Good News

Good News
3109 Park Avenue

This was another label associated with Style Wooten, though it seems not to be fully controlled by him. The only known release has "Olive Branch Gospel Productions" printed on the label., which was one of Wooten's companies. Olive Branch is a city south of Memphis across the Mississippi state border.

45/7277: Jessie Clerk - Our Pastor / I Said Ode to Willie Joe (1977)

The Snearly Ranch Boys

The Band that Made Them Rockabilly Stars
The Snearly Ranch Boys from Memphis, Tennessee

The Snearly Ranch Boys at the Cotton Club, West Memphis, Arkansas, mid 1950s:
(from left to right) Stan Kesler, Buddy Holobaugh, Clyde Leoppard, Hank Byers,
Smokey Joe Baugh, Barbara Pittman

It is said that members of the Snearly Ranch Boys were involved in more Gold and Platinum records (nearly 400) than the members of the Beatles (141). This has yet to be proven but would be an astonishing effort for a local country music and rock'n'roll combo from Memphis. Much has been written about particular members of the group but seldom, the group itself was the spotlight of a publication.

The Snearly Ranch Boys were part of Memphis' music scene through the whole decade of the 1950s. They were there when the melting pot of blues and country music began to bubble, they were there when it exploded and they were still there when it would evolve into new styles. Over the years, members came and went, so many that it is actually hard to tell how many.

The band was basically a country and western outfit, entertaining the Memphis audiences with honky tonk and western swing sounds on a frequent base at night clubs and over radio. The band underwent many line-up changes over the years. By the mid 1950s, they soon found themselves being in the orbit of the rising Sun label - in parts due to their vocalists, who often went to Sun from being a member of the Snearly Ranch Boys. The band could be described as a "cradle" for Memphis rockabilly singers.

The early years at the Snearly Boarding House
The birthplace of the group that became known as the Snearly Ranch Boys was a boarding house on 233 North McNeil Street in Memphis. It was owned by Omah "Ma" Snearly at least until the 1940s and was known as the Snearly Ranch or Snearly Ranch House. A lot of musicians were living in this boarding house and by 1949, a consistent group of musicians had developed that came together as a band. In honor of Ma Snearly, the group named itself after her boarding house. The Snearly Ranch Boys were born.

The first ever line-up of the band is not reported unfortunately but early members included Jan R. Ledbetter on bass, whose wife came to the Snearly Ranch during World War II, and Clyde Leoppard, who alternated between steel guitar, bass and drums and became the group's manager. Other early members were Robert "Bob" Pepper, Tommy Potts, and Johnnie White, among probably others.

The building that housed Ma Snearly's Ranch is stillstanding on
233 North McNeil Street. Source: Google Street View

The Ranch Boys soon made themselves a name in Memphis and its counterpart across the Mississippi River, in West Memphis, Arkansas, as a popular live act. Their brand of music was not clearly defined. It definitly rooted in the country music styles of the 1940s, including honky-tonk and western swing, but the group's members brought in a lot of different musical influences and tastes, too. Pianist Smokey Joe Baugh brought in a good batch of boogie woogie and rhythm and blues, not only because of his piano playing but also because of his gravely voice. Drummer Johnny Bernero, who often performed with the band during the mid 1950s and became known at local Sun Records for his distinctive shuffle rhythm, also liked to perform jazz music once in a while. Bill Taylor felt a similar affection for jazz and was influenced by such artists as Dizzy Gillespie.

The Snearly Ranch Boys' own brand of country music made them a popular act and earned them a regular spot at Gary Loftin's West Memphis based Cotton Club, located on Broadway and frequented mostly by white country music listeners. West Memphis was a hot bed for entertaining at that time, a pulsating town of nightlife, clubs, live music, and gambling. The Snearly Ranch Boys rose to become the house band of the club for years. The band also held a regular spot on radio KWEM in Memphis/West Memphis since the early 1950s, spreading their sounds all over the region. The station hosted both black and white musicians, many of them now of legendary status, including B.B. King, Eddie Bond, Johnny Cash, Sonny Boy Williamson II, James Cotton, and many more. It also aired Memphis' few Saturday night live country music stage shows, "Saturday Night Jamboree", from 1953 to 1954 and eventually, after being renamed KWAM, Gene Williams' "Cotton Town Jubilee" in the early 1960s. Snearly Ranch Boy Smokey Joe Baugh and Memphis guitarist Paul Burlison, who was a member of Shelby Follin's band at that time, were performing from time to time with Howlin' Wolf on the latter's show, which was on the air right after the Follins band's spot (and the Ranch Boys' show in turn came after the Wolf's).

An early line-up of the Snearly Ranch Boys, ca. early 1950s.
Clyde Leoppard is placed far left on steel guitar. Source: KWEM Archives.

Entrance Into the Sun Orbit
Stan Kesler joined the Snearly Ranch Boys in the early 1950s after relocating to the city in 1950 as well as Bill Taylor. Kesler would play steel guitar and Taylor served as the band's trumpeter and featured vocalist. Both were adept at songwriting and collaborated on a couple of songs, originally intended to be recorded by the band, but two of them ended up to be on the list for Elvis Presley, who had made his recording debut in summer 1954 for the uprising independent label Sun Records in Memphis. But more of that later. 

Even before Presley recorded these songs, the band came to the attention of Sam Phillips, who ran his Sun record label out of his studio on Union Avenue in Memphis. The songwriting efforts of the Kesler-Taylor duo and the band's connection to Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch, both short-time members of the Snearly Ranch Boys and by 1954  Sam Phillips' new auxiliary workers in the C&W field, brought the band to the attention of Phillips, who seriously considered breaking into the country music business (partly due to Presley's success in this field). Whoever was responsible for bringing the band into the little Memphis Recording Service studio, either Claunch and Cantrell or Leoppard as part of his manager role for the band, Sam Phillips set up a session for the Snearly Ranch Boys in February 1955 that produced two songs: "Lonely Sweetheart", a country ballad reminiscent of the 1940s country hits written by Stan Kesler and probably Al Rogers (a bandleader with whom Kesler had performed prior to his Memphis days), and the Kesler-Taylor penned novelty number "Split Personality", on which Taylor and Smokey Joe Baugh collaborated as Dr.-Jekyll-and-Mr.-Hyde-like narrators. The line-up included Bill Taylor on vocals, Smokey Joe Baugh on vocals and piano, Buddy Holobaugh on guitar, Stan Kesler on steel guitar, and Clyde Leoppard on bass (or drums, depending on which source you believe). Jan Ledbetter, who played bass with the group, was perhaps absent that day.

Phillips released both songs on his new label Flip (#502) already that same month or the month after (sources vary on this issue). It came out on both 78rpm and 45rpm format and is now a rare item. The disc didn't saw much exposure, although it might have sold decent in the Memphis area due to the band's popularity and possibly brought them onto some of Sun's package tours during 1955 or 1956. In addition, Phillips recognized Kesler's talents as a musician and booked him for a slew of country sessions during 1955, including recordings by Charlie Feathers, the Miller Sisters, and Carl Perkins.

