Little Rockin' Chair

LONNIE JOHNSON - LITTLE ROCKIN' CHAIR

A teenage Elvis Presley listened to Lonnie Johnson.

Tomorrow Night - Lonnie Johnson

More information on Lonnie Johnson can be found HERE

45s In The Car?

The format for the 7 inch disk to be played in the car was 16 rpm (16 2/3 rpm)

THE LONG GONE, BUT OFTEN WONDERED ABOUT 16rpm SPEED

The information above comes from the excellent book by Jim Dawson & Steve Propes

Grab your own copy HERE

The history of the 45 from it's creation to it's demise.

Jumpin' George Oxford radio commercial from 1955; 45s or 78s?

DukeBox Boppers

IT IS HONKY TONK MUSIC - HANK the DRIFTER

I have always wanted a picture of myself to adorn a cover wrapped around a hot piece of vinyl. Alas that is never going to happen...so I made one myself! 

This is a collection of my favourite BOPPIN' music, songs I used to dance to (free style) many moons ago.

The collection kicks off with 'It Is Honky Tonk Music' by Hank the Drifter real name Daniel Ray Andrade. Daniel dug the music of Hank Williams and I was surprised at the time to find out that this excellent song was recorded in 1963 the recording sounds much older.

I was expecting to hear a cover of Johnny Strickland's 'She's Mine' when I first spun Johnny Jano's 'She's Mine' but the Louisiana rocker belted out boppin' number from the grooves that is never far from my turntable.

I picked up 'I Got Blues On My Mind' by Lonnie Irving on a 45 when I was still a greasy teenager with an unbelievably high quiff back in 1978. It is a great raw rockabilly number. At the time I was hoping that I would find more gems by Lonnie but his life was cut tragically short when he died from leukaemia in 1960 at the age of 28.

Rocky Bill Ford's 'Have You Seen Mabel' was released on the Starday label in 1956.

'Mabel' and the flip side 'Mad Dog in Town' were about as Rockin' as Rocky got.

Cowboy Sam Nichols was a genuine singing cowboy from the 1930's that made a living selling his songbooks while on the road. 'Keep Your Motor Hot' is a fine hillbilly bopping song.
'Rock Me Mama' by Ken Lindsay and 'Walking Talkin' Baby Doll' by The Three Ramblers I know virtually nothing about except the fact that I like the recordings.
'You Are The One' by James Gallager is a jokey number about a girl that ain't doing to well at school, she would much prefer getting woo'd in a hot hot.
Carl Trantham with the Rhythm All Stars recorded 'Where There's A Will (There's A Way) for Starday records in 1957.'You Nearly Lose Your Mind' by Roy Moss blew my socks off when I first heard it on the Mercury Rockabillies L.P way back in the mid 1970's.
Arlie Duff is better known for 'Alligator Come Across' but give 'In The Big Woods' a listen.
Arthur (big boy) Crudup with 'Shout Sister Shout' sends me back in time to The Castle pub in Tooting in the early 1980s it's a nice jumpin' platter to end the DUKEBOX BOPPERS set.

DUKEBOX BOPPERS!

P/W dukeboxrock

Big Bill Lister

I was having a holiday in Texas back in September 2001 when I had the good fortune to meet and shake hands with the great Bill Lister. He was in the audience at the Llano Opry in the Llan-Tex theatre watching a show starring Leona Williams. He really was a nice guy, very friendly and polite and he answered my questions that he must have heard and answered a thousand times before! RIP Bill a true gent.

Big Bill Lister by Kevin Coffee

Big Bill's business card from the early 1950's

LOCAL YOKEL (My old scratchy version)

LOCAL YOKEL (Clean version, thanks Bob)

There's a party going on.

