Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2024 i Vintage Rock

I guess you could say that I came to the work of Johnny Burnette And The Rock’n’Roll Trio via a somewhat circuitous route. Picture the scene: it’s the best part of 30-odd years ago and I’m watching The Yardbirds tear through Stroll On, their glorious scene-stealing appearance in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 movie Blow Up. Just before he smashes the hell out of his amp, just what was that searing riff that Jeff Beck was playing on stage? It turns out that it’s a mish-mash of the Rock’n’Roll Trio’s Honey Hush and The Train Kept A-Rollin’. The track becomes my entry point to one of the most incredible rockabilly albums ever laid down on wax. Still a visceral listening experience almost 70 years later, the fuzz tone, vocal attack and attitude…

A comprehensive new collection of Elvis recordings is set to be released this summer. Memphis, featuring more than 111 tracks, is a definitive set which captures The King from his earliest sessions at Sun Studio to his final recordings in Graceland’s Jungle Room. Along the way, the Bluff City serves as both home and muse to Presley, playing a pivotal role in the dramatic arc of his artistry as he finds creative rebirth at American Sound in 1969, overcomes personal struggles at Stax in 1973, and brings his most extravagant and spellbinding live show to the Mid-South Coliseum in 1974. Produced by noted Elvis authority Ernst Jørgensen, with rare archival material and new liner notes by music historian Robert Gordon, Memphis will be released in 5CD, 2LP and digital versions.…

When Johnny Burnette And The Rock’n’Roll Trio unleashed their fiery eponymous full-length album on an unsuspecting public in December 1956, the world was not ready. Bursting with bravado and rebellion, there was a ferality to the raw rockabilly contained within its 12 tracks that sounded like danger, like excitement… like the future. There’s still an urgency to incendiary cuts such as Honey Hush, Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track), All By Myself, The Train Kept A-Rollin’ and Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee, that permeates all these years later. Looking back, perhaps the uncompromising nature of the volatile Burnette brothers, Johnny and Dorsey, alongside the visionary six-string of Paul Burlison, was simply too hot to handle for audiences at the time. Fast forward to 14 August 1964, and the rock’n’roll world was dealt a…

Talking to Vintage Rock from his idyllic log cabin home in Angeles Forest, California, where he lives and enjoys fishing with his brother Randy, Rocky is an acclaimed musician in his own right and probably best remembered for his hit Tired Of Toein’ The Line. “I guess I did feel a need to honour my father’s legacy,” says Rocky. “In fact, all our kids do – we’re a very musical family. We all live in different parts of the country now, but when we meet up for holidays, there’s always a lot of fun and a lot of singing. “I have all my instruments and I’m still writing songs. Unfortunately, I smoked cigarettes for most of my life and I’m paying the price for it now. I don’t get to…

“Back in them yesteryears when I was comin’ up, listening to Bessie Smith and all, they sung from their heart and soul and expressed themselves,” Big Mama Thornton was quoted in a 1980 article in The New York Times, and Smith’s influence is writ large on her tough blues-shouting style to the extent that she was billed as ‘the new Bessie Smith’ when she was starting out. One of seven children, and orphaned aged nine, like Thornton, Bessie Smith, born 15 April 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, had had to look after herself from a young age, and at just 17 years of age she was making a living dancing on the Moses Stokes travelling show. Blues singer Ma Rainey, who was also on the bill, became her mentor. When Rainey…

If you were a teenager in Memphis at the height of the 50s, chances are your wireless dial would be immovably fixed on WHBQ, the late-night conduit serving up a firecracker menu of rebel sounds on its flagship radio show Red, Hot & Blue. From nine to midnight, six nights a week, newly awakened youngsters sat huddled under the bedcovers, ears pressed firm against the speaker – just loud enough to hear but quiet enough to get away with it. While it’s hard to fathom in these days of endless channels and virtual reality headsets, it must’ve been the ultimate thrill to be so perilously close to being grounded. But this… this was just far too good to miss. Searing red hot heat through the airwaves, here was the magical…