Kesler and Taylor composed "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (borrowing its melody from a Campbell's soup advertisement), which was eventually recorded by Elvis Presley in early April 1955 for Sun Records. Presley's version was a blues tingled country song, supported strongly by Jimmie Lott's drumming, Bill Black's slap bass and Scotty Moore's rich guitar playing (Moore also performed with the Ranch Boys a couple of times prior to 1954). Released later in April that year as the flip side of "Baby Let's Play House" (Sun #217), it became a #10 C&W hit. Kesler would compose more songs that were given to Presley, including "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", which Presley took to #1 in the country charts in 1955.

Although their one and only release as a band did not make any great impact, it brought pianist Baugh to the attention of Phillips. In some way, he embodied what Phillips had looked for so long (and had found in Elvis Presley): a white country boy who could sing like a black man. And Baugh, whose gravelly voice wasn't of natural cause but likely due to a throat or windpipe injury, could very well sing like a black blues singer. Paired with his boogie piano style, he was sounding so black people often thought he really was.

On August 25, 1955, another session was organized, this time to produce tracks on Baugh. With a selection of Snearly Ranch Boys that included Buddy Holobaugh, Stan Kesler, Bill Taylor, and Johnny Bernero (replacing Leoppard), at least two songs were produced that day, which were eventually released by Phillips a month later. "The Signifying Monkey" was credited to Kesler and Taylor but the lyrics had a long tradition in African-American culture. It was more of a narrative, done by Baugh in his gravely voice, with Stan Kesler taking up the lead part on his steel guitar. Its flip side, "Listen to Me Baby" was the much more interesting side, a remarkable piece of jump blues and country music crossover. Baugh has fine moments on the piano here with Bernero providing a jumping beat and Kesler throwing in the country feel on steel guitar. The record was first issued on Flip #228 and then, after Phillips had to discontinue the label due to legal troubles, on Sun #228 and hit the market on September 15. On the Flip release, the credit went to "Smokey Joe" and the band was hiding as "Clyde Leoppard Band", whereas the Sun version was simply credited to "Smokey Joe," omitting the Snearly Ranch Boys possibly to make it attractive also to black audiences. The disc sold surprisingly well with 25.000 copies and reportedly got Baugh an invitation from the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.

Session band
Baugh and the Snearly Ranch Boys recorded some more sessions for Sun during 1955 and 1956 but none of the recorded material was ever released by Phillips despite Baugh's successful debut. However, it was another, fresh singer that would gain Phillips' attention and cause the band to enter the studio on 706 Union Avenue again.

Mississippi born Warren Smith was fresh out of the US Air Force in early 1956 and upon his discharge, had almost immediately relocated to Memphis. Smith had taken up the guitar during his service and decided to try his luck in the music business. Soon after his arrival, he visited the Cotton Club and asked the band for an audition, spontaneously sitting in with them. Stan Kesler promptly recognized the singer's talent and contacted Phillips to tell him about his new discovery.

Kesler had already a beautiful country ballad in the can entitled "I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry" intended for Smith, who was raised on country music and evidently greatly adept at this style, but Sam Phillips requested another song for a session. Before Kesler or any other of the band members could write a word or a note, Phillips called back and told Kesler that Johnny Cash had returned from a tour with a "rhythm song" he had written in Shreveport. In February, the band including Smith, Phillips and Johnny Cash met at the Cotton Club to go through the details. The idea was to share the profits from the future record in equal parts as, after all, Clyde Leoppard was paying Smith's expenses at the Snearly boarding house. A demo of the Cash song, entitled "Rock'n'Roll Ruby", was given to the band to give in idea of how it sounded. Cash had previously made the tape at KWEM.

Later that month, a session was set up at Sun and the band worked up the selected compositions. The line-up included Warren Smith on vocals and rhythm guitar, Buddy Holobaugh on lead guitar, Stan Kesler on steel guitar, Smokey Joe Baugh on piano, Jan Ledbetter on bass, and Johnny Bernero on drums. The result was a rollicking performance of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" with great twin-solos by Holobaugh and Kesler plus another piano break by Baugh and Bernero's shuffle rhythm. The flip side, "I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry", became what was intended to be, a beautiful ballad sung sincere by Smith and supported by Kesler's steel guitar fills.

Sam Phillips coupled both recordings on Sun #239 and released them in March 1956. Billboard reviewed Smith's single first on April 21 and - when "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" had already hit the local Memphis and Charlotte charts - picked it as a "This Week's Best Buy." On May 26, Warren Smith hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Memphis C&W charts. Smith performed a string of shows with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Eddie Bond, and Roy Orbison in the Memphis area, then embarking on a tour through Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi with Orbison, who had just hit the charts with "Ooby Dooby." By July, "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" had sold more than 68.000 copies, a success that none of Sun's other top stars like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins or Jerry Lee Lewis achieved with their debut releases.

The recording of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" (and a couple of earlier unreleased recordings of Smokey Joe Baugh) proofed the Snearly Ranch Boys could really rock, although they maintained a country feel to everything they did. But they would carry their sound even further. And: the Snearly Ranch Boys had established itself as a smithy for Sun singer (or at least for singers who became part of the label's periphery).

Billboard May 5, 1956

While "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" had become a good seller by April, the Snearly Ranch Boys already worked with another vocalist, this time a young female singer from Memphis, Barbara Pittman. Smith had left the band as he was riding high on local chart success despite his agreement with the band. Barbara Pittman had performed with Lash LaRue's western show prior to her return to the city in early 1956. Then, she met Kesler who brought her in as a vocalist for the Snearly Ranch Boys for their regular spots at the Cotton Club. Kesler had written a song called "Playing for Keeps" that he wanted Elvis Presley to record, who had just switched labels to RCA-Victor, and recorded a demo of it with Pittman as the singer. Sam Phillips heard it and was impressed. A session was arranged on April 15 for Pittman and the band, recording a couple of songs, including the raucous "I Need a Man" and a soft ballad entitled "No Matter Who's to Blame". The sound was similar to Warren Smith's record but more aggressive in approach. Kesler's steel guitar played in the background this time, while Buddy Holobaugh knocks out a thrashing solo on guitar, Jan Ledbetter slaps the bass like he never did before and Smokey Joe Baugh pounding the keys for another instrumental break.

Phillips was confident enough with the results that he signed Pittman to a contract and released both songs, which were again Kesler originals, on Sun #253 on September 24, 1956. It was reviewed in October by Billboard but sold not as much as it should have done. Pittman would go on to record various sessions for Sun, often with members of the Snearly Ranch Boys but mostly not as a whole unit, and had four more releases on Phillips' new Phillips International label.

