Riley was born on his parents’ farm in Mount Pleasant, Texas, in 1912 as the youngest of eight brothers and sisters. At age two, he contracted infantile paralysis (polyo), so he depended on crutches for the rest of his life. Perhaps this handicap forced him to make a career in country music. His bluesy voice is genuine and comes from the heart. The life he lived is reflected in his songs, as he had a lot in common with his idol Hank Williams.

In 1938 he won first prize at a singer’s convention which was an own show at radio KPLT in the neighbouring small community of Paris. A year later he toured with other acts. This tent show had a regular band. More of this kind of shows were executed during World War II.

It was about the end of 1945 when Riley returned to Mount Pleasant where he established his own band, the Hillbilly Ramblers. This band consisted of Smokey Cal Burton Harris (later label owner of Security Records), Ray Key and the very young Country Johnny Mathis. Soon they could be heard on radio KIMP in Mount Pleasant. Their popularity grew and also the demand for buying their music on phonograph records.

In 1949, Crabtree eventually signed a contract with Louise and Jesse Erickson, owners oof the Talent (later Star Talent) label, located in Dallas, Texas. Another idol of Riley was Jimmie Rodgers, so he picked just Rodgers songs for his first two sessions. All these items were cut at Jim Beck’s studio in Dallas, where also many of the Columbia recordings were recorded, not only by Riley Crabtree. Producer Don Law wanted it that way. It was his idea the future had to belong to the honky-tonk sound with fiddles, steel guitar, piano and such as later performed by Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Billy Walker and numerous others. Don Law believed in Crabtree’s talents – not only because of his big local success “Shackles and Chains” – and signed him on the Columbia label on November 13, 1950. Three days later, a remake of “Shackles and chains” was recorded with “Get away from it all” on the flipside. The contract was for 4 songs and lasted one year but with the option to prolong the contract from year to year for always another year.

Even the re-make of “Shackes and chains” was a success. It didn’t reach the charts but Riley received an offer from Nashville then to join the Grand Ole Opry as a regular act. However he decided to stay closer to home  and joined KRLD’s famed Big “D” Jamboree, as a regular member.

flyer April 16, 1955

Johnny Hicks was the emcee back then. Regional stars he shared the stage with were Gene O’Quin, Hank Locklin, Sunshine Ruby, Charline Arthur, Sonny James and many more. The Jamboree band were the Light Crust Doughboys. The main reason why Crabtree stayed in the Dallas, Texas area was the fact that in spite of his success through his phonograph records  contract, he – as his band members – couldn’t make a living out of it. He also had a wife and two children to take care of. His main income was from his daily job as a car mechanic.

Due to fading success on Riley Crabtree’s recordings, Don Law decided not to prolong the contract for another year. Last session therefore was November 15, 1953. After a two year interruption, Crabtree signed up with the West coast Ekko label. Until the last single was released in 1965, Riley was on a variety of independent labels such as Country Picnic (1957), Security (1958), C and W (1959/60), Van-Dan (1962 or 1963), York (ca. 1963), Country Hit (1963 to 1965) and Cheatham (1965).

Towards the end of the sixties, Crabtree suffered a stroke and was from then on confined to a wheel-chair. A tragic accident caused by a defective electric blanket took the life of Riley and two friends on April 1, 1984. Only Riley’s second wife could escape the fire.

From the notes to both Riley Crabtree CDs: “Riley Crabtree – 28 original tracks” (Ger. Cattle 312) and “The rare Riley Crabtree radio sessions” (Ger. Bronco Buster 9061)(early 2000s). Pictures of 45’s, as usual, from Terry Gordon’s site Rockin’ Country Style. Big « D » Jamboree pictures from Steve Bonner. Picture of Star Talent 78 from Big Al Turner’s Hillbilly Researcher site.

Riley Crabtree’s music – from a listener’s point of view (notes by Bopping editor)

Since the notes above were constantly poor on life’s facts and litterally mute on the music itself, I have to admit that I like very much Crabtree’s music, actually since ca. 1984-86 I received a batch of cassettes from Californian collector Tom Sims. Within one of these I heard “Tattle Tattle Tale” (Country Picnic, 1957), which had me wanting for more. “Tale” is a great fast Bopper in its own right: Riley’s is in good and firm voice, a nice piano has a solo just after the lead guitar, the steel guitar player is just adding fine licks to the lot, and a loping bass support them all. It took me a mere twenty years to find more. The two German CDs were interesting for various reasons; first, they contained the “1949 Jimmie Rodgers sessions” (Talent, just Crabtree and his guitar), very sincere and well done; second, they had tunes from radio transcriptions (1956-onwards), which included fine renditions of country standards (“Hey, Good Lookin’”) , and an attempt to cut Rockabilly music (“Go,Cat, Go”), fact is Riley had well adapted to new trends. It appears that Crabtree was a fine songwriter on his own: songs like “That’s What I Like” or “Pack Up Your Clothes And Come On Down” were good country songs for the time being. Then Dragon Street Records out of Dallas, in 2007, issued the “Big D Jamboree” tapes: 4 more Crabtree tracks, 2 from radio shows. Then I picked from various sources the two versions of “She Loves Me Better”, the first cut for Security (1958), with Burton Harris on lead; the second on Country Hit, with drums and fine steel (1963), again Crabtree’s compositions. All the Columbia sides eluded my researches, even on 78s.

Riley had a good voice for ballads, as in “Don’t Turn Away From Me” but could also romp a Hillbilly Bop:  The majority of his output however does consist of medium paced Boppers, such as “Meet Me At Joe’s” (with a very young Eddie Cochran on lead guitar) or “Something Tells me” (nice “Texas piano”). He seem to have had the same lead guitar player, Burton Harris (owner of Security Records), for 10 years. Alas, Burton, who provided the tapes of “Absolute Security Radio Shows”, died in 2006.

Born Charles Hurt Murphy, Jr., 7 March 1922, Montgomery, Alabama Died 18 August 2001, Charleston, South Carolina

Chuck Murphy was a piano pounder who made two interesting records that you could call proto-rock n roll. Born in March 1922, he always celebrated his birthday on March 8, but, when he looked at his birth certificate years later, he found that he was actually born om March 7. Born in Montgomery, he grew up in Decatur, Alabama. His mother played piano and Chuck and his brother Huel both took up the instrument. Chuck loved Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong. His first gigs were in pop bands during the mid-1930s and by the 1940s he was making a living from music. Most of his work came from the lounges in and around Birmingham. Country music came into the picture in a minor way (he gigged with the Red Mountain Wranglers and was on their television show, and hung out with Hardrock Gunter), but pop music was his bread-and-butter. At one point, he was among the highest paid entertainers in Alabama.

