FROM OUR ARCHIVE POST (57) I RECORD WITH NORMAN PETTY/ Buddy Holly's Ex Musicians and Backup Singers

  (Thanks Arne!)

I RECORD WITH NORMAN PETTY/ Buddy Holly's Ex Musicians and Backup Singers from October 25th 2007

When Buddy Holly was on his last tour he went without the band that he was first famous with, the Crickets, so they were not on tour with him when that plane crashed. The individual Crickets were working as studio musicians in recording sessions over at producer Norman Petty's in Clovis, New Mexico.

NEW VIDEO MARCH 2014



Buddy Knox and I drove from New York to Winston Salem, visited with my dad, and then headed for Norman Petty. At Norman's studio there I recorded songs with Norman as producer and for my musicians I had Donny Lanier, the lead guitarist for Buddy Knox with the Rhythm Orchids, and Jerry Allison, the drummer for Buddy Holly with the Crickets!

Donny Lanier was the lead guitarist who did the two solo breaks on Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids' hit "Party Doll." (The guitar sounded like Scotty Moore so Elvis wanted to record "Party Doll himself!)

So on my songs "Baby Blue" and "I Just Want Your Love," I've got some of Buddy Holly's Crickets sound and some of Buddy Knox's Rhythm Orchids. Donny Lanier played on "Blue Baby," and "I Just Want Your Love." His instrumental intro sounded a lot like "That'll Be The Day."



ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME - THE ROSES  updated March 2014   Here's a bit of information on the vault at Norman Petty's which I believe was located after Norman died.

SCHAUER. DE : NORMAN PETTY SESSIONS VAULT  updated March 2014

Also backing me for vocals on the two songs are The Roses, David Bigham and Robert Linville, Texans who also did backup vocals for Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox, and Jimmy Bowen in 1958-1959, and who toured as backup vocalists with Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

RCS DISCOGRAPHY WES BRYAN PAGE

"Blue Baby" and "I Just Want Your Love" were released in 1999 without my knowledge. My writing partner, Christine, and I found out on the Internet. RCS shows them as I knew them to be - unreleased.
 

SUPEROLDIES - NORMAN PETTY STUDIO TOUR

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED - BUDDY KNOX AND BUDDY HOLLY AND THE CRICKETS AND ME (part one)

FROM OUR ARCHIVES OCTOBER 6, 2007  THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED!

Many of you have heard the song called "American Pie," also known as The Day The Music Died song, performed and written by singer-songwriter Don Mclean. The lyrics which are a bit of a puzzle to the uninitiated are meant to honor three early Rock n' Rollers whose influence was profound, and who were killed in a small plane crash over Mason City, Iowa.

On February 3, 1959, Buddy Knox and I were traveling on tour. After a late night we got up and went to breakfast. I ran to get the newspaper and was shocked to see the headline. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson also known as JP), and Ritchie Valens had been killed in a plane crash. The three men had been trying to make time on their own road tour. Buddy Knox ran for the men's room and threw up his breakfast.

Buddy Knox and Buddy Holly had been good friends in New York and the had Texas roots and musical influences in common. Buddy Knox had sent the song "That'll Be The Day" over to Buddy Holly rather than record it himself, and was happy when Buddy Holly had a hit with it.

I'd met Buddy Knox and some of the other Crickets in New York City. I thought of Buddy Holly as a zany guy. On this tour he had left the Crickets behind.

Friends, there's no way we can honor all three Rock n Rollers on just one blog entry, so we're going to post separately, one for Buddy Holly, one for JP, and one for Ritchie. Stick with us! We're having a great time posting our blog, we're excited about it, and we know those of you who aren't familiar with my era are getting a real lesson - we hope a fun one - out of it.



*******

(56) BUDDY KNOX : AN INTELLECTUAL and A GENTLEMAN : FROM THE WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC ARCHIVES

POST (56) BUDDY KNOX : AN INTELLECTUAL and A GENTLEMAN from the WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC ARCHIVES

October 24, 2007  

Now friends, I've gone off on a tangent about Elvis returning to the United States, at a time when I was on the Buddy Knox tour. It was great to be there when Elvis got off the train, to be part of the party at Graceland TM, and to be considered an actual friend of Elvis' Presley and a few of his friends, people who made it happen for him.

