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WSM-AM: Country Radio
Station of the Century
NASHVILLE, TN, March 8, 2000 -- Radio station WSM-AM, the first component of today's Gaylord Entertainment Company and the home of the Grand Ole Opry since 1925, has been named "Country Station of the Century" by Radio & Records, a leading broadcasting industry trade publication. The tribute to WSM-AM is part of a Radio & Records special section, "A Century of Country," that spotlights several aspects of the country radio industry, including the naming of country's greatest personalities, artists, executives and programmers. The special section is in the March 3 issue. Radio & Records surveyed country radio industry veterans who have a national perspective on broadcasting plus more than 20 years' experience. That panel identified the people and organizations that have been leaders in country radio. "A truly great radio station combines time, people, ratings and leadership in establishing a legacy. Our voters gave the overall nod to the broadcasting home of the Grand Ole Opry--the "Mother Church" of country music--WSM-AM/Nashville," the editors said as they identified WSM as the "Country Station of the Century."
            WSM-AM went on the air in 1925 as a service of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company. Its call letters were an acronym for the company's motto, "We Shield Millions." The year the station started broadcasting, program director George D. Hay started a live country music show called the "WSM Barn Dance." An ad-lib from Hay about two years later changed the name of the show to the Grand Ole Opry, and that began the process that transformed Nashville into Music City USA. (It was another WSM personality, David Cobb, who coined the Music City USA nickname for Nashville.)
            "Everyone who works at WSM-AM understands the legacy of 75 years of broadcasting. We are both pleased and humbled to be recognized by our peers nationally for what the station has accomplished. Our pledge to our listeners and to country music is to continue that tradition," said vice president and general manager Bob Meyer. For decades, WSM's impact has reached far beyond Nashville because of its 50,000-watt clear channel signal. That signal, beamed from the station's diamond-shaped tower, can reach listeners across much of the U.S. and into Canada and Mexico.
            Also, former WSM on-air personality Ralph Emery was identified as the "top jock" in the history of country radio in the same Radio & Records section. Emery gained fame in the 1960s as host of WSM's overnight "Opry Star Spotlight" show before gaining even wider fame as host of a syndicated country radio show and host of The Nashville Network's "Nashville Now" show on cable TV.





Frank "Pee Wee" King Dies
By THOMAS S. WATSON - Frank "Pee Wee" King, who co-wrote the "Tennessee Waltz" and helped bring an eclectic mix of instruments and musical styles to the Grand Ole Opry, died Tuesday at age 86. King had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack Feb. 28. Born Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski in Abrams, Wis., King wrote "Tennessee Waltz" with fellow band member Redd Stewart in 1947. The two said they wrote it on an unfolded matchbox as they were riding in Stewart's truck. While King's recording did well, a version of the song by Patti Page became a No. 1 pop hit and sold 65 million copies. It became the state song of Tennessee in 1965. King joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1937. During his 10-year run on the popular country music radio show, he was among the first to do polkas, cowboy songs and waltzes, as well as use trumpets, drums and electric guitar in his band. King's Golden West Cowboys were outfitted in colorful western outfits designed by the Hollywood tailor Nudie, a look other stars emulated. Future stars like Eddy Arnold, Cowboy Copas and Ernest Tubb played in King's band. In 1974, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. "I learned a lot about showmanship from him," said Arnold, who played guitar with Golden West Cowboys in the 1940s. King and the band appeared in several of Gene Autry's movies. They also appeared in Westerns with Charles Starret, the Durango Kid, and Johnny Mack Brown.





Charlie Gracie Update

LEFT: Charlie recently opened for Van Morrison, doing seven shows in Los Angeles, Reno and Las Vegas.
RIGHT: Charlie pictured with Paul McCartney. Paul performed Charlie's hit recording "Fabulous" on his new CD.





Scotty Moore,
the Guitarist Behind The King
(Courtesy The Dallas Observer, March 1, 2000 by Michael Roberts )
The complaint most frequently levied against Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a conceptual one. Putting up a tourist-friendly, mainstream memorial to what began as anti-establishment music, critics of the Hall say, is the best possible way to snuff out any sense of danger the form might still possess (emphasis on might). After all, museums are for dead things, not living ones.
            When he's presented with this argument, Scotty Moore, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the brand-new "sidemen" category during a March 6 ceremony at New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, emits a good-natured chuckle. "I hadn't really thought about it as a museum, but I guess that's right," he says, in a soft tone marked by a pleasant twang. "I'll try not to move when people pass by me."
            This self-deprecating remark is characteristic of the man. As the string-strangler behind most of Elvis Presley's best work, Moore, who's in his late 60s, helped shape the sounds of the last half-century. But in conversation, he refuses to overdramatize himself or his contributions to the music for which he's being feted. Despite the Hall of Fame spotlight currently shining on him and the other inaugural sideman honorees (saxophonist King Curtis and bassist James Jamerson, both deceased, plus drummers Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine), he prefers sticking to the shadows, just as he did when he was on stage with Presley, figuratively putting himself in the background of his own story out of force of habit.
            That's not all bad, of course: Moore's modesty is a welcome alternative to the worshipful pap regularly churned out by the Rock and Roll Myth Machine. And modest he is. He makes it clear that the title of The Guitar That Changed the World!, his 1964 solo album, most certainly wasn't his idea, and he seems dumbfounded to learn that Presley was recently named the 57th most significant figure of the last millennium in a program aired on the Arts & Entertainment network. "There's no question he touched a lot of people," Moore concedes. "But a thousand years is a loooong time."
            On top of that, he had to be cajoled into participating in That's Alright, Elvis: The Untold Story of Elvis's First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore, a tome he co-wrote with Jim Dickerson that was published in 1998. According to him, "There were just so many books out there that I couldn't see getting into the fray, so to speak. And I thought that everything had been told. But I have a daughter in Memphis who knew Jim, and she was constantly saying, 'Why don't you do something? Why don't you do something?' over several years. So finally I just said, 'If you'll hush, I'll do it. Now, leave me alone.'"
            Moore's account of the July 1954 night when he, Elvis, and bassist Bill Black recorded the Arthur Crudup blues "That's All Right (Mama)" for producer Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis is similarly low-key. Many rock historians regard this session to be the genre's single most important event, a seismic experience that permanently altered the pop-music landscape even as its mixing of black and white influences prefigured the civil rights movement. But Moore sees the evening in much simpler terms.
            "I did an interview with this fella in Amsterdam," he notes, "and he said, 'What did you think of the big bang?' And I said, 'What? What big bang?' And he said, 'You know. The big bang -- when Elvis cut 'That's All Right.'" After a hearty laugh, he clarifies things: "That wasn't the big bang. That was an audition."
            Elvis passed, as it turns out. But Moore, a native of Gadsden, Tennessee, who got to know Phillips through the Starlite Wranglers, a band he'd helped form after his discharge from the Navy a couple of years earlier, still has a hard time making the moment seem magical. "We did what we were supposed to do, the three of us," he says. "We played a lot of rhythm, and I was trying to throw in some side notes in there, to make it kind of fuller. So I guess we knew it was a little different than the other things we'd been doing. But we didn't have any idea that it was going to be anything special.
            "It was radio that made the difference," he goes on. "This disc jockey [Dewey Phillips, no relation to Sam] started playing the thing, and he just played it over and over and over and over. It was almost like he got the people in the audience kind of brainwashed by it. But even then, it wasn't like anything happened overnight. We had to pay our dues for about a year and a half. It wasn't until we did our first TV show, with the Dorsey Brothers, that we realized, you know, we'd better hang on."
            Prior to the rocket taking off, Moore had managed Presley and his band, collectively known as the Blue Moon Boys. These duties were later taken on by Bob Neal and, more famously, Colonel Tom Parker, leaving Moore time to concentrate on playing. Along with drummer D.J. Fontana, the first addition to the lineup, and bassist Black, who died of a brain tumor in 1965, he backed Presley on the hits that established his legacy: "Heartbreak Hotel," "Baby, Let's Play House," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Jailhouse Rock" and so on. But while Moore's clean, energetic riffing and power-glide solos have plenty to do with the tunes' success, he never forgot that he was there to support the singer, not overwhelm him.
            "I tried to keep it simple -- and simplicity, you know, that's something you have to work at. I listen to some of the things now and I think, I could have played a lot more stuff there. But I'm glad I didn't. Like on 'Don't Be Cruel': I played the little intro on that and played a chord on the very end, and that's all I played during the whole song. But it didn't need anything else. That little rhythm thing Elvis was doing on his guitar and D.J. and the Jordanaires [a vocal quartet often used by Presley] doing that little doo-wop thing...Well, it just fell right in a groove, and I figured, maybe we'd better leave well enough alone.
            "Sometimes it took quite a while to get it right," he continues, "and the studio people would fuss at us. They'd go, 'Buncha damn amateurs.' But we were constantly trying to find things that we thought would fit the song and not get in the way of the vocal. Besides, it didn't take me long to play every note I knew" -- another laugh -- "so I just wanted to put them to good use."
            Presley's 1958 induction into the Army didn't end Moore's interactions with the King; he worked on numerous '60s tracks and was a key participant in Elvis' 1968 television special, which saved a career nearly done in by lousy, interchangeable movies and the mainly crummy soundtracks that went along with them. But Moore was involved in other projects as well. He founded his own label, Fernwood Records, which spawned one decent-sized hit (Thomas Wayne's "Tragedy"), and worked for Sam Phillips as engineer and head of production at Sun. (He was involved in the creation of some intriguing and underappreciated work by Charlie Rich, for instance.) And then there was the Epic Records release The Guitar That Changed the World!, an effort that teamed Moore with Presley cohorts Fontana and the Jordanaires, plus studio regulars such as saxophonist Boots Randolph, under the supervision of Nashville super-producer Billy Sherrill.
            "It was supposed to be one of a series," Moore remembers. "Billy sold CBS [Epic's owner] on the idea that we could do a lot of the Elvis stuff -- volume one, volume two -- and put them in chronological order. And CBS said, 'That's a good idea.' But when it got down to doing the session, they said, 'Maybe you ought to just do some of the bigger hits today, and we'll kind of test it.' And when they did, that was the end of that project.
            "I know they must have sold quite a few of them, because D.J. and I play Europe every once in a while, and nearly every show, somebody comes up with a copy and wants us to sign it. But the funny thing is, Sony owns Epic and CBS and all that now, and every so often, I still get statements in the mail from them telling me I still owe about $2,500 in production costs on that." Lightheartedly, he adds, "When it's about money, they never forget."
            Of course, Moore has his gripes about remuneration too. He doesn't mind that he makes no money from the continued sales of Presley's familiar songs; he was paid for playing on them, and that's that, as far as he's concerned. But he feels differently about the issuing of previously unheard takes on platters such as Sunrise, put out by RCA, Presley's longtime label, in 1999. Thanks to a complicated set of accounting gyrations, RCA has been able to shrink what it owes Moore to practically nothing. For Sunrise, he says, he's received a single check for $42.25. Nonetheless, he has no plans to initiate any lawsuits over such practices. "Things'd get too nasty. It'd be too big a fight. But there'd be some fur flying if Elvis was still alive."
            News flash: He's not. (He died in a Graceland bathroom in 1977.) Moore, who last played with Elvis around the time of the '68 TV special, watched Presley's demise from a distance, saddened by his deteriorating physical condition and unimpressed by much of the music. "I think the stuff in the '70s was a little overproduced," he says, "and I don't know if it was as good as his first things. You know, when D.J. and I play, we never get a request for anything pretty much out of the '50s. But when Elvis would do those songs later, he'd just throw them away in medleys -- do them really fast, like, 'I hate to have to do this.' And that would always bug me."
            Not that Moore was one of those with Elvis connections who dogpiled on Presley's corpse before it had cooled. He pretty much kept to himself while others cashed in, focusing on two businesses: a tape-duplication facility and a printing shop. But he did pitch in as a consultant to Elvis, a short-lived early-'90s television series that depicted Presley during his nascent stage. Scotty was portrayed by actor Jesse Dabson, with whom he's still friendly: "He's been doing these Southern Bell commercials the last two, three years," he says with paternal pride. But while most reviewers back then were pleasantly surprised by the program's aura of verisimilitude, Moore knew better.
            "All the writers would call me up on the phone," he says, "but when I would get a rough script, invariably whatever they called to talk to me about wouldn't have nothin' to do with it. I wouldn't even recognize it. They'd always get just enough truth in there to make it believable, and I understood they had to stretch. But it should have been an hour long instead of thirty minutes, and I think deep down they wanted it to be like The Dukes of Hazzard. They'd want Elvis and Bill and me to stop and get gas at a service station, and the place would get robbed, and we'd be involved in some kind of chase or something -- and I hate to tell you, but that never happened. And they always wanted to make Bill look like the heavy in the whole thing. Now, Bill did have a short fuse, but they'd have him taking his bass and walking back to the next town, quitting or several other things like that. And that was just ridiculous."
            The failure of Elvis didn't bother Moore much, but when his businesses went south, he was left with time on his hands. He filled it in 1997 with his first recording project in ages: All the King's Men, credited to him and Fontana. The disc, issued by Sweetfish Records, included guest appearances by a wide array of artists eager to pay homage to two such important figures, including the Mavericks, the Bodeans, Cheap Trick, Tracy Nelson, Joe Louis Walker, Joe Ely, and Steve Earle. But the biggest names on hand were a pair of Rolling Stones: Ron Wood, who paired with Jeff Beck on "Unsung Heroes," and Keith Richards, the star of "Deuce and a Quarter." The CD was so well-received that Moore and Fontana are contemplating a follow-up to feature performers who expressed interest in participating on the first platter but couldn't because of scheduling difficulties.
            "Bonnie Raitt was going to do it, and Chris Isaak," he says. "And there was a funny little story about Mick Jagger. We were at Ron Wood's studio in Ireland with Jeff Beck, and the phone rings, and it's Mick. He asks, 'What are you doing?' And when Ron says 'We're recording with Scotty and D.J.,' he gets us on the phone and goes, 'Well, why didn't you ask me?' And we were like, 'We already got two of you. We didn't want to push it.' Then, when I saw him later, I asked, 'If we do another one, are you up for it?' And he told us, 'I want to be the first one you call.'"
            Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame beckons. Moore admits to mixed emotions over his admission. "The problem to me is, Bill Black, myself, and Elvis were a group, the Blue Moon Boys. We should have all gone in as a group. But I know there's a lot of politics in that kind of thing, and with this new category, I'm happy that it's opening up for so many other deserving guys down the road.
            "The time's probably right," he says with a snicker. "I'm gettin' up there. I suppose I'm just about ready for a museum now."





