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 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.
• Expanded the information on Charlie Dial found in the Little Shoe post.
In contrast to Halford's last release, which was a best of album with older material from previous albums, "Soul Crusade" contains eleven new tracks recorded by Halford and his band, the Healers.
The album features an authentic and lively sound, something that was also typical for Halford's earlier records. The album starts with "Another Skyline", a soulful, calm, and enjoyable song. It is followed by "Take It Slow", featuring humorous lyrics at a slightly faster pace. But it doesn't gets much faster on the rest of the album, many of the songs are pleasant but you're waiting for the real highlight. If there's something that comes close to being a highlight, it's "Devil", featuring a dirty, electrified slide guitar intro that also keeps the song moving.
"Soul Crusade" is top quality in terms of performance and recording but lacks the definitive song here. Though, recommended to Americana/alternative country music fans.
Gene Mooney with the Westernaires - Trouble with the Blues (Rocket 45-911), unknown year
Gene Mooney, a cousin to famous steel guitarist and composer Ralph Mooney, led a country and western swing band for many years, it seems. He is not quite a well-known name in historian or collector circles. He recorded around a handful of records in the 1960s and 1970s and appeared steadily around Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the same time frame.
Mooney was born Eugene H. Mooney on November 21, 1926, in Borger in the northern corner of Texas, not too far away from the state of Oklahoma. Apparently, he made the move to Oklahoma at some point in his life and began a career in music. By the late 1950s, Mooney fronted a local country and western swing outfit he called "The Westernaires" that appeared around Tulsa and other areas in Oklahoma. By Novemver 1958, Mooney and the band became regulars at Leon McAuliffe's Cimarron Ballroom. In addition to his personal appearances, Mooney also appeared on local radio and in August 1960, Mooney took over a morning DJ show over KMUS in Muskogee, Oklahoma. His band became a long-running act in the Tulsa area and over the years, featured many different musicians, including well-known steel guitarist Billy Parker.
Billboard October 20, 1958 Marvin McCullough was a local Oklahoma DJ that regularly appeared with Mooney during the late 1950s. McCullough later replaced Leon McAuliffe and Johnnie Lee Wills on local radio.
Mooney's first record release probably came in early 1962 on the short-lived Flat-Git-It label, featuring "Half a Chance" b/w "Talking to My Heart" (Flat Git It #701). The label was actually based in California and also featured releases by brothers Fred and Cal Maddox of Maddox Bros. & Rose fame.
In 1972 and 1973, Mooney had two releases on the local Tulsa based Merit Records and somewhere in between - or even before the Flat-Git-It release - his Rocket disc came into existence. Rocket Records was a custom label from Nashville, Tennessee, that issued discs in the late 1950s and probably early 1960s. Mooney's release featured "Trouble with the Blues" b/w "No One" (Rocket #911) but no release date can be given or estimated, as the Rocket releases followed no systematical pattern.
Since at least 1971, Mooney and the Westernaires sometimes appeared at Cain's Ballroom, a now legendary venue in Tulsa known for appearances by western swing stars such as Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan. At that time, the ballroom was still owned by Jim Hardcastle, who sold it to a 83-years old lady named Marie L. Myers in February 1972. Myers had shown up one night at Cain's and obviously fell in love with Mooney's singing. "She went down there one night and asked him to sing 'Hello Darlin'' to her. That was it," remembered Hardcastle how Myers and Mooney first met. Myers bought the venue and made Mooney and the Westernaires the house band of the ballroom. From Hardcastle's statements, it seems that she made the decision on her own to buy Cain's, although she later said that Mooney talked her into buying the place.
Freddie Hart played Cain's early in 1972 - he had been still booked by Hardcastle - and Mooney and the Westernaires were supposed to be Hart's background band that night. Hart had sent records to Hardcastle to learn for Mooney and the band. The night Hart performed there, the place was packed but as it turned out, Mooney and the band had only practiced Hart's big hit "Easy Lovin'", believing the rest of the set list would be easy enough to handle with improvisation, which was not the case and made Hart mad.