But I want to tell you nothing made me prouder than to be associated with a Rockabilly Superstar like Buddy professionally. When Buddy said "You're coming on the road with me," he was including me in on the road to success.

 

As I said on an earlier post about the plane crash that killed the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox and I were forced to confront our own mortality because of it. We were grateful to have a tour that was the top of the line with a plush tour bus and a caravan of cars. We had bookings in fine dinner clubs and the best of venues to perform. They had been on buses that broke down and were only trying to make up travel time taking that plane. Jerry Lee Lewis' tour bus was a gray painted school bus, hardly plush at all, despite his success with "Great Balls of Fire."

We shared driving a car and hotel and motel rooms along the way, while the musicians lived out of the tour bus. It could be grueling, but Buddy and I, and the musicians we traveled with lived clean. We didn't do speed to stay awake, but relied on our youthful energy and zeal for entertaining. Despite the obvious stress he always treated the musicians in his band with kindness and courtesy.

Before it was all over we toured in 47 of the fifty states, skipping Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah - because the Mormons (now the Latter Day Saints) objected to Rock and Roll. We would tour for about two years, using New York City for our breaks, sharing hotel rooms along the way and in New York.
 

Buddy performed "Party Doll," "Hula Love," and a number of other songs that he had hits with. He liked to go on first, then sit back and enjoy the show. Between his performance and mine, the band played. We got people up and dancing and everyone had a great time of it.

 

Buddy Knox was an intellectual, a gentleman, and more than all that, a decent human being. He treated people from all walks of life the same and his generous spirit was always evident. He tended to leave big tips.

Sometimes he and I would walk into a diner and the waitresses would ask us if we were the Everly Brothers. (We didn't look like brothers, but brothers as singing duos were popular then.)

Buddy would say "Have you heard of Buddy Knox?"

The waitresses would say something like "Yea, He has Party Doll!"

Buddy would introduce himself, and then play a couple numbers for the whole diner, which thrilled everyone. He signed autographs and he still left big tips.

Rockin Country Style Discography - BUDDY KNOX
 

RCS DISCOGRAPHY - BUDDY KNOX
 

Link above to Buddy Knox's official site. (His great son Michael is behind this site.)

Rockabilly Hall of Fame on Buddy Knox

ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME - BUDDY KNOX PAGE - UPDATED

Living closely as we had to, Buddy Knox and I became close friends on tour. When he married my father and I attended. I was in his wedding party. I am so proud to have known Buddy Knox. He truly was one of the good guys in Rock and Roll!

 

When Buddy was dying in 1999, he said to his son Michael, "Don't let them forget me." Michael promised.

I promise too Buddy.

WES BRYAN ON THE COVER OF THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL'S ROTO MAGAZINE 1957

Local Akron, Ohio photographers and journalists and DJ's, as well as Southern Boys like Jimmy Bowen, Buddy Knox, and even Elvis Presley, were influential in my career - and this 1957 cover was my lucky break.  It makes me wonder about the role of Fate in a life.

(477) BUDDY KNOX "THE ROCKABILLY GOLD RECORD LEGEND" AND PARTY DOLL : COVERED BY STEVE LAWRENCE, RICKY "BONGO" JAMES, JOHNNY MAESTRO and THE CRESTS, and THE HULLABALOOS

LINK TO OFFICIAL BUDDY KNOX SITE : BUDDY KNOX OFFICIAL

In the end, I don't think Buddy Knox himself made much money on his hit "Party Doll," a song that was covered all over the United States by local bands and covered in many recordings which illustrate the role of the music arranger and music producer in a record, not considering the song's popularity and endurance. 

The song became a standard at local dance party type shows. It always got people up and jumping.  Buddy wrote the song when he was a teenager and it was one of the first he recorded while with Jimmy Bowen and their group The Rhythm Orchids.

We were checking out the videos of  Buddy and Jimmy on YouTube and found a lot of covers of "Party Doll," some which illustrate that American Invasion of Britain!

You'll find some excellent renditions of the song that go from Rock-A-Billy to Jazz to Mod Beatlesque circa 1966.  Take a few moments to listen to the variety of these recordings of Buddy's song.

This first video is from the Ed Sullivan show, I believe. 
The song was over quick. That's Jimmy Bowen on the bass.  

