The Story of Arkansas Twist

Bobby Lee Trammell - Arkansas Twist (Alley 1001), 1962
A year full of more good music, great artists, and unknown records lays ahead of us. I would like to present you an awesome disc today by the egocentric Bobby Lee Trammell. "Arkansas Twist", one of his better selling songs, became his signature song for much of the 1960s and has since remained one of the tunes he is best remembered for.

Trammell was born January 31, 1934, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. His parents Wiley and Mae Trammell worked as cotton farmers and in addition, were part-time musicians. Trammell's father played fiddle and his mother organ at the local church. Trammell's musical influences, however, were not limited to the country and white gospel music styles, which were common in such rural areas of the south. Trammell was also absorbing the sounds of black gospel music and sometimes sneaked out to visit a nearby black Pentecostal church service.

Trammell began playing country music in high school and managed to share the stage for one song with Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, when they played a local show in 1956. Perkins advised Trammell to audition at Sun Records in Memphis, which unfortunately went nowhere since Trammell couldn't await a second audition date there. In later interviews, Trammell admitted this being his fault and regretted he was so impatient.

Trammell instead moved to the west coast and soon became part of the lively music scene there. By then, he was playing stone hard rock'n'roll and made himself a name as a wild rocker. His stage performances exceeded even Elvis Presley's moves and manners. Local record producer Fabor Robison signed him to a contract in 1957 and Trammell waxed his first recordings for him, including his debut single "Shirley Lee" / "I Sure Do Love You" (Fabor #4038-45, 1958), which became a good seller for him and saw national release on ABC-Paramount.

His wild and untamed behavior on stage as well as questionable promotion methods soon spoke for itself and by the late 1950s, Trammell found himself broke and unemployed on the west coast. He headed back to Arkansas in either in 1959 or 1960 and made contacts with label owner Arlen Vaden of Trumann, Arkansas. Vaden arranged a session for Trammell in December 1960 at the Hi Recording Studio in Memphis, which produced "Hi Yo Silver" and "Been a Walking," released on Vaden's own label Vaden #45-304.

Bobby Lee Trammell, 1950s

Trammell kept on performing in the same manner, although his behavior had caused him a severe crisis on the west coast. In the meantime, a local jazz musician by the name of Joe Lee built his own recording studio and record company in Jonesboro on 213 East Monroe Street. He named the studio "Variety Recording Studio" on and set up the Alley record label. 

After recording a couple of songs in Memphis that were leased to small labels, Trammell asked Lee to use his studio to cut two special songs he had written, "Arkansas Twist" and "It's All Your Fault." Although the room wasn't even furnished appropriate for recording sessions, Trammell insisted on recording at Lee's place. It was likely late 1961 or early 1962 when Trammell finally recorded the songs. Praguefrank's Country Discography blog lists Sonny Ackermann on lead guitar, Herbie Mayes on bass, and Harvey Farley on drums (but doesn't mention the pianist). Sheree Homer mentions in her book "Catch that Rockabilly Fever" that "During the early 1960s, Trammell had Steve Handford on guitar and Jimmy Payne as part-time bass player. In fact, it was Trammell's brother Dale, [...] who fronted the band and played piano." She neither mentions this line-up explicitly as the recording line-up nor does she mention the line-up listed by Praguefrank. Other sources also speak of Richard Manning being the drummer on the session. Manning was also the composer of "That's What I Call a Ball," which was recorded by Larry Donn for Arlen Vaden. For now, it can't be said who played on the session with certainty. Since they did five or six takes on "Arkansas Twist," Trammell and the band had to return to the studio on another day to lay down "It's All Your Fault," as Joe Lee remembered. 

Although Lee thought it was not a good record at all, he nevertheless took it to Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis to let him master the tapes. He then ordered 300 copies at the Plastic Products pressing plant in Memphis and played the record to a friend of his, who was working in the jukebox business. Lee's friend was highly impressed and bought all 300 copies of "Arkansas Twist" on the spot. Lee released both songs as his label's initial release on Alley #1001 in May 1962 and soon, it developed into a big seller. Billboard reported on June 9, 1962: "Two other disks breaking well in the area [Mid-South, editor's note] are "Arkansas Twist" by Bobby Lee Trammell on the Alley label, and "Having a Party" [...] by Sam Cooke on RCA."