Catalog of Copyright Entries 1973
However, under Myers' ownership, only few people attended Cain's when the Westernaires played solo, although Myers kept it open every Saturday night with Mooney and the band performing. There may have been more than one reason for the small crowds that attended. One reason was missing promotion. Though she got better advice from Hardcastle, Myers never advertised on local newspaper. In addition, it seems that Mooney was not a favorite of the audiences. Hardcastle recalled Mooney singing "a different type of country song" and although he seemed to be not a bad singer, his style of singing appeared not to be a crowd-drawer.
Mooney left Cain's in late 1973 to unknown reasons. Several witnesses indicate that Mooney's and Myers' relationship was more than business-based (whatever that means), it seems that they perhaps had a fall-out over some issue. What Mooney did after he left Cain's is unknown. Myers sold the venue not long after Mooney's departure to Larry Shaeffer, a part-time steel guitarist who had auditioned earlier unsuccessfully for Mooney's band and managed to establish the ballroom as one of the city's top live music venues again.
Gene Mooney passed away June 14, 1982, in Tulsa at the age of 55 years. He is buried at Cookson-Proctor Cemetery in Cookson, Oklahoma.
If anyone has more information on Gene Mooney, please feel free to contact me.
Sources • 45cat entry • Find a Grave entry • John Wooley, Brett Bingham: "Twentieth-Century Honky-Tonk" (Babylon Books), 2020
• Billy Parker, John Wooley, Brett Bingham: "Thanks - Thanks a Lot" (Babylon Books), 2021
Chris Murphy is not what you would call a southern fiddler or a pure bluegrass musician. He has been influenced by different music styles, ranging from country to pop, from classic to folk and has released more than 20 records so far.
Among his many recorded works and collaboration, his new EP “Two Rivers Crossing” has to be one of his most down to earth and sparse productions. Listening to it, it often reminded me of the early 1920s and 1930s string band recordings, sometimes even featuring only Murphy’s singing and violin (he’s not calling it fiddle but violin). The opening track “Early Grave” as well as the track “The Wolves of Laredo” are reminiscent of Fiddlin‘ John Carson’s early recordings. However, modern touches are present everywhere on the record (“Long Ago” for instance) – Murphy combines southern fiddling with modern lyrics. The record closes with “Shantallow”, an instrumental with maritime flair that comes along more like a shanty than an old-time fiddle tune.
This will go for both traditional listeners and open-minded folk and world music fans. Nice melodies and sparse but pleasant arrangements with violin to the fore.
Today's selection from our little Hoyle Nix series features Nix' third and last release on the Caprock label from fall 1958. Nix and the West Texas Cowboys are in good form here and present two solid western swing performance in their usual manner.
Caprock Records had been founded nearly a year earlier by DJ and country music singer Hank Harral. Nix and his band recorded a total of three discs for the label, all of which were recorded and released during 1958. They used Ben Hall's studio in Big Spring, Texas, for the sessions, which was a welcomed possibility for the band, as it was their home base and not far away from their regular gigs at Nix' Stampede Club in Big Spring.
"Coming Down from Denver" is a lively instrumental and was recorded, along with its flip side, the vocal number "My Mary", at Hall's studio at some point in 1958 with Nix on vocals and fiddle, Ben Nix on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eldon Shamblin on lead guitar, Little Red Hayes on fiddle, Dusty Stewart on steel guitar, Loran Warren on banjo, Dale Burkett on piano, and John Minnick on bass. A drummer could have been present at the session, (possibly Kenny Lane), though this is not documented. The band differed to some extend from the line-up that would record for Bo-Kay Records the next year as Red Hayes, Dale Burkett, Loran Warren, and John Minnick had left and were replaced by other musicians.
A Nix original, "Coming Down from Denver" was later also recorded by Nix' mentor and friend Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys for Wills' "For the Last Time" sessions in 1973.
Hoyle Nix and his West Texas Cowboys - She's Really Gone (Winston 1059-45), 1961
This was Hoyle Nix' last record for some years - seven years, to be exact. Since 1949, Nix had been recording steadily for small Texas labels: Star Talent, Queen, Caprock, Bo-Kay, and at the beginning of the 1960s for Slim Willet's Winston label. Willet had established the label in 1957 as the follow-up to his shortly before defunct Edmoral imprint. The name was a reference to Willet's real first name: Winston.
