A platform to present my ever growing record collection and publish research results on artists, labels, and shows from the American roots music field
Updates
• Added info on Pete Peters, thanks to Volker Houghton.
• Added info on Jimmy Ford, thanks to Volker Houghton.
• Extended and corrected the post on Happy Harold Thaxton (long overdue), thanks to everyone who sent in memories and information!
• Added information to the Jim Murray post, provided by Mike Doyle, Dennis Rogers, and Marty Scarbrough.
"Little" George Domerese was a Northwest Arkansas based singer, radio personality, promoter, and songwriter. Domerese hailed from Johnson County, near Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the territories located on the banks of the Arkansas River and Lake Dardanelle, from Russellville to Fort Smith, became Domerese's stomping grounds his whole life.
George Virgil Domerese, whose nickname "Little" more than likely came from his stature, was born on October 13, 1926, in Johnson County, Arkansas, to Harley Clarence and Eva (Elkins) Domerese. He came from a large family with a total of nine children. I found no hint to where his last name originated from but I suspect a Greek origin.
Blessed with musical talent, Domerese and his younger brother Clarence had begun appearing as "The Domerese Brothers" by 1950. He had formed a duo with mandolin player Carl Blankenship six years later and by 1958, the duo was performing over KWHN in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Domerese and Blankenship also played school houses along the Arkansas-Oklahoma state border and in addition, he worked with Lost John Miller at KWHN during this time. By then, Carl Blankenship had established his own record label Razorback Records, headquartered in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and although Domerese would never record for that imprint (though Cash Box would report differently in February 1958), he penned two songs, "The Kings Highway" and "Loved Ones Are Waiting in Heaven", which were recorded by Blankenship for Razorback in 1960.
Billboard December 14, 1959
In 1958, Domerese began promoting live country shows, including the KWHN Country Music Jamboree in Fort Smith and his own Johnson County Jamboree in Clarksville. By May 1960, he had added a show on radio KFDF in Van Buren, Arkansas, to his repertoire (Domerese would eventually own KFDF for 34 years), and could be heard on KLYR in Clarksville, too. Around that time, he also promoted records by Blankenship's Razorback label, including Vernon Stewart's "Down to the Blues", the label's latest release in early 1960. His KWHN show with Blankenship went off the air around 1964 but Domerese remained active in the radio business. Domerese's only solo recording came into existence probably in the late 1960s. Favoring religious material, he composed two slices of primitive, Vietnam war themed country gospel, "Dear Daddy I'll Pray for You" and "A Message from Daddy in Heaven", which he recorded on the Power label. Given the fact that it was a Rimrock custom pressing, I assume the Power imprint was his own venture.
Domerese would diversify his interests in the radio business by buying gospel stations KMTL in Sherwood/North Little Rock in 1988 and KWXT in Dardanelle/Russellville and owned at least KMTL until his death.
Domere's wife Earla died in 2016, followed by Little George Domerese on February 27, 2017, in Clarksville at the age of 90 years. KMTL was sold by the Domerese family after his death.
Discography
Power PS 103: Little George Domerese - Daddy Dear Daddy I'll Pray for You / A Message from Daddy in Heaven
"Cousin" Ford Lewis with Joe Bean and his San Antonians - I'm Movin' On (4 Star 1510), 1950
Here we have a disc but an artist that was well-known on the west coast during the late 1940s and early 1950s but slipped into obscurity after his recording career ended. "Cousin" Ford Lewis recorded a string of 78rpm records for Pasadena's 4 Star label, an independent company that secured its place in music history as a hit maker of post-war country music.
As much as 4 Star is well-known still today, Ford Lewis unfortunately did not leave behind as much traces as the record label. I assume he was born not in California, possibly in Arkansas (I could swear I read that somewhere), on June 15, 1917, and came to the west coast in the 1930s or 1940s. I couldn't find any hints to his background, sadly.
However, by 1947, he had relocated to California and had made himself a name as country music performer "Cousin" Ford Lewis. He became also known as the "Wonder Valley Cowboy" due to his theme song "Wonder Valley". During his career, he could be heard on such stations as KXLA (Pasadena, California), KMJ and KFRE (Fresno, California), and KGER (Los Angeles, California).
One of 4 Star Records' executives discovered him while being on the road and signed him to a recording contract. The label was already successful with country artist T. Texas Tyler and signed several more unknown but innovative artists during the next years. Lewis' first recording session for the label took place in 1947 in Hollywood, recording a total of six songs with support by Les "Carrot Top" Anderson and an otherwise unknown band. "Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine" b/w "Judy" from that session were chosen for his debut release (4 Star #1164).