Eventually, 200.000 copies were sold, although it did not hit the national charts. "Arkansas Twist" became Trammell's signature song and also became the title of his first album on the Atlanta label. It was also covered by the Jokers  (Bro-Ket #BK-101), a band that included Trammell's musician Jimmy Doyle Payne and Steve Handford, as well as by Memphis singer Eddie Caroll (Pure Gold#304). Trammell recorded more songs in the same vein for Alley and Atlanta but couldn't repeat the sales of "Arkansas Twist." Wild stage antics still prevented him from having national success. Thus, Trammell kept on recording for small labels during the 1960s and doing the promotion work on his own. 

Trammell turned to country music in the 1970s and had a minor hit on the Souncot label in 1972. By the 1980s, he tried to break into the European rockabilly revival circuit but fans dismissed his strange performances. After this defeat, he finally gave up music and entered politics and was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1997, where he served until 2002. 

Bobby Lee Trammell died on February 20, 2008, in Jonesboro at the age of 74 years. Today, he would have turned 82 years.

Ken and the Goldtones

Ken and the Goldtones - If Somebody Loves You (Jon-Ark JA-591), 1964
Not much to say about this band, which likely hailed from Missouri. "If Somebody Loves You" is really a nice song, backed by the instrumental "Squeeky."

The songs were probably recorded and produced by Joe Lee at his Variety Recording Studio in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He released them on his Jon-Ark label. "If Somebody Loves You" was written by Stan Mungle, somehow kin to the band's singer Kendall "Ken" Mungle, while "Squeeky" was a Joe Lee composition. Ken Mungle died in November 2008.

Jimmy Doyle Payne on Alley

 Jimmy Doyle Payne - Sweet Little Sixteen (Alley 1040), 1968
Jimmy Doyle Payne should not be confused with Jimmy Payne (born 1936 in Leachville, Arkansas), who recorded for K-Ark, Vee-Jay, RIC, Epic, and others from 1962 until 1982.

Jimmy Doyle Payne was bass player in Bobby Lee Trammell's band from the early 1960s onwards. He can possibly be heard on Trammell's recording of "Arkansas Twist" b/w "It's All Your Fault" on Alley #1001 (1962), the label's first release and Trammell's signature song.

Jimmy Doyle Payne had a total of three releases on Alley in his own right during the years 1966-1969. His second one featured a good version of Chuck Berry's hit "Sweet Little Sixteen" with hot guitar and organ. The flipside "Pen, Pencil & Telephone" was a Harold Dorman composition.

Payne had an earlier release in 1965 on the Zay-Dee label, located in Batesville, Arkansas. He was also likely the vocalist of a band called the Jokers that did cover versions of "Arkansas Twist" and "It's All Your Fault" for the Bro-Ket label, also from Batesville. I'm pretty sure this band is the same that recorded for Grace Records, again based in Batesville.

Jimmy Doyle Payne discography

Grace 510: The Jokers - Little Mama / Say You're Mine (1961)
Bro-Ket BK-101: The Jokers - Arkansas Twist / It's All Your Fault (1964)
Zay-Dee ZD-202: Jimmy Payne and the Jokers - I Wouldn't Be Seen Alive with Her / Don't Ground Me (1965)
Alley 650A-4748: Jimmy Payne - I'll Cry Instead / A Dirty War (1966)
Alley 1040: Jimmy Doyle Payne - Pen, Pencil and Telephone / Sweet Little Sixteen (1968)
Alley 1047: Jimmy Payne - Joe's Forgettin Glass / I'll Get Over You (1969)
Ornament No.#: Jimmy D. Payne - Joseph and Mary / It's Time to Pray (1975)
Erwin E-1071: Jimmy D. Payne - The Devil Lives Across the Street / If You're Living in a Lonely World

Merry Christmas

Earl Grace - Christmas Is Just Around the Corner (United Southern Artists 5-111), 1961
A merry christmas and a happy new year to all my visitors, readers, and collector friends around the world!

Donna Kaye on Alley

Donna Kaye - Speak Up (Alley 1041), 1968
"Speak Up" is a neat little Soul song by Donna Kaye but not of great interest - at least for me. What strikes more is the fact it was penned by Arkansas singer and bandleader Kenny Owens, who recorded for such labels as Cotton Town Jubilee, Alley, Reka, and his own Ork imprint. The flipside to "Speak Up" is "I Would Move a Mountain," slower in speed but in some way more tremendous in its sound.

Owens had a release on Joe Lee's Alley label in his own right in 1966, featuring "Traveling on Her Mind" and "Oh. How I Miss You" (Alley #1028). By 1968 - when Lee released Donna Kaye's recording on Alley - Owens was no longer associated with the label, at least obviously, although his was living in Jonesboro, Arkansas, at that time. He had founded his own ORK label by then.

