IMELDA MAY

VINTAGE ROCK JULY/AUGUST 2014

ROY ORBISON GENE VINCENT

THE BIG O’S FIVE REBEL CATS, ONE
ROCKIN’ ROOTS TIMELESS ALBUM Goes Tribal!

VINTAGE ROCK
HAIL! HAIL! ROCK’N’ROLL! THE MUSIC, THE STORIES, THE LIFESTYLE, THE MEMORIES...

9 772054 357003
VINTAGE ROCK MAGAZINE ISSUE 12 JULY/AUG 2014 £5.99

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REVIEWS
R o c ka b i l l y m a y h e m f r o m
Hillbillies to High Rollers! VIVA LAS
INCLUDING JACK SCOTT THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE VEGAS!
ROBERT GORDON CRAZY CAVAN LEE DRESSER WEEKENDER
 WELCOME

Anthem Publishing, Station House,

Station Approach, off North Street,
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Tel 020 8773 3865
Email vintagerock@anthem-publishing.com
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CONTRIBUTORS
Rob Bewick, Julie Burns, Alan Clayson, Bill
Dahl, Vince Eager, Sean Egan, Randy Fox, John
Howard, Jeremy Isaac, Paul Rigby
PHOTOGRAPHY Paul Harris, Mike Prior
ADVERTISING MANAGER Leah Fitz-Henry
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Welcome...
The summer seemed like as good a time as any to unveil our
Rockabilly Special. Special, not only because we tell the many-
faceted tale of the rise of rockabilly in the US, and dig deep into the
lives of musical icons from right across the timeline, but because we
have commissioned none other that rockabilly’s voodoo art-demon-
in-residence Mr Vince Ray to design this issue’s spectacular cover –
and, we think you’ll agree, it’s a thing of beauty!
We feature stars from the halcyon days past right through to the
present. From the ‘50s we profile Canada’s biggest export, Jack
Scott, explore Gene Vincent’s classic sophomore LP (with insight
from Gene expert Derek Henderson) and track back to the rockin’
early years of the Big ‘O’. From the neo-rockabilly movement we
break bread with style icon and singer Robert Gordon, and from the
here and now we chat with Irish rockabilly star Imelda May about
her passion for rock’n’roll and her new album, Tribal. If anyone is
poised to take rockabilly into the future it’s this gal!
And there’s plenty more… We interview Ted icon Crazy Cavan
and the late, great Krazy Kat, Lee Dresser, who sadly passed soon
after our meeting. We explore the Louisiana Hayride – the show
that launched numerous careers – complete with incredible photos
and a Q&A with Prof. Tracey Laird, who recently wrote a book on
the legendary shindig. On top of that, we explore Chess’ rockabilly
output and reveal our Top 40 tracks from the best rockin’ women.
Last, but by no means least, we review the world’s largest rockabilly
spectacular Viva Las Vegas, we go backstage at the London
Burlesque Festival and Vince Eager spins another unmissable yarn
from his rock’n’roll diary. We hope you enjoy the issue!

VINTAGE ROCK JULY/AUGUST

ROY ORBISON
Email enquiries@anthem-publishing.com THE BIG O’S
ROCKIN’ ROOTS
GENE VINCENT
FIVE REBEL CATS, ONE IMELDA MAY

VINTAGE ROCK
TIMELESS ALBUM
Goes Tribal!

2014
Printed by Polestar
Tel +44 (0)1206 849500 HAIL! HAIL! ROCK’
N’ROLL! THE MUSIC
, THE STORIES, THE LIFEST
YLE, THE MEMORIES...

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OM

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ROBERT GORDSCOTT CRAZY CAVAN LEE
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4 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 IN THE ISSUE

Contents
THE STARS
CRAZY CAVAN 12
We talk to Wales’ iconic rock’n’roll stalwart Crazy Cavan about Screaming Lord Sutch, staying power,
losing his job to rockin’ and his career thus far with the Rhythm Rockers.

LEE DRESSER 16
Dresser and his band The Krazy Kats stayed with the original line-up longer than all others. We met
the rockabilly legend for one of his final interviews before he tragically passed away earlier his year.

IMELDA MAY 28
She’s stood firm on her own unswerving path and is a beautiful anomaly in the modern musical
landscape. Now Dublin’s rockabilly queen takes on the globe with her new album Tribal.

ROY ORBISON 34
Orbison may well have morphed into the ultimate balladeer by the end of his career, but his real
roots lay in rockabilly and Sun Records… We track back to earlier glories.

JACK SCOTT 58
He never quite reached the Billboard heights of some of his peers, but Jack Scott was a songwriter
par excellence and laid down a catalogue of rockin’ material that proves his mettle ten times over.

58
ROBERT GORDON 76
Oh-so-stylish, full of passion, and armed with one of the world’s best baritones, Robert Gordon was
a leading light in the resurgence of rockabilly. We chat to a modern–day maestro..

THE FEATURES

106
ALL MAMA’S CHILDREN 6
Welsh Rockabilly Fair, Hemsby Weekender, Retro Fest, Jukeboxes, books, clothes and releases.

FROM HILLBILLIES TO HIGH ROLLERS 18

We uncover how the infectious rockabilly beat evolved into a phenomenon.

THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE 40

Shreveport’s legendary Louisiana Hayride was a fertile breeding ground for a host of rockin’ stars.

TOP 40 ROCKIN’ WOMEN 48

The top 40 tracks from the women who rock our world!

POSTERS 64
Buddy Holly, Duane Eddy, Johnny Carroll, Elvis and Brian Setzer.

ROCKABILLY AT CHESS 70
Randy Fox discusses Chess Records’ rockabilly output in part four of our independent label series.

READER’S JUKEBOX 82
We load the jukebox with your favourite anthems for the dancefloor.

CLASSIC ALBUM 88
Gene Vincent and his seminal sophomore album, Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps.

VIVA LAS VEGAS WEEKENDER 94

John Howard boards the plane to the biggest rockabilly party in the world.

ALBUM REVIEWS 100

We give the latest musical offerings a test run…

LONDON BURLESQUE FESTIVAL 106

After two glorious weeks of sizzling burlesque in the capital, we assess the best of the fest.

VINCE EAGER: A LIFE IN ROCK’N’ROLL 110

Yet another fascinating chapter from the Brit who lived on rock’n’roll’s front line.

FREE CD BUNDLE PAGE 104

when you subscribe!
ON THE COVER
 ALL
Mamas’
CHILDREN
A FAIR OL’ DO
The Welsh Rockabilly Fair is based on an event in Coney Beach, New York, that
closed down when they re-developed the old boardwalk there. However, the area
of Porthcawl used for the fair is actually also named Coney Beach and was
modelled on the New York area back in the 1920s. What to expect? First, there’s
20 hours of non-stop rockabilly music featuring Rusti Steel & The Startones, The
Sureshots meet John Lewis Trio, Ruckus, The Tailights, Ian Cal Ford & the Railmen,
Tom Cat & The Zodiacs, El Camino, Doggone Honkabillies, as well as seven top DJs,
and a separate DJ dancehall to cut a rug. On top of that there’s an outdoor stage,
classic cars and bikes, rare vinyl store, stroller and jive workshops, retro and
boutique clothing stalls, late night bar and – the big attraction – an
old-fashioned fairground right next door to the venue! Xanadu Productions also
stage the Porthcawl Elvis Festival, which over the last ten years has grown to be
the biggest event of its kind in the world. As big rockabilly fans, the plan was to
stage the Rockabilly Fair the weekend before the Elvis Festival, tieing them both
together nicely! The Welsh Rockabilly Fair takes place at The Hi Tide, Porthcawl on
19-21 September. Tickets cost only £70 (under 16s half price!). For more info head
over to www.welshrockabilly.co.uk

6 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 Photo: © Scott Cole

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 7

 ALL ’
Mamas
CHILDREN
RETRO MANIA!
A
killer weekend of unchained
rock’n’roll perfection arrives with
this year’s Retro Festival on 8/9/10
August at White Waltham Airfield in
Maidenhead. Three stages offer three
genres. Rock’n’roll resides at the Black
Hangar stage, with sets from The
Kingcats, The Doggone Honkabillies,
Restless (UK), Class Of 1958, Greggie
G, This Little Girl & the Dillicats, Craig
Shaw & the Illuminators and Rhythm
River Trio, with DJs and dance classes
adding to the fire. For both music and
burlesque, head over to the Spitfire

ROCKTOBER!
Ballroom, where Eliza Delite and
Marianne Cheesecake will be sizzling
and King Candy and the Sugarpush
add a swinging soundtrack. The third

I
f Hemsby’s stellar May rock’n’roll Jesse James & the Outlaws and many stage features soul, R&B, mod, ska and
weekender was anything to go by, we’re more. Expect the usual sizeable vintage northern soul. There’s a huge show
destined for yet more fireworks at and retro market for clothing, shoes, arena with dare-devil flying displays and
Hemsby 53 this October. It’s yet another accessories, collectibles and homeware, a glossy line-up of vintage, classic and
all-star show with Vintage Hair & American vehicles to admire, as well as
headline slots
occupied by ‘All- Hemsby53 Make-up Parlour
for preening, sharp
hundreds of vintage and retro home wear
and clothing stands to explore, an auto
American Boy’ Billy
Adams, ex-Drifters promises more cuts from the Men’s
Barber Shop, Record
jumble to pick up a thrifty bargain, Kids
zone, food and bars and two camp sites.
Bobby Hendricks
backed by The rock’n’roll Room for vinyl and
cds, Kav Kavanagh’s
Tickets and further information at
www.retrofestival.co.uk
Roomates, Barrence
Whitfield and his fireworks with an Jive School and ‘50s
Jive contest, the
American Savages,
Hemsby fave and
Million Dollar
all-star show customary car boot
sale and a horde of
top rockin’ DJs to
Quartet star Nick Willett and a rare keep the floors full. Thursday’s pre-party
performance from Rolling Rock original features Sweden’s Problem Child, Jesse
Jimmy Lee Mason. On top of that comes James & the Outlaws and The Hayriders
a cast of UK rock’n’rollers including (£30).Hemsby 53 takes place 3-6 October
Jake Allen and his band, The Doggone at Seacroft Holiday Village in Hemsby.
Honkabillies, The River Rhythm Trio, www.hemsbyrocknroll.co.uk

8 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 RAY OF LIGHT
When we decided that issue 12 of
Vintage Rock was going to be our-all-
encompassing ‘Rockabilly Special’,
we knew we’d have to come up with
something extra-special for the cover
of this exclusive issue. So without
further ado, we called upon legendary
rockabilly illustrator Vince Ray to
design the cover and we think you’ll
all agree it’s a blinder!
Vince has provided his inimitable
artwork for everyone from Brian
Setzer, Reverend Horton Heat, The
Spunyboys, Lucky 13, rockabilly
barber Mr Ducktail and Fender
guitars, as well as being the
man behind Viva Las Vegas’
promotional designs since the
PETTY IN PRINT
R CHAMBRAY SHIRT
ollercoaster Books’ The King Of
Clovis – Norman Petty: American
Music Legend is a must for all
rock’n’roll devotees. This classy
hardback tells the story of iconic ‘50s
producer and musician Norman Petty.
Although Petty had made notes in
preparation for his own self-penned
memoirs, the project never got off the
ground as production duties always
took the driver’s seat in his busy life.
Author Frank Blanas was persuaded
by Petty’s widow Vi to take on the task
after a visit to interview her
for his college thesis about
the effect of rock’n’roll on
US society. Despite Vi’s
death soon after, in 1993
Blanas relocated to Clovis
to begin writing, with full
access to the Petty archives.
Twenty years on and here it
is, a comprehensive 500-
VINTAGE ROCK JULY/AUGUST 2014
ROY ORBISON GENE VINCENT
THE BIG O’S
ROCKIN’ ROOTS FIVE REBEL CATS, ONE IMELDA MAY
Goes Tribal!
VINTAGE ROCK
TIMELESS ALBUM
event started 18 years ago. Not only
that, Vince is also an accomplished
rock’n’roller and has been recording HAIL! HAIL! ROCK’N’ROLL! THE MUSIC
, THE STORIES, THE LIFESTYLE, THE MEMO
RIES...
and performing with his band the
Boneshakers for a decade. His latest
musical project, Vince Ray’s Loser
Machine, is a two piece – just guitar and
drums – playing, in the words of the
great man himself, ‘stripped down Link
Wray-styled garage rock’n’roll murder
9 772054 357003
VINTAGE ROCK MAGAZINE ISSUE
style!’ The duo use projections of old
12
12 JULY/AUG 2014 £5.99
biker and hot rod footage to accompany
Issue 12
VINTAGE
ROCK
their live show, and we can’t wait to see Over 1 0 0 pages of
HOT OR NOT?
Album
WWW.VINTAGEROCKMAG.COM
the spectacle! R o c ka b i l l y m a y h e m f r o m REV IEW S
For more information on Vince, or to Hillbillies to High Rollers!
check out his designs and merchandise, PLUS! JACK SCOTT CRAZY CAVAN VIVA LAS
ROBERT GORDON THE LOUIS LEE DRESSER VEGAS!
IANA HAYRIDE
visit www.vinceray.com or email him WEEKENDER
at therealvinceray@gmail.com
Objects of desire
page biography of the multi-talented
man behind a myriad of priceless
music including Buddy Holly and the Vivien of Holloway has introduced a classy range of
Crickets, Roy Orbison, The Fireballs – rockabilly cut leisure shirts including this suave number
and all the rest. with a classic vintage cut, collar loop detail, breast pocket
and yoke pleats for ease of movement on the dancefloor.
Along with this insightful and £45. www.vivienofholloway.com
thorough history come some excellent
photos, memorabilia and information
about Petty’s Clovis studio and the
artists who recorded there. Discover
the real happenings in Petty’s
fascinating life, the homegrown
rock’n’roll born in the Texas-New
Mexico area and everything
in between with this
engrossing hardback tome.
Books are numbered 1-1000
and UK and European
copies include a 33-track
CD of Petty’s greatest
moments. All for £35.
www.rollercoaster
records.com
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 9
 ’
ALL ’
Mamas HOW RANDOM!
CHILDREN Fashion and sartorial style are almost as integral to the rockabilly scene as the music
itself and all the stars of the ‘50s – from Elvis, Carl Perkins and Eddie Cochran to
Wanda Jackson, Barbara Pittman and Brenda Lee – took their wardrobes very seriously
indeed. And rightfully so! The result was many a thrilling side devoted to that all-
important look, including Dwight ‘Whitey’ Pullen’s ode to cool Sunglasses After Dark,
Joe Clay’s coiffurred classic Duck Tail and Carl Perkins’ flagship recording Blue Suede
Shoes to name but a few. We begin our rundown with another of Perkins’ tributes…

1 PUT YOUR CAT CLOTHES ON

CARL PERKINS
Not commercially released during the ‘50s, Put Your Cat Clothes On is the ultimate rock’n’roll ode to
fashion and features the inimitable piano playing of ‘The Killer’, Jerry Lee Lewis.

2 JOE BENNETT & THE SPARKLETONES

BLACK SLACKS
Black Slacks was the band’s first recording. The single rose to No 17 and spent four months in the US
charts. Follow-up Penny Loafers and Bobby Sox was another sartorially-themed wonder.

3 THE COASTERS
SHOPPIN’ FOR CLOTHES
The most laid back track ever committed to vinyl, this doo-wop smoothie is groovesome heaven.
Writers Leiber and Stoller borrowed heavily from Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew’s cut Clothes Line.

4 EDDIE COCHRAN
PINK PEG SLACKS
Cochran’s ode to a winsome pair of slacks he saw in a shop window was one of his first rockabilly
attempts. Obviously modelled on Carl Perkins Blue Suede Shoes, it was recorded at Gold Star Studios.

5GLEN GLENN
BLUE JEANS AND A BOY’S SHIRT
This rockin’ 1958 side released on Era Records celebrates the object of Glenn’s affections with a slice of
rockabilly genius. Check out Bear Family’s Glen Rocks compilation for the best of Glen Glenn.

Jukes Up!
Objects of desire The humble jukebox was the musical backbone behind many a
rock’n’roll party, so we were thrilled to learn that UK Jukeboxes

THE ULTIMATE JACK SCOTT COLLECTION!
Rollercoaster Record’s new Jack Scott compilation, Jack Scott – The Way I Walk: The Carlton
Recordings 1958-1960, compiles all of Scott’s Carlton recordings as well as featuring a clutch of
superb earlier cuts he made for ABC, and five bonus tracks. The lion’s share of tunes are taken
from the original masters and Scott’s fascinating tale is told in the accompanying 24-page
booklet, together with some excellent photos. www.rollercoasterrecords.com – £12
were expanding their range with five new models that bring jukes
right up to date, while maintaining a nicely authentic look. Our pick
of the new jukes include the new Steepletone (£828.75) Touch Rock
50 Two Retro Jukebox that promises a modern listening experience
thanks to an iPod and iPad dock, DVD/CD Player with touch control,
MP3/MPEG4 playback compatibility, MW-FM radio, Bluetooth
playback, mini USB port, SD card slot and audio output, with a
choice of black, light or dark wood veneers and customisable colour
changing LED lighting – a fine option. The Steepletone with MP3 CD
Rock One 12 Encode Floor Standing Jukebox (£958.75) also looks
handsome with similar modern features including iPod, iPhone and
iPad dock, 4GB USB/SD reader capability, radio playback and touch
sensitive volume control. Choose from black, cherry or light honey
coloured wood. This one stop wonder also converts from CDs and
other electronic devices directly into MP3. A simpler option is the
Steepletone CD Classic Rock Zero (£344.89) with CD playback, radio
and the same LEDs. More at www.uk-jukeboxes.co.uk

10 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 Elvis Has Left The Building:
The Day The King Died
DYLAN JONES RUMBLE
(DUCKWORTH OVERLOOK)
Many a dreary volume has been doled out about the life and
ON THE
RIDGE
music of Elvis since he bid adieu back in 1977, but none has
addressed his life, character, and indeed, his death, in such a
unique way as this latest work. Few have been as well written
either. Seven-time BSME Editor Of The Year winner, GQ editor
and prolific author Dylan Jones crafts the King’s final days set in
the cultural context of the punk movement and details the effect
The second annual Rock Ridge The Trouble Shooters, Cow Cow
his departure had on the world. Forget the dog-eared stock sell,
Jones’ powerful prose allows us to immerse ourselves in the real Rumble rockabilly weekender Boogie and a ream of rockin’ DJs
Elvis: his passions (guns, food, Hawaii), his character (humble, returns to take over Burdon Plain on completing the bill. Attractions
brilliant, compelling), his reliance on drugs, and, of course, his 1-3 August. And with an impressive aplenty include two expansive
music. This takes us through his final Vegas shows, the line-up of rock’n’roll bands and dancefloors on which to stake your
circumstances around his death and, most importantly, the
artists making the pilgrimage from claim, a pamper room to ensure no
aftermath: world reaction, funeral, public viewing, heartfelt
tributes, rampant posthumous exploitation, quasi-religious the length and breadth of Europe, hair is out of place, plentiful vintage
tourism and the surging punk scene. The book closes with what it’s sure to live up to its name. and retro stalls to peruse at leisure
we’re left with: his greatest musical moments. The ultimate Killer headline acts include Cherry and chrome galore in the classic car,
exploration of the ultimate dead rock star. www.ducknet.co.uk Casino & the Gamblers (Germany), hotrod and motorbike display that
Miss Mary Ann & the Ragtime attendees can admire in the mid
Wranglers (UK/Netherlands), summer sunshine.
Charlie Thompson (UK/Sweden) Tickets for Rock Ridge Rumble 2
and Ike & the Capers (Germany), cost just £60 per person and include
with The Doel Brothers, The camping. For more info and tickets
Sureshots, The Slingshots, The visit www.rockridgeevents.co.uk or
Wolftones, The Doggone Daddy’s, call 01207 529233/07982 005429.

BIG SH‘O’W! Objects of desire

F
ans of The Big ‘O’ can relive the
glorious magic of the great man and
his hits via the Roy Orbison and
Friends show, featuring dead ringer
Barry Steele, his super-talented band
and their unmissable multi-media live
spectacular. Not only does Steele imitate
the great Orbison’s tone to a tee through
all of the classic hits from the ‘60s right
through to the late ‘80s, but the music
is interwoven with both fresh footage
and original film from the era. Add star
guest tributes to Elvis Presley, Buddy
Holly, Dusty Springfield and Jerry Lee
CUSTOM STUDDED BELT
Fancy your name emblazoned across a handmade belt
Lewis and it should be one fine (and in fetching silver studs? Look no further than Vintage
contemporary) shindig. Engineer Boot’s handsome offerings. Made to order in
Roy Orbison and Friends’ mammoth the United States from leather, cowhide, metal and nickel,
tour visits all areas of the UK ‘til these stylish belts are pretty damn cool.
www.vintageengineerboots.com
January 2015. For more information
visit www.royorbisontribute.com,
call 0121 602 4669, or email
lynnemsteele@yahoo.co.uk

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 11

 Legends Of Rock
Crazy Cavan
He started out by entertaining the underground scene of Britain’s late
1960s rock’n’roll revival, and half a century later he’s still keeping the
faith. Alan Clayson spoke to ‘Crazy’ Cavan Grogan…
How much did your first group,
Screamin’ Count Dracula and the
Vampires, owe to Screaming Lord
Sutch and the Savages?
I was a 14-year-old schoolboy in 1963
when I first heard Screaming Lord
Sutch’s Jack The Ripper on a jukebox.
Then came Monster In Black Tights,
She’s Fallen In Love With The Monster
Man and Dracula’s Daughter. Man, I
loved all that horror stuff, but the one
that blew me away was Screamin’ Jay
Hawkins’ Columbia release of The
Whammy with Strange on the B-side in
1963. I got right into Screamin’ Jay, and
when I discovered I Put A Spell On You it
inspired me to write I Put A Curse On You
Baby and come up with Screamin’ Count
Dracula and the Vampires.
Other of my own – now long-forgotten
– songs at that time were Goin’ To The
Rockhouse and What A Gasser I Must Be.
I was (and still am) inspired by all sorts of
things, maybe something someone says,
something I read, something in a movie
or on TV. It just kinda happens. There’ve
been times when I’ve written a song on a
beer mat or a cigarette packet, then just
knocked it around with the boys till it
started to feel good.
Anyway, Screamin’ Count Dracula and
the Vampires had broken up by 1968
when I formed The Sundogs. By then,
I’d discovered rockabilly through the
imported records that ‘Breathless’ Danny
Coffey, editor of Boppin’ News, played
me. He and I used to go to the Pop In, a
rockers’ café in Newport. Danny was a bit
of a pioneer. In 1968, he co-produced and
released Stutterin’ Cindy/Tear It Up, the
first Charlie Feathers single for six years.
At the time, did you ever think in
terms of making it, hit records or
Sundog-mania?
No. We were just having fun, playing
music we loved and felt like we were
keeping something important alive.
Nobody would even mention the word
rock‘n’roll then. It was all being called
12 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
‘beat music’. Rock‘n’roll was a dirty word
then for the masses.
To what degree did the rock’n’roll
revival influence your decision to
go professional with the Rhythm
Rockers?
None whatsoever. We went professional
because one by one we got sacked from
our jobs because we were taking too
much time off to go rockin’!
You and Shakin’ Stevens emerged from
the same region at the same time. Was
there rivalry between the two of you?
In his biography, Shaky by Michael
Heatley (O’Mara, 2005), there’s
mention of ‘a face-off in a transport
café’ that ‘resulted in mutual respect’.
I can’t say I felt any rivalry from Shakin’
Stevens’ band, or anyone else at the
time, because they were doing mostly
rock‘n’roll standards and we were doing
what was then obscure rockabilly and
writing our own stuff. I think we were the
only ones doing that back then.
Why did you establish your own
Crazy Rhythm label as opposed to
approaching an established company
like Charly immediately?
We approached quite a few companies
to record us through demos of Teddy Boy
Rock ‘N’ Roll, Bop Lil’ Baby and Teddy Boy
Boogie, but they didn’t think there was
an audience for it. Even Charly were only
releasing 1950s American stuff that hadn’t
been out in the UK before. They only took
an interest in us when our Rockhouse
album started to sell. Then the pound
signs flashed before their eyes!
Pub-rock enabled acts such as Johnny
Kidd’s Pirates and even the obscure
Rockin’ Vickers to make headway. Did
it help you too? Or were you getting
enough work anyway? You’d already
amassed a huge following in Europe.
We’d done pub and social club gigs for
years. These were our breeding grounds.
That’s where we sweated, drank and
fought. We had hits in Finland, including
a No 1 in 1980, and received a gold record
for the Still Crazy album. Yet when
Shakin’ Stevens, Matchbox and The Stray
Cats made it, we had no label, only our
own reactivated Crazy Rhythm, and we
didn’t trust record companies any more
after being ripped off too many times.
We did do a one-off single for Polydor,
Put A Light In The Window, released in
Germany in 1981, but it got lost among the
Christmas records that year, so it never
came out on 45 in the UK.
Demented Are Go acknowledge you as
a major influence. What do you think
of them and other psychobilly acts?
Demented Are Go? Yeah, that’s the guy
with the real gruff voice. Batmobile, the
Dutch psychobilly band, did one of my
compositions, Frankie’s Got A Quiff. I’ve
heard My Little Sister’s Got A Motorbike
by other bands like that. Now I’m no
expert on psychobilly, but I love bands
who are original, who take a song and
do it their way. The world is full of copy
bands. Why copy? Elvis on Sun did Blue
Moon Of Kentucky nothing like Bill
Monroe’s blue grass version, and I Don’t
Care If The Sun Don’t Shine, nothing like
Dean Martin’s. In fact, he did everything
his way. That’s what I call being creative.
My son Joe plays in a psychobilly band
called The Graveyard Johnnys. I’ve been
to quite a few psychobilly gigs with him,
and watched him and similar bands. Lots
of ‘em have developed their own image
and put lots of energy into their music.
That’s what keeps rock‘n’roll alive. I’ve
met a lot of people who dismiss it. Well, I
don’t like Herman’s Hermits, but so what?
You’ve been doing this for more than
40 years now. Do you see yourself ever
retiring?
Not while we’re still havin’ fun! Rock on! ✶
 ALL
Mamas’
CHILDREN

Eager To Tour
V
ince Eager heads out on the
road this summer in support of
his stunning new long player
Rockabilly Dinosaur – a favourite here at
Vintage Rock. Upcoming dates include
Northampton Dragon Boat and Music
Festival on Sunday 13th July, Americana
Festival 10-13 July, Nuneaton Co-Op
Club 25th July, Summertime Swing 10th
Anniversary Show on 3 August at Saint

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Hill Manor, East Grinstead with The

Wildest Cats In Town
4-7 JULY
Featuring Bill Haley’s Original Comets last UK show,
Johnny Powers, Art Adams, Crazy Cavan, Jet Black, The
Capitols, Si Cranstoun, Chris Castello, Lennerockers, Flyin’
Saucers, Colin Hicks, Matchbox reunion, Rhythm Ace Combo,
Corrupted, Bobcats, Coy Dogs, Spunyboys, classic car and
bike cruise, records, clothing stalls, tailor and more!
Venue Pontins Pakefield
Admission From £159
Booking tennesseeclub.net
Jive Aces, and Toni Elizabeth Prima,
and finally Wednesday 13th August at
A Rockin’ Good All Dayer V Seacroft Holiday Village in Hemsby.
For tickets and more details visit
7 SEPTEMBER
Featuring Live music from Spencer J (as Buddy Holly), www.vinceeager.co.uk
Miss Aloha, Reverend Boogie & DJ Dandy, Jive lessons, ‘50s
style diner, vintage Market, beauty parlour, Jive Kings Coffee
Stop and classic cars, motorbikes & scooter show.
Venue Cherry Red Records Fans’ Stadium, London
Admission From £7/£5 students,
(classic car, bike and scooter riders get in free)
Booking kingsmeadowlive.com

Rock Ridge The Welsh

Rumble #2 Rockabilly Fair
1-3 AUGUST 19-21 SEPTEMBER
Featuring Cherry Casino & the Featuring Rusti Steel & The
Gamblers, Miss Mary Ann & the Startones, The Sureshots meet The
Ragtime Ramblers, Charlie John Lewis Trio, Ruckus, The Tailights,
Ian Cal Ford & The Railmen, Tom Cat &

Back To The Ace

Thompson, Ike & the Capers, The
Doel Brothers, The Sureshots, The The Zodiacs, The Ricardos and more.
Slingshots, The Wolftones, The Plus Burlesque Fringe, Vintage Market
Doggone Daddys, The and a real fairground!
Rockers and motorbike enthusiasts will be buffing their bikes
Troubleshooters and Cow Cow Venue Porthcawl
and priming their engines for the upcoming 21st annual Ace
Boogie, plus Rockin’ DJS! Admission Full Weekender Ticket
Cafe Reunion centred around the infamous hangout. The event
Venue Burdon Plain, Durham £70 (limited to 300)
begins with Friday’s Continental Run Ride-In, which
Admission £60 (inc. camping) Booking welshrockabilly.co.uk
commences with a party at Cafe Hubraum in Solingen,
Booking rockridgeevents.co.uk Germany, before departing the following morning to traverse
Hemsby 53 Holland, Belgium and France en route to the ferry, that arrives
Retro Festival 3-6 OCTOBER at the cafe late afternoon, just in time for an evening of
rock’n’roll! The reunion continues on Saturday with the Cafe
8-10 AUGUST Featuring Billy Adams, Bobby Hendricks, Nick Willett,
Racer Ride Out and the Cafe Racer Competition later in the
Featuring 3 stages with The Kingcats, The Doggone Barrence Whitfield, Jimmy Lee Maslon, Rusti Steel & the
afternoon, and the weekend hots up further on Sunday as the
Honkabillies, Restless (UK), Greggie G, This Little Girl & the Startones, Emmy Lou & the Rhythm Boys, Problem Child
motorcade sets off to the sunny South coast for the Brighton
Dillicats, Craig Shaw & the Illuminators, Rhythm River Trio, starring Marcel Riesco, Wheels Fargo & the Nightingale, Jesse
Burn Up. The Ace Cafe Reunion takes place from 12-14 August.
King Candy and the Sugar Push, dance demos/classes, DJs, James & the Outlaws, vintage and retro market, vintage hair
Also well worth a visit is the café’s 4th annual Stunt Festival &
vintage tea room, burlesque from Eliza Delite and Marianne and make-up parlour, men’s barber shop, Kav Kavanagh’s
Streetfighter Show on Sunday 27th July at the Wembley
Cheesecake, tea dances and family picnic and play area Jive School, jive contest, car boot sale and real ale bar!
Stadium complex and featuring the premiere of the all-new
Venue White Waltham Airfields, Berkshire Venue Seacroft Holiday Village, Hemsby
Stunt Bike Open Freestyle Championship Finals, to be staged
Admission See website Admission See website for details
throughout the day. Tickets cost £10 per person or £15 family
Booking retrofestival.co.uk Booking hemsbyrocknroll.co.uk
ticket. Go to www.acecafeevents.com for details!