In February 1951, Murphy had his first record released, « They Raided the Joint »/ »Blue Ribbon Boogie » (Bama 301), accompanying himself on what sounded like an old barrelhouse piano.

The A-side was written by Louis Jordan and Dan Burley and recorded by Jordan in January 1945 as « They Raided the House« , though it was not released at the time. Bama Records was owned by Manley Pearson, who had released the original version of « Birmingham Bounce » by Hardrock Gunter. Decca had tried to buy the master, but after Pearson refused, Paul Cohen recorded his own version of « Birmingham Bounce » with Red Foley, which went to # 1 on the country charts, leaving Pearson with piles of unsold copies. Having learned from this experience, Pearson leased « They Raided the Joint » to Coral this time (a subsidiary of Decca!), after the disc showed good sales potential. Coral reissued Chuck’s single in April 1951 (Coral 64090). It sold well in the southern states, but was not a national hit. Chuck did further recordings for Coral with Pee Wee Erwin’s Dixieland Band. There was even a Dutch Coral pressing (61014) of Chuck’s song « 2-D Gal In A 3-D Town« .

In 1951, Chuck had 4 times the honor of being reviewed by Billboard for his Coral records.

In late 1953, Murphy signed with Columbia Records, where his first record was « Hocus Pocus« / »Hard Headed » (21258). However, it was his second Columbia single, « Rhythm Hall » (Columbia 21305), for which he will be remembered most of all. Recorded at the Tulane Hotel in Nashville on March 21,1954, « Rhythm Hall« was produced by Don Law, with Hardrock Gunter and Huel Murphy on guitar, Ernie Newton on bass and Farris Coursey on drums. Chuck’s family says that Chuck himself played piano on the session, and that would certainly make sense, but Hardrock Gunter alleges that Huel played the piano. Like « They Raided the Joint« , « Rhythm Hall » is an infectious piano romp in country boogie style.

Chuck made two more singles for Columbia and a few for other labels (MGM), but since the early 1950s he had felt the call to the ministry. In 1957, he entered what is now Samford University in Birmingham (then Howard College) and finished a four-year degree in three years, all the while working the nightclubs. In 1960, he went to Virginia Theological Seminary and graduated in 1963. From that point, until his death in 2001, he was a full-time minister in the American branch of the Anglican church. Along the way, he wrote several books.

Biography taken from BlackCatRockabilly (Netherlands – come visit the site!)

Pictures from various sources.

Chuck Murphy disco

Jimmy Murphy, 1950's

So, OK for embarking? We begin with JIMMY MURPHY (see elsewhere in this site with help of the search engine at upper right). His commercial days at Columbia (1955-1956) were largely over when he entered (after an unreleased Starday session – now available on Ace records) again in the Bill Lanham studio and recorded one of his best tunes ever, very sensitive and sincere, in 1962, for the Ark label, « I Long To Hear Hank Sing The Blues« . Unclassifiable music: between Hillbilly, Folk music and Bluegrass.

Let’s go on with HOMER « Zeke » CLEMONS. He hailed from Texas during the mid to late forties with his outfit, the Swingbillies. As soon as 1947, they were recording their « Operation Blues » (lyrics below), an early risqué song which actually met such enormous success on the first label, Bluebonnet, that  Modern out of Los Angeles leased the tune, as « Operation Blues # 2« , next year, and re-released it even 16 years later, under the name « Hank Brown » (Royalty label)

OPERATION BLUES (Homer Clemons) 
Now won’t you climb up on the table,
Pull up that gown
Raise up that left leg, 
Let that right leg down
Pull off them stockin’s,
That silk underwear
’Cos the doctor’s got to cut you, mama, 
Don’t know where

The doctor knows his business
The doctor knows just what to do

Too much of (?), 
One old ( ?)
Two pair of step-ins
That’s all I can say (save)
Your ribs are all loosened,
Your carburettor’s stalled
I’ll duck into your hood, 
And clean your spark plugs all

The doctor knows his business
The doctor knows just what to do…   Is it a car (spark plugs), or anything (-one) else that the doctor is visiting?

On to 1966. Dayton, Ohio. WIBBY LEE is a real unknown – no information has ever surfaced about him, at least to my knowledge. He cut 3 disks for the small Jalyn label, all good Boppers, Rockabilly borderline, a real anachronism for the time. Just vocal and electric guitar (Is there any bass?) on « I’m Lost Without Your Love » .

Just WHO was Ted DIXON, or Walter DIXON, or even MASON DIXON? Once in the now-long-ago defunct « Roll Street Journal » magazine, the handsome Phillip J. Tricker promised the readers the story of Mr. Dixon, which never saw the light…First, it seems the three were the same person. Second, they had numerous records on labels as small and elusive as Reed (Alabama), Erwin (Tennessee), the most approaching to a major (everything is relative) being Meteor, out of Memphis (the Los Angeles’ Modern label outfit). Here I have chosen by MASON DIXON the superlative « Don’t Worry About Nuthin‘ », complete encouragement to leave troubles behind, and take the good side of life. Swirling fiddle, great happy vocal, thudding bass: the optimal crossing between Hillbilly and Rockabilly, being cut 1955.

Ted Dixon

Then on to Texas. Ted Daffan’s label, ably named Daffan (its story is on the line). A great 1957 offering by a guy by the strange name of FIDLO. « Trifling Heart » has a solid Country-rock guitar, the singer’s voice is firm and confident;  great steel-guitar throughout (solo interplay between lead and steel), all loped by a thudding bass. Finally we have a minor classic in « We’re Bugging Out » (Murco 1014) by another unknown, TOMMY BOYLES (1959). I think the tune could easily fall in the category of Country-rock. Never-the-less, a fine romper in its own right.

Tommy Boyles, late 90's

As a bonus, a great Rocking Blues in the hand of FENTON ROBINSON on the Duke label (# 191), « Crazy Crazy Loving« , from Texas, 1958. I LOVE Blues too!