Billboard October 18, 1947
Apparently, Lewis was not a talented songwriter and had to rely on material by other writers. Already his first release, "Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine", was a cover of the old-time hit by Gene Autry and Jimmie Long from the early 1930s. Some of his releases were considered to be hits, although they never appeared in Billboard or Cash Box charts. 4 Star was selling between 50,000 to 700,000 copies of several T. Texas Tyler releases and each of them was considered to be a hit. The same probably also applied to Lewis' releases, although it is probable that his sales remained in the lower areas.
To boost 4 Star's artists' popularity, one of the label's owners, Don Pierce, taped radio show segments to send them to powerful border town stations like XERB, XELO, XERF, and XEG across the Mexican border. Lewis was among those artists, which definitely increased his popularity.
Lewis recorded such songs as "Juke Box Cannon Ball" (written by Rusty Keefer, recorded by Bill Haley), "Dora" (written by Johnny Tyler), or "Dear John" (originally by Hank Williams). In 1950, Lewis renewed his contract with 4 Star and by August that year, was working with Joe Dean and his San Antonians at Dave Ming's Harmony Corral Park in Anaheim, California. Dean and his band also supported Lewis on his 1950 recording sessions for 4 Star.
Billboard August 19, 1950, C&W review
His last release appeared around August 1950 with a romping cover of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" and "Last Night You Said Goodbye" (4 Star #1510). Both songs were recorded ca. in June that year with Joe Dean's band in Hollywood. An unknown third song was recorded during this session, which remained unissued and seems to be lost. Billboard reviewed the disc in August but had no high hopes for it ("should do okay in the hill country and Southwest").
Apart from a couple of various artists EPs on which 4 Star put Lewis' songs, no more discs appeared by him, neither on 4 Star nor on any other label. It seems that he went out of the music business immediately after his contract ended.
"Cousin" Ford Lewis died on April 10, 1985, at the age of 64 years.
Jesse Stevens and Big Sandy Boys - Mama, Mama (Bluegrass #45-712), 1958
From the hilly, coal mining community of West Van Lear, western Kentucky, came Jesse Stevens, who brought us two of the most rural, primitive, rockabilly records that ever existed.
Stevens was born on January 4, 1932, to William and Bertha (Ball) Stevens. He had a twin sister, Georgia, and came from a big family with a total of nine children. The small community of Van Lear is only a few miles a way from Butcher Hollow, where, a few months after Stevens' birth, a future country music super star would be born: Loretta Lynn.
Jesse Stevens in the 1970s Picture from the back of White Label LP 8812
Stevens was musically inclined and by the 1950s, was playing guitar, singing and composing. Although Stevens was more fond of bluegrass, when rock'n'roll came along in the mid 1950s, he was converted - at least for some time. With the Big Sandy Boys, a local bluegrass group, he recorded a couple of songs in a living room, hence the primitive sound. The group included Gene Walden on lead guitar, Harold Burton on mandolin, Charlie Shermin on guitar, and Charlie Moore on bass, though probably not all of them participated in the actual recording session(s).
From the songs recorded, Stevens released "Mama, Mama" and "No Bluebirds in the Sea" on his own Bluegrass label (#712). To manufacture the record, he sent in the tapes to Starday, which custom pressed an amount of a few hundred copies for Stevens in mid 1958 at Rite pressing plant in Cincinnati.
Another two songs, recorded with the Big Sandy Boys, appeared in late 1959 on Stevens' label (this time spelled "Blue Grass") with "Go Boy Go" b/w "I'm In No Mood for Your Love" (#209-1) - although Cees Klop stated on the back on one of his White Label LPs that they had remained unissued.
These recordings remained Stevens' only cuts, though he kept on playing music locally. There were a couple of other records on different labels throughout the 1960s and 1970s that featured a group known as the "Big Sandy Boys", though it seems to be unrelated to Stevens' group.
In the 1970s, Stevens was tracked down by Dutch rock'n'roll collector Cees Klop, who released recordings he found during his trips to the United States on his own White Label and Collector labels to European fans. Such was the case with Stevens' recordings, which appeared on White Label LP 8812 "Unknown Rock and Roll" in 1979. Since then, Stevens' songs have appeared on several reissue compilations.
Jesse Stevens died on March 12, 2013, at Manchester Memorial Hospital in Manchester, Kentucky. He was 81 years old. He is buried at Adams Cemetery in Manchester. His wife Shirley passed away in 2023.
Lloyd Marley and the Trebles - Ooh Poo Pah Doo (United Southern Artists 5-109), 1961
Northeast Arkansas had a lively music scene during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s but Northwest Arkansas wasn't short of it. And Fayetteville with its many students was the center of it all. One of the many performers from area was Lloyd Marley, who stayed on the scene for more than 50 years.
Samuel Lloyd Marley was born on July 22, 1940, in Bentonville, Arkansas, north of Fayetteville. His family had no money to afford a guitar for Marley, who eventually learned to play piano in the 1950s. In 1952, at age twelve, he met his future wife Dolores at a birthday party.