14 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 Legends Of Rock
Lee Dresser
(1941-2014)
The late, great Lee Dresser fronted the Krazy Kats
for 57 years and performed with the original
line-up 4,500 times, making them the longest-
running continuous rock’n’roll band of them all.
Sean Egan was lucky to meet him shortly before
he passed away in April of this year…

W
e were heartbroken at the
news that Lee Dresser had
sadly lost his fight with
leukemia and passed away April 24, aged
73, with his family at his side.
Lee was born on May 22, 1941 in
Washington, DC and formed the Krazy
Kats on Valentine’s Day in Moberly,
Missouri, in 1957 with high-school
pals Willie Craig and Freddie Fletcher.
The Krazy Kats were active – off and
on – for more than half a century with
the same personnel, touring incessantly
and illustrious career highlights have
included performances alongside Bill
Cosby, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, The
Platters and a roll-call of other stars, as
well as many superb showings in recent
times. Not only were they voted ‘Best
Band In Kansas City’ in 1991, but they
were also rightfully inducted into the
Rockabilly Hall Of Fame in the same year.
On April 6, in what turned out to be
one of his last ever interviews, Dresser
revealed himself as a true believer in
rock’n’roll. As he explains below, he
even abandoned a career as an album
recording artist and Nashville songwriter
to return to the music he loved most.
You had a tragic childhood?
“Yes I did. My dad passed away with a
heart attack in 1952. Twenty months later
my mother got struck by an automobile
and she died two days before my 13th
birthday. I had to open presents that
she’d gotten for me. My grandparents in
Moberly, Missouri, took me in.”
How did the Krazy Kats start out?
“The piano player, Willie Craig, and I
were best friends. Then I saw Elvis on
The Ed Sullivan Show. Of course I knew
his records, but I’d never seen him before.
The next day I borrowed $20 from my
aunt and bought an $18.50 Sears Roebuck.
I taught myself how to play it. So now
we have guitar and piano. Willie knew a
drummer, Fred Fletcher. We were all 15,
couldn’t drive, so he came over with his
snare drum in the basket of his bicycle.”
Can you recall your first gig?
“The other two guys did two or three
[school] assemblies with other people.
I was too chicken. Then a couple of
teachers said, ‘Lee, we heard you sing.
You need to do that.’ I thought, ‘If you’re
hearing it from the teachers, you better
go ahead and do it.’ Our first performance
was the school cafeteria – Valentine’s Day
‘57, a sweetheart dance. We knew eight
songs. I was really scared. Then about
halfway through the first song, I saw
these girls looking at me that had never
looked at me before…”
The draft stopped you for a while
“I got drafted in 1966. We had our last
performance October 2, 1965. Fifteen
years went by. Willie was already in
Vietnam and I saw him there. I did play in
a band when I was over there. There was

16 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

‘M an, I lov ed
playing with
the K r azy
K ats, playing
rock’n’roll’
a guy with the Kingsmen, ‘Louie Louie’,
in my company, Barry Curtis.”
In your solo career, you seemed to
move towards country music?
“Kind of like country-rock. I had a good
run out there in Los Angeles. The only
thing I’ve never had is a hit record.”
You performed at the World Popular
Song Festival in Tokyo, in 1972?
“I sang a Jim Weatherly song. Budokan
Hall, man. I was excited. I was proud to
represent the United States.”
How did you end up singing on the
Wilderness Family (1975) soundtrack?
“A friend of mine, his name was Dennis
Bachmann, said, ‘I’ve got a guy that
wants to do a movie. He wants to hear my
songs. Can you demo them for me?’ He
took them over to the producer. He said,
‘He wants to use those two songs and he
wants you to do ‘em. You’re in.’”
The title track of your live covers
album El Camino Real (1969) had an
unexpected legacy…
“That was really my first record. We had
Jerry Allison, the Crickets drummer, Glen
D. Hardin, Elvis’ piano player; the bass
player, Rick Cathaway, played with the
Osmonds. It was a good record. It didn’t
do much at the time. But now it’s doing
good. It becoming a dance hit in the UK.
That floored me. Forty-year old song. Sure
did help me out.”
To Touch The Wind (1976) was your
other album…
“A guy involved with The Wilderness
Family said, ‘I want to put these songs
out, do you have any other songs?’ So the
two from the movie are on there and ten
more I wrote. That didn’t do anything.”
What motivated you to get the Kats
back together?
“I moved to Nashville basically as a
writer. I had some songs cut, but it wasn’t
comfortable for me. I wanted to sing.
While I was in Nashville, Willie would
call me. He’d say, ‘I’ve got some bookings
for the Krazy Kats’. We started up in
1980. We’d pack ‘em in. It got to the point
where I said, ‘I’m down here in Nashville
doing nothing. I’m going to forget about
this. Get the Krazy Kats full-time.’ Man, I
love playing with the Krazy Kats, playing
the old rock’n’roll. So I sold my place and
moved to Kansas City.”
You’ve backed some illustrious names.
What was Chuck Berry like at Missouri
State Fair in 1988?
“He seemed like a pretty nice guy down
at rehearsal and everything. I played
bass. He fired Fred midway through the
show. He got all pissed off ‘cos he wasn’t
watching him. We played a couple of
numbers. I looked over there and there
was a young black guy playing drums.
They’d made a switch.”
And Bo Diddley in ‘87?
“Bo Diddley was a sweet guy. He started
I’m a Man. I turned to Willie and I said, ‘I
know what we’re gonna be doing for the
next 23 minutes.’ Finally Wolfman Jack,
who was the host, he gave him the sign,
‘You’ve been on long enough, Bo.’”
You played on Dolly Parton’s Great
Pretender album (1984)
“A producer friend of mine called me and
said, ‘We need harmonica over here for
a session with Dolly.’ It was four blocks
from where I lived. I was on two songs.
She was as sweet as could be. In order for
her to get to her vocal booth, she had to
go through my little booth. I happened
to be standing up at the microphone. She
said, ‘Now, play sweet for me, Lee,’ and
pats me on the butt. I was standing up
every time she came through that room!”
Although you’ve gained a lot of
respect, the Krazy Kats have only made
Lee Dresser and the Krazy Kats
the one album. Has that been a source
of frustration?
“A little frustrating. I even wrote Dick
Clark early on.”
The album was Movin’ Out!! With the
Krazy Kats (1964)
“Damon Records. Old guy in Kansas City.
Later, a guy came along – Robin Records
– and said, ‘I want to take this over. The
only deal is, how many of those albums
do you have?’ Because it wasn’t nationally
distributed. I’d sell ‘em at the dances. He
said, ‘I’ll replace those with mine – I don’t
want you selling the Damon, I want you
selling Robin.’ The collectors want the
Damon, though.”
Why did you make the decision to end
the band in 2014?
“Our crowds have been down,
everybody’s getting older and the
bookings aren’t what where they used to
be. Another reason’s my health. Getting to
the gig, that’s the hard part.”
Is the Kats’ unchanging line-up across
half a century unique?
“I’ve been in touch with the Guinness
Book of World Records. They finally got
back to me. They said, ‘There’s a trio of
sisters. They sang with Glenn Miller and
they’re still singing today.’ I said, ‘That’s
a trio of singers – we’re a band.’ I kind of
gave up on it. I don’t know if anybody else
has had the original members. We didn’t
play for fifteen years – that may work
against us.”
Looking back, how do you feel about
your career?
“Except for the army, I have never had
another job. Music has been my entire
life. I’m very proud of that.” ✶
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 17
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ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 19

 ROCKABILLY
USA
A
s important to the ascent of
rockabilly as Elvis Presley’s
recordings for Sun were, the
groundwork for the genre’s rise was laid
long before the historic session at 706
Union that produced Elvis’ debut single.
Blistering country boogies were waxed
by Hawkshaw Hawkins, the Delmore
Brothers, and pianist Moon Mullican for
King Records in Cincinnati during the
immediate post-war era. 88s ace Merrill
Moore, the Maddox Brothers and Sister
Rose, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and guitar
wizards Jimmy Bryant and Joe Maphis
engaged in similar fare in California.
Down in Nashville, Red Foley
introduced boogie rhythms to the country
masses without breaking a sweat (Hank
Garland, Chet Atkins, and Grady Martin
vied for the mantle of Music City’s hottest
guitarist). Some of Hank Williams’
bluesier numbers were rockabilly
prototypes. South Carolina picker Arthur
Smith earned himself a nickname for life
with his ‘49 instrumental smash Guitar
Boogie and up in Chester, PA, Bill Haley
and the Saddlemen (soon renamed the
Comets) plowed new ground in 1952 with
their Rock The Joint.
‘Ferriday, Louisiana native Jerry
Lee Lewis pounded the piano
with unmatched ferocity’
20 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Yet it was Presley’s Sun debut,
cut in July of ‘54 with lead guitarist
Scotty Moore and bassist Bill
Black, and his four equally seminal
follow-ups, that provided the
crucial catalyst. One side of that
single was a supercharged revival
of Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s
blues That’s All Right, while the
flip held a hopped-up treatment
of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass anthem
Blue Moon of Kentucky. Southern
teenagers knew exactly where he
was coming from.
“That music was very popular,
and had been popular for a
while,” the late Carl Perkins said. “Sun
Records didn’t start it. Sun Records
just recorded it first. The music itself
had been played, and some of the best
guys that played it never got to record.”
Thankfully, Perkins recorded prolifically
at Sun. His Blue Suede Shoes and Honey,
Don’t!, pressed up back-to-back in
December of ‘55, remain a definition of
rockabilly at its most compelling.
Phillips assembled an incredible talent
roster during the mid-‘50s. Johnny
Cash’s stripped-down sound sat midway
Carl Mann released his
first single in 1957
between country and rockabilly, but
rocking hard came easy for Roy Orbison,
Warren Smith, Billy Riley, and Sonny
Burgess. Their emergence made Phillips’
sale of Elvis’ contract to RCA Victor for
operating capital less painful.
The Newport, Arkansas-based Burgess
was especially boisterous, setting himself
apart by featuring a trumpeter in his
Pacers. “We were pretty wild,” said
Burgess, who doubled on lead guitar. “We
played a lot of nightclubs. You’d play R&B,
you’d play country, and some pop music.
So when Elvis came along, that’s when
we wanted to get on Sun Records. So we
worked us up Red Headed Woman and
We Wanna Boogie and went to Memphis,
and Sam signed us.” That double-barreled
blast of 1956 insanity was one of the
hottest two-siders Sun ever pressed up.
“That was exactly like we played ‘em in
person,” said Sonny.
Phillips found a unique artist
in ‘56 that rivalled Presley as an
innovator. Ferriday, Louisiana native
Jerry Lee Lewis pounded the piano
with unmatched ferocity, his vast
repertoire making studio time an
adventure. “Sam was smart about
that. I asked him about that one
time, and he told me, ‘Well, actually,
tape is the cheapest thing I’ve got
goin’ there!’ So he just let ‘em run,”
laughed the late Roland Janes, Jerry
Lee’s guitarist. “If everything was
cooking and everybody was feelin’
good, they’d just go ‘til everybody
kind of got tired and left.” Phillips
allowed Jerry Lee free rein. “At a
session, we might cut 20-25 songs,” ➨
ISSUE 3 VINTAGE ROCK 21
© Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy

Photo © Getty Images

ROCKABILLY IN THE CHARTS
THE EARLIEST ROCKABILLY
RECORDINGS TO REACH THE
MAINSTREAM
That’s All Right—Elvis Presley (Sun, 1954)
The catalyst for rockabilly’s rise, though pinning it down as
the idiom’s first platter is impossible. Elvis’ youthful energy
is mesmerising, and the swinging support of guitarist Scotty
Moore and bassist Bill Black provided an indelible blueprint
for future rockabilly bands.

Blue Suede Shoes—Carl Perkins (Sun, 1955)

The record that put Sun Records and rockabilly on the
national map. Perkins’ juke joint-tested vocal and stinging,
blues-tinged lead guitar, the stop-time breaks, and the
rebellious defiance in its lyrics are iconic; this is one classic
that even a spirited Elvis cover couldn’t touch.

We Wanna Boogie—Sonny Burgess (Sun, 1956)

Glorious, unstoppable insanity from one of rockabilly’s
wildest pioneers. The Pacers careen nearly out of control,
Burgess is all but indecipherable behind the mic, and Jack
Nance’s trumpet winds through it all, contributing to the
breathless excitement.
© Getty Images

Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On— to town,

Jerry Lee Lewis (Sun, 1957)
Once the Killer latched onto this one, unleashing his
thundering boogie piano and granting the storyline a
lascivious bent that previous renditions lacked, he instantly
emerged as Sun’s new superstar and a legitimate rival to
Elvis’ crown as rock and roll’s king.
Be-Bop-A-Lula—
Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps (Capitol, 1956)
Panting as though he was on the verge of losing his mind,
Gene Vincent was Capitol Records’ pointed response to
Elvis—and without question, he rocked just as hard. What’s
more, his Blue Caps boasted the invaluable presence of
astounding lead guitarist Cliff Gallup.
That’ll Be The Day—Buddy Holly (Decca, 1956)
Unreleased until Holly and the Crickets’ Norman
Petty-helmed remake hit the shelves, Buddy Holly’s
Nashville-cut original version of this classic should have
been enough to convince Decca Records he was a winner.
Alas, it wasn’t, and he soon recut it in Clovis.
Sweet Rockin’ Baby—Sonee West (sic)
(Nor-Va-Jak, 1956)
Norman Petty could obtain a great sound anywhere,
including the Clovis, NM, movie theatre where he produced
this one. Sonny (correct spelling) West didn’t achieve the
vast commercial success that Holly enjoyed, but he was
another distinctive Lubbock rocker.
One Way Ticket—Bobby Crown (Felco, 1959 )
Like so many other Southern teens inspired by Elvis, Crown
left country music behind to eagerly join the rockabilly
movement. He got a relatively late start, debuting near
decade’s end, but his first rocker for a tiny Dallas label
stated his rocking intent succinctly.
‘The major labels leaped aboard
the bandwagon once Elvis
embarked on his ride to stardom’
said Janes. “Just go on and on and on.
Cut everything we knew, just take a
couple of cuts and move on.”
Jerry Lee hit the jackpot in 1957 with
Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On, previously
on the shelves in contrasting versions by
R&B belter Big Maybelle and rockabilly
pianist Roy Hall. “We were over at a
club called Twin Gables in Blytheville,
Arkansas,” said Sun drummer JM Van
Eaton. “The bandstand was so small that
the bass player and the guitar player
had to stand out on the dance floor.
And Jerry and I got back in this little
cubbyhole. When we started playing,
all this dirt started falling out of the top
of the ceiling. I guess they hadn’t had
anybody quite as forceful as we were.
We played that song and the people hit
the dance floor, and they loved it. And
they kept coming back saying, ‘Play that
“Shakin’” song again!’”
“Shakin’” was a priority when the
Killer returned to Sun. “The very
When Elvis Presley came ention
Bud dy Ho lly pai d clo se att
first take, we got through it, and Jack
(Clement), I remember him saying, ‘Pick
the tempo up a little bit,’” said Van Eaton.
“So we tried it again and got a little faster
version, and he said, ‘No, the first one
sounds better.’ So that was it!”
The major labels leaped aboard the
bandwagon once Elvis embarked on his
rocket ride to superstardom at RCA. Gene
Vincent and his Blue Caps, featuring
spectacular lead guitarist Cliff Gallup,
came out of Norfolk, VA, to give Capitol
a smash his first time out in ‘56 with
Be-Bop-A-Lula. Columbia had Dallas’ Sid
King & the Five Strings as well as Johnny
Horton and Marty Robbins. Mercury
dipped into Memphis’ talent pool for
Eddie Bond, and the Johnny Burnette
Trio signed with Coral after tearing
through Hound Dog on Ted Mack’s
Amateur Hour.
Johnny, his bass-slapping brother
Dorsey, and guitarist Paul Burlison also
hailed from Memphis. Burlison’s octave-

22 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12


‘John Wayne said ‘That’ll be the
day!’ about five times. So it was
sort of the hip thing to be saying’
plucked solo on the trio’s ferocious ‘56
revival of Tiny Bradshaw’s The Train Kept
A-Rollin’ was enhanced by distortion
achieved purely by chance. “I dropped my
amplifier. The strap broke on top of the
amplifier and it fell to the floor, and one
of the tubes slipped out of the socket,”
said the late Burlison, who fixed his amp
after the show and forgot all about it until
they went to Nashville to record. “I told
Owen Bradley about it, the producer, and
he said, ‘Do it! Let me hear that thing and
see what it sounds like!’” said Burlison.
“So I pulled the tube down and started
playing it, and he said, ‘Sounds good. Let’s
do it on this next song!’ So the next song
happened to be Train Kept A-Rollin’.”
Decca Records responded to the
n,
n growing trend by signing Buddy Holly.
Holly had absorbed the usual primary
influence while polishing his craft in
Lubbock, Texas. “Elvis, when he came
through town, everybody really did turn
their heads. Buddy Holly wanted to be
Elvis there for a while,” said Holly’s
drummer, Jerry Allison.
“The next day, we started kind of doing
Elvis songs,” agreed Buddy’s then-lead
guitarist, Sonny Curtis. “Scotty Moore
played kind of a Chet Atkins lick, and
I was a big Chet Atkins fan. So I had
Scotty’s lick down the next day. And we
started playing Baby Let’s Play House and
Good Rockin’ Tonight and That’s All Right
Mama and all those things.”
“We saw a movie, a John Wayne movie
called The Searchers,” said Allison. “And
John Wayne said ‘That’ll be the day!’
about five times. So it was sort of the hip
thing to be saying. And Buddy and I were
practising one day, and Buddy said, ‘Let’s
write a song!’ I said, ‘That’ll be the day!’
And he said, ‘That might be a good idea!’
So we sort of just wrote it. I think it took
30 minutes.” Decca wasn’t enthused.
“I don’t think they liked the feel of
any of that stuff,” said Allison. “I think
somebody in charge said that was the
worst song they’d ever heard!” Decca
didn’t issue the version that Holly did
in Nashville in 1956 until later. Buddy
and his Crickets travelled to Clovis, New
Mexico, to work with producer Norman
Petty, recutting it for Brunswick the next
year. It went to No 1 pop.
As rockabilly fever swept his native
Lubbock in 1956, Sonny West made a
long jaunt to Sun in search of a recording
contract. “I just thought, ‘Hey, if Carl
Perkins and Elvis Presley can do that,
I can too!’” said West. Phillips turned
him down cold, but West found a more
sympathetic ear in Petty, who produced
West’s Sweet Rockin’ Baby and its flip
Rock-Ola Ruby at a Clovis movie theatre,
issuing his debut as Sonee West on
Petty’s Nor-Va-Jak label. “He didn’t
actually have his studio fixed yet,”
said West. “He didn’t have any echo
chamber.” The cavernous film palace’s
acoustic properties worked just fine.
West penned two of Holly’s biggest
hits, Oh, Boy! and Rave On. His own
Petty-helmed version of the latter, cut in
late ‘57 with Trini Lopez on lead guitar,
was released on Atlantic. “Buddy had
recorded the song after I recorded it, but
actually before mine came out,” ➨
ROCKABILLY
USA
Good Lovin’—Dickey Lee and The
Collegiates (Sun, 1957)
Reviving a 1953 R&B hit by the Clovers may have
seemed an odd choice for Lee’s first Sun outing, but
his enthusiastic lead, the insistent vocal chants of
his Collegiates, and the slashing lead guitar made
the tune’s transformation marvellously easy.
Susie-Q—Dale Hawkins (Checker, 1957)
Constructed around an indestructible guitar riff
invented by teenaged guitar master James Burton,
Susie-Q mixes rockabilly and blues influences into a
heady musical stew. Co-writer Hawkins’ vocal
exuberance pummels every bit as lethally as
Burton’s axe.
Let’s Go Boppin’ Tonight—Al Ferrier
and The Boppin’ Billies (Goldband, 1956)
How could Goldband owner Eddie Shuler shelve this
in 1956? Its creator regards it as seminal, and his
drawled vocal, brother Brian Ferrier’s lickety-split
lead guitar, and the song’s surging drive confirm his
judgment—it’s a Louisiana rockabilly cornerstone.
Mean Mean Man—Wanda Jackson
(Capitol, 1958)
Proving beyond a doubt that a woman could rock
every bit as intensely as Elvis or any of his army of
disciples, Wanda Jackson shredded this self-penned
pounder and a great many more for Capitol Records.
Her unabashed sex appeal was just as captivating as
that of Elvis too.
Rockin’ Daddy—Sonny Fisher
(Starday, 1955)
Raw-edged Houston rockabilly from when the genre
was still in its infancy. Fisher was no Elvis clone but
sounded entirely comfortable working the same
side of the street, buttressed by Joey Long’s
blues-soaked lead guitar (Eddie Bond would cook
up a fine cover for Mercury).
Tore Up—Sleepy LaBeef (Wayside, 1962)
Pouring every ounce of his massive frame into his
leonine roar, LaBeef pushed this Midnighters
anthem into overdrive. Late in the game for
rockabilly’s first wave but captures the attack of the
genre’s greats, with a devastating guitar solo from
Charlie Busby.
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 23
 people like
Elvis’ success at Sun helpede
Gene Vincen t ach ieve fam
BILL HALEY’S
ROCK THE JOINT…
How the Saddlemen found that innovative beat,
and how they managed to get it onto wax…
Blending country with R&B wasn’t
exclusive to the South. In
Chester, Pennsylvania, country
singer Bill Haley and his
Saddlemen covered Jackie
Brenston’s 1951 R&B smash
Rocket ‘88’ for Dave Miller’s
Philly-based Essex label.
“We were all just kind of fishing for a sound that
was different than everybody else,” said Haley’s
bassist, the late Marshall Lytle. “And we found it.
It was a combination of several different things.
The drums playing a shuffle beat with a heavy
two and four, coupled with my slapping the bass
with a clicking sound that gave a shuffle beat.”
A local R&B deejay helped them perfect that
formula. “He came to Bill one day, and he says,
‘Bill, I’ve got a song that’s getting a lot of
requests. You ought to learn it and do it in the
clubs. It’s called We’re Gonna Rock This Joint
Tonight.’ So Bill learned the song,” said Lytle.
Essex released their cover of Rock The Joint, and
before long Haley changed the name of his
combo to the Comets, ascending as one of the
genre’s first pioneers.
24 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
said West. “They did the song proud,
because they gave it some syncopated
rhythms that I couldn’t get with just a
straight rock and roll band.”
Many dogged country traditionalists
momentarily succumbed to the genre’s
wild-eyed exuberance before regaining
their composure. Webb Pierce, Carl
Smith, Little Jimmy Dickens, Lefty
Frizzell, Cowboy Copas, Hank Thompson,
and Faron Young all gave rockabilly,
or something close to it, a whirl in the
mid-to-late ‘50s. George Jones and Buck
Owens adopted pseudonyms (Thumper
Jones and Corky Jones, respectively)
to render rockabilly statements. Even
with Jerry Lee, Cash, and Perkins under
contract, Phillips wasn’t averse to landing
new rockabilly talent. Memphis-born
Dickey Lee dropped by local deejay
Dewey Phillips’ Red, Hot and Blue
WHBQ broadcast at the Hotel Chisca. “I
had my guitar. I played a couple of songs
for him, and he liked them,” said Lee. The
end result was Dickey’s first 45 for the
Tampa logo. “They recorded the songs
right there in the radio studio,” he said.
The deejay made a crucial connection
for Dickey. “Dewey and Sam Phillips were
really big buddies, and Dewey talked Sam
l Mangham
© Photo courtesy of Caro
into putting me on Sun,” said Lee, whose
Collegiates (he was attending Memphis
State University) backed him on his
late 1957 Sun debut, a pounding revival
of the Clovers’ Good Lovin’. But after
one encore, Lee was an ex-Sun artist.
Meeting Sun producer Jack Clement later
paid off. Dickey hit big in 1962 with the
maudlin Patches and an ebullient I Saw
Linda Yesterday for the Smash label with
Clement co-producing.
Phillips unleashed more great rockers
by Hayden Thompson, Charlie Rich,
Ray Smith, and Carl Mann, all but
Smith appearing on his new Phillips
International imprint. But he wasn’t
infallible, rejecting Conway Twitty (soon
a major star on MGM Records thanks to a
series of Elvis-influenced ballads), Narvel
Felts, and Jerry Lee’s piano-pumping
cousin Mickey Gilley, who waxed his
1957 debut Tell Me Why in Houston for
the tiny Minor label. “I had to pay for the
recording session, and it was so bad that
nobody would play it,” laughed Gilley.
Hollywood rockabillies tended to boast
movie star looks. Not only did Eddie
Cochran sing with an Elvis-like swagger,
he was a dynamic lead guitarist on his
Liberty singles. A 16-year-old TV sitcom
 Sleepy LaBeef has long been the preeminent
ambassador for the rockabilly genre
star when he began rocking in early
1957, Ricky Nelson hired top axemen to
distinguish his many smashes on Imperial
Records. Joe Maphis was supplanted by
the brilliant James Burton, a Louisiana
Hayride grad who had surfaced earlier
that year with the crucial lick anchoring
Shreveport rocker Dale Hawkins’ Susie-Q.
Burton didn’t stick with Dale long. He
was rehearsing with Hayride stalwart Bob
Luman in LA when Ricky overheard his
inventive licks and hired him.
The only time Al Ferrier ever played
the Hayride, he shared the bill with
Elvis. “I got four encores from Let’s Go
Boppin’ Tonight,” said Ferrier proudly.
Hailing from Montgomery, Louisiana,
Al had formed a band with his brothers
Warren doubling on fiddle and upright
bass and Brian on sparkling lead guitar.
“I was raised up in a family that liked to
play music,” said Al. “I’m the youngest
boy. And all my brothers played music
before I did.” Warren cut Al no slack as
a lad learning rhythm guitar. “He’d hit
me on the head with the fiddle bow!” Al
laughed. “He’d say, ‘Get in the right key,
son, because you’re not gonna make me
sound bad!’”
Ferrier switched from country (Hank
Williams was Al’s main man) to rockabilly
before anyone else around Alexandria,
Louisiana. “I was the only one then,” he
said. Eddie Shuler’s Lake Charles-based
Goldband logo released Al’s romping 1956
debut No No Baby, Warren and Brian
christened the Boppin’ Billies. The group
© Getty Images
encored with an electrifying My Baby
Done Gone Away a few months later, but
Shuler sat on Let’s Go Boppin’ Tonight,
leaving Ferrier free to recut it as Hey!
Baby for Crowley-based Excello Records
producer JD Miller in 1957.
“Those little girls would come by and
say, ‘This here’s how you do the bop!’”
said Ferrier. “I didn’t know what bop
meant, you know, when I said ‘boppin’’ in
the song. But they said, ‘This is the way
you do the bop!’ And I told Warren, ‘Well,
that’s got something going here, man!’”
Elvis found drummer DJ Fontana
in the Hayride house band in 1955 and
brought him aboard. “I learned from the
beginning to stay out of the way,” said
Fontana. “I played the backbeat and let
them do what they did well.” DJ got more
aggressive as time went on, firing off a
thundering extended roll at the end of
Elvis’ 1958 smash Wear My Ring Around
‘Not only did
Eddie Cochran
sing with an
Elvis swagger, he
was a dynamic
lead guitarist’
Your Neck. “After I’d done it, I said, ‘Oh,
I’m gonna get fired!’” said Fontana. “I
said, ‘Elvis, we gotta do it again. I put that
thing on there.’ He said, ‘Heck no, leave it
alone, man. I like that!’”
Rockabilly was an equal opportunity
idiom. Its queen was Wanda Jackson,
fond of Rose Maddox in her formative
years. “She was so feisty, and their music
was so good. I sang some of her songs
in the early days,” said Wanda. “I was a
big Hank Williams fan, and then a big
Hank Thompson fan.” Thompson gave
the Oklahoma native her start. “He called
me, and I just about fainted right there
on the spot,” she said. “He invited me to
sing with him and the Brazos Valley Boys
at the Trianon that Saturday night. I was
probably about 14. I remember saying,
‘Oh, I’d love to, Mr Thompson, but I’ll
have to ask my mother!’”
Jackson’s first sides for Decca were
straight country, but her focus changed
when Elvis entered her life. “He was the
first one I worked with when I went on
tour, when I graduated from high school.
Of course, we liked each other a whole
lot. We dated when we were on tour,” she
said. “My dad and I, we could see what
was happening. When Elvis would go on
stage, the audience just became unruly.
We’d never seen anything like that – ➨
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 25
 artists like Janis
Rockabilly enabled femaleres did not
Martin in a way oth er gen
© Getty Images
girls screaming and rushing the stage.”
She soaked up Presley’s sage advice
regarding rock and roll. “He said, ‘It’s
gonna be the next big rage in music. You
should be recording it, because the young
people like it, and they’re the ones who
buy the records.’”
Wanda cut loose with a barrage of
no-holds-barred rockabilly for Capitol
during the mid-‘50s. “I began writing my
own stuff, because I couldn’t get anything
original from anybody,” said Jackson.
“So that’s how Mean Mean Man and Cool
Love and Rock Your Baby and all those
came about.” And she wasn’t rockabilly’s
only incendiary chanteuse. Her cohorts
included Janis Martin, Brenda Lee, Lorrie
Collins, Barbara Pittman and Jackie Dee,
aka Jackie DeShannon.
Although country music dominated
its bustling studio action, Nashville
hosted its share of rockabilly sessions.
The Everly Brothers’ achingly sweet
vocal harmonies reflected their dad’s
traditional roots even as the clever
teen-slanted compositions of Boudleaux
and Felice Bryant kept Don and Phil’s
Cadence label singles sky-high on the late
‘50s pop hit parade.
Sleepy LaBeef has stood treetop tall for
decades as rockabilly’s most accessible
ambassador, logging tens of thousands
of miles barnstorming US nightclubs
in his RV. According to Sleepy, Presley
was indeed the catalyst for it all, though
the sanctified fervour on display every
Sunday morning in countless Southern
26 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
houses of worship played a role too.
“Elvis, Jerry Lee, Little Richard… brought
the beat out of the church. That’s where
I learned to sing it, in the church,” said
Sleepy. “It comes from the old-time hand-
clapping, foot-stomping gospel songs.
It all goes back to When The Saints Go
Marching In. If you listen to those things,
they have a big beat to it. The difference
was the changing of the lyrics. They
just used the same beat. So many of the
people then in the middle ‘50s had that
background. The sound was exciting.
We started doing R&B tunes, bluegrass,
country – all this stuff we did with this
rockabilly beat.”
Born in Smackover, Arkansas, LaBeef
(his early singles spelled it LaBeff, the
same as his birth certificate) was living in
Houston when he began recording there
at Gold Star Studios. Hal Harris played
lead guitar on Sleepy’s rollicking ‘57
‘Elvis, Jerry
Lee, Little
Richard – they
all brought the
beat out of the
church’
debut I’m Through, out on Pappy Daily’s
Starday logo before Mercury picked it up
nationally (Starday also issued pioneering
Houston rocker Sonny Fisher’s seminal
Rockin’ Daddy in March of 1955 as well as
throbbers by Glenn Barber, Sonny Burns,
and Rudy “Tutti” Grayzell).
Another LaBeef outing on Mercury,
All The Time, preceded local 45s on
Gulf, Crescent, and Wayside, where he
slammed out a revival of the Midnighters’
Tore Up complete with a fake ending that
likely confounded deejays.
After a decade of plying his trade on the
Houston country circuit, Sleepy made a
move in 1964. “Don Law with Columbia
Records called me in Houston,” he said.
“He wanted me to move to Nashville,
and I signed with Columbia Records.
I was with Columbia from ‘64 to ‘68.”
From there, LaBeef joined the roster
of Shelby Singleton’s revitalized Sun
imprint. “It took me a long time. I worked
hard. I learned a lot of songs. I know a
few thousand,” LaBeef said. “I haven’t
changed with what I’m doing.”
By the close of the ‘50s, rockabilly’s
raw, rural edges had undergone a
systematic softening. Rock’n’roll grew
safe in the hands of squeaky-clean teens
who wouldn’t have lasted 10 seconds
inside the backwoods juke joints where
unvarnished rockabilly thrived a few
years prior. Happily, new generations
have embraced the sound, the fashions,
and the lifestyle. It’s safe to say rockabilly
will not fade away any time soon. ✶
 ✭

i n t a g e
V
& arket
✭ M ✭

✭ ✭
✭
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✭

✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ROCKIN’ DJs ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
✭ ✭ ✭
✭ ✭ ✭
Over 30 Hours of Live Music and a Real Fairground
th TH ST
TIC K
ETS
AVAI
www ON LI N E LAB LE
fri sat sun .wels
hrock at
abilly
.co.uk

Porthcawl ✭ September 2014

www.welshrockabilly.co.uk
The Duchess
of Dublin
A STRONG VOICE FROM A STRONG WOMAN WITH A STRONG SENSE OF
STYLE, PAUL RIGBY TALKS TO IMELDA MAY, THE ESSENCE OF
MODERN-DAY ROCKABILLY ROYALTY…
S
ince the release of her debut
album, in 2003, No Turning
Back, Imelda May has, well,
never turned back. In fact, the
onward march of her singing
career has spotlighted her
inimitable talents – talents that
lie outside the standard pop market and
its fickle, fleeting trends. May manages to
combine an array of important musical
influences from rockabilly, rock’n’roll,
jazz, country and more while forging her
own musical identity.
Brought up with a traditional Irish
music education, May’s cultural links
quickly led to a stint singing in the
clubs of her home city of Dublin,
covering a breadth of musical
styles that ranged from roots,
blues and jazz to country and, of
course, rockabilly.
Meeting renowned guitarist
and future husband Darrel
Higham resulted in her move to
England and more experience
with high-energy outfits such as
Paul Ansell’s rockabilly band and
Mike Sanchez’s R&B outfit, with
pauses for appearances in other
groups embroiled in soul and jazz.
28 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
This early cross-genre awareness helped
to infuse May with a blended sense of
musical history and direction that has
lead to the creation of her own solo style.
On the verge of releasing her new
album, Tribal, May took a breather to chat
to Vintage Rock.
Let’s begin with the name. Is it real?
I was christened Imelda Mary but I took
the ‘r’ out. They called me Imelda May at
home because there were lots of Marys
who were Mays and Maisies so it’s kind
of a family name. But May is not my
surname. Now it’s Higham, it was Clabby.
Courtesy of Universal
As a child, my own musical education
was initiated by sitting with my
mother and watching many old B&W
Hollywood films and musicals. How
about you?
Me too. My parents were older when
they had me so we sort of skipped a
generation. They enjoyed their early
years in the ‘50s. So, as a child, my
favourite artists were Shirley Temple and
Judy Garland. I watched their movies and
had their records. I also loved Mickey
Rooney and Doris Day. I was brought up
with all of that. My mother had an old
book of movie stars from the ‘20s
to the ‘50s. I was really into Moira
Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Harold
Lloyd… I feel that I have been living
in that time since I was a child. I
completely immersed myself in
that. Of course I love rock’n’roll
and rockabilly but I also love the
beautiful big ballads, the imagery
from the movies and how they lit
people in those movies.
I have seen your rockabilly stage
outfits but do you embrace the
vintage culture within your
private life? ➨
 May
Imelda

