The Doke label

 The Doke label

Columbia, Tennessee

H.B. Jones (alias Phil Barclay)

Doke Records was founded by Nashville booking agent H.B. Jones early in 1958. The label was based in Columbia, Tennessee, but moved to Nashville in 1960. Jimmy Key joined Doke in 1960 and became general manager as well as A&R manager, while Jones remained president of the company. At that time, Jones was seeking new talent and planned to expand his activities to overseas, as it was reported by a Billboard article on June 20, 1960.

Jimmy Key was an influential figure in the Nashville music scene of the 1960s. He owned New Keys music that published also a lot of the Doke releases, led his Key Talent agency, and was a DJ, too. He managed such artists as Linda Manning, Dave Dudley, George Kent, Jimmy Newman, Shirlee Hunter, and many more.

H.B. Jones' first release was "Young Lost John" b/w "It's Raining (Doke #101) in 1958 under the pseudonym of "Phil Barclay." He followed up with three more discs, all in the rock'n'roll style. Most of the material he recorded was composed by him. 

Linda Manning in 1968, Mercury publicity
photo

It was probably in late 1958 when Jimmy Key discovered Linda Manning from Cullman, Alabama, who was twelve years old at that time. According to Key, she "really belts out a song." He was searching for song material for Manning in early 1959 for her first recording session. Her debut single came in June 1959 with "I Don't Want to Say Goodnight to You" b/w "Puppet Lover" for Doke Records (Doke #105). At that time, Key was a DJ at WMCP in Columbia and probably had made connections with H.B. Jones earlier on. "Puppet Lover" was written by the blind couple Floyd and Mary Biggs as well as Jimmy Key. The Biggs were also writing songs for a lot of Murray Nash's singers on his Do-Ra-Me label. Manning had at least two other singles on Doke, before switching first to Bulletin ("Our World of Rock and Roll" / "Sweeter Than Sweet," Bulletin #1000) in 1961 and then Goodlettsville, Tennessee, based Gaylord Records in 1963 ("Johnny Kiss and Tell" / "Thanks a Lot for Everything," Gaylord #6425 and "Turning Back the Pages" / "Hello Little Lover," Gaylord #6429). She had her own radio show in Cullman from 1961 up to 1964 called "The Linda Manning Show" and also appeared on WAPI-TV in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1964, she signed with Key's Rice label and later also recorded for Roulette, Mercury, and Columbia.

Country singer David Price also recorded for Doke in 1960. He was later signed to Rice and Hickory.

Discography

101: Phil Barclay and the Sliders - Young Lost John / It's Raining (1958)
102: Phil Barclay and the Sliders - I Love Em All / Short Fat Ben (1958)
103: Phil Barclay and the Sliders - Hey Gang / Deep Desire (1958)
104: Phil Barclay and the Sliders - Loving Baby / Be Mine (1959)
105: Linda Manning - I Don't Want to Say Goodnight to You / Puppet Lover (1959)
106: Linda Manning - The Boy I Can't Forget / Walking on a Cloud
107: Paul Davis - One of Her Fools / When You Fall (1960)
108: Linda Manning - Gotta Run / My Heart's with the Angels (1960)
109: David Price - Between the Juke Box and the Phone / Could It Be (1960)

Notes:
- Doke 108 was also released on Forlin 501 in 1961.

Thanks to Bob.

Arkansas Mountain Rag

  The Arkansas Travelers - Arkansas Mountain Rag (Benz 1207), 1961
Another short one. It's to warm here to work on a detailed post, I guess. I have some nice discs by Bill Haney, Houston Turner, and Arlen Vaden lined up for you in the near future. Meanwhile, enjoy this little ditty. The flip has been covered here.

The Kenny Norton story

"I'm Just Trying to Find That One Song"

The Story of Kenny Norton 

Special thanks to Kenny Norton

Kenny Norton was one of the many artists produced and recorded by Murray Nash, a Nashville music scene all-around talent and man. "I can't say enough good about Murray Nash, an honest man in a sea of sharks. I received my education at the hand of Robey and Meaux as did many others. Murray Nash was a credit to the music business and the people he worked with were blessed to have him pass through their lives," remembers Norton about Nash. He was still a teenager when working with Nash, releasing his first 45 single on the MusiCenter label. Still, 50 years later, Norton recalls the short time with Nash with fondness.