More on Scotty Moore ...
THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL HEADLINE: "'SIDE-MAN' MOORE ALWAYS IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS" Date: SATURDAY, March 4, 2000 - One thing is certain. Scotty Moore wasn't inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of Boobs a Lot.
            Yes, the infamous Holy Modal Rounders tune and Dr. Demento favorite was engineered by Moore, but it's his other achievement - as Elvis Presley's indispensable, guitar-playing partner in the birth of rock and roll - that has finally put him in the Cleveland, Ohio, museum's pantheon.
            Moore was one of the five inductees in the new "Side-men" category. Saxophonist King Curtis (the Coasters, Aretha Franklin, Memphis Soul Stew), Motown bassist James Jamerson, New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer (Little Richard, Fats Domino) and drummer Hal Blaine (Phil Spector records) are also in the first roll call.
            It's been a long time coming for Moore, 68, who should have been lauded alongside Presley at the inaugural 1986 induction. So, too, should have Elvis bassist Bill Black and drummer D. J. Fontana. It was a band after all.
            Speaking from Nashville, Moore says he has mixed emotions about the honor. "It makes you feel good," he says. "(But) we should have all went in as a group. It was the Blue Moon Boys. And that kind of irritates me. Bill and D. J. are not in there yet."
            Still, recognition is better late than never. The sidemen/sessionmen ranking itself - argued for in 1995 by Larry Nager, former writer for The Commercial Appeal - is an important step by the Hall of Fame to recognize the many musicians who didn't back the hits so much as make them (a whole slew of Sun, Stax, Hi and American Sound Studio players are waiting in the wings, guys).
            Moore says that, although he doesn't mind being in such a category, the term "sideman" bothers him personally since that wasn't his role with Presley. Sidemen don't have signature tunes, after all, and the guitar workout Mystery Train is unqualifiedly Moore's.
            "A sideman is somebody who can jump up there and play with just anybody," he says. "We got accused for wasting time and not being talented enough to do things. But we didn't want to play a bunch of notes and go on to the next song. We tried our best to do something we thought would fit."
            If John Lennon's statement applies that "Before there was Elvis, there was nothing," then it equally fits Moore and all rock guitarists who have had to follow his culture-blazing trail. Don't take my word for it.
            "The parts that I haven't stolen from James Burton, I've probably stolen from Scotty Moore," said John Fogerty last year in The Commercial Appeal.
            Or try this quip from Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, found in Moore's autobiography with James Dickerson, That's Alright, Elvis: "Everyone else wanted to be Elvis. I wanted to be Scotty."
            Moore's style really had no precedent. His sophisticated yet economical use of the fretboard, combined with alternating flat and finger-picking techniques, may have drawn from jazz and blues, but how it was put to use - on Sun classics such as That's All Right, Good Rockin' Tonight and Mystery Train - was something utterly new.
            "I loved some of the stuff Chet (Atkins) would play, thumb and finger stuff, but I also loved stuff by jazz players Tal Farlow and all these guys. I'd hear a little note or two and try to make it all fit together."
            In fact, the way Moore played became a running joke between him and Sun owner/producer Sam Phillips.
            "I was trying to make more noise playing the rhythm things, just jabbing in notes and stuff," says Moore. "And he (Phillips) would say, `Don't try to play that Chet Atkins stuff.' And I'd say, `Well, hire some more damn musicians then!' "
            Compared to Presley's history, Moore's is less known. His first professional band was Doug Poindexter & the Starlite Wranglers, a sextet that also included Bill Black. They made one single in 1954 for Sun, My Kind of Carryin' On.
            "There wasn't any groups around, it was just all pick-up bands," says Moore of Memphis in the early '50s. "I could go out and book something, start calling around and might end up with a bassoon or a tuba, no telling what. It didn't matter as long as you played the music. That's when I decided I wanted to get a bunch of guys that would stay together. That's how the Starlight Wranglers came about."
            It didn't last long, though. Mere months after the single came out, Moore invited Presley to his apartment where an informal audition with Bill Black was held. The next night, July 5, the trio cut loose during a rehearsal break and Phillips captured the history-making moment: That's All Right.
            So what was it about Moore and Black that made Phillips initially pair them with Presley?
            "Free," laughs Moore. "We were all hungry looking. We didn't go in to cut a record. . . . Bill was working at Firestone building tires and I was working for my brother's cleaning plant blocking hats."
            In the meteoric first years of Presley's rise to fame, the Blue Moon Boys Moore and Black felt increasingly pushed out of the picture, especially once Col. Tom Parker came on board as manager (Moore managed Presley for the first six months followed for a short time by WMPS disc jockey Bob Neal).
            Louisiana Hayride drummer D. J. Fontana joined in 1955 and soon after, Moore and Black were put on a weekly salary of $200 when working, $100 when not, according to Moore's book. In the fall of 1957, with money issues still unresolved, the two performers resigned from the act. They returned a month later but Presley's draft notice that December silenced the original group for good.
            Black formed his own combo and had many instrumental hits for Hi Records including 1960's Smokie (Part 2). He died of a brain tumor in 1965.
            Moore went into engineering and producing. A stint at Fernwood Records yielded the 1959 Thomas Wayne hit Tragedy. Moore also made records for Sam Phillips, notably the juke classic "Hey Boss Man!" by bluesman Frank Frost (who also paired with Moore for a mid-'60s session on Jewel).
            Moore didn't stop playing. He appeared on several Chess sessions by Dale Hawkins and the Moonglows and made his own solo album, the 1964 LP "The Guitar That Changed the World," with producer Billy Sherrill. Moore reunited as well with a post-Army Presley and played on many of his '60s sessions, including a final gig with the King, the televised '68 Comeback special.
            But it was recording that beckoned Moore most. And with his own studio, Music City Recorders, that was what he concentrated on after moving to Nashville in 1964.
            "From day one, I was always interested in that side of it, more engineering than I was producing," says Moore. "At RCA . . . so many times I'd go in a control room and it didn't sound anything like what I was hearing out on the floor. And that's what became a challenge to me - making it sound as close to what they were doing out there, not what I thought it ought to sound like."
            Moore engineered many records, including 1969's "Make a Joyful Noise" by Tracy Nelson's group Mother Earth, and Ringo Starr's 1970 effort "Beaucoups of Blues." He even ventured into the tape copying and printing business. The one thing he forgot to do for nearly 25 years was pick up his guitar. After the '68 Comeback appearance, Moore rarely tuned up and plugged in.
            That all changed when Carl Perkins convinced Moore to collaborate on the 1992 album, "706 Reunion: A Sentimental Journey."
            Since then, Moore has comfortably returned to a musician's life.
            He appeared at The Pyramid's 1994 Elvis tribute and in 1997 - the same year his autobiography came out - played in the interactive Elvis show at the Mid-South Coliseum and made an album with D. J. Fontana, "All the King's Men," that featured such high-profile guests as Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Ron Wood, the Band, and Cheap Trick.
            The next year, he and Fontana found themselves playing to 95,000 people at a Rolling Stones concert in Hamburg, Germany.
            Now the Presley two-some are talking about a sequel to "All the King's Men."
            "I think I'll do my own 68 special," jokes Moore, referring to his age.
            As for that naughty novelty number Boobs a Lot (originally by the Fugs), it was on a record the Holy Modal Rounders made in Nashville in 1971, "Good Taste Is Timeless." Not only did Moore engineer the sessions but Fontana put in a cameo. Moore says it has endeared him to a whole different age group.
            "My secretary has been with me 14 years," he recalls. "All her kids, in their teens, were big Dr. Demento fans. And they knew me but they didn't know nothing about Elvis. When they found out I recorded that song, they all became instant fans!"
            In the world of classical guitar, few players ever achieve the kind of break-out exposure and fan base that elevates them simply to "artist." Andres Segovia, Julian Bream and John Williams all did it; Christopher Parkening too, though he may be the most overrated hack to ever fill a concert hall. Among female players, Sharon Isbin rules the roost.
            Well, send a big salaam alekoom to new six-string star, Iranian guitarist and University of Memphis professor Lily Afshar, who nabbed the best female classical guitarist honor at the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Awards, held Feb. 22 at L. A.'s Hard Rock Cafe.
            Other winners at the annual event included Jeff Beck, Susan Tedeschi, Sheryl Crow, lifetime achievement recipient Andy Summers and, yup, Christopher Parkening (see above). Winners were selected by a national music critics' vote.
            Afshar has made two excellent albums, both on Summit: 1994's 24 Caprichos de Goya (which I, as a Japan-based music writer, raved about in the American Record Guide) and last year's versatile showcase, "A Jug of Wine and Thou" (her passionate reading of Carlo Domeniconi's Koyunbaba easily surpasses John Williams's version).
            Afshar - a multiple winner at the local Premier Player Awards for best guitarist - has taken top prize at numerous guitar contests, toured Africa for the United States Information Agency and is a Teaching Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.
            Her Gibson victory may be the most impressive credential yet, since listeners are finally coming around to this virtuoso's charms and considerable skill, abilities that make Afshar second chair to none.
            To reach music writer Bill Ellis, call 529-2517 or E-mail at ellis@gomemphis.com