© Barry McColl

TRIBAL
“I’m really happy with the new album – it’s my
favourite. Production-wise, I wanted a rawer sound.
When I made Love Tattoo (2008) I did it the
old-fashioned way and recorded everything straight,
which was the right thing to do for the time. But you
can’t stay in the same place. I’d be bored if I did the
same thing. One of my biggest hates is boredom. I
like to keep moving. For this album, I wanted to use
the best of modern technology to capture the sound
of my band in its natural state. I wanted it to sound
huge with no more instruments than we’d normally
have. I didn’t bring anyone else in for this album,
there’s no session musicians or giant horn sections.
It’s a live studio album. I wanted to capture the feel of
the live gig. To capture the electricity.”
30 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
© Christie Goodwin
Do I live the life? Of course I
do. I’m not a wannabe or a fake.
I love every part of it. It’s part
of who I am.
My mother was a dressmaker
in the 50s. She made the most
beautiful dresses, her sister’s
clothes and her friends’
clothes. When I was a child,
they used to do old time
dancing and I remember
seeing the ball gowns with the
net and the diamonds all over
them and the beautiful satin
dance shoes. I used to make
my own clothes too – my
mother taught me.
For the stage I tend to wear
reproductions because the vintage stuff
can’t take the punishment over a tour
and I have to throw these things into a
washing machine. I wouldn’t wreck the
most beautiful pieces that I own by doing
that so I tend to buy repro labels from
companies such as Vivian of Holloway,
Pin-Up Girl, Collectif and Bettie Page. I
love my turned up jeans and trainers too
though and my biker boots.
Your hair is a big part of your image.
It’s a stylish stamp of authority.
I do that myself. Any performer worth
their salt does their own hair and make-
up. Most people on the scene do too.
We’ve just come back from Viva Las
Vegas (the rockabilly weekender in Las
Vegas, Nevada that ran from the 17th-
20th of April - for those still in the dark!)
and the styles there are just fantastic. Not
a hairdresser or a make-up artist in sight!
You know, I did try to conform once.
Around the time that I got married, I
thought that maybe I should grow up and
conform. Someone commented on that
May 'does not know how to not
gig'.
– my brother. So I cut my hair, dressed
sensibly and so on. I have to say that it
was the most miserable three months of
my life.
I decided to be myself after all and
everything came back with ferocity. I
said, to hell with everyone, this is my life.
Funny enough, that’s when I started my
own albums and the band. Everything
came back twice as strong. I started
writing songs like mad and I felt stronger
about my passions. It was a good thing.
You musical influences?
Gene Vincent, Wanda Jackson, Elvis,
Eddie Cochran… Cochran is often
underestimated as a teeny rock’n’roll
pop singer but he was one of the best
producers of the time and the most
experimental. He was coming up with
things that sounded like they should
have been written in the late ‘60s –
unbelievable. He was only in his early 20s
when he died. What would he have done
if he had lived longer?
I produce my own albums so I love
looking into who did what and not just
their image and their songs. Wanda
Jackson (also on the Decca label) was
a great songwriter, played her own
instruments and had a strong mind too.
I also love Howlin’ Wolf and Rosco
Gordon, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon,
Johnny Horton, Patsy Cline, Billie
Holiday and Billy Fury. They would be my
main influences.
They excite me when I listen to them,
they make me feel alive. They inspire
me and I love the rebelliousness that is
slightly scary but electrifying. I love the
grittiness of it all. If you listen to Johnny
Burnette, how can you not be thrilled?
Listen to John Lee Hooker doing Boom
Boom. I don’t think you’ve heard a ➨
Imelda
May

© Barry McColl

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 31

© Barry McColl
LISTEN UP - MAY’S TOP 5
Here are Imelda May’s current Top 5 favourites…
Billy Fury
The Sound Of Fury
“He’s forgotten for his creative skills.
A lot of people don’t realise that he
was a great songwriter.”
The Caezars Welcome to
the Mainstream
“Absolutely terrific. They capture such
a vibe in their live gigs too.”
The Belle Furies
Just Plain Lonesome
“The contemporary Texas rockabilly
outfit with a real spring in their step.”
The Rhythm Shakers
Voodoo
“[Lead singer] Marlene has such a
terrific voice. The Wild record label is
one of those old fashioned labels that you can trust.”
Gene Vincent Gene
Vincent and the Bluecaps
Another classic and, the subject of a
recent feature in this very magazine…
32 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
sexier song in the world. Eddie Cochran’s
Somethin' Else and you think… God.
I get this slight rebelliousness from
you. An attitude…
Maybe I’m emotionally stilted in that the
rebellious feelings that I had when I was
younger have never left me, and I hope
that they never do. I know that they never
will. It drives me. When I’m on stage
and gigging, there is no higher drug. The
adrenalin pumps. Music is my big passion
in life. I love the history of music too and
where it leads to. Which means that I love
later music such as The Stray Cats, The
Ramones, The Clash, The Cramps… All
of these people have been influenced by
my influences. You listen to Marc Bolan,
Led Zeppelin, Iggy Pop and you can hear
the history. The Beatles are revered for
changing musical history but if it wasn’t
for Elvis and the other innovators that
influenced them, then all of that would
never have happened. They said it many
times themselves that they wanted to be
rockabillies.
We live in a celebrity-driven society but
the men and women who played and lived
rock’n’roll and rockabilly could never
be categorised as ever being part of that
culture. They were, how can I put this,
‘real’? They often emerged direct from
poverty, suffered privations and hard
times and the music they sang was filled
with genuine passion but told of times
that they often lived through.
That is important to me because I can
relate to that. That’s probably why, as
a kid, I was attracted to that. I’m from
a great area in Dublin but an area that
hasn’t got a lot of money and experienced
tough times in the ‘80s and it wasn’t an
easy time to grow up. I was lucky that I
had a great family – and a musical family.
When I read about people that I look
up to, like Wanda Jackson, Gene Vincent
and all these people, I was able to relate
to them. That got to me. It’s important to
me that I’ve worked my ass off. I started
gigging since 16. I’m going to be 40 in July
and I haven’t stopped gigging in all that
time and that’s important too.
 "I'm going to be 40
in July and I haven't
"The music is my passion, not the stopped gigging in all
fame or making a quick buck" that time"
© Christie Goodwin

This is a world of pretend and make- everyone sing while they

believe but I’m happy that I’ve come
through the old-fashioned way. The hard
way. Learning my craft, meeting great
musicians along the way. Having great
times and bad times, but that gives me
more fodder to write about, as opposed
to leaving school and starring in my own
TV show.
So you’ve never chased fame?
Most people are chasing after fame.
Funnily enough, that’s the one thing that I
never wanted. In fact, I almost didn’t sign
my record deal because it freaked me out.
I just wanted to make good music, do gigs
and fill venues. Sure, people get to know
you in time but it wasn’t something that I
ever chased. Doing it that way would lack
passion. The music is my passion, not the
fame or making a quick buck. If I wasn’t
doing ‘well’, I would still be doing what I
do. That’s the difference.
Did Dublin have a hand in that?
Coming from the area I do, creativity
is an escape, it’s a release. I’m proud to
be working class. In fact, there aren’t a
lot of working class people in music any
more. I’ve nothing against other people
from other backgrounds but it’s no longer
normal to be in music from a working
class background.
I’m proud of my working class roots
and that my parents worked so hard to
keep us fed and clothed. We are a strong
family and, in a way, it made us tighter,
sticking together more. The Liberties (an
area in central Dublin), where I’m from, is
a very strong community. A direct result
of people suffering from hard times. It’s a
creative area and a place full of eccentric
characters, while the arts are always
encouraged. My local fruit and veg man
would play tapes in the shop, making
were shopping. You don’t
get characters like that
any more.
That sort of
community provides
balance to ensure
your strength and
independence while at
the same time providing
lots of support.
Yeah, and I have the
whole area turning up
to my gigs when I’m
there!
You don’t rush your albums, there are
years in between each release.
I write and record them quickly but I
love touring. I don’t know how to not gig.
Once an album goes well, we follow it
around the world.
The image that you have could
threaten you, lulling you into that
horrible tribute act place. You are
unique, but how do you avoid those
kind of pitfalls?
I hate that threat of only being a tribute
act but that’s what worried me before I
was doing my own stuff. While I love to
write my own songs, by writing originals,
I don’t want to sing old songs forever. By
writing my own songs I can emerge out of
my influences. By placing my own stamp
on it I can do my own thing. I wanted to
get that primal thing into my own music.
The tension from the early rock’n’roll
music so that people would get the same
feeling from my music that I heard when
I listened to rock’n’roll for the first time.
You like your guitars?
I play rhythm guitar. I was doing really
well until I married Darrel. He picks up a
guitar and without
blinking does something genius, after
which I say, ‘That’s it, I give up!’
I can play a decent rhythm guitar,
enough to enjoy myself. I was influenced
by Elvis and Wanda Jackson in my guitar
playing. I play percussion too, the Irish
bodhrán, a hand-held frame drum. Even
when I’m writing, a lot of my lyrics are
quite percussive.
I also like the technical nerdy stuff.
Producing my albums, I love every part of
it: directing the band, mixing the album,
testing the microphones, digital effects,
testing different parts of the room to get
the best sound and more.
A personal question: you seem to have
been dogged by stalkers, psychotic
boyfriends and prowling women. I
wondered, like some noir film PI, a
Sam Spade/Philip Marlow character
that ‘trouble finds you’.
[Laughing] I think we all have our ups
and downs in life and that’s what life
is all about. It gives me more to write
about but, yeah, I’ve had my psychotic
boyfriends, absolutely. I’m sure that I’ve
been a bit psychotic myself sometimes. ✶

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 33

© Getty Images

34 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 Roy
In The
Rockhouse
RAISED ON C&W IN RURAL WEST TEXAS, THE ROAD TO ROCK’N’ROLL
STARDOM WAS LONG AND DUSTY, BUT ROY ORBSION WAS ALWAYS
GOING TO MAKE IT. ALAN CLAYSON CHARTS HIS RISE FROM HUMBLE
BEGINNINGS, AND INTRODUCES THE PEOPLE HE MET ON THE WAY…
Y
ou couldn’t get much
closer to the centre of
North America’s southern
region as the western end
of Texas. It was very much
beyond the pale of the showbusiness
mainstream, apart from intermittent
use by Hollywood for cowboy movie
locations. Indeed, only two miles from
the actual Red River which gave its name
to a 1948 John Wayne film, the Chisholm
Trail to Missouri had passed along the
main street of Vernon where Roy Kelton
Orbison was born in 1936.
His was a close-knit family in which
‘musical evenings’ were a frequent
occurrence – as they were in many Deep
South homes before the television became
an indispensable fixture. Stately colonial
mansions might have tinkled to the
strains of Handel and Debussy but, at the
Orbison bungalow, the backbone of the
entertainment issued from the acoustic
guitar of Roy’s motor mechanic father,
Orbie Lee.
It was fortunate for his kin that
his singing matched Mr. Orbison’s
enthusiasm; strong yet soothing, age
would never deepen his voice below
a youthful-sounding baritone. At first,
it was hard to believe that his father’s
voice could come from Roy, his pale,
unobtrusive slip of a second son. A
fascinated listener when Orbie Lee
practised, the knowledge was handed on
to Roy in the highest oral tradition when
his father “taught me the basic chords
on the guitar – nothing intricate. It was
me and the guitar, playing and singing”.
During a lull in the yee-hah exuberance
of twilight sessions, little Roy might have
been led forth for a turn before being
packed off to bed.
Is it difficult to imagine a timorous,
pudgy boy with jug-handle ears, receding
chin, spectacles and an oversized six-
string bringing tears to elderly eyes with
the same throbbing sentience that would
one day grip millions?
Roy’s slow transition to pop stardom
began on Vernon’s KVWC radio station’s
Amateur Hour. So often did he bicycle
to its studio to defy all comers that he
was granted a regular non-competitive
spot as ‘featured popular vocalist’. This,
however, was the limit of his impact on
Vernon before the family crossed three
hundred miles to the dreary oil town of
Wink where at least Roy now had his
own bedroom from whence emanated,
according to his mother, “many hours of
mad twanging and howling” – much of
it before the mirror no doubt. Culturally
window-shopping at Wink High School,
the teenager looked in at the a capella
choir which delved into such stirring
songs of the old frontier as Sam Bass
and Bill Was A Texas Lad. Once ranted
in cow camps to available violin or banjo
accompaniment, these came to be seldom
heard outside folk festivals, school
concerts and Lions Club events.
The social secretary of the local Lions
Club also happened to be the High School
principal. Not ignored, therefore, were
the cost-cutting resources available
there, such as use of its auditorium.
Furthermore, that Orbison boy played in
the popular style, didn’t he? He could lead
some sort of combo at the next dinner-
and-dance.
Falling meekly into line, the Fat Owl of
Wink High did not immediately resent
having to approximate mostly good old
good ones for the old folks. As well as
smooth approximations of Moonlight In
Vermont, Jersey Bounce and further swing
band sobrieties, Roy would pitch gladly
into favourites by Webb Pierce, Frankie
Laine, and, especially, Lefty Frizzell, who
left a mark for “this technique which
involved sliding the syllables together.
That just used to slay me.”
The ceiling of The Westerners
and similarly-placed acts’ ambition
was to support a C&W luminary like
Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow or Eddy
Arnold at such prestigious venues as
Fort Worth’s Panther Hall, because
the group was considered by most of
its turnover of members as merely a
pastime, an adolescent folly to be cast
aside upon departure to the world of
work, matrimony or National Service.
Nevertheless, the valediction beneath
Roy’s photograph in the school yearbook
read ‘To lead a Western band is his after-
school wish/And of course to marry a
beautiful dish.’
While his musical ability was apparent,
an inwrought commitment to honest
labour led him to listen to the sound
advice of his father who “knew there’d be
demand for geologists.” So it was ➨
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 35

Roy Orbison in 1960
THE OTHER
TEEN KINGS
When the group began hawking their
rockabilly goods in January 1956, joining
Orbison on stage were ex-Wink Westerners
Billy Parr Ellis on drums and James Morrow,
who had mastered mandolin, piano and
woodwinds, plus Jack Kennelly on
‘TK’-embossed double-bass. On a Spanish
guitar with attached electronic pick-up was
a diminutive but effervescent youth, Johnny
‘Peanuts’ Wilson. With Roy, he composed
You’ve Got Love, B-side of the first of two
solo 45s, 1957’s Cast Iron Arm – co-written
by Orbison – but Johnny had more success
as a songwriter for, among others, Conway
Twitty, Brenda Lee and Bobby Vinton.
36 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
‘ther e’d be pl aces w e
couldn’t pl ay because it
was rock‘n’roll . It wasn’t
re ally bad, but ther e w ere
restrictions.’ ROY ORBISON
that Roy came to be accepted for a degree
course in the subject at North Texas State
University. However, after he settled
down almost eagerly to his studies, he
experienced a road-to-Damascus moment
when he drove to catch a recital by Elvis
Presley at Dallas Sportatorium on 16 April
1954. With conflicting emotions, Orbison
turned a thoughtful steering wheel
afterwards. Presley traded in rockabilly,
which wasn’t far removed from the more
up-tempo C&W wares a still-functional
Westerners supplied. “I loved hearing it,
and I couldn’t wait for the next records
to come out, but, at the same time, I was
ready to go myself.”
© Getty Images
Response to a request for Shake
Rattle And Roll just before midnight
at a New Year’s Eve party facilitated
the Westerners’ complete switch to
rockabilly. Thrilled response both during
and after this rave-up all but swamped
the chimes into 1955 and, recalled Roy,
“When we were finished, I was fully
converted, even though there’d be
places we couldn’t play because it was
rock‘n’roll. It wasn’t really bad, but there
were restrictions.”
Now trading as ‘The Teen Kings’, they
toed a sufficiently subdued line to gain a
series of showcases on regional television
– though, elsewhere, Roy in leopard-
 © Getty Images
skin attire would be hip-swiveling and
knee-dropping Elvis-style like he nearly
meant it. Caught between the truculent
in-concert sensuality of Presley and his
own stolid compliance to adult values, the
budding geologist’s booking schedule led
to skimped essays, cutting lectures and,
ultimately, missing an important exam.
It made sense, therefore, to transfer to
a teachers training college in Odessa to
try for a less demanding qualification in
English and history.
Settling into campus life, the
impressionable freshman was delighted
that pop was encouraged there as much
as ‘serious’ music. Every Saturday, there
was a free concert in the Main Hall. Just
before the autumn recess, the highbrow
and ethnic fare was interrupted when
onto the rostrum strode two fellows, one
of them holding a guitar. Dick Penner and
Wade Moore then lurched into a number
they’d made up themselves. As a song,
it was as nonsensical as its title, Ooby
Dooby, but “it knocked me flat,” gasped
Roy. “I was astounded because they made
more music than the whole orchestra.”
An intrigued Roy was to come up with
offerings of his own –notably, one born of
his courtship of another sophomore (and
his future wife) Claudette Frady – that
he felt were at least equal to the group’s
non-originals. Yet Claudette wasn’t risked
when The Teen Kings procured a TV
guest spot to Johnny Cash, then on the
crest of his first C&W Top 40 triumphs.
Particularly impressed by Ooby Dooby,
Cash suggested they contact Sam Phillips,
the Sun Records supremo in Memphis,
who had hit the jackpot when Elvis
Presley came by. When a nervous Orbison
telephoned, however, Phillips erupted
with anger: “Johnny Cash doesn’t own
my company!’ And a heated inquest with
the other Teen Kings brought forth the
© GAB Archive/Getty

notion of pressing up a single themselves,

as well as resentment at vocalist and
lead guitarist Roy’s monopoly of the
spotlight. In reciprocation, Roy regarded ➨

ISSUE 1 VINTAGE ROCK 37

 Roy relaxing, with guitar
and sunglasses of course

Listen up
Ooby Dooby
THE TEEN KINGS (JE-WEL, 1956)
This showstopper in the
repertoires of both The Wink
Westerners and The Teen Kings
was B-sided with a rather workmanlike if ponderous
Trying To Get To You, featuring the versatile James
Morrow on clarinet. This was a cover of a single by The
Eagles, a Washington DC vocal ensemble, but, more
pertinently, a certain Elvis Presley was performing it
on the boards.

© Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Ooby Dooby
ROY ORBISON (SUN, 1956)
For this second attempt, Sam
Phillips “wanted everything up,
everything fast,” remembered Roy, “Everything with
all the energy that was possible.” It was coupled with
Go Go Go, an Orbison opus. Saturated with rockabilly
slang, this two-minute odyssey to find ‘real gone love
to drive a cool cat wild’ would be rechristened Down
The Line when on the flip-side of Jerry Lee Lewis’s
Breathless million-seller two years later.
his on stage cavortings as a duty rather Carl Perkins and some lesser icons had
Rockhouse than a pleasure. He was also fed up with left the runway.
ROY ORBISON (SUN, 1956) gibbering Ooby Dooby but agreed this An overhauled Ooby Dooby was to
After each discovered that the would be a good choice for a debut single. have a danceable urgency and a focused
other was composing a song of It was taped at the New Mexico studio Presley-esque ‘feel’ absent on the earlier
the same name, Orbison and of Norman Petty, shortly to be mentor version. Then Mister Starmaker Phillips
Conway Twitty (Harold Jenkins), another Sun signing,
pooled their ideas. The outcome was not dissimilar to to Buddy Holly and the Crickets, and grinned cheerfully and waved goodbye
Presley’s fourth Sun single, Baby Let’s Play House – surrendered to a small West Texas label as the boys commenced a five hundred
though it concerned the subject with which Bill Haley that ministered to its pressing and, from mile journey home, remarking later that,
was fast overloading his lyrical canvas: ‘Rock in the a car boot, its sale-or-return circulation though the unprepossessing Roy’s voice
morning/rock it in the daylight/rockin’ through the to whatever shops would take some. was “pure gold, he’ll be dead inside a
evening’ and so forth.
There followed scattered spins by radio month if people see him”. Yet Sam set a
Sweet And Easy disc-jockeys, one of whom coined the release date for spring 1956, and hoped
To Love
ROY ORBISON (SUN, 1957)
Roy imported The Roses, a singing ‘I’d play ev erybody else’s
family from West Texas, to serve
stuff – Chuck Berry, Little
R ich ard – then I’d do my
him as The Jordanaires did Elvis on an item that was
closer to middle-of-the-road pop than rockabilly.
Present too was guitarist Roland Janes, mainstay of
Sun’s house band from 1956 to 1963. If not as
renowned as Scotty Moore, it would be recognition of a
one hit and get off.’ ROY ORBISON
kind when, in 1998, he was heard in cameo on a nickname ‘The Big O’ for Roy, who for the best as The Teen Kings re-entered
Mudhoney album.
confided his worries that The Teen Kings the familiar circuit of West Texas venues.
Chicken-Hearted might have taken parochial impact to its Then a kind of miracle occurred. On
ROY ORBISON (SUN, 1957) limit to ‘Poppa’ Hollerfield, the fatherly 16 July, Ooby Dooby cracked the national
As well as an aptly jumpy proprietor of one such store in Odessa. Hot 100. Taking stock, Roy quit college
two-note guitar riff, squawking He offered to telephone Sun, and ask Sam a fortnight before his finals to go on a
saxophone from Morrow further Phillips, an old acquaintance, to listen to poorly-paid but prestigious package tour
gingered up this composition by Bill Justis, whose
it over the wire. (headlined by Johnny Cash) that would
Raunchy instrumental was a huge smash that year.
He’d been appointed the busy Phillips’ musical Sam showed a faint but unmistakable take in most of the South. Throughout the
director, and was active in mellowing Sun’s still interest and requested a copy of Ooby expedition, Orbison and his Teen Kings
predominantly rockabilly determination for a Dooby. After it whirled its little life away “danced and shaked and did everything
record-buying populace that was soon to be taking on the Sun record player, The Teen Kings we could to get applause because we had
more saccharine sounds to its heart.
received a summons to be in Memphis only one chart entry”.
three days hence for a re-make. So it Yet, as Ooby Dooby edged to its peak of
was that their two-car convoy pulled up No 59, the running order was altered in
outside the one-storey building next to a the newcomers’ favour. Perhaps a greater
used car lot, where Presley, Johnny Cash, accolade was the praise heaped on them

38 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12


by a dressing room visitor. “Marvellous
show!”, exclaimed Elvis Presley, adding
the sweet lie, “You’re that good that I’ll
never appear on stage with you.”
The King, however, would not be
drawn into a vexing discussion about
a suitable follow-up to Ooby Dooby. In
the running were songs that were now
streaming from Roy. The workshop
ambience of Sun allowed him to tape
numerous guitar-and-bass demos. Their
very starkness often captured a sketchy
charm. Indeed, in the likes of Lovestruck
and One More Time, there were hints of
what he was to become. Not so veiled was
The Clown, which had no commercial
precedent or reassuring reference point
for Phillips and his assistant producer
Jack Clements. Devoid of discernible
‘hook’ or chorus, this paean to a heedless
love, even in embryo, was a haunting
melancholia a decade ahead of its time.
Yet, on hearing it, Clement commented,
“Roy, you’ll never make a ballad singer.”
He seemed to have no future as a
rockabilly rebel either. Back on the road
again – with Cash, Perkins and Jerry
Lee Lewis – the act that now tended to
be billed as Roy Orbison and the Teen
Kings were dismayed by the less fervent
response to Rockhouse, the final choice as
second 45, than that for Ooby Dooby.
After a while, Roy didn’t bother with it:
“I’d play everybody else’s stuff – Chuck
Berry, Little Richard – then I’d do my
one hit and get off.” As the other Teen
Kings crammed into a second-hand
station wagon, their Big O shared a pink
Cadillac with Jerry Lee, Carl and Johnny,
it became clear that disbandment was
imminent. “It happened right in the
© Getty Images
studio,” sighed Sam Phillips. “They had
some difficulty among themselves, and
broke up then and there. Really it was
all nothing more than their just being
extremely young.”
Certainly, other than multi-
instrumentalist James Marrow, none of
Roy’s old colleagues were involved in two
further Sun singles, Sweet And Easy To
Love and Chicken-Hearted. Their market
failure reinforced Orbison’s perpetual
machinations to slow things down a little.
Like a tomcat who has tried in vain to
catch a fly and walked away haughtily,
pretending that he’d never had any such
intention, Sam Phillips was to concede
that “Roy and I knew all the time what his
forte was – and that was in ballads.”
Jack Clement, however, would not
recant. Whenever their paths crossed
down the years, he would always ask the
internationally-famous maker of Only The
Lonely, Running Scared, It’s Over and all
the rest of them, the same half-serious
question: “Are you still trying to sing
those ballads, boy?” ✶
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 39
 HAYRIDE BOOGIE ON A S

40 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

Saturday Night!

© Photo courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives—Noel Memorial Library, Joey Kent Collection.

THROUGH ITS NURTURING OF HOT NEW TALENT, THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE

EARNED THE NICKNAME “CRADLE TO THE STARS”. RANDY FOX DESCRIBES
HOW IT BECAME THE HOME OF ROCKABILLY… ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 41
➨
 LOUISIANA HAYRIDE

O
n a cool October evening in 1954, The venue: Shreveport Municipal
Horace Logan, the Louisiana Memorial Auditorium
Hayride’s emcee, introduced
the newest potential star to
grace the stage of the Municipal
Auditorium: Elvis Presley, a 19-year-old

© Photo courtesy of LSUS Archives and Special Collections, Noel Memorial Library
from Memphis, Tennessee. After Presley
performed That’s All Right, the A-side of
his first single, Logan joined him on stage.
“I’d like to know just how you derived
that style,” Logan said. “How you came
about with that rhythm & blues style?”
“Well, sir,” Presley said, “to be honest
with you, we just stumbled upon it.”
“You stumbled upon it. Well, you’re
mighty lucky you know… They’ve been
looking for something new in the folk
music field for a long time, and I think
you’ve got it.”
Logan had no idea how prophetic his
words were. Rockabilly had arrived on
the Louisiana Hayride.
The Louisiana Hayride was just one of
a host of radio barndance programmes
across the southern U.S. – the Grand Ole

‘Horace Logan had no idea how prophetic

Opry in Nashville, the Big “D” Jamboree
in Dallas, Texas, the WWVA Jamboree

his words were. Rockabilly had arrived on

in Wheeling, West Virginia, and more.
For both regulars and guest stars, the

the Louisiana Hayride’

pay for these weekly variety shows was
low, usually minimum union scale, but
a regular spot on a barndance show was
essential for a successful career.
For its first few months on the air, the
Louisiana Hayride struggled to build an
audience, often falling far short of filling
the 3,800-seat Shreveport Municipal
Auditorium. That changed with the
arrival of Alabama-born honky tonker
Hank Williams. With his brand of
© Photo courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Archives—Noel Memorial Library
heartbreak ballads and “sock rhythm”
honky tonk stompers, he quickly became
an audience favorite.
In late 1948, Williams lobbed musical
dynamite onto the stage of the Hayride
with his version of an old vaudeville
song Lovesick Blues. Over the next few
Suited and booted: a dapper Jerry
Kennedy takes to the boards
weeks, attendance for the Hayride spiked
as Williams and Lovesick Blues became
a sensation. Despite the opposition of
his producer, he recorded the song in
December 1948, and it zoomed up the
charts to become one of the biggest
selling country records of 1949. The
Grand Ole Opry soon came calling, and
Williams left the Hayride in June 1949.
For his farewell appearance, he played
Lovesick Blues and was called back for an
unprecedented seven encores.
Williams set a pattern for success that
many others followed. Webb Pierce,
Faron Young, Jim Reeves, the Wilburn

Brothers, Red Sovine, the Browns, Rose

Maddox and many others utilized the
Louisiana Hayride to establish their
careers or attract a larger audience before
moving on to the Grand Ole Opry and
bigger stardom.
In the wake of Elvis Presley’s first
record release in the summer of 1954, the
Louisiana Hayride became the perfect
home for the budding star to develop his
style. In Horace Logan’s 1998 memoir,
Elvis, Hank and Me – Making Musical
History on the Louisiana Hayride, he
recalled taking an immediate liking to the
shy and polite young man from Memphis.

42 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 A youthful Johnny Cash stares down
the lens at the Hayride
“I’d gotten pretty good at predicting
which artists would be warmly received
by our audience,” Logan wrote, “but what
I was feeling now was more than that.”
In an unusual turn of events, Presley
had already appeared on the Grand
Ole Opry two weeks before his first
Hayride appearance. Sun Records owner
Sam Phillips called in a few favours
in Nashville to arrange Presley’s Opry
debut, but it was hardly a success.
Rock’n’roll mythology portrays
Presley’s sole Opry appearance
as a total disaster, complete
with scurrilous treatment by
Opry management, followed by
an uproarious triumph on the
Louisiana Hayride. While that
version of events makes for great
drama, the truth is that Presley
received a friendly greeting from
musicians on both shows and a
confused but polite reception from
both audiences. The difference
came from the respective shows’
management. Grand Ole Opry
manager Jim Denny failed to see
how Presley could ever fit into the
Opry, while Horace Logan followed
his gut feeling and offered Presley a year’s
contract after just two guest appearances.
While older, more traditional country
fans may have been confused, amused
or even offended by the hiccupping and
gyrations of the “Hillbilly Cat’s” music,
younger fans were a different story.
Southern teenagers were coming of age
in a new world of music. Pop and hillbilly
June Carter released a live album,
Louisiana Hayride, encapsulating both
her musical and comedic skills
gham l Man
© Photo courtesy of Caro
tunes were common on most Southern
radio stations during the day and early
evening, but R&B ruled the airwaves of
the night. Late night R&B radio shows
were exploding in popularity, like the
ones broadcast on Nashville, Tennessee’s
WLAC and Shreveport’s own Groovie
Boy show on KWKH and Daddy-O Hot
Rod, broadcast over competing station
KOKA. For many younger music fans,
Elvis was simply combining their
two favorite musical styles into an
exciting new package.
Presley soon attracted fans
from beyond the hillbilly music
world. Carol Mangham was a
14-year-old student at C.E. Byrd
High School in Shreveport and a
fanatical fan of R&B records. “I
would listen to Gene Noble’s show
on WLAC when I went to bed
every night, so I knew all about
R&B. I wasn’t a country fan at all,
but I got wind of Elvis. Someone
told us we should check this guy
out. We were hesitant at first,
‘Yeah, right, the Hayride…’ But
once we went, we were hooked.”
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 43
 Wide smiles from honky tonk
rockabilly star Johnny Horton
am
© Photo courtesy of Carol Mangh
Carol and her three girlfriends became
the “Elvis Girls” who camped out at stage
centre each week waiting for Presley to
appear. “We were snooty about hillbilly
music,” she says. “There was a big sound
box right at the front of the stage. We
would sit on that box with our backs
turned, waiting for Elvis. When he came
out we would get right in his face and
take pictures. People would throw cups
with ice or flash bulbs at us, but we
didn’t care. We’d go back to high school
and talk about Elvis. The next thing you
know there were 20 girls, then 30, and
it didn’t take very long at all before it
seemed like every girl that went to Byrd
High School was coming to the Hayride.”
Presley’s success with the rockabilly
sound soon began to influence other
artists, including some that were already
performing on the Hayride. In January
1955, Johnny Lee and Wayne Walker,
two young Hayride regulars, cut a slice
of rockabilly perfection, Love Me. It was
one of the first records to reflect the
influence of the “Hillbilly Cat’s” style
and clearly demonstrated that Lee and
Walker had been studying far more than
Presley’s effect on teenybopper libidos.
44 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
David Houston was a teenage hillbilly
singer from the Shreveport area who
had made guest appearances on the
Hayride since 1951 when he was 12. After
Presley’s run began, Houston switched
to rockabilly and eventually signed with
RCA Records in 1956 while also becoming
a regular on the Hayride.
Beyond the names on the playbills,
other musicians found their careers
guided by the new sound of rockabilly.
Shreveport native D.J. Fontana joined
the house band of the Louisiana Hayride
in the early 1950s and became one of the
first drummers to play with Elvis, Scotty
and Bill. It wasn’t long before Fontana
joined Presley’s band as a full member.
James Burton joined the Hayride house
band at the age of 14. A year later, while
working with Shreveport-based singer
Presley’s success with the rockabilly
sound began to influence other artists,
including some already on the Hayride’
Dale Hawkins, he played lead guitar on
the rockabilly classic Suzie Q. He later
backed Bob Luman (also a Hayride
regular), Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis,
and Elvis. Other rockabilly sidemen that
cut their musical teeth on the Hayride
include guitarist Fred Carter, bass
players James Kirkland and Joe Osborn,
and singer and producer Jerry Kennedy.
The “new sound” also appeared
in the music of artists who were not
strictly rockabillies. Johnny Horton
had been a popular regular on the
Hayride for years, even though his honky
tonk recordings on Abbott and Mercury
had found little success. In early 1956,
he signed with Columbia Records and
unveiled a new, rockabilly beat-driven
honky tonk style that produced a string of
classic recordings like Honky Tonk Man
and I’m Coming Home.
Johnny Cash followed his Sun label-
mate Presley to the Louisiana Hayride
in late 1955, and his rhythm-driven,
minimalist take on hillbilly music found
an eager audience in Shreveport. In
September 1955, Elvis renewed his
contract with the Hayride for another
year of weekly appearances. Presley
continued to appear on the Hayride as
a regular cast member through the end
of 1955 and into the early months of
1956, but with his signing to RCA Victor
and the success of Heartbreak Hotel, it
became obvious it was time to move on.
On 31 March 1956, Presley made his last
appearance as a regular cast member,
buying out the remainder of his contract
for $10,000.
Although Presley was gone, the
rockabilly sound continued on the
Hayride. David Houston and newcomer
Bob Luman quickly took over as resident
rockabillies, and a stream of boppin’
guest stars kept the programme rockin’.
A partial list of the many hepcats that
made guest appearances throughout
the late 1950s includes Carl Perkins, Sid
King and the Five Strings, Roy Orbison,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Dale Hawkins, Wanda
Jackson, Eddie Bond, Warren Smith,
Rudy Grayzell, Sleepy LaBeef and Peanuts
Wilson. By 1958, advertisements for the
Hayride in radio guides included the
description “Country and Rockbilly (sic).”