Rock & Roll side of Helen Hall

HELLO BABY (demo)

Big D Jamboree country singer who dabbled in rockabilly

THE ROCK & ROLL SIDE OF HELEN HALL

More info on Helen Hall

Wild Wild Rockin' Women Volume 6

THE ORIGINAL LADIES

BRENDA LEE - DOODLE BUG RAG

HELEN HALL - HOW LONG

Wild Wild Rockin' Women Volume 5
P/W dukeboxrock

Jake Allen

SEX APPEAL

Jake Allen live on Steve Stack O'Wax Radio Show

Cheap Thrill

Sex Appeal

The Changes Are Small

It's Gonna Rain

Since Your Gone

Glad All Over

Rockabout

No More Time

Leave Me This Way

Sweet Talk Guys

You're Blaming Me

Always On My Mind

Jake's Facebook Page

Check out Steve Stack O'Wax HERE... an excellent all round rock n Roll radio show.

Rockabilly Rave Chalet Jam

Darren Lince, Jake Allen and Wyatt Maxwell on guitars.
Joey Moriarty on Bass and Rob Ingram on Drums.

Whatever happened to Alis Lesley

with Elvis in Las Vegas

Heartbreak Harry

The text below comes from Wikipedia; 

Alis Lesley is a former American rock and roll singer, once billed as 'the female Elvis Presley'.

Lesley was born Alice Lesley in Chicago, Illinois on April 20, 1938. 

Her family later moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where she attended Phoenix Junior College. 

She majored in television and radio, and began singing rockabilly while a student. 

She was discovered by Kathryn Godfrey, a popular Phoenix television personality and the sister of Arthur Godfrey. 

With Ms. Godfrey's help, Lesley became a local favorite following her appearances on television station KTVK and in local night clubs.

Lesley achieved brief national celebrity with the 1957 release of her Era single, "He Will Come Back to Me" b/w "Heartbreak Harry" (Era Records 45-1034). 

Lesley's stage persona as "The Female Elvis Presley" included a guitar slung around her neck, greased-back hair, and combed-down sideburns.  She toured Australia in October 1957 with Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and local rocker Johnny O'Keefe.

The tour was cut short when Richard underwent a "religious experience" and he retired from rock'n'roll for several years.

After the Australian tour the trail goes cold...

ELVIS IN MIND

A Letter To Alis (worth a look)

Topsy Turvy

Born Benn Joe Zappanini in Kansas 1942

Doctor Doctor

More info on Ben can be found on the links below

BlackCat Rockabilly

or

Rockin' Country Style

TOPSY TURVY 

Boppin' In The Dark

Fake 45

Boppin' in the Dark

Love'nist Lovin'

Mama Laid the Law Down

MAXI MP3 SINGLE

Born Douglas Willis Dickerson, 1927, Grand Saline, Texas, USA. Died in 1979.  Dub started out in the music business as a guitar player in Zeke Clemons band 'Texas Swingbillies'. He was not an out and out rock n roller being more comfortable singing in the country & hillbilly style. But he did lean towards rockabilly occasionally. His best rocker by a long shot was 'Boppin' in the Dark' sadly it remained in the vaults for many years before its inclusion on a 2005 rockabilly compilation album  ('Action Packed! Volume 4: 16 Red Hot Rockin' Hits') titled 'Boppin'.

Dub & Zeke (photo from the Kevin Coffee Collection)

The information below is from Wikipedia

1950	Hoot Owl Rag / Is not Got No DogOne [!] Gal	Imperial 8083
1951	Chinchie Hotel / Money Talks	Decca 46329
	If I Had You Back / Just In Time To Be Too Late	Decca 46353
	The Bells of Monterrey / Sweet Bunch of Bitterweeds	Capitol 2504
	One Night Stand / Dear Love	Capitol 2605
	Mama Laid Down the Law / Everything Depends on You	Capitol 2719
	Count Me In / You Started It All	Capitol 2821
	My Gal Gertie / Look, Look, Look	Capitol 2947
	Under the heading of My Business / I Must've Drove My Mules Too Hard	Capitol 3099
1956	Shot Gun Wedding / Each Time	Sims 106
1958	Sugar Lips / (I Think I'm) Falling In Love	Imperial 5512
1960	Mama Laid Down the Law / The Bottle	Todd 1053
1962	It's About to Get Me Down / Name Your Price	Sims 127
	All Over You / My Impression of You	Tower 59101/102