01 (2) GOOD TIMIN’ JIMMY JONES (MGM) 4 WEEKS ON CHART 02 (1) THREE STEPS TO HEAVEN EDDIE COCHRAN – (LONDON) 9 WEEKS ON CHART 03 (7) CATHY’S CLOWN THE EVERLY BROTHERS (WARNER BROTHERS) 13 WEEKS ON CHART: 04 (3) ROBOT MAN CONNIE FRANCIS (MGM) 8 WEEKS ON CHART 05 (13)WHAT A MOUTH TOMMY STEELE (DECCA) 3 WEEKS ON CHART 06 (21) PLEASE DON’T TEASE CLIFF RICHARD (COLUMBIA) 2 WEEKS ON CHART 07 (4) AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ TOMMY BRUCE AND THE BRUISERS (COLUMBIA) 7 WEEKS ON CHART 08 (14) DOWN YONDER JOHNNY AND THE HURRICANES (LONDON) 4 WEEKS ON CHART 09 (9) HANDY MAN JIMMY JONES (MGM) 17 WEEKS ON CHART 10 (15) SHAKIN’ ALL OVER JOHNNY KIDD AND THE PIRATES (HMV) 4 WEEKS ON CHART 01 GOOD TIMIN’ JIMMY JONES…

It’s 14 July 1973 at the John Wayne Theater, Knott’s Berry Farm in Los Angeles. The Everly Brothers are halfway through the second of three scheduled sets when the concert promoter comes on stage to halt the show. The reason? Don Everly is drunk. So drunk that he can barely remember the words to songs he’s sung thousands of times. Younger brother Phil smashes his guitar in frustration, then storms off. Such was the undignified end of the Everlys’ massively successful, nearly 20-year run of harmonies and hits. Don told Rolling Stone: “That was the only time I’ve ever been drunk on stage in my life. People didn’t realise we’d been working our buns off for years. We had never known any freedom. We were strapped together like a team of horses.…

A fresh-faced Cliff Richard, aged just 17, puts pen to paper to ink his first record deal with EMI’s Columbia label. Marketed as Britain’s answer to Elvis Presley, Cliff’s debut recording session at Abbey Road Studios with The Drifters (who, after line-up changes, eventually morphed into The Shadows) saw him lay down a cover of Bobby Helms’ hit single Schoolboy Crush with the Ian Samwell-penned Move It planned as its B-side. Samwell also played rhythm guitar on the recording. When influential TV producer Jack Good heard the single, he insisted the running order was flipped and Move It, now considered the first truly authentic British rock’n’roll 7", was promoted to the A-side. A huge smash, the song made it to No.2 on the UK charts and was the first of…

Johnny Cash’s influence still looms large. That’s partly thanks to his son John Carter Cash, who maintains the Man In Black’s legacy with projects such as Songwriter, the new album of previously unheard tracks recorded in 1993, before his career was rejuvenated by the American Recordings series with producer Rick Rubin. John scrubbed away the 90s production and, with Cash stalwarts Marty Stuart and Dave Roe, has created a modern album that also features 50s-style instrumentation. Ultimately, he asked: “What would Johnny Cash do?” How come we’re hearing this amazing album for the first time? It sort of fell between the cracks. A couple of these songs wound up on the American Recordings series, but everything dad recorded on the sessions were original songs and that’s what this was about.…

The Jerry Lee Lewis estate is planning to reopen the gates of his Mississippi ranch to members of the public. “We’re thrilled to announce an incredible new venture that honours the legacy of the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis,” the iconic rocker’s official Facebook page announced. “The Jerry Lee Lewis Ranch Experience is coming soon…” Built in 1967, the property, which includes a main house, an in-laws suite as well as a piano-shaped pool, is located 18 miles south of Graceland, in Nesbit. Lewis purchased the ranch in 1973 and lived there until his passing at the age of 87 in October 2022. However, in December 2023, the ownership of the ranch became the subject of a legal battle between Lewis’ son, Jerry Lee Lewis III, and the heirs of his…