© Photo by PYMCA/Photoshot
The stream of rockers with a hillbilly
bent pleased fans like Carol Mangham
who continued taking her Brownie
camera to shows after the departure of
Presley. She eventually even gained an
appreciation for the more hillbilly artists.
In addition to the Louisiana Hayride
each Saturday, the Municipal Auditorium
hosted many travelling rock’n’roll revues,

am
and Mangham captured snapshots of

© Photo courtesy of Carol Mangh

artists like Gene Vincent, Brenda Lee,
Duane Eddy and Fats Domino who rocked
the house while never officially appearing
on the Louisiana Hayride.
In early 1958, Hayride manager and
emcee Horace Logan decided to move on
and left KWKH to relocate to California.
Although the Hayride had been an artistic
and popular success, it never became
a large financial success. Over the next
two years, attendance declined as the
Hayride found greater competition from
television, movies and other forms of
Saturday night entertainment.
The business of music was also
changing as country music and rock’n’roll
parted ways. It became harder to hold
on to top talent since Shreveport lacked
the “support services” that professional
musicians required – record companies,
recording studios, music publishers and
booking agencies – all of which were
becoming common in Nashville. The
last regular broadcast of the Louisiana
Hayride took place on 27 August 1960,
just a little over 12 years since Hank
Williams’ first appearance on the show
and the beginning of its rise to glory.
The rockabilly sound was conceived
in the honky tonks and juke joints of the
South and then brought to term in small,
independent recording studios like Sam
Phillip’s Sun Records in Memphis. But the
place it was nurtured and learned to ride
the airwaves, was live, Saturday night, on
the stage of the Louisiana Hayride. ✶
THE ELVIS GIRL
And the day she nearly lost her photographs…
Carol Mangham-Golemon didn’t realize she was
documenting rock’n’roll history in the late 1950s
when she brought her Brownie camera to the
Louisiana Hayride, but she did value the photographs
enough to save them from almost being “gone with
the wind”.
“I went to Houston one summer with my cousin
Marti,” Carol says. “We were on the East Texas
freeway, the first stretch of Interstate that had opened
in the South. There were all these signs that said no
parking or stopping. We had the shoebox full of
pictures in the back of the car and the windows were
down because there was no air conditioning.
Suddenly, the box got sucked out the window, and
the pictures went flying all over the interstate.”
“Marti and I started screaming and crying – just
tears. My uncle said, ‘I can’t stop; it’s against the
law!’ We were crying and threatening to jump out of
the window.”
“My aunt said, ‘You’ve got to, just look at them!’
He finally pulled off, and we were traipsing up and
down the highway picking up pictures. That’s why
some of them have tire tracks on them to this day.”

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 45

Making Hay
Professor of Music and Chair for Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia,
Tracey E.W. Laird is the author of the highly enjoyable and respected
tome, Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots of Music along the Red River
(American Musicspheres). She kindly agreed to talk to Vintage Rock…
Who started the Hayride?
There are different distinct groups that
claim responsibility. First, there were
the Bailes brothers: four brothers who
had a successful act in Nashville, at the
Grand Ole Opry, in the ‘40s. I talked to
one of them, Homer Bailes, when he was
a grand old man, retired as a Methodist
pastor in Louisiana. A man close to his
80s who dyed his hair red. We met at a
greasy spoon café. He told me that it was
the Bailes brothers and Dean Upson, who
worked with the radio station WSM in
Nashville, that covered the Grand Grand
Ole Opry, that had the idea of coming
to Shreveport and doing a Grand Ole
Opry-like show. Homer said it was he
who convinced his brothers this was a
good idea. He believed that Shreveport
didn’t have country music – he meant
the Appalachian-rooted sound. Homer
thought that the ‘new’ sound would be
fresh and sell like wildfire.
Upson worked as a producer at the
beginning. According to Homer, it was
then that they hired Horace Logan to act
as programme director and MC for the
show. Under a year passed when Upson
left and Logan also became producer.
Carol Mangham
© Photos courtesy of
Margie Singleton
in full flow
46 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Now, if you talk to Horace Logan, you
learn that he had the idea to start the
Hayride, sparked from something he had
done before WW2. Logan had worked
for the KWKH radio station as an errand
boy. Around 1940, the show had a live,
Saturday night variety radio show called
Saturday Night Round-Up. Popular singer
Jimmie Davis would have appeared there.
Logan served in WW2 then tried to open
a gun shop but then went back to work to
the radio station. Logan, then, declared
that he was really the source of the
idea by wanting to play off the model of
Saturday Night Round-Up.
I did find a newspaper story on Logan
who said that he didn’t have the initial
idea but was involved in its creation.
Sometimes, when people tell their story
over and over, the emphasis changes.
Another important figure in the
early days was Henry Clay. There are
rumours, though, that he wasn’t a true
friend of the Hayride?
Henry Clay married the daughter of a
guy called Ewing, who owned the
Shreveport Times and KWKH. He was
the business guy. There are stories that
he was disaffected with country music.
Logan wrote a memoir called Elvis, Hank
And Me. In it, he said he had to fight Clay
every step of the way. Another writer,
Stephen Tucker, a Louisiana music
historian, presented a convincing case to
say that Clay wasn’t like that. He didn’t
know much about music but he supported
it and, without his cheques, the Hayride
couldn’t have existed.
‘There was no sense that the Hayride
was preserving any kind of tradition,
unlike the Grand Ole Opry’
Photo © Yinying Luo
So why did the Hayride catch on?
There were Hayride personalities who
had really good instincts about what was
entertaining. The show also reached a
lot of people. The organisers pointed the
transmitter, after sundown, west, so that
it covered a lot of Texas, to attract a big
radio following. KWKH already had a
good following, though, which helped.
Another reason was that Shreveport, mid-
20th century, was a very different place to
what it was in the 19th century. It was an
important regional crossroads. It featured
Cajun sounds, South Louisiana sounds,
musicians from Arkansas from the
north, Texas sounds from the west plus
Mississippi and Alabama from the east.
There was a unique variety and Horace
Logan aimed at variety. For example,
he insisted that, during the show, you
only have one or two songs per set, up
to eight different announcers, audience
participation… He was a big character and
had a sense of making radio entertaining.
Was the Hayride show tightly planned?
From the audience point of view, the
Hayride looked like this well-oiled
machine. It wasn’t. According to one of
the original radio engineers who mixed
the sound at the time, “That show wasn’t
produced, it just happened.” So you had
,
© Getty Images
40
OF THE GREATEST
Rockin' Recordings
BY FEMALE ARTISTS JULIE BURNS
T
hough it's true that rock'n'roll was very
much a male musical vehicle, in reality a fair
number of women were not only around –
but firmly in the driving seat. Here, we take a
lateral, by no way definitive, look at the main
female contenders – allowing ourselves a little
artistic licence time-wise. As well as those that
delivered the goods bang in the middle of R'n'R's
'56-'63 heyday, we honour also the influential
anthems that anticipated its trademark sound,
and those that followed in its wake. To get these
songbirds' impact in context, not only were they
contributors to a new (and controversial) musical
movement, they were competing creatively and
commercially against the era's gender conventions,
as epitomised by the likes of Ireland's chart
sweetheart Ruby Murray, and squeaky clean
screen queen Doris Day.
48 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
As for black lady blues belters on the rocking
edge, with segregation as well as stereotyping to
contend with, they had to fight even harder to be
heard. Overall, our 40 featured females – often
self-penning and guitar-slinging – are musical
innovators. From sweet vocal harmonies to honky-
tonk boogie woogie; tales of passion, desire and
murder; the rhythmic to risqué; this barn-storming
cross-section showcases hot hits to obscure gems.
Some artistes were prolific, others striking one hit
wonders, some not even recognised; all with one
thing in common: they paved the way for women
in rock and roll, and in music in general. Whatever
their technical genre – R&B/country & western/
pure rockabilly/rock'n'roll or almost pop, this
eclectic output captures their rocking influence
– and stands as testament to the power of female
musical achievement. Enjoy! ✶
WANDA JACKSON RUTH BROWN
MEAN, MEAN MAN (MAMA) HE TREATS YOUR DAUGHTER MEAN
Record Label Capitol Record Label Atlantic
Released 1958 Released 1953
The first and the best of several notable Some say Ruth created the rights to give
rockabilly fillies, Wanda was the women free expression in song right
wildest, most versatile, most here. This early classic certainly set out
enduring. Any '50s track is seminal the singer/songwriter/Broadway star
– Riot in Cell Block No 9; Tongue and activist's sassy, kick-ass musical
Tied, I Gotta Know, Hot Dog, agenda. In the early '50s as a start up
That Made Him Mad; Honey Bop, label, Atlantic was called 'the house
Hard Headed Woman, to biggest that Ruth built' – because of her hits. A
hits Let's Have a Party and Japan true rocking innovator, she imbued R&B
No 1 Fujiyama Mama. As for Wanda's with an infectious, though never inept, pop
own Mean Man favourite - her first, quality between '49-'55, giving her 16 Top 10
self-penned rocking recording with signature hits the calbre of As Long As I'm Moving, with five
smoking vocals forge a sound and template years No 1s. Then followed her first pop hit, Lieber & Stoller's
ahead of its time. Crossing over to rocking proper from country on Decca – on the advice Lucky Lips in '57, before This Little Girl's Gone Rocking in '58. A popular performer
of tour-mate Elvis – she never looked back. Capitol had first turned her down saying 'Girls even in the segregated southern US, one writer declared her to be better known
don't sell records!' Sixty years later, now in her '70s, the living legend's still going strong. there 'than Coca-Cola'.

LAVERN BAKER BIG MAMA THORNTON

VOODOO VOODOO BALL 'N' CHAIN
Record Label Atlantic Record Label Arhoolie
Released 1961 Released 1968
Enjoying chart success with several Yes, it is a late date entry, but it is
rocking RnB hits – most notably her listed by the Rock and Roll Hall of
Latin tempo first hit Tweedlee Dee Fame as one of the '500 songs that
(1955) and million-seller jivers' shaped (later) Rock and Roll' –
favourite Jim Dandy in '56 - LaVern though, of course, Hound Dog was
also graced Alan Freed films Rock, Mama's biggest hit 15 years earlier
Rock, Rock and Mr Rock & Roll. in R&R's heyday, selling almost two
In all of this, she was the epitome million copies. The two tracks as
of exuberant, but ladylike, charm. re-recorded by white musicians,
What's arresting about this wild slice turned into chart-topping hits –
of shiveringly good supernatural R&R, is for Elvis on Hound Dog, and Janis
how raw Lavern lets rip. Think Miss Whip-lash Joplin, on this. On Thornton's
meets Devil Woman. Or a female Screamin' Jay Hawkins superior version, she belts the song to love gone bad in the sassy way
crossed with Little Richard… The original acetate dates from 1958 – right bang in R&R she intended and wrote it. Vocally arresting, shrieking 'listen, listen, listen!' then
and LaVern's heyday. Held in limbo, then hidden as a B-side on Hey, Memphis in '61, it screaming, it builds into one hell of a haunting bluesy rocker. She wrote more than 20
missed the mark hit-wise, but its hot rocking impact burns eternal! other blues songs of note including They Call Me Big Mama.

JOYCE GREEN
BLACK CADILLAC
Record Label Vaden
A TRUE ROCKING
Released 1959
'I caught you cheating and running INNOVATOR, RUTH
BROWN IMBUED RHYTHM
round… and now I'm going to
put you in a hole in the ground!'
That's just the first line… As Max
Decharne says in his book, A
Rocket in my Pocket, this has to AND BLUES WITH AN
INFECTIOUS, THOUGH
be 'the wildest female rockabilly
recording of the '50s'. Killer vocals
(literally) machine gun over a dirty

NEVER INEPT, POP QUALITY

murder tale of lover's revenge, against
hurtling guitarist Tommy Holder and
drum-bashing Harvey Farley. A true cult
curio, sadly this intense gem – written by 19-year
old Green – was to be a one-off. Locally played only – and that, thanks to its standard
A-side, Tomorrow, penned by Joyce's brother – garnered little publicity. With Vaden
BETWEEN 1949 AND 1955,
shut by '62, Joyce sang in Arkansas joints until the '70s and cut some unreleased demos.
GIVING HER 16 TOP 10 HITS
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 49
40 GREATEST TRACKS BY FEMALE ARTISTS

BARBARA PITTMAN THE MILLER SISTERS

I NEED A MAN TEN CATS DOWN
Record Label Sun Record Label Sun
Released 1956 Released 1956
Like Joyce Green later at Vaden, Barbara Elsie Jo Miller and Mildred Miller were
was the only contracted girl singer at Sun sisters-in-law through Elsie marrying
– and almost as overlooked. At least, guitarist Roy Miller – Mildred's brother.
unlike her stable-mate Gloria Brady – Before auditioning for Sun in 1954,
who recorded demos, never to cut a the three worked as a trio. As a duo
single – she delivered four greats over and one of the label's few girl acts,
four years, culminating in regional producer Sam Phillips seemed most
classic Cold, Cold Heart/Everlasting optimistic about the Millers' chart
Love. On I Need a Man, the teenager chances. Despite bouncy, warm harmonies
vocalised incredible swagger and female set against Stan Kesler's steel guitar solos,
desire: she had actually approached Sun to they did not score a hit. Just a week after their
audition aged 10, was told to 'grow up and come first recording session, all attention diverted to
back', and went gigging at The Eagles' Nest, thanks Elvis' first record, That's Alright Mama – which was a
to friend Elvis. Proving popular on package tours with Elvis, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins and hit. Symbolising a seismic musical shift away from the girls' country hillbilly style into
Johnny Cash, ultimately, they got the promotion, she didn't. 'Sam Philllips wanted me revved-up rockabilly, Phillips did not release their 1957 R&B song Got You On My Mind.
to do Connie Francis stuff, little girl tunes,' Barbara later said. 'I just refused…' Yet of all the era's girl harmony groups, he described them as 'second to none'.

MARIE KNIGHT KATIE WEBSTER

I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL THEM HOO WEE SWEET DADDY
Record Label Baton Record Label Zynn
Released 1958 Released 1958
From gospel beginnings – and a A rollicking R&B rocker from the iconic
considerable spell performing and piano-pumper. Star of the legendary Jay
recording for Decca with Sister Rosetta Millers' studios in Louisiana, here Katie,
Tharpe through the '40s – Knight aka Kathryn Jewel Thorne, showcases
went solo around 1951. Her secular her bluesy boogie-woogie prowess,
R&B music began in the late '50s for backed with I Need You Baby, I Need
various labels, never more 'in spirit' You. A versatile pianist and vocalist,
and perfect than on this blistering composer and songwriter, her later
track for Baton, flawlessly backed by the stand-out tracks include the ivories-
Teacho Wiltshire Orchestra. In 1959, she hit crashing CQ Boogie; rocking Two Fisted
the charts with a duet for Carlton with Rex Mama; rare blues-country take of Your Cheating
Garvin, as Marie & Rex, on the galloping Heart; sultry ballad Pussycat Moan; and the raunchy,
I Can't Sit Down. She famously toured Britain in the late '50s, and by '61 pre-empted pop blues-based I'm Bad. Memorable performances include duets with BB King on such
with her original rendition of Come Tomorrow, a greater hit for Manfred Mann. Later in as Since I Met You Baby. Initially renowned as a specialist session musician for blues
life, she went full circle to reunite with old friend Sister Rosetta, and return for good to supremos Lightin' Slim and Lonesome Sundown, she also played with Otis Redding in
her gospel roots. the '60s. A popular fixture on Euro tours to US blues festivals, until her death in 1999.

ETTA JAMES
TOUGH LOVER
BARBARA PITTMAN HAD
ACTUALLY APPROACHED
Record Label Modern
Released 1956
Two years into her career, this came at a

SUN TO AUDITION AGED formative time for the diva – on tour

with Little Richard, and by the sounds

10, WAS TOLD TO 'GROW

of this growling, fast-talking pièce
de rocking résistance, could have
covered him on a day off. She sings as

UP AND COME BACK',

if enraged – and in actuality, was, on
account of hearing of the tame version
of her earlier R&B hit, Dance With Me,

AND WENT GIGGING Henry, becoming a crossover hit for white

artist, Georgia Gibbs. No matter. Etta, though
initially underrated, would garner multiple awards

AT THE EAGLES' NEST, and hits: from R&B Good Rockin' Daddy, to doo-wopping All I Could Do Was Cry, to sublime
ballads I'd Rather Go Blind, Something's Got a Hold on Me, and her signature, At Last.

THANKS TO FRIEND ELVIS

Credited as the woman who bridged rhythm & blues and rock'n'roll. Often copied, but
never equalled.

50 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

JEAN CHAPEL
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
LORRIE'S PUBLICITY
Record Label RCA Victor BUBBLE BURST – AND
ARTISTIC SEPARATION FROM
Released 1956
Jean was the first and only officially

LARRY ENSUED – WHEN

named and promoted 'Female Elvis'
by RCA Victor, their record label,
after Sun. Their first record for

SHE LEFT SWEETHEART

RCA comprised her Welcome to
the Club, and his Love Me Tender
(Jean's original cut was issued as
Sun 244, July '56, b/w I Won't Be
Rocking Tonight). Their flip sides
were on the same 45 promo-record
RICKY NELSON FOR
back to back as sent to radio stations
(two songs each side). Jean's other great JOHNNY CASH'S MUCH
OLDER MANAGER
rockers include the original, definitive Oo Ba La
Baby, RCA, 1957, and '63's belter Don't Let Go. Yet her greatest success came with
songwriting – more than 400 for artists as diverse as Eddy Arnold, Dean Martin and
Nancy Sinatra.

ALIS LESLEY SPARKLE MOORE

HE WILL COME BACK TO ME ROCK-A-BOP
Record Label Era Record Label Fraternity
Released 1957 Released 1956
Quickly snapping at Jean's heels as Born Barbara Morgan, nicknamed
the 'female Presley', Lesley not Sparkle after a character in the Dick
only styled her name after Elvis Tracy comic strip, Ms Moore only
but, sensationally, her whole recorded a few songs during a short
pants-clad, guitar-slinging and sweet career, but is regarded
image – including greased hair as a pioneer of female rockabilly.
and sideburns! This catchy Era The cool, self-styled 17-year-old
platter had male backing vocals, with platinum pompadour and
plus smooth lead guitar slides and leathers, self-penned this first
breaks courtesy apparently of Roy release, a distinctive bopper b/w Skull
Buchanan, and was Lesley's (brief) claim and Crossbones. It earned this Billboard
to fame. Mentored by popular TV female review: 'Gal pulls a female Elvis Presley and
Kathryn Godfrey, by '57, Lesley was performing belts out a catchy rock and roll ditty with style and
at the famous Club Avalon. By Autumn, she was touring Australia with Little Richard, drive.' Though she toured with Gene Vincent in '56, illness prevented her from a Grand
Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent… The tour was cut short (and her chances?) by Little Ol' Opry appearance the same year. Following another double-sided blinder, Killer/Tiger
Richard's 'religious experience' and subsequent retirement. – and a haunting curiosity, Flower of My Heart – she left music to start a family.

JANIS MARTIN LORRIE COLLINS (COLLINS KIDS)

DRUGSTORE ROCK 'N' ROLL MERCY
Record Label RCA Victor Record Label Columbia
Released 1956 Released 1958
The most popular of the so-called Ultimate sister/brother act Lorrie and Larry
female Elvis's, Janis, like Jean Chapel, hit fame early, aged 12 and 10. A unique,
graced the King's label – signing infectious mix of country and early
at just 15. At first refusing to be rock'n'roll, Larry played a mean double-
known as the 'female Elvis', she neck Mosrite while Lorrie sang lead, as
U-turned on watching him perform on this track, which she also wrote. The
– though her parents allegedly duo's signature was a revved-up pace –
turned down Colonel Parker's offer most notably on high-octane, proto-punk
to manage her. Unusually, for one so number, Whistle Bait, flip to Rock Boppin'
young and in those times, Janis made Baby. Popular on US TV's Ranch Party show
it on her own terms. Drugstore Rock 'n' from '57-'59, they suffered creatively somewhat
Roll was the B-side to her first cut Will You in not being taken seriously. In addition, Lorrie's
Willyum, and was the biggest hit of her career – publicity bubble burst – and artistic separation from Larry
proving girls could sell records, to the tune of 750,000. Voted Billboard's Most Promising ensued – when she left sweetheart Ricky Nelson for Johnny Cash's much older manager.
Female Vocalist '56, before a 'gunshot' marriage/baby, more hits ensued: Billy Boy, Billy Happily, in later years, the siblings reunited and ignited once more, on the Euro-tour
Boy, All Right Baby, My Boy Elvis, Bang Bang, Barefoot Baby to Hard Rocking Mama. circuit in rockabilly revivals from the '90s on.

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 51

40 GREATEST TRACKS BY FEMALE ARTISTS

ROSE MADDOX (AND THE MADDOX BROTHERS) CHARLINE ARTHUR

WILD WILD YOUNG MEN (I'VE GOT THE) BOOGIE WOOGIE BLUES
Record Label Columbia Record Label Bullet
Released 1955 Released 1950
On the 45rpm DJ white label copy, the The unsung early Texan trail-blazer of
words 'No! Too suggestive' are scrawled spirited hillbilly rockabilly, this one-
across it. Which sums up its immense off bright spark paved the way for
appeal! Though originally a 1953 Ruth many a rocking female. A star of the
Brown (strangely restrained) classic, Big D Jamboree in Dallas, she was
raucous Rose and her boys take it – cutting hits like Boogie Woogie Blues
and make it merry mayhem. Note her well before Kitty Wells opened the
brother Fred's rockabilly pre-empting gate for girl singers to become country
slap bass technique (forged as early stars. Crashing through conservative
as 1937), steel guitar by Ernie Bell, and early '50s country with her feisty delivery,
backing by Eddie Cletro and His Roundup Boys. other prime tracks include Hello Baby, Flash
One of the first women to sing country boogie, Rose Your Diamonds, Honey Bun, and I Heard About
was lead singer/song-writer and fiddle player first with her brothers, as 'America's most You. By the time of recording Burn That Candle, she was with RCA Victor, and soon
colourful hillbilly band' before a successful solo career from 1957 – with 14 hits between famously quarrelling or 'blueing' with producer Chet Atkins. It was to cost her
'59-'64. Her former reputation as a 'lusty firebrand' (!) fits the bill on earlier fare Honky dearly – her contract was never renewed, her music censored by the Grand Ol' Opry.
Tonkin', I'm a Little Red Caboose, and Meanest Man in Town. Later rightly celebrated with election to The Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

ELLA MAE MORSE ANNISTEEN ALLEN

HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS BONGO BOOGIE
Record Label Capitol Record Label King
Released 1946 Released 1951
Sometimes cited as the first rock'n'roll Hooking up with Lucky Millinder and
singer, due to her innovative musical style his Orchestra was a lucky move for
blending blues and country, ironically Allen. Signed by Federal from 1951,
she never became a major star – her they scored several hits together,
versatility couldn't be categorised. Her none more kicking than this inspired
early 1942 recording, Get on Board, orchestra meets bongos stomper. The
Little Chillun, already sounds a genuine sax rich Yes I Know, 1953, and '54's
precursor to later rockabilly/R&R. Yet if G'wan About Your Business were in
ever there was a contender for the first R&R similar vein. Other hits include I'll Never
record, this '46 punchy track is it. Ella's hip Be Free, Let it Roll, Moanin' the Blues and
vocals – and early use of the word 'homey'(!) More, More, More. Federal's parent company,
set against Freddie Slack's boogie woogie piano King, acquired Annisteen in 1953, but following a
brilliance influenced sounds to come. Hear more R&R roots in copyright case with Apollo Records regarding her release Baby
Cow Cow Boogie, Ella's first Capitol hit with Slack; Blacksmith Blues, her gold disc million- I'm Doing It, dropped Allen from its roster. Signed with Capitol, in '55, she scored a US
seller; 1951's Oakie Boogie, later popularised by Hank Swatley. Ella was also the first female hit with Fujiyama Mama (two years before Wanda Jackson's Japanese success). She also
to record Bill Haley numbers including Razzle Dazzle. toured with Joe Morris and The Orioles, before going solo in the '60s.

WYNONA CARR
ROSE MADDOX WAS LEAD JUMP JACK JUMP

SINGER/SONGWRITER
Record Label Specialty
Released 1956
Carr's bold and sensual contralto vocals

AND FIDDLE PLAYER FIRST almost sound at odds with her early
gospel roots. Her songwriting was

WITH HER BROTHERS, AS

already touching on R&B with her take
on Roy Brown/Wynonie Harris' Good
Rockin' Tonight, titled I Heard the

'AMERICA'S MOST COLOURFUL News (Jesus is Coming Again). Soon

signed to Speciality as 'Sister' Wynona
Carr, she initially emulated Sister Rosetta

HILLBILLY BAND', BEFORE A Tharpe – but grew restless, switching from

spirituals to R&B/R&R. This joyful, piano-

SUCCESSFUL SOLO CAREER

rolling, sax-honking prime slice of jump blues sums
up Carr at her peak, its style reminiscent of her label-mates Little Richard, Lloyd Price
and Larry Williams. Despite recording/writing two dozen rocking sides from '55 to '59 –

FROM 1957
including Ding Dong Daddy, Finders Keepers/Boppity Bop Boogity Boog and Touch and
Go, she was never recognised in her lifetime as she is today.

52 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

BIG MAYBELLE
RANG DANG DILLY
BUNNY PAUL SCORED
Record Label Savoy HITS WITH HONEY LOVE
AND THE FIRST FEMALE
Released 1956
Having got a taste for rocking the year

RENDITION OF SUCH A
before – with her recording of Whole
Lotta Shakin' two years before Jerry Lee's
version – Big Maybelle lets off further steam

NIGHT – BANNED BY
with some big jump blues, ably abetted by
fleet fingered piano and a sexy sax break.
Success was cumulative on leaving King
Records as plain Mabel Smith, via Okeh
Records in 1952 and a name change to Big
Maybelle, settling with Savoy through the
SOME RADIO STATIONS
'50s, gaining several hits there. In contrast
to the rollicking Rang Dang Dilly, the same AS SUGGESTIVE, THOUGH
RELEASED AGAIN IN '59
year came her biggest-selling silky ballad, Candy.
After 1959, though she recorded for a variety of labels, the hits disappeared. Popular
at top music festivals, she performed into the early '60s. Her final album, Last of Big
Maybelle, was released after her death, in '73.

LAURA LEE PERKINS VARETTA DILLARD

DON'T WAIT UP SCORCHED
Record Label Imperial Record Label Triumph
Released 1958 Released 1959
One of the rarest slices of female 'Scorched! Burnt! Hot! I'm Mad!'
rockabilly, this showcases Ms Perkins' Incendiary vocals, punchy riff, hidden
prodigious talent, from her boogie as a B-side to Good Gravy Baby,
woogie piano playing to sassy vocals, from Varetta's short and sweet time
arranged by Ricky Nelson's producer. at Triumph. Why never as revered
Other up-tempo numbers include the as Ruth Brown? Surely one of the
self-written Oh La Baby, plus Kiss Me most underrated singers of the 20th
Baby, Come On Baby, My Babe, and century. The Harlem hottie's biggest
Gonna Rock My Babe Tonight (note the hits came earlier in the '50s on the Savoy
babe theme). Promoted as the 'female Jerry label: Easy, Easy Baby, and her nationally
Lee Lewis – The Shakin', Shimmin', Rockingest, popular signature, Mercy, Mr Percy. Other picks
Rollingest Gal That Ever Picked a Guitar!' Discovered of a great bunch are Promise, Mr Thomas, So Many
in late '57, by radio station WEOL, on pounding the piano there for fun. Asked to record Ways, That's Why I Cry and Getting Ready for My Daddy. She released two of
demos, she included a cracking Hound Dog, dubbing herself on piano, drums and harmony the earliest tributes: 1955's Johnny Has Gone – after singer Johnny Ace died
vocal on a multi-track recorder. Result: Sam Phillips and Lew Chudd were interested – but by accidental self-inflicted gunshot – and for RCA subsidiary Groove I Miss You
as a great fan of Ricky Nelson, Laura went with Imperial. Jimmy, an ode to James Dean. Her last recordings came in 1961.

BUNNY PAUL MARJORIE LAKE (WITH THE RENOWNS)

SWEET TALK MY MIND'S MADE UP
Record Label Point Record Label Everest
Released 1956 Released 1961
Such a tight slice of pure Werly Fairburn Considered as one of the greatest '61
styled rockabilly, b/w History, a unique singles never to have made the national
one-off for the blonde bombshell charts. On first hearing, it sounds like
from Detroit. So natural a musical Wanda Jackson's jamming with The
fit, yet her style went otherwise in a Ventures… same mean growl against
career spanning 1948-'63 for major a low-down, driving drum and guitar,
labels Brunswick, Capitol, Roulette with a great Ace Café ton-up feel.
and finally, Gordy – but no lasting Marjorie Lake, nicknamed 'The Little
recognition. After starting out as an Girl with the Big Voice', was this
orchestral singer, she had a double-sided, compelling one-off's vocalist and
self-written hit on Dot – Magic Guitar/Never Let writer, credited as I.M. Vake. Winning a
Me Go. By '54, she became Essex Records' primary local radio competition gave Marjorie and
female vocalist, there at the same time as Bill Haley. She scored hits with Honey Love band the chance to cut a disc in Chicago – this is the rockabilly result.
and the first female rendition of Such a Night – banned by some radio stations as It did relatively well, selling 100,000 copies in the Mid-West. MGM and the Ed Sullivan
suggestive, though released again in '59. This was b/w I'm Gonna Have Some Fun, one Show duly beckoned… but the band decided not to take it further. Shame that the
of a few R&B cuts with her group, The Harptones. promise of Marjorie melted back into Minnesota as fast as it had emerged.

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 53

 , ,

40 GREATEST TRACKS BY FEMALE ARTISTS

RUTH DURAND
I'M WISE
BIG, BOLD AND BRASSY,
Record Label Post
WITH ITS STOP-START-
Released 1956
Cut-throat business this rocking malarkey… STOMP RHYTHM, STELLA
JACKSON WAS REGIONALLY
This, the original version of Slippin'
and Slidin', was co-written by Eddie
Bocage (who first recorded it, the year
before). Though New Orleans singer
Ruth delivered the goods in relative
rip-roaring fashion, as witnessed here,
RESPECTED FOR HER
it couldn't hold a chart candle to Little
Richard, who snuck in, covering it the AUTHENTIC NEW ORLEANS
SOUND, WHICH SPANNED
same year, and changing the title. Ruth's
brief but bright spark career diversified into
duetting with Al Reed as Ruth & Al in a productive
period of '56-57. On Imperial, they recorded a half-dozen jaunty
numbers – perhaps the two best toe-tappers being I'll Be The Bee and Ps and Qs. She
gives a different flavour of talent that could have been, on the sober, bluesy platter Tin
OTHER BLUES JUMPERS
Can Alley, circa '55.

DOLLY COOPER PEGGY UPTON

MY MAN SWEET SUGAR BUGGER
Record Label Modern Record Label Rose
Released 1955 Released 1958
A frantic, exuberant dance-floor filler, this For the country music performing
crackerjack jump jiver – and blinding schoolgirl, winning a radio contest
double-sider – showcases Cooper's set in motion her musical career.
ce soaring vocals. Backed with Ay La According to an article published
Bah – or Hey La-Bas to give it its French in a 1956 issue of ‘Cowboy Songs’
roots – this cutesy, catchy version of magazine, early TV audiences loved
a well-known Fats Domino number her ‘poise and sweet simplicity.’
had the Maxwell Davis orchestral sound. A mainstay of Oklahoma radio, she
Laying down 21 titles for the Savoy, worked with stars such as Wanda
Modern, Dot, Flash and Ebb labels between Jackson and Don Boots. Her DJ friend Jack
'52-'57, she was at her best leading up-tempo, Beasley helped her record a disc that created
jumping arrangements. Highlights include Dot's Big a stir – My Prince Charming b/w Say You Love Me.
Rock Inn, and the dance-worthy Tell me, Tell Me – not forgetting Ebb's breakneck paced, Starday Records took notice, signing her to pair with Danny Buck on 1957 duets Our
dynamite Wild Love finale. Inexplicably, this seemed to spell the end for her career as an Love Is Not The Same/What’cha Gonna Do Tonight? and Knocking. As for this distinctive,
RnB artist. Nevertheless, she went out with a bang. Of earlier note is her '53 recording of unique cut of controlled, mid-tempo, RCA pressed rockabilly, no laughing at the back –
Alley Cat – it could be another predecessor to Hound Dog. the title had a different, innocent meaning way back then!