And as usual, I hope you all will appreciate the selections. I do my damn best to give you pleasure (pics and music). Bye!

first ever Work LP, Dot sides (1985)

All too often, country composers of the 1940s and 1950s who didn’t have a substantial string  of hits of their own are forgotten even if their songs have not been. Jimmy Work is a classic example. The author of three bonafide Country classics – “Tennessee Border” (1948), “Making Believe” (a simultaneous hit for both he and Kitty Wells in March of 1955) and “That’s What Makes The Juke Box Play” (1955) -  Work’s records have been a little more than a footnote to the fifties, a composer’s credit on someone else’s records. That fact is truly unfortunate, for in truth, Jimmy Work was among the most expressive composers of the era. Though Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell enjoyed greater success, Work’s best songs were among the most evocative of the period: raw, unvarnished gems with an undeniable directness and beauty.

Born in Akron, Ohio, on March 23, 1924, Jimmy Work moved to a farm his folks purchased near Dukedom, on the border of Western Kentucky and Tennessee, in 1926. “I started playing back when I was seven years old”, he says today. “My Dad had bought my mother a guitar, and she never did learn to play it, and that’s how I learned to play a guitar. Back then I listened to Gene Autry, and I liked Roy Acuff. He was one of my favorites.”

“Around this part of the country, there were some good musicians also”, Work says. “And I was going to high school and we had a band there. They used to have fiddler’s contests, and I was playin’ in all of those and I winnin’ a lot of prizes, but I just liked country music. I started writin’ songs when I was real young. And  started singin’ those songs around and people seemed to like it. And that’s been more or less a hobby of mine – sittin’ down and writin’ songs and playin’ music.” Work did not only commit himself to music. He also became an accomplished millwright, a profession he pursued on and off, alternating with music., throughout the past several decades.

His first substantial musical work came at the end of World War II when he moved to Pontiac, Michigan, around 1945. Pontiac and other Detroit suburbs were a powerful wartime magnet for southerners drawn to the money they could make working in war production plants that had been adapted from Detroit’s massive auto factories. Country singers like Work gave them a taste of home, for the loneliness of displacement from the rural south to the smoky, urban Midwest, later brilliantly evoked in Mel Tillis’ classic song “Detroit City”” was very real. Work went on to work on the aptly named WCAR radio in Pontiac, had a songbook published and made his first records for the tiny Trophy label. “Detroit was a good country town, a good country record town”, he remembers.

In 1948 Work recorded an original composition, “Tennessee Border”, for the local Alben label . “You know, I couldn’t get nobody to record that song, and I went, and recorded it myself,” he remembers. “That record got me started.” Hank Williams was among the major artists who covered it. Its rural overtones made it enormously appealing. He recalls: “All the major labels put it out (on their artists).” Decca signed him in 1949, and with Paul Cohen producing, Jimmy recorded in Cincinnati (backed by Jerry Byrd, Louis  Innis and Tommy Jackson, among others) and Nashville. “Bluegrass Ticklin’ My Feet” did modestly well, but the Decca contract didn’t last.

Billboard Dec. 13, 1948

Still working around Detroit, he recorded one single, “Hospitality”, for Bullet (out of Nashville), backed by his Tennessee Border Boys (# 699). By the early fifties, he was with Capitol, (and writing for Hill and Range), but still hadn’t followed up his success with a hit of his own. He made numerous guest appearances on the major live radio shows of the day and era, such as the WLS National Barn Dance out of Chicago, Illinois, the WWVA Original Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia, the KWKH Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana, the WFAA Saturday Night Shindig out of Fort Worth, Texas.

Still, “Tennessee Border” boosted his career outside Detroit. He twice appeared  on the Grand Ole Opry as well as Ernest Tubb’s “Midnight Jamboree”. He also met Hank Williams several times. “Hank wanted me to go to Acuff-Rose. Of course that was when I first appeared on the Opry and sang “Tennessee Border”. He would always kid me. I had some songs on Decca, and every time he’d see me he’d start singing one of them, “Bluegrass Ticklin’ My Feet”. That song sold a lot of copies.” Two singles for London Records (the American subsidiary of British Decca) in 1951 dit nothing, but in late 1953, Work was contracted to Acuff-Rose song publishing who tried to promote his material. Despite the company’s stature and the popularity of honkytonk, they had difficulty doing so. Even his best-known number, “Making Believe”, attracted little attention at first. “Acuff-Rose couldn’t get nobody to record it. And I cut the master because I was singin’ it everywhere and people there in Detroit, every time they’d see me playin’, that’s the first thing they’d ask me to play.”

Billboard Oct. 9 1954

Work had landed a contract with Capitol in 1953, but again two singles went nowhere, and by 1954 he was signed to Randy Wood’s Dot Records of Gallatin, Tennessee. He produced his own sessions in Detroit and shipped off the master tapes to Dot for pressing and release. From that first session came not only “Making Believe”, his first Dot release, but “That’s What Makes The Juke Box Play”, along with “Don’t give Me A Reason To Wonder Why.” All the backing tracks feature austere, straight accompaniment that is strictly supportive. The lead guitarist, for example, does little more than play a pulsating dead-string accompaniment in the style of Zeke Turner or Luther Perkins with the steel guitar and fiddle the most prominent instruments.

“Making Believe”, issued in early 1955, surprised everyone by reaching the Number 11 position on Billboard’s country charts in March of that year. The song nobody wanted, that Work himself knew had potential, was vindicated by its success. Suddenly Work’s stature in the industry rose considerably. The fact that at virtually the same time Decca’s Kitty Wells covered the song and took it to Number 2 position proved the durability of the number, and Work’s songwriting as well.

“That’s What Makes The Juke Box Play”, the second Dot single, did not become a huge hit for Work but this quintessential honkytonk ballad, like “Making Believe”, has had a long and sustained life with honkytonk singers ever since, its sorrowful and powerful imagery being among the finest of the idiom.

“Just Like Downtown” has much of the rollicking feel of Hank Williams’ numbers like “Settin’ The Woods On Fire”, an idealized, sanitized portrait of a southern house party. “That Cold, Cold look In Your Eye” and “Blind Heart” were typical unrequited love ballads.  He recorded “Blind Heart” twice. The first recording, recorded at his second session, wound up on a Dot album, the second (done at his final session) was one side of his last Dot single in 1956.