The early years
Norton was born on June 7, 1947, in Elgin, Texas. At the age of eight months, he was adopted by Sue and Derril Norton from Mexia, Texas, who had a grocery store. Norton was mainly raised by his nannie, a black lady called Katie Brewer: "Katie was a very big influence on my life. She was cousins with Sam Hopkins from Houston. He was known as Lightning Hopkins and was a blues singer. He was recording for Don Robey. Sam always just recorded and took cash for the recordings."

While taking care of young Kenny, Katie used to listen to the radio. She always tuned in to a R&B station out of Dallas, Texas, so Norton grew up listening to such artists as Fats Domino, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ray Charles, Irma Thomas, and of course Lightning Hopkins. Later on, when Norton was in his teens, he also listened to "Randy's Record Mart" in his car, another nighttime R&B radio show from WLAC, Nashville. In contrast to many other singers of his age group in rural Texas, Norton was not raised on country music but on rhythm and blues, quite different back then. One song which he still remembers today was Fats Domino's "Valley of Tears." He listened to that 78rpm so many times, he wore out the record. Later he also listened to the likes of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Katie encouraged Norton to take up singing, as he recalls: "Katie encouraged me to sing because I was always singing along with the radio. I soon had a simple studio set up in my room and spent a year recording and playing the recordings, trying to improve. The truth is I was never a great singer and I'm still not. But like Katie always said everybody can sing, they just have to find their song. So I stuck with it." Norton kept on practicing and also sang with Katie's niece Dinna.

How He Got to Nashville
Sometimes, Norton helped his parents at the store and delivered goods to people. One of the customers he supplied was the famous songwriter Cindy Walker, which he didn't know at first: "I had been delivering to two ladies for over a year and had no idea who they were. It was Cindy Walker and her mother Momma Walker. One day while at Cindy's house we got to talking and music came up. I told her I liked to sing and had a studio set up at home. She said she would like to hear some of the recordings. The next week when I delivered to her I brought a tape and she listened to it." She told Norton that she had a friend in Nashville, who had a recording studio and was just trying to build up a record label. That certain friend was Murray Nash.

"[...] It was then that she told me just who she was. She had written many hits for Ray Charles, Jerry Wallace, Jim Reeves and many others. She had traveled with Bob Wills in the early days." Walker called Nash and Norton travelled to Nashville by bus in order to meet with him. Nash rented a room at the Noel Hotel for Norton, which was not far away from the studio. The next day, Nash introduced Norton to Floyd and Mary Biggs: "Mary was blind and Floyd seemed almost so. Murray was one of the kindest people I have ever known as was the Biggs. After talking with Murray for about an hour he said he would like to record a song that the Biggs and Hargus Robbins had written. He let me listen to the song and I didn't like it at all. I felt it was three or four years too late for it." That song was "Oonie, Oonie, Yah, Yah, Yah," which saw later release on Norton's only single for Nash. 

The aforementioned Hargus Melvin "Pig" Robbins was a blind pianist who was a busy session musician back then. The Biggs and Robbins also collaborated on a couple of other songs that were recorded by some of Nash's artists for his Do-Ra-Me label, including "Someone Like You" by Audrey Bryant (Do-Ra-Me #1405), "Afraid to Answer" by April Clarke (Do-Ra-Me #1429), and "Buenos Noches" by Houston Turner (Do-Ra-Me #1437).

Norton in 1964/1965, taken from the
picture sleeve of his MusiCenter single.

Although Norton was not impressed with both "Oonie, Oonie, Yah, Yah, Yah" and the song Nash intended for the flip "To Know You", he agreed to record them. Nash gave him a tape of the song and Norton went back home to Texas, where he learned the tune. After three weeks, he was back in Nashville for his first recording session. He cut "To Know You" along with "Oonie, Oonie, Yah, Yah, Yah" with Hargus Robbins on piano. According to Norton, this took place in late 1964 or early 1965 at Nash's Sound of Nashville studio. About three or four months after the session, both songs were released in 1965 (MusiCenter #3104).