STELLA JOHNSON JUDY CAPPS

YEAH BABY YOU CAN HAVE MY LOVE
Record Label KRC Record Label Cherry
Released 1958 Released 1959
Big, bold and brassy, with its stop-start- The Kentucky-based label is most famous in
stomp rhythm, Stella was regionally rockabilly circles for the two distinctive
respected for her authentic New and much-loved Art Adams 45s, Rock
Orleans sound, which spanned other Crazy Baby (Cherry 1004/5) and
blues jumpers That's What I'm Gonna Dancing Doll (Cherry 1018/9). In
Do, to a piano-twinkling version of 1959's non-liberated times, it took
Guitar Slim's bluesy ballad The Things a brave gamble in profering equally
I Used to Do. Other of her smokey vocal 'primitive' female rockabilly to an
vehicles include Yeah Baby's flip, Please unsuspecting public – first in the (strident
Tell Me So, Well I Done Got Over, The Ways but visionary) shape of the artiste known
of Love and Please Tell Me. Though she would as 'Toni' singing I Want you To Be My Baby
never rise to the stellar heights of her label's creator (Cherry 1006/7). Judy's was waiting in the wings
– gold-disc vocalist Lloyd Price – and though the label was not a commercial success, (Cherry 1008/9) and in terms of delivery and production, most
artists such as Stella remained critically acclaimed. To his former label ABC Paramount, rockabilly fans agree, it sparkles with more light, shade and texture, without losing its
Price returned, and had the nation's No 1 hit with Stagger Lee, early in 1959. Johnson's 'straight out of hicksville' essence. The storming backing band were Pat Kingery and the
own take, The Trial of Stagger Lee, though clever, couldn't compete. Kentuckians, while the song was a co-write between Kingery, Lawson and Capps.

54 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

,

40 GREATEST TRACKS BY FEMALE ARTISTS

KAY STARR LUCILLE STARR (BOB & LUCILLE)

OH BABE EENY-MEENY-MINEY-MOE
Record Label Capitol Record Label Ditto
Released 1950 Released 1958
One of the first female artists to perform It's very telling that Lucille went from
C&W swing, her popular No 1 was the duetting to international solo star, as she
(rather tame but sweet) Rock and so obviously held the talent. French-
Roll Waltz, smashed by her biggest Canadian born, Lucille Marie Raymonde
hit (ten weeks at No 1) Wheel of Savoie was a natural musician from early
Fortune. Often strait-jacketed to on. Playing guitar, bass and mandolin,
'fit in' with the mode of the time, she had a crystal singing voice and
Kay was actually a va-voom vocalist was an expert yodeller. Before long, she
whose style, when unleashed, could teamed up with Bob Regan – as his wife and
sound impressively rocking, as with this to form a country-singing duo. Between '58
inimitable and visionary disc. Co-written and 63, they released several eclectic 45s, earning
by Louis Prima, and incorporating the 'new' their signing in '63, to A&M, where they recorded as The
sound of backbeat, Kay's success with it proves that Canadian Sweethearts. This joyful rockabilly rendition of a classic, complete with piano
the rock'n'roll sound was scoring chart hits years before Bill Haley or Elvis. A gifted, tinkle and slap bass, showcases their earlier perfect teamwork. Their partnership would
versatile artist across several styles and genres, blues diva herself, Billie Holiday, last until divorce in '77. Starr's star had already ignited with The French Song in '64, her
declared Starr to be 'the only white woman who could sing the blues'. massive solo hit worldwide.

LITTLE ESTHER PAT FERGUSON

WILD CHILD FOOL I AM
Record Label Warwick Record Label Stomper Time
Released 1961 Released 1960
Chased with a wild sax break and Though this may call to mind Carl
clapping backbeat, Esther sounded Perkins' I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry,
like an excitable Eartha Kitt – and Pat – real name, Patty Philpott from
again on the sultry flip side of Gee Memphis – very much owns this. An
Baby. Following a black hole from outstanding example of – slightly
the mid-50s due to drug abuse, later – female rockabilly so rootsy
this tour de force pre-empted a big it sounds earlier. Her sneering vocal
comeback and relative success – via – and unusual intonation – blends
Roulette and Atlantic - into the '70s gloriously and furiously with the
and '80s – as Esther Phillips. As child star tight sound. A fat, fast slap bass and
Little Esther, she recorded for Modern and at some great, insistent, jangling chord-work
14, scored No 1 with Double Crossing Blues, the from Chips Moman's lead guitar, adds up to
first of a hit string for Savoy, in her debut year. Quickly your new favourite. The writer credits state Pat and
decamping to Federal, only one of 30 sides – Ring-a-Ding-Doo – charted (though I'm a Jerrel Ferguson. Incidentally, Pat's label was originally owned by Eddie Bond, Mercury
Bad, Bad Girl was a particular sizzler). Twice nominated for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – label hit artist of Rockin' Daddy, Flip, Flop Mama fame, etc. She must have felt highly
without getting in. Shame! honoured as Mr Bond was infamous for having turned down one Elvis Presley.

BARBARA GREENE
LONG TALL SALLY
A GIFTED, VERSATILE
ARTIST ACROSS SEVERAL
Record Label Atco
Released 1963
Like your women wild? You got it
right here. This is the cat's whiskers
and the devils' missus. The STYLES AND GENRES,
BLUES DIVA HERSELF,
general rocking consensus may
be that covers of classics are
suckers – but some, by females,
dispel that myth… Hard Headed
Woman by Judy Layne; Trouble by
Jackie Shannon… and this, largely
BILLIE HOLIDAY, DECLARED
considered as one of the best covers
ever. It is not committing rock'n'roll STARR TO BE 'THE ONLY
WHITE WOMAN WHO
sacrilege to say that this kick-ass girl's version
is near equal to Little Richard's 1956 outing. Listen and
learn! With the wow power of ten Brenda Lees at least – and some stunningly insane

COULD SING THE BLUES'

backing vocals – Barbara blows thoughts of the original away. Defies you to stay in your
seat! B-side Slippin' and Slidin' is a great cover, too. Sorry, Little Richard!

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 55

,

40 GREATEST TRACKS BY FEMALE ARTISTS

TINY TOPSY
YOU SHOCKED ME
THOUGH MOST ASSOCIATED
Record Label Federal
WITH POP, AS HER FAN AND
Released 1958
The ironically named, mighty-voiced FRIEND WANDA JACKSON
THINKS, BRENDA LEE'S
mama erupts on this boomer with a
ridiculously catchy and raunchy vamp.
Her first recording session was held the
previous year, resulting in a clutch of
solid rockers. First came the bouncy,
dance-worthy Aw! Shucks Baby, ably
REAL VOCAL HOME WAS
abetted by The Fine Chances. Next came
Come On, Come On, Come On, with The ROCK'N'ROLL. BRENDA WAS
THE BRIDGE BETWEEN
Charms and this Shocked Me single. Both are
notable in enjoying UK issues on Parlophone –
quite something, considering the rarity of US R&B releases
then. A third track from this session remained unissued until 1988. Tiny's fourth single
was a first in 'sampling' terms. Western Rock'n'Roll integrated snippets of then current
hits – Lollipop, At The Hop, Get a Job, Short Shorts – and opened to gunshots. Before
ROCK'N'ROLL AND POP
The Olympics' Western Movies disc followed suit.

BRENDA LEE JONES (DEAN & JEAN) CONNIE FRANCIS

OH! YEAH STUPID CUPID
Record Label Buckeye Record Label MGM
Released 1958 Released 1958
In the late '50s trend for girl/boy duos, Uniquely as a female artist at the height
other contenders for top tracks include of her late '50s/early '60s chart heyday,
Mickey and Sylvia's No Good Lover, Gene Connie's record sales often surpassed
& Eunice's Bom Bom Lula/Poco-Loco those of her male peers. Despite
and Shirley & Lee's Rockin' With the personal tragedies, happily Connie
Clock/Let The Good Times Roll. This is still active today. She made her
scores because, unlike most of the other first appearance on stage as a singer
duos, Dean's vocals never predominate and accordion player, aged 4. She soon
Jean's (Brenda). In other words, she is not dropped the accordion and her Italian
just the female foil. Here, as usual, she gives American name, Concetta Franconero. In
as good as she gets on a guitar-revved, rocking '58, heartbreaker Who's Sorry Now? launched her
cracker. Coming together in 1958, and promoted as into worldwide stardom. Neil Sedaka composition Stupid Cupid, sung with a cheeky
'Special Teenagers Dean & Jean!' Welton Young and Brenda Lee Jones recorded some ten twinkle, proved most significant. A Billboard chart hit, it was her second No 1 in the UK.
singles before disbanding in the changing times of '65. Mack The Knife, party song Tra-la- Restoring momentum to her career, she reached the US top 40 seven times more during
la and Jean on lead's no-nonsense Big Boss Man sounding Thread Your Needle, are their the rest of the '50s. In '59, she went gold twice over with rocking double sider Lipstick
most remembered. On Your Collar/Frankie.

JUNE BATEMAN BRENDA LEE

POSSUM BELLY OVERALLS DYNAMITE
Record Label Shaw Record Label Decca
Released 1965 Released 1957
Rock'n'roll purists' warning: this is quite Though most associated with pop, as her fan
some hybrid, fusing a bluesy rocker with and friend Wanda Jackson thinks, Brenda's
soul over (under?) tones. Though it real vocal home was rock'n'roll. Brenda
pre-empts more ballsy sounding girl was the bridge between rock'n'roll and
singers of the next pop-slanted era, its pop. Exploding onto an enraptured
gutsy spirit still lies in that essential audience with second single Dynamite,
rocking rebel yell… Packing a mean and it birthed her 'Little Miss Dynamite' title.
powerful punch with Noble Watts and She was aged 12 and seven months when
his band in tow, it's a worthwhile listen. it charted. Ensuing rocking sparklers include
Strongly influenced by Tommi Tucker's High Crazy Talk, The Stroll, Rock the Bop, Ballin' the
Heel Sneakers, even down to its harmonica trills, Jack, Blueberry Hill, Let's Jump the Broomstick
its cryptic lyrics and bonkers title defy description – and festive fave Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - plus
but June rides with it and pulls it off with aplomb. Go compare with the completely later UK recorded hit Is It True/That's What I Say, featuring guitar legend
different cut as put out on Everlast later the same year – destined as the label's last Jimmy Page. Before she was 20, she recorded a staggering 256 sides, some million-
ever 45 release. Check out also June's earlier, sax-honking offering, Come On Little Boy sellers. Ranked as the most outstanding international female act of her generation, the
(Fury, 1960). tiny powerhouse is still rocking today.

56 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

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Great Scott
WITH A KNACK FOR SONGWRITING HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A BIG STAR, BUT
JACK SCOTT’S MUSIC CAREER PERFECTLY FOLLOWED THE UPS AND DOWNS OF
THE POP MUSIC BUSINESS OF THE TIME… PROFILE BY PAUL RIGBY
J
ack Scott is not the first name
that rolls off the tongue when
the subjects of rock’n’roll and
rockabilly are mentioned. In
fact, despite his pioneering
efforts, Scott is largely forgotten as a
figure in music. Why? After all, he had
a great voice. He was right up there
with Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison.
He also had a superb backing group
known as The Chantones, who were as
accomplished as Elvis’ Jordanaires.
Scott, though… Scott wrote his own
songs. Elvis didn’t. And Scott was a
talented guitarist. Was Scott’s problem,
as Goldmine magazine’s Phill Marder has
suggested, that he never courted scandal
or died before his time?
This aspect of Scott, having all the
ingredients but never quite making it
in the business, is
symbolised by his
birthplace. If you stand
in Detroit, a centre of
music history and walk
south, the first new
country that you hit
isn’t, in fact, Colombia,
South America: it’s
Canada. By a quirk
of winding boundary
fate, Windsor, Ontario,
was Scott’s birthplace.
Scott could have taken
it as a sign that he would
always be the outsider
but the pull of the radio
masked such thoughts.
58 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
His mind was full of country sounds,
“We’d listen to the Opry,” he said to Colin
Escott for the Bear Family box set Classic
Scott: The Way I Walk. “…Red Foley and
Ernest Tubb. We were able to pick up
the Louisiana Hayride, the wheeling
West Virginia Jamboree and so on. In
Michigan, we didn’t have anything like
that. There was a point after we moved to
Detroit when I was meeting new friends
and it lapsed but then, after about six
months, I was back into country music.”
Maybe this prompted Scott’s wish to
learn to play the guitar. His father bought
him his first instrument and taught him
the basic chords to get him underway,
after which he targeted the country
songs of the day as his inspiration. This
led to the formation of his first band,
The Southern Drifters, a hillbilly outfit.
Talking about those very early days,
Scott revealed something about the inner
rock’n’roller that he would become. “I’d
hear that sound, a tone,” he said, “and
I’d sing a song just like Hank Williams.
We used to get so carried away. I had a
boy who used to play the steel guitar just
like Hank Williams’ steel guitar player
and we duplicated the fiddle sound and
muffled rhythm track. We weren’t even
using a drum. We would sing those Hank
Williams songs in the living room at my
mom and dad’s house. We’d perspire and
freak right out. It was Hank Williams
to a tee. And I’d do a Carl Smith song
like Carl Smith and a Webb Pierce song
like Webb Pierce and so on. Sometimes
people would say, ‘You do a really good
impression of so and so…’ and I
wasn’t trying to imitate. I just
heard the tone and I tried to
duplicate it.”
Originally named Jack
Scarfone, the moniker change
occurred after a high school
revue with his sister, Linda, when
a DJ for the WEXL radio station,
Jack Eirie, invited Scarfone to
come onto the radio to play the
Lefty Frizzell/Webb Pierce song
That’s Me Without You. Eirie
then recommended a name
change to something rather
more anglicised. Scarfone
became Scott and then country
became rockabilly after Scott
heard Elvis on the radio. ➨
 JACK SCOTT

© Image courtesy of Bear Family

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 59


LISTEN UP
What else was happening during the year
that Scott’s iconic The Way I Walk hit the
record charts?
Johnny Horton – The Battle Of New Orleans
Fellow rock’n’roller, Horton, had the top-rated song for
the year of 1959.
Elvis Presley – A Big Hunk O’ Love
Scott was a big Presley fan. This song was just one of four
Presley entries in the Top 100.
Lloyd Price – Personality
Scott and Price had an artistic close encounter on an
ageing French 7” EP from 1978 on the K-Tel label, of all
places, where Price featured this track alongside Scott’s
My True Love.
Paul Anka – Lonely Boy
Anka and Scott were media buddies, both appeared on
the same episode of Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut
Show on national TV (Season 2, Episode 43), on ABC back
in 1959.
Bobby Darin – Dream Lover
Scott was, in fact, a prolific guest on Dick Clark’s show
with nine appearances, while Darin almost matched him
with eight.
60 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 3
Scott had the voice, he had the
but he never quite found the famtalent,
“I never heard the term ‘rockabilly’. I
was doing nothing but country songs
until I heard Presley’s first records. I
had a little show at a dance hall and I’d
do a song like Walkin’ The Floor Over
You and then do an Elvis song like
Money Honey. Today, it seems that you
play either rock or country but back then
we were doing Rock Around the Clock, Be
Bop A Lula and so on at square dances. It
all blended. The audience loved one as
much as the other. I never heard the term
rockabilly until I went to Europe.”
It was after a local gig at the Dance
Ranch that Scott and his band decided to
enter a studio and make their first record,
a single called Baby She’s Gone with You
Can Bet Your Bottom Dollar on the flip. It
was local record store owner Carl Thom
who would hear and pass Scott’s details
to the local ABC-Paramount distributor.
Eventually, head office would publish that
single, plus, when it did decent business,
another, until the second bombed and
Scott was out of the door faster than he
went in.
That was 1957. In 1958, Scott had
written Greaseball after a jailed buddy
of his but that name was changed to
Leroy because the original was deemed
offensive to Hispanic Americans. To
partner Leroy, My True Love was penned
‘It was after a local gig that Scott
and his band decided to enter a
studio and make their first record’
e.
for Scott’s girlfriend. Brill Records
released the pair as a single. Another
label, Carlton, heard it and purchased the
masters, plus Scott’s contract, for $4,800.
This was when Scott’s music changed
and a certain focus arrived in his
songwriting, “There was a change of
mood,” he said. “I wrote My True Love
while we were working the Dance Ranch.
Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent and all the
others were coming up and coming into
my head. My voice was changing a bit.
The feel was different. We had a different
guitar player that gave us a different feel.
We’d added the vocal group too (The
Chantones) and polished the sound.”
The proof was in the figures as One
True Love hit No 3 on the Hot 100, with
the flip side, Leroy, scoring at No 25. The
single sold over a million copies. Not bad.
“I’d wake up in the morning and mom
would have the radio on in the kitchen
and she’d say, ‘Jack, your song is on again.’
It was a thrill every day – like having your
first brand new car – you can’t wait to get
out of bed to shine it. I was in semi-shock
for six months.”
Scott spent 18 months at Carlton,
combining successful further singles
(Goodbye Baby) with less than successful
tracks (Geraldine), though his iconic The
Way I Walk was only a minor hit, reaching
No 35 in 1959. Scott began to suffer, as
many other performers did at the time,
 JACK SCOTT

from the payola scandal. Then, after

managing to avoid the army draft due to
an ulcer, Scott was shifted from Carlton
to the US arm of the UK label Top Rank,
where he was conned by an in-house
attorney into giving up all his future
royalties from his Carlton singles.
Still smarting, Scott struck lucky with
a self-penned song for his new label.
What In the World’s Come Over You,
became a No 5 hit on the Hot 100. But
his financial frustrations with Carlton
would resurface as the label licensed his
older ABC material and combined it with
his past Carlton work, and hinted at his
latest Top Rank hit by calling the new
album What Am I Living For, as Scott lost
further revenue on the release. Maybe
his frustration inspired new creativity
because the single Burning Bridges was
the result. A haunting performance with
excellent guitar backing, it proved to be
Scott’s last big hit, reaching No 3 and
being later revived by the likes of Glenn
Campbell, George Jones and Bill Nash.
The song reflected a change in
production techniques, promoted by
A&R man, Sonny Lester, who took Scott
to New York, “Sonny basically let me do
my own thing,” said Scott. “ He let me use
strings. I hadn’t been happy with some
of the nonsense stuff at Carlton and I
wanted a cooler sound.”
It was a productive time at Top Rank.
© Images courtesy of Bear Family

In fact, in less than 18 months, Scott

released three albums: What In The
World Has Come Over You, a tribute to
Hank Williams called I Remember Hank
Williams (slowing the pace but featuring
Williams’ rarities) and a gospel album,
The Spirit Moves Me. Scott struggled to
make much headway with further ➨

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 61

© Images courtesy of Bear Family
JACK SCOTT

62 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

single releases during 1960 as the Top
Rank label folded. He was in Australia
when a telegram summoned him back to
New York. “There was a whole floor that
used to be full of desks and secretaries
that was covered with plastic (Top
Rank sales director) Len Levy and Sony
Lester were there. I said, ‘Are we going
to England or what?’ They said, ‘There’s
no more Top Rank. We’re all going to
Capitol.’ I didn’t have any say in it at all.”
The transfer of Scott from Top Rank to
Capitol occurred in March 1961. Scott’s
career nose-dived and the pressure
increased. “It wasn’t me any more. When
I was with Carlton and Top Rank, they
let me do what I wanted to do. They built
the records around me, even on Burning
Bridges when we had the string section.
On Capitol, the producer would get the
wild track going and say, ‘This is the
trend of music that’s happening today’
and try to get me to do it. It might have
been happening but it wasn’t good for me.
It took several years for me to realise that.
There were songs that I had no business
doing. The producer would say, ‘Jack, this
is a great song, let’s do it.’ They sort of
twisted my arm. Joe Carlton said, ‘Jack,
‘Who knows what would have
happened had he joined Berry Gordy
at this stage in the Motown story’
write your own songs and do them the
way you want. If you do it any other way,
it won’t be you.’ We used Stan Appelbaum
at Capitol. He was a top arranger at the
time but The Chantones weren’t there
and (long time lead guitarist) Al Allen
wasn’t there. I was just the voice. A Little
Feeling was the first song and they rushed
it through before I could bring my guys
in. I started losing it at Capitol.”
Ultimately Capitol dropped Scott in
December 1962, after a most frustrating
period which included bending his style
to a country audience. Scott almost
joined Motown in 1963, “…but I felt
uncomfortable with the
sound,” he said. Who knows
what would have happened to
Scott’s career had he joined
Berry Gordy at this early
stage in the Motown story.
Instead, Scott joined RCA
after an invitation by Chet
Atkins but Atkins found it
difficult to know how to
market Scott. In addition,
added Scott, “I loved
country music but I wasn’t a
country artist.”
It was the British
Invasion that finally hit
Getty Images
Scott the hardest. By 1965,
“After the psychedelic
trend came in,” he said, “I
© Photo by Fox Photos/
just lot interest. Elvis was
rock’n’roll to me.”
Scott wandered
aimlessly for a few years,
including time at ABC-
Paramount, GRT and then, finally, in 1973,
at Dot, where he had a couple of minor SCOTT BOXED!
country hits. Time spent in Europe, in the For those looking for the ultimate in Jack Scott music
late ’70s didn’t provide the career lift that coverage, look no further than Germany’s Bear Family
he sought. (www.bear-family.com) which offers the 5CD box set,
Classic Scott, featuring all of his American studio
recordings from 1957 to 1977, beginning with the demo of
Greaseball, which became Leroy, and taking in the Carlton
and Top Rank sides, many of them unavailable since the
'50s and '60s. There are also the Capitol and Groove sides,
like Grizzly Bear, Flakey John and more. Finally, the set
squeezes in the ABC, Jubilee, GRT, Dot, and Gusto sides
from 1966 to 1977. It also incudes a large format,
informative book.
If you are looking for something more concise and
The Scott story hasn’t finished, though. downbeat then check out Bear Family's The Ballads of
Ex-radio programme director Warren Jack Scott, a 25-track, single-CD collection that also
Cosford still sees Scott as Scott performs includes an informative – CD-sized this time – booklet.
and occasionally records in his home Tracks include What in The Word’s Come Over You and My
city of Detroit, “Now that I’m living in True Love.
Windsor, I often see Jack. Usually, he’ll
Also from Bear Family is Jack Rocks is a 26-track, single
just show up in the lobby of our radio CD collection of more upbeat tracks. Also including an
stations, unannounced. Sometimes, when informative booklet, it features Leroy, The Way I Walk
he’s there, a few of today’s wannabe rock and Goodbye Baby.
stars and their record label people are
Lastly, Rollercoaster Records offer a fine compilation,
hangin’ out. I never introduce Jack to
Jack Scott - The Way I Walk: The Carlton Recordings
them. While I’m sure he’d be gracious,
1958-1960, that features all of Scott’s Carlton
he’s much too private a person. Besides… recordings, features superb earlier cuts from ABC as well
been there, done that.” as five bonus tracks.
A private, sensitive man who belies
his tough guy, motorbike-toting image,
Jack Scott is known for his perfect
pop ballads and his rock’n’roll
outings. Whatever genre you
want to place Scott in, what is
absolutely undeniable is that Scott
was a first class vocalist. Remove
the histrionics from many of his
contemporaries and you would be
hard put to find a better one. ✶
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 63
 Xxxxxxx
B U D DY H O L LY
Here Holly poses without his famous black-rimmed spectacles, circa
1957. The famous eyewear was thought lost in the plane crash that killed
the star, but resurfaced on February 1980 in Iowa – they had been filed
away in a sealed envelope by the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's office.
Getty Images
 D UA N E E D DY
This striking image of Eddy was shot as part of a New York City studio
session in 1958, the year the guitarist signed his record deal. His debut
single Movin' n' Groovin' made No 72 in the Billboard charts; follow-up
Rebel Rouser would soon prove to be a fast track to fame.
Getty Images
 VINTAGE ROCK JOHNNY CARROLL
A close friend of Gene Vincent, Texan Johnny Carroll was the man
behind three of the most infectious rockabilly tunes ever cut, Wild, Wild
Women, Crazy Crazy Lovin' and Hot Rock – all peppered with Grady
Martin's slick-fingered guitar skills. All three bombed at the time…
Getty Images
 VINTAGE ROCK E LV I S P R E S L E Y
This stunning portrait taken in 1955 shows Elvis holding a double-necked
Gibson SG guitar, a rare sight indeed! Presley spent the year touring
across the States. While at first he began down the bill, he rapidly shot
up to headline shows and by the year's close he was a megastar.
Getty Images
Getty Images

VINTAGE ROCK BRIAN SETZER

This live shot captured by Fin Costello in 1980 shows the Stray Cats
frontman mid-solo at Birmingham's Cedar Club. In the same year
the band were courted by numerous major labels and their gigs were
attracting many a famous muso. Debut LP Stray Cats was soon to follow.
 for place!
If you’re looking then you came to the right
Strictly Elvis UK / The Elvis Travel Service has been Taking Care of
Business for Elvis fans for 42 years with an array of Elvis holidays : Elvis Presley Travel Service/Strictly Elvis
and events in the UK, Europe and, of course, the good ol’ US of A. www.strictlyelvis.net

No Elvis event in the UK is bigger than our

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This amazing event, now in its 34th year, brings
Elvis fans together to have fun and celebrate
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Elvis entertainment, activities, superb bands and special
guests from the USA. Join us at the Vauxhall Holiday Park in
Great Yarmouth from Saturday 6th to Saturday 13th September
for the UK’s best Elvis holiday. There’s a great choice of superb
accommodation in caravans, apartments and modern lodges
in this truly 5 Star Holiday Park that boasts some wonderful
facilities including two entertainment lounges, restaurants,
bars (including a great Sports Bar), an indoor pool and Want to see the two places that Elvis loved the most?
aqua-centre, crazy golf and lots more besides. Prices Then join us for Elvis’ 80th
th Birthday Tour in January 2015
depend on the number of people sharing and the type of As always on a big anniversary year, Graceland will be pulling out all the stops to ensure
accommodation chosen but start at just £110 per person that this is an event to remember. And our week-long holiday features comprehensive
for the whole week. What a bargain! sightseeing tours of Memphis, Tennessee where he lived for most of his life, and Tupelo,
Mississippi where he was born. A visit to famous Sun Studio, a Platinum Pass to
Our line-up includes Marty Wilde and
Graceland, Admission to the Birthplace and Museum and lunch at one of Elvis’ favourite
the Wildcats, The Jets, Mark Keeley’s restaurants are included plus, of course, your flights,
Good Rockin’ Tonight, Colin Paul and hotels, transfers and the services of an experienced
the Persuaders, Whirlwind, The Paul Tour Manager. And it’s a truly fabulous time to visit as
Hayes Collection, Glenn Darren and Graceland will still have its display of Christmas lights.
the Krew Kats plus many more. Join us to celebrate Elvis’ 80th Birthday in style!
The tour departs on Sunday 4th and returns on Monday
For a brochure containing full details 12th January 2015 plus there’s an optional extension
contact us on: 01473 621 564 to Miami Beach for some glorious winter sunshine.
or email: enquiries@strictlyelvis.net Marty Wilde
Full details from www.strictlyelvis.net Call on 01473 621 564 for prices
Strictly Elvis UK & Elvis Travel Service, Unit D Bristol Court, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP5 3RY
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

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 © Getty Images

Don Robey and Johnny Otis

70 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

9

Hillbilly Cats
On Michigan Avenue
IN THE FOURTH PART OF OUR LABEL SERIES, RANDY FOX
CONSIDERS THE INFLUENCE THAT CHESS RECORDS HAD ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF ROCKABILLY MUSIC…
T
he famous blue and silver
label of Chess Records is
synonymous with the blues.
During Chess’ heyday in the
1950s, their line-up of classic
bluesmen included Muddy
Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little
Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie
Mabon and more. When rock’n’roll began
to emerge in the mid-50s, Chess again
led the way with Bo Diddley, Chuck
Berry, the Moonglows and others, laying
down the R&B foundation of the Big Beat
sound. But there’s another chapter to the
Chess story that few people know about
– the label’s brief but glorious flirtation
with rockabilly.
Formed in 1950, out of the earlier
Aristocrat Records, Chess was owned and
operated by two Jewish Polish-American
brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess.
Although neither of the Chess brothers
had musical talent, they both had a deep
appreciation for all styles of black popular
music, a keen sense of what would sell
and a dedication to mastering every
aspect of the record business.
The Chess brothers believed that
personal friendships with their business
partners were a key to success. Working
out of their headquarters in Chicago,
Illinois, they frequently took sales trips
across the U.S. to scout talent and meet
with distributors, retailers and radio
deejays. Two of the friendships they
established proved to be important to the
success of Chess Records, and also the
eventual development of rockabilly.
The first was Sam Phillips, who
opened the Memphis Recording Service
in January 1950. Phillips’ recordings
of Memphis bluesmen and jump blues
combos were a major source for Chess
releases in 1951 and into 1952. Phillips
delivered top ten R&B hits by Roscoe
Gordon and Howlin’ Wolf, as well as one
of the top records of 1951, Rocket 88 by
Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats.
INDEPENDENT LABELS
Along with the hits came two records
by one of the first white artists to appear
on the Chess label. Harmonica Frank
Floyd was a true musical oddity: a white,
country blues guitarist who played the
harmonica with it stuck between his
lips like a cigar, while singing out of
the other side of his mouth. Harmonica
Frank’s first Chess single, Swamp Root,
is best described as “inspired insanity,”
full of surreal nonsense lyrics, crazed
combinations of both hillbilly and blues
idioms and the frantic hillbilly version of
scat singing known as “eefing.” While it
would be hard to argue that Harmonica
Frank was a major influence on the
development of rockabilly, his music is
a progenitor of the sound Sam Phillips
would capture in his studio. The success
of his productions for Chess led directly
to Sam Phillips launching Sun Records in
1952 and his eventual discovery of Elvis
Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and
a host of other rockabillies. ➨
ISSUE 9 VINTAGE ROCK 37
 ‘Although Chess had stumbled onto
rockabilly, their main focus was
shifting to rock'n'roll'
In addition to the Harmonica Frank
records, Chess experimented with
a couple of hillbilly releases in 1952.
Neither had much success, and the
Chess brothers decided to focus on
what they knew best: R&B. It would be
another southern contact that led the
Chess brothers to a second experiment
with hillbilly music and eventually to
Chess’ greatest rockabilly star.
This second important contact
was Stan Lewis, the owner of Stan’s
Record Shop in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The largest record store in Northern
Louisiana at the time, Stan’s Record
Shop had a steady clientele for both
R&B and hillbilly records. Lewis soon
became a distributor and part-time
talent scout for Chess as well as
independently producing recording
sessions for Chess and other labels.
By the summer of 1954, Stan
Lewis was a major sponsor on radio
station KWKH in Shreveport, and
had close ties to many hillbilly artists on
the Louisiana Hayride radio show. He
convinced the Chess brothers to launch
a separate Country Series with Lewis
producing the recordings.
Despite some regional successes and
one national hit, only seven records were
released in the Chess Country Series.
Included was the first slice of pure
rockabilly released on the label. Jimmy
Lee and Wayne Walker, regulars on the
Louisiana Hayride, teamed up in January
1955 to cut Love Me, an early rockabilly
classic. Their sole rockabilly blast would
be their only collaboration. Jimmy Lee
went on to record country and rockabilly
72 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 10
9
/Getty
for other labels. Wayne Walker cut a few
solo records and became a successful
Nashville songwriter, penning How Do
You Think I Feel for Elvis’ second LP.
Although Chess had stumbled onto
rockabilly, their main focus was shifting
to the beat driven style of R&B with
pop appeal that was becoming known
as rock’n’roll. Around the time the
last Chess country singles were being
released, the label scored major hits
with Sincerely by the Moonglows and
Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley himself. Their
next discovery, Chuck Berry, was an artist
who was using the basic building blocks
of rockabilly – R&B, country and pop –
but putting them together in a slightly
different configuration.
Berry’s first hit, Maybellene, in the
summer of 1955, aptly demonstrated
how he could fuse R&B with country
influences into a song with massive
appeal. Despite the country elements in
Berry’s music, his success cemented the
Chess brothers’ vision of rock’n’roll as a
new breed of R&B rather than a unique
species without the traditional colour
lines. As the calendar flipped to 1956, Sun
Records alumni Elvis Presley and current
Sun Records artist Carl Perkins scored
mega-hits with Heartbreak Hotel and Blue
Suede Shoes respectively. Both records
zoomed to the top of all three charts –
pop, country and R&B – and their success
launched a mad scramble by records
companies to find their own “hillbilly
cats.” Chess was one of the few hold-
outs. The Chess brothers decided to stick
with what they knew best – R&B-based
rock’n’roll, but the traditional boundaries
between genres were tumbling fast and
that attitude didn’t last long. Ironically,
a simple misunderstanding about
race led Chess Records back to white
rock’n’rollers and set the circumstances
for Chess’ discovery of their greatest
rockabilly star.
In November 1955, Chess released the
single See You Later, Alligator by Bobby
Charles, a teenage singer from Crowley,
Louisiana. Recorded in New Orleans,
and produced by Paul Gayten, the song
featured a “Big Easy” sound similar to the
hits that Fats Domino was racking up for
Imperial Records. While Charles’ version
The Flamin

The Chess brothers saw Chuck Berry not
as rock'n'roll, but as a new form of R&B
hit the R&B charts, it became an even
bigger money maker thanks to publishing
royalties when Bill Haley & His Comets
covered the song and made it a top ten
pop hit in the early months of 1956. With
a new, rock’n’roll hitmaker on their
hands, the Chess brothers wired money
to Charles to fly to Chicago to record
a follow-up. It was only upon Charles’
arrival that they discovered they had
signed their first white rock’n’roll star.
At the same time, another Louisiana-
based white rock’n’roller, 19-year-old
Dale Hawkins was playing his brand
of blues-influenced rockabilly in the
Shreveport area. Inspired by Bobby
Charles’ success, Hawkins set his sights
on Chess Records. By day,
Hawkins worked at Stan’s
Record Shop as a sales
clerk, providing him
with a connection
to Leonard Chess
through Stan Lewis.
With See You Later,
Alligator riding high
on the charts in the
The Flamingos
INDEPENDENT LABELS
© Getty Images
© Getty Images
spring of 1956, Hawkins recorded a two-
song demo tape in the studio of radio
station KWKH in Shreveport. The two
songs, See You Soon, Baboon, an obvious
cash-in attempt on the success of See
You Later, Alligator, and Four Letter
Word-Rock displayed influences of the
New Orleans sound mixed with Bill
Haley-style rock’n’roll, while Hawkins’
aggressive rockabilly vocals tied it all
together. With the tape in hand, Stan
Lewis pushed it to Leonard Chess
who had warmed to the idea of white
rock’n’roll singers after the success of
Bobby Charles.
Released in June 1956 on the Chess
subsidiary Checker, Hawkins’ first single,
See You Soon, Baboon failed to gain
any traction on the charts.
Hawkins continued playing
clubs in the Shreveport
area and hoped to follow
up with another single,
but Leonard Chess had
discovered a potential
rockabilly star much
closer to home. ➨
ISSUE
ISSUE129 VINTAGE ROCK 73
37
 © Getty Images
Slim Harpo
Don and Dewey with band leader
Johnny Otis

servings of spot-on Carl Perkins-style

rockabilly. Chess signed Sisco to a one
year contract and planned to promote the
record heavily. Sisco seemed poised on
the edge of stardom when his hot temper
scuttled his career.
A few weeks after Sisco’s recording
session for Chess, a friend told him that
he had heard Chuck Berry’s new single
was a cover of Tall, Dark & Handsome
Man. Rather than checking his facts,
Sisco stormed into the Chess offices and
proceeded to cuss out Leonard Chess for
giving his song away to another artist.
By the time Sisco learned that Berry’s
new single was not his song, and was
in fact Berry’s own composition, Brown
Eyed Handsome Man, Leonard Chess had
cancelled his contract. Sisco’s one single
for Chess was released in February 1957
with no promotion and quickly sank into
obscurity, only to be rediscovered as a lost
classic decades later by collectors.