Own productions
By this time, the Snearly Ranch Boys underwent some changes. Stan Kesler learned electric bass in late 1956 and switched from steel guitar to bass altogether eventually, being one of the first musicians in Memphis to use this new kind of instrument. He also was working with Sun as a session musician and songwriter. Also other members of the group, especially Smokey Joe Baugh and Johnny Bernero, were used frequently by Sam Phillips as studio musicians. Bill Taylor had left the band by then and headed to Texas, where he joined Jimmy Heap's Melody Masters. 

Although it is quite possible that Barbara Pittman performed with the band on occasions throughout the years, the band also featured other singers in their live programs and many of these names could be found sooner or later on a record. Another young musician from Ferriday, Louisiana, performed with then band on occasion approximately during very late 1956 and early 1957. His name was Jerry Lee Lewis. After his first record came out on Sun on December 1, 1956, Sun staff producer Jack Clement brought him along and placed him as a pianist with the Snearly Ranch Boys, as Smokey Joe Baugh had disappeared for a while in his usual unreliable manner. However, by February or March 1957 Lewis had already left again as he was on tour with some of the big names of Sun's roster. The band made a recording later that year with a new singer. Eddie Collins came to the band likely in 1957 and they recorded him at Slim Wallace's garage studio on Fernwood Drive. The products, "Patience Baby" b/w "Can't Face Life Alone", were recorded with the usual line-up and found release on Wallace's Fernwood label (#104, September 1957).

By late 1957, Kesler parted ways with Sun Records, opting to form his own record label in the form of Crystal Records. From this point on, the Snearly Ranch Boys ceased from recording at Sun and recorded at various other venues in Memphis. Also, Kesler and Leoppard discovered the business side of recording and operated various companies in partnership during the next years.

Kesler's first own business was Crystal Records. The label was in business for the most part of 1958 and all releases were by Snearly Ranch Boys vocalists: Jean Kelly, also nicknamed "The Cotton Patch Cinderella," Don Hosea (who also recorded for Sun and Rita), Jimmy Knight, who cut the band's "Hula Bop", and Jimmy Prittched, who likely waxed the best remembered recording from this time period, the magnificent "That's the Way I Feel" (with Smokey Joe Baugh doing a tremendous performance a la Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano). By the end of the year, the label had gone out of business, however. More on Crystal Records can be found here. 

Leoppard and Kesler joined forces in 1959 and opened up a recording studio, L&K Recording Service on 65 North Main Street in Memphis with some semi-professional equipment. Both had experienced failures while founding record labels - Kesler with Crystal, Leoppard with his Fonovox label that had only one sole issue by Smokey Joe Baugh - but, their joint venture in form of the recording studio did not last long either. By April 1959, Jack Clement joined as a partner. Clement, another musician and recording engineer who had started with Fernwood for a brief time, then worked with Sun until 1959, set out on his own in the spring of that year, founding the short-lived Summer Records (which did not last long, either).

In March 1960, Jack Wiener came in. Wiener was a sound engineer at Sheldon studios in Chicago, which mastered and pressed records for such labels as Chess, Sun, and many smaller imprints including Clement's Summer label. He had come down to Memphis in order to fulfill his army service and to construct parts of  Sam Phillips' new recording studio on Madison Avenue. While in Memphis, he became acquainted with other music business personalities and one of them was Stan Kesler. Wiener bought 50% of the L&K studio, the other 50% were left for Kesler, Leoppard, and Clement. The latter dropped out soon after, moving to Nashville to work for RCA-Victor and then to Beaumont, Texas, finding acclaim in his own right.

Kesler found another property on 14 North Manassas Avenue (not far away from the Sun Studio on Union Avenue), moving and rebuilding the small-scale studio under the name of "Echo Recording Studios Inc.". This studio was used by local and even more distant clients during the next two years, although it officially folded already in January 1961. However, Kesler continued to use the studio to run the labels Pen (starting in 1962) and XL.

Kesler produced at least two records that still had a Snearly Ranch Boys connection, although they were not or not directly connected with the band. By 1962, Bill Taylor had returned to Memphis and, of  course, hooked up again with his old bandmate Stan Kesler. Kesler produced two instrumentals with Taylor, the Mexican styled "Border Town" dominated by Taylor's trumpet, and "Twilight Fantasy" with likely Bobby Woods on piano. The second record came into existence two years later. Kesler produced a record for a tex-mex band named Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. They had recorded earlier but it was probably Kesler's first production with them and he remembered "The Singifying Monkey" that the Snearly Ranch Boys had done with Smokey Joe Baugh on vocals. Kesler let Domingo Samudio, Sam the Sham's real name, record it along with one of his own songs, "Juimonos (Let's Went)", and released it on the XL label (#905) in 1964. Although it had an updated sound, the arrangement was pretty well the same as Smokey Joe Baugh's version nearly ten years earlier.

Sam the Sham's version might have urged Sam Phillips to dig out the old Smokey Joe Baugh tapes and re-release his version of "The Signifying Monkey" in May 1964. Another theory signifies that Phillips re-issued the song because it has the same shuffle beat as Millie Small's song "My Boy Lollipop", which was a hot platter in April 1964.

Clyde Leoppard's Tempo Recording Studio
By the advent of the 1960s, the Snearly Ranch Boys had drastically changed. Many of the original members went their own ways. Bill Taylor had parted in the mid 1950s, Buddy Holobaugh left for Waco, Texas, in 1961. Smokey Joe Baugh, who was unreliable due to his alcohol and pill addiction in any case, worked with the Bill Black Combo throughout the 1960s, and Kesler went more and more into record production. Johnny Bernero had founded his own band by the mid 1950s, which at times also included Buddy Holobaugh and Clyde Leoppard, and recorded one single on Beacon/Dot.

In addition to the line-up changes, other circumstances made it difficult to keep the band running. KWEM became KWAM in 1959 and stopped airing live music a year later. The Cotton Club and nearly every other club in West Memphis were closed down following the murder of a 9th grade school girl after leaving the Cotton Club. Leoppard changed the name of the band to "The Tempos" in the 1960s to go in uniform with his new recording studio. In addition, the old name of the band had become out of fashion by the late 1950s. An exact date is not reported but it seems that the band disbanded at some point in the 1960s.

Leoppard continued his activities in the music business, operating his Tempo Recording Studio out of downtown Memphis. Reverend Juan D. Shipp, KWAM gospel radio show host and independent record producer, used Leoppard's facilities frequently to record gospel acts, which he released on his D-Vine Spirituals and JCR labels. The VU label also came out of Tempo and this label may have featured the involvement of Leoppard himself. 

In his later life, Leoppard relocated to Arkansas, where rock'n'roll collector and Sun Records enthusiast Mack Stevens found him in the 1990s: "I met Clyde back in the 1990s in Arkansas; I visited his small rural house and he had a recording studio in the back but unfortunately it had suffered a lightning strike the night before which knocked out all the equipment including the vintage Ampex recorders. Sadly he didn't have any of the good vintage records either, although he had some big band and country 78s, run of the mill things, for which he had made his own homemade 78 RPM sleeves out of old stock Carl Perkins Sun LP covers by cutting them down two inches."