Blues music was Marley's first love with artists like Muddy Waters or B.B. King. But when Chuck Berry rose to fame in the mid 1950s, Marley was hooked on rock'n'roll and Berry became his hero. He wanted to become a guitarist but couldn't play. Moreover, every band in the region had guitar players but no one had pianists. So Marley began playing piano and joined local bands. When he graduated from Bentonville High School in 1958, he was voted "Most Talented" among the graduating class.
Lloyd Marley in 1958 Source: Bentonville High School Yearbook/Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Marley went on to perform with various groups over the years and played at countless spots in Fayetteville, including the Huddle Club, the Rockwood Club, the VFW, and the Y'all Come Back Saloon. He joined the Cate Brothers for a while around this time, and around 1961, joined a group known as the Trebles.
The circumstances are foggy but the Trebles managed to secure a recording deal with the newly started United Southern Artists label and talent agency from Hot Springs, Arkansas. They recorded Jesse Hill's 1960 R&B hit "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" along with Marley's original "Fade with the Time", released around September that year (#5-109). It possibly sold good regionally, but United Southern didn't call the band back for a follow-up.
Billboard September 4, 1961, pop review
Marley left the Trebles probably shortly afterwards and then joined rocker Ronnie Hawkins on a tour through Canada. Following that tour, Marley and his own band also spent two weeks playing the Peppermint Lounge in New York. When he returned to Arkansas, his association with Hawkins helped him landing jobs all around and he became an even more popular performer than he had been prior to the tour. He was also booked in places such as Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Tulsa. When local Fayetteville bandleader Johnny Tolleson left town, Marley stepped in and took over leadership of the band for a time.
Constant performing and playing also meant constant partying and drinking over the years. Health problems followed and it took Marley a few years to get on the right track again. In 1981, he reunited with one of his old bands, the Mudflaps, and started performing again. He frequently played the clubs on Dickson Street in Fayetteville during these years and his band became residents at the Swinging Doors club in the 1970s, which became the Whitewater Tavern in 1981. During the 1990s, Marley also appeared with German blues musician Frank Burkhard, who lived in Arkansas for about ten years.
The Cate Brothers, Ernie and Earl, who had enjoyed some chart success, later called Marley a huge influence for Arkansas' northwestern music scene. Marley had eventually also learned to play guitar and played whatever was needed - blues, country, rock. A successful recording career - or at least a long-lasting recording career - eluded Marley, however. Columbia Records rejected him, demo tapes to other companies never reached them. At least, Marley recorded an album in the late 1980s.
He encountered health issues again late in his life and was not able to perform for much of 2019. He died on October 12, 2019, in Fayetteville, at the age of 79 years.
Between Moon and Sun - Between Sin and Salvation The Story of Allan Wingate a.k.a. Allen Page
Cordell Jackson's Moon record label, and in particular Jackson herself, became a cult phenomenon in 1980s Memphis. And the label's most prolific recording artist was Allen Page, who has - unfortunately - found little acclaim since his records came out in the 1950s. However, he probably would have dismissed it being celebrated as a rockabilly hero as he became a preacher under his real name Allen Wingate. From the 1960s onwards, he found his satisfaction in traveling around the country and preaching the gospel.
Many other artists that recorded in Memphis during the 1950s and early 1960s came from the rural areas of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi. In contrast, Allen Lamar Wingate, to give him his full name, came from the city of Tampa, located on the sunny west coast of Florida. There, he was born on August 14, 1936. His mother Corrine Elizabeth Eiland would not marry his father Woodroow Wingate until about a month after Wingate's birth. Though, the relationship broke up soon after and they divorced a year later. During World War II, Wingate's mother worked at Tampa's ship yard to support the family. She had married Glen Burnside, whom she divorced in 1945, however.
In 1956, Wingate moved to Memphis, which was the place to be for rock'n'roll music. By then, he was probably already married to his wife Joann. Their oldest son James had already been born and Allen Lamar jr. followed in October 1956. By then, Wingate had started performing in Memphis night clubs under the name of "Allen Page" and had taken up composing songs with his wife, too. It was probably around the same time that he went into Memphis' Sun Studio and auditioned. A demo tape entitled "What Else Could I Do" with Wingate on vocals and guitar, backed up by upright bass and electric guitar, has survived. However, the audition went nowhere. Though, two of the songs Wingate and his wife had written were recorded by Ernie Barton in March 1958 for Phillips Int., "Stairway to Nowhere" and "Raining the Blues".
Following his unsuccessful Sun audition, Wingate came to the attention of Cordell Jackson, a pioneering woman in music business who had founded her own record label Moon Records shortly before. Wingate recorded his debut "Honeysuckle" b/w "High School Sweater" (Moon #301), both penned by him and Joann, in 1957 but without much success. This was not because Wingate wasn't talented; Moon Records was a local Memphis business without proper distribution and the recordings itself were too provincial for the national market. The record had enough exposure to stir a cover version, though: "High School Sweater" was recorded a couple of months later by Arkansas born singer Kenny Owens.
