on old friends, especially from Fire Magnolia. Jesse, however, was one he never got the chance to speak to due to how busy the other guitarist was, only able to send Custer letters every now and then. At the time, though, he became closest to his mother, Ruby, whom he confided all of his worries with. She spent almost all of her time with him now, helping him battle through everything.

By 1993, Custer began to do interviews again for the very first time. In said interviews, he'd reveal a lot about himself, his life, and his career. In one, he spoke about his regrets about never getting into relationships, citing his mental decline in the '80s as proof that he couldn't handle being on his own as well as he thought. Others were a little more uplifting, such as joking about various things that Jesse and Roy did. He especially spent a lot of time talking about his mother, however. He'd begun to learn, in his words, that he wasn't really alone after all. What he really needed his whole life was always right there. But as the following year rolled around, the public began to understand that he wasn't going to last much longer. Even with all the therapy, he never got much better- only the opposite. Knowing this, too, interviews in the '90s would let him talk and talk. They wouldn't act bored and showed interest even when he started forgetting details again. Quite the diversion from the '60s interviewers who thought he'd never go.

In 1995, Custer would have one final interview just weeks before his death at 62. Even with his arm over another guy's shoulders, he barely made it across the stage just to sit down. Yet, when the interviewer would then ask him if he needed anything, he'd simply reply with "No, thanks. Everything's good." Even in the unimaginable pain of his illness, Custer never lost that cheerful light in his eyes. He even joked around, laughing with the audience one final time. He'd leave the fans watching one last message to always stick together and follow their hearts, before bidding everyone farewell. It's unknown exactly what his last words were. Only that he'd send one last letter to Jesse, albeit his mother being the one to write it using his own words, just a few days before his passing. Jesse would only receive said letter after already hearing the news of his death.

For many, Custer is remembered as fondly as ever. He left a long legacy, and his song-writing has yet to be matched. His '90s recordings are currently in the possession of his estate and are unlikely to be released any time soon, but there's no telling. For now, he'll always live in the hearts of Fire Magnolia and their fans alike.

Extra trivia

He had a large collection of bobbing turtle figurines, as well as a lot of cowboy memorabilia unsurprisingly.
He was named after his mother's maiden name (Ruby Custer), hence why it's more typically a surname.
During one interview where Custer was struggling to remember things once again, Jesse and Roy were up to their usual antics when they found a circuit board in the wall. Naturally, they started poking around it. "Oh man, what's this do-?" were famous words before disaster. When the lights in the studio shut off, the bored interviewer decided to end it all there before Custer would finish what he was trying to say. This is one of the few times he was ever angry at them, and it was only brief. He'd learn to laugh at the situation in later interviews.
From 1971 to 1978, Custer would adopt a mutt named Horseshoe from a neighbor that was moving and could no longer keep the dog. The musician would love Horseshoe to bits. In one 1973 interview he kept getting distracted and playing with the dog instead of answering questions. Sadly, though, Horseshoe would pass away one night due to complications with old age. It was another big blow to Custer just as the '80s were about to come around.
The first time he visited Jesse's son during the '80s, the child ended up crying because he was scared of Custer. Poor guy just naturally had bad vibes during that era, I guess. Jesse's son slowly warmed up to him, but it took a bit.
The Fire Magnolia album he appeared on in 1977, although originally not received well by critics, became a cult classic years after his death. It started with one of the songs becoming a meme, and when people listened to the full album out of curiosity, a lot of them loved it. It came to have almost perfect scores on several review sites. Clearly, the world just wasn't ready yet for prog rock country in 1977...
His mother, Ruby Buckley, ended up living an incredibly long time. In 2002, however, she passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 94. Since Custer had no other family besides his parents, his old belongings were handed off to a few different close friends of his, including Jesse.

Darby Rockecharlie

"Main" Jynx member Darby Rockecharlie's disrespect for Custer was always an open book. He talked openly in interviews about how the oldest member was on his last leg and that he was already planning to replace the guy with a new lead guitarist as soon as he managed to find one. Said replacement would never happen, but that didn't stop Darby from consistently treating Custer like a weak link.

The other members of the group already had enough reasons to dislike Darby as is. He would often start arguments in the studio and forced the band to do his songs exactly as he wanted them. Custer, however, saw Darby as nothing more than a simple kid caught up in his ambitions. He'd go on to excuse the lead singer's actions in later interviews, believing that he just didn't know any better.