Appendix
The Snearly Ranch Boys were more than just a popular country band. They were part of a musical legacy that developed in the 1950s in Memphis; a development, that began in the early years of the decade and lasted well into the 1970s. The group was a micro-catalyst in the city's music scene during the heyday of rockabilly and rock'n'roll. And moreover, the band overcame racial boundaries through music (a key element in the invention of rock'n'roll), exemplified through the relationship of some band members with Howlin' Wolf. Michael Hurtt, musician, record collector and researcher, also met Clyde Leoppard in later years and constitutes: "Clyde was never a member of the musicians' union, and was turned down when he applied in 1956. He claimed it was because of his association and mixing with blues bands, which I can very well believe. Despite a miniscule recording career (perhaps due to the union situation), Clyde's band was a true incubator of Memphis rock 'n' roll. In addition to Warren Smith and Barbara Pittman, more trailblazers passed through the Snearly Ranch Boys than didn't: Reggie Young, Bill Black, Marcus Van Story, Hayden Thompson, Eddie Bond and Gene Simmons to name just a few, and long-running member Stan Kesler, who started out on steel and then switched to electric bass. Stax and Hi Records founders Jim Stewart and Quinton Claunch were members as well.""

There has never been an official re-release of the Snearly Ranch Boys' output, as the recordings under their own name were next to minimal. However, El Toro Records compiled a CD comprised of Smokey Joe Baugh's recordings that also includes much of the band's session work in addition to some more recordings on which Baugh served as a studio musician.

List of members

(in alphabetical order)
(might be incomplete)

Baugh, Smokey Joe
Bernero, Johnny
Byers, Hank
Hall, Buddy
Hosea, Don
Holobaugh, Buddy
Hornbeck, Rusty
Kelly, Jean
Kesler, Stan
Knight, Jimmy
Ledbetter, Jan
Leoppard, Clyde
Lewis, Jerry Lee
Martin, Ray
Pepper, Robert
Pittman, Barbara
Potts, Tommy
Pritchett, Jimmy
Claunch, Quinton
Smith, Warren
Stewart, Jim
Taylor, Bill
Van Brocklin, Lucille
Van Story, Marcus
Vescovo, Al
White, Johnnie
Young, Reggie

Sources

• The New York Times: Sun Country Retrospective
• The Snearly Ranch Boys Facebook site 
• The Commercial Appeal: Stan Kesler obituary
• Long Lost Memphis '70s Sacred Soul
• 706 Union Avenue: The Flip sessions
• A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry: Jack Wiener and Sheldon Recording Studios
• Soul Detective: Clarence Nelson, Part Two

Reka Records discography

Jimmy Ace - Kentucky Twist (Reka 299)

Reka Records was the small outlet that saxophone player Jimmy Lamberth operated out of his hometown Jonesboro, Arkansas. Active between 1959 and 1964, the label issued a bit more than a handful of releases, all of them from local talent and commercially unsuccessful.

Lamberth was born in 1927 in Jonesboro and came - contrary to most of his fellow musicians - from a trained and more sophisticated musical background. He played jazz in different bands but eventually would also perform with country combos in the Memphis and Arkansas regions. He was not eager to record or score a hit but nevertheless cut a session for Lester Bihari's Meteor label in 1957, which produced the single "Latch on to Your Baby" b/w "I'll Pretend" (Meteor #5044). In the late 1950s, he also worked with piano rock'n'roller Teddy Redell and backed him up on a couple of sessions for Vaden Records.

In 1959, Lamberth set up his own label, Reka Records, and made Jonesboro its headquarter. However, he would record most of the singles in Memphis, as he would often print on the labels ("A Memphis Recording"). The debut was a release of the owner himself with "Reelin' and Rockin'" b/w "Harbor Lights" in 1959. He would cut two more releases for the label (also as "Hank Hankins").

This particular release was issued twice. The first edition was Reka #298 by Jimmy Lamberth, hiding under his pseudonym "Hank Hankins". He turned the old Stephen Foster tune "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" into a wailing rock'n'roll instrumental and reworked the Delmore Brothers hit "Blues Stay Away from Me" in the same way (with vocal support, however). He subsequently used the same masters for #299 and re-released them under the name of fellow sax man Johnny "Ace" Cannon. Cannon likely did not perform on these cuts, as Lamberth was the sax man himself, but he probably thought, it would be a good idea to release the songs under Cannon's name, as Cannon was riding high on the charts with his own version of "Blues Stay Away from Me" in 1962. Interestingly, some copies of #299 have a sticker over the artist name with Jimmy Ace on it. This was done possibly due to contractal restrictions as Cannon was tied to Hi Records.

By the mid 1960s, the label had become dormant and in the 1970s, Lamberth became a missionary evangelist for the Phillipines and kept this occupations well into the 2000s. He died 2016, aged 88, in Jonesboro.

If you have additional info on Jimmy Lamberth, Reka Records, or artists that recorded for the label, feel free to contact me.

Discography

294: Jimmy Lamberth - Rockin' and Reelin' / Harbor Lights (1959)

295: Jo Haynes - So Long / Scotty Mine

296: Sonny Deckelman - Born to Lose / After You're Gone

297: Billy Childs - Call Me Shorty / I  Need Your Love (1960)
298: Hank Hankins - My Old Kentucky Home Rock / Blues Stay Away from Me (1960)

299: Ace Cannon - Kentucky Twist / Blues Stay Away from Me (also released as by "Jimmy Ace") (ca. 1962)
400: Jimmy Lamberth - Do You Know / Step-Out
401: Kenny Owens - Wrong Line / Come Back Baby (1964)

Jerry Smith on Shock

Jerry Smith - Sweet Face (unknown year), Shock 1007

Most discographies doesn't list this record but it seems to be one of Jerry Lee "Smoochy" Smith's earliest discs, if not the first. Smith, famous for being an integral part of Memphis' rockabilly scene in the 1950s (although second generation of the originals, if so to speak, as he arrived not until 1957), also had success in the early 1960s with the instrumental group "Mar-Keys."


Smith was born in 1939 and got his musical talent from his father, who played fiddle, guitar, and harmonica. He also played a bit piano and taught his son the few chords he knew. That was the beginning of Smith's musical career. Father and son began appearing on local Jackson, Tennessee, radio WDXI but tragedy struck, when Smith's father was killed in a car accident. Afterwards, Smith began performing with other groups and by 1953, he played with a gospel quartet and performed on radio again.

Jackson had a small but lively music scene and Smith soon began playing with Carl Perkins' band. When Perkins got into the Sun studio to record "Blue Suede Shoes," he asked Smith to play piano on it (although producer Sam Phillips would have been sceptical about a piano in the band, as he thought this would drown the "Sun Sound"). However, as Smith was only about 15 years old at the time, his mother didn't allow him to travel to Memphis. "Blue Suede Shoes" became a million seller and when Smith got the chance again to record in Memphis as part of Kenny Parchman's band, he was allowed to go.