Thirty years have dimmed his memories of specific details of the records themselves, though Jimmy does remember some basic data. “The Dot sides were cut in Detroit. I used United Sound studio, and I used Casey Clark and his band; Casey played fiddle, and Buddy Emmons played with me on some of those (Emmons was working in Detroit, before joining Little Jimmy Dickens in July 1955). Casey, his boys kind of switched around with him, you know. He had different ones here and there. The band had lead guitar, bass fiddle and a piano on some of them. I don’t know if there were drums in there or not. We recorded about four songs at a time. I’d cut ‘em in Detroit and send ‘em to Randy Wood at Dot.” The band sounded at times as if they were consciously patterning their accompaniments after those of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys (note the high-register Don Helms-styled steel guitar licks on “That Cold, Cold Look In Your Eye”.)

As a vocalist, Work was among the least polished, most overtly rural of the era aside from Hank and Lefty. His phrasing was understated, and his voice quavered in places. None of it was affectation, his voice was nasal (he could have done well had he pursued a bluegrass career) and his delivery was relaxed and easygoing, putting the lyrics up front.

Virtually all his Dot recordings were original numbers and the majority were ballads in the late 40s/early 50s style. Yet he also did some fine uptempo novelties like “When She Said You All” and “Puttin’ On The Dog, And Tom Cattin’ Around”, a bluesy novelty number in the Hank Williams style, the only Dot number never issued (until now). (…)

“Making Believe’s” popularity expanded his horizons. After a stay in Nashville, he headed south to WVOK in Birmingham, Alabama, which became his new home base for a time. It also got him some substantial tours, including a string of bookings handled by the popular Memphis C&W disc jockey Bob Neal, then booking Elvis Presley around the South. “Elvis was a good entertainer,” he says. “That’s when he was on the Sun label. When his first records came out, a lot of disc jockeys thought it was Rhythm and Blues, you know. I took ‘em back to Detroit and the (country) disc jockeys wouldn’t play ‘em. And I told ‘em, “Well, someday you’ll play them, and I don’t think it’s gonna be too long.” And those same disc jockeys remembered. Later they said “Jimmy, you was right.”

He stayed in Alabama until 1957, then played around the country music parks in the northeast, including some in Pennsylvania. Dot continued releasing records during 1956, none of them, however, had the impact of “Making Believe”, good as they were. “Digging My Own Grave” was particularly interesting. Much in the style of Hank’s “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive”, it had the same easygoing fatalism.

However, Work’s performing and recording career effectively ended by the late fifties.(…) Some tried recording rock and roll; others were forced into it by producers. But Work never tried to do that. “I was just a few years too late, maybe four or five”, he reflects. (…) For a while, he moved to Southern California, where he sold real estate, and made his final two singles (one a cover of “Tennessee Border”) for the Whittier-based “All” label. In the end, he returned to Dukedom and millwrighting, apparently without bitterness or rancor. He does not performing, even locally these days. “But I still write songs for Acuff-Rose”.  

Rick Kienzle, notes to “Jimmy Work – Making Believe” LP (Bear Family 15177), 1985.

Recommended listening: Bear Family 2-CD 15657 « Making Believe » (complete Work’s output, 1946-1959)

all 502 video

Ted Daffan

Ted Daffan was at a crossroads both in his life and his career in the fall of 1955.

His days as a best seller for Columbia were behind him, his last recent big hit was as recent as 1950: “I”ve Got Five Dollars And It’s Saturday Night”. He’d had a decade of enormous success following his 1941 departure from Houston’s Bar X Cowboys to form his Texans. (…)  He found himself back where he started in 1952, teamed for a time with old buddy Jerry Irby, who had also fallen on hard times (see elsewhere in the site for Jerry Irby’s story). By 1955, he’s reached a seeming standstill.

He had recently purchased the house and recording studio on Robert E. Lee street from Floyd Tilllman. (…) Eddie Noack sought him out that fall: he had written the somewhat uncharacteristic “These hands”, but could get no one interested in doing anything with it.

“I knew it was a hit”, sayd Daffan. “I couldn’t get anybody to record it.” So Daffan put together a studio band, brought in vocalist Jerry Jericho – and Daffan Records was born.

It was actually a partnership between Daffan and the late Herman Shoss, an old friend from high school days who played first violin in the Houston Symphony. Both they were part of the ‘house’ band that Daffan had put together for recording sessions, a band rounded up with old cohorts Buddy Buller on lead guitar and Lew Frisby on bass. Buller had been part of Daffan’s first band in 1933 and had lent his solid, distinctive lead guitar to all of Daffan’s prewar sessions; Frisby was one of the ‘hillbillies’ Daffan had joined in the Blue Ridge Playboys in 1934. He was later a long-time member of Floyd Tillman’s backing band and a busy recording session player, as well. Daffan added pianist Pete Burke, another veteran who had played with the Blue Ridge Playboys, the Bar X Cowboys and Jerry Irby’s Texas Ranchers. Daffan himself would alternate between steel guitar and baritone ukulele. He decided against using drums on his sessions (…) and his unusually but highly rhythmic uke adds a distinctive touch to many sides. “I’m a pretty good rhythm man,” he says. “My success was due to my ability to set up jazz patterns…That’s why I played ukulele. You can get great rhythm out of it.”

The combination of sounds – Daffan’s distinctively thin-toned steel or catchy baritone uke rhythm; the graceful violin of Shoss; the tasty jazz guitar of Buller; the unmistakable whorehouse piano of Burke – was singular, sparse and clean, all qualities that were trademarks of Ted Daffan. If Schoss’s violin sometimes defeated a song’s momentum – it felt particularly out of place on the uptempo Irby sides – its unintentional evocation of turn-of-the-century parlor romance sometimes actually worked to a performance’s advantage (at times it blended well with some of the old-fashioned qualities of Jericho’s voice, for example). “It’s funny,” says Daffan. “He could play first violin in the Houston Symphony but couldn’t quite cut country.” On the other hand, Buddy Buller’s excellent and sophisticated guitar work strengthened every session. Sadly, this underrated musicians’s best work with Daffan, recorded in Hollywood in 1942, remains for the most part unissued.

Daffan made interesting choices, too, in the artists he chose to record, recruiting seasoned vets rather than untried up-and-comers, until he recorded William Penix in 1958. (…) The fact that singers Irby, Jericho and McBride also played their own rhythm accompaniment was a plus. “That way, I saved a musician.”