ELVIS FESTIVAL 6-13 September FEATURING Darrel Higham And The Enforcers, Alan Power And The Aftershocks, Cody Lee And The Boogie Boys, Jenson Bloomer With Mondo Carne, The Rocking Sixties LOCATION Vauxhall Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk BOOKING WEBSITE elvisfestivaluk.com RHYTHM RIOT 3-7 October FEATURING Gizzelle, Marcel Riesco, Dylan Kirk, Lobo Jones, Alan Power, Ruby Ann LOCATION Vauxhall Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth BOOKING WEBSITE rhythmriot.com HEMSBY #69 8-11 November FEATURING Ray Collins Hot Club, Big Sandy And His Fly Rite Boys, Scotty Baker, Barrence Whitfield, The Extraordinaires LOCATION Hemsby Beach Holiday Park, Hemsby, Norfolk BOOKING WEBSITE hemsbyrocknroll.com ROCKIN’ RACE 5-9 February 2025 FEATURING Lee Rocker, Nick Lowe And Los Straitjackets, Omar Romero, Jimmy Dale Richardson, Deke Dickerson LOCATION Auditorium Príncipe De Asturias, Torremolinos, Spain BOOKING WEBSITE rockinrace.com VIVA LAS VEGAS 24-27…

Duane Eddy: “Duane was very close with my uncle and one of the few people that could calm Dorsey down. I was very sad to hear he died recently. He was a great, great human being and one of my family’s dearest friends.” Eddie Cochran: “Eddie came to our house to collect some of my dad’s charts before going over to England, and my mom threatened to hit him with a frying pan when he arrived unannounced. She told him to scram or she’d call the police. My dad loved Eddie dearly and he was so upset when he heard that he’d died in that car accident.” Little Richard: “He was my favourite rock’n’roll singer and I shared a ride with him in his limo one time after a concert…

Bobby Vee had a strong Buddy Holly connection and also enjoyed a slice of the renewed public taste for all things retro at the turn of the 80s. Vee still had a loyal British following from the early 60s, and when The Bobby Vee Singles Album was released by United Artists in Britain in 1980 it was a big seller, making No.5 in the UK, his first chart appearance in this country for 17 years. Vee had a big pop sound constructed by L.A. producer Snuff Garrett, and top notchers included Take Good Care Of My Baby, Devil Or Angel, Run To Him and, especially, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes. But Suzie Baby was clearly inspired by Buddy Holly, and later investigation revealed that this wholesome-looking lad from North…

The moment That’s All Right got its first spin on air was pivotal in the lives of Elvis and Sam Phillips that would change both of their fortunes overnight. WHBQ jock Wink Martindale remembered the fateful night to the Television Academy Foundation: “All of a sudden I see the switchboard light up, it lit up light a Christmas tree… He played it once, he played it twice, he played it three times, four times, five times… the listeners just wanted to hear it over and over again. He played it seven times in a row.” Fellow WHBQ DJ Eddie Bond remembered Dewey slipping up to Elvis.au: “Dewey didn’t call him Elvis, though. He called him Elton Preston. He didn’t know, or maybe couldn’t pronounce, his name. ‘Elton Preston’s got a…

Elvis’ record label RCA initially requested that he continue recording in Germany but he declined, preferring to be treated like any other soldier. Despite his worst fears that his worldwide fans would forget him during his stint in the army, Presley’s absence proved a double win: thanks to RCA and manager Colonel Parker drip-feed releasing previously recorded material, Elvis records were never off the radio. Perhaps just as importantly, he earned respect for not shirking his patriotic duty. Elvis’ last recording session for two years in Nashville in June 1958 included cutting future hits A Big Hunk O’ Love and I Need Your Love Tonight. As he completed his Basic Unit Training, one of his most acclaimed films, King Creole, and two soundtrack EPs were released, followed by the Christmas…