Hoyle Nix had recorded a single for Winston that same year before this one came out, "My Love Song to You" b/w "Sugar in the Coffee" (Winston #1057-45). More or less instantly after this first disc hit the market, today's selection "She's Really Gone" b/w "Cornflower Waltz" was released. Both numbers were set to a slower pace and sounded definitely out of time - but it was clear that Nix wasn't looking to sound like what the teenagers back then wanted. While "Cornflowers Waltz" was the instrumental flip side, Nix and his brother Ben shared vocals on a slow but charming "She's Really Gone".
Billboard October 9, 1961
The songs were recorded in August 1961 at Ben Hall's studio in Big Spring, Texas (also Nix' home base). Hall, a country music singer and songwriter in his own right, is best remembered today for penning "Blue Days, Black Nights", which was recorded by Buddy Holly. The line-up for Nix' recordings that day included Nix on vocals and fiddle, Ben Nix on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eldon Shamblin on lead guitar, Dusty Stewart on steel guitar, "Little" Red Hayes on fiddle, Mancel Tierney on piano, Larry Nix on bass, and Kenny Lane on drums. Released the following October, Billboard rated the disc as "moderate sales potential" without any comment.
Hoyle Nix and his West Texas Cowboys - Ida Red (Bo-Kay K-108), 1959
Following my in-depth story on Texas western swing band leader and longtime Bob Wills companion Hoyle Nix, we continue to explore Nix' career and recorded works. The first installment of this litttle series features his first Bo-Kay release from 1959, which finds Nix and the band in top form with their rendition of the old fiddle favorite "Ida Red". It had been recorded more than 20 years earlier by the master Bob Wills himself (although there existed several recordings prior to Wills' take) and therefore became a standard in western swing.
"Ida Red" originally was a traditional fiddle tune played by string bands all over the south. Even early version featured lyrics, which were exchangeable however and the verses were unrelated to each other. The origins of the song are still unknown to this day. The first recording was made by Fiddlin' Powers & Family on Victor #19343 from 1924 and other early versions included those by Dykes' Magic City Trio, Riley Puckett, and Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers. These versions featured traditional string band arrangements but when Bob Wills took the tune in 1938, he partially set lyrics from an 1878 song called "Sunday Night" by Frederick W. Root to it and re-arranged it as a western swing song. Released on Vocalion #05079 in 1938, it became a hit for Wills. He recorded a new version entitled "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" in 1950 for MGM, which reached #10 on Billboard's C&W charts. The following years, cover version popped up by several artists, primarily in the country and western swing fields and "Ida Red" became a favorite especially in the latter genre. It also served as an inspiration for Chuck Berry's first hit "Maybellene" (1955), one of the first rock'n'roll hits and an influence on rock'n'roll and rock music in its own right.
It is well-known that Hoyle Nix toured and performed frequently with Wills during the 1950s and 1960s, so "Ida Red" certainly was part of his repertoire for some years by the time he recorded it. It was his second disc for the local Texas Bo-Kay label, which had been founded by Jesse Smith in 1956 in Lamesa, Texas. Nix and his West Texas Cowboys recorded "Ida Red" as well as its flip side "La Goldrina Waltz" at some point in 1959 at radio KPEP's studio in San Angelo, Texas. Present that day were Nix on vocals and fiddle, Ben Nix on rhythm guitar, Eldon Shamblin on lead guitar, Dusty Stewart on steel guitar, Millard Kelso on piano, Louis Tierney on fiddle/saxophone, Henry Boatman on bass, and Larry Nix on drums.
Released in 1959 on Bo-Kay #K-108, the disc was likely a good seller locally and regionally but never stood a chance for wider distribution. Today, original copies of Nix' Bo-Kay singles can be found frequently at yard sales and such around Lamesa, Odessa, Big Spring, and surrounding areas.
Hoyle Nix, ca. 1950s From the back cover of White Label LP 8831
When regarding the whole country music universe and its entire history, Hoyle Nix is a longer footnote in music history. Nix was not a national known star but like it was common back in those days, he was a regional celebrity. And he performed with famous and important western swing artists of his time, like the great Bob Wills. Nix played western swing in Wills' style, though a bit more crude in its approach.