MUSIC REVIEW:
Revisiting Skiffle
By TERRY ATKINSON (February 14, 2000 , courtesy http://www.nandotimes.com) - "A strange bedlam was taking over, which had nothing to do with anything we had previously known," an English journalist wrote about a musical phenomenon that swept through Great Britain a little more than four decades ago.
            Rock 'n' roll? No. Beatlemania? No, though the Beatles would be inspired by this spirited genre. It was called skiffle.
            Doesn't ring a bell? Well, skiffle may have been the hottest musical style going in the British Isles during the late 1950s, but it merely made a dent on the U.S. charts -- almost exclusively through two hits ("Rock Island Line" and "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight") by the genre's founder, Lonnie Donegan. And even in the U.K., skiffle faded fast after 1962.
            Nevertheless, a lot of people who never heard of skiffle are going to hear about it now. One of the many British/Irish pop stars who were influenced by the style, Van Morrison, has revived it in the new CD "The Skiffle Sessions" (Pointblank/Virgin). The live album was recorded by Morrison, Donegan, skiffle notable Chris Barber, and seven supporting musicians in Morrison's hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1998.
            "The Skiffle Sessions" is noteworthy for casting light on a long-undervalued, once-influential style. The word "skiffle" was first used around 1930 in the United States to describe jug band music and similar styles that used cheap instruments such as jugs, washboards and harmonicas to play primitive but enlivened folk-blues tunes. The term was picked up by Glasgow-born Donegan to describe the largely similar music he began to play in the early Fifties -- first with Barber and other musicians in Ken Colyer's Jazzmen, a Dixieland band that evolved into the Chris Barber Jazz Band -- then on his own.
            Rearranging songs from the repertoire of American performers such as Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy and Woody Guthrie, Donegan played generally upbeat, sometimes frantic music that retained much of the American-learned rawness but was also imbued with an English music-hall, tongue-in-cheek flavor.
            His breakthrough record was the single "Rock Island Line" -- a 1956 hit -- featuring an ever-speedier vocal.
            After that, Donegan was fantastically popular with British teens, some of whom began to form their own skiffle groups. One of these was the Quarrymen, a band that included a young John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
            Another indication of skiffle's power was the number of celebrated rock musicians -- including Elton John, Ringo Starr, Queen's Brian May, Procol Harum's Gary Brooker and Mott the Hoople's Mick Ralphs -- who paid tribute to Donegan by playing on his 1978 album "Puttin' on the Style."
            "The Skiffle Sessions" doesn't fully convey the wild, whipping excitement of skiffle's prime years. You have to go back and hear Donegan's early recordings -- which have an intensity as blazing as the most primal rock of the era -- to appreciate that.
            Nor would one reasonably expect Donegan and Barber to have the same youthful energy by the time they got together with Morrison for two evenings at Belfast's Whitla Hall -- after all, they were 68 and 69 years old, respectively. On the other hand, they certainly don't sound like men of that age. Barber still tours with his own band and plays bass and trombone solidly behind the two singers. And Donegan, though he's certainly lost some of his manic edge, still thrills. He's such an inventive and evocative singer here that -- and I know this sounds like heresy, Morrison fans -- you sometimes wish Morrison would keep quiet and let the old skiffler have a few tunes entirely to himself.
            While that doesn't happen -- the two trade off verses and harmonize on choruses on most of the selections -- there's more than enough of Donegan's lead vocals to demonstrate his versatility, feeling and unique touch. He's gruff and sassy on the lickety-split skiffle classics "Don't You Rock Me Daddio" and "Lost John," delightfully playful on the outlaw songs "Dead or Alive" and "The Ballad of Jesse James," and, best of all, probing and soulful on the melodic folk-blues ballads "Outskirts of Town" and "Alabamy Bound."
            Morrison's finest moment is a moving version of "Goodnight Irene," which actually avoids the faster tempo favored by skiffle bands and returns to the slow, sad tone of Leadbelly's version.
            He and Donegan trade licks most effectively on lively renditions of "Good Morning Blues," "Frankie and Johnny," "Midnight Special" and, in particular, on a sizzling "Muleskinner Blues."
            New Orleans' Dr. John, who was in Belfast to play his own gig across town, sits in on piano for two songs: "Long John" and "Going Home."
            Morrison, Donegan and Barber contribute brief liner notes in the CD's booklet. Morrison writes that when he was a young, struggling musician, "Skiffle arrived when and where I needed it. It was too good to be true."
            Now, many decades later, "The Skiffle Sessions" arrives -- perhaps to inspire today's young musicians with a still-vibrant musical style that's been dormant too long.







Jody Gets Star in Palm Springs
Jody Reyolds was recently given a star on the sidewalk in his home town of Palm Springs, Calif. The star was placed next to Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley, who were both residents of the desert area.
AVAILABLE NOW! "Endless" - The New Jody Reynolds Double CD! In 1958 - Jody Reynolds' hit single "Endless Sleep" sold over a million copies. In 1999 - 41 years later Jody Reynolds was honored by his induction into the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame. Jody wants you all to know that he's back and ready to hit the road. His new project will help kick things off for sure -- 53 tracks! 2 CD Discs! An 8 page booklet with rare photos and great liner notes! This CD features many great guest artists like Les Paul, Bobbie Gentry, Plas Johnson, Jimmy Bryant and many others! Available from TRU GEM Records, P.O. Box 3683, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
$19.95 plus $2.50 shipping (US).




Billy Adams Releases "Legacy" CD
The long awaited release of Billy Adams' new CD, LEGACY, will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 15, 2000, at the Western Beat Roots Revival at the legendary Exit In at 2208 Elliston Place, Nashville, Tennessee. Billy Adams headlines the show that also features Wylie and the Wild West, the Kennedys and Johnny Dilks. The entire show will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.westernbeat.com starting at 8:00 pm. Released on Nashville-based indie label, Screen Door Records, LEGACY has 17 tracks of the real deal rockabilly sound that Billy Adams helped create when, as a young boy, he started banging out rhythms on a lard bucket lid. The CD has remakes of Billy's classic hits including Rock Pretty Mama, You Gotta Have A Ducktail, You Heard Me Knockin' and That's My Baby and 13 new cuts that capture the tough, pounding rockabilly sound that is unique to this Rockabilly Hall of Famer.
LEGACY will be available February 15, 2000 at Tower Records, at shows, or by ordering through:
Vision Management
1710 Grand Avenue
P. O. Box 121686
Nashville, TN 37212-1686
E-mail: RPDVision@aol.com
(615) 321-5766