As Recorded on Roulette and Columbia and...

Steve Lawrence didn't hesitate. His recording came out in 1957, not long after Buddy's.

Same year the song was recorded in Britain by Ricky "Bongo" James and his group. Jazzy Cool.



Johnny Maestro of The Crests recorded it in 1960!  - looking for a hit four years after the became a hit for Buddy. 

 
1966 in Great Britain - The  HULLABALLOOS!               
Recorded on Roulette... Roulette wasn't giving up those residuals!

Rock-a-billy cover bands like Sha-na-na and The Jets cover the song in their live performances.

(476) BUDDY KNOX BY BRUNO OF HOLLYWOOD

HERE'S BUDDY in HOLLYWOOD

I went on tour with Buddy for a couple years and he made the introductions that got me onto Roulette Records where he was signed. Eventually we made our way to Hollywood, after playing in in the lower 48 states... or was that 47? Well, we didn't play in Utah though I got some press in Utah, and we didn't play in Hawaii, though we wanted to. Elvis loved Hawaii and we all wrote or sang songs with the Hawaiian theme.

Sometimes while on tour Buddy would go off and play with Jimmy Bowen, who he'd had the Rhythm Orchids with, and sometimes I went off to play with Jimmy, who was instrumental in my early career.

I also had my photo taken by Bruno of Hollywood. He was the photographer to go see when you came to Hollywood. So far that picture hasn't made the e-Bay auctions like some of the pictures that my manager took of me when I was at United Artists have. Most of the pictures that hit e-Bay of me were sent out in press kits.

(Want to know more about Buddy or Jimmy?  Check out that Google Search feature embedded in this blog!) 

(468) JOHNNY RIVERS AT THE WHISKY COVERING CHUCK BERRY'S HIT WITH 1960'S STYLE

I remember going to hear Johnny play at the Whisky, where he became a headliner after playing in other clubs in the area.  To this day his name is associated with the club. 

Johnny Rivers covered so many songs successfully (including songs recorded at Motown) that other people recorded, he became so known for his versions that many people didn't realize that they weren't written by him or that he wasn't the first to record them.  He attracted a new generation.  (Johnny had moved to New York City at the age of 16 and was a little younger than me, Buddy Knox, and some of the other guys we hung out with.)  Here's a YouTube fan video - very well put together - where Johnny covers two 1950's classics written and recorded first by Chuck Berry, with that mid 1960's rock and roll style of his on Liberty Records.



JOHNNY RIVERS OFFICIAL - UPDATED - NEW CD  Called Live at Cache Creek it's blues, bluegrass, and JR. 

FROM WES BRYAN ARCHIVES : POST (376) FRED NEIL STUDIO MUSICIAN : CAPITOL RECORDS

FRED NEIL : What a voice! And a great person!

Freddy was six foot two, a freckled face, red hair. I met him in Saint Petersberg, Florida in December of 1957. He paled around with me and Ersel Hickey in New York and became a real good friend. He was a lot of fun - very comical - a prankster.

One time as I was walking across Broadway with some business people, I heard a loud voice, someone yelling for me with some profanity thrown in. I turned around and there he was, laughing at me. Freddy was turned loose in a big city.

Fred had a couple records on Capitol Records but his claim to fame was the song "Everybody's Talking," the movie Midnight Cowboy's theme song.

NICK VENET WAS THE PRODUCER ON THIS HIT.

Fred signed a contract with Southern Music, a division of Hill and Range, and became a big writer.

I wrote a song for Buddy Knox called "Bye Bye Helloa" and Freddy played all the instruments on the demo. It was recorded in a little studio in the Brill building. Freddy also worked in the studio with Bobby Darin.

THE ROSES : BUDDY HOLLY and the CRICKETS BACK UP SINGERS : ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME LINK!

Back on May 10, 2010, post (308) we posted a link to the Roses ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME page.  Here it is again : THE ROSES : ROCKABILLY HALL   Robert Linville, tenor; Ray Rush, baritone; and David Bigham, bass.