William Hoyle Nix was born on March 22, 1918, in Azle, Tarrant County, Texas, to Jonah Lafayette Nix and his wife Myrtle. Both of Nix' parents hailed from Texas; his mother from Cross Plains (southwest of Abilene) and his father from Parker County near Fort Worth. The couple eventually moved to Azle, now a suburb of Fort Worth. A year after Nix' birth, the family relocated roughly 250 miles west to Big Spring, Howard County, back then a growing city with a population of about 4.000, located near Midland and Odessa.
Nix' father was a fiddler and his mother a guitarist, so they were a big, early influence on Nix, playing the old-time music of their generation at community gatherings. At age six, Nix took up the fiddle, too, and learned his first tune. In the early and mid 1930s, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys rose to fame, especially in Texas and Oklahoma, and along with such acts as Milton Brown's Musical Brownies, established a new sound that became known as "western swing". It was a combination of the old-time fiddle music (that had also influenced Nix as much as Wills) with strong jazz and blues arrangements. Wills became the main influence on Nix, who considered Wills as "the finest fiddler he ever heard."
In 1936, Nix married Rosy Maude Davidson, the first of his five marriages, and son Larry was born in 1940. He was followed by Jody in 1952, Hoylene in 1957, and Robin in 1959. Both Larry and Jody later joined their father's band.
Although music was on his mind right from the childhood onward, Nix did not found his own band until he and his brother Ben formed the West Texas Cowboys in 1946. The band was patterned after Bob Wills' Texas Playboys band with fiddle, guitar, steel guitar, bass, drums, and at times even horns. Nix and the band began playing locally and regionally around Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo. They soon gained popularity in the region.
In 1949, it was time for Nix and the West Texas Cowboys to cut their first record. The opportunity came along in form of Talent Records, a smaller Dallas based label that also released discs by such Texas country music figures as Ben Hall, Sonny Burns, Johnny Hicks, Hank Harral, Slim Willet, and countless other artists. The first release featured "I'm All Alone" b/w "A Big Ball's in Cowtown" (Talent #709), which became also the most notable from this era. Nix had adopted an old minstrel negro song, variously known as "Big Ball's in Town" or "Roll on the Ground", that had been recorded earlier by artists of different genres (including old-time musicians), first in 1896 by Billy Golden. However, Nix was the first to register his jazzy western swing arrangement as his own work. The song was recorded by Bob Wills years later, giving credit to Nix, who became known as the composer - although he was only the arranger of the now popular western swing version.
Billboard August 27, 1949
The years 1949 and 1950 saw four more releases by Nix and his band, now under the newer imprint of Star Talent Records. In 1952, Nix met his idol Bob Wills for the first time in Colorado City, Texas, and both bands shared the stage that evening. Soon, the West Texas Cowboys and the Texas Playboys began touring together, sharing the stages of the dusty Texas dance halls for much of the 1950s.
Billboard July 22, 1950
In 1954, Nix and his brother Ben built their own dance hall outside of their adopted hometown of Big Spring on Snyder Highway. It opened on May 8 that year and drew a crowd of 1.1000 attendees the first night. Nix decided upon the name "The Stampede" for his dance hall and it featured the West Texas Cowboys but also other acts and became a popular spot that is still open to this day. Bob Wills performed there several times a year with Nix, both always serving as great entertainers to the audiences, as visitor Doug James remembered: "I was there the night Hoyle Nix and Bob Wills played with their fiddle bows tied together with thread for about 10 minutes before it broke. 'Orange Blossom Special' was the song."
Billboard November 26, 1955
In 1955, Nix went into partnership with another Texas country music artist, Wink Lewis. They set up their own record label, Queen Records, which was based in nearby Snyder. Both Nix and Lewis recorded for their imprint during 1955 and 1956, releasing a rockabilly-type song called "Real Rockin Daddy" to keep up with the flashing trend of rock'n'roll music during the mid 1950s. After Queen came to an early end in 1956, Nix recorded for Hank Harral's Caprock label out of Big Spring, waxing a new version of "Big Ball's in Cowtown", and "Summit Ridge Drive", now a minor favorite among collectors. He continued to record for Bo-Kay (1958-1959) and Slim Willet's Winston label (1961).