Walking Through Musical
History with Sam Phillips
By BILL ELLIS
The Commercial Appeal in Memphis) - If history is made by individuals then Sam Phillips is a living, breathing piece of history.
            A condensed recap: The Sun Records owner and producer, who turned 77 earlier this month, came along at the right time (the Fifties) and with the right vision (the integration of black and white music) to make some of the most important recordings of the last century. Popular culture - and, by extension, America's social landscape - has never been the same. Though he's best known for "discovering" Elvis Presley, Phillips - who was featured in millennial wrapups last year by People magazine, ABC News, National Public Radio and others, and who is the subject of a spring A&E biography - would be revered as one of the great record men even if Presley had never torn into "That's All Right." Through Phillips's tiny studio in Memphis passed a litany of legends. There were the blues and R&B artists: B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Rufus Thomas, Little Milton, Jackie Brenston, Ike Turner, Joe Hill Louis, Walter Horton, Doctor Ross, Billy the Kid Emerson and Earl Hooker.
            There were also the rockabillies: Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Billy Lee Riley, Warren Smith, Sonny Burgess, Charlie Feathers and, of course, Presley. Phillips heard something. And he made sure to document it despite economic and personal obstacles (try being a white radio employee who records black musicians in the segregated South of the 1950s and see how much support you'd get). It's too easy in hindsight to applaud what Phillips accomplished. After all, it's the soundtrack of the last 50 years. It enters our ears when we awake and leaves vapor trails in our dreams when we sleep.
            But when Phillips opened his Memphis Recording Service in 1950, followed by the Sun Records label in 1952, there were no guarantees. Only a fool would have made such an unproven, non-commercial leap, investing precious time and money first in blues and then in a new hybrid of blues and country made by white musicians just as poor as their black counterparts. Phillips was no fool, however. Time has proven him quite the visonary - and the prototypical modern record producer. The Florence, Ala. native understood, foremost, the psychology of recording. He knew how to get the most natural and immediate performances from his clients, and he knew how to make his barebones recording equipment jump in raw, hot reaction. Others may have found their Elvis - once. But Phillips did it again and again, with dozens of watershed artists who, to this day, define blues and rock music. Luck was never a part of the Phillips equation.
            Sun itself remains the paradigm of independent record labels. It wasn't the first such endeavor - Phillips licensed his earliest recordings to important blues indies such as Chess in Chicago and Modern in Los Angeles - but it was the one that pointed to the future. Sun is synonymous with the birth of rock and roll (let the pundits split hairs; the dividing line was and will forever be pre- and post-Elvis). It has also been the touchstone for self-reliant success from Stax to '90s alternative labels, which took to heart the lessons of a do-it-yourself work ethic (even film maverick Billy Bob Thornton wears a Sun cap). As a new century unfolds, Phillips continues to hold the key to Memphis music both past and to come. Following are vignettes by Phillips on his philosophy and the many musicial giants he recorded.
            Here's what Sam Phillips says about Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rufus Thomas and the rest:
            On Howlin' Wolf: "He was the most unusual person that I got to record. This was not an easy row to hoe here. Here is an old man, he was probably 10 years older than me, and here's a guy with the most godawful voice that I believe I had ever heard in my life. And I think I've heard some pretty godawful voices. He didn't sing off-key or on-key, he just couldn't sing. But the Wolf was a very special person and he had a very special thing to offer. "The Wolf I really think would have been the counterpart of Elvis. If he hadn't left me and been towed away by Chess in Chicago, this guy would have been huge with white youngsters along with black. "You will always take something to your grave that you regret. I'm not going to take very many things because I've been too blessed. But I guess I'll take to my grave not having the Wolf around. Right now, I would be recording the Wolf. It'd probably be the only artist. This sounds crazy, but it's a fact. I don't know that anybody else ever got the joy out of Wolf I got."
            On B.B. King: "B.B. came through the worst circumstances of any artist that I know and survived when any less type person and talent would have been buried forever and never heard again. That's the type guy you're talking about here. "He is one of the greatest staples that blues has ever had. His mass appeal today is still so astounding to all ages. It's one thing to have it for a while, but it's another thing to have it for as long as this man has. I'm sorry I didn't get to work with him more. "He didn't play his guitar when he sang. I said, 'B.B., why don't you do a little something (on guitar), stroke it every now and then, emphasize a word or two.' And he said, 'Well, Mr. Phillips' - this is young B.B. now - 'You know, I can't play and sing at the same time.' And I really thought he was kidding me. Till this day, B.B. cannot, he cannot. It is a block. But I don't believe there's a living artist that's played more than B.B. And the nicest guy that you'll ever meet.
            On Ike Turner, Jackie Brenston and the hit song "Rocket 88": "There was no question in my mind, Ike Turner was one of the more talented people from the first time I heard him. And Ike wanted to sing. But I just could not hear it. Finally, I told him, 'Do you have anybody in the band that can sing, Ike?' I did it in such a way ... at that time, if you didn't know how to handle Ike, believe me, his feelings would get hurt so fast, he would leap on every one of his musicians and get in their face. "He said, 'Yeah, every man in this band can sing. Hey Jackie, let's do 'Rocket 88.' If you listen to that record, there's something about Jackie's voice. It's certainly not the greatest voice in the world, and I never looked for the greatest voice, but there's something that exactly fit that record. Now if Ike had sung that, I don't know. It still would have been a good record because we had a sound, man. "That was as much fun as anything that I ever recorded except maybe some of the things with the Wolf. Not many takes, perhaps three or four. We got it in the first cut as far as the band was concerned, except Jackie was a little overwhelmed that Ike was going to let him sing that day."
            On Rufus Thomas: "Rufus was such a consummate showman. ... He and Bones (Robert Couch, Thomas's vaudeville partner), there wasn't any better. They were as good as I ever saw, even back in the days when I was a kid and saw medicine shows. He and Bones were out at the W.C. Handy Theater on Park when 'Rocket 88' hit, and they did the opening act for Jackie (Brenston). "At first, Rufus hadn't heard of 'Bear Cat.' He had heard (Big Mama Thornton's) 'Hound Dog.' I mean, everybody heard 'Hound Dog.' But in the white scene, I had heard in family conversations, from the time I was very small, about somebody's wife. She would be in charge of the house and everything else, and they'd say, 'Man, that woman ain't nothin' but a bear cat - she is mean!' The oddity of it. I had no earthly idea that Rufus didn't know what I meant.
            On recording: "I didn't feel ever one time that I was being cheated by not having some of the (studio) setups I'd seen even then. Doing what we did with what we had certainly did not hinder us. It could have been responsible for some of the original feel that we got. "Setting up mikes was singularly the most important thing that I had to do. Because I had a very limited board, everything was monaural - there was no such thing as overdubbing. So mikes were placed to complement not only the instruments but especially the voice. Voice takes on many different characteristics. You'd think, well hey, it was all about whether (mikes) were close enough or not. No. I worked off sides. Very seldom did I work anybody directly. And it wasn't because I was worried about them huffing. I just had to get what I knew was the best sound, the most natural sound of that person's voice when he was talking to me a few steps away. "One thing you had to be careful of, if you had to do something too many times, it could really get to where it didn't have the spontaneity. And anything that didn't sound spontaneous really was no good. So I had to be very aware of that. And believe me, I moved on to other things when I was hung up on something I knew we were going to get later on."
            On recording blues musicians: "A lot of artists had been kicked around. I hate to say this, but some of the independent labels, they just didn't do black folks right. I'm not going to name any names, but they were not done right. I know ... that I did people right. I'm not saying I'm an angel or anything. But there's nobody in this world that knew more about what they were feeling than me, because I had come through the Depression. I happen to have white skin and that made it better for me. And yet it was so damn bad. I couldn't believe that life could be this bad. And then I'd look around and see my black brothers and know they got what was left of the hog (while) we got the best part of the hog. And so I was equipped.
            "You come to me and say, did you ever cheat anybody? No, I don't reckon I ever did. If I did, it was something that I didn't know about. So far as percentage of royalties, at that time I did a lot of checking. I knew the man that sold more records than anybody up to that time was Bing Crosby for Decca. I knew what his contract specified. You'll find artists that will say, hey, I cheated them. I didn't. I took money out of my pocket so many times and spent it on them, never charged back. I guess the only thing - if you want to call it cheating - that I ever did, I held off joining the union because I didn't want to break the rules and get fined and all that. No blacks could join here; the only place a black could join a local was Atlanta. "A lot of those people, their names never became anything close to a household word. Do you know how important that was at that time that I recorded them?
            "My conviction was the world was missing not having heard what I heard as a child. And nobody was crazy enough to do what I did then with no money, just hard work. I was already working myself to death at the radio station and recording weddings and funerals and anything else. I don't feel I made any sacrifice. The only thing that frightened me was I wanted to make sure that my children - Knox and Jerry - (wife) Becky and my momma didn't suffer from my malfeasance of thinking."
            On "Mystery Train," a song that Presley covered: "The idea of what a train meant back in those days, when somebody got on a train, it was as if you were giving them up forever. People don't understand that now. "When Elvis heard 'Mystery Train' by Little Junior Parker, he told me later that was the thing that gave him the courage to come in and get an audition. You sit down right now and listen to the contrast of the two, and if you don't like both versions, there's just something bad wrong with you. Because there is nothing I have ever heard that is more rhythmic either at a slow tempo like Junior's or uptempo like Elvis's. It's a classic."
            On Elvis Presley: "I sold Elvis for a reason and that was a legitimate deal. And that was done to help take (off) some of the burden put on my many years as an independent. They gave what then was an awful lot of money."
            On rockabilly: "I always hated (the term) rockabilly. I hated country and western (too) because it was two different things. Hillbilly I didn't mind too much, but when you stuck rock in front of billy . . . to me it was rock and roll. Whether it was black rock and roll or white rock and roll, it was rock and roll! Believe me, I didn't prevail on that. People that didn't know any better had to call it rockabilly. I always considered that a putdown from all the people that accused us of trying to put country music out of business. Call it whatever you want to."
            Jerry Lee Lewis: "One of the greatest talents that has ever lived. "I wasn't even in the studio when Jack Clement put down the first couple of sides on him. I was coming back from Daytona Beach, the first vacation I'd had in my lifetime. It was in my head that there's got to be somebody that can give me some 'Pinetop's Boogie Woogie,' but I didn't want to copy that. And I swear, I came into the studio and Jack told me this guy had been in, and he puts the thing on for me, and I said, "Where is this man?" It was as if I had been dreaming and I woke up and everything I had been dreaming - and it was good dream - was coming true. It wasn't that he had learned one number real good.
            "I was excited about this man from the word 'go.' I knew that Jerry's voice was certainly not a pretty voice, but did it have fervor even at that young age ... coming out of his pinched nose, man, that got me going pretty good. "The hardest man to play with in the world was Jerry Lee and, on the other hand, he was the easiest man because he's the show. I told every musician to stay out of this man's way. The one (exception) was (drummer) J.M. Van Eaton. I said, 'You've got to push him 'cause he'll screw up your tempos - that's Jerry Lee.' I've seen him change tempos in the middle of a song so many times. That drum and Jerry Lee, and you could do without everything else."
            On Roy Orbison: "Roy had probably as good a voice as I've ever heard at any interval of time in recorded music history. "He basically wanted to do ballads right from the start. As I told Elvis, and I told Roy later on, 'I just won't be able to make any kind of an impression' (doing ballads). And I said, 'Nothing I don't like about you. I love your guitar work.' It was so overlooked when he got into the ballads. But I just had to do 'Ooby Dooby,' I mean, that's all there was to it. I saw this guy eventually being one hell of a ballad singer. But if I had come out with a ballad on him at that time, you might not have heard of Roy Orbison."
            On Johnny Cash: "There could be nobody that made a greater decision than I by not trying to make a rock and roller out of Johnny Cash. I knew I had a guy with a voice that was distinctive. He in effect was my white Wolf, and yet I knew I had a Burl Ives. Burl was selling records back then. But I was saying, well, now we do have a Burl Ives and everybody is going to think we were trying to copy the top balladeer? And so I had to be careful with Johnny, I really did. "When I first auditioned Johnny, it was mainly religious things 'cause he loved religious songs. And I told him, while I loved selling gospel as much as anybody, it just wasn't the right time for us. Johnny Cash apologized to me about not having a steel and fiddle when he auditioned. And yet I said, 'Man, I absolutely feel the overall thing here, and it's in a category by itself."'
            On Carl Perkins: "I guess Carl was the best natural country musician that became - mainly through his guitar work - one of the top rockers of all time. "This guy, for then, could have been an unbelievable country singer. I was not interested in trying to do country because I thought Nashville was doing fine with it. So we started to play around. Carl could get down on that guitar pretty good. When we started getting a little sassy in the old Matchbox ... it showed me that this guy, he wanted to rock like Elvis. He had said many times he was doing what Elvis was doing before Elvis was doing it. He may have, but I didn't hear that in the beginning.
            "With Carl, it was a tough decision on my part until we did 'Blue Suede Shoes.' We did it real slow to begin with. When he said, 'Go, man, go,' the only contribution I made was, 'Go, cat, go.' He said, 'Oh man, that's right.' I said, 'It takes it completely out of the country category. That one word.' Nothing else changed other than we moved the tempo up. That 'Blue Suede Shoes' turned out to be a helluva record!"
            On Charlie Rich:"The (most) frustrated, great commercial jazz player that I ever heard. That is not in any way a compromise of this man's jazz ability. But Charlie was modest to a degree that really cheated himself and record buyers out of some of the greatest music that you could ever hear in so many areas of honesty. 'Don't Put No Headstone on My Grave' - what could be more honest? (Yet) he couldn't let himself do the thing that he wanted and could do because somehow he would feel like a kid showing off. "I tried my best to find even a throwaway tape on him where Charlie Rich (messed) up. . . . I can't say enough about Charlie Rich. He was the most diverse musician I ever worked with."
-Bill Ellis writes about music at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.




Big "D" Jamboree Double Live CD, Facts:
  • The Big "D" Jamboree - Live, Vols. 1 & 2 Various Artists
    Label: Dragon Street Records
    List Price: $24.98 (Double CD)
    Street Date: Tuesday, January 18th, 2000
  • Featured Artists & Songs:
    Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line, Get Rhythm, So Doggone Lonesome
    Carl Perkins - That's All Right, Blue Suede Shoes, Slippin' & Slidin', Everybody's Tryin' To Be My Baby
    Warren Smith - Black Jack David, Rock & Roll Ruby, Hound Dog
    Wanda Jackson - No Wedding Bells For Joe
    Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps - Blue Jean Bop, Lotta Lovin', Dance To The Bop
    Cowboy Copas - Tragic Romance
    Jerry Reed - Mr. Whizz
    Ferlin Husky - Aladdin's Lamp
    Hank Locklin - For A Good Woman's Love, You Can't Never Tell
    "Groovey" Joe Poovey - Move Around
    Lawton Williams - Casino On The Hill
    Charlene Arthur - Welcome To The Club, What About Tomorrow?
    Jimmie Heap and The Melody Masters - Carbon Copy
    Johnny Carroll - Suzy Q, I'll Wait
    The Belew Twins - Rockin' Bones, Hot Dog Buddy Buddy, Black Slacks
    Sid King and the Five Strings - Booger Red
    Werly Fairburn - All By Myself
    Johnny Dollar - Great Balls of Fire
    Orville Couch - Teenage Queen, Overnight, King For A Day, Easy Does It
    Ronnie Dee and the D Men - 30 Days, Johnny B. Goode
    and many more...
  • The Album: This historic double-CD release culminates over 3 years of research on the legendary barn dance that was Dallas' version of the Grand Ol' Opry. Countless country and rock & roll stars of the '50s got their first taste of performing in front of large audiences on nationally syndicated radio at the Big "D", and many of those great live performances are made available here for the first time. Hear Sun Records-era Johnny Cash performing "I Walk The Line" to an adoring Dallas audience, or marvel at a sizzlin' version of "Blue Suede Shoes" performed by the Carl Perkins band, both captured here in all their early glory. And country fans are sure to enjoy the vintage honky-tonk performances of Cowboy Copas, Ferlin Husky, Hank Locklin and Jimmie Heap, as well as female artists Charlene Arthur, Wanda Jackson and Ramona Reed. All in all, this is a must-have time capsule of mid-20th century American roots music that's entirely unique, and apt to start a new trend in the release of other barn dance transcriptions from the period.
    Distributed by Hep Cat Records. People in the U.S. and Canada can also purchase the record directly from DSR by sending a personal check or money order in the amount of $25 (postage-paid) to: Dragon Street Records, P.O. Box 670714, Dallas, TX 75367-0714. Foreign orders are $30 U.S. dollars, postage-paid. The record will also be available in Europe in January through Rollercoaster Records U.K. as two seperate CDs.
    The story behind the Big D Jamboree and the CDs




    Click on the Brick
    ...and find how you can obtain a piece of Hank Williams Sr.'s home.