Picture the dial on a wireless radio as it shifts between stations. Now imagine the sound of that radio as it slides back and forth between blasts of raucous rock’n’roll and bursts of uplifting, transcendent gospel. It is this, suggests Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s biographer Gayle Wald, that our favourite rockers heard when they tuned into the airwaves. Wald notes that, in this fertile era, stations were less “segmented” than they would become in the 70s because “DJs had more personal autonomy and could play what they liked,” which meant listeners were exposed to a diverse selection of sounds – be they sacred or secular. She speculates that this may have made our rockers happier to slip between gospel and rock’n’roll themselves. “All these musicians talk about listening to the radio,”…

“Dave Edmunds said it was the hardest phone call he ever made,” Don Everly recalled. When Edmunds was looking for material for EB 84, Paul McCartney was first on his list. In an interview with Music Box, McCartney said: “Dave was ringing round to a lot of people, seeing if they wanted to contribute. And I said, ‘Yes, please,’ because The Everly Brothers were one of the very first acts that influenced The Beatles. I think it’s where we got the whole two-people-in-harmony thing. John and I were Phil and Don, really. I told Dave, ‘Give me a week to see if I can come up with something.’” It took him two weeks, but he sent Edmunds a demo of On The Wings Of A Nightingale. Whenever Macca wrote a…

The celebrated songwriter, Mark James, passed away on 8 June at his Nashville home aged 83. Born Francis Rodney Zambon, the Texan Songwriters Hall of Fame member penned hits for numerous artists, but is probably best known for the classic Elvis Presley single Suspicious Minds. James had originally written the track for his own group The Naturals, who had previously scored a local hit with an instrumental called Jive Note. He wrote and recorded Suspicious Minds as his first single on the Scepter label in 1968, although few people heard it. “I don’t think they knew how to promote it,” James reflected with Vintage Rock in 2016. “But the bottom line is, Suspicious Minds wasn’t meant for me, it was meant for Elvis.” Produced by Chips Moman, it would be…

“Singer and double bassist Eliza Stark, guitarist Dmitriy Fedorov, and drummer Oleg Shibaev are on a mission to put Montenegro on the rockin’ map, but their musical journey began back in Russia in the 90s. “It was a boom time for psychobilly and rockabilly in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” says Fedorov. “I was 16, just strumming my guitar. When I saw rockabilly and psychobilly players play guitar with the double bass, I was really inspired. That’s when I started my journey as a professional musician.” Fedorov names Scotty Moore, Link Wray and Batmobile as his key influences, while Imelda May inspired the classically-trained Stark to swap piano for double bass. “She is very cool,” says Stark. “When I heard her a couple of years ago, I thought, I could never…

The Moon Is In The Wrong Place, Shannon And The Clams’ seventh album, was born from tragedy. In August 2022, Shannon Shaw’s fiancé Joe Haener died in a car accident near his family’s farm in Oregon. In the face of this devastating loss, Shaw poured her emotions into her music. “Songwriting and creating is how I’ve always self-soothed,” she says. Shaw and her bandmates Cody Blanchard, Will Sprott, and Nate Mahan headed to Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studios in Nashville, to make the most powerful record of their careers. “Everyone in this band loved Joe,” says Shaw. “It’s not just my loss. It’s their loss, it’s absolutely his family’s loss, it’s the world’s loss.” In May, The Clams marked the album release by performing in the fields around the…

Elvis released his first RCA Victor 7”, Heartbreak Hotel, on 27 January 1956 and, by the first week of May, it topped the Billboard Top 100. While the single climbed the charts, the Burnettes and Burlison were in New York auditioning for Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. Hoping that the trio might tap into the same market as Presley, they were fast-tracked up the bill and on 8 April made the first of their three appearances on the show. “When my dad and Dorsey were doing the Ted Mack show,” recalls Rocky, “Elvis would send them a good luck message every week and congratulate them each time they won. “People like Elvis are very rare. He was really special and one in a million. I never got to meet Elvis…