And what about Donna Kaye? She lived in Jonesboro by the time of these recordings but resides in Texas nowadays. Her daughter Shellie was kind enough to share this information with us. There was a singer in the 1950s of the same name, living in California and appearing at several fairs there, who was a different person, however.

Read more:

• The annotated Kenny Owens discography

• Alley Records story 

Jim Cannon on Memphis Part II

Jim Cannon - Stagger-Stumble-Crawl (Memphis M-329)
Here's the flipside to Jim Cannon's "Highway Fever," posted a while back here. "Stagger-Stumble-Crawl" is a country ballad, I'm sure many of you will enjoy.

Moon Mullins and the Night Raiders

The Night Raiders - Cottonpickin' (Profile 4007), 1959

Moon Mullins and the Night Raiders

Much has been written of the critically highly acclaimed recordings of the Night Raiders. Their songs are cult favorites among rock'n'roll collectors today and bestowed a place in rock'n'roll history upon the group's singer and pianist Mickey Hawks. Much lesser known is the band's founder and manager Moon Mullins, who led the Night Raiders for more than ten years.

He was born Caswell Dallas "Moon" Mullins on August 15, 1937, to Caswell Burl Mullins (1918-1946) and his wife Mae Elizabeth. A native of Moore County, North Carolina, Mullins soon showed a talent for music and eventually learned to play guitar. He married Emalee Proctor in 1954, with whom he had two children, Tony and Tonya. Mullins and his wife remained together for the rest of their lives.

By 1957, Mullins had assembled a bunch of guys to form a band called "The Night Raiders." At that time, Mullins still held a regular day job; music was only a sideline for him. They played mostly country music around High Point, North Carolina. The band also had a local radio show and Mullins was doing a regular DJ show on WMYN in Eden, North Carolina. In 1957, the band's original drummer fell out and was replaced by Robert "Bob" Matthews, who had just finished high school. Matthews had previously played in various bands, including a rock'n'roll group called "Rhythm Rockers." Also part of that group was 17 year old David Michael "Mickey" Hawks, who played piano and sang. At the suggestion of Matthews, Hawks joined the Night Raiders in September that year, although Mullins was not too enthusiatic to have a piano in his country band. Hawks was particularly influenced by Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, which you can certainly hear in his vocal style and piano playing.

The Night Raiders, back row: Mickey Hawks, Bob Matthews, Moon Mullins
front row: Bill Ballard, John Owens

The band now had a singer who was adept at singing the rock'n'roll hits of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Ray Charles, and others. Mullins, who played guitar at the time, usually sang the country songs. Being now a rock'n'roll combo, Mullins bought himself a saxophone and learned to play it. At that time, the Night Raiders consisted of Mullins on vocals, guitar and sax, Mickey Hawks on vocals and piano, Bill Ballard on lead guitar, John Owens on bass, and Bob Matthews on drums. 

The Night Raiders played a lot of the local dancehalls in the High Point area and in 1958, Mullins suggested to cut a record. He asked Hawks to write a song for recording. Hawks came up with a rock'n'roll tune called "Bip Bop Boom." The band found a tiny studio called "Robbins' Recording Studio" in Greensborough, North Carolina, and a session was set up. The studio was run by Eddie Robbins, who also had the small Robins Red label. Probably in the spring of 1958, Mullins and the Night Raiders recorded two ouststanding rockers, "Bip Bop Boom" and "Rock and Roll Rhythm," the latter composed by Hawks and Matthews. On both performances, Hawks took over the vocals with Ballard and Mullins  throwing in top notch solos on guitar and sax.

Robbins released both recordings on his label with only 500 copies being pressed on red vinyl, which was quite unusual at the time. The record was sold at gigs the Night Raiders played. Shortly afterwards, Mullins managed to release the songs again on Ted Prillaman's Mart label in Martinsville, Virginia (Mart #45-113), which is located about 56 miles north of High Point. Prillaman was also a local radio DJ and a friend of Mullins'.

Moon Mullins and the Night Raiders: Bill Ballard, Moon Mullins, Bob Matthews
John Owens, Mickey Hawks

The Night Raiders were playing a venue in Sanford, North Carolina, one night, when they were discovered by a man called Ian (or Ed) Thomas from Chicago. Thomas was friends with Mike Oury, who owned the Profile record label in Chicago. Thomas recommended the band to Oury and sent him the record the band had recorded. Oury was impressed enough to come down to High Point and sign the Night Raiders to a three year recording contract. He re-released "Bip Bop Boom" / "Rock and Roll Rhythm" on his label later in 1958 (Profile #4002). The record caught on in the Chicago area and sold over 50.000 copies. It was also released through Trutone Records in South Africa and reportedly hit the #1 spot there in Johannesburg. 