    Grady Owen (a former Blue Cap) Dies
    Dec. 8, 1999 - Gray Owen's nephew reports: "I regret to inform you that I've just received word that my uncle, Grady Owen, passed away November 16 in the Philippeans. I have no word yet on cause or circumstances. I also just wanted to say thanks to Rod and Bob at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. If you had not requested a bio of Grady, I might never have made the effort to track him down and contact him. Because of your request, I was able to maintain a pleasant correspondance with him the last year and a half, and learn a great deal about his fascinating life and career in the music biz, especially his days with Gene Vincent. Grady is survived by his Wife, Teting, and a number of children, who I will list when I can get that info together. I'll also try to send some additional info for the bio which I had received from him after the article was written. Grady was thrilled to know that he still had fans, and was a part of your website. He received a number of letters from old friends and fans because of it, and I think it certainly enriched the last year of his life."
                Grady played rhythm guitar, bass and did vocals for Gene Vincent on Gene's 1958 recording sessions at Hollywood's Capitol Towers in March and October. After the October sessions, the Blue Caps disbanded. Grady was on some of Gene's best tunes: Git It, Dance in the Street, Rocky Road Blues and The Wayward Wind (in March) and Say Mama, Important Words, Who's Pushin' Your Swing and Over the Rainbow (in October>.




    New Billy Lee Riley / Sonny Burgess CDs
    Billy Lee - Initial release is a limited pressing, autographed collectible, available by the end of the month. The disc is titled "Shade Tree Blues" and is on his own Sun-Up record label. This is a blues disc in a similar vein to "Hot Damn!", his last CD. The first 1,000 copies will be special collectors editions. They will be numbered in gold (the numbers being issued in the order that the discs are ordered, so order early if you want a lower number). Each disc will be signed in gold pen on the disc itself by Riley and will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, also signed by Riley. As a little aside, Billy is doing all the work on this himself, so if you order a disc, it will actually be him that stuffs it in the envelope! The cost of the disc is $20 (postage included) for domestic U.S. orders, all oversees orders (including Canada) are $22.
    To order, send a check or money order to:
    Billy Lee Riley
    302 Marchand St.
    Newport, Arkansas, 72112.

  • New Sonny Burgress CD. "They Came from the South" by Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers is available direct from:
    Sonny Burgess
    PO Box 215
    Diaz Newport, AR 72043 USA The cost is $20.00 and Sonny will add an autographed photo as well.

  • The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is pleased to announce that the board of the "Arkansas Walk of Fame" located in Hot Springs Arkansas, has voted in favor on Steve Lester's nomination of Mr. Billy Lee Riley. Billy will be inducted in an official ceremony in Hot Springs which should take place sometime in the Spring or Summer of 2000. We will post more information here when it becomes available. (Good work, Steve)



    Rockabilly Syndicated TV Show
    What's it called? "The Lou Hobbs International ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME Show." Lou Hobbs has been video taping and editing over past several months and released his initial rockabilly show in June of 1999, airing in 225 cities in all or portion of Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Missouri. Artists featured on this 30-minute program, the first of 13 monthly shows, are: Marco DiMaggio, Hayden Thompson, Glen Glenn, Narvel Felts and others. Lou plans a 60-minute special for December. Bob Timmers, curator of the RaB HoF comments, "I think this is a first and we are glad to be a part of it! Let's hope it catches on throughout the US and beyond. Go get 'em Lou!" For more information regarding syndication or interviewing/performing contact: Timberwolf Productions, P.O. Box 821, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702 USA, (573) 335-5712 Phone, (573) 335-7365 Fax. E-mail: twolf@1dd.net e-mail - Originating station, KFVS, Cape Girardeau, MO.





    Buddy Knox Mailing List

  • Join the BUDDY KNOX mailing list. Get on line with other fans of Buddy and his music.




    Jodimar Guitarist
    Charlie Hess Dies
    Marshall Lytle reported Fri., Oct. 29, 1999 that Charlie (Chuck) Hess a/k/a Ty Hesten, has died at the age of 67. Chuck was the great guitar player with the Jodimars, and will be remembered for the wonderful solos on their Capitol Recordings made in the mid 50's. He played his guitar right till the end, he died about 1:30 am in his van on his way home from a gig in Leesburg FL. If any one would like to pay respects ... he is servived by his wife Judy Heston her address is 2503 South Street Apt #63, Leesburg Fl. 34748. He will be missed but thank God we have his guitar playing to remember.
    Lotsa Love, Marshall



    "Heartbreak Hotel" Lyricist Dies
    BAY CITY, Mich. Thomas Durden, who wrote the lyrics to one of Elvis Presley's early big hits,"Heartbreak Hotel," has died at age 79. "He wrote a lot of good music that is out there. It's just that `Heartbreak Hotel' is the famous one," said his stepson, John White. Durden, who died Sunday at his home in Houghton Lake, met Presley as a result of the song. Presley called him"sir" and sent Durden Christmas cards to show his appreciation, White said. Durden co-wrote"Heartbreak Hotel" with Mae Boren Axton of Nashville, Tenn., who died in 1997. For reasons never explained, Presley also was given writing credit even though it was the work of Durden and Axton. Durden was born in Georgia and grew up in Florida, where his older brother had a musical influence on him. Durden had a good voice and a special talent for playing the steel guitar, which he refined throughout his life, White said. In 1956, Durden was single and performing with a band in Jacksonville, Fla., when he came across a newspaper account of a man who had committed suicide, White said. The man left a note that said,"I walk a lonely street," and Durden used it as the basis for"Heartbreak Hotel." Durden continued to write and perform music, playing with Nashville legends like Johnny Cash and touring with Tex Ritter, White said. He moved north to the Houghton Lake area and lived there for about 40 years. He performed with bands in northern Michigan, and their sets always included his hit song, White said. In a 1982 interview, Durden spoke of the impact"Heartbreak Hotel" had on his life. "I wish I had 12 more songs just like it," Durden said."It has paid the rent for more than 20 years, but you can't get rich writing songs unless you have a lot of big ones."



    Orbison Bootlegs Released as Four-disc Set
    Those who felt the heart attack that claimed Roy Orbison's life in December 1988 stifled one of the most vital comebacks in rock & roll history, will find some comfort in next week's release of the Roy Orbison Authorized Bootleg Collection on Orbison Records. With Orbison's widow, Barbara, serving as executive producer, this release pulls together four complete Orbison performances -- Batley, England, from 1969; Hornchurch, England, from October, 1975; Stockton, England, from March, 1980; and Birmingham, Ala., from July, 1980 -- into a four-disc, slipcase edition.
                 The collection is the first offering in a series of authorized live recordings. "The bootleg series has been on the release schedule for a long time," Barbara Orbison says of the project. "Whenever I go to Europe, or when I'm in a record store here, I always find live recordings of Roy that are released by a bootlegger, and they charge so much for it. So I decided to take the four most bootlegged albums and to put them out into one CD set. It will be on the street for $24.98."
                 Orbison has spent years poring through her husband's material, choosing songs and editing out blemishes from the masters -- primarily as a favor to his dedicated fan base. "It is truly for the fans," Barbara says. "I only knew Roy by his live performances, because he didn't listen to his own recordings. His live shows were so incredible. Each night when he stepped on stage, he just gave it his all. Roy would have cringed to have thought that somebody recorded those shows and then bootlegged them. He used to feel very uneasy when a fan would come and give him a bootleg to autograph. He would say to his manager, 'Where did this come from?' But, you know, it was fan-bought, so he had to smile."
                 In addition to stamping out bootlegs with this set, Orbison Records has other projects on the burner in varying stages of development. Next up will be the November DVD release of Black and White Night, a star-studded Orbison concert from 1987 featuring Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt and k.d. lang.
                 The four performances included in the box draw attention to Orbison's reverence for other songwriters. Covers of the Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda," the Louvin Brothers' "When I Stop Dreaming" and Willie Nelson's "Pretty Paper" all appear with Orbison's inimitable accents. Barbara would like to organize a similar tribute to Roy. "I would love to do a project that's a tribute to Roy Orbison, the songwriter," she says. "If you asked Roy, he would have said, 'I love my voice, I've always considered it a gift from God, but sometimes the songwriter Roy Orbison gets angry at the singer Roy Orbison.' That voice has prevented many contemporaries and new artists from taking a song of his. And Roy would have said he thought the songwriter Roy Orbison was never really as applauded like the singer."
                 But such a project hasn't moved beyond a proposal at this point yet. "There are certain artists and friends that really appreciated Roy that said, 'Anytime, phone me,'" she says. "But it's such an undertaking."
                 In the meantime, Barbara might look to the vaults again for a tribute by other artists. "I have a great concert, when his friends got together for the Roy Orbison tribute in 1991 at the Universal Ampitheater," she says. "Everybody from Dwight Yoakam to the Byrds to Pete Townshend to k.d. lang to Bonnie Raitt to NRBQ. And John Fogerty, everybody came. But I haven't put it on CD form yet."
                 This month will also see the launch of a revamped www.orbison.com, run by Orbison fans under the supervision of Barbara Orbison Productions. In addition to information on all things Roy, the site also offers his albums and will include the Bootleg Collection.
    --ANDREW DANSBY



    (October 15, 1999) Music Pioneer Ella Mae Morse Dies
    Bullhead City, Ariz. (10/17/99) Ella Mae Morse, whose classic 1942 recording "Cow Cow Boogie" became Capitol Records' first million-selling single, died Saturday. She was 75. Ella Mae had been suffering respiratory problems following a long illness. The Texas-born Morse combined boogie woogie, blues, jazz, swing and country influences in the 1940s and 50s, helping to create a pioneering "pop" sound that would later grown into rock 'n' roll. Elvis Presley even praised her for teaching him how to sing. Describe as a black-trained, white "hepchick," her songs earned her 10 gold records. One song was the "The House of Blue Lights," which is regarded as one of the most influential songs in the evolution of rock 'n' roll, said Alan Eichler, her publicist. Morse stopped recording in 1957, but continued performing until 1987.