Smith moved to Memphis in 1957 and recorded several sessions with Parchman and afterwards, became a session musician at Sun until 1959. Smith performed with different acts, including Chips Moman, and through this association Smith became a part of the Mar-Keys, who had a big hit in the summer of 1961 with the instrumental "Last Night."

It is speculative where the Shock single fits in. Smith had at least two more local Memphis releases i this period. One was on the Sandy label with Smith belting out "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Come On Back." Judging from the sound of both records, I'd say the Sandy disc was first and the Shock single afterwards. It is not known where and when this record was recorded but "Sweet Face" features some nice piano work by Smith. He also made a record for the local Chimes label, which was totally different in sound.

Smith continued his career in the music business and recorded for such labels as Rice, Chart, ABC, Papa Joe's Music Box, Decca, Hi-Lowe, and countless singles and albums for Ranwood (mostly hiding under the pseudonym of "The Magic Organ"). He played on several rockabilly revival recordings, including great sides by Eddie Bond and Vern Pullens. In 1983, he became part of the Sun Rhythm Section, a group of original rockabilly performers that toured worldwide.

Smith remains active as a musician to this day. In 2008, he has published his autobiography "The Real Me." A nice interview from back then was made by the Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

Johnny Cash on post-Sam Phillips Sun

Johnny Cash - Get Rhythm (1969), Sun 1103

This is just an oddity in Johnny Cash's discography and not a very interesting one to be sure but I thought someone might like it or find it just enjoying.

This is a reissue as you might expect. Sam Phillips sold the Sun record label on July 1, 1969, for 1.000.000 $ (yes, one million) to Shelby Singleton, who had earlier success in the record business with his Plantation label in Nashville. Shortly after acquiring Sun, Singleton began re-releasing old Sun sides from the 1950s and 1960s, including this Johnny Cash classic. It was originally recorded by Cash (vocals/rhythm guitar) and his fellows Luther Perkins (electric lead guitar) and Marshall Grant (bass) on April 2, 1956, at the Sun Studio in Memphis with Sam Phillips taking seat behind the glass, engineering and producing the session. 

Cash had written the song after seeing a shoe shine boy working on the streets of Memphis. An earlier demo had been recorded by Cash in late 1954 or early 1955 with just his acoustic guitar. With its fast rockabilly beat, the song was initially intended for Elvis Presley but when Presley switched to RCA-Victor, Cash recorded the song himself.

"Get Rhythm" became the flip side of Cash's first no.1 country chart hit, "I Walk the Line" (originally Sun 241) but did not enter the charts itself at that time. When Shelby Singleton dug out the old Sun masters, he paired it with Cash's original recording of "Hey Porter" and released it in October 1969 on Sun #1103. Interestingly, Shelby Singleton edited the tape and added fake applause to "Get Rhythm" (to "Hey Porter" not to unknown reasons) to pretend it was a live recording. He did this possibly as Cash was riding high on the charts with his two Columbia live albums "At Folsom Prison" (1968) and "At San Quentin" (1969). However, this proved to be a clever business strategy as the single reached #23 in Billboard's country charts and also, first on November 15, 1969, peaked #60 at Billboard's Hot 100.

At the Rockhouse

 

Roy Orbison / Teen Kings - Rockhouse (Sun 251), 1956

At the Rockhouse

The story of one of rockabilly music's anthems

The song "Rockhouse" (often also spelled "Rock House"), now a rockabilly anthem, was recorded in its best known version by Roy Orbison but was eventually often covered, especially by modern rockabilly combos. The origins of this song, however, date back to early to mid-1956 or even earlier.

How the house began to rock

Harold Jenkins alias Conway Twitty

Mississippi born Harold Jenkins just got out from the US Army, where he had served in Yokohama. Upon his return, Jenkins soon heard Elvis Presley's recording of "Mystery Train" and, although he was a lover of country music, decided upon a career as a rock'n'roller. He put together a group, which he named "The Rockhousers" and started writing songs. One of them was the band's signature song, "Rockhouse." It was about a dancehall, where all the cool cats went on Saturday nights.If Jenkins had a certain inspiration in mind is not known but you could find lots of those venues across the south back then.

Jenkins auditioned a couple of times at Sun Records but label owner Sam Phillips had little interest in Jenkins. However, a couple of demo sessions were made and in the summer of 1956, one of those sessions produced the demo of "Rockhouse," among some other recordings. The line-up consisted of Jenkins on vocals and rhythm guitar, Jimmy Ray Paulman on lead guitar, Bill Harris on bass (other sources also name Jimmy Evans, which is doubtful however), and Billy Weir on drums. Phillips was impressed enough with the song and purchased it for his publishing company Hi-Lo.

Roy Orbison at the Rockhouse

Roy Orbison in the 1950s

Seeking for song material for Roy Orbison, who just had a noteworthy hit with "Ooby Dooby," Phillips relied on "Rockhouse." Orbison took the song and re-worked it. It was hardly the same song anymore and Orbison sorted out much of the lyrics. On September 17, 1956, Orbison and his band, the Teen Kings, recorded the song along with another tune, "You're My Baby" (a Johnny Cash composition). The lineup included Orbison on vocals and electric lead guitar, Johnny "Peanuts" Wilson on rhythm gitar, James Morrow on electric mandolin (although inaudible), Jack Kenelly on bass, and Billy Ellis on drums. Producer Jack Clement (his first production at Sun) put a good load of echo behind the recording of "Rockhouse" but Phillips was satisfied with the result and released both songs on September 24, 1956, on Sun #251.

Billboard reviewed the disc on October 20 in its "Country & Western" segment as a spotlight and was excited: "[...] Flip [Rockhouse], is another good rockabilly rhythm side, is wraped up solidly by Orbison, who could break thru with a hit follow-up to his 'Oobie Doobie.'" However, the moment of success had passed and the chance to cash in on "Ooby Dooby" had been gone already. The disc did not even found mention in Billboard's territorial charts until the end of the year. Orbison would record more material for Sun but success eluded him until the 1960s, when he became a superstar with such well produced ballads like "Only the Lonely," "Blue Bayou" or "Pretty Woman." When Orbison hit big in 1961 on Monument Records, Phillips hauled out his Orbison tapes and released an album of it to cash in. It was titled "At the Rockhouse" and of course included "Rockhouse."