Listen up Bobby Sisco was a native of the west

Rock’n’Roll Tornado
[ACE RECORDS CDCHD 693]
DALE HAWKINS
A comprehensive collection of his Checker
recordings
That’ll Flat Git It, Vol. 10
[BEAR FAMILY RECORDS BCD 16123]
VARIOUS ARTISTS
The best of Chess/Checker/Argo rockabilly
Recommended Reading
[BY NADINE COHODAS, PUBLISHED BY
ICONOCLASSIC BOOKS]
Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess
Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records
Tennessee town of Bolivar. By the time
he was a teenager, he was playing country
Billy Barrix was another Chicago-
area wildman that delivered a rockabilly
classic for Chess, only to see it sink like
music in honky tonks in the Jackson area, a lead weight in the crazy record market
often crossing paths with the young Carl of 1957. Cool Off Baby was a overdriven
Perkins. In the early '50s, Sisco relocated take on Elvis’ version of Arthur Gunter’s
north to Detroit, where he found work in Baby Let’s Play House. The flip side of the
the local country music scene. record, Almost, could have just as easily
In March 1956, his first single, a lively been titled Hiccup Symphony as Barrix
slice of rockabilly bop titled
Honky Tonkin’ Rhythm was
released on the Mar-Vel
label and the song did
well in the Chicago
area. That brought
him to the attention
of Leonard Chess.
Recorded in the
summer of 1956, Go
Go Go and Tall, Dark &
Handsome Man were two

74 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

9
whoops, hoots and hiccups through two
Chess scored big with Bo Diddley
minutes and twenty-three seconds of
hillbilly bop insanity. Under the name
Curley Barrix, he also was a country
music deejay in the Chicago area and later
recorded a handful of country records for
other labels in the 1960s. His sole Chess
release is considered one of the rarest
rockabilly records. Reportedly, one of the
few still-existing original copies sold at
auction for an astounding $15,000.
Meanwhile, down in Shreveport, Dale
Hawkins continued to play rough and
tumble nightclubs refining his rockabilly
sound. In February 1957, he recorded what
he hoped would be his second Checker
single. Suzie Q was a Howlin’ Wolf-style
swamp blues number with a killer guitar
lick from co-writer James Burton.
Hawkins sent the tape of Suzie Q north
to Leonard Chess, and Chess proceeded
to sit on it. By late April, Hawkins was

tired of waiting and sent a copy to Jerry
Wexler at Atlantic Records. Wexler was
very interested, but wanted to check with
Chess first to avoid legal entanglements.
A phone call later, Leonard Chess
“suddenly” realized the potential of Suzie
Q and Dale Hawkins’ second single was
on the streets in less than two weeks.
play with the tour’s house band, rather
than bringing his own band on the road.
James Burton moved on to backing Bob
Luman, Ricky Nelson and many others,
© Getty Images
his later recordings for Checker. That
same year, Hawkins wrote and produced
the Everly Brothers-influenced song
Lazy Susan for The Brothers, and it was
released on the Chess subsidiary Argo.

‘Dale Hawkins proved to be a steady

The Brothers followed it up with another
single for Argo in 1959, and one for

enough seller that Chess released the

Checker in 1961. In the mid-sixties they
moved to the Hickory label where they

Suzie Q LP in October 1958'

The single was in the charts for over four
months, racking up huge sales. Chess had
found their rockabilly star.
Hawkins also found himself booked
on several rock’n’roll package tours
and was soon sharing the stage with
many of the top rock’n’rollers of the day.
Unfortunately, his success also led to an
end of his partnership with James Burton
as the bookers insisted that Hawkins
gaining a reputation as one of the premier
rockabilly and country guitarists.
Hawkins eventually scored three
more pop hits for Checker between 1957
and 1959. Although Suzie Q remained
his biggest hit, all his singles were good
sellers. Leonard Chess, in his typically
direct way, was fond of saying, “Fuck
the hits! Give 30,000 on every record,” a
reference to the often unrecognised value
of steady selling artists.
Hawkins proved to be a steady enough
seller that Chess released the Suzie Q LP
in October 1958 (on the main Chess label
instead of Checker). The album was the
fifth LP released by Chess and the first
to feature a white artist. It joined the
ranks of a small number of rockabilly LPs
released in the heyday of the 1950s.
Dean and Marc Mathis, billed as “The
Brothers,” recorded for Columbia and
King before they relocated to Shreveport
in 1954. In 1958, the pair joined Dale
Hawkins’ band, playing on several of
rechristened themselves with the less-
generic name the “Newbeats.”
As well as the artists officially signed
to Chess and its subsidiaries, the Chess
brothers bought masters from smaller
record companies. Through their sales
trips across country, they built a network
of radio deejays who would tip them off
to hot tunes on regional labels. A number
of rockabilly classics and a few minor
hits came through master buys, including
Eddie Fontaine’s Nothin’ Shakin’ (But the
Leaves on the Trees), Rusty York’s Sugaree
and Jackie Cannon’s Chill Bumps. Also of
interest is the Jerry Lee Lewis-influenced
Save It by Mel Robbins, a nom de plume
for Hargus “Pig” Robbins, the Nashville
studio pianist whose career included
thousands of recording sessions ranging
from George Jones’ White Lightning to
Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album.
Although Chess and its associated
labels were never a major mover and
shaker in the rockabilly field, the hillbilly
bop that poured forth from 2120 South
Michigan Avenue aptly showed that even
in the home of blues, there was still a
place for a rockabilly. ✶

ISSUE
ISSUE 129 VINTAGE ROCK 75
VINTAGEROCK 37
 ROCK
BILLY
BOOGI E
THOUGH HE MISSED OUT ON THE FAME ACHIEVED BY THE
STRAY CATS, ROBERT GORDON WAS AT THE HEART OF THE
‘70S ROCKABILLY REVIVAL. HE SPOKE TO RANDY FOX…
I
n April 1977, the Eagles’ Hotel California
topped the charts in the U.S. It was joined in
the upper positions by I’m Your Boogie Man
by K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Abba’s
Dancing Queen. It was hardly back to basics
rock’n’roll. Glitz, glamour and excess were the
hallmarks of the day.
Meanwhile, in a New York City nightclub,
30-year-old singer Robert Gordon was about to
take the stage. He was backed by guitarist Link
Wray, a legendary figure to those who knew his
name, but most of the audience knew nothing
about him – “isn’t he some old rock’n’roll guy?”
Gordon, dressed to the nines, with his dark
hair piled high in a greased pompadour, bounded
on stage, grabbed the microphone and spit out,
“My gal is red hot!” a line first sung by Billy “The
Kid” Emerson in the Sun Records studio in 1955.
The band kicked in behind him and what filled
the stage that evening was more rebellious and
revolutionary than many of the “punk” or “new
wave” bands that regularly appeared on that
stage. Rockabilly was reborn.
Born on 29 March 1947, in Bethesda,
Maryland, Robert Gordon spent his early years
soaking in the sound of rock’n’roll’s nativity.
“I’m from the Maryland-Virginia-Washington
DC area,” Gordon says, “and it was a hotbed
76 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
for country and rhythm & blues, so I grew up
hearing a real cross-section of music. I was
always listening to the radio – constantly – I
couldn’t get enough.”
As country and R&B began to merge into
rock’n’roll, the airwaves were filled with rockers
like Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent and Jack Scott.
By the age of 14, Gordon was on the path to
belting out his own version of rock’n’roll,
making his public debut as a performer a year
later. Gordon was soon the lead singer of the
Washington D.C. area-based teen combo The
Confidentials, who cut their teeth playing
high school dances, college fraternity parties
and teen clubs.
With the Confidentials, Gordon made his
first recordings in 1964. Rare acetates of
the songs It’s Summertime and She’s Gone
have survived, along with the group’s
only single, Let’s Picket, backed with
Leave Me Be on the tiny Loop Records
label. The recordings feature a 17-year-
old Gordon belting out hard-edged
rockers that revealed the influence
of both early rock’n’roll, R&B and
the more rough and tumble British
Invasion groups that were just landing
on the shores of the U.S. ➨
 © Getty Images

Issue 12 Vintage Rock 77

 ROBERT GORDON
Listen up
Robert Gordon
Robert Gordon with Link
Wray/Fresh Fish Special
[ACE RECORDS CDCHD 656]
The Private Stock album with Link Wray
Robert Gordon
Rock Billy Boogie/Bad Boy
[COLLECTABLES RECORDS 2821]
Gordon’s first two RCA albums
Robert Gordon
Are You Gonna Be the One
[COLLECTABLES RECORDS 2821]
Gordon’s final RCA album
Robert Gordon
Robert Gordon
[LLIST RECORDS 0079 2]
From 1997, Gordon backed by Quentin Jones
Robert Gordon
A Satisfied Mind
[JUNGLE RECORDS TCB 2222]
From 2004, Robert Gordon backed by
guitarist Eddie Angel
Robert Gordon
I’m Coming Home
[LANARK LNR088]
Gordon’s most recent album
78 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
‘Many of the “new wave” bands
embraced discarded elements
from basic rock’n’roll’
“I dug (the British Invasion) at first,”
Gordon says. “I thought the music was
great. I saw the Animals when they first
came over. They had a great swagger. I
didn’t feel threatened by it, I just thought
of it as something new. They were totally
influenced by American music, so I saw it
as an extension of what I already loved.”
In 1966, Gordon joined the Newports, a
band that had scored a few minor hits in
the D.C. area. Gordon stayed with them
for about a year, leaving when he married
and settled down to raise a family.
For a diehard rock’n’roll lover like
Gordon, the changes to rock music that
arrived with the “Summer of Love”
brought little cause for rejoicing, but in
his new role as a married man and father,
he was too busy to notice. “I stopped
singing for about five years,” Gordon says.
“I was raising a family and I had my own
business. So the changes in music didn’t
bother me.” In 1970, Gordon and his
family moved to New York City, where he
opened a clothing store, but big changes
were on the horizon.
By the early ‘70s, the big beat of original
rock’n’roll seemed to be all but dead in
the U.S., or at least relegated to museums.
© Getty Images
A rock’n’roll “oldies” craze benefited
several older artists financially, but the
fad was mired in nostalgia or, worse, took
the attitude that pre-Beatles rock’n’roll
and rockabilly was simple-minded, corny
and only worthy for parody.
At the same time, a new rock scene
emerged in New York City that rejected
the bloated, pretentious style that had
overtaken mainstream rock. Many of the
“new wave” bands, like the Ramones,
Blondie and Television embraced
discarded elements from basic rock’n’roll
while taking the music in new directions.
“Splitting up with the wife brought me
back to music,” Gordon says. “It was an
easy way to vent my anger. That’s when
I joined the Tuff Darts, what you would
call a new wave or punk sort of band.”
The Tuff Darts quickly gathered a buzz
with their 1950s-style rock’n’roll coupled
with angry, aggressive lyrics on songs like
Slash. “The lyrics were pretty sadistic,”
Gordon says. “That worked for a while,
but once I got over that, I was finished
with that kind of music.”
The back to basics style of the Tuff
Darts appealed to Gordon, and prompted
him to commit to a rockabilly sound in a
way few Americans had seen. “That was
where I was coming from after I left the
Tuff Darts,” Gordon says. “I wanted to
get back to the roots, and be straight and
respectful rather than cartoonish.”
A chance meeting with record
producer Richard Gottehrer gave him the
opportunity to do so. “Gottehrer asked
me who I wanted to work with, and I
suggested Link Wray. I had seen him at
the Glen Echo amusement park when
I was a kid. It was crazy, man, I could
remember seeing this hood-looking guy
playing Rumble and it blew me away.”
Wray, who had introduced the roar of
distortion on his early instrumentals, was
semi-retired and living in San Francisco.
He was initially reluctant to work with
Gordon, fearing that he might be a parody
singer, until he heard Gordon’s demo
recordings. “We hit it off immediately,”
Gordon says, “and became close friends.”
Gordon’s first album, Robert Gordon
with Link Wray (1977) gave equal billing
to Wray on the cover. Released on the ➨
© Getty Images

“Richard Gottehrer asked me
who I wanted to work with,
and I suggested Link Wray”
independent label, Private Stock Records,
it featured a mix of rockabilly classics and
originals. In addition to garnering rave
reviews, the record sold well.
“They sold about 75,000 which was
pretty good for an independent label,”
Gordon says. “It was very exciting. It was
almost like a new music to many people.
I think it shocked a lot of people, but in a
good way.”
Many American rock fans had never
heard pure, unadulterated rockabilly,
and hearing Gordon’s interpretation of
rockabilly classics Red Hot and The Fool
came as a revelation. Fans also saw the
connection between the new wave and
punk movements and Gordon’s take on
rockabilly, the original “punk” music.
Gordon and Wray quickly followed
with a second album, Fresh Fish Special in
80 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Style icons: Gordon with Link Wray
© Getty Images
Before this time it was almost unheard
of for a woman to wear jeans.
1978, with vocal group the Jordanaires
on some tracks. Again the album featured
a mix of classics and originals, including
Fire, a smouldering rocker composed for
Gordon by Bruce Springsteen.
Unfortunately, just as the album
was gaining sales momentum, Private
Stock Records went bankrupt This was
followed by Gordon and Wray going their
separate ways after disagreements while
on tour. “I loved Wray’s way of playing in
the studio,” Gordon says, “but it was too
loud live for me to keep up vocally.”
Although Gordon had lost a record
label and guitar player, new opportunities
soon came knocking. “After Link and
I split up, the question was who was I
gonna use as a guitar player. I heard this
tune called Motor Bikin’ and I said, I want
that guy.”
That man was Chris Spedding, one of
the UK’s most versatile session guitarists.
“Chris was ready to leave the UK for a
while,” Gordon says. “I loved his chunky,
powerful sound. I didn’t want to just
recreate rockabilly; I wanted to take it to a
different place.”
Gordon soon found a new record deal
with RCA Victor, home to Elvis Presley.
“When I got the call from “The King’s”
label with that little dog and speaker, I
couldn’t say no to that,” Gordon says.
Gordon’s debut album on RCA, Rock
Billy Boogie,
Boogie raised the bar for spreading
the rockabilly gospel. And Gordon found
advantages in being signed to a major
label. “The support, the attention to
detail, everything was amazing,” he says.
“I got a lot of airplay because of RCA.”
Gordon’s second RCA album, Bad Boy,
was released in 1980. While sticking true
to his rockabilly roots, Gordon worked
with Spedding to further expand his
reach. “I thought Bad Boy had some great
things on it. It’s fine if someone wants
to just do a re-creation, but you’re not
breaking new ground, and that’s not what
appeals to me.”
Chris Spedding was not in the studio
for Gordon’s final album for RCA, 1981’s
Are You Gonna Be the One. One In his place
was Danny Gatton, who had built a cult
following in the Washington DC-area for
his hot licks as a member of the Redneck
Jazz Explosion.
Are You Gonna Be the One included
three songs by up-and-coming songwriter
Marshall Crenshaw. Rave reviews and
a successful tour led to sales of 200,000
copies, but conflicts between Gordon and
RCA over recording budgets for future
albums led to him leaving the label.

While Gordon had toured in the UK, he
had not plugged into the thriving British
rockabilly scene to the same extent as a
group of his former fans, the Stray Cats.
Without a record deal, Gordon had to
stand by and watch as the Stray Cats
returned to the States and became one of
the early darlings of the new MTV cable
channel. “I missed the MTV thing by just
a second,” Gordon says. “I think it would
have put it over the top for me.”
The Stray Cats’ bright but short burst of
success on the U.S. charts led to problems
for many U.S. rockabilly artists, including
Gordon. Major U.S. record labels came to
regard neo-rockabilly as a fad. Through
the late ‘80s and into the early ‘90s,
Gordon made his living touring abroad.
“I was fortunate enough to establish a big
enough base during the RCA period that
I could still gig,” Gordon says. “I always
maintained a certain level at gigs after I
left RCA. It wasn’t a big scene, but it was
a viable scene. I filled in the gaps by going
to Europe and Japan.”
By the mid-1990s another change began
to appear on the music scene. The arrival
of the CD format brought on a boom in
reissues of older material. Many younger
music fans suddenly had unprecedented
access to rock’n’roll of the past. The flood
of “lost classics” inspired many younger
musicians to pick up on rockabilly,
hillbilly bop, surf music and other styles.
‘The Stray Cats’ bright but
short burst of success led to
problems for U.S. artists’
This new audience for roots music also
benefited Gordon as his Private Stock and
RCA albums were reissued. He returned
to recording in 1994, first with an album
that explored his Tuff Darts era-material
through a rockabilly lens on the album
All for the Love of Rock ‘N’ Roll and then
back to pure country and rockabilly
on the 1997 album Robert Gordon and
A Satisfied Mind from 2004. In 2004,
Gordon reunited with Chris Spedding
for a tour and they have been touring
together, when possible, for the last ten
years. “I guess you could say we had an
amicable divorce for 14 years and then got
back together,” Gordon says. “It’s been a
pleasure to be working with him again.”
Gordon’s newest album, I’m Coming
Home,, is a collaboration with another ace
guitarist and old friend, Quentin Jones.
“This record features all new players
except for Quentin,” Gordon says. “I
worked with him almost 20 years ago on
the Robert Gordon album. He gave me a
call, and I was proud to get involved, and
I think the results are really quite good.”
I’m Coming Home features Gordon
turning his attention to several classic
Robert Gordon’s new album is “just an
extension of what I’ve been into”
country and rockabilly songs including
numbers originally recorded by Johnny
Horton, Dale Hawkins, Buck Owens and
Ricky Nelson, along with a few carefully
selected new numbers.
“My new record is just an extension of
what I’ve always been into,” Gordon says.
“Many of the songs are ones I loved when
I was a kid, but even the new stuff has a
roots kind of feel.”
In addition to touring Europe this
summer with Chris Spedding, Gordon is
planning his next album. “That will be
more Robert Gordon-oriented,” he says,
“and will include some original songs I’ve
had in the can for 30 years, but never had
the chance to record.”
At the age of 67, Gordon has no plans to
slow down. Though he’s spent the better
part of six decades devoted to rock’n’roll,
he doesn’t like to spend time resting on
past glories. “I do like to think I was a
catalyst that helped bring this music
back,” he says. “It brought a lot of people
out of retirement and opened doors for a
lot of new bands, and I’m proud of that.
I’m an old fart now, but I still feel young,
and work is what I love to do.” ✶
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 81
 VINTAGE ROCK
Songs For
The Dancefloor
JUKEBOX
T
here's an inexplicable, otherworldly
quality that only a choice selection of
rock'n'roll tunes seem to harness, that
manage, without warning, to break
through to our primal desire to dance.
We're talking about those beats that shake
our ribs and magnetise us directly to the
dancefloor before we know what we're doing;
those magical, intangible rhythms that cut
straight through to our souls…
It is in tribute to that unquantifiable calling
that we chose to centre this issue's Reader's
Jukebox around the voodoo sides that hold us
under their rhythmic spell for those perfect
few hours every weekend. Suggestions
ranged from tidy boppers and kitchen sink
82 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
jivers, through to some fine strollers and
even the odd smoochy end-of-night love tune
– but we had our fill of those last issue…
So without further ado, we present to
you our picks from all of your excellent
nominations. We're convinced there's
something for every musical predilection
here, two left feet or otherwise…
Next time on Reader's Jukebox we focus on the
best new bands on the scene today…
Any suggestions? We're all ears!
Email us at vintagerock@anthem-publishing.
com or write to the usual address with your
favourites. Alternatively, head to facebook.
com/vintagerockmag and join the debate!
 READERS' JUKEBOX

GLEN GLENN
EVERYBODY'S MOVIN'
Record Label Era
Released 1957
'Well it's a Saturday night at the ol' dance hall/We're ballin' a jack and we're havin' a ball' - So begins our songs for the dancefloor… It was
Elvis that inspired Glenn to rock, but there was another reason… 'I did it because of girls,' he revealed. 'If you played country, girls might
want your autograph. If you did this kind of music, girls freaked out!' The shuffling rockabilly of Everybody's Movin' certainly doffs a cap to his
hip-swinging hero, but also unearths a talent mostly ignored at the time. His records bombed, and to make matters worse he was refused leave
from the army to perform on Dick Clark's Bandstand. Thankfully, recognition finally came in the '80s. Suggested by Paul Birkin via Facebook

GENE MCKOWN
ROCK-A-BILLY RHYTHM
Record Label Aggie
Released 1958
Kansas City rockabilly Gene McKown opened his innings with some fine material, but this peach of a rocker released on Aggie Records in
1957 and, backed up by his surefooted comrades The Tune Twisters, was surely one of his proudest moments. McKown's vocals here were a
mile away from his earlier hillbilly style, now reinforced with his livelier, pepped up tenor as wild as it was tuneful. Flip it over for a slower,
but equally fine moment in ballad My Dream Girl. Glenn later returned to his roots releasing country-flecked pop, but this razor-sharp side
was given a new lease of life when it got a re-release in the '70s on Rollin' Rock Records. Suggested by Charlie Bennett via Facebook

WARREN SMITH
ROCK'N'ROLL RUBY
Record Label Sun
Released 1956
Smith honed his fretting skills while serving in the Air Force in Texas and followed his calling immediately after leaving the service. Spotted
at West Memphis' Cotton Club by steel guitarist Sten Kessler, he soon had an audience with Sam Phillips. Rock'Roll Ruby – attributed
to Johnny Cash but supposedly bought from George Jones for $40 – was chosen as his first side with the Snearly Ranch Boys adding an
infectious gait. Phillips chose a 'safe-bet' country ballad for the flip, coincidentally named I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry, but he needn't
have worried, the single went to No 1 in the regionals and outperformed all of Sun's big-name debuts. Suggested by Peter Neal via email

RONNIE SELF
BOP-A-LENA
Record Label Columbia
Released 1958
It’s a source of amazement that Ronnie Self never made it as far as some of his more famous peers, considering the skills he had for
cooking up a storm in both country, rockabilly and R&B – that, on top of the self-penned weaponry he kept well oiled in his arsenal. Fresh
from a shady period as a teenage delinquent, Self was built to be a rock’n’roller and in December 1957 he cut Bop A Lena – written by
Webb Pierce and Mel Tillis – with a wild-throated primal feel that made it one volcanic piece of wax. Self’s only chart success, Bop-A-Lena
rose no higher than No 68, but is now held in high esteem. In our books it’s a rockabilly classic. Suggested by Paul Wright via email

HAL HARRIS
JITTERBOP BABY
Record Label Ace
Released 1978
One of rockabilly’s earliest exponents, guitarist ‘Fuzzy’ Hal Harris was capable of sizzling solo spots, witnessed first hand by those present
at his early Starday sessions. Whilst a DJ in Mississippi, Harris made a start with Poor Boy Rag, a strong tune cut for Pacemaker in 1951.
A move to KRCT radio coincided with the rise of upcoming label Starday and he was soon installed for a multitude of ‘cat music’ sessions
for many of Texas' big hitters. Soon, his time came to cut his own music at the infamous Gold Star studio and Jitterbop Baby was born. No
copies have been found of the rumoured '50s Starday release, but it scored well on Ace in 1978. Suggested by Tom Phillips via email

"IF YOU PLAYED COUNTRY, GIRLS MIGHT WANT YOUR

AUTOGRAPH. IF YOU PLAYED THIS KIND OF MUSIC, GIRLS
FREAKED OUT!" - GLEN GLENN ON ROCK'N'ROLL
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 83
,

READERS' JUKEBOX

LITTLE IKE
SHE CAN ROCK
Record Label Champion
Released 1959
Our dancefloor hit-list would be woefully incomplete without this straight-out screamer bubbling in its midst. She Can Rock is perfectly ripened
for the jive and swings liked some kind of rabid, crazed animal, as well demonstrating what could have been… Little Ike, aka Isaac Hamilton,
may have been unstoppable on this energetic romp, but it seems to have been his only ever release (unless anyone knows otherwise!). Here,
rock’n’roll slams together with rhythm & blues to fashion a rarefied groove that draws everyone to the floor every time. Switch sides for Am I
Losing You, a tearjerker that's pleasant enough and primed for end-of-the-night smooching. Suggested by Bob Heron via Facebook

JOHNNY RESTIVO
THE SHAPE I'M IN
Record Label RCA
Released 1959
This one would get the blood pumping in a long dead cadavre… Boppin’ Italian-American teen heartthrob Johnny Restivo had it all:
photogenic, with his chiselled good looks and shapely pompadour, oh-so-slick threads to match and a purring voice that could calm a rampant
bull… and Restivo cut this (s)carefree bopper at only 15 years of age! While his rock’n’roll career was somewhat short-lived (despite hitting
the heights Down Under), he scored big in South America where he hosted his own show - The Johnny Restivo Show – that ran on Argentinian
TV for a respectable three year tenure in the early '60s. Great tune! Suggested by Steve Wood via Facebook

ELVIS PRESLEY (WITH THE JORDANAIRES)

STUCK ON YOU
Record Label RCA
Released 1960
Ever popular in our inbox, Elvis Presley recorded this nifty number straight after his two-year stint in the US Army and – despite his concerns
that he'd been forgotten in his absence – struck gold straight away, in at Billboard No 1. Frank Sinatra even dedicated his entire TV show to the
triumphant return of the King and The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis edition, broadcast to many an American living room,
ensured a trumpeted resurgence for Presley. He sung this comeback hit on the show and it blazed a trail for the equally excellent Elvis Is Back!
album that reached No 2 in the album charts soon after. Suggested by Steve Badger via email

JANIS MARTIN
WILL YOU, WILLYUM
Record Label RCA
Released 1956
Known as 'The Female Elvis', Martin packs a serious punch with this frisky floorfiller written when she was only 15 years old. In fact, it was this
slinky piano-pulsing earworm than both initially drew the bigwig RCA execs to sign her up, and that took her to No 35 in the charts, making her
an instant star. Her lofty moniker was endorsed by Elvis, thanks to her sharing a label with him and was vindicated by a startling discography.
Although she only had one hit, Martin still stands strong with cuts like Bang Bang, Let's Elope Baby, Barefoot Baby, Love Me To Pieces, Blues Keep
Calling and Two Long Years. Look out for Janice in a future issue of Vintage Rock! Suggested by Freddy Mills via email

RONNIE DAWSON
JUST ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN'
Record Label Upstart/No Hit
Released 1996
'The Blonde Bomber' was 56 when he chose to recruit a crack team of young rockabillies to help him lay down this jivin’ dancefloor filler in 1996
and the twin guitars of Los Straitjackets’ Eddie Angel and hot Amsterdammer Tjarko Jeen guaranteed Just Rockin' And Rollin' goes down a storm
whenever it's aired. Despite some fine releases – amongst them two crackers in Rockin’ Bones and Who’s Been There – Dawson fell victim to the
furore surrounding the payola scandal and, having never quite recovered, remained relatively unknown in the US. Across the pond, however,
rockabilly fans knew a good thing when they heard it and he was soon to be revered as a true master of the art. After many crowd-pleasing
European dates in the twilight of his career, Dawson passed away in 2003. Suggested by Stuart Everett via Facebook

OUR DANCEFLOOR HIT-LIST WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT

A REAL SCREAMIN' ROCKER THAT'S RIPE FOR THE JIVE AND SHE
CAN ROCK SWINGS LIKE SOME KIND OF CRAZED ANIMAL
84 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
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,

READERS' JUKEBOX

BARBARA PITTMAN
I NEED A MAN
Record Label Sun
Released 1956
Pittman's fiery Sun debut gives Wanda Jackson a run for her money. One of the few females on the Sun roster, Pittman first came to Phillips
attention as a 12-year-old demanding to be heard, but after a weak audition, Sun passed on her. Not to be defeated, Pittman strengthened her
skills via a tour with Lash Larue and eventually landed a role in the Memphis Cotton Club house band, the Snearly Ranch Boys. Elvis was her
route back to Sun – he took a recording of her singing Stan Kessler's Playing For Keeps to Phillips a year after she had been refused and he loved
it. She only cut four singles for the label, but all are well worthy of inclusion here. Suggested by John Pilston via email

MARIO BRADLEY
BIP BOP BABY
Record Label Pink'n'Black
Released 2006
Irish powerhouse Mario Bradley was already swinging a double bass at the tender age of 17 and has since proved himself as a fine musician with
stints playing for The Marvels, The Blue Ridge Mountain Boys and The Bootleggers. Bradley ventured out alone in the late ‘90s when he built his own
studio to show off his songwriting prowess with classy debut EP My Search out on Fury Records. Here we have chosen a characterful bopper lifted
from his second album Rhythm Junction, released on Pink’n’Black Records. Not only is it nicely raw and exciting rockabilly but Bradley's refined
vocals impress with their lively tone – and there's a playful smile not far behind. Suggested by Liv Parker via Facebook

ROY HALL
DIGGIN' THE BOOGIE
Record Label Decca
Released 1956
Recorded during one of the four Decca sessions undertaken by Hall between 1955-56, Diggin’ the Boogie was cut with a team of Nashville’s finest
musicians, including six-string legend Grady Martin, who backed up on most of Hall’s records – not to play Hall down, he himself was a talented
boogie woogie piano player too. At the end of the following year, Hall would go on to record two assured sessions for Sun, tunes sadly never
released by Sam Phillips at the time but available some years later. The excellent side Three Alley Cats followed on Hi-Q in ’58 and after one more
delivery, Flood Of Love in 1960 (on Pierce), Hall turned his back on the spotlight for good. Suggested by Miguel Galindo via Facebook

JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO

ROCK BILLY BOOGIE
Record Label Coral
Released 1956/7
The Rock'n'Roll Trio scored their record deal with Coral thanks to three consecutive wins on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour competition and
this bombastic single was a calling card. The Trio were soon wired into the living rooms of the US via cathode ray with slick performances on Dick
Clark’s American Bandstand, Steve Allen’s Tonight Show and Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall. The dream tour with Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent
that followed soon after certainly did no harm for the threesome either! No self-respecting rockabilly fan would ignore this record and it takes
pride of place here. Suggested by Bill Johns via email

CHARLIE RICH
WHIRLWIND
Record Label Phillips International
Released 1958
We close our Reader's Jukebox with Charlie Rich's rockabilly stomp, Whirlwind. Why do we like it so much? Simple. Charlie's rich and jaunty
delivery, a piano melody from heaven and handclaps that gee up the rhythm with simplistic perfection. Rich was a wizard musician and a go-to
songwriter too and, on top of his own buoyant tunes, he also penned songs for Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee amongst others. His talents knew no
bounds and he regularly played at Sun Records sessions for the likes of Lewis, Johnny Cash, Billy Lee Riley, Ray Smith, Carl Mann and Warren
Smith, and went on to score hits in his own right with Lonely Weekends on Sun imprint Phillips International, Big Boss Man a minor success on
Groove Records and Mohair Sam, a fun R&B tune for Smash Records. Suggested by Henry Boon via email

CHARLIE RICH WAS A WIZARD SESSION MUSICIAN AND A GO-

TO SONGWRITER – HE PENNED TUNES FOR JOHNNY CASH AND
JERRY LEE LEWIS AMONGST OTHERS
86 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
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 Classic Album
GENE VINCENT
Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps
HE WAS LEATHER-CLAD AND GREASY-HAIRED. GENE VINCENT WAS ONE OF
ROCK’S ORIGINAL BAD BOYS. PAUL RIGBY EXAMINES HIS SEMINAL ALBUM,
GENE VINCENT AND THE BLUE CAPS…

T
he legendary and
late BBC Radio 1
DJ John Peel, who
would later record
Gene Vincent on his
Dandelion record
label, counted a
Gene Vincent concert as one of his 10
best gigs of all time. The gig took place
at the Liverpool Empire on 12 April
1960, when Vincent shared a stage
with Eddie Cochran. “Gene looked, as I
dreamed of looking, completely out of
control. He almost completely ignored
the audience, staring wild-eyed into the
wings as though demons lurked behind
the Empire’s plush curtains. From time
to time, he would fling his damaged
leg – held together, we were told, in
defiance of medical reason, with pins –
over the microphone, and that unearthly
high, almost feminine voice that I sang
along with in my bedroom echoed like
something abandoned and fearful in the
Liverpool night. Gene was perfect, exactly
as I had hoped he would be, and all I have
to do to recapture that night is listen to
Race With The Devil or Who Slapped John
or any other of dozens of classic tracks.
Perhaps the fact that Gene never really
made it commercially in the way that he
surely should have, helped to endear him
to me.”
Gene Vincent was born in Norfolk,
Virginia, into a poor white family, on 11
February 1935. He wasn’t well educated,
only reaching the eighth grade at school.
That, and his lack of work-based skills,
prompted him to sign up to the Navy.
“It was whilst on leave on 4 July
1955, riding his Triumph motorcycle
bought with his service salary, that
he was involved in a serious accident
with a car that shattered his left leg
and permanently crippled him,” said
Gene Vincent expert and author, Derek
Henderson. “It never healed and he
continually damaged it on stage. It would
have been better if the limb had been
amputated at the time, probably. He was
continually in pain.” Maybe this explains
his intake of pain killers and alcohol.
It was when Vincent began performing
at the weekly WCMS radio station talent
show, in early 1956, that he was spotted
by the station DJ, William “Sheriff Tex”
Davis. Davis quickly became Vincent’s
manager and then undertook a search for
local musicians to cut a series of demos
to send to Davis’ contact and Capitol staff
producer, Ken Nelson. “Cliff Gallup, in
his mid 20s at the time, who was a local
semi-professional electric lead guitarist
with The Virginians, was one, and the
15-year-old Dickie Harrell, on drums, was
another. Nelson was impressed enough
to contact Davis and set-up a session
in Nashville. This was probably when
the acoustic rhythm guitarist ‘Willie’
Williams and double bass player Jack
Neal consolidated the line-up.”
To some eyes, it might seem a little
odd that the manager is running around
town, getting together a band. Shouldn’t
Vincent have already done this? Vincent, ➨

88 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

 Classic
Album
© Getty Images

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 89

Classic This wasn’t a C&W artist doing rock’n’roll – this
was pure rock’n’roll, through and through

Album
LISTEN UP!
Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps
(1957)
Released in 1957, in the UK and USA on Capitol, the
album would undergo a reissue in Europe in 1976,
specifically in France and Holland, with a major CD
release in 2002. The first third-party reissue of the
album was via the US-based Norton, which reissued a
vinyl version in 2005 and Doxy, the Italian label, in
2009. The most important reissue is the new 8CD box
set via Bear Family. The Road Is Rocky also features a
beautiful 132-page book. The set includes all of his
recordings for Capitol, Columbia, Challenge, Forever/
Playground, Dandelion, Kama Sutra and B&C, including
previously unissued stereo versions.