Also, Nix' relationship with Bob Wills continued. In the late 1950s, the West Texas Cowboys featured former Texas Playboys members Eldon Shamblin, Millard Kelso, and Louis Tierney, expanding the band to its largest size ever with nine members at the same time. When Bob Wills disbanded the Texas Playboys in the early 1960s, Wills hooked up with Nix' band altogether and kept on touring with them. Wills' appearances with Nix came to an end in 1969, when Wills suffered his first stroke.
Nix gave it a new try at recording in the late 1960s with the founding of another label, Stampede Records, on which he released a slew of singles during 1968. However, none of his records ever charted despite his popularity as a performer. This may be due to the fact that Nix always recorded for small labels without none - or at least minimal - distribution and promotion. In addition, western swing's popularity ceased by the early to mid 1950s on the national market.
Nix's friend Bob Wills suffered from bad health since the 1950s but in the late 1960s, it got worse. In 1973, he cut what would be his final session - Nix and his son Jody were invited to this historic event. After Wills' death in 1975, Nix continued to perform in his usual manner, playing such annual events as the Howard County Rodeo and the Odessa Rodeo as well as halls and spots all over Texas. He also became a mainstay on the Bob Wills day celebrations in Turkey, Texas, and performed with other big names during the years like Merle Haggard, Charlie Walker, Billie Jo Spears, Ernest Tubb, Johnny Duncan, Barbara Fairchild, and Marty Robbins. He made his last recordings in 1977 for the Oil Patch label, which released several singles and an album from these sessions.
Though not a national acclaimed name, Nix received several honors during his later career. He was inducted into the Nebraska Country Music Hall of Fame (1984), the Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame (1985), the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame and the Western Swing Hall of Fame (both 1991).
Hoyle Nix passed away on August 21, 1985, at the age of 67 years after a short illness in Big Spring, where he is buried at Mount Olive Cemetery. After his death, son Jody took over the band and the Stampede and continues both to this day.
Nix' records are not particularly rare or worthy in original shape. He left behind a great body of recorded works, ranging from the late 1940s to the late 1970s. The British Archive of Country Music has compiled a CD in 2014 with selected cuts by Nix entitled "A Big Ball's in Cowtown".
Although Dave Denney had an extensive career as a recording artist, he was never rewarded with a real hit recording. He started his career in the 1930s, began recording in the mid 1940s and was still a radio personality some twenty years later. He is largely forgotten today and I must admit that I had never heard of him until I purchased this piece of phenomenal RCA colored vinyl some years ago.
Denney hailed from Lafayette, Indiana, where he was born on August 25,1921, as David Karlstrand. His grandfather, Edward Karlstrand, was born in Sweden but immigrated to the United States in the 19th century and settled in Illinois. Later, the Karlstrand family moved to Indiana. David Karlstrand took a liking at music at an early age. He was inspired by the western tunes his mother sang and soon, she felt that her son needed a guitar. A local preacher got word of that and not long after, he was presented with his first six-string.
By the time he was 15 years old, he performed with a band called the Texas Cowboys, led by Rube Tronson, and it is likely that he adapted the stage name "Dave Denney" around that time. Tronson's Texas Cowboys played various venues such as theaters, dances, rodeos, fairs and were also heard on such stations as WSAU in Warsau, Wisconsin or the famed WLS in Chicago (also appearing on the National Barn Dance). The sudden death of Tronson in 1939 disbanded the band and Denney set out on his own.
After his stint with the Texas Cowboys, Denney moved west and toured such states as Texas, Utah, California, and even Mexico. I have found no hint but it seems probable that Denney served his country between 1941 and 1945. At least, I did not find any mention of him in magazines during this time frame. However, he was back in music business in the northern states by summer 1945, as Billboard noted on June 16: "Dave Denney, formerly with Rube Tronson's hillbilly band over WLS, is currently doing a single at the Mayfair Club, Boston." Later that year, he became a performer on WHN in New York City.
Bilboard February 9, 1946
By late 1945, Denney had signed a recording contract with New York City based Musicraft Records and his first recordings saw release in December that year, "It's Nobody's Fault But Your Own" b/w "Careless Love" (Musicraft #15049). His backing band on the Musicraft sessions featured famous black jazz violinist Eddie South. Denney remained with Musicraft for about a year and afterwards, switched to the Signature label for two releases in July 1947. While recording for Musicraft, Denney had begun writing songs and was under contract with Leeds Publishing. He composed many of his recorded works and also other artists cut his songs, including Pee Wee King (with whom Denney also recorded as a vocalist in King's band).