That being said, he managed to make one jab at Darby in the form of a song he wrote shortly after the release of Double Jynx. Custer himself would eventually regret this action, stating it as having been impulsive of him. Later revealed to have been co-written by Marshal and Rollo, the lyrics not-so-subtly mocked him and his music. Hardly thinking twice about the words, Darby sang the track anyhow, going as far as to believe that Custer was finally learning to write cool songs for once and releasing it as an A side single. Needless to say, Darby wasn't very happy when he learned the truth about a week later.

The lead singer would proceed to take full control of their next album, the hastily-recorded "Jaguar" in 1986. Both Custer and Marshal were reduced to backup vocals, and Custer himself would have not one penned track. It would go on to be their hardest album, but arguably their worst according to many critics. The title track followed a sneaky woman of the night who lured men into her vehicle of the same name. The album would finish with a hard rock cover of the Monkees' "99 Pounds", a song done so last minute that there wasn't even time to rerecord Custer's uncharacteristically sloppy guitar work or Darby's mic peaking around three or four times.

After the departure of Custer in 1987, Darby did in fact attempt to keep the group together to no avail. Just as the group went under, so did their record company, Pluto Records. This left Darby with little options. His first and only attempt at becoming famous had left him frustrated and disillusioned. Drifting on with what little money he had left, Darby turned towards a life of danger. He became addicted to both adrenaline and several drugs. One night in 1989, he was caught driving recklessly on a busy highway shortly before crashing his car into a pillar, instantly dying at only 25. Even for those who distained him the most, his death is still held as a shocking tragedy.

Marshal Doyle and Jesse Kinsman

A few years after the passing of Custer, a documentary would be in the works titled "Riding The Rods: Custer Buckley's Story", the name coming from the opening track of his 1971 album Jackalope. Ruby Buckley would join the effort of preserving his memory, along with Marshal Doyle of Jynx and Jesse Kinsman of Fire Magnolia. Marshal and Jesse met for the first time this way. Although Marshal was a little shy during the whole thing, Jesse happened to be an extrovert and the two quickly hit it off. They became very close during the filming of the interview segments, exchanging stories about Custer and their own experiences in the music industry. Although he noted that Custer seemed happier despite his illness, Marshal always regretted never getting to see Custer when he was, in the bassist's eyes, truly happy. Meanwhile, Jesse was crushed by the fact he never got to see Custer one last time before his passing.

The two would gradually come to terms with what they had, however, and the documentary would appear on television starting in 1998. They continued to be good friends following the film's completion.

After his experience with Jynx, Marshal had also long given up music, but Jesse would encourage him to return. Becoming a solo artist himself, Marshal would finally see considerable success. As the years went by, he'd eventually marry and currently lives a modest life with a few kids. Jesse, however, would tragically pass away in the late 2000s.

Graham Finnegan

Following her fling with Custer Buckley, Lady Gamble would have daughter named Marcella. Her success as a television star slowly began to dwindle at this time, and she was forced to take up a smaller job to stay afloat. All the while, she eventually married a man to help raise her child. Nobody would ever figure out who the father was. Even Lady herself didn't know for a long time, but she had her suspicions.

The years went by, and Marcella grew to be a very bright woman. She eventually became a nurse with a successful career, and later moved to England where she met baseball coach Hudson Finnegan. They'd marry and have three children: Graham in 1981, Demelza in 1983, and Wendy in 1986. When the family was visited by Lady, she was immediately struck by Graham's resemblance to Custer. By the late '80s, she was fighting her temptation to spill the truth. Once she tried showing the young Graham a performance of Custer from the '50s- how she remembered him best. The boy quickly grew bored, however, forcing Lady to give up. Later on she'd draft a letter to Custer regarding his grandchildren that he didn't know about, but said letter would never be read. Lady would pass away suddenly in the year 1993, taking any knowledge of Marcella's father with her.

That was, until 2003. Graham had a very troubled teen life that followed him up until this point. He had a slew of pent-up frustration from not being the success that his family seemed to expect him to be. Often he ran away from them to spend time on the streets, even turning to drugs. One day, however, he'd return to his family to see everyone shocked about some news. His mother had done some sort of test, and it turned out her father was a famous musician by the name of Custer Buckley.

At this time, Graham was close friends with a woman named Penny who was studying abroad from America. She was technically his only real friend, but that wasn't the matter. She'd recently joined a band. In fact, another member was a son of Jesse Kinsman. Graham only knew bits and pieces about his grandfather, and his music wasn't really his thing. But it seemed like fate had landed in front of him. The answer to the question he'd been asking his whole life had suddenly become so clear. He was going to be a musician.