Johnny Otis, Leiber & Stoller, and Don Robey all had a hand in Big Mama Thornton’s success, but it was Walking Mary who spotted her talent first and whom Big Mama credited her start in the music business to. Born Mary Smith on 27 August 1902 in Huntington, West Virginia, Mary was the half-sister of Bessie Smith and at 13, fleeing an abusive home, joined the circus. A singer and dancer, she performed as a chorus girl in Memphis and as part of Irvin C. Miller’s Brown Skin Models, the Davis S. Bell Medicine Show and F. S. Wolcott’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels before working with Smith. Initially known as Walking Mary she changed her moniker to Diamond Teeth Mary after having diamonds taken from her bracelet and set into her…

LEGEND 1974 – MCA CORAL Side 1 That’ll Be The Day I’m Looking For Someone To Love Not Fade Away Oh Boy Maybe Baby Tell Me How Think It Over It’s So Easy Side 2 Peggy Sue Words Of Love Everyday I’m Gonna Love You Too Listen To Me Rave On Well… All Right Heartbeat Early In The Morning Sied 3 Rock Around With Ollie Vee Midnight Shift Love’s Made A Fool Of You Wishing Reminiscing Baby I Don’t Care Brown Eyed Handsome Man Bo Diddley Side 4 It Doesn’t Matter Anymore Moondreams True Love Ways Raining In My Heart Learning The Game What To Do Peggy Sue Got Married Love Is Strange…

Despite his tragically brief life, Eddie Cochran has an impressively large number of tracks that could be considered his ‘signature song’. Perhaps it could be C’mon Everybody? Twenty Flight Rock? Or is it Somethin’ Else? Three Steps To Heaven was Cochran’s first and only No.1, so it could be that one, or maybe it’s the banging Teenage Heaven? However, a look on Spotify at the list of the most played Cochran numbers suggest that it’s Summertime Blues, taking the top spot with – at the time of writing – more than 100 million listens. Pretty impressive for a song that wasn’t even intended to be an Aside when it was waxed on 28 March 1958. So why has it endured? It’s possible that the frustrations expressed in this story of…

The industry fascination for creating European Elvises kicked off around 1956 after the global success of Heartbreak Hotel. One of the first was 17-year old Austrian Peter Kraus, who recorded Tutti Frutti in Germany in late 1956, with follow-up Don’t Be Cruel. Adriano Celentano, whose debut single in 1958 was a cover of Jailhouse Rock, was credited with introducing rock’n’roll to ballad-loving Italy. Popular for over 50 years, he sold millions, released 40 LPs, and aged 86, released his latest single Toscana Fanboys in 2023. Introduced as the French Elvis, Johnny Hallyday had a career spanning 57 years, featuring 79 albums with 110 million record sales. He became one of the best-selling artists in the world. In the UK, the Elvis mantle of course, initially fell on a youthful Cliff…

In August 1979, Dave Edmunds and Rockpile bandmate Nick Lowe played a live session for the BBC, as a duo. Their nine-song set began with five Everly Brothers covers in a row: Problems, Take A Message To Mary, Crying In The Rain, Poor Jenny and When Will I Be Loved. The duo jokingly called themselves The Beverly Brothers. A year later, when Rockpile released their debut album, Seconds Of Pleasure, four of those songs were put on a bonus 7" EP. From those faithful renditions and their own solo work, it’s no secret that both Edmunds and Lowe were huge fans. And a song they co-wrote in 1983, with Lowe’s then-wife, Carlene Carter, was deliberately Everly-esque. Dave Edmunds told This Is My Story: “It was (I’m Gonna Start) Living Again…

Growing up in Brazil, Christine Carter had a passion for classic cars and old movies. “I sought out films with that vintage theme,” she remembers. “It was while listening to the soundtracks of these old films that I fell in love with 50s music.” After attending her first rockin’ event in São Paulo, Carter was inspired to become a DJ. “In 2013, I was invited to play some records at a party, and since then I have never stopped.” Now, Carter presents Rock A Bop on Rockin 247 Radio and DJs at events from Brazil to London. In 2017, she formed Christine And Her Rockers with her guitarist husband, taking the band to Viva Las Vegas in 2023. “All I can say is that we are excited for the next…