Dave Denney RCA-Victor promo picture, 1948 or 1949
By 1948, Denney had appeared on nationally syndicated shows on CBS and ABC, when he joined the staff of KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma, moving from the north to the midwest. Already in early 1948, his first RCA-Victor disc had appeared, "I'm Waltzing with a Broken Heart" b/w "Part of My Heart is Missing" (RCA-Victor #20-2726). Denney would stick with RCA for the rest of the decade, the last for him being today's selection, "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It" and "I Gotta Have My Baby Back."
Both were recorded at RCA's studio in New York City on November 2, 1949, with an unknown line-up and saw release shortly afterwards on both 78 and 45rpm format. However, none of Denney's singles created sales figures that animated RCA to keep Denney on its roster.
Billboard December 24, 1949, C&W review
In June 1949, Denney had signed a three-year contract with Chicago's WLS radio. After his stint with KVOO, he had worked at a station in Washington and then moved to Chicago. By early 1953, he was a DJ at WPTR in Troy, New York, where he would spent the following years.
After a four year break from recording, Denney returned to a recording studio in August 1954, cutting four songs for MGM Records. The label signed him around September and his first release for the label, "Cry, Fool Cry" b/w "Stop, You're Breaking My Heart" (MGM #K11831) appeared in October. A second single followed but success eluded him and it remained Denney's only session for the label. He would not record again until the mid 1960s, cutting a single for Golden Crest, and waxing his last sides later that decade for the Viking label.
During the 1960s, Denney worked with different radio stations in New York State, mostly as a DJ . He teamed up with Anna Marie Thomas for both personal and radio performances during these years. In 1960, he spun platters over WROW in Albany, New York, and Billboard reported that the pair of Denney and Thomas joined WLEE in Glendale, New York, around June 1963. By 1965, both were featured performers on WXKW, also New York State.
Dave Denney died August 1, 1972, at the young age of 50 years. The British Archive of Country Music has released a 27 tracks CD of Denney's 1940s and 1950s recordings in 2009. It has since remained the only reissue of his recorded works.
I bought this 45 by Marty Wendell from a trusted dealer in Arkansas and I really got interested in this disc mainly because it was a cover of the Carl Perkins penned "Daddy Sang Bass", which became a hit for Johnny Cash in 1969. The powerful harmony vocals by the Statler Brothers and the Carter Sisters on Cash's original were replaced with an overall thiner sound, which nevertheless bears an amateurish charm. Also, this disc introduced by to Marty Wendell, the artist on this record, which I had never heard of before.
Born in Ticonderoga, New York, near the state border to Vermont, Wendell was heavily influenced by the southern rockabilly sounds of Sun Records out of Memphis during the mid to late 1950s, including Johnny Cash, who became a special influence on Wendell. However, he absorbed also other genres such as pop, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Around the same time, he entered a local church talent contest and the experience to perform in front of a live audience led Wendell to the decision to become a musician.
More public performances followed and during a stint in Greenwich Village in New York, he was discovered by producer Stanley Rowland and the result was Wendell's first record "Hey Hey Mama", which sold about 10.000 copies (according to Wendell's website). Wendell switched to Tom Wilde's Ferus Records afterwards and due to the success of "Hey Hey Mama", served as the opening act on Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison album tour in August 1968.
In the late 1960s, Wendell he worked with Ticonderoga based Kee Records, including his cover of "Daddy Sang Bass", a song Cash had recorded in 1968 for his religious concept album "Holy Land" and which saw release as a single in January 1969. Cash's version peaked at #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles.
Wendell's version was released ca. in 1970 (Kee #K-369), judging from the Precision Record Pressing matrix numbers, with "Without You" on the flip side. Since the label was based in Wendell's hometown and he also appeared on a subsequent release as songwriter and producer, I assume Kee Records was operated by or associated with him.
Wendell continued to perform in the northeastern United States during the 1970s and began to host his own music festival in 1977, which continued for 20 years. Since the 1980s, Wendell has concentrated on performing and recording several albums for various labels, most notable the 2007 record "Rock & Roll Days" - recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis. Wendell performs to this day, although health troubles forced him to cancel most of his 2022 dates.