Cordell Jackson obviously had faith in the young singer, as she produced a total of four singles on him and the first three we released straight in a row. All of them were first-class Memphis rock'n'roll but none of them caught on. His "She's the One That Got It" was written by him for his wife. While Wingate was a talented songwriter and composed most of his recorded material on his own, he also cut Cordell Jackson's "Dateless Night" and "Oh! Baby". The latter, along with "I Wish You Were Wishing" (a song he recorded twice for Moon), was released on Moon #307 in 1960 and became not only Wingate's final single on the label but also the label's last release altogether. He had cut it with the Big Four, a group that had also recorded in its own right for Moon.
Billboard June 13, 1960, pop review
By then, it had become obvious that Wingate's moment to reach stardom as a rock'n'roll artist had passed. The hard-driving rockabilly that was produced under Cordell Jackson's supervision had definitely gone out of fashion by 1960. Wingate was heavy on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs by 1963 but one night in August that year, he found faith and - in his own memories - never touched any of it again. He became an evangelist and with companions like brothers Billy and Tommy Brown, spent much of the 1960s traveling the country and preaching the word of God. Billy Brown, who was also from Florida and had embarked on a country and rock'n'roll music career much like Wingate, had experienced similar set-backs and had drifted into alcoholism. He later told stories of such miracles as deaf ears opened, blind eyes could see, immediate healing, etc., that occurred while traveling with Wingate. Besides traveling the United States, Wingate's extended tours also took him to Canada, Mexico, and Panama.
Joann and Allen Wingate, ca. 1978 Taken from the back of their album "Beyond the Sunset"
Back to the music. Wingate recorded a four song EP of uptempo country gospel, including a version of Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light", in 1965. An accompanying LP was released simultaneously with more cuts. For a while, the Wingate family lived in Sharonville, near Cincinnati, Ohio, where a couple of recordings were made with his wife and his son James. Eventually, much of his family would take part in his recordings. At least two more LPs followed in the 1970s, which make up a total of four albums by Wingate known to me. Probably more recordings were done throughout the years and released on LP or cassette.
Wingate settled his family in the fall of 1975 in New Smyrna Beach, on the east coast of Florida, where he founded the New Smyrna Beach Church of God and served the community as its pastor until his death. Allen Wingate passed away on April 26, 1993, in his adopted hometown of New Smyrna Beach. He is buried at Sea Pines Memorial Gardens in Edgewater, Florida. He was survived by his wife Joann as well as eight children and 22 grandchildren.Since 1975, Wingate's rock'n'roll recordings were re-released consequently in Europe. Collector Records released two of his Moon recordings that year on the "Super Rock a Billy, Part A" LP and since then, Wingate's songs have been reissued numerous times, including on LPs and CDs put out by Moon Records. Wingate's take on "I Saw the Light" saw also release on the 2018 "Hillbillies in Hell" compilation.
Allan Wingate performs "I've Found a Better Way" at the Belleview, Mississippi, Church of God, ca.1980s
Discography
Singles Moon 301: Allen Page and the Crowns with the Moon Beams - Honeysuckle / High School Sweater (1957) Moon 302: Allen Page with the Deltones - I Wish You Were Wishing / Dateless Night (1958) Moon 303: Allen Page - She's the One That's Got It / Sugar Tree (1958) Moon 307: Allen Page with Sandy and Sue and the Big Four - I Wish You Were Wishing / Oh! Baby (1960) No label No.#: Evangelist Allen Wingate - It's Different Now / I'm Counting On Jesus / I Saw the Light / At Calvary (1965)
LPs No label No.#: Evangelist Allen Wingate - Beyond the Sunset: Songs from Me for You (1965) The Evening Light No.#: Allen and Joann Wingate - He Set Me Free (1974) The Evening Light No.#: Allen Wingate and the Family of God Singers - That Old Fashioned Salvation (1978) Unknown label No.#: Allen Wingate Family Singers - All for His Glory
While digging deeper and deeper into Arkansas' country and rock'n'roll music past, I ran across a songwriter by the name of Bill Huskey. While the name didn't catch my interest in the first instance, it finally did and in the end, I found out that Huskey was also responsible for some great rock'n'roll recordings on Billy Lee Riley's Rita Records.
Claudis "Bill" Huskey was born on April 1, 1932, to Leslie Ray and Verna Lee Huskey in Caraway, Arkansas, a small town in the northeastern region of the state that was so rich of musical talent. He spent some time serving in the US Army and by the late 1950s, had made his way to Memphis, Tennessee.
By late 1959, Huskey had connected with Billy Lee Riley, who had recently founded his own record label in Memphis, Rita Records. The debut release was reserved for Huskey, who recorded his rock'n'roll composition "Rockin' at the Zoo" along with "Funny Paper People" for the label. Released in December 1959 on Rita #1001, the single failed to stimulate any national interest.