The first Daffan Records releases, Jericho’s These Hands and the Daffan/Irby Tangled Mind, were successful beyond Daffan’s wildest expectations: both hit big regionally.(…) Unfortunately, when he could get distribution, Daffan could rarely get payment for records delivered. (…) Daffan’s hopes of leasing his masters to bigger labels were thwarted when those labels simply covered the songs: Hank Snow hit big with both These Hands and Tangled Mind. (…) By the end of 1957, Daffan had given up. He accepted an offer to go to Nashville to work with Hank Snow in a publishing venture. He revived his label out of frustration briefly later in the year, when he found and recorded William Penix, a singer-songwriter he felt had potential to be “another Hank Williams”, but couldn’t find a label interested in the sides. (…) He issued a second Penix release in ’62, then there was a flurry in the mid-sixties (Margaret Elliott, Johnny Bundrick) followed by a last try, with the Pickering Brothers (who were “The Picks” on the overdubbed Buddy Holly sessions in Clovis, NM) in 1971.

The artists

Jerry Jericho (1918-1993) has been a long-time vocalist with Ben Christian’s Texas Cowboys from 1941 to the early 50’s. He embarked then in a solo career as Smiling Jerry Jericho on Four Star, until the advent of television and rock and roll eventually kicked him down. He recorded a fine session for Starday, then switched to Daffan, before he cut sides for Allstar in the late 50’s. He was also a regular on the Louisiana Hayride. His absolute sincerity was one of the keys to his success.

Billboard advert, January 21, 1956

Billboard, March 9, 1957

Billboard, September 15, 1956

Jerry Irby (1917-1983) – see elsewhere in this site for his complete story. He recorded for Daffan the hit Tangled Mind, then, never one to shy from whatever current trend might yield a hit, Irby recorded a mambo (That’s Too Bad), rockabilly (Clickety Clack), as well as the bizarre, pseudo-inspirationnal (and surely somewhat autobiographical) A Man Is A Slave.

Floyd Tillman (1914-…) was unquestionably the biggest star to record for Daffan, and his session for the label ranks not only as one of the most unusual of his career, but arguably one of the best.

Laura Lee McBride (1920- 1989) had been vocalist for Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys between 1943 and 1944, when she married guitarist Dickie McBride. Ventures in California as well in Houston, recording contracts with MGM; they too suffered from rock and roll, although they were regulars on television. Their shared session for Daffan is probably their oddest. Dickie’s sides were his only religious recordings. Laura lee was not typically a blues singer, but I Want My man is one of her best recordings.

“Fidlo” (1930-      ) was actually Leon Eriksen, a Galveston singer who performed in and around that city for over two decades. Darrel Edwards, song writer of both Fidlo’s songs, Hopelessly and Triflin’ Heart, put together a fine band that included his frequent collaborator Herbie Treece on lead guitar, Lee Holeman on steel and Houston’s session stalwart Hal Harris on rhythm guitar.

Ted Lee. His recordings seem to emanate from Waco, as they feature the unmistakable fiddle of Johnny Gimble (he played mandolin on Who’s Getting Your Love) and the steel of Eldon “Curley” Roberts.

Billboard, November 24, 1958

William Penix (1927-1973) He was from Shawnee, Oklahoma, and “he walked into my office in Nashville one day and said he had some songs,” Daffan remembers. “And when he sang them to me, I said, “That’s talent.” “I worked with him for about three months getting that stuff ready and then I put together the little band, musicians I wanted.” Hank Snow’s fine lap steel guitarist Joe Talbot, who also played acoustic standard lead on Dig That Crazy Driver; Marvin Hughes on piano and Sleepy McDaniels on bass. Daffan once again pulled out his baritone uke. Unfortunately, Daffan’s high hopes were dashed. Nobody was interested.  Penix managed only one release, on Pappy Daily’s D label in 1961 – You Take The Medicine (I’ll Take The Nurse) is a classic, as good as his Daffan sides.

Margaret Elliott/Johnny Bundrick. Ellilot went to see Daffan with a demo in 1965. Daffan already cut her with a band that included young guitarist Johnny Bundrick. (1948) .

Billboard, December 5, 1970

The Pickering Brothers (John and Bill) had been chorus mates for Buddy Holly in 1957.

All artists’ pictures scanned from the Bear Family CD. Daffan 45s from Rockin’ Country style. Billboard adverts from Billboard archives.

Recommended listening: « The Daffan Records Story » Bear Family 15878

Pumpin’ and Drinkin’!      

James Faye « Roy » Hall was born on May 7, 1922, in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. An old colored man taught him to play piano, and to drink. By the time Roy turned twenty-one, he knew that he was the best drunken piano-player in Big Stone Gap, and armed with the pride and confidence that this knowledge gave him, he departed the town of his birth to seek fame. Roy made it to Bristol and farther, pumping boogie-woogie in every Virginia, Tennessee, or Alabama beer-joint that had a piano. He played those pianos fast and hard and sinful, like that colored man who had taught him back in Big Stone Gap; but he sang like the hillbilly that he was. He organized his own band, Roy Hall and His Cohutta Mountain Boys (Cohutta was part of the Appalachians, in the shadows of whose foothills he had been raised up). It was a five-piece band, with Tommy Odum on lead guitar, Bud White on rhythm guitar, Flash Griner on bass, and Frankie Brumbalough on fiddle. Roy pounded the piano and did most of the singing; but everybody else in the band sang too.

In 1949 Roy and the band cut their first records, for Fortune, a small, independent label located on 12th Street in Detroit. Over the next year Fortune released six sides by Roy Hall: « Dirty Boogie, » « Okee Doaks, » « Never Marry a Tennessee Girl, » « We Never Get Too Big to Cry, » « Five Years in Prison, » and « My Freckle Face Gal. » Most of these recordings were slick hillbilly blues, similar to the sort of music with which Hank Williams had recently risen to fame. But the most successful of the bunch, « Dirty Boogie » was a wild, nasty rocker which foreshadowed much of what was to come to be musically in the South during the next few years.

In 1950 Roy traveled on to Nashville alone. He cut two records there that year for Bullet, one of Nashville’s most active independent labels. Both of these Bullet singles, « Mule Boogie » and « Ain’t You Afraid, » were fine hard-driving things, but they failed to sell.

After Bullet, he recorded for Tennessee, a small local company that had a national hit in 1951 with Del Wood’s piano instrumental « Down Yonder« ; but Roy Hall’s piano brought no hits.