    There's been a "Murder on Music Row"
    Shell Point Records, located in Nashville, Tennessee, will officially launch with the October release of Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time's new CD "Murder On Music Row," according to label President and National Sales/Promotion Director Randy Harrell.
                 "It is an honor to have Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time as the flagship act on Shell Point Records," said Harrell. "The particular brand of country produced by this group of excellent musicians is real, honest country that pays homage to the folks that made Nashville great. We are proud to release a record that is uncompromising in all aspects."
                 Grammy nominated entertainer and songwriter Larry Cordle has had songs recorded by Garth Brooks, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, George Jones, Ricky Skaggs, Kenny Chesney, Alison Krauss, Diamond Rio, Kathy Mattea, Sammy Kershaw, John Michael Montgomery, and Gene Watson to name a few. Cordle's songs have appeared on CDs selling in excess of 44 million units. Cordle has previously recorded three projects for Sugar Hill Records.
                 Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time are: Larry Cordle, acoustic guitar and lead vocal; Terry Eldredge, upright bass and tenor harmony vocal; Booie Beech, acoustic lead guitar; Fred Carpenter, fiddle; David Harvey, mandolin; and David Talbot, Scruggs-style banjo.
                 Shell Point Records personnel also include A&R consultant Larry Shell, a successful Songwriter/publisher who served as A&R director for A&M Records in Nashville from 1994-96. Shell was also instrumental in the formation of Shell Point Publishing and Gehl Force Music. Shell Point sales representatives include Greg Kaiser, Southeastern Sales Representative, and Chris Kuprionis, Midwestern Sales Representative.
                 Shell Point Entertainment has retained the services of Empire Management Group, located in Nashville, TN, to provide certain strategic capital structure as well as merger and acquisition advisory services. Empire Management Group is a business advisory firm providing comprehensive management services as well as sport and entertainment celebrity and executive representation. EMG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire Financial Group, Inc., a boutique financial advisory and portfolio management firm to private clients worldwide.
                 "We are pleased that Empire Management Group is assisting Shell Point Music in evaluating strategic alternatives as we move forward with the launch of Shell Point Records," said Randy Harrell, Shell Point Records President and Chief Executive Officer.
                 For more information regarding Shell Point Records or Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time please contact Ray Crabtree Public Relations, (615) 255-7225, e-mail: rcrabt7478@aol.com or Lance Cowan, LCMedia (615) 331-1710, e-mail: lcmedia@sprynet.com.



    REVIEW --
    "Great Balls of Fire"
    Musical, Cambridge Theater, London
    This musical based on the Jerry Lee Lewis story opens officially in London's West End on October 6th, after pre-West End runs in Plymouth and Birmingham, England. Eleven die-hard Jerry Lee fans went to a preview on October 4th, and all agreed it was a great show which deserves to run and run. Billy Geraghty, who played Buddy Holly in the musical Buddy years ago, does a tremendous job acting the role of The Killer, and also singing and playing piano in his style as well. He played the role originally in Coventry, England some years ago in an earlier production called Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.
                 The current production has been refined since its opening runs in the English provinces. A scene featuring Jerry's 1964 Granada TV special with English fans clustered around the piano has been cut and other scenes altered. However the finale has been extended to create a powerful climax, which suggests Jerry Lee is still very much rocking his life away.
                 The chronological accuracy of the musical is very shaky indeed, but then it is of necessity a representation of events in Jerry's life rather than a biography. So we get Jerry singing numbers like Wild One and No Headstone On My Grave years before he recorded them or included them in live shows, and we get Linda Gail playing guitar and singing a duet with Jerry on She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye, which works beautifully, but it is not a number I have ever heard sung as a duet, nor have I seen Linda play guitar. (Linda attended the opening night in person). In the Waxahatchie Bible Institute scene Jerry actually sings as well as plays piano on My God Is Real, but just to have him accompanying a singer would not really have worked in the musical. So all in all a pretty fair representation of key events in Jerry's life, and a good selection of songs from the early days to his later material.
                 So much has happened in Jerry's life that lots had to be omitted - the deaths of various close family members, the life-threatening hospitalizations due to a torn stomach and subsequent complications and other incidents could not all be fitted into a two and a half hour musical. Having said that, the funeral of Jerry's son Steve Allen was a bit too drawn out and depressing - perhaps it could have been shortened, or replaced by a short scene depicting all the funerals Jerry has attended involving his close family merged into one.
                 This would have heightened the great sense of tragedy in his life. But these are minor points, not even worthy of the term 'criticisms'. The show is truly brilliant, and much better than the movie of the same title because it digs deeper into Jerry's character and feelings, and also follows his career to his renewed success as a top country star in the 1970s and beyond. The most memorable scene for me, beating even the fantastic finale, is the close of the first half when Jerry appears in Kilburn, London during the fateful 1958 tour. He strides on stage to cries of 'cradle-snatcher' wearing a bright red suit with black velvet trimmings, and starts combing his long wavy blond locks - looking outrageously camp even now, so imagine the impact over 40 years ago! He was already branded as a bigamist who married his 13-year old cousin, and in person he looked brash, right over-the-top, positively dangerous and threatening, like rock'n'roll itself. He then does a pulverizing show, and in a dramatic piece of poetic license sets fire to the piano and gives the finger to the British critics as he storms off stage telling them to 'kiss my ass' if they don't like Jerry Lee's rock'n'roll lifestyle. Of course this never actually happened at that time and place, but it makes the required impact and shows what Jerry Lee was all about - the true and original rock'n'roll rebel who couldn't be managed or tamed.
                 The story ends with Jerry's triumphant debut at the Grand Ole Opry riding at the top of the charts with hit after hit, some of which crossed-over to the pop charts. He does rocking country, beautiful ballads and pure unadulterated rock'n'roll. He introduces Kris Kristofferson's 'Me And Bobby McGhee' saying: 'It's a Jerry Lee Lewis song now' before proceeding to rock it to bits.
                 Billy really captures both the essence and detail of the man. He follows Jerry's phrasing in many numbers, his adlibs and his trademarks - it is almost like watching the real thing. Watching Billy jump on the grand piano in one scene and seeing the whole instrument wobble and shake precariously one wonders how many they will get thru if the production runs any length of time.
                 If this show doesn't take off, then there is no justice. If people go to see it, they will like it, there is no doubt about that. The audience at the preview were certainly lapping it up.
    Tony Papard, October 5th, 1999



    Merle Haggard's Autobiography
    "I've had a blessed life, despite many lows, many of which were of my own doing," Merle Haggard writes in the preface of his just-released autobiography, "Merle Haggard's My House Of Memories: For The Record." "There have been times I simply could not see the light at the end of an economic, romantic, psychological, or emotional tunnel. If anyone had ever told me I'd be as content as I am today, I would have thought they were talking about someone else." From his childhood spent in a converted boxcar, through seventeen incarcerations and decades of drugs, alcohol, gambling and divorce, Haggard's dark side was often overlooked, at least in the public eye, due to his "common man" way with words and music.

    FOR MORE ON MERLE, see Barry Klein's Review: Front Row at "The Hag's" Pay-TV Vegas Show



    Austin City Limits 25th Anniversary Book
    Billboard Books is celebrating the extraordinary quarter-century anniversary of the longest running music showcase in television history with a new book entitled "Austin City Limits, 25 Years of American Music." Austin City Limits draws on the huge archive of American roots music presented on the PBS series, and captures the excitement of the show with over 300 up-close and personal photographs depicting the finest country, blues, folk, jazz, tejano, bluegrass, rock, and pop artists of our time. Written by renown music critic John T. Davis, with photographs by Scott Newton and a foreword by Lyle Lovett, Austin City Limits truly reflects the spirit of the show's stellar cast of performers, documenting in words, pictures, and anecdotes, and behind-the-scenes images, the performances of the more than 500 stellar recording artists including: Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Roy Orbison, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lyle Lovett, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Lightnin' Hopkins, Son Volt, Tammy Wynette, Ruth Brown, John Denver, Lionel Hampton, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Garth Brooks, The Neville Brothers, Kelly Willis, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Hal Ketchum, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, and so many more. "Austin City Limits" launches its 25th broadcast anniversary season in February 2000 on PBS. "Austin City Limits" is a production on KLRU/Austin, the Capital of Texas Public Telecommunications Council. Visit the "Austin City Limits" website at: http://www.austincitylimits.com
    Austin City Limits, 25 Years of American Music: by John T. Davis
    192 pages / 8-1/2 x 10-1/2 / 250 color and 50 b/w illustrations
    0-8230-8303-9 / $35.00 Hardcover / October



    Eddie Bond Recommends
    ... that you visit and support the Sheriff BUFFORD PUSSER Home & Museum Website. Eddie is releasing a new song dedicated to Bufford. See story below.



    An Enchanced Patsy Cline Creates Duets
    Patsy Cline is singing, her voice clear and true, in duets with some people she never heard of - Bob Carlisle, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Glen Campbell - and one person she undoubtedly did know, Willie Nelson. The doctored duets were made possible by new technology with the potential for embellishing - or desecrating, depending on your point of view - the work of countless musicians who are no longer able to speak for themselves. "I think people want to hear the superstars and icons of music the way they actually were," said Michael Blakey, producer of the new Patsy Cline "Duets" album. "With recording technology the way it is, you couldn't hear what they were capable of doing. You were only getting 50 percent of the story." Her music, a blend of country and pop, is appreciated more now than it was before she died at the age of 30, in a Tennessee plane crash. A disc of her greatest hits, including "Crazy," "I Fall to Pieces" and "Walkin' After Midnight," has sold more than 8 million copies. These recordings are definitely hit-or-miss with country fans, said Robert Oermann, a music historian and author of the upcoming book, "Century of Country." Although there doesn't appear much anticipation for the Cline project, it's a tribute to her longevity that there's still interest in her music, he said.




    Viva Las Vegas Update
    (September 26, 1999). Tom Ingram has announced that Viva Las Vegas has changed their mailing list. If you would like to be on their mailing list then please send a blank message to: vivalasvegasnews-subscribe@listbot.com
    or fill out the form at their website at: http:/www.vivalasvegas.net/. - With over 6 months to go the Gold Coast Hotel is now completely sold out. There are still rooms available at a special rate in The Orleans. Phone 1 888 402 6278 from USA 1 702 367 7111 from outside or book online via the vlv website.
    BANDS ADDED TO VLV 2000
            Skinny Mcgee & Mayhem Makers
            Blue Ribbon Boys
            Chester Everett & The Ranch Rhythmaires
            King Memphis
            Del Bombers
            Wild Wax Combo
            & more to be added to THE GREATEST ROCKABILLY SHOW ON THE PLANET
    Also: The Rockabilly HOF to Have Stage at VLV 2000




    Ritchie Valens Named Among This Year's
    Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees
    September 24, 1999 - Del-Fi Records are proud to announce that Ritchie Valens was listed among the fifteen nominees on this year's ballot for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland, OH. More than 800 writers, artists, producers, broadcasters and music industry executives received their ballots this week and have until mid-October to decide who will be inducted. The fifteenth annual induction ceremony is scheduled for sometime in March 2000 (the exact date will be announced along with the names of the official inductees -- up to seven names -- sometime in November).
           In order to be considered for nomination, a band or artist's debut album has to be at least twenty-five years old, and although Ritchie has been eligible since 1984, and has been nominated before (including last year) making the list again this year is still considered quite an honor.
           In the past few years, Del-Fi Records have joined forces with numerous partners --- including Westwood One, ABC Pure Gold Networks, the Jones Radio Networks, and countless Oldies radio stations, coordinating a massive petition and postcard campaign in numerous U.S. cities, special on-air giveaways, and gathering signatures of support from thousands of Ritchie's fans across the entire world. This year, Valens received a strong show of support from RIAA president & CEO Hilary Rosen, and Congressman Howard L. Berman (Democrat - Mission Hills, California). "We're thrilled with the news," says Bob Keane, president of Del-Fi and Ritchie's only producer. "His nomination once again proves that people all over the world have not forgotten him. It's terrific to see that he's still remembered over forty years after his untimely death."
           Valens has been honored with a U.S. postage stamp and he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The and the story of his life & music was the subject of a 1986 motion picture, La Bamba. On February 3rd this year, the 40th anniversary of his death, Valens was remembered in a VH1 - Behind The Music one-hour special on "The Day The Music Died."
           Since 1958, Ritchie's music has reached across the U.S. and around the globe. His rockin' "La Bamba" is one of the most recognized songs throughout the world, and his other hits, "Donna" (#2 in the U.S. at the time of his death) and "Come On, Let's Go," also continue to thrive from daily heavy Oldies rotation.
           "When Ritchie Valens was nominated last year, Oldies formats responded with an enthusiasm the likes which we'd never seen before," responded Elliot Kendall, Del-Fi's Director of Radio Promotion upon hearing about Valens' nomination again this year. "This year, the enthusiasm has been continuous, and hearing that Phil Spector was behind us has only added fuel to our passion for Ritchie's induction. This very well could be Ritchie's year!" [Spector is one of the Nominating Committee members who has been championing Valens' contributions to Rock n' Roll for years; the two met while Ritchie was recording his first single, "Come On, Let's Go" at Gold Star Studios and Spector was recording "To Know Him Is To Love Him" around the same time with his vocal group, The Teddy Bears.]
           In May 1998, Del-Fi issued Come On, Let's Go!, a 3CD box set of the complete recordings Ritchie made before his tragic death in February 1959. The 62-track collection-which includes a set of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame postcards for fans who want to add their names to the growing list of supporters --- reminds those who may have forgotten, and informs those who never knew, that Valens was a formidable musician whose death robbed rock n' roll of a great talent. To interview Bob Keane regarding Ritchie Valens, or for more information about Del-Fi Records, please contact Bryan Thomas, Director of Publicity, at promo@del-fi.com or phone (800) 993-3534. If you are interested in participating with Del-Fi in a special Ritchie Valens digital download promotion or custom-disc promotions, please contact Gary Tanenbaum, VP of Operations, at gary@del-fi.com