During the same time, he also hung around Sun Studio and managed to pitch some songs to the label's executives. Huskey's "The Good Guy Always Wins" was given to another young singer from Georgia, Lance Roberts. The result was released in October 1960 on Sun. Singers like Billy Garner and Billy Lee Riley also recorded his composition during this time.
At the same time, Huskey's own next release came out on Rita. Credited to "Tommy Hawk", the label issued "Chief Sitting Bull", another rock'n'roll performance, and "I Thought About Living" on the other side. The latter was an answer song to Bob Luman's hit "Let's Think About Living" that soon captured the attention of the original's publisher Acuff-Rose. Threatened with legal action, Rita withdrew the release and put Huskey's earlier recording of "Rockin' at the Zoo" on the flip with "Chief Sitting Bull" remaining.
In 1962, Huskey worked with Quinton Claunch and his Bingo label (forerunner of his much more successful Goldwax record label). "Big Bad John the Twister" b/w "Pop-Eye Time" were released in the spring of 1962 on Bingo #111 as by another pseudonym, "Jon Kennedy".
Catalog of Copyright Entries 1962
Catalog of Copyright Entries 1962 Copyright entry for Huskey's Bingo single
None of Huskey's singles did noteworthy well so far and it seems that he very much quit recording after his Bingo release. He returned to Arkansas and founded his own record label Jakebil Records in Newport in 1969. The debut release was given to Huskey's daughter Kenni (sometimes also spelled Kenny), who went on to greater fame than her father. Huskey also released a duet with his second wife Julia (who also recorded solo) on Jakebil, "Good Old Country Song" b/w "I Wouldn't Give You the Time of Day" (#1003/4).
Later that year, Huskey moved his family and business to Anaheim, California, where daughter Kenny continued to build her career. She was eventually discovered by country star Buck Owens and recorded for such labels as Capitol and Warner Brothers.
While Huskey also spent some time in Nashville, he eventually returned to Newport, Arkansas, where he died on April 7, 2021, at the age of 89 years. His wife Julia had already passed away.
Mike Waggoner and the Bops, ca. 1956-1958 Taken from the front cover of Norton LP ED-406
Mike Waggoner and the Bops
Kings of Minnesota Rock'n'Roll
Mike Waggoner and the Bops were a regional Minneapolis, Minnesota, rock'n'roll group. Norton Records once dubbed them "The Kings of Minnesota Rock'n'Roll" and although there were more successful groups from the Mid-North, there were few that had a more energetic sound than Waggoner and the Bops. Author Seth Bovey once called them "one of the earliest and most influential garage bands in Minneapolis".
The band's leader was born in 1940 and made his first experiences in the music business at the age of 10 years. Waggoner came from a musical family, most of his relatives played an instrument. Growing up on a farm in rural Pine County, East Minnesota, he was influenced by country music at an early age and began to perform with his father's country band. In 1953, Waggoner appeared on three different local TV talent shows: the Topy Prin Talent Show on WCCO, the Jimmy Valentine Talent Show and the David Stone Talent Show, both on KSTP.
In the fall of 1954, the family moved to Richland, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Waggoner began to listen to local DJ Carl Peterson on WLOL. He also tuned in to such powerful stations as WLS from Chicago, KHJ from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and KOMA from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and discovered rockabilly and rock'n'roll music. During 1955 and 1956, Waggoner became a fame of such artists as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Bill Haley and the Comets, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, and others.
While in high school, Waggoner decided to put together a band for a one-off variety show, performing a couple of Elvis Presley songs. Overwhelmed by the screaming response of the young girls in the audience, he organized the band as a steady outfit with him on vocals and rhythm guitar, his brother Colin "Collie" Waggoner on lead guitar, Dick Benedict on rhythm guitar, Doug Barton on saxophone, Rusty Bates on string bass, and Lyle Gudmanson on drums. The group first performed at a record hop hosted by Carl Peterson at the St. Richard's Catholic Church in Richfield. The band was still nameless and asked by Peterson, Waggoner came up with "The Bops", inspired by Gene Vincent's minor hit "Dance to the Bop".
Seth Bovey tells a different story in his book "Five Years Ahead of My Time" how the band came along: One day in 1957, Gene Vincent drove up in his shiny Lincoln to a gas station owned by Waggoner's uncle, and Waggoner, who worked there at the time, serviced Vincent. Inspired by this incident, he decided to form a band. This story differs largely from Waggoner's own account, however.