Side 1
Red Blue Jeans and a Ponytail
Hold Me, Hug Me, Rock Me
Unchained Melody
You Told a Fib
Cat Man
You Better Believe

Side 2
Cruisin’
Double Talkin’ Baby
Blues Stay Away from Me
however, had no musical vision at this
Pink Thunderbird
I Sure Miss You stage. He wasn’t a leader either at this
Pretty, Pretty Baby time. In fact, he was just a wide-eyed kid
who went along for the ride because he
dearly wanted a hit record.
On 4 June 1956, Capitol released
the single Be-Bop-A-Lula and Vincent
grabbed himself that desired hit single.
In fact, on 16 June 1956, Be-Bop-A-Lula
entered the Billboard chart and stayed
there for 20 weeks, and the Cashbox
chart for 17 weeks, peaking at No 7 and
No 5 respectively.
Once the single hit the ground running,
Capitol followed suit as Ken Nelson,
who produced the first session of four
songs, rushed Gene and the band back to
Nashville in June to cut tracks for their
first album.
“They managed to get together some
material themselves while Nelson
suggested other material – he liked
ballads, which wasn’t a problem for Gene
because his could sing anything.”
On 13 August 1956, the debut LP,
Bluejean Bop!, was released while, on
10 September, Capitol released the Race
With The Devil single, which entered the
Billboard chart for a week at No 96 and
the Cashbox chart for two weeks, peaking
at No 50. Don’t dismiss the relatively low
numbers, though, “Just to get a record
in the national charts then was big
business,” confirmed Henderson.
On 26 September 1956, the LP Bluejean
Bop! entered the Billboard album chart
for two weeks, peaking at No 16.
As you can see by the gamut of closely
spaced dates, Vincent and his band were
plunged into a hectic lifestyle. The band
was caught, suddenly, in the spotlight. In
addition, as Henderson explained, “You
can see the momentum here, Capitol
wants more, so they call the band back
to Nashville again in October 1956 to cut
more tracks, some of which went on to
become the second album, Gene Vincent
and the Bluecaps.”
As soon as Be-Bop-A-Lula hit the
charts, Davis exploited the success to best
of his ability. In mid-July 1956, Vincent
began the first of many gruelling concert

90 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12


tours, and made a national TV appearance
on The Perry Como Show, hosted by Julius
La Rosa.
“Whilst Gene and, no doubt, Dickie
made hay while the sun shone, Cliff, who
was a married man, and Williams didn’t
enjoy the experience at all and quit the
band in September 1956. At this point
the Blue Caps line-ups became more
complicated than we need go into. Paul
Peek replaced Williams on rhythm guitar
but several guitarists temporarily filled in,
including Russell Williford, who mimed
Gallup’s part in the cameo in The Girl
Can’t Help It movie. Paul Peek mimed
Williams’ part in the movie. When it
came to the recordings in October 1956,
the Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps album,
everyone knew that Gallup was far better
than any of the stand-ins who’d been
playing live gigs, so he was persuaded to
return, just for the sessions. He, however,
was adamant that he wasn’t going back on
the road.”
Gallup’s arrival brought an essential hot
© Bear Family
guitar sound to the album, along
with, it has to be mentioned,
a top quality song, You Better
Believe, which kept company
with a few other worthy tracks
such as Cruisin’ and Hold Me,
Hug Me, Rock Me that proved
to be among the best songs
Vincent ever recorded.
The talented Gallup also
appeared with a mandolin-like
presentation on I Sure Miss
You, a memorable and unusual
take on this song.
Recorded shortly after
Bluejean Bop!, Blue Caps
shows similarities, but Blue
Caps also reveals new depth,
along with an added sense
of artistic development, a
new confidence and poise.
Of course, the fact that the
debut was a rushed affair
was a factor in that LP’s
rather loose structure. ➨
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 91
Classic
Album
GUITAR AT A GALLUP
Cliff Gallup was one of the greatest guitarists in
rock’n’roll history, and a technical innovator.
Reportedly, a series of experienced session guitarists
were made ready to step in during the first session for
the Vincent debut album, Bluejean Bop!, but
distinctive solos on Race with the Devil proved that
Gallup could more than hold his own. Many believe his
prowess was wasted when the band covered a bunch of
pop standards on their second round of sessions but
tracks like Bluejean Bop! and Jumps, Giggles and
Shouts were impressive highlights.
Gallup always disliked touring, however, which led
to him leaving the band, though he did return for the
recording of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps. Some
fans believe that Gallup’s exit from the band partly led
to Vincent’s change to a softer presentation style.
Gallup himself would move further away from the
music business, despite being offered a contract from
Vincent’s producer, Ken Nelson, which Gallup turned
down, and the later release of a low key solo album,
Straight Down The Middle (Pussy Cat), in the ‘60s.
At the time of his death from a heart attack in 1988,
he was the Director of Maintenance and Transportation
for his regional school system. With Gallup in mind,
ex-BBC DJ John Peel commented, “I think the
quintessential rock and roll record for me brings
together my two favourite elements, which are those
kind of untamed voices, people sounding like madmen
really, or mad women, mainly madmen and guitar
playing. I’ve never understood why it is that nobody
has actually duplicated the guitar sound that was on
those early Gene Vincent records – that very high,
clear, ringing guitar sound. So the very best record I
think of the era and the genre was Gene Vincent & The
Bluecaps’ Race with the Devil.
92 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
The finished album blew away
every other white rock’n’roll
band in the world at that time
The influence of producer Ken Nelson
should also not be forgotten as an element
in the success of Blue Caps. “Ken was an
extremely experienced and successful
record producer,” said Henderson. “He
was in his mid 40s by the time he took
Gene on. It is reputed that he thought
little of rock’n’roll, but he had a job to
do. He was a perfectionist in the studio,
with clear ideas about what he wanted.
On the other hand, it is clear from studio
chat from the large number of outtakes
that he was quite indulgent of Gene in the
studio, though he kept going until he was
satisfied the take was good.”
Nelson’s influence can be seen in the
album in other ways too. Note Vincent’s
take on the classic song, Unchained
Melody that was, commented Henderson,
“almost certainly suggested by Nelson”.
It’s Vincent’s delivery of the Delmore
Brothers’ track Blues Stay Away From Me
where we see an emphasis in Vincent’s
Gene could croon as well as he
could belt ‘em
© Bear Family
dark approach to the song. “Gene sang
from the heart, he loved singing. I don’t
think he was consciously developing a
style, just doing what came naturally to
him. He certainly never had any training!
He had a natural talent and an unusual
voice,” added Henderson.
The finished album blew away every
other white rock’n’roll band in the world
at that time. The album was seen as a high
point in rock and a symbol of what the
rock’n’roll genre was capable of creating.
It also cemented Gene Vincent’s position
in the pantheon of rock greats.
“I suppose one of the reasons Gene
Vincent was my favourite of the early
rockers,” said John Peel, “was that unlike
most of the others, Eddie Cochran, Jerry
Lee Lewis, even Elvis Presley, he wasn’t
just a country and western artist who was
making rock’n’roll records and wanted
to get back to doing country and western
music. He was always a rocker.” ✶
 Derek Henderson
on the Bluejean Boy…
The story of the album, Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps, is also the story of Gene
Vincent the man, his ambitions and his band relationships. Derek Henderson,
author of Gene Vincent: A Companion (Spent Brothers; spentbrothers.com/shop),
was able to reveal more about the legendary wildman and the events surrounding
the release of the Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps album…
What sort of a man was Gene? Well, Williams and Gallup had had that he couldn’t play like Gallup but Gene
He was a mess. He was shy off stage enough months before, so Gene now told him he didn’t want him to.
but he also drank too much and could needed a new, permanent lead guitarist. I personally feel that the later
become aggressive. Dude Kahn, who By now, he was much more self-confident recordings, with Meeks on guitar, are
played drums in the Blue Caps on tour on and took control of the band, becoming a at least as good as the earlier Vincent
a couple of occasions told me that Gene conscious band leader. recordings. They were heavier with a
would attract the girls to the stage, which Paul Peek took Gene to hear Johnny greater rock sensibility.
annoyed their boy friends, then he would Meeks play. Vincent liked what he heard
taunt and goad those same boyfriends and asked Meeks to join the Blue Caps. How aware was Vincent of Elvis
to come round backstage after the show Meeks did make a point of telling Vincent Presley and was there any effort,
where he and the Caps would, by Vincent, to be more
“…beat the shit out of them.” I like him?
hasten to say that this wasn’t Gene saw Elvis Presley
© Bear Family

something that Dude approved perform and was mightily

of or entered into. impressed by the reaction
of his audience. I’ve always
Would you say that the Gene thought that story about Elvis’
Vincent and the Bluecaps mother hearing Be-Bop-A-Lula
album sounds similar to the and thinking it was Elvis’ latest
Bluejean Bop! album? record a bit rich.
They were both recorded by I suppose one can say that
the same singer and musicians, Heartbreak Hotel and Be-Bop-
except that Paul Peek was A-Lula both featured slap-
playing rhythm rather than back echo prominently but I
‘Willie’ Williams, in the don’t see any resemblance in
same studio: Bradley Film the voices. I don’t think Gene
& Recording Studio, 804 wanted to be like Elvis but I bet
16th Avenue, Nashville, TN, he wanted to be as popular.
by the same engineer, Mort
Thomasson, under the same
producer, Ken Nelson, and in
a period of about five months
after producing successful
hit records with the first
recordings. These recordings
were all cut live in the studio.
That is, Gene sang and the
band played live together.
The songs were recorded live,
again and again, until Nelson
was satisfied with the results.

Why did the band break

up so quickly after Gene
Vincent and the Bluecaps?

ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 93

 The Orleans Hotel in lights

HIGH ROLLERS
AMERICANS ALWAYS DO IT BIGGER. SO IT WAS A FAIR BET THAT WHEN
ROCKABILLY WEEKENDER VIVA LAS VEGAS WAS LAUNCHED 17 YEARS
AGO, IT WOULD SOON TURN INTO THE BIGGEST PARTY IN THE WORLD…

W
ell, it’s not entrely
American. The largest,
best attended, most varied,
and best organised feast of
roots rock’n’roll anywhere
in the known universe has,
behind the scenes, and on
the stages, an amazingly strong British
and Irish presence, all the way to the
headliner, Hampshire-based Imelda May.
She’s famous in Ireland, on the cusp of
mainstream stardom in the UK. And in
the Unites States, she is HUGE.
But more of that later. Let’s set the
scene. Las Vegas, the flashy capital
of gambling and resort hotels in the
States, with more ballrooms, theatres,
entertainments, neon and, yes, car
parking, than anywhere else on the planet
is the ideal centre for festivals
and conventions.
It’s in the desert, so the weather is
reliable for outdoor shows, and it’s within
a day’s drive of a population of 20 million
plus – and set in a growing city of a
million plus.
Estimates put the attending crowds
for the music fest, associated car,
burlesque and fashion shows, and theatre
presentations at more than 20,000, and
sometimes it felt like it.
The man behind it is Tom Ingram, a
Brit who cut his musical teeth during the
UK’s ‘70s rockabilly revival, co-hosting a
number of weekenders in British seaside
resorts. He decamped to the States the
best part of 20 years ago, taking his ideas,
his little black book of contacts and his
records with him.

94 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12


Big Sandy in dapper stage gear
Almost immediately he ran into the
California roots rock’n’roll scene, and was
therefore able to stage shows that mixed
‘50s originals with the up and comers
they inspired.
Thus we had ‘50s million seller Lloyd
Price cheek-by-jowl with Imelda May,
‘70s breakouts like Robert Gordon
alongside Brits like Tim Polecat and a
houseband that included Carl “Sonny”
Leyland and Ashley Kingman, on piano
and guitar, the go-to guys for authentic
backing, despite their UK roots.
Not forgetting Sun Recording Studio
legends like Hayden Thompson, Sonny
Burgess, Narvel Felts, and Carl Mann, The
Trashmen, Los Straitjackets, Kim Lenz,
The Jive Aces, Liverpool youngsters
Furious and even Wales’ finest, Crazy
Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers.
Events take place at the Orleans hotel,
second venue for the shows which
Imelda May
Lil Mo and the
Dynaflos
©Richard Harrington
outgrew the nearby Gold Coast hotel,
which is still the hotel of choice for half
the revellers who came from across the
world to attend.
Let’s start at the top. Imelda May
with her band, featuring husband and
ace guitarist Darrel Higham, was on the
mainstage at the Saturday car show, with
more than 500 cars on display.
Without a doubt the lovely Imelda
attracted the biggest crowd of the day,
thanks to appearances not only on the
poster for the whole weekender, but also
appearances on top rated US TV chat
shows like Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien,
when audiences must have been charmed
with her lilting Irish accent and great
sense of humour.
Both were evident on stage as the
rockabilly queen strolled on in a
magnificent golden dress to feature well
established numbers and newies from
Roxy D’Lite
Artist photos © Nick Cobban; car shots © Richard Harrington; words: John Howard
her just-released fourth studio album on
Decca, Tribal. In addition to the white-
jacketed Darrel, the band comprised
regular bassist Al Gare, Steve Rushton on
drums and Dave Priseman on trumpet
and guitar.
Numbers like Johnny Got a Boom Boom,
Mayhem, the video-promoted single Good
to be Alive, and the latest, Wild Woman,
got a rapturous reception. We particularly
cared for Hellfire Club, which had Imelda
bashing a tambourine with enthusiasm,
while Go Tell the Devil (I Don’t Want to
Go to Hell), with its catchy riff allowed
Darrel to shine, and Dave’s muted
trumpet added to the mix.
There was even a brief break in the
set while one fan took the opportunity
to propose to his girlfriend, in public, on
stage, in front of thousands of other fans.
And, yes, she did accept.
Imelda was preceded ninety ➨
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 95

minutes earlier by perhaps the biggest of
the original ‘50s stars appearing over the
weekend, the veteran Lloyd Price, now 81,
but you’d never guess from his slim figure,
his lively stage movements, reminding all
that this man used to be a boxer.
He seemed to be enjoying himself
immensely, laughing and smiling the
whole time, as an absolutely crack band
gave a more rocking edge to some of his
best known numbers, actually improving
on the original recordings like Just
Because, Lady Luck, Where Were You on
Our Wedding Day and Personality.
He even delved into his B-sides by
request, performing a storming Mailman
Blues, and Have You Ever Had the Blues.
He opened with Caldonia, included a
tribute to bluesman Jimmy Reed on
Baby What You Want Me To Do, and, yes,
Stagger Lee, his first UK hit, was there,
even if his original of Lawdy Miss Clawdy
sadly wasn’t.
96 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Tim Polecat
Carl Mann
Hayden Thompson
The other ‘50s originals from the Sun
label – after all, this is described as a
rockabilly weekend despite the presence
of every roots music from swing to surf
– played indoors most of Sunday night,
in an exciting two hours that proved the
passing years need not dim voices.
The artists were asked to play only
their Sun related material, but the only
one to keep strictly to that brief was the
big-voiced Hayden Thompson, who was
due to close out this segment but found
himself in the midst of a jam session that
could have gone on until dawn.
Narvel Felts was first up with Pink and
Black Days, and just a sprinkling of his 22
country charting records from the ‘70s,
including an excellent take on My Prayer.
A seated Carl Mann opened with
Ubangi Stomp, had a go at Maybe Baby in
an arrangement distant from, and inferior
to, Buddy Holly’s version, and included
hits Pretend and Mona Lisa.
Tim Polecat
Sonny Burgess, looking good in black
trilby and yellow jacket, had guest Ian
Clarkson from the Jive Aces on trumpet,
who coincidentally was also in his
trademark yellow suit. Later, he confided
he only took up trumpet because of Jack
Nance’s work on Sonny’s singles like We
Wanna Boogie and Red Headed Woman,
both of which featured.
Hayden Thompson, in a smart white
jacket and hair to match, put on a
blistering perfomance which showcased
a voice that barely needs a microphone
to be heard at the back of the hall, with
Fairlane Rock, Blues Blues Blues, and a
rocking take on You Are My Sunshine,
which included a lyric change that was
noted and appreciated by one elderly
long-time fan.
Then the whole crew joined him for
a run-through of Sun label classics,
concluding with the gospel I’ll Fly Away.
Breath-taking.
 Lloyd Price
A short walk away from the main stage
on Saturday was the Lanark Records
stage, the first time the outdoor arena
has featured two stages, and it, too, was
consistently interesting. The Reach
Around Rodeo Clowns (how’s that for
a group name?) proved to be rockabilly
deluxe with numbers like The Girl from
Hell, covered by former Stray Cat Lee
Rocker, and Bowling Alley Baby, who
apparently throws a curved ball and
always gets a spare.
On the same stage, Robert Gordon
previewed his new CD alongside
favourites dating back, ooh, longer than
we can remember, but including The Way
I Walk and Driving Wheel, and among the
newer stuff a serious take on Walk Hard,
the theme from the comedy movie of the
same name. And it worked.
The Royal Rhythmaires were fronted
by a fabulous filly from Fort Worth, Texas,
Jai Malano, a worthy successor to late
Atlantic label stars like Lavern Baker and
Ruth Brown. Twin saxes and piano did
full justice to a songbook that included
Love Don’t Love Nobody – and she looked
good, too. Apparently, the group appeared
at Rhythm Riot 2013, but somehow we
missed them.
On this first night of four we also had
the powerful sounds of San Francisco-
based Stompy Jones, a band not a person,
with an early ‘50s set of danceable R&B
opening with Jimmy Liggins’ Boogie
Woogie King and Tiny Bradshaw’s original
arrangement of The Train Kept a’Rollin’.
Carmen Lee and the Tomorrow River
Two in the ground floor Brendan’s Pub
proved to be a find, mixing rockabilly
with country, and featuring their own
originals. Morry Sochat and the Special
20s, back in the ballroom, featured Rock
The Joint, Shake Your Hips and Choo Choo
Ch Boogie on an interesting set.
Next came Jamie ‘Bubba J’ Faulkner,
a Brit with an amusing stage presence,
known as the Moonshiner Man, although
he appeared to be just a lad. Despite his
London accent, when he sang he could
well have hailed from the backroads of
Georgia. Numbers included I’m A Broken
Man, I Feel Blue and Gonna Get Gone.
Finally came Kim Lenz, perhaps the
only rockabilly this side of Elvis who
has featured on the front page of USA
Today when she was the “next big thing”.
Doll-faced cute, with masses of red hair,
her sweet demeanour undermined by the
Wanda Jackson growl in her voice.
Kim Lenz
Sonny Burgess
Rock’n’Roll Until I Ripped My Dress was
among the less likely titles in the set, but
her co-write with Big Sandy on You Made
a Hit went down well.
Stepping away from the chronology a
little, special mention must be made of
three British groups who, possibly, gave
the performances of their careers.
MC Big Sandy seemed a little choked
up when he introduced the well-
known, to us at least, Crazy Cavan and
the Rhythm Rockers. He reminded
his audiences that in the dark days for
rock’n’roll in the late’60s, Cavan and
the lads kept the flame alive until a new
generation came along with the same
burning ambition – to rock’n’roll for the
rest of their lives.
Mr Grogan underlined his Teddy Boy
credentials with Teddy Boy Rock’n’Roll
and Teddy Boy Boogie among the first
three openers, more power to them.
Furious, still amazingly youthful,
subscribe to the same credo, look the
part, and have honed their act to total
professionalism in the four years or so
since we last saw them. Mark Halligan’s
vocals are stronger than ever, their
confidence and sassy attitude need
to be seen to be believed. ➨
ISSUE 1 2 VINTAGE ROCK 97

Conny made the trip from Japan
The Jive Aces did two full-on shows,
one in the ballroom and another in the
theatre, where they teamed with the nine-
piece girl group The Satin Dollz with
such a well-rehearsed show that someone
should tour it in theatres. In the ballroom,
they opened with Alan Freed’s Rock’n’Roll
Boogie, and continued with Scatman
Crothers’ I’m Gonna Write Myself a
Letter, introduced a US audience to the
delights of skiffle with Mama Don’t Allow,
and showcased their various members on
Singing in the Rain, Sing Sing Sing, and an
inspired take on Minnie the Moocher like
no other closed out the dance sector.
In their theatre show, they brought on
sax player Don Hill, now 92, the surviving
member of The Treniers band, one of
their influences, and the set included any
number of standards from When You’re
Smiling to Too Darn Hot, given a signature
98 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
The Satin Dollz with the Jive Aces
backbeat that removes any thought that
this might be MoR.
Without a doubt our favourite
instrumental act is Los Straitjackets – we
have ten of their CDs to prove it, catching
them last in February. Since then the
masked quartet have added another
guitarist, and blistering is a word coined to
describe them.
It was inspired of leader Eddie Angel
to play a version of Elvis’ Viva Las Vegas
played through a Link Wray filter to finish
their set, but mentor and colleague Deke
Dickerson joined them on stage, promising
a tour with them later this year, and
vocalising on Wooly Bully and Joe Jones’
California Sun.
We’ve got this far, and still haven’t
mentioned The Trashmen, an unlikely surf
group from landlocked Minnesota, who
set the ‘60s charts alight with a goofy but
Los Straitjackets
catchy unification of the Rivington’s Papa
Oo Mow Mow and The Bird is the Word to
produce Surfin’ Bird.
Three of the four are the originals, and
King of the Surfers sounds as good as the
day it was released.
The music, as earlier stated, is just
one part of this event, and that’s why we
were there, but mention must be made of
ancillaries, such as the 164 classic Ford
Mustangs at the car show to mark the
50th anniversary of the first Mustang, the
hilarious and risque burlesque shows, the
pin-up contest, the dance lessons, pool
parties, the huge number of British DJs,
and some really great bands, like Conny
from Japan, which space precludes.
But to have seen everything would
at best require a holiday afterwards to
recover, and, at worst, induce a N-N-N-
Nervous Breakdown. Amazing. ✶
 Read VINTAGE ROCK
on any device,
at any time!

Buddy’s
The rock band blueprint – self-penned songs,
Two guiTars, bass and drums – was laid down
story
in a magical two-year period in The laTe ’50s
by a skinny kid from lubbock, Texas…

w
hat relevance does wouldn’t be any Beatles.’ He’s right. This
Buddy Holly have was the first self-contained rock’n’roll
in the 21st century? band that wrote and played their own
How can the geeky, songs. More than that, they pioneered
bespectacled bloke overdubbing and multi-track recording
Elvis Costello stole years before it became standard practice,
fashion tips from still thanks to producer Norman Petty, and
be relevant 40 years after he their ‘two guitars, bass and drums’
became the first rock star to format became the rock’n’roll
die young? norm worldwide.

Mybuddy
One obvious It all started in
answer is that he was Lubbock, Texas,
the guitar hero to so where Charles
many. McCartney, Hardin Holley
‘when i started listening to early
Clapton, Beck, (note the extra
rock’n’roll, buddy Holly, scotty
Harrison, Albert Moore and chuck berry – that whole ‘e’) was born on 7
Lee – they and scene through that period – became September 1936.
many more all my electric guitar influence. the He was nicknamed
grew up on Buddy way music was going with the ‘Buddy’ because, as
shads we had to enter the melodic scene,
Holly’s music. his mother confided,
play tunes for people to listen to and whistle
McCartney now along with’ hank marvin ‘Charles Hardin was
owns the man’s song just too long a name
copyrights, while Albert’s the for such a little boy’. The
© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

only Brit to have been a Cricket. And
after Eric gave up on Cream’s amplified
blues-rock, he returned to his roots and
busked Buddy’s Well... All Right in Hyde
Park with a few mates, Blind Faith.
Then there’s the Crickets. McCartney
once said, ‘If it wasn’t for them, there
dropped ‘e’ happened when he
was billed as Holly. Showing a fine lack of
ego, he decided he liked it.
Buddy was raised in a musical
household. Mother Ella had sung duets
with her sister from an early age, oldest
brother Larry studied classical ➨

14 Vintage Rock issue 2 issue 2 Vintage Rock 15

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Album
REVIEWS
IT'S ROCKABILLY OLD AND NEW (NEARLY) ALL
THE WAY IN THE VINTAGE ROCK RUNDOWN THIS
ISSUE, WITH ELVIS, JANIS, VINCE TAYLOR, TOMMY
STEELE, LEVI DEXTER, ROBERT GORDON, THE
WOLFTONES, IMELDA MAY AND MANY MORE…
Janis And Elvis – The RCA
Victor Singles 1956-1958
JANIS MARTIN & ELVIS PRESLEY
Veetone
Taking its lead from 1957's
South African Janis And Elvis
EP (available for one day
before being withdrawn!),
Veetone curate their own
10-inch collection of a dozen
45s (A & B sides) that Elvis
and his labelmate cut between
'56 and '58 – none included on
the original. Six from Janis
include Drugstore Rock And
Roll, My Boy Elvis, Cracker
Jack and the B-side Will You,
Willyum. A trio of 45s from
Elvis too – Money Honey, One
Night, Wear My Ring Around
Your Neck and their flips!
100 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Ready Steady Go!
DRAKE BELL
Surfdog/Membran
Polished stuff from the former
Nickolodean TV star. This
kicks off with The Kinks'
Sunny Afternoon, before Bull
rockets along at a pace: guitars
harmonised, gutsy vocals and
with a punky slant. Things
heat up with Drake’s own
fiddle-led Bitchcraft – a solid
wandering bassline and
reverb-tinged delivery guiding
it skyward. Onwards to the
demon twang of The Stray
Cats’ Runaway Boys and a
hot-wired slant on Roy Wood’s
California Man. Production
comes from Brian Setzer, but
we feel this may be a little too
glossy for the puritans.
MGM Rockabilly
VARIOUS
Pink'n'Black
This double-barrel mix
delivers a heady range of
rockabilly from the MGM
stable. Two discs feature a
talented cast, from Hall Of
Famers Andy Starr and Marvin
Rainwater (check out Roy
Clark's guitar work on Mr.
Blues) to the honky-tonk
finery of Cecil Campbell,
Jimmy Swan and Sheb Wooley
(Hoot Owl Boogie is a wonder!)
Elsewhere comes a peach
from Bob Riley in Midlight
Line, Connie Francis' vibrant
slice of fun, The Tiger, Buck
Griffin, Conway Twitty, Hank
William and Bill Flagg's sole
countrified MGM release.
Red Light Blues
THE WOLFTONES
Western Star
The Wolftones follow their
excellent debut Neo Rockin’
Blues-A-Billy (check out Hot
Rod Car) with another fantastic
set of a dozen delights. Jay
Bircumshaw’s tuneful tales are
set to Jimbob Sullivan’s
squawking mouth harp and
Sully's red hot and inventive
frettery, all grounded via a rock
solid rhythm. Only You features
Sully’s accomplished riffing
front and centre, Shake It Baby,
Sold My Soul, No Matter and
Shot Down are wild and
pumping rock’n’blues lit up
with harmonica, 21 Nights In
Jail is a flighty treat and Devil
Prowler rides a darker wave.
Vince Taylor
JET BLACK MACHINE
Easy Action
Remastered, cut on fetching
red vinyl and with a CD
included, Easy Action's Vince
Taylor package is an enticing
one. Jet Black Machine tracks
Taylor's career from '58-'62
beginning with debut bopper
Right Behind You Baby/I Like
Love and sizzling follow-up
Pledging My Love/Brand New
Cadillac. The great moments
are all here, from the frenetic
title track through to his
exemplary array of covers:
Long Tall Sally, Blue Jean Bop,
Baby Let's Play House, Twenty
Flight Rock, Shakin' All Over,
and C'Mon Everybody – all
sounding better than ever.