Billboard Country & Western review, October 20, 1956
(note that Billboard misspelled the name as "RAY Orbison")

Contemporaries at the Rockhouse
Although "Rockhouse" became not a chart hit for Orbison, it got nevertheless enough exposure to spawn some cover versions (this, in part, due to the comprehensive tour activies by Orbison and other Sun artists across the south). The first to record a version of his own was Texas born Buddy Knox. Infact, Knox and Orbison knew each other from mutual appearances on radio and at the advice of Orbison, Knox auditioned at Norman Petty's studio. This resulted in Knox' first hit "Party Doll" in early 1957. On March 20, 1957, Knox and his band, the Rhythm Orchids, held a session for Roulette at the Bell Sound Studio in New York City, where they recorded their version of "Rockhouse" along with some other rock'n'roll covers. The line-up consisted of Knox on vocals, Donny Lanier and George Barnes on guitars, an unknown bass player, and Dave Alldred on drums. The recording was released on Knox's first, self-titled album on Roulette in 1957. Knox would eventually cut another version in 1979 in London, which was released on Rundell and Rockhouse LPs.

Another version was recorded in 1960 by Ralph Jerome, which was issued around October that year on KP #1007. Chan Romero, who recorded the original hit version of "Hippy Hippy Shake" (later to be recorded by the Beatles and the Swingin' Blue Jeans), cut a demo version of "Rockhouse," which was, however, rather a reworking than a cover as Romero changed the lyrics and structure of the song. On that take, he accompanies his singing with his electric guitar. The tape remained unreleased at the time but finally found its way onto the 1995 CD "Hippy Hippy Shake" on Del-Fi Records.

The Bobby Fuller Four in 1962

Fellow Texan Bobby Fuller recorded another version around 1963/1964, before he made his move to Los Angeles and hit bit with "I Fought the Law." Fuller, who had furnished a complete recording studio in his home in El Paso, recorded many demo sessions there with his band, including a rollicking and dynamic version of "Rockhouse." Fuller used a slightly different arrangement for the song and it can be assumed that he and his group also performed the song live on stage. However, it stayed in the vaults until 1984, when it was released as part of the "Bobby Fuller Four Tapes" on Voxx/Rhino. Tragically, the aspiring Fuller had been found dead in 1966 in his car, parked in front of his apartment. The circumstances surrounding his death are unsettled to this day.

Modern day rockabilly versions
Since, "Rockhouse" has become a classic in rockabilly music and has been covered many times by countless modern rockabilly artists, either live or on record. The following is a selection of modern day cover versions:

• Flat Duo Jets on their album "Two Headed Cow" (2008)
• Brian Setzer on  his album "Rockabilly Riot, Vol. 1" (2005)
• The Meteors, live repertoire
• The Straycats, live repertoire
• Slim Jim 'n' the Bopcats on their EP "Rockhouse" (2005)
• The Bel-Airs on their EP "Rockhouse!!"
• Omar and the Stringpoppers, live repertoire and recording (Harold Jenkins arrangement)

Don Willis on Style

Don Willis - A Glass of Wine (1964), Style 45-1921

Don Willis is best remembered today for his double smash single "Boppin' High School Baby" / "Warrior Sam," which became not only every record collector's dream but also two of the most popular original rockabilly songs during the 1970s revival. Today, we put the spotlight on Willis' far lesser known single for Style Wooten's Style custom label. While the top side "Mar's Dame" already creeps in the shadow of "Boppin' High School Baby," the flip side "A Glass of Wine" is even more obscure.

Don Franklin Willis was born on September 30, 1933, in Munford in Tipton County, Tennessee (the same region where Carl Perkins came from). He grew up on a farm stock and his early interest in music applied to country music singers like Ernest Tubb and Eddy Arnold but he also enjoyed pop music by the likes of Perry Como and Bing Crosby.

In the mid-1950s, Willis opted for a professional career in music as he had taken up the guitar by that time and also sang. He took part in a talent contest in Covington, Tennessee, where he met guitarrist Shelby Byrd, who was also a participant. Together with Vaughn Allen Kent, they founded a country band but by 1956, they abandoned the conservative country sound in favor of the new, energetic rock'n'roll and rockabilly sounds that were heard all over the South. They named themselves "The Orbits" and got an audition at the birthplace of rock'n'roll, Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis. Willis and his band recorded one song for Phillips, "Deep In My Heart I Have a Place for You," which did not impress Phillips enough, however. Unfortunately, the tapes seems to have been lost.

Don Willis and his band, likely mid-1950s (taken from the cover of
White Label LP "Boppin' High School Baby")

Working at daytime at the Kimberly-Clark Company and performing on weekends, Willis tried his hand at songwriting, which produced both "Boppin' High School Baby" and "Warrior Sam" in 1957. The band made some demo recordings of the songs in Nashville, which were heard by Jay Rainwater (Brenda Lee's stepfather), who was taken with the band and then worked on a deal with the major label Mercury Records. However, Willis got to know Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart through a fellow-worker. Axton and Stewart had just set up their brand new but tiny Satellite label and agreed to record Willis and the Orbits. 

Both "Boppin' High School Baby" and "Warrior Sam" were echo-laden, wild and raw rockabilly recordings and presented a great performance. The small-scale production went nowhere, though, as Satellite had not the financial means to promote the single properly. The single appeared in early 1958 on Sattelite #101 (being the second ever released disc on the label, which would evolve into Stax Records). Willis would have been better off with a contract with Mercury but it was too late.

The single became Willis' only record for six years and his career in music remained static. He started another approach in 1964, when he recorded "Mar's Dame" and "A Glass of Wine" for Style Wooten, who issued these well played and well-behaved songs on his Style label (Style #1921). It is likely that Willis actually had to pay for the session, as Wooten ran a custom recording business. Although copies were sent out to radio stations, with another semi-professional label behind his back, Willis' second disc likely sold equally poor.

Willis kept his daytime job and restricted his musical actvities to his spare time. Eventually, he founded the "Memphis Kings," a band wich stayed together for more than 35 years and performed all over the Mid-South. A single was released by the band on the Madison, Tennessee, based Top Gun label and the band also produced an album around 1971 on the MK label. This LP was sold at their gigs and the track list gives an interesting insight of what the band's repertoire was back then. A single in 1974 on Musictown in Nashville was by another singer of the same name with no connection to Don Franklin Willis.

In the 1970s, the Rockabilly Revival discovered Willis' 1950s Satellite recordings and made them popular in the European Neo-Rockabilly scene. A bootleg of the original single was made and later, a legal re-issue on Record Mart followed. Today, an original copy of the single is unbelievable worthy and copies were sold for more than $2.000. In 1991, Dutch rock'n'roll explorer Cees Kloop issued a 15-tracks Don Willis LP, including alternate takes of "Boppin' High School Baby," "Warrior Sam" and "Mar's Dame," which were alledgedly found in Willis' collection on acetate. Dave Travis released a CD with Willis' recordings in 2015 on his Stomper Time label.

Record buff Mack Stevens once told me that "back in the 1990s I spoke with Willis over the phone and he was going through a bout of cancer and he promised he would write out the lyrics to 'Boppin' High School Baby" and send to me and end once and for all the mystery about what the lyrics really are. I guess he took a turn for the worse as I never got them."