During the next two years, the Bops played various venues in the area, mostly sock hops hosted by Carl Peterson, including such locations as the Ford Union Hall in St. Paul, the Laidlaw VFW in Minneapolis, the Bloomington Roller Rink, among others, as well as school events. At that time, none of the members were able to drive a car, therefore their parents stepped in to transport the band and its gear to the gigs. The year of 1958 brought some line-up changes, as the different members graduated from high school and some of them left for college. Waggoner and his brother continued as a four-piece band with Sheldon Hasse on bass and John Lentz on drums. Among their many performances was a steady job at the Crystal Coliseum.
During the years, the popularity of Waggoner and the Bops grew. They rose to one of Minnesota's most influential and most popular rock'n'roll groups, playing countless venues and spots in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin as well as their home base, the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Several artists listed them as an influence, including the Trashmen, a band that hit big later with "Surfin' Bird". "The king around here at the time was Mike Waggoner and the Bops", said Tony Andreason of the Trashmen. "He was absolutely our idol. And Colly Waggoner was very good, if not maybe the best picker around. Over time, when Colly couldn't play a job, then Mike would call me and I play", he is cited in "Everybody's Heard About the Bird" by Rick Shefchick. Butch Maness, who would later replace Sheldon Hasse on bass in the Bops, recalled in that same book about the band: "That was my idol. I thought that was the best band in the world. I saw them at the Crystal Coliseum. Wow. [...]"
Despite their popularity, the Bops didn't make any recordings until the early 1960s. On March 13, 1961, the band went to Kay Bank Studios to lay down a slew of recordings, most of them covers. During its lifetime, the band only had few original compositions in its repertoire and concentrated on cover versions of rock'n'roll hits of the day. While at Kay Bank, they browsed through their set list and cut such songs as "Good Rockin' Tonight" (Roy Brown/Elvis Presley), "Work with Me Annie" (the Royals), or "Bye Bye Johnny" (Chuck Berry).
The session was produced by Bing Bengtsson, who also managed successful artist Bobby Vee. Bengtsson took two of the Bops' recordings, the Dale Hawkins cover "Baby, Baby" plus a band's original instrumental composed by Collie Waggoner entitled "Basher #5", and released them on his own Vee label (#7002) in April 1961. Although "Basher #5" was the designated A side, their cover of "Baby, Baby" started getting airplay from such jockeys as Bill Diehl at WDGY or Sam Sherwood at KDWB. With approximately 1,500 to 2,000 copies pressed, the disc remained a local hit, though.
In the years to come, Waggoner and the Bops continued to play very successful in Minnesota and surrounding states. In June 1964, club owner Ray "Big Reggie" Coulihan called the band to perform at his Danceland club in Excelsior. The Bops were the opening act for another band, the still unknown Rolling Stones from Great Britain, who were set to perform there on June 12, 1964. Different factors led to a gig that went not as well as expected: little advertisement, high admission, plus the fact that the Stones were still unknowns in the US at that time. Only 200-300 people attended the show, many of them came rather to see the Bops than the Stones, and the audience received the Stones polite but reserved.
Waggoner and the Bops tried their hand at recording one more time in late December 1964 at Dove Recording Studio in St. Louis Park (another suburb of Minneapolis). That day, the line-up consisted of Waggoner, Dave Clausen on lead guitar (replacing Colin Waggoner who was in the service), Butch Machess on bass, and Lentz. Another session at the same location took place in March 1965 (with Colin Waggoner back on guitar). From those two sessions, the two originals "Blue Days Black Nights" (which was not only similar in title to the Buddy Holly song but also in style) and "Where and When" were released on the short-lived studio in-house Dove record label the same year. This disc enjoyed some airplay on WCCO.
In the fall of 1965, Waggoner and the Bops were offered a place on a tour through Australia and New Zealand, where American rock'n'roll (and at that time evolving rock music) was still very popular. Waggoner, married and father of two young children, declined, however, and decided to take his life into another direction. The Bops disbanded in 1965, playing their last performance at the Woodley's Country Dam near Amery, Wisconsin.
Waggoner pursued another career in radio as a DJ as well as music and program director. From 1965 until 1976, he could be heard on WEAQ in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on WEBC in Duluth, Minnesota, and on WDGY in Bloomington, Minnesota. He then moved into the sales department of WCCO until 1981 and finally became station manager of radio KJJO. Later in the 1980s, he also worked in sales for KMSP-TV and KSTP-TV. Since the 1970s, Waggoner had resumed playing with bands. Since 1974, he had performed with a group called "The Music Machine" and, since 1981, performed with the Bops on special occasions.
In 2005, he founded the "Old School Rockers" and another five years later, established the band "Memphis Trax", playing a mixture of rock'n'roll, boogie, and rhythm and blues. With this outfit, he also recorded an album. Since 2013, he also performs with a band called "Roadhouse". A 2010 interview with Tom Campbell from minniepaulmusic.com led to Waggoner's first appearance in Europe at the Ubangi Stomp Festival in Spain. Several appearances at both American and European festivals followed, including Hemsby, the Pondarosa Stomp, and the Good Rockin' Tonight Festival in France. Mike Waggoner and the Bops were inducted into the Midwest Music Hall of Fame in 2008. They performed during the celebration at the Medina Ballroom.
