The Rockabilly veteran known as the "Human Jukebox" was put to rest in Springdale, Arkansas Friday.
Sleepy LaBeef, born Thomas Paulsley LaBeff in 1935, died Dec. 26 in his home at 84 years old, according to a Facebook post posted by his widow Linda.
The youngest of 10, LaBeef was known for 6'6" and 200-pound stature, minor hits "Every Day" and "Blackland Farmer" and for claiming he could play about 6,000 songs.
However, to his family, he was just Sleepy.
"I never even think about [having a famous family member] until someone mentions Sleepy's name," said Ann Coke, one of LaBeef's second cousins. "He's always been a rolling stone… You just never really think about that. He comes and we have dinner every year."
LaBeef was born in Smackover and grew up around El Dorado on a farm growing cotton and watermelon and raising livestock before selling the land to be drilled for oil, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. He got the name "Sleepy" in the first grade since his eyelids made him look, well, sleepy.
The encyclopedia also states that LaBeef claimed the original inspiration for "real soul singin' is between the cotton rows, pullin' watermelons and puttin' 'em on the truck."
LaBeef grew up in the United Pentecostal Church and a strong musical influence, according to a New York Times report. Coke said LaBeef started learning to play when he was 7, 8 or 9.
She said their grandfather taught LaBeef how to play notes on the guitar, but he wasn't LaBeef's only teacher. She said after school, LaBeef would meet a man who taught him bass guitar chords.
"He said when he got up, he'd do his schooling and that man would be waiting by the barn and he'd get his three-string guitar and go and play," Coke said. "Now he can play just about anything."
In 1953 when he was 18, LaBeef moved to Texas and started singing in a church.
LaBeef's niece Clara Cater said she was a baby when LaBeef moved, but heard stories about him and saw him play when he came back to El Dorado.
In 1964, LaBeef signed with Columbia Records and moved to Nashville. Four years later, he signed with Sun Records, also known as Elvis Presley's original label. At the same time, he was cast as The Swamp Thing in "The Exotic Ones," a film about three hunters in the Louisiana bayous who capture the Swamp Thing. They then take it to New Orleans and display it at a strip club until it breaks loose and starts killing people following a fight between two strippers.
In 1977 while on tour, LaBeef's tour bus caught on fire, which destroyed most of his possessions, except for a few guitars. After that, he settled in New England for a while and led the house band at Alan's Fifth Wheel Lounge in Amesbury, Massachusetts. In 1979, he signed with Rounder Records.
Cater said LaBeef didn't just stick to the states, though, he played across the world.
"He was always on the road, but it was what he loved to do," she said. "He would always come home when we needed him, he was always there."
According to a New York Times report from 1991, LaBeef said he cut back from playing 300 shows a year to 200-250 since he was going overseas so often.
Coke said even though he was away frequently, LaBeef still made time for his family. She said he would call his wife Linda and his mother every two weeks or so.
She also said he would usually make it back for the annual family reunion by what was Great Lakes Park. She said everyone would come to her house and he'd play music.
In 2003, LaBeef was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, four years before Elvis.
Cater said even though he traveled all over the place and played everywhere from bars to honky tonks, he never changed who he was.
"He always knew where his beginnings were," Cater said. "To me he didn't seem to be bragging about his palate and stuff, he didn't brag about it. He knew God gave it to him."
In 2013, LaBeef was featured in the documentary/concert "Sleepy LaBeef Rides Again."
Five years later, he met his adult son Robert Spencer, a park ranger and fire fighter in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a report by KQED.
Coke said Spencer picked up the guitar after the whole family met.
Although his last album release was "Roots" in 2008, Coke believes he's still performing after death.
"He is a beautiful, wonderful man that we're going to really, really miss and he's singing with the angels now," she said.