    David Dennard Rounds Up
    "Big D Jamboree" Performances
    From the web version of the Dallas Observer (http://www.dallasobserver.com) - Robert Wilonsky
    David Dennard is doing God's work -- if your definition of God is, say, Johnny Cash or Carl Perkins or Gene Vincent. Come January, the man responsible for releasing collections celebrating the rare-and-unreleased work of such local heroes as Johnny Dollar and "Groovey" Joe Poovey will ship to stores what's easily among the most significant and valuable album ever to come from this city. And that's no hyperbole, either, considering the two-disc Live From the Big "D" Jamboree, 1957-59 features never-before-heard performances by the likes of Cash (including "I Walk the Line"), Perkins ("Blue Suede Shoes" and "That's All Right Mama," among others), Vincent ("Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"), Wanda Jackson, Ronnie Dawson, Sid King, and dozens of other musicians -- all performing live, very live, on the old Sportatorium stage.
           The collection -- which is divided into two discs, "Rockabillies" (Jerry Reed, Warren Smith, and others) and "Hillbillies" (Orville Couch, Cowboy Copas, Leon Payne, and many more) -- was supposed to be in stores next month. But a hard-drive crash at Phil York's mastering lab "shot to shit my release schedule," Dennard says, explaining that half a disc was lost during the meltdown. To that end, he has put off the release date of the discs -- which will feature never-before-seen pictures and extensive liner notes by Fort Worth-based Western swing aficionado Kevin Coffey -- till the second week of January on his Dragon Street Records label. "We'll have power back by then," he says, cracking Y2K.
           But what's three more months of waiting? After all, this material has been sitting in the Library of Congress vaults for decades, until Dennard discovered it while working on his terrific 1998 Gene Vincent collection, The Lost Dallas Sessions. In the Library's basement, Dennard discovered 15 minutes of Vincent and his Blue Caps performing at the Sportatorium during the late 1950s -- in addition to dozens of other performances not only from the Big "D" Jamboree, but from myriad other barn dances all over the country, including the famed Louisiana Hayride.
           Dennard suggests there are several more albums waiting to be made from his discoveries. "I could make a career out of this -- licensing the rights to people from the various shows," he says. "It's like having a big turkey to carve up." But he's first and foremost concerned with the Dallas collection, which features more than 30 different beloved heroes and unrenowned legends playing championship ball at the peaks of their games. Indeed, the Cash and Perkins performances alone make the disc invaluable, catching the two men before their Sun set.
           Dennard says it wasn't at all difficult to get clearance from Cash's businesspeople to use the material. After all, they're aware of how little money there is to be made packaging such venerable material. Besides, Dennard says, "Johnny's also ill and is interested in his legacy. He was flattered to be included and flattered we cleared it instead of bootlegging it, like they do in Europe. He was appreciative I went through the trouble, according to his manager. And he fondly remembers the Jamboree; he was always well-received there." Indeed, it sounds like Beatlemania when Cash launches into his extraordinary performance of "Get Rhythm." But what makes this a remarkable live recording is that the song never struggles to be heard over the rousing applause.
           Dennard admits there's not much money to be made doing projects such as these. He insists he does it for the sole reason of preserving the past -- or, in his words, "giving credit where it's due." He's the proud native son in love with the idea of reminding folks that Dallas, for a brief moment, was an important stop on the rock-and-roll time line. Now, if only he could find Hank Williams' and Elvis Presley's Big "D" Jamboree performances.
           "This has been the coolest thing I've ever been involved in," says Dennard. "It's taken me all over East Texas and South Oak Cliff. I've met people in their twilight years. It's just incredible. It's like researching a historical project, which, I guess, this is. Unfortunately, these people don't sell records anymore. But I'll be happy if an astronaut's listening to it on a space station 20 years from now. That's all I really want."



    Billy Adams Rocks at the
    Buddy Holly Tribute in Nashville
    Tuesday, September 7, 1999, at the Exit/In on Elliston Place in Nashville, Tennessee, was definitely THE place to be as many of Nashville's most talented musicians, writers and performers took the stage during Billy Block's Western Roots Revival to celebrate what would have been Buddy Holly's 63rd birthday, a show coordinated by Robert Reynolds of the Mavericks. Among the stellar lineup of artists paying tribute to Buddy Holly was Robert Reynolds, Kim Richey, Bob Delavante, Bill Lloyd, Chris Scruggs, Kevin Montgomery, Janet Lynn, Brent Wilson and the original rockabilly man himself, Billy Adams. While each artist performed one Buddy Holly tune, Billy Adams rocked with one Buddy Holly song and two of Billy's originals, "Rock Pretty Mama" and "You Heard Me Knockin'". Billy brought the audience to their feet for two standing ovations. The applause and shouts for "more, more more" was overwhelming particularly since it was Billy's first performance in Nashville and his first rockabilly performance in forty years. The entire show was broadcast live over the Internet and can be viewed on Western Beat Roots Revival at LiveOnTheNet.com. The words "awesome" and "fantastic" were repeated more times that night to describe Billy's performance than one can possibly count. People rushed forward to shake his hand, congratulate him and speak with him. One of the evening's greatest compliments came from Robert Reynolds of The Mavericks who performed and hosted the tribute. His comment captured the performance in one sentence; "Billy, in every show there is a high point. Tonight, Billy, you are that high point."



    Bo Diddley to Guest Star On Disney TV
    Bo Diddley will guest star in an upcoming episode of Disney Channel's original series, "So Weird." The episode, entitled "Blues," will shoot September 21-22 in Vancouver, and will premiere Friday, January 21, 2000, 7PM ET/PT on Disney Channel. Set visits and interviews are available upon request.
           In "Blues," Molly's tour is on the way down to a gig at an old Blues club in Mississippi when Molly, Fi, Jack, Carey and Ned all appear to be channeling part of the same old Blues song. Fi finds that lyrics to the song give them clues to evil doings against the songwriter, whose music was stolen by his murderer. Diddley guest stars as Frank, the record shop owner. The episode also guest stars Marlene Warfield (Network; Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling) as Mrs. Clemens, the Blues club's owner.
           "So Weird" chronicles Fi, her 15-year-old brother, Jack, and Molly, their rock star mom, in their home on wheels -- a custom touring bus -- as they travel across the United States. A popular musician in the '80s, Molly is on a "comeback" tour and delighted that her children can travel with her. Also along for the trip are Jack and Fi's friend Carey Bell, his dad, Ned, who acts as the band's roadie and his mom, Irene, who is the band's manager. In each city the tour visits, Fi encounters and explores various mysteries of the paranormal. Fi attempts to solve these mysteries as they arise, using the website she created, 'Fi's So Weird Website' to gather clues and information. Other notable "So Weird" guest stars include Henry Winkler in "Boo," Dionne Warwick in "Lost" and Country music sensation SHeDAISY in "Listen."
           A living legend, Bo Diddley is a true pioneer of Rock 'n' Roll and a member of The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. For four decades, his unique style has influenced many performers including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In February 1998, Bo Diddley received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Grammy Awards.



    Little Richard Files Suit/Works with NBC
    Little Richard has filed suit against a U.K. company for more than $200,000, claiming that it reneged on an agreement to have the rock and roller perform on British soil. In a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday (Sept. 9), Little Richard, whose real name is Richard Wayne Penniman, alleged that he entered into a verbal agreement with the Flying Music Co. on March 29, to pay him $210,000 for seven concerts. Flying Music Co. eventually canceled the concerts, and Richard is looking to reclaim his fee, and to cover his legal costs. In other Little Richard news, the "Tutti Frutti" singer has given the go-ahead to NBC to produce a biopic for sweeps week. Production on the project is slated to kick off in November.



    Rockin' By The Bay! GREASEBALL '99
    The 5th Annual San Francisco Rockabilly Weekender Saturday, October 2nd and Sunday, October 3rd at the Transmission Theater and Paradise Lounge At the Corner of 11th & Folsom Sts., San Francisco. THE GREASEBALL is a celebration of Rockabilly showcasing no less than 12 acts from the U.S. and abroad. A life-long fan of Rockabilly, with more than 10-years of experience booking shows, "Greaseball" founder August Ragone has been working hard to establish this event as a nexus for Rockabilly fans the world over to see music in our "Baghdad-by-the-Bay."
    Confirmed and signed for GREASEBALL '99 are:
    THE WESTERN STAR TRIO (England) -
    HOT ROD LINCOLN (San Diego) -
    THE HAYWOODS (Santa Cruz) -
    THE DEL BOMBERS (Seattle) -
    RIP CARSON & THE TWILIGHT TRIO (San Diego) -
    DANNY DEAN & THE HOMEWRECKERS (Los Angeles) -
    PEE WEE & HIS SAFE CRACKERS (Oakland) -
    RANDY BECKETT'S REBEL TRAIN (Downey) -
    THE HOT ROD TRIO (Fountain Valley) - and currently waiting for at least five more bands to sign contracts in the coming week. The Greaseball '99 will not just feature rockin' acts from the four-corners, top international DJs who will keep the atmosphere goin' both days & nights. Our featured wax-masters are led by DJ Tak (Japan), Jumpin' James Shelton (of the Bigfoot Lodge), Vita Lee (KKUP Radio), King Vidor (Bombay) and more to be announced. The 3nd Annual "Bad Girl Pin-Up Contest" is scheduled for Saturday Night! Be a part of the Greaseball '99!
    €Rod & Customs Show (both days) Fee required for reserved parking and entry. Write for information (car clubs welcome and encouraged). Billet-Proof and Pre-1966 Cars Only!
    €Bad Girl Pin-Up Contest (Saturday Night) No entry fee -- just sign up early on Saturday! Contest to be held at approximately 10 pm that night! That's right, so all you Femme Fatales can compete for a chance at immortality, and wear the coveted "Ms. Greaseball" Crown! Be crowned by "Ms. Greaseball '98," Ms. Telma! Win prizes!
    €Tattoos (both days) By "Mom's Tattoos" of San Francisco. €Dance Contest (both days) Schedule and Conditions to be announced. €Fashion Show (date TBA) Sponsored by Graziella of Guys and Dolls. €Vendors (both days) We have limited space this year! Sign up right now!
    For more information on Vendor's Stalls, Rod & Custom Show, and Pin Up Contest, send a manilla-size SASE, with your request to: Greaseball Info, 1726 Divisadero, San Francisco, CA 94005. The BEST thing about the Greaseball '99? The price: $30.00 in advance -- for BOTH days! Not $30.00 per day and certainly NOT $50.00 for both days -- The Greaseball'99 is all yours for the low-low price of ONLY $30.00 ($35.00 at the door day of show). More information to be announced shortly -- as well as the skinny on the Greaseball Pre and After Parties! Unfortunately our website is under extensive reconstruction... e-mail: kaijupro@sirius.com for our e-mailing list! Come to San Francisco! Rock by the Bay! DON'T MISS OUT ON THE GREASEBALL '99 WEEKENDER!