He opened a joint in Nashville called the Music Box (later renamed the Musicians Hideaway). There he played piano and drank. One of Roy Hall’s most loyal customers was Webb Pierce, who, following Hank Williams’s death on New Year’s Day 1953, became the undisputed king of the country singers. Pierce hired Roy as his piano-player, using him on most of his recordings in 1954-55. During this time, Roy also recorded with Marty Robbins and Hawkshaw Hawkins.

In the summer of 1954 Elvis Presley came to Roy Hall’s club looking for work. Roy recalled; « I fired him after just that one night. He weren’t no damn good. » Towards the end of that same year another young man came to the club looking for work. He was Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy kept him on for a few weeks. Roy hired Jerry for $15 a night. They did a lot of duets together. It was also in 1954 that Roy Hall and a black musician named Dave Williams took a trip to the Everglades that resulted in one of the classic rock ‘n’ roll songs:

Twenty-one drums and an ol’ bass horn

Somebody beatin’ on a ding-dong

Come on over baby, whole lotta shakin’goin’ on

Come on over baby, baby, you can’t go wrong

There ain’t no fakin’, whole lotta shakin’goin’ on

Webb Pierce arranged for Hall to sign a contract with Decca, and on September 15, 1955, Hall went into the studio and cut three songs for the label, including « Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. » The record was released three weeks later. Roy Hall continued to record for Decca until the summer of 1956. While a few of these recordings, such as his cover of Carl Perkins’s « Blue Suede Shoes, » were plainly uninspired, most of them were among the most fiery rockabilly records of the midfifties. His « Dig That Boogie » contained one of the toughest and most unrelenting rhythms that had ever been recorded in the South. But none of this amounted to a hit record.

Bad luck seemed to follow Roy Hall. « Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, » which he had co-written under the pseudonym of Sunny David, became a huge hit for Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy’s ex-employee, in 1957, and Roy stood to make a good deal of money in royalties. But when the time came to collect he was sued by his ex-wife, and the court awarded her his share of the royalties from the song.

But Roy Hall kept on pumping his rockabilly music, and he kept playing around Nashville and wherever else he could find a piano and a paycheck. Roy died on March 2, 1984, in Nashville. He was sixty-one years old.

Nick Tosches, 1984. Pictures taken from « Rockin’ Country Style ».

Born Jesse Lee Shibley, 21 September 1914, Van Buren, Arkansas. 
Died 9 September 1975, Van Buren, Arkansas  

Arkie Shibley was a hillbilly singer who recorded the original « Hot Rod Race » in 1950, in Los Angeles. ( »Arkie » was a common nickname for Arkansas immigrants to California.) The importance of this song, according to Jim Dawson and Steve Propes (in « What Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record?« ), lies in the fact that « it introduced automobile racing into popular music and underscored the car’s relevance to American culture, particularly youth culture. »

The writing credit for « Hot Rod Race » goes to George Wilson, which is probably Arkie Shibley’s pseudonym. He offered the song to Bill McCall at 4 Star Records, but he turned it down, much to Arkie’s frustration. The experience was incorporated into the lyrics of « Archie’s Talking Blues » :

« So I went to 4 Star with a smile on my face,

I had a little tune called-a « Hot Rod Race ».

Bill McCall, he said it was no good,

I’d be better off a-cuttin’ hard wood.

It hurt my feelings, he slammed the door,

I went up the street talkin’ to myself,

But we recorded it though. »

Shibley decided to release the song on his own Mountain Dew label (# 101), with the label credit reading « Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys« . The line-up of this group was Arkie Shibley on rhythm guitar, Leon Kelley on lead guitar, Jackie Hayes on bass and banjo and Phil Fregon on fiddle. Once the record began to sell, it was reissued on 4 Star’s Gilt Edge imprint, first with the same number (# 101) and then as Gilt Edge 5021. Though « Hot Rod Race » accelerated into the country charts in January 1951 (peaking at # 5),

Billboard charts - 3rd March, 1951

three cover versions on major labels overtook him. These were by Ramblin’ Jimmie Dolan on Capitol (whose Shibley picked up « Playing Dominoes And Shooting Dice » in 1951 – see below the podcast), Red Foley (who was always charting with others’ songs) on Decca and Tiny Hill on Mercury and they were more polished (!) than the original, with its occasional odd tempos and awkward verses. The Tiny Hill version also crossed over to the pop charts (# 29). Arkie recorded no less than four sequels to his hit, all in 1951 : « Hot Rod Race # 2« , « Arkie Meets the Judge (Hot Rod Race # 3)« , « The Guy in the Mercury (Hot Rod Race # 4) » and « The Kid in the Model A (Hot Rod Race # 5)« . All these were performed in a Woody Guthrie-like talking blues style. Only a few of Shibley’s recordings can be classified as rockabilly, most notably « You Put My Heart In Orbit » (with a vocal by Leon Kelley). The influence of « Hot Rod Race » was immense. Car songs like Chuck Berry’s « Maybelline » and Gene Vincent’s « Race With The Devil » owe something to Shibley’s record. There were countless variations and remakes, the most successful of these being three versions of « Hot Rod Lincoln« , by Charlie Ryan (recorded 1959, charted 1960, # 33 pop), Johnny Bond (1960, # 26 pop) and Commander Cody (1972, # 9 pop).

HOT ROD RACE

(written by George Wilson)

Arkie Shibley & His Mountain Dew Boys – 1950

Now me and my wife and my brother Joe,

took off in my Ford from San Pedro.

We hadn’t much gas ‘n’ the tires was low,

but the doggone Ford could really go.

Now along about the middle of the night,

we were rippin’ along like white folks might,

when a Mercury behind he blinked his lights,

and he honked his horn and he flew outside.

We had twin pipes and a Columbia butt,

you people may think that I’m in a rut,

but to you folks who don’t dig the jive,

that’s two carburetors and an overdrive.

We made grease spots outta many good town,

and left the cops heads spinnin’ round ‘n’ round.

They wouldn’t chase, they’d run and hide,

but me and that Mercury stayed side by side.

Now we were Ford men and we likely knew,

that we would race until somethin’ blew,

and we thought it over,

now, wouldn’t you?

I looked down at my lovely bride,

her face was blue, I thought she’d died.

We left streaks through towns about forty feet wide,

but me and that Mercury stayed side by side.

My brother was pale, he said he was sick,

he said he was just a nervous wreck.

But why should I worry, for what the heck,

me and that Mercury was still neck-and-neck.