In The Shadow Of Sun
VARIOUS
Fantastic Voyage
Here, R&B and rock'n'roll
expert Dave Penny was
assigned the task of
assimilating three CDs (101
tracks!) of '50s indie records
that sprung up in Sun's
neighbourhood – and he's
done a fine job in unlocking an
obscure, yet thrilling scene.
Varied sides arrive from the
Memphis houses right down
to the Mississippi state line
and, aside from Johnny
Burnette, Hayden Thompson
and a few other names, this is
populated by a huge line-up of
hidden talent that we highly
recommend you explore. A
secret library of surprises!
Let's Party
RUTH BROWN & FRIENDS
Pink'n'Black
Pink'n'Black's new 'Let's
Party' series sets off in
unbridled style with R&B icon
Ruth Brown firmly at the
wheel, and influential friends,
Etta James, Linda Hayes,
Marie Knight, Lloyd Price,
Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and
more, livin' it up in the back.
31 Brown cuts present a
rounded summary of her vast
talents and the extended cast
offer up just as much gusto.
Aside from Ruth's big hitters,
we adore Dorothy Williams'
growling Watchdog, swinging
fun with Gloria Lynn's Cool
Daddy and Ray Sharpe's
speedy patter in Linda Lu.
Systems Green
VOODOO KINGS
Nervous
For all the growling six strings
and frenetic back-up, the
'Kings hold down a tune nicely
and Systems Green is strangely
beguiling as a result (a simply
sublime bass slappin' display
too!). VK aren’t shy of a fuzz
pedal or two and veer from the
filmic (Audie Murphy) to
deep'n'dirty rock’n’roll
(Voodoo Car, The Batman,
Cramped Up) via pop-edged
thrills (I’m Not Blind, Easy
Street) and bass'n'beat driven
bops (My Babe, Systems Green)
- Midnight Train closes the set
with a thump. Admirable stuff
from a group unafraid to take
things forward. Good work.
Hillbilly Rock
MARTY STUART
Bear Family
Stewart rose up the ranks
playing alongside the likes of
Johnny Cash and Lester Flatt
– a fine education. Hillbilly
Rock lovingly raises a glass to
the history of rock'n'roll with
the title track and adds the
fairer sex to the tribute in the
hook-happy country tones of
Western Girls. The Coal Mine
Blues adds a pumping
backbeat, Johnny Cash's Cry,
Cry, Cry is well executed and
Stuart's own co-write Since I
Don't Have You is deep, even
existential stuff! Want 180
grams of life-affirming wax?
In Stuart's own words, this is
'every cowboy's dream.'
Tribal
IMELDA MAY
Decca
With her self-styled
whirlpool pompadour and
compelling musical
armoury, Dublin’s Queen of bombast, a bass as solid as
Rockabilly dwells on a
continent all her own.
2010’s Mayhem cleared the
lane for this gutsy fourth LP. heartspun will surely
Here we have a steely
footing built on a vinyl
collection that's rooted in
rock’n’roll and rockabilly –
solidified by hubby Darrel
Higham’s accomplished
Cochran-infused frettery
and a pinch of soulful R&B
to further charm the senses.
May weaves her melodic
chapters over largely
uptempo fare – Tribal, Wild
Woman and Hellfire Club
stand out and harbour a pop
know-how that most music
fans, regardless of their
leanings, should enjoy.
Gypsy In Me and the
The Other Side Of
Bakersfield
VARIOUS
Bear Family
With splendid front cover and
superb partner booklet that
features an excellent array of
photos and Scott Bomar's
helpful profile on each artist,
this is a winner before it even
goes on the stereo. This CD is
a veritable feast that tributes
the rockier side of Bakersfield
from rockabilly and hillbilly
bop to boogie and teen rock.
Of the many – our prime picks
are Tommy Collin's pick-fest,
Untied, Buck Owens' cat-
stepping Hot Dog, Buck
Owens' solid'n'tender Sweet
Thing, and Ernie Kelley's
novelty romp, Seal Rock.
downtrodden trumpet of
Wicked Way are velvety and
melodramatic, but with a
dark undulation to nicely
unbalance the keel, while
Little Pixie is a fitting ode to
motherhood. Riffs full of
they come and May's ability
to do raw’n’primal as
assuredly as demure and
maintain her upward
trajectory. Sure, it will be
loved by rockabillies, but it’s
fully aware of the decade in
which it’s in. Wanda, if
you’re listening, it may be
time to pass on the crown.
Robert Gordon
I'M COMING HOME
Lanark
Gordon told us that his latest
(self-produced) album
continues where he left off –
by which he must mean
electric, edgy and with a
generous portion of that
addictive baritone he's become
known for. He makes short
work of the covers – I'm
Coming Home, Honky Tonk
Man and Little Pig stand out.
Three originals, penned by
members of The Rockats and
Marshall Crenshaw, all fit
right in – the deep-toned,
Cash-esque Walk Hard is a
stunning highlight. Quentin
Jones provides a fluent guitar,
that makes this a sure thing!
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 101
ALBUM REVIEWS
Speechless
VARIOUS
Western Star
If you’re looking for an
instrumental playlist that
showcases the best of fresh
talent, try this. El Compton
kick off Disc 1 with an assured
twang, before The Go Go
Cult’s dark The Phantom, The
Bonneville Baron’s rumbling
Mariachi Mexican Wildfire,
Kill Van Helsing speed-demon
Quatermass and Cat Fight, an
unreleased wonder from Jack
Rabbit Slim. Disc 2 is on a par,
with The Sharks’s Shadows-
esque Cosmonaut, The Chill’s
bullet-ridden Hot Dang Hee
Haw, and The Cheaterslick’s
tom-pounding creep Gasolina
all making a splash.
Rockin’ At The Hops
CHUCK BERRY
Easy Action
Easy Action has impressed
with its recent fare – from
the well-formed Rockabilly
Rampage compilation
through to their Rockabilly
Queen Wanda mix, and this
remastered limited edition
Chuck Berry reissue of
Rockin’ At The Hops – in
delectable red vinyl (with
CD) – is yet another
triumph. The Chess Records The Ecuadors smooth
original was unleashed in
1960, a tempestuous time
for Berry, who was then
embroiled in several court
cases. With the possibility of
prison looming over him, he
recorded quick and often
that year to ensure Chess a
sizable pool of music to tide
them over should the worst
happen. The lion’s share of
the resulting LP had already
been aired as 45s, but four
new cuts ensured a thrill for
102 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Rockabilly Deluxe
REACH AROUND RODEO CLOWNS
Lanar
Aside from being winners of
the ’Greatest Band Name Ever’
award, the ’Clowns muster a
thrilling (up-to-date) noise
from a place deep, deep down
and have been doing so for
some time. King of the Slot Car
Track is an undulating
revelation, trumpeted bliss
comes on I Used To Be The One
and I’m Obsessed is a tough,
crunching unrequited love
song. Pure rockabilly it ain’t,
but Quentin Jones writes fiery
tunes with a wry smile and
coaxes magic from his trusty
Gretsch throughout. Wendell
Jones’ rotund baritone tops it
all off in style.
devotees – the wondrous
original Betty Jean and
sturdy takes on Confessin’
the Blues, Down the Road
Apiece and Driftin’ Blues.
The album is topped and
tailed by two of Berry’s
finest later cuts, Bye, Bye
Johnny and Let It Rock, but
other Berry-penned delights
can be found in the teen pop
Too Pooped To Pop, the
gentle swaying instrumental
Mad Lad, the soul-drenched
Childhood Sweetheart with
backing vocals providing a
lush veneer, and the loose
rock of Broken Arrow too.
Keep ’em coming!
The Most Exciting Guitar
ROY LANHAM
Bear Family
It may cross over into a
slightly jazz-influenced arena,
but this Bear Family vinyl is
one of our favourite platters
this issue. Regularly described
as a virtuoso guitarist, Lanham
has added his delicate touch to
cuts from The Delmore
Brothers through to Whitey
Pullen. Here, he explores the
entirety of his Fender’s
fretboard with a rare grace
(Steel Guitar Rag and Kerry
Dance are immaculate) while
the melodies are truly
magnificent – Body & Soul,
particularly, is sublime. Guitar
lovers craving something new
need look no further than this.
Hollerin’ ’n’ Screamin’
TOMMY STEELE AND COLIN HICKS
Pink’n’Black
This 67-track double disc
brings together two Brit-
rockin’ siblings, Tommy Steele
and Colin Hicks, for the first
time. It’s an all-embracing
anthology too, with everything
from singles and flips through
to LP, EP, film, TV and live
tracks. Disc 1 is given up to
Steele’s work from his driving
debut Rock With Caveman
through to a killer live take of
1960s Hollerin’ And Screamin’.
Over to Hicks for Disc 2 and a
journey from his jaunty first,
Empty Arm Blues/Wide Eyes
And Tender Lips, to later cuts
like his bouncing Italian TV
hit Giddy Up A Ding Dong.
Stomp
ROCK’A’DEE’S
Self Release
A 21-track opening gambit –
Fair enough for three musos as
experienced as these. But can
the trio from Oz sustain the
simplistic majesty of opener
Rock’A’Dee Stomp all the way
to the curtain? Sure they can.
Originals of note include the
seedy tilt of Black Cat Woman
(which flows seamlessly into a
ballsy take on Flying Saucer
Rock and Roll), the
unparalleled Memphis Town
and zippy, flamboyant jiver
High Heeled Creepers – a real
riot. A dynamic run of covers
too, amongst them Somethin’
Else, Train Kept A Rolling, and
Please Don’t Touch.
Jamboree Baby
THE THREE FARMERS BOYS
Self Release
Ronnie, Sierk and Roel, The
Three Farmers Boys, are in
fine fettle with Jamboree Baby,
their latest long player. Taut
rhythms underpin this mix of
hillbilly, rockabilly, western
swing, country and R&B. We
love the title tune and Ain’t
She Flippy with their junkshop
acoustic, Sierk’s fluent lead
and Ronnie’s Johnny Cash-
inspired storytelling, while
Roel’s jaunty bass pumps. You
Ain’t Nothing but a Nothing
rides a slick arc and country
ballad Wayfaring Stranger is
whisky-soaked. These boys are
experienced and Jamboree
reflects a well-gigged combo.

Let’s Party
CLARENCE HENRY & FRIENDS
Pink’n’Black
This 2CD set is given up to
Louisiana’s Clarence
‘Frogman’ Henry, beginning
with a few sides from his
tenure at Argo, including the
feisty Ain’t Got No Home/
Troubles Troubles and his 1961
hit ballads You Always Hurt
The One You Love and I Don’t
Know Why I Love You But I
Do. Later fare features the
fun-filled novelty pop of Little
Green Frog and the excellent
Cajun Honey. We get a lively
cast of friends that includes
Etta James, Eugene Church
and Dee Clark with riotous
R&B, jivers, strollers and
plenty more to relish. Buy it.
Surf’s Up
VARIOUS
Union Square
Anyone with a lack of great
surf music in their collections
might consider this 50-track
release from Union Square.
Famous waveriders include
Dick Dale, The Ventures, The
Fireballs, Link Wray, Duane
Eddy, Ritchie Valens (!?) and
The Shadows, and there’s
lesser known combos to enjoy
too – our hitlist being The
Hunter’s Teen Scene, The Surf
Men’s Malibu Run (smooth
sax!), The Gambler’s
vibesome Moon Dawg! from
Disc 1, and, from Disc 2, The
Krew Kats’ Peak Hour and The
Vampires tub-pounding
offering Clap Trap.
ROY ORBISON F & riends
Roots Man
LEVI DEXTER
Dextone
The Roots Man returns with
14 undeniable reasons why he
deserves his reputation – hard
earned while fronting the
Rockats. With Jonny Bowler’s
BARRY STEELE
upright slap, Gretschmaster
Buzz Campbell’s ace guitar
and Stinky’s taut beats, Levi is
given ample room to excel.
Eddie Cochran’s Completely
Sweet is fun, Hank Penny’s
Hadacillin Boogie holds in its
midst a six-string masterclass, ‘An incredible fustion of Rock n Roll &
and Levi’s ode to his wife, contemporary musical genius all on one stage’
Boppin Bernie, is a hot two and
a half minutes. Levi’s other
ON TOUR NOW!!
original, Cannibal Party, rocks SEE THE WEB SITE FOR TOUR DATES
our bones too. Unadulterated WWW.BARRYSTEELE.COM
boppin’ perfection all the way.
www.bim-bam.com
If it’s Rock ‘N’ Roll, Rockabilly, Doo-Wop, Western Swing,
Hillbilly, Rhythm & Blues, Cajun, Country, Intrumentals,
Revival, Blues or Neo Rockabilly, then you’ll find it here.
We have the largest stock of DVDs, CDs and Vinyl that
you’ll find anywhere on the planet!
Hank Snow
HANK SNOW
Bear Family
He was in the cast of The
Grand Ol’ Opry and stepped
up with Movin’ On, a massive
hit in 1950 (included here).
Snow was one of C&W’s finest
and Bear Family amass his
titanic moments: his cover of
Green Green Grass Of Home,
No 5 hit These Hands, his ode From original 45’s to the latest DVDs, it’s all here!
to home, My Novia Scotia
Stocklist of; Bear Family: Ace: Charly: Westside: Stompertime: Rollercoaster: Buffalo Bop:
Home, country treasure The Relic: Norton: Collectables: Bronco Buster: Sanctuary/Castle and all other specialist labels.
Last Ride and Yellow Roses.
Extensive listings of; EDDIE COCHRAN, GENE VINCENT, CHARLIE
Later material includes No 1 FEATHERS, DUANE EDDY, CHUCK BERRY, JERRY LEE LEWIS, RICKY
Hello Love, unreleased swing NELSON, ELVIS, CLIFF RICHARD, BUDDY HOLLY, SONNY BURGESS,
FATS DOMINO, LITTLE RICHARD, STRAY CATS, BILLY FURY and more.
A Daisy A Day, and Snowbird.
The set is crowned with an BIM BAM RECORDS, CHALFONT HOUSE, BOTLEY ROAD, HORTON HEATH, SO50 7DN. ENGLAND
unreleased instrumental Email: bob@bimbamrec.freeserve.co.uk Telephone 02380 600 329
version of Am I Losing You  ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED 
showing Snow’s guitar skills.
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 103
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 Madeline Sinclaire
Lou On The Rocks

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FRILLS AND D SPILLS

Royal Appo i nt m e nt !
By

Dangrrr Doll
Miss Cherry On Fire

Albert Cadabra’s deep thr
THE 8TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL LONDON BURLESQUE FESTIVAL
HIT THE CAPITAL TO ADD SOME SIZZLE TO THE MAY BANK HOLIDAY.
VINTAGE ROCK MADE ITS WAY TO THE BEST OF THE FEST AND GOT
MORE THAN A LITTLE HOT UNDER THE COLLAR…
N
ow in its 8th year, Chaz Royal’s
London Burlesque Festival
returned to do the sun’s job
and set temperatures soaring
for the May bank holiday.
The event kicked off suitably
attired with the VIP ‘Red
Carper Rollout’ at Conway Hall –
previewing the delights that were to
follow – and with ‘the Schmoozer’, a
swanky affair at the Playboy Club in
Mayfair, an ideal haunt from which to
launch two opulent weeks of the best
burlesque acts the world has to offer.
Featured nights on the menu – all sold
out – included Crown Jewels (best of
British), Twisted Cabaret (neo-burlesque
and alternative cabaret), Varie-Tease
(golden-era novelty fun), Hollywood
Revue (film and glamour), Burlesque,
Gin & Jazz (classic burlesque with a
jazz soundtrack), Sexy Circus Sideshow
(‘boozy freak show!’), Jungle Exotica/
Mondo Galactica (a journey through
time), Big Burlesque Day Out (daytime
extravaganza), LBF All Stars (past glories
Organisers Chaz
Royal and Bettie
??
The brains behind
oat balloon trick LBF: Chaz Royal & Betty D’Light
from LBF and the World Burlesque
Games) – and closed with ‘Best Of The
Fest’, where Vintage Rock excitedly chose
to join in the proceedings…
To Madame Jojo’s… Art deco wall-
hangings, a neatly tiered auditorium and
some deep red velvet curtains provided
the extended boudoir ideal for the
luscious array of plumed headdresses,
vintage frocks and general finery on
display as the audience settled down to
enjoy an evening of artful eye candy. Our
host for the show was New York magician
– and hilarious funnyman – Albert
Cadabra: bald-headed, dapper and
sporting a hirsute pair of sizeable red
chops with pride as he proceeded to
swallow a balloon, nay phallus, that once
erotically pumped up in time with the
music, was apparently lost to peristalsis.
A little winsome gyration later and Albert
introduces our first act from the USA –
‘legs all the way to who knows where…
Dancer! Choreographer! Madeline
Sinclair!’ he opines. Luscious, shapely
and wearing a figure-hugging leopard
skin gown, this raven-haired siren swiftly
lets loose. A slinky wave of ‘20s sounds
accompanied what was a truly slick
routine and, with a mere hint of golden
glitter only just preserving her modesty,
she brought said lustful striptease – a
tribute to the great Bettie Page – to a
fitting and glorious climax.
It is here that we are lovingly
introduced to Whisky Falls, the stunning
and, in equal measures, saucy, stage aide.
With the offloaded vestments removed
from the stage floor, on came Rio’s
Cherry On Fire, who appeared amidst
the first dry ice of the evening, delicate
and swanlike in her snow white shawl –
soon to come off. A playful tinkling of jazz
morphed into a bawdy Latino sax and
held up the buxom brunette as she shook
the drapery from her frame and made
Miley Cyrus’s supposed mastery of
‘twerking’ look so simple. Easy. A circular
Photos by Mike Prior
whip of nipple tassels and she too
disappeared stage left.
Our compere is then forced – by a
baying audience – to drink an absinthe ➨
ISSUE
ISSUE128 VINTAGE ROCK 107
107

Colette…
??????????
Caption ??????????????? ?????????
????????????????????????
Caption ?????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????
Eliza Delite
Fleshoticas
passed to him by a gent on the front row
and our third star takes to the stage – the
peroxide blonde bombshell that is New
York city’s stunning Dangrrr Doll.
A searching bassline kicks in and the jet
black feather boa doesn’t last long. It’s
slow and sensual stuff involving teeth,
crotch grabbing and a teasing five-second
pause before the zip glides gently
southwards. The rhythm picks up
midway to allow for a wildly oscillating
rear end that wows the onlookers. With a
gentle fluttering flute her ensemble is
masterfully reduced to the bare
108 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Caption ????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????
Apathy Angel
minimum. A leisurely lick of Albert’s
cranium and she’s gone.
Geneva’s Lou On The Rocks takes her
place in a mint green number paired with
a decadent pink feather boa. Clarinet
bursts out of the speakers and this dainty
tattooed beauty strips to a slender silver
corset, before unveiling her matching
nipple tassels to close this stylish
workout. And so ends the first half…
Albert is once more forced by the, now
tipsy, attendees to down another absinthe
before a card trick entitled
‘transcendental card of mystery’ left his
… and Willy
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Caption ?????????????????????????
?????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????
volunteer’s chosen card ‘some place very
special’. Cadabra then joins the gals and
hilariously strips down to his monkey-
stuffed Y-fronts (don’t ask!) before his
handpicked audience member is treated
to the Queen of Hearts in flag form
protruding from his pants. Great stuff!
Next comes Texan Apathy Angel, who
stuns us with the rhythmic removal of her
sparkling gold dress to the velvet
melodies of Nina Simone’s I Want A Little
Sugar In My Bowl – a hypnotic marriage.
Angel spills imaginary sugar from an
The LBF cast applaud stage
manager Cherry On Fire
oversized carton, the beat picks up and 69
Boyz’ hip hop treasure Tootsie Roll
soundtracks a feat of incredible
athleticism as buttock tassels are brought
front and centre and shook with titillating
intensity. As she drops into a decisive
splits, she brings a thrilling five minutes
to rousing finale– a giant roar from the
onlookers mark Angel out as a highlight
of tonight’s show.
Albert downs yet another absinthe and,
by now a little ‘jolly’ himself, welcomes
Oslo’s Fleshoticas to the boards.
Chanting voodoo harmonies and an eerie
smokescreen cloak the duo, bedecked in
proud peacock headdresses. In sync, they
swish their scarlet fans, emulating flames,
as dark twanging guitars crash our ears.
Bellies undulate and we’re treated to
cat-like air grabs and a denouement
involving fake blood deliciously spilled
Caption ????????
????????????????
????????????????
from mouth to chest – spooky and
sensual. From Dallas, Honey Cocoa
Bordeaux adds a little sophistication to
the night’s line-up as smooth jazz backs
up her teasing choreography. A sea green
corset appears from her purple gown as
stray sky blue feathers descend gently in
the air. She leaves momentarily to return
with her own sumptuous feathered
headgear and ends her celebration of the
female form with the splits, a flick of the
tassels and a cheeky kiss blown our way.
Two acts to go… Arty duo Willie and
Colette change things up nicely. Willie
armed with accordion weaves a tale of
dark streets and love lost, as his slender
partner saunters around the stage with
the deft grace of a ballet dancer gently
wafting her white fans in a seemly arc –
her willowy frame takes the audience’s
breath away.
Photo by Ace Cafe
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Caption ???????????????????????? ?
???????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????
????????????????????????
As the final act of the evening comes on
– Eliza Delight – we wonder where else
there is to go… Decked out in an Alladin-
like silk affair, Eliza doles out Turkish
Delight to the willing open-mouths of the
front row. A shimmy, a shake, a flutter of
bongos and the whole room is
mesmerised. A few moments later and
Eliza introduces a giant powderpuff to
her act, delicately powdering herself in a
fragrant cloud of snowy dust. Then with a
slap of her china-white behind, she too is
lost to the wings.
This evening’s cast, hand-picked by
organiser Chaz Royal, didn’t disappoint.
Indeed, they shone and, as we depart
Madame Jojo’s light of step and with a
broad smile on our faces, we drift
amongst the bank-holiday celebrations
spilling out onto the Soho streets around
us. A truly spellbinding evening. ✶
ISSUE 12 VINTAGE ROCK 109
IN HIS OWN WORDS: VINCE EAGER

A Life in
Rock’n’Roll
B
illy Fury’s success with
Picture : Graham Fowell

his self-penned haunting

ballad Maybe Tomorrow
garnered what was to
become a legion of fans,
coupled with envy from his peers. His
sultry smouldering looks resembled a
hybrid of James Dean, Elvis and Eddie
Cochran that beguiled all who met him,
yet the innermost Billy was very shy,
with an amazing sense of humour and
sensitivity, but above all a cheekiness that
totally contradicted his on-stage persona.
With our manager and flatmate Larry
Parnes spending more and more time
at his recently acquired Marble Arch
apartment, Billy and I were in a position
to utilise the penthouse furnishings to
suit our needs. The Hollywood style
marble top table for example, was
perfect for our growing inventory of
toys, including the Scalextric car racing
game and the train set Billy had acquired.
It was also ideal for Billy to build his
Airfix model aircraft on, a pastime that
reflected on the many months he spent in
Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
when suffering from rheumatic fever, a
disease that damages the heart and would
result in open-heart surgery operations
prior to his demise at only 43 years of age.
Having spent hours building the planes,
he would then proudly display them on
the ledge of the lounge bay window close
to the door leading onto the balcony
overlooking Gloucester Road.
Billy showed both pride and great them to taxi freely across the marble- balcony, he pulled his Zippo cigarette
delight in gathering all his aircraft topped table. It was one of the planes lighter from his pocket, flicked the lighter
together and displaying them on the falling off the table after taxiing that and set fire to the plane. I had built Airfix
marble table. With smaller models at led to one of Billy’s most infamous, and planes as a kid myself, but had no idea as
the front and bigger ones bringing up dangerous, pranks. to how volatile they were.
the rear, he would often pick one up Following a successful landing, one As soon as the flames took hold, Billy
and run around the lounge making the of the larger planes fell off the table and launched the plane and it descended at
noise of a plane’s engine whilst firing tumbled towards the floor breaking one a rate of knots to the Gloucester Road
imaginary guns, and then use the table- of its wings on the arm of a dining chair pavement below, where it shattered into
top as a runway to land on. The planes during its decent. As Billy rescued the hundreds of pieces. It prompted Billy
were excellent quality with some having pieces he decided it was beyond repair to mutter tongue in cheek that he was
retractable undercarriages which allowed and, opening the door leading onto the disappointed it didn’t fly further.

110 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

IN OUR NEXT EXTRACT FROM HIS BOOK CHRONICLING
HIS ROCK’N’ROLL YEARS, VINCE EAGER TALKS
CANDIDLY ABOUT BILLY FURY’S MOST INFAMOUS
PRANK, AND WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE RECORDING FOR
THE OH BOY! TELEVISION SHOW
Close to the balcony, was Larry’s state
of the art hi-fi system with a built-in
record storage rack. Larry’s selection of
records ranged from demos to top singles
and album hits by the likes of Johnnie
Ray, a selection that mirrored his lifestyle
as much as his profession.
The record which was Larry’s pride
and joy, was a promotional recording
made by Dean Martin and Jerry Lee
Lewis promoting one of their movies
called The Caddy. They had made it when
they finished the official sound trailer for
the movie, downing a few bottles of booze
in the process. It was disgusting.
‘C is for – c**t,’ said Jerry amidst fits
of laughter from him and hilarity from
others present.
‘A is for arse,’ replied Dean in much
more sombre tones.
‘And D is for dick,’ screeched a drunken
Jerry.
And so it went. It got worse and worse
as the trailer progressed until it finished
in hysterics amidst obscenities, the likes I
had never heard before, or since!
As Billy pondered the failure of his
flying inferno, he started to finger
through Larry’s records as if searching
for something specific. He suddenly
stopped. He’d found it. He picked up
the X-rated promotional recording of
the film The Caddy, being one of Larry’s
prized possessions, walked towards the
balcony giggling and muttering, “I bet
this will fly further,” and threw the record
like a frisbee into the black night over
Gloucester Road.
Dean and Jerry did indeed fly much
farther than the ill-fated plane. So much
farther so that it landed on the roof of the
building opposite – and so a new sport
was born.
When old or demo records came into
our possession, we would have record
tossing contests off the balcony, the
highest points being awarded for landing
on top of a moving double-decker bus as
it passed by below. We were anxious to
continue with our newfound pastime,
but Larry’s housekeeper felt we’d be
“With the
well advised firstly not to do it again,
and secondly not to tell anyone unless
6-5 Special
we wanted to join Elvis in his Jailhouse
Rock cell! As she was more like a mother
losing its
we took her advice and stuck to the more impetus,
Jack Good
mundane pastimes of Scalextric and
train sets. As for Larry’s record of Dean
defected to
and Jerry? It seemed somehow to have
disappeared when his belongings were
moved to his apartment at Marble Arch.
In his efforts to turn the BBC ATV, and the
Television show 6-5 Special into a fully
fledged rock‘n’roll show, producer Jack Oh Boy! TV
Good found himself up against the BBC
Board of Directors who, in showing their show was
collective ignorance for what the British
viewing public really wanted, threatened born”
to relieve Jack of his duties aboard the 6-5
Special if he didn’t toe the line.
VINCE EAGER
What they didn’t know was that Jack’s
enthusiasm for rock‘n’roll had been
picked up by the board of directors
at Associated Television (ATV)
who had approached Jack to Marty Wilde, Vince Eager and
produce and direct a similar Cliff Richard
TV show for them if the BBC
bosses remained unconvinced
with Jack’s suggestions.
With the 6-5 Special losing its
impetus, Jack defected to the
enemy that was ATV and the Oh
Boy! TV show was born. It proved
to be without doubt the best and
fastest moving pop music TV
show ever, and it didn’t take long
for its success to drive the 6-5
Special into the sidings, where
it lost steam, hit the buffers and
came to a complete standstill. I
was a member of the cast during
the final days of the 6-5, but was
fortunate in joining forces with
Jack for an episode on Oh Boy!
with the promise of more to
come in early 1959. ➨
IN HIS OWN WORDS: VINCE EAGER
Marty Wilde was the headliner/host
on the Oh Boy! show and proved to be a
natural. Our manager Larry Parnes began
to bask in Marty’s glory and in no time he
was building his ‘pop stable’ with regular
additions of potential pop stars. Added
to his existing roster of Tommy Steele,
Colin Hicks, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury and
myself were Joe Brown, Dickie Pride,
Georgie Fame, Johnny Gentle, Nelson
Keene, Duffy Power, Lance Fortune, Peter
Wynn, Julian X and the sole female Sally
Kelly. Within a matter of weeks of the
birth of Oh Boy! the newly arrived artistes
found they were being pencilled in for
appearances on the show along with
theatre performances throughout the UK.
A caricature of Larry dressed as a
witch sat before a cauldron, stirring away
as he popped us in the pot one by one
in an effort to produce a superstar, was
an image Joe Brown and I summoned
between us. Sadly, we were to be
disappointed, when Larry’s best-laid
plans started simmering when he decided
to stir up a brew Jack Good didn’t like the
taste of!
Such was the success of Oh Boy! that it
became a must for record companies and
agents to get their artists on the show if
they were to have a chance of getting into
the charts, and if anyone was entitled to
be carried away with the show’s success
“Cliff ’s profile on the show was
raised as he covered the main
spots hitherto held by Marty”
VINCE EAGER
112 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12
Jack Good on the
Oh Boy! TV show
it should have been Marty, but not so. The
prima donna turned out to be Larry!
With Larry’s roster of wannabe pop
stars growing daily, so did his ego. In
fairness he did invest in the appearance
of his artists in order for their image
to reflect their stage names, but when
it came to Jack Good’s Oh Boy! show it
was Jack who called the shots. Sadly,
it was Larry’s, and our, downfall when
he thought he could usurp Jack by
determining what Marty would wear for
the show. Not only was Jack a brilliant
producer/director, he was also a guy you
didn’t question. His word was gospel.
On Saturday mornings we transferred
from the rehearsal room at the Four
Provinces of Ireland Club in Islington
to the nearby Hackney Empire for
transmission day. Enthusiasm, talent
and determination were always
made welcome, but egos? I only ever
encountered a couple, and one word in
the ear by Jack and they were banished,
never to be seen again.
Marty was running through a number
when into the theatre strolled Larry.
Immaculately dressed with a fashionable
mohair overcoat over his shoulders, he
was accompanied by one of his many
‘drivers’ carrying a suit cover over one
arm and Larry’s briefcase in his hand. As
Marty finished his run through, Larry
beckoned him over, they retired in the
direction of Marty’s dressing room. It
wasn’t long before Marty reappeared
wearing a suit that didn’t appear any
different to anything I’d seen him wear
before, yet was to change the face of
British popular music’s pecking order.
Following the second run through there
was a longer than usual inactive period
followed by a very dour Larry making a
speedy exit via a fire door.
It wasn’t until the middle of the
following week that Larry’s PA Muriel
told me he’d pulled Marty off the Oh Boy!
show due to an argument he’d had with
Jack as to whose decision it was as to
what Marty should wear for the show.
A few weeks prior to the argument, a
young singer and his group appeared on
Oh Boy! following a meeting between Jack
and a Capitol Records plugger. The record
plugger had played Jack the A-side of a
record entitled Schoolboy Crush by Cliff
Richard and the Drifters, and followed
it up by playing the B-side, Move It.
Jack told the plugger that if he Move It
the A-side, he would book Cliff and his
group for the following week’s show. The
plugger agreed and the rest is history.
Cliff appeared and was an instant hit.
He was however in the shadow of Marty,
and that’s were he remained until Larry’s
decision to pull Marty off the show.
In Marty’s absence, Cliff’s profile on the
show was raised as he covered the main
spots hitherto held by Marty, plus, we
discovered that appearances by Billy Fury,
Dickie Pride, Duffy Power and myself had
also been pulled. It was approximately
two months before the Parnes-Good
rift healed, during which time Cliff had
assumed top spot and poor old Marty
had a comeback fight on his hands. The
consensus within the industry at the time
was, that Larry’s lack of diplomacy had
cost Marty his position as number one in
British pop’s pecking order.
It was over 40 years later that Jack told
me he had no objection to the suit that
Larry had purchased for Marty. It was
just that he wanted Larry to know who
was boss. As Larry got greedier and more
demanding, some senior members of the
‘stable’ decided to get our own back! ✶
Vince’s book Vince Eager’s Rock’n’Roll
Files is available at www.vinceeager.
co.uk and all leading bookshops
Illustration by Graham Fowell.
www.caricaturesandcartoons.co.uk
Competitio n!
WIN TICKETS TO
RETRO FESTIVAL!
The kind souls at Retro Festival have supplied us with a fantastic prize to give
away in our Rockabilly Special… Two very lucky readers have the opportunity to
bag one of two pairs of complimentary tickets for this year’s event, which takes
place on 8-10 August at White Waltham Airfield. Bands include The Kingcats, The
Doggone Honkabillies, Restless (UK), Class Of 1958, Greggie G, This Little Girl &
the Dillicats, Craig Shaw & the Illuminators, Rhythm River Trio, King Candy and
the Sugarpush, and there’s plenty of rockin’ DJs too. Add burlesque from Eliza
Delite and Marianne Cheesecake, flying displays, dance classes, vintage, classic
and American vehicles, a retro home wear and clothing market, auto jumble, kids’
zone, delicious food, bars and two campsites, and it’s destined to be one mighty
fine three-day party! Simply answer the question and follow the instructions…

How many live stages feature at this year’s Retro Festival?

To be in with a chance of getting your hands on a pair ot tickets, visit
www.vintagerockmag.com/competitions, click on the relevant question
and fill in your answer and email. Please indicate if you’d prefer not to be
contacted by Anthem Publishing and selected third parties with marketing
and related offers. Good luck!!
 CodaEDDIE COCHRAN AND SHARON SHEELEY
Eddie Cochran and his sweetheart Sharon Sheeley were engaged at the time of
the car crash that tragically took his life in 1960 – both Sheeley and Gene Vincent
were also in the car, but survived the accident. Sheeley was a talented songwriter
in her own right and, at just 18 years old, she was the youngest ever female to
write a US No 1 – Ricky Nelson’s 1958 hit Poor Little Fool. She also wrote Brenda
Lee’s Dum Dum (with Jackie DeShannon) and co-wrote Cochran’s hit Somethin’
Else with his Cochran’s brother Bob, amongst many others too.
© Rex Features

114 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 12

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