A couple of months later, Nash arranged a second session for Norton in order to lay down four more songs. Two of them, "All Night Long" and "I'm Getting Tired of You," had been recorded earlier by a group called "The Valiants" on MusiCenter (MusiCenter #3102). The other two were "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and "Get Back." Those four recordings turned out to be more R&B than Nash intended, who was more familiar with producing country music: "Murray was wanting me to go more country but I was in no way interested in country. These recordings were made at what I believe was Grower studios. I may have the name wrong. I do recall a guitar player named Eddie who Murray said played for Hank Snow. Murray gave me tapes of the recordings and I went back home."

The Crazy Cajun Years
After the release of the disc, Nash released Norton's contract to Don Robey (1903-1975), owner of Duke-Peacock Records in Houston, Texas, probably because Robey was a hit-making producer in the rhythm and blues field with such artists as Little Junior Parker, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Gatemouth Brown, and many others. " In about 6 weeks I got a letter from Don Robey from Duke Peacock Records in Houston. Don ask me to come to Houston and meet with him. I'm thinking that the sessions for the covers had been requested by Robey and as it turned out that was the case. From that time on I pretty much lost control of everything. Murray released me to Robey and a short time later Robey released me to Huey Meaux." Norton signed an exclusive recording contract with Meaux for six singles and a seperate songwriter contract. He stayed with Meaux for the next years.

However, Meaux was busy with producing Doug Sahm (and his Sir Douglas Quintet), Barbara Lewis, and B.J. Thomas. When Freddy Fender came along in the mid-1970s, "everyone else was put on the back burner," as Norton puts it. Norton grew desillusioned with the music business and quit music, while Meaux was imprisoned in 1967 for a violation of the Mann Act. "I had become a commercial pilot and flew for a corporation out of Waco, Texas. Actually I was a personal pilot for the owner of the corporation who was a gambler. I spent most of my time flying him to either Vegas or Hot Springs, Arkansas, to gamble," recalls Norton his later employment. The guy Norton worked for got killed in a car crash, so Norton switched to flying mail out of Memphis. That's were he met Murray Nash for the last time, who had quit the music business by that time, too: "One morning when I had flown into Nashville, when I opened the door of the 18 beech so they could unload and reload the mail, there stood Murray Nash. We both couldn't believe it. We were on a tight schedule and were only allowed around 20 minuets on the ground. We talked about 15 minutes and I never saw Murray again. This was in the summer of 1969 or 1970."

Kenny Norton in Mexico, 1976

Kenny Norton, ca. 1977

In the mid-1970s, with his contract still active, Norton began to work with Meaux again. He recorded several of his compositions for him, including "I Wish You Were a Hooker," "Try and Feel the Rain," "The Middle of April," and "Good Mornin' Sam." Meaux promised to release an album with Norton's recordings but din't follow through with it. "What ever music I wrote while with him, he claimed 100%. [...] I think my last recordings for Huey were in late 1975 or early 1976. By that time I had learned my lessons about the record business, I'm a slow learner." Norton then decided to take two of the master tapes, "You Left the Water Running" and "Your Picture," and sold them to independent producer Jimmy Bounds for 2500 $. Bounds released them on his Swamp label. 

Norton worked not only as a commercial pilot but also as a smuggler, transporting weed from southern Mexico. "I spent many years as a commercial pilot and a few as a pilot smuggling weed from southern Mexico. I had quit smuggling in 1977 and was busted a year later. I spent 86 days in the Federal Correction Instutite in Fort Worth, Texas," recalls Norton.

About two years ago, Norton started composing songs again after divorcing from his wife. Today, living on a 17 acres farm at the Brazos River in the woods, Norton has five songs on iTunes and works on a CD at the moment, which he hopes to release this year. Some of the songs he already wrote are about his time as a smuggler, hence the name of his album project "Smugglers Moon." Norton just wants to "[...] write and record and [I] will stay indie, it's never been about the money for me, after all these years, like Katie said: I'm just trying to find that song I can sing."