    100 Years of Sunshine: Jimmie Davis turned 100 September 11th!




    Mack Stevens Again at Rollin' Rock
    Savage Texas Rebel MACK STEVENS has returned to Rollin' Rock to record his third CD for the label. The Mackster mixes it up pretty good starting with lunatunes such as "Psycho" to happy Haleysh swingers such as "Here We Go Again--Rock, Rock, Rock" to bordello Western fare such as "She's Not Bad". Mack Stevens' "Goodbye Train" is currently Number 2 in the Hit Parade of Dutch magazine "Boppin' Around".



    Eddie Cochran Rock'N'Roll Weekend
    ... at the Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham, England Friday October 1st - Sunday October 3rd
           The 'Blue Caps' are heading for Chippenham! Yes in October, four members of Gene Vincent's 1957 Blue Caps - Tommy Facenda, Dickie Harrell, Paul Peek and Johnny Meeks, will headline the 5th Eddie Cochran Festival in an exclusive UK concert on Saturday, October 2nd at the Olympiad Leisure Centre Chippenham.
           The theme of this year's festivale will be to pay tribute to both Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, very close friends, who had toured together all over the world in the late 50's. It was in 1960, when Eddie and Gene were touring the UK together, that the fateful accident occurred at Rowden hill on April 18th.
           Appearing with The Blue Caps will be guest artist Bobby Cochran, who will be here for his 3rd festival backed by three of the UK's top recording and session musicians, and special guest Marco Di Maggio, who is flying in direct from Florence Italy with the Di Maggio Brothers for an exclusive performance. Brian Hodgson, former member of Matchbox and currently with Albert Lee's band Hogans Heroes, will join the Blue Caps on stage as Guest Bass Guitarist.
           Other artists include Tony Sheridan Jr., The Moonshine Boys, The Wanderers, Rhythmbound, Holly Dayz, The Sugar Bullets and top DJ Wildcat Pete.
           Mike Berry will return to the festival to headline the Friday night gig with his band The Outlaws, supported by the fantastic Dee and her Heartbeats, plus Chippenham DJ Richard Marsh (Fans of TV's 'Are You Being Served' may remember Mike Berry as 'Mr. Spooner' and as 'Mr. Peters' in 'Worel Gummidge').
           Mike is much in demand on the Rock-n-Roll circuit and is a regular performer at the annual Buddy Holly Birthday tribute organized by (Sir) Paul McCartney. At last year's festival, Mike did a fantastic job when asked to join The Crickets for the show due to Sonny Curtis being unable to travel to Chippenham. For More Information Call: + 44 (0) 1249 656350



    "Wee Willie," Original Blue Cap, Dies
    Willie "Wee Willie" Williams was Gene Vincent's first rhythm guitarist and played in such classic tracks as: "Be Bop-A-Lula," "Race with the Devil" and "Woman Love." - Another true original of rockabilly has left us."
           (August 28, 1999) - Manatee, FL - A 63-year-old man accidentally shot himself to death about 12:30 p.m. Saturday in front of his Harbor Hills home in west Bradenton, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. Early L. Williams and a friend, Daniel Tau, were talking about going to a shooting range while they were in the driveway of Williams' home, 828 Hillcrest Drive, authorities reported. Williams was removing a duffel bag from the back seat of a car and trying to retrieve something from it, when a gun inside the bag fired a single shot, reports stated. The bullet struck Williams in his left side, just below the chest, authorities said. "When he went to get the bag out of the back seat, he apparently asked (Tau) if he needed his targets," said Dave Bristow, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. "While (Williams) was reaching in the bag, (Tau) said he didn't need them, then boom! The gun went off." Williams was taken to Blake Medical Center and pronounced dead on arrival, Bristow said. Deputies roped off the home with yellow tape while investigating the case. They looked through the red-and-black duffel bag, which sat on the driveway toward the rear of the car. The men had presumed Williams' .38-caliber revolver was unloaded, Bristow said, adding the revolver did not have a trigger lock or safety. News of Williams' death saddened neighbors, friends and former colleagues. Dave McKeever knew Williams when they worked together at WBRD, a local AM radio station, in the 1970s. "He was a disc jockey there," said McKeever, who was the station's news director until 1991. "No matter how weird things got in the radio business, he could always see the humor in it and keep a smile on his face." In recent years, McKeever said he ran into Williams at the Manatee County Fair where Williams sometimes served as an announcer. "He was very involved in the fair," he said, "and he was an eternal optimist." Williams was originally from Maine and also worked in Nashville from time to time.

           When the Rockabilly Hall of Fame called Dickie Harrell to get his reaction, Dickie said, "Man, what a shock and what a strange way go to. Willie a was a little guy with those long sideburns, jumping all over the place, just as crazy as the rest of us. I don't think anyone knows how talented he really was. He could play, sing, whatever. He was working for radio station WCMS at the time we formed the Blue Caps, doing grand openings, car shows and stuff with his wife Robbie in a band called the Virginians. I hope all his fans both here and overseas will miss him as much as I will. A super nice guy, always full on energy even his later years. I'm sure he's jamming with Gene and Cliff as we speak."
           A BIT ABOUT WILLIE: Willie recalls vividly his first night playing with Gene (before any records were cut): "He came up wearing a cast and sang "Be Bop A Lula" and all the chicks went nuts." "Wee" Willie takes a view of Gene's sudden success and sums it up quite articulately: "Vincent was easy to work with and knew exactly what he was doing. From the minute I met him I found him to be agreeable. There was no arrogance or egotism. He was a guy from relative humble beginnings who was a little bewildered by his sudden success. I thought he handled it pretty well. Though I seem to recall he spent a lot of money." Willie has fond memories of his days with the Blue Caps: "Gene was very friendly. People were always looking for someone who'd act outrageous, but he didn't. He was just a good guy. On stage, Gene was a stylist and a communicator. And very exciting. Offstage, Gene would have a beer or two, but he was more interested in the ladies. Cliff was quiet, the kind of guy you wouldn't fool with. He was a no-nonsense person. But Dickie was my favorite. He was innocent, a thoroughly fine young man, a good cat." When Willie Williams quit, a guitarist named Teddy Crutchfield came up from Norfolk to replace him.



    Frizzell - The Traditional Sound Continues
    PRESS RELEASE Sept. 2, 1999 - Much to the delight of country music fans around the world, the traditional sound is going strong with Crockett Frizzell releasing his album "Old Love Turned Brand New"; this year. Crockett is the son of Country Music Great, Lefty Frizzell. Moving to Nashville in June with his wife, Vicki, Crockett has this to say, "It saddens me when I look around and not see Lefty getting the attention of the other artists from his era. I have truly worked hard to honor my father's music as well as pursuing my dream as a singer/songwriter by making the move to Nashville. I am thankful to God for the opportunity to have this chance. We love our life here and the folks have made us feel welcome.". Stardust Records, CEO Col. Buster Doss has this to say, "Crockett will gain a world wide audience, I predict, with the release of his album and Stardust is very proud to have him on our label." "Once in a great while does a producer get to work on a project with an artist who brings to the table the many aspects that Crockett brings: Strong original songs, great classics of his father, a wonderful style of singing, dedication and focus, unwavering support by a wonderful family and friends, and above all, a positive attitude." Dan Furmanik, Producer (Hitmakers Digital Sound Studio, Nashville). Visit the Crockett Frizzell Homesite. - You may also link to the Lefty Frizzell site from Crockett's. "If It Ain't Lefty, It Ain't Right."



    Milwaukee's Convertibles Ready To Roll
    PRESS RELEASE, August 31, 1999 - With the top down and the volume up, The Convertibles are tearing up the rock 'n' roll highway with their debut CD, "Rockin' and Stompin.'"
           The Convertibles, who celebrated their first anniversary in June, recorded the 14 rocking tracks during the winter at the recently updated 24-track facility of Lulu Records, the Milwaukee-based independent label run by Paul Barry, the group's rhythm guitarist.
           "This is the first project to be completed in the studio since we updated our equipment and we are very pleased with the results," said Barry, a veteran on the Milwaukee music scene." Having our own facility eliminated the pressure of clock watching and allowed us to be more relaxed in the studio."
           The end result was the energetic "Rockin' and Stompin,'" which the band refers to as swingabilly, combining elements of rockabilly, swing and the sounds of the '50s and '60s into their own unique blend of roots rock 'n' roll. "We think the music takes you back to an age when rock 'n' roll was pure and simple," Barry said. "Rock 'n' roll the way it was meant to be, when it was fun and stripped down to the bare essentials."
           In Convertibles terminology, that means short, uptempo songs with strong hooks and harmonies that beg the listener to sing along. The groove is king and staying in the pocket is the group's battle cry. In addition to Barry, the band is comprised of lead guitarist Tom Sorce, drummer "Chainsaw" Budde Michaels and stand-up bassist Dennis "Big Daddy Dirtball" Shaske.
           Each member is capable of lead vocals, which results in The Convertibles' signature sound featuring good old fashioned harmonies. Years of combined performing experience are evident in the band's well-defined stage presence, which belies just one year as a working entity. "We've all been there before so we know what to expect," said Michaels. "Plus, we all love the basics of rock 'n' roll."
           The material on "Rockin' and Stompin'" is a mixture of the most obscure of obscure covers and originals and the band is not quick to say which is which. "We're curious to see if people can tell the originals from the covers," Sorce said."
           "Rockin' and Stompin'" is the first joint release between Lulu Records and The Rockabilly Hall of Fame label." Shaske said. Think real rock 'n' roll has gone the way of tail fins and white sidewalls? Think again! Fasten your seatbelts and come along for a wild ride with The       Convertibles.
          Contact information
          Paul Barry (414) 481-3959
          www.execpc.com/~lulurec/index.htm
          www.theconvertibles.com/
          http://www.rockabillyhall.com/
    RONNY WEISER: This CD is outstanding! If it had come out in the1950s it would have spawned possibly as many as half a dozen Top 20 Hit records, such is the strength of songs as "Chrome Dome", "No One To Talk To", "Cool Cool Baby", etc.!! It's rare when I can say this about any CD. If you like rock'n'roll with touches of DooWop and rockabilly, you'll dig this superb platter. (It's available from the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame, which also released it in conjunction with Lulu Records). Rock, Ronny
    BOB TIMMERS: I watched and listened all the while this CD was being created, so I am naturally excited about it's release. Paul Barry, "Dirtball" Shaske and gang should be damn proud of this project. I can't imagine everyone not digging this disc. Put it on, turn up the volume, tap your feet, grab your partner and proceed to dance to some excellent "swingabilly" tunes!




    Narvel Felts at Music Ranch USA
    ... STROBE LIGHTS, FALSETTO AND PUSH-UPS!
    Review by Adriaan Sturm
           Narvel Felts made his return