To quote the page, "In March of 1957, "The Roses" traveled with Roy Orbison to Clovis, New Mexico to record at the Norm Petty Recording Studio. At this time, they met Buddy Holly and the Crickets. "The Roses" got an opportunity to work with Buddy and the band when another group didn't show for the session. Norman Petty liked their work and asked "The Roses" to move to Clovis to be available as a staff vocal group. During 1957, "The Roses" did vocal back-up for numerous artists."

These included, Buddy Knox: "Somebody Touched Me," "To Be with You," "I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself"

Well, friends, I was there when Buddy recorded those songs with the Roses backing him, and I recorded with them backing me too!

Thanks to our friend Arne who posted this YouTube video you can hear The 1957 era Roses (and me!)

BUDDY KNOX INTRODUCED ME TO BUDDY HOLLY

I met Buddy Holly in New York City in the late 1950's.  Buddy Knox, who I went on tour with for a couple years,  introduced us first. 

You can pull up older posts on this blog by using the Google Search feature.  Try the words BUDDY HOLLY or BUDDY KNOX!

ANY VIDEO OF ERSEL HICKEY PERFORMING? HOW ABOUT WES BRYAN ?

Here's a challenge to anyone who uses YouTube or other Internet video sharing sites! We would love to find footage of Ersel Hickey performing and post it! We would love to find footage of Wes performing as well.

And by the way, we know that there must be footage somewhere. Wes performed on Ed Sullivan, Dick Clark's American Band Stand (twice), the Jack Paar show, and many other regional shows in Baltimore, Cleveland, and throughout the south, as well as on shows in Los Angeles.  And he appeared live on the pier in Santa Monica.

Wes performed with Ersel Hickey in stage shows in the state of New York.  He also performed with Buddy Knox on his tour in the late 1950's in 48 states and some of you may have photos taken of Wes and Buddy from that tour.

Unfortunately many archival collections are organized by the show headliners, and over time what has been preserved is often the early careers of people such as Elvis Presley, people who became much more famous. I've enjoyed watching a number of Dick Clark American Bandstand videos all the way through at the Paley Center for the Media, including those commercials that seem so much more dated than the music,  but they don't have a full collection.  I contacted the Ed Sullivan collection but got no reply.

If you know of local repositories of film or related materials in your park of the United States please let us know!

Christine

(435) ME AND COUNTRY MUSIC : MY ROOTS IN CHEROKEE COUNTY

I grew up in rural Cherokee County North Carolina - The Smokey Mountains - where I ran with a kid gang, and as a teen followed my father's work to Oregon and then around the country to Akron, Ohio, where I got my big break.  From there I would move to New York City as my base but tour throughout the South.

I grew up hearing Country Music and I've always loved it. Rockabilly, as you probably know, has strong roots in Country.  Many of my peers in the business in the late 1950's and early 1960's also had country roots, people like Buddy Knox, Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Holly, who were from West Texas, and Glen Campbell, who was from the "Deep South".

As a song writer, I was just as interested in writing for Country music artists as ever and I was able to place some of the songs I wrote or cowrote with Country artists.  

JIMMY BOWEN : SINGER SONGWRITER AND FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE (307) FROM OUR ARCHIVES

FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST (307) JIMMY BOWEN : SINGER SONGWRITER AND FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE! from April 26 2010.


JIMMY BOWEN figures in my story from way back. I met Jimmy Bowen while he was passing through Akron, Ohio. He took me to a record hop there, where my first record was played. It was a record I home made in Winston-Salem without a label so it could not be played on the radio legally.

Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Knox had a group called The Rhythm Orchids. (They started out wearing light purple shirts when they played!) Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen were both Texas boys. Jimmy played a stand up bass, an instrument that featured in early rock and roll but soon disappeared from road performances.

Eventually I would perform with Jimmy on the road while on Roulette Records. I was on the Buddy Knox tour but I would occasionally meet up with Jimmy's tour.

The two of us showed up to work at American Music in Los Angeles. The two of us wrote some songs together... including "Break Down and Cry" which was recorded by Fabian and "Don't Stay Away" which was recorded by Jerry Fuller.

JIMMY BOWEN : MY BABY'S GONE : FLIP SIDE OF BUDDY KNOX'S PARTY DOLL

JIMMY BOWEN and the RHYTHM ORCHIDS : "My Baby's Gone" was the flip side of fellow Rhythm Orchid BUDDY KNOX'S hit "Party Doll." Jimmy was instrumental in my early career as far back as Akron, Ohio. This song is one of many I remember from touring in the late 1950's. The Rhythm Orchids formed when Jimmy and Buddy and Don Lanier met at West Texas State College. Jimmy played stand up base, Donny played lead guitar, and David Alldred, who they first met when they recorded with Norman Petty, played drums.