I want to express my gratitude to Kenny Norton, who was so kind to share his memories with me and supplied a lot of information.

Discography

MusiCenter 3104 

Kenny Norton 

To Know You (Biggs-Biggs-Robbins) / Oonie, Oonie, Yah, Yah, Yah (Biggs-Biggs-Robbins) 

SK4M-3563 / SK4M-3564 (RCA) 

1965

Country Side CS 102
Josea Hopkins
Strawberry Wine (Kenny Norton/John Stuckey) / Monday Morning Blues (Kenny Norton/John Stuckey)
CS-JH-02 / ? 
1975 (on label)

Swamp SR-3106
Kenny Norton and (Salvation Express)
You Left the Water Running (B. Lynn-K. Norton) / Your Picture (R. Gundie)

Pat Parker on Skyland

  Pat Parker accomp. by the Way Mates - Boy Watcher (Skyland 1000), 1962
I'm first and foremost interested in this disc because it was a version of Ronald Killette's lifetime effort "Boy/Girl Watcher." As the years rolled by, Killette placed this song with several artists, most notable with the O'Kaysions in 1968. Pat Parker's version was probably the first of all to come, although Killette stated in an interview with Gary Myers that he recorded the original version on his Trail label in 1958. According to Killette, it sold quite well regionally but no copies have surfaced yet. The fact that he claimed Wayne Grey recorded "Spaceman's Guitar" for Trail (which is wrong, confirmed by Grey) adds to the confusion and leads me to the assumption that there never was a Trail version of "Girl Watcher."

Pat Parker was around 15 years of age when recording "Boy Watcher" in 1962. There are two different versions recorded by her. The story told by Trail is that a Nashville producer took Parker to Nashville in order to cut "Boy Watcher." Accompanied by the Way Mates, this version was released in spring 1962 on the Skyland label out of Skyland, North Carolina (Skyland #1000). Killette didn't like the result and arranged another session for Parker, re-recording both "Boy Watcher" and "Warm Glow" and releasing it on the Heartbeat label out of Florida (Heartbeat #1000). This is the most probable course of action.

Pat Parker's sister recalled that their mother helped Killette with writing "Boy Watcher" but got no credit for it. A similar case later developed with the O'Kaysions' lead guitarist Wayne Pittman. The flip side of Pat Parker's Skyland single, "Warm Glow," was penned by Pat, Mary Parker (possibly her mother) and one certain Genevive Angel. 

Pat Parker's Skyland version became a good seller in regional markets but didn't break into the national charts. She had a follow-up on the label, featuring "Date with the Blues" b/w "Young Sweethearts" (Skyland #1005), the lattet being also a Killette composition recorded earlier by Helen Thomas on Trail. Interestingly, another artist named Norm Mello cut two more Killette songs for Skyland. "You're Something Special" b/w "Beneath Miami Skies" were again both recorded earlier by other artists. I assume that Killette was somehow involved in this label but haven't found any proof yet.

Skyland discography

1000: Pat Parker Accomp. by the Way Mates – Boy Watcher / Warm Glow (1962)
1001:
1002:
1003:
1004: The Way Mates – Little Lola / That’s a Boy’s Way (1962)
1005: Pat Parker Accomp. by the Way Mates – Date with the Blues / Young Sweethearts (1962)
1006:
1007: The Way Mates – Once in a Lifetime / Sunshine Rock (1963)
1008:
1009: Norm Mello – You’re Something Special / Beneath Miami Skies

The Rivertown label

Jimmy Evans and Jimmy Ray "Luke" Paulman- They began playing music
together in the 1950s at Sun Records. They played with Conway Twitty and
Ronnie Hawkins during the 1950s and 1960s. They also composed sevaral
songs together.

One of the many short-lived record companies in Memphis, Rivertown Records popped up in the 1970s during the Rockabilly Revival, when many of the original 1950s performers returned to their career - or to recording on and off, at least.