Willis remained popular with European rockabilly fans and there were plans for a concert in Europe at the Hemsby Rock'n'Roll Weekend, which were cancelled due to Willis' ongoing bad health. He passed away on March 1, 2006, in Memphis.

Discography

Satellite 101: Don Willis and the Orbits - Boppin' High School Baby / Warrior Sam (1958)
Top Gun 11610: Memphis Kings - Give Me All Your Love / Our Love Don't Travel on the Same Road
MK LP 3080: Memphis Kings - The Memphis Kings (ca. 1971)

Hazel Records Discography

Hazel
P.O. Box 11522 East Memphis Station

I discovered Hazel Records much later than Wooten's other labels. It seems that this record label was not fully owned by Style Wooten as the J. Allen Gann release superficially had no connection to the Wooten company but was certainly on the same label (it has a Southaven, Mississippi, adress). Also, the publishing company on the Hazel releases was Abide Music, which is not known to have been a Wooten imprint.

45-1218: Bobby & Hazel - Little Tavern / Hazel Holloway - The Wife of a Wino
45-1219: The Joy of Memphis Quartet - I Know the Lord Laid His Hands on Me / I Feel Like Flying Away (1968)
45-1220: Jimmy McCarter - One Dozen Blue Roses / The Heart You Stole (1968)
45-1221: The Joy of Memphis Quartet - Oh Lord You Know / Tell Me What You Going to Do (1969)
45-1222: Lillian Minor - You Been a Long Time Gone / Bar Room Daddy
45-1223: Hazel Hollowell - I'll Make Believe / There Goes My World
45-1224: Bob Liles - Try Me / Don't Try to Explain
45-1225:
45-1226: J. Allen Gann - Walking Tall in Heaven / A Whole Lot of Whys (on My Mind)

Fuller Todd on King

Fuller Todd - Old Fashioned (King 45-5048), 1957

I first spotted Fuller Todd as the co-writer of some Marlon Grisham songs on Cover years ago. I wondered who was hiding behind this name since information on him was scarce and what his connection to Grisham was. Recently, I decided it was time to purchase his orginal records and began to research the story of Todd.

Fuller Todd was born on March 26, 1935, in Holly Springs, Mississipi, to Maud Franklin and Mamie (Gardner) Todd. Todd came from the same region as Charlie Feathers, who was born three years earlier in Slayden near Holly Springs. Todd attended Central Millington High School and graduated from there 1953. 

Like fellow Mississipian Charlie Feathers, Todd eventually moved to Memphis and by ca. 1955, played in a band with Jody Chastain and Jerry Huffman. The band performed on local radio KWEM but by January 1956, both Chastain and Huffman had joined Charlie Feathers' band. Todd's career in music seems to have followed the path of Feathers' career astonishing closely. Feathers had recorded country singles at Sun Records before 1956 but was rejected as a rockabilly singer by Sam Phillips. Todd also auditioned at Sun but was turned down by Phillips, too. Todd, like Feathers, was then spotted by Louis Innis, King Records executive in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Todd remembered his auditon for King vividly and was cited by Jon Hartley Fox in his book "King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records" as follows: "When I went there, there were about six or seven others besides me. So Louis Innis had me do my thing while he walked around the room listening. He came right up close, putting his ear against my mouth, just checking out my voice. I was the only one signed that day."

While Feathers already made his first recording session for King in August 1956, Todd was eventually invited by King for a session in Nashville on March 25, 1957. Four songs were cut that day and King chose "Proud Lady - Heart Stealer" / "Old Fashioned" for Todd's debut on the label, released ca. in April 1957 (King #5048). A rather strange release came into existence when King supplied Todd's recordings of "Young Hearts are True" and "Real True Love" for an Armed Forces Radio & Television 16 tracks LP that also contained songs by Brenda Lee, Carlson's Raiders, Eddie Fisher, and Perry Como. These LPs were intended for overseas usage to entertain the troops.

A second session was arranged for Todd on January 12, 1958, this time at King's own recording studio on Brewester Avenue in Cincinnati. The product was the single "Top Ten Rock" b/w "Jeanie Marie" (King #5111). The latter was eventually covered by Trini Lopez, also on King. Left in the vaults from the second session were "Cuddle Up" and "You Baby." A good batch of the recorded song material was self-composed by Todd.

However, none of Todd's singles charted and King dropped him in 1958. Contrary to Feathers, who had shared Todd's fate so far, Todd did not pursue a career as a recording artist afterwards. He linked with another Memphis performer after that, Marlon Grisham, and wrote or co-wrote "Sugarfoot" and "Teenage Love" (both recorded by Grisham for Cover Records). He also penned a few songs with Jody Chastain, including "Dreamer" and "Tomorrow We'll Know" (the latter recorded by Ramon Maupin for Memphis in 1961). Besides, Todd composed several more songs, which are registered with BMI and recorded by other artists, for example "I'm So Lonely" by Jay B. Loyd on Hi Records.

Todd kept music as a hobby and held down a regular day job. He frequently appeared at the Strand Theater in Millington, Tennessee, with befriended musicians on Saturday nights for years. Fuller Todd died on July 16, 2015, at the age of 80 years. He was buried at Memphis Memorial Gardens. 

Billboard May 13, 1957, C&W review

Billboard September 23, 1957 C&W review

Billboard February 10, 1958, pop review

 Discography

King 45-5048: Proud Lady-Heart Stealer / Old-Fashioned (ca. April 1957)
King 45-5075: Young Hearts are True / Real True Love (ca. September 1957)
King 45-5111: Jeanie Marie / Top Ten Rock (ca. January 1958) 

Armed Forces Radio & Television Service LP P-5789/90: Young Hearts are True / Real True Love + 14 tracks by other artists

Frank Gilreath on Torino

Frank Gilreath and the Southern Swingsters - Homesick for Home (Torino 45-1052, 1969)

There are a couple of Frank Gilreaths in the United States and a quick search did not turn up anything particular on this special Frank Gilreath here. Reading the name of his band, the Southern Swingsters, one may expect a western swing outfit, which it is not, of course. Both songs are straight mainstream country cuts.

Torino was one of the many custom labels operated by Style Wooten in Memphis.

Read more:
• Torino Records Discography
• The Ballad of Big Style Wooten

Bill Harris

Marlon Grisham - Square Watermelon Seed (Cover 45-711)

This apparently Memphis based songwriter is some kind of a mystery to me. Bill Harris appeared as a songwriter on a couple of independent Memphis record labels by local artists, including Marlon Grisham, Eddie Cash, and Jim Climer.

BMI reveals that Harris' full name is William Alvan Harris, Jr. There was a William Alvin "Dubbye" Harris, born  on July 31, 1940, and passed away on March 30, 2005. At the time of his death, this William Alvin Harris was living in Waterford near Holly Springs, Mississippi (south of Memphis across the Tennessee-Mississippi state border). He was buried at the Hill Crest Cemetery in Holly Springs, the ceremony was led by Brother Frank Feathers (a cousin to Charlie Feathers). William Alvin Harris was a self-employed truck driver. I'm pretty sure this is our man.