Billboard pop review October 13, 1958

The Night Raiders embarked on a tour through the midwest and had two more records released on Profile. The first of those was the great instrumental "Cottonpickin'," showcasing Bill Ballard's skills on the guitar as well as "Hidi Hidi Hidi" with Hawks on vocals (Profile #4007). It came out about one year after the original release of "Bip Bop Boom." Their next and last one on Profile was the pounding "Screamin' Mimi Jeanie" b/w "I'm Lost" (Profile #4010) in 1960. Both singles were produced in Chicago at a professional recording studio but couldn't repeat the success of the band's debut release. 

Billboard pop review May 18, 1959

In 1961, Mullins and the Night Raiders recorded again for bluegrass musician Jim Eanes' Lance label out of Richmond, Virginia. The tracks were "Gonna Dance Tonight, Part 1," a vocal number, and "Gonna Dance Tonight, Part 2," an instrumental version (Lance #005). Around the same time, the Hunch label in New York City re-released "Cottonpickin' / "Hidi Hidi Hidi." Afterwards, Bob Matthews left the group and was replaced by Leroy Butler on drums. The Night Raiders kept on appearing in North Carolina during the 1960s with different members, apart from Mullins and Hawks. In 1968, the band did one last recording for Piedmont Records in Danville, Virginia (Piedmont #45-2044). One side featured "Ain't Gonna Cry" by Hawks and the other side had "Baby, I Got You," a duet with Hawks and Gwynn Kellum. Kellum appeared with the Night Raiders occasionally during this time.

The Night Raiders eventually broke up. Mickey Hawks kept on performing and played regular gigs in Europe during the 1980s. He died way too early in 1989. Moon Mullins stayed in the entertainment business. He owned a nightclub called "Moon's Danceland" in Madison, North Carolina, during the 1960s, where the Night Raiders would serve as the house band. He later also co-owned WREV radio in Reidsville, North Carolina. Mullins died June 30, 2014, at the age of 76. He was buried at the Woodland Cemetery in Madison.

For more information plus a great interview with drummer Bob Matthews, please visit Colorradio.com. 

Jim Cannon on Memphis

Jim Cannon - Highway Fever (Memphis M-329)
Jim Cannon is featured here with a country trucking song called "Highway Fever" on Memphis from ca. 1965. More on the Memphis label can be found here.

Cannon, a local Memphis artist, had another release on the Wescan label, "Brooms" b/w "Life's Stormy Sea" (Wescan #102), which was prossibly his own imprint. Cannon eventually had a moderate christmas hit with "Frumpy" in 1973 on the newly founded Fretone label. Fretone was operated by Estelle Axton in Memphis, once co-founder of Satellite Records, which would evolve into Stax.

Billboard October 29, 1973

Billboard December 8, 1973

Jim Cannon Discography

thanks to Bob

Memphis M-239: Highway Fever / Stagger-Stumble-Crawl

Wescan 100: My Evil Eye / Underwater Man
Wescan 102: Broom / Life's Story Sea

Fretone 005: Frumpy / Little Round Man (1973)

Clyde Nelson & Ronnie on Tri-State

Clyde Nelson and Ronnie - Stairway to the Top (Tri-State 45-1923), 1968

Please excuse my reckless verdict here but the singer on this one, whether it's Clyde Nelson or Ronnie, didn't chose the right day to record. Not a good performance at all. I can't find no info on the artists but Tri-State was operated by Style Wooten. Click here for a discography of Tri-State.

The Story of Rock 'N' Roll Ruby

Warren Smith - Rock 'N' Roll Ruby (Sun 239), 1956
"Rock'n'Roll Ruby" - now a classic in rockabilly music history and covered by countless artists. The most famous and most successful by far came from Warren Smith, of course. When Smith realised he had a hit with it, he painted across his car "Warren Smith - The Rock'n'Roll Ruby Man." Judge by yourself if this was an arrogant move. His performance of the song, however, was reason enough for it.

Warren Smith, born on February 7, 1933, in Humphreys County, Mississippi, came to Memphis after his discharge from the US Air Force. He had been singing and playing guitar for some years by then and soon, Smith became acquainted with local musicians. He joined Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys, a country and western outfit that was quite popular in the Memphis and West Memphis areas. They played regularly on the radio and also were the house band of the Cotton Club in West Memphis.