ERNIE FREEMAN : THE MUSIC PRODUCER : FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST 208

Post (208) ERNIE FREEMAN THE MUSIC PRODUCER from November 7 2008

I started hanging out at the Musician's Union when I didn't have anything else to do, though I was busy - so busy! - in those years. Ernie was an African-American pianist arranger who "Made The Strings Jump." (He also produced but was rarely credited for it.)

Like many other musicians who worked in the studio playing first, Ernie had a lot of studio recording experience before he started arranging.

The Musician's Union was a great place to meet accomplished musicians, singers, arrangers, producers, and songwriters and network.

Linked at the title: Here's the Rockin' Country Style discography for Ernie Freeman, who in 1962 was the arranger for the Buddy Knox album that made it Gold, with the song "All By Myself" on it that Buddy and I wrote.

Here's a link to great information on Ernie's career as an album maker that has a picture of him.

UPDATED APRIL 2012 THIS NEW GREAT VIDEO!

THE BIG BOPPER : FROM OUR ARCHIVE 2007

The Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson, is best known for his hit record "Chantilly Lace."

I never met J.P. so I have little personal to say about him. He's part of the history of rock and roll and Elvis and I did love "Chantilly Lace," that part about "a wiggle in her walk..."

The thing about people at the height of their fame who die unexpectedly is that you never know what they would have become if they had lived. The death of JP, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly had Buddy Knox and me wondering about our own mortality.

IT WAS GREAT MEETING AND GETTING TO KNOW

It was great meeting and getting to know some of the artists who were covered in these magazines. As a teenager I ate up the stories in magazines like these. But once I was a star myself, I learned that some writers made up sensational stories without even talking to the artist and some publishers published anyway.

Debbie Reynolds was just in the news because she put some of her Hollywood memorabilia collection up for auction, including some dresses that Marilyn Monroe wore in her films that earned Debbie millions.

(376) FRED NEIL : STUDIO MUSICIAN : CAPITOL RECORDS ARTIST

FRED NEIL : What a voice! And a great person!
Freddy was six foot two, a freckled face, red hair. I met him in Saint Petersberg, Florida in December of 1957. He paled around with me and Ersel Hickey in New York and became a real good friend. He was a lot of fun - very comical - a prankster.

One time as I was walking across Broadway with some business people, I heard a loud voice, someone yelling for me with some profanity thrown in. I turned around and there he was, laughing at me. Freddy was turned loose in a big city.

Fred had a couple records on Capitol Records but his claim to fame was the song "Everybody's Talking," the movie Midnight Cowboy's theme song.

NICK VENET WAS THE PRODUCER ON THIS HIT.

Fred signed a contract with Southern Music. a division of Hill and Range, and became a big writer.

I wrote a song for Buddy Knox called "Bye Bye Helloa" and Freddy played all the instruments on the demo. It was recorded in a little studio in the Brill building. Freddy also worked in the studio with Bobby Darin.

(370) BUDDY KNOX and WES BRYAN SINGER-SONGWRITERS COMPOSE ALL BY MYSELF RECORDED ON LIBERTY RECORDS

Here are two variations of the LIBERTY RECORDS labels for the song Buddy Knox recorded with the Johnny Mann Singers as background, that he and I wrote called "All By Myself." It sold well enough to get a Gold Record and went for a second pressing. The song also appeared on an album of his. Glenda Music was Buddy's own publishing company.



This was the promo copy that went to DJ's only. It was played on radio stations.

This was the store copy.

(358) BBJ RECORDS : MY VERSION OF LONELY WEEKENDS : WES BRYAN 1964

Produced by Charlie Underwood and Big John Fisher... in Los Angeles. Charlie Rich, who I met early in my career made the hit out of it. Charlie Underwood's studio was called NASHVILLE -WEST and it was the old Decca studio that Frank Sinatra used, near a restaurant called Nicodells on Melrose.

Anyone who was anybody was in that studio at some time in their careers.