Now on through the deserts we did glide,

a-flyin’ low and a-flyin’ wide,

me an’ that Mercury was a-takin’ a ride,

and we stayed exactly side by side.

Now I looked in my mirror and I saw somethin’ comin’,

I thought it was a plane by the way it was a-runnin’.

It was a-hummin’ along at a terrible pace,

and I knew right then it was the end of the race.

When it flew by us, I turned the other way,

the guy in the Mercury had nothin’ to say,

for it was a kid, in a hopped up Model-A.

Joe Wajgel (aka Legjaw), who was very active on the 1995-1996 Rockabilly list, has always been fascinated by the Hot Rod Race saga and has assembled his research, complete with all the lyrical variations, at http://www.rockabillyhall.com/HotRodLncln.html (Warning : very long!!). Charlie Ryan continued to serialize the Lincoln saga. More about him at http://www.hot-rod-lincoln.com/ and http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/charlieryan.txt

See also : Jim Dawson and Steve Propes, What Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record (Boston : Faber & Faber, 1992), page 79-84. The fact that Shibley had died in 1975 was unknown to the authors at the time: « At press time, we were still trying to find the elusive Shibley ».

CD: Arkie Shibley, Hot Rod Race (Collector CLCD 2856). Released in 1997, 25 tracks. The collection as a whole suffers from a certain sameness. There are nine (guitar) instrumentals, some of them with a nice honky tonk piano. The liner notes ramble a little, but as this is a Collector release, we should be grateful that there are liner notes at all.

Biography from: Dik De Heers, at BlackCat Rockabilly, Europe. Visit his site!

The History of « Hot Rod Lincoln »

JACK BRADSHAW

One of the most prolific and sensitive artists on the Mar-Vel’ label was Jack Bradshaw. He, like many other members of Harry Glenn’s musical family, migrated North during the 50’s. Jack was born on March 29, 1930 in a little place called Scutty near Harlan County, Kentucky.

search Scutty, which must be a very small place in Harlan County...

Both of Jack’s parents died when he was at a very early age, so he was actually raised by relatives living in Tennessee. As a child listening to Gospel and Grand Ole Opry, he developped a keen interest in music and a burning desire to be able to play guitar and sing. Jack’s “formal” musical training came from an old-timer named Franck Tucker. Franck was quite a good player and a man described as “one who liked his alcohol”. He none-the-less was happy to show Jack a few basic chords and get him started as a picker.

While in his late teens, Jack took a job with the Hamilton Roofing Company that was actually based out of Texas. When their work in Tennessee was completed, he was asked if he wanted to go West with the company. This is where he made his first musical connections.

In Lubbock, Texas, Jack put up a little trio called the Tennessee Trio in which he played the mandolin. His group landed a spot on the prestigious KSEL Jamboree. This was quite a big step, because the show featured many of the big names country stars of the time: Johnny and Jack, Kitty Wells, Bill Monroe and many others helped to create a large audience for the show.

As a result the Tennessee Trio were able to get a lot a work in the surrounding area. Later Jack joined up with the Bill and Joe Callahan Show. This group had a large local following and they were constantly doing shows in schools and theatres throughout the Southwest.

As the Korean War started to move into full swing, Jack, like many other men, was called into the service. After taking his physical in Texas, he decided to return home to say goodbye to his uncle and aunt who had raised him. Upon his arrival he discovered that for some reason or another the service had rejected him.

With virtually nothing for him to do in Tennessee, and not enough money to get back West, Jack decided to head North. He borrowed $ 25.00 from his uncle and with a couple of his cousins they hit the highway in his 41’ Chevy.

When they reached their destination, they discovered litterally  “oodles” of industry. Indeed, during the period after World War II, there was a tremendous amount of economic expansion in that part of the country. The North acted as a magnetic force as it drew large  numbers of Southern blacks and whites into a searching for the promise of a better way of life.

Setting in LaPorte, Indiana, Jack proceeded to get himself a little radio  show on WLDY. Here he performed live over the air with his new group. It was during this time that he wrote a song that he felt had a great deal of potential. Inquiring around as to who could help him, a DJ at the station gave him the address of HARRY GLENN, who was at that time living in Hammond.

near Great Lakes and illinois

Harry Glenn, owner of the Mar-Vel’ label, became extremely enthusiastic when he heard Jack’s “Don’t Tease Me”. So much so that he took Jack and his group to station WWCA in Gary where Mr. Glenn engineered the session himself.

Its release brought a lot of exposure and air play on Midwestern country stations. Later in that year, 1954, Carl Smith covered the song for Columbia records and brought the song all the way up to number 18 on the C&W charts across the nation.

Jack’s second Mar-Vel’ release, “My Heart, My Heart”, was also readily received. Although its lyric line, “Tell me how you want it, and I’ll give it to you”, caused some deejays to stop playing it, country fans loved it.

Carl Smith’s success with Jack’s penned song, along with the popularity of of his follow-up number, caught the attention of Bill McCall of 4 Star.

Billboard Aug. 20, 1955

The rising talent was then signed to Decca records.

Jack’s recorded work the major label consisted mainly of different versions of his previously released material. A dispute followed and Jack returned to the Mar-Vel’ label.

During the 50’s Midwestern industrial boom, one area really seemed to stand out as a “hot bed”. This was Calumet City or Cal City. It had a reputation of being very open. Here one could find 24 hours entertainment of all kinds. Many of the Mar-Vel’ artists stayed and worked in Cal City continuously as it was not uncommon to be able to work every night of the week. However, being somewhat of a rough circuit, Jack preferred to play there for only short periods of time. He seemed to find plenty of work in the clubs and concerts of the surrounding area.

Jack did shows with many of the big name country stars that would through the area, such as Carl Smith, The Wilburn Brothers, Faron Young, Redd Stewart, and of course Ernest Tubb. He was also a frequent guest on Randy Blake’s very popular WJJD Supper Time Frolic radio show. All this, coupled with his appearance on Pee Wee King’s WBBM television show, helped to make him a big attraction.

Harry Glenn would often take long road trips to promote his recordings. Jack accompanied Harry in many of these sojourns, which took place usually after the release of a new recording.

Jack recently described to me one ten state tour that they did to promote the number “Jo – Jo”. “Harry was always aggressive”, Jack related. “I would be sleeping in the back seat and we would be travelling along at night. And if we went by a radio station, he would have to stop, wake me up and go into the station half asleep and all puffy eyed to promote the record.”