Harris was not only a songwriter but also a musician and band manager in the 1950s. He became a member of Harold Jenkins' group in 1956 as a bass player and recorded several (unreleased) sessions at Sun with Jenkins. He shared the position with Jimmy Evans, another Sun musician. When Jenkins went to Nashville to record for Mercury and became "Conway Twitty," Harris was finally replaced by Evans (who, in turn, was replaced by Nashville studio musician Lightnin' Chance in 1958).  

At the same time Harris left the Jenkins band (late 1956/early 1957), he met up with another young singer, Memphis born Eddie Cash. Harris soon became Cash's manager and organized the Peak and Fernwood recording sessions for Cash. He also wrote one of his songs, "Thinkin' Man." Cash left Memphis for Chicago in 1960 but Harris remained in Memphis. It is possible Harris then became Marlon Grisham's manager.

Harris first appeared as a songwriter with "She's My Technicolor Baby" in 1954 (copyrighted on October 21 according to the Catalog of Copyright Entries). BMI has listed several more songs under different names by Harris.

Harris' compositions also included:

• Jungle Love, recorded by Marlon Grisham on Clearpool
• Square Watermelon Seed, recorded by Grisham on Cover
• Tall Mac the Lumberjack, with Jim Climer, who recorded it on Fernwood
• Tonight's the Night, published by Bill Black's Lyn-Lou publishing firm
• Thinkin' Man, recorded by Eddie Cash at Fernwood studio and leased to Todd Records 

Thanks to Bob

Shelby R. Smith on Silver Skip

Shelby R. Smith - Big Boss Man / Crying for Pastime (Silver Skip 202)

Both sides had been released earlier on Rebel #729 by Smith in 1963. No exact release date for this one is reported but I read somewhere this was also dated 1963 (although this is very doubtful). While "Big Boss Man" is cover of the classic Luther Dixon-Al Smith composition, "Cying for Pastime" is a country song out of the Fernwood Records vaults. This Silver Skip release lists only Eddie Carroll as a songwriter. The Rebel release added also Fernwood owner Ronald Wallace. Eddie Carroll was a local Memphis singer in his own right and had a couple of releases on Fernwood, Pure Gold (another Ronald Wallace label), Santo, and Guyden.

Read more:

• Shelby Smith's Empire of Record Labels

Shelby Smith's Empire of record labels

Shelby Smith's Empire of Record Labels

Shelby R. Smith's empire of small record labels is a confusing one. Dave Travis released a 34 track CD in his "Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers" series on Stomper Time, which dealt with Smith's productions. Dave likely put all his knowledge into the liner notes of this CD, which I don't own, unfortunately. Hence, I decided to take an approach at exploring Shelby Smith's story on my own.

Generally, Smith is associated with five different record labels: Rebel, Rebel Ace, Silver Skip, Smitty, and Silento. The aforementioned Stomper Time CD also contained tracks released on a Rebel label from South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, which was to all accounts a different label, owned by Bill Cooley.

Shelby R. Smith was a local singer from Memphis and according to my researches, first registered in 1958 when he copyrighted the song "Crossword Puzzle." By 1960, Smith was recording for the Smitty label, which belonged to Fernwood, according to Terry Gordon's RCS site. In fact, some of Smith's productions were recorded by Ronald Wallace in his Fernwood recording studio. However, in 1962, the Rebel label appeared on the radar with two singles by Smith, including his "Rocking Mama." This label was said to be based in Batesville, Arkansas (if this is true, is another question). It seems Rebel was later replaced by Rebel Ace by the mid 1960s (based in St. Louis, Missouri, according to the label of Rebel Ace #743). Smith was likely forced to use another name because there had been a label of the same name in Maryland since 1959. Uncertain is the chronology of Smith's Silver Skip and Silento labels.

Contrary to widely held beliefs, Smitty 55784, featuring "Rosalie" and "To Your Heart for a Moment," was neither recorded by Shelby Smith nor released under the pseudonym Roy Lett. In fact, Roy Lett was a singer who was living in Memphis at the time of these recordings. He had started his musical career in the early 1950s in Knoxville.

As it became probably obvious in my explanations, there are a lot of question marks and doubts regarding Smith and his labels. Only Dave Travis' liner notes will probably bring some clarity into this story. Stay tuned.

Billboard C&W review July 28, 1962

Billboard C&W review May 4, 1963

Rebel / Rebel Ace
728: Shelby Smith - Since My Baby Said Good-By / Rocking Mama (1962)
729: Shelby Smith - Big Boss Man / Crying for a Pastime (1963)
730: Davis Brothers - How Can I Tell Her / Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow (1966)
731: Bobby Davis - Troubles Troubles / ?
732: Bob Downen - Blue Yodel No.1 T for Texas / Reaching Out
733:
734: S. R. Smith - This Old Town / ?
734: Glen A. Linder - I'll Always Care / Out Come of War (1966)
735: Alma Herndon - True Love Where Have You Gone / Oregonian Blues
736: Jean Henderson - Too Many Sunsets / Put It On My Charge Account (1966)
737: Jimmy Evans - Call Me Mr. Lonesome / Dudley Do-Rite (1967)
738/9: Eddy Beers - You're Both the Cheating Kind / The Open Road (1967)
740/1: Marilyn Strothcamp - Until Today / Plaything (1967)
742: Marilyn Strothcamp - Just a Dime Away / Second Girl
743: Eddy Beers - What's Your Excuse / Big Mack Waitin'
743: Marilyn Strothcamp - I Cried a Tear / All I Feel for You Is Sorry


• The first three releases were issued under the Rebel brand, subsequent releases under the name of Rebel Ace.
• Numbers #734 and #743 were used twice.
• #742 and #743 give location as 2404 Charlack - St. Louis, Missouri.

Silver Skip
101: S. R. Smith - North to Alaska / Foolish Love Affair
201: Eddy Beers - I'm Gonna Be a Wealthy Man / Overdrawn on Heartaches (1966)
202: Shelby R. Smith - Big Boss Man / Cryin' for a Pastime
203: Shelby R. Smith - Wake Me Up / Jim-Dandy Handy Man
203: Jackie Underwood - Her Heart Would Know / ?

• Recordings on #202 were possibly the same as on Rebel #729.
• #203 by Shelby Smith was recorded at Bill Glore's Glolite Studios.

Silento
100: S. R. Smith - Why Does You Cry / Social Security

• Label gives location as 297 N. Main - Memphis, Tennessee (home of Fernwood Records).

Smitty
55783: Shelby Smith - What's On Your Mind / So Long to Get to You (1960)
55784: Roy Lett - Rosalie / To Your Heart for a Moment

• Smitty was a Fernwood subsidiary intended for custom recordings.

Thanks to Apes Ville and Sandonna Lett