The label was probably too small for own distribution. This task was transmitted to other, larger, companies such as Memphis Records and Glolite. The first release was Rivertown #RTR-101 by Jimmy Evans (1938-2011), featuring "Between Midnight and Dawn" b/w "Turn Out the Lights, Pull Down the Blinds." It was recorded in 1972 at Jace Recording Studio in San Antonio, Texas (surprisingly not Memphis). The line-up consisted of Evans on vocals and probably guitar, Gerald "Jerry" Brennan on steel guitar, plus other members of Johnny Bush's band.

From 1972 up to 1979, more sessions took place at different Texas recording studios. On July 9, 1972, Evans was back in San Antonia at Texas Sound Studio in order to lay down his second Rivertown disc. In 1974, he recorded at the same location a string of songs that remained unreleased and finally went to Oakridge Recording Studio (Fort Worth, Texas) for his third Rivertown record. Released under the name of "Lattie Lane," it comprised "Nashville Woman" b/w "Untill."

In 1983, Evans used the Rivertown imprint one last time for his release of "Memphis 1955" b/w "If It's Love." It was recorded that year at American Sound Studio (827 Thomas Str. - Memphis, Tennessee) with Evans on vocals and lead guitar, C.W. Gatlin on lead guitar, Glen Rice on steel guitar, Jim Allen on piano, Byron Snyder on bass, and Tommy Gatlin on drums. "Memphis 1955" was one of those songs remembering the good ol' days back in 1955, when "the Memphis sound was comin' to life." It was written by Evans and Jimmy Ray "Luke" Paulman, with whom Evans had worked in the 1950s and early 1960s a lot.

Since all four Rivertown releases were by Jimmy Evans, I  suppose this was his own label. Read more on Jimmy Evans here.

Discography

RTR-101: Jimmy G. Evans - Between Midnight and Dawn / Turn Out the Lights, Pull Down the Blinds
RTR-102: Jimmy Evans - Mr. Blues / Top Ten Chart of Lonely Hearts
RTR-103: Lattie Lane - Nashville Woman / Untill
RTR-1028: Jimmy Dale Evans - Memphis 1955 / If It's Love

Chuck Miller - Lookout Mountain

  Chuck Miller - Lookout Mountain (Mercury 70767X45), 1956
Here's a quick one. This was the flip to Miller's cover of the Gene Krupa song "Boogie Blues," which was covered here on Mellow's Log Cabin.

Wilder Evangelistic Party

Sister Wilder with Caroline and Jimmie (Wilder Evangelistic Party 1001), 1959   "The World Needs Jesus"   "Keep Traveling On"
Sister E. Wilder does some country gospel here. The songs would sound better if Sister Wilder had a better singing voice, too nasal in my opinion. I couldn't find any information on neither Wilder nor on her Wilder Evangelistic Party from Little Rock. Pressed by Southern Plastics, this record was released in 1959.

Publisher on both sides was Singing River Publishing of Biloxi, Mississippi. The company was a defendant in a lawsuit about unpaid royalties of the song "Tell Him No," written by Travis Pritchett. Reported by Billboard on June 13, 1960: Artists Sue on Royalties

Sonny Williams on CTJ, Part 2

Sonny Williams - Play Me a Country Song (Cotton Town Jubilee 116), 1964
Another interesting offering by Sonny Williams on the Cotton Town Jubilee label. Both "Too Much Competition" as well as its flip side "Play Me a Country Song" were written by songwriter Melvin Endsley, most famous for penning "Singing the Blues." 

Composer Melvin Endsley (1934-2004) hailed from Drasco, Arkansas, near Heber Springs. He suffered from polio as a child and was chained to a wheel chair all his life. While being at a Crippled Children's Hospital in Memphis, he learned to play guitar and after his return to Drasco, began performing on local radio. In 1954, he wrote "Singing the Blues" and held a first demo session in 1955 at the Hickory Studio, Nashville. Marty Robbins and Guy Mitchell had a big hit with "Singing the Blues" in 1956. In December of that year, he began recording for RCA-Victor, switched to MGM in 1959 and then to Hickory in 1960. He held one unissued session in 1960 for Eddie Bond's Stomper Time label and returned to Memphis for another session in 1965, this time for the Millionaire label (another Eddie Bond venture). From 1967 onwards, he recorded for his own Mel-Ark label. Listen to one of Endsley's RCA-Victor singles on Some Local Loser.