Much of the band's recordings were issued in 1983 on the White Label LP "Minnesota Rock-a-Billy-Rock, Volume 4". Since then, their recordings have been featured on several reissue LPs and CDs. The most complete overview of the Bops' work gives the 2015 released Norton Records LP "The Kings of Minnesota Rock'n'Roll", which misses their Dove single, however, and is already out of print.
Mike Waggoner appearing at Hembsy 53 in October 2014, performing "Hey Mama" and "Guitar Man" with the Hemsby House Band
Mike Waggoner and the Roadhouse band perform "Good Rockin' Tonight" in December 2012
One of the many talented musicians that orbited around the Dixieland Drifters band was Houston "Buck" Turner, who left his mark by singing on "Bongos and Uncle John", the Drifters' most popular tune. Turner also performed with Tani Allen's Tennessee Pals, leaving another mark in music history through composing "Tennessee Jive", which became later known by Bill Haley as "Real Rock Drive".
Singer and songwriter Houston Edgar "Buck" Turner, Jr., was born on April 16, 1922, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. During World War II, he served his country as an Air Force sergeant. Upon his return, Turner pursued a career in local music.
By 1950, he had built up a reputation as a talented singer in the Chattanooga area and was approached by band leader Tani Allen that year to join his band. Steel guitarist Allen had founded his own country music outfit, "The Tennessee Pals," in Memphis shortly before. He contacted Bullet Records in Nashville, hoping to secure a record deal with the independent label. Bullet agreed to record the band on condition that Allen would exchange the vocalist. Allen, who also originally hailed from Chattanooga and remembered Turner as a vocalist, brought him into the band. Turner recorded a total of six singles with the band for Bullet from 1950 up to 1952, including their debut "Tennessee Jive," a Turner original. This song somehow came to the attention of Bill Haley, who reworked it under the title of "Real Rock Drive" in late 1952. This version saw release on Essex in early 1953 (Essex #310) without any songwriter credits. Interestingly, "Tennessee Jive" was also covered by Johnny Horton in 1953 on Mercury under its original title (Mercury #70010-X45). Jim Bulleit, owner of Bullet, offered Turner to record solo for the label but Turner turned down the invitation. Tani Allen, however, encouraged Turner to continue his solo career. It is likely that Turner continued to perform around Chattanooga and by 1958, he teamed up with local singer and label owner Gene Woods, with whom he penned "How Big a Fool Can You Be" and performed with Woods' band, the Tune Twisters.
In 1960, he began working with the Dixieland Drifters, a group also from Chattanooga. They had recorded earlier for Sun, Murray Nash's B.B. Records and Dub, when Herbert "Happy" Schleif and Peanut Faircloth (also member of the Dixieland Drifters) released two singles of the band on their Hap record label. One was "You Won't Fall in Love" b/w "Will Angels Have Sweethearts" in 1960, the other "Bongos and Uncle John" b/w "How Big a Fool."
Members of the Dixieland Drifters, ca. July 1961 (left to right): Howell Culpepper, poss. Charlie Evans, Houston Turner, and Norman Blake
"Bongos and Uncle John" was published by Murray Nash's Ashna Music and recorded at his studio in Nashville. He re-released the song on his Do-Ra-Me label twice and it must have been a good seller for the band, since it was picked up by 20th Century Fox in the US and Sparton in Canada. Turner also recorded solo for Do-Ra-Me and for Big Country. He also did personal appearances with his own band, the Town and Country Boys, which also included Norman Blake. The Dixieland Drifters disbanded around 1963 and Turner died in 1999. Today's selection "Buenos Noches" was written by a team of blind songwriters. The married couple Floyd and Mary Biggs and session pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins also penned a couple of other songs for Murray Nash. Turner recorded it probably at Murray Nash's Sound of Nashville studio and released in July/August 1963. It also saw release in Canada on Sparton.
Former Plastic Products Quonset huts at 1746 Chelsea Avenue in Memphis Source: Google Street View
Buster Williams' Plastic Products Company The Hub of Rock'n'Roll in Memphis
Many independent, small and private record labels from 1955 onwards used such big custom pressing services as Rite from Cincinnati or RCA's pressing plant from New Jersey. One of the smaller independent pressing plants was Buster Williams' Plastic Products from Memphis, who served the whole south in the early 1950s. Among the now famous record labels which pressed records at Plastic Products were Sun, Meteor, Hi, Fernwood, Atlantic, and many others.