The tours, however, generally consisted of Jack performing his numbers at various shows along with radio interviews and even sometimes television appearances.

One of the frequent stops in Nashville was Ernest Tubb’s Midnight Jamboree broadcast over WSM. Ernest always got along well with Jack and the other Mar-Vel’ artists that would appear on his show.

Despite what would have seemed to be a lot of fun and excitement, Jack always felt that something was missing. So after many years of performing he began to question; and become increasingly disinterested in the whole secular scene.

Although today he has little interest in his past; his current music can still be enjoyed by those who love the Lord (…)

Reprint of Carl Schneider’s notes to “Mar-Vel’ Masters Volume Five – The Jack Bradshaw Story” (Cowboy Carl CCLP 108, 1983)

A brief note on Jack Bradshaw’s records (from the blogsite’s editor)

First, since Carl Schneider was not informative on dates and music. Recordings were made , between 1954 and 1959, first in Gary at radio station WWCA (1954-1955), then in Nashville (Bradley studio), 1956, with Nashville studio musicians. Then, in 1958, at Universal studio in Chicago. All Bradshaw’s sessions were produced by Harry Glenn. Bradshaw did compose the vast majority of his songs, and had the knack for finding words and music. No surprise Carl Smith did pick up “Don’t Tease Me”, a very nice Hillbilly Bopper for 1955.

Second, on an artistic point of view, Jack Bradshaw had a smooth voice and he preferred ballads. His voice was tender,  bending, sounding very sincere, and is very effective afterwards. Actually, he whispers more than he chants, he’s singing very near the mike as he were murmuring to a real person. This is very true with tunes like “Welcome heart”, “No No” or “Men are weak” (only him with rhythm guitar). In the uptempo songs, he uses very sparse backing (never a fiddle, but a very effective, mewing steel-guitar, that fits his vocal (very accentuated and rhythmic) very well; plus a traditional boogie-styled electric lead-guitar, not unlike in sound and effect to that of Zeb Turner or Grady Martin in the same era – he used Nashville musicians for at least a session). “Oh, Careless Me” is different: it is slow, echoey, has a bass-chord lead guitar, which reminds me of the Cliff Crofford and early Bakersfield, CA. records of late 50’s. Then he has a fast Rockabilly approach, both in his vocal (a bit forceful) and the guitar solo in “Joe-Joe”, from ’58. Finally, female chorus (Beverly Sisters, from the Mar-Vel’ stable) are fitting well his voice in ’58 for the ballad “It Just Ain’t Right” (can be found in a recent « Fortnite » article in this blog) and the uptempo “Naughty Girls”. His demo session of 1955 is strange: he penned “”Two Rocka Four”( almost Rockabilly, with hiccups!), very similar to same tune by Sammy Masters’song of the same name on Four Star (1955/1956). Who came first?

I hope you will enjoy the podcasts. Jack Bradshaw deserves to be heard! He had a very sensitive voice and good tunes.

Jack Bradshaw disco Mar-Vel’

Next we have TOMMY JACKSON and « Flat Top Box » from Lexington, KY (Sun-Ray 131) as late as…1967. Great guitar, very modern in style, altho’ the Hillbilly spirit remains untouched. Back to Indiana with the prolific Hodges Brothers Band, fronted by RALPH HODGES for a little classic on Whispering Pines 201, « HONEY TALK » with the buzzing guitar and swirling fiddle. That’s a crossover between Hillbilly and Rock’n'Roll, what they call sometimes Hillbilly Rock. They had a good amount of albums recorded by Chris Strachwitz for Arhoolie in the 1970’s.

And then we have a woman – and God knows they were THAT uncommon in Hillbilly! JEANIE CHRISTIE on the Blue Sky label out of St. Cloud, FLA from 1958: « Flying High« . Great and firm vocal, a solid steel-guitar throughout. A nice record!

Finally in Virginia for the tiny Liberty label (no connection with the California concern), HENDER SAUL, « I Ain’t Gonna Rock-Tonite« , one of my all-time faves in Hillbilly Rock. Forceful vocal, nice lyrics, great interplay between guitar and fiddle.

I really  hope you will enjoy the selections, and you will comment after a listen or two. You can download everything, of course!

« Lâche pas la patate » (Don’t loosen the potatoe) to quote Cajun Jimmy C. Newman, and keep on Bopping!

Sources: various CDs. Pictures as usual from the excellent Terry Gordon’s site « Rocking Country Style ». Take a look at it!

We begin with a very rare USAF live transcription of HANK SNOW, early 50s. Hank does 3 tunes, first his signature song, “I’M MOVING ON”, then he embarks on a track that is known to me, but at the moment I cannot remember the title of the song. He finishes with the famous “HONEYMOON ON A ROCKET SHIP”. Fine, powerful rhythm guitar from Hank himself, I would assume; if the band which is backing him is the same as on recording sessions, then the great steel should be played by either Joe Talbot, or Melford Gentry.

Honky Tonk now with CARL SMITH on Columbia, with the fine 1955 “Baby I’m Ready”, lotta bird-dogging in this song, with the perfect Nashville musicians staff.  On to early 60s I’d assume. I don’t know the location of the CLET label, perhaps Texas? I’ve chosen the uptempo “Honky Tonkin’ Baby” by BOB SMITH. September 1960, Cincinnati, King records studio. My own tribute to a great singer/songwriter, LATTIE MOORE, who just passed away on June 13^th (he was heartsick since the 90s); here we have “Drivin’ Nails (In My Coffin)” – is it the same number popularized circa 1947 by JERRY IRBY? I have not the time to compare the songs.

Next comes from Texas or Oklahoma a minor classic  by AL VAUGHN, “She’s An Oakie” (Four Star) from 1952. Good harmonica throughout, and fine steel. Then to Tennessee and on the DOT label, out of Gallatin. BIG JEFF & The Radio Playboys for the fine offering “I don’t talk to strangers”, from 1950 or 1951. Could Big Jeff be…LUKE McDANIELS, or as he was billed on MEL-A-DEE out of New Orleans (“Daddy O-Rock” from 1956), JEFF DANIELS? His actual story is yet to be written…Finally we have Danny (name forgotten!) as HANK THE DRIFTER and the great “Bill Collector Blues” – late 50s on the NEW ENGLAND label. Hope you N-joy everything! Comments welcome.