Read more:

• Gene Williams on Cotton Town Jubilee
• Sonny Williams on CTJ, Part 1
• Cotton Town Jubilee discography

• Cotton Town Jubilee label story

Christie on Epic

 Christie (Epic 5-10695), 1970

"San Bernadino"  
"Here I Am"
Music journalist Bruce Eder once called Christie "England's answer to Creedence Clearwater Revival." Regarding their style and influences, this is certainly true but they lacked of success, unfortunately. Apart from two hit singles, their work is commonly unknown today.

The band Christie originally consisted of Jeff Christie on vocals and bass, Vic Elmes on lead guitar and vocals, and Mike Blakely on drums. Each one of them had played with other groups before. Christie started out in skiffle and rock'n'roll outfits, before recording some demos with the Tremeloes. That's where he met Blakely, whose brother Alan played guitar with the Tremeloes. Elmes performed with the Epics and the Acid Gallery before.

They were signed by the CBS label and released "Yellow River" as their debut single in 1970. However, this was actually Christie's and Elmes' vocals dubbed over an older instrumental track by the Tremeloes, recorded at Christie's first session with them. "Yellow River" soon proofed to be their first hit: it reached #1 in the UK and even #23 on the US charts, an enormous success for an unknown English group.

Their follow-up, "San Bernadino" / "Here I Am," showcased the band's different influences: pop, country, rock'n'roll. Both songs could have been recorded in almost the same manner by John Fogerty and his troop. While "San Bernadino" was more country flavored, "Here I Am" was a stone-hard rock'n'roll number that easily could have been recorded ten years earlier. It was the top side "San Bernadino" that reached #5 in Germany and #7 in the UK. It was released in the US on CBS' Epic label but failed to repeat the success of its precursor, reaching #92.

Christie's album "Yellow River" enjoyed moderate chart action but the band soon dropped out of the national music scenes. After numerous line-up changes, the group disbanded in 1971. Christie and Elmes pursued solo career in music and are still fronting their own bands.

Johnny Cash on Sun, Pt. I

  Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two - It's Just About Time (Sun 309), 1958
Every aspect of Johnny Cash's long and colorful career has been document well enough. Nevertheless, I listen to him frequently and I think, nobdy can say anything against a Cash song here and there.

"It's Just About Time" was recorded during a period when Cash was still under contract with Sun but was desillusioned with the label. Attention was now given to Jerry Lee Lewis and in late 1957, Cash signed with Columbia. Sun's owner and producer Sam Phillips tried to gather as much Cash recordings as possible then because he planned to release new material during the next years. 

Cash's 1958 sessions produced a large amount of songs written by other Sun artists, such as Jack Clement, Bill Justis and Charlie Rich. It was Clement who produced those sessions and took the Cash sound into a pop oriented direction with most songs being overdubbed with vocal choruses. It were those overdubbs that ruined most of the recordings. Clement reportedly later admitted his mistake but the damage was already done. It was the true simplicity that made Cash's (and the Tennessee Two's) sound that unique.

During his last session at Sun on July 17, 1958, Cash and his band recorded Jack Clement's "It's Just About Time" and the Charlie Rich composition "I Just Thought You'd Like to Know", among other tunes as well. The line-up constisted of Cash on vocals and rhyhtm guitar, Luther Perkins on lead guitar, Charlie Rich on piano, Marshall Grant on bass, and an unknown drummer with an later overdubbed chorus. Both songs were released on Sun #309 on November 12, 1958. Although "I Just Thought You'd Like to Know" was the top side, it was the typical melodic Clement song that eventually reached C&W #30 and Pop #47.

Billboard November 24, 1958, pop review

At that time, Cash was already with Columbia and had released "All Over Again" b/w "What Do I Care" (Columbia #4-41251) in September 1958, his first hit record for the label. Although Cash still wrote the same great, profound songs and performed with the same band, he never sounded like he did on Sun.