Robert E. "Buster" Williams originally hailed from Enterprise, Mississippi, where he first worked as a peanut salesman while still in his teens and later owned a drug store. Williams was already an experienced business man when he set up Plastic Products in 1949. He had worked as a distributor for Wurlitzer jukeboxes in the Memphis area and by the end of World War II, had founded Music Sales distribution together with Clarence Camp (husband of Celia Camp, future co-owner of Home of the Blues Records) on 680 Union Avenue in Memphis. Soon after its founding, the company began distribution for many independent labels, including Gilt-Edge, Mercury, Excelsior, Exclusive, National, Sterling, among others. An office in New Orleans was established and Music Sales became a successful record distributor in the south and south-west.
Billboard ad from its March 9, 1957, issue. "Shipments made from PLASTIC PRODUCTS, Memphis, and SOUTHERN PLASTICS, Nashville.
A talented entrepreneur and engineer, Williams sensed that there was a gap in the record market and founded his pressing plant "Plastic Products Incorporated" in Memphis on 1746 Chelsea Avenue. On this property were four Quonset huts that housed the plant's offices, shipping and printing operations, compounding equipment and the actual presses. At the start, much of the used equipment was designed by Williams himself. Actually, it started with one Quonset hut but soon, Williams extended his operations and more huts were added. Plastic Products rapidly became the favorite plant among many independent labels in the south. When Sam Phillips founded Sun Records, he began using Buster Williams' plant as well as Music Sales for distribution.
Hi, Fernwood, Meteor, Stax, Atlantic, MGM, Chess, Holiday Inn, and many other, much smaller, labels pressed their records there, too. Williams, a self-made entrepreneur, knew the difficulties independent labels had to deal with and offered lavish credits for these companies. By 1956, Plastic Products was pressing for 49 different record labels and turned out more than 65,000 records a day. The plant therefore played an important role in the development of popular music, especially in creating and spreading rock'n'roll. Nearly all of the Memphis based labels would press their records at Plastic Products in 1959, though it made up only 10% of the whole outcome at that time.
The same year, Plastic Products was so busy pressing records that the orders exceeded the capacities of Williams' plant in Memphis by far. He built another plant in Coldwater, Mississippi (a little south of Memphis), which became known as Coldwater Industries. A third plant was built in the early 1970s near the Memphis Airport to manufacture 8-track tapes. Around the same time, Eastern Manufacturing in Philadelphia was acquired by Plastic Products as well.
Billboard September 12, 1970
By 1973, the end of Plastic Products was in sight. During the past years, Stax Records had become Plastic's biggest customer but when the label experienced financial problems, it could not pay the incoming bills from Plastic Products. A strike at Coldwater followed in 1975 and Plastic Products never received a majority of the sum the company had demanded from Stax. Finally, Buster Williams' son, whose interest lay rather in oil industry than in record pressing business, closed the pressing plants altogether.
Buster Williams passed away in 1992 at the age of 83 years. About a year later, his son sold two of the Quonset huts and later also sold the remaining two. In 2012, a marker was erected at 1746 Chelsea to keep the history of the "hub of rock'n'roll" alive. Some of Williams' children were present at the ceremony but according to Memphis part-time music historian John Shaw, the family is still reluctant to open up their archives which prevents a detailed history of the pressing catalogue.
Vaughn Riley and the Blue-Diamonds - It's All Your Fault (Ornament No.#), 1977
Thankfully, Dean from the cherished Small Independent Rockin' 45rpm Labels blog pointed me towards this disc in 2023. Naturally, I got intrigued with Vaughn Riley's story. There's not much out there on him or the Ornament label, though, so if you know more than I do, please feel free to share your knowledge with me.
Early on in his career, Vaughn Riley was a member of the Arkansas based rock'n'roll band the Jokers. Members of this band included at one time or another Jimmy Bone and Jimmy Doyle Payne on vocals, Steve Hanford (sometimes also spelled Handford) and Riley on guitars, Ivan Wood on bass, and John Stice on drums. The Jokers recorded three rare records. The first one was released on Grace in 1961, featuring their Clovers cover "Little Mama" and "Say You're Mine", written by Vaughn Riley. Their second release came in 1964 with covers of two Bobby Lee Trammell classics, "Arkansas Twist" and "It's All Your Fault". These recordings were released by the Bro-Ket label of Batesville, Arkansas. A third 45 was issued as by "Jimmy Payne and the Jokers" on George Whitaker's Zay-Dee label featuring "I Wouldn't Be Seen Alive with Her" b/w "Don't Ground Me".
I couldn't find any more info on Riley until his Ornament disc was released. This came along in 1977 and Riley again tried his hand at the Trammell song "It's All Your Fault". The flip side is not known to me sadly. The Jokers' and Riley's "obsession" with Bobby Lee Trammell material may be due to the fact that some of the Jokers members actually performed with him - at least Steve Han(d)ford and Jimmy Doyle Payne.
Ornament was based in North Little Rock and I know of two releases on this label, the other one being by Riley's old band mate Jimmy Doyle Payne.