Stan Kesler, songwriter and steel guitairst of the Snearly Ranch Boys, had written a country ballad entitled "I'd Rather By Safe Than Sorry" by then. He was impressed with Smith's singing skills and therefore arranged an audition with Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Although also impressed by the group's performance, he told them to come back with more song material.

At the same time, Johnny Cash enjoyed early success with "Folsom Prison Blues" (peaking at #4 on the Billboard C&W charts) and was touring the US. Today, Cash is credited with composing "Rock'n'Roll Ruby." He recorded a demo version of the song possibly in late 1955 at KWEM studio in Memphis. As Warren Smith (and Cash reportedly also) eventually stated, Cash bought the song from George Jones for 40$. In fact, Cash was touring in Texas during December 1955 and January 1956, perfoming both in Odessa, Texas, and at the City Auditorium in Texarkana on December 28 with Jones. Enough time to buy a song from another artist. May it as it be, we cannot be sure who was the actual composer of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby."

One night in February 1956, Sam Phillips showed up at the Cotton Club while the Snearly Ranch Boys were playing. Johnny Cash accompanied him and they invited Warren Smith to their table. Phillips suggested Smith and the Boys should record "Rock'n'Roll Ruby," which Cash obviously didn't consider for himself. A couple of days later, on February 5, the Snearly Ranch Boys went into Phillips Recording Service to back up Smith on his first recording session. The line-up consisted of Warren Smith on vocals and rhythm guitar, Buddy Holobaugh on electric lead guitar, Stan Kesler on steel guitar, Jan Ledbetter on bass, Smokey Joe Baugh on piano, and Johnny Bernero on drums, who replaced Clyde Leoppard. Also present were of course Sam Phillips as producer and reportedly Johnny Cash. The products of this session were outstanding performances of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" and "I'd Rather Be Safe Than Sorry," released by Phillips on Sun #239 in March that year. Some copies had the song title misspelled as "Rock'M'Roll Ruby."

Billboard C&W "Review Spotlight", April 21, 1956

May 5, 1956 (note the wrong song title)

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.

"Rock 'n' Roll Ruby" hitting the local charts in Charlotte and Memphis

During the summer of 1956, Smith disbanded from the Snearly Ranch Boys after a dispute about the royalties of the single. He founded his own band with Al Hopson on guitar, Marcus Van Story on bass and Johnny Bernero on drums. Smith had four more releases on Sun between 1956 and 1959 but none of them really caught on with the audience. He returned to country music at the end of the decade and recorded one single for Warner Bros. at the end of 1959. Contrary to widely held beliefs, Smith was not covering under the name of "Warren Baker" on Warner. Afterwards, he signed a contract with Liberty and enjoyed his commercially most successful era with this label during the early 1960s, having several hits in the national charts. Though, his contract ended in 1964 and Smith's life fell apart. He became an alcohol and drug addict, had a severe car accident and finally spent some time in jail.

In the 1970s, Smith picked up courage and began to record again. The Rockabilly Revival of the 1970s gave him a new audience and some recognition he such much desired. He enjoyed his newly achieved "stardom" for a couple of years but died way too early in 1981 at the age of 41 years from a heart attack.

Apart from an alternate take Smith and the Snearly Ranch Boys recorded during the February 1956 session, also two live takes of "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" survived. One was recorded in 1956 at the Big D Jamboree in Dallas, the other one probably in 1959, when Smith had moved to California and played the Town Hall Party in Compton. He also re-recorded the song in 1976/1977 at the Real to Reel Studio in Dallas. The result was released in 1977 on the Lake Country label LP "The Legendary Warren Smith."

"Rock 'n' Roll Ruby" hitting the No.1 spot in Memphis, May 26, 1956

Already in the 1950s, "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" was covered by several artists. Johnny Carroll was the first to cover it on April 25, 1956 (Decca #9-29940), followed by Dave Burton (RCA-Victor #47-6535), Buddy Merrill (Coral #9-61649), and Rusty Draper (Mercury #70879X45). Jerry Lee Lewis (1957), the Night Rockers, Rusty Wellington, Ted Daigle from Canada (under the name of "Ruby") and Sonny Burgess (1964) also recorded it during this time. "Rock'n'Roll Ruby" became a classic and was covered by such artists as Brian Setzer, Sleepy LaBeef, Mark Knopfler, Art Adams, Charlie Feathers and others. Johnny Cash included it in some of his live performances during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.