The hard rocking blues / boogie sounds of English rockers Foghat seem to be out of place for this blog but their musical roots, blues and 1950s rock'n'roll, are nothing but appropriate to feature this band here. As I developed a special interest in Arkansas music history, I thought it would be interesting to examine the personal appearances of one of my favorite rock bands in the Natural State.
Foghat was actually an off-spring of Kim Simmonds' Savoy Brown Blues Band, a group that had emerged in London in 1965. The line-up changed over the years and by the late 1960s, three of the members were part of Savoy Brown who later founded Foghat. It were "Lonesome" Dave Peverett on guitar and vocals, Tony Stevens on bass, and Roger Earl on drums. Thanks to a busy touring schedule, Savoy Brown became more popular in the US than in Great Britain, which presented the trio of Peverett, Stevens, and Earl with their first touring experiences in North America.
However, in late 1970, they decided to leave Savoy Brown (leaving Kim Simmonds as the only remaining member) and founded the band Foghat. With the addition of lead slide guitarist Rod Price, the group was complete. With Peverett's passion for 50s rock'n'roll and a guitar style reminiscent of Chuck Berry's as well as Price's great love for the blues, their hard rocking, stomping boogie blues sound was born. The band signed with American Bearsville Records and had their first self-titled album out in July 1972. It entered the US charts soon and a tour across the States was started. Eventually, the band relocated to the United States full time due to their ongoing success there. In Europe, the band was largely overlooked, although single and album releases were available in several European countries.
The "Foghat" album featured a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You", which had been recorded first by Muddy Waters in 1954 for Chess Records (a #4 Billboard R&B hit). Waters would record it again in 1968 for his album "Electric Mud". While the original was a slow number in the best tradition of the Chicago blues style, Foghat speeded it up and introduced it with a thumping bass run by Tony Stevens. The song was released as a single in the US and Europe with "A Hole to Hide In" on the B side and reached #83 in the US and #31 in Australia. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" became one of Foghat's signature songs that they played at probably every concert. In 1977, the band released a live album aptly entitled "LIVE" and the resulting single release was the live version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You", which peaked at #33 in the US and at #28 in Canada.
During the next years, the band enjoyed some chart success with their following albums and cut cover versions of rock'n'roll and blues standards for every record: Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" also for their debut (1972), Chuck Willis' "I Feel So Bad" for "Foghat (Rock & Roll)" (1973), Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush" and Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" for "Energized" (1973), Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues" for "Fool for the City" (1975) or Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago" and Tampa Red's "It Hurts Me Too" for "Stone Blue" (1978). Some of them, like "Honey Hush" or "Maybellene", became part of their routine live repertoire.
One of their biggest successes came in 1975 with their album "Foor for the City", produced by Nick Jameson, who also joined the band as a bass player from 1975 until 1976. The album's single, "Slow Ride", became a #20 hit that year in the US (even # 14 in Canada) and a minor rock classic.
Foghat was known to have a restless touring schedule, which made them one of the hardest working bands in the US and a popular live act. During their classic years, they played six concerts in Arkansas, all of them in Little Rock. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" was probably part of the set list for every of their gigs there. Here is an overview of their concerts in Arkansas:
• November 18, 1972: Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas • March 31, 1976: Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas • November 19, 1976: Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas • April 26, 1978: unknown venue, Little Rock, Arkansas • September 7, 1981: Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas • April 24, 1983: Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas
Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas 1950s postcard
Following their last concert in 1983, the band did an autograph signing at Hickey's Sports on Cantrell Road. Some of the songs they played included "Stone Blue", "Fool for the City", "Third Time Lucky", "Slow Ride", and of course "I Just Want to Make Love to You".
In 1984, Foghat disbanded. By then, line-up changes had occurred following the leaving of Tony Stevens in 1975 and Rod Price in 1981. The band reformed in 1994 and is active to this day under the leadership of drummer Roger Earl, who appears to be the only original member of the group nowadays. Dave Peverett has passed away in 2000, Rod Price in 2005 and long time bass player Craig MacGregor in 2018. Since the beginning of the new century, Foghat has performed two shows in Batesville, Arkansas, and one in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
1974 live appearance by Foghat on Don Kirchner's Rock Concert TV show, performing an extended version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (with parts of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" thrown in)
