P LINKS UPDATED AND P.J. PROBY (HE'S 75 and STILL TOURING!)

New Link for drummer EARL PALMER - ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME... DITTO LES PAUL ... lots of updates in the blog for CARL PERKINS...

To Celebrate!  PJ PROBY

PJ PROBY 2014 TOUR DATES

OK ON THIS VIDEO, I, Christine, could not resist posting the video below because I've been reading some newish rock and roll books including one on Jimmy Page, who is one of my favorites guitarist, and well, here is PJ with Jimmy Page, who I've learned first made it onto British TV at 15 and was a session guitarist before Led Zeppelin...

FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST (197) WHAT'D WE DO WITHOUT THOSE BLUE SUEDE SHOES ? CARL PERKINS and ELVIS PRESLEY

Carl Perkins' Rockabilly "Blue Suede Shoes," is so associated with Elvis Presley but Carl was first with it and the song was covered again and again, a true classic in its own time.

Here's a YouTube presentation of Carl singing "Blue Suede Shoes."

And here's one of many videos featuring Elvis Presley singing probably the song most associated with him other than "Hound Dog"...


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PSYCHIC JOHN EDWARD ON CARL PERKINS, PAUL MCCARTNEY and JOHN LENNON : DECEMBER 8 1980 JOHN LENNON'S DEATH

page 151 of CROSSING OVER by John Edward

(CT: It's 1981 and Paul McCartney has sent Carl Perkins a ticket to fly to the Caribbean where he and George Martin have a recording studio. Carl plays guitar on the "Tug of War" album and spends eight days with Paul and Linda McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Beatles' producer George Martin.)

"As the time was drawing near for me to go home, I was sitting out on the patio, Carl told Dominic Ambrosio and his camera, his guitar sitting on his lap and looking like a part of him.

(Carl speaking)... "Sometimes I can sing it but I can't say it, and that night before, I wrote a song. And in the morning, I went down to the studio and said to Paul and Linda, 'I'm not good at saying good-bye, but I wrote this song last night, and I want to play it for you.' It was called 'My Old Friend'..."

Carl sang it now for Dominic with the extra emotional emphasis on the refrain: My old friend, won't you think about me every now and then...

"Well halfway through the song, I see Paul is really crying, tears flowing down his face," Carl said. "And he stepped outside. I said to Linda, 'Linda, I didn't mean to upset him.' She says, 'Carl Perkins, how did you know?' I said, 'Darlin', I don't know what yer talkin' about. How did I know what?"

John Lennon had been killed only months before outside his apart met building, the Dakota in New York. Linda explained that, although it wasn't publicly known, only days before his death, she and Paul had visited John and Yoga at the Dakota. At the end of the visit, as they were saying good-bye, John said to Paul, "Think of me every now and then, my old friend."

"Linda put her arms around me, :" Carl said now on a cold January day in Tennessee sixteen years later, "and she said, "Thank you, Carl, he needed that."

DEBBIE PERKINS ON HER DAD (FROM JOHN EDWARD'S BOOK "CROSSING OVER")

page 163

"My father was bigger than life to me and to many. He penned many songs that were recorded by many people. But he was Daddy to me. Not only was he the greatest daddy a girl could ever have, he was my best friend. From the other side, my father sends me signs that he is alive and that he will always be with me. Death is only a separation in the flesh and not in the spirit. The past year has been difficult. I long to see my father one last time, and yet I feel closer to him in so many ways now that I can't physically see him every day. I know he watches over me and speaks to my heart."

NOTE: Debbie went to John Edward to talk to the dead, and this book recounts that experience.

CROSSING OVER
The Stories Behind the Stories
John Edward C 2001

Jodere Group, Inc. Publishers

SURPRISING CARL PERKINS STORY IN JOHN EDWARD'S NEW BOOK "CROSSING OVER" AND CARLS WORK FOR ABUSED CHILDREN

Christine here: Recently I picked up a copy of JOHN EDWARD'S new book CROSSING OVER.

I wasn't expecting to run into a story about Carl Perkins, his daughter Debbie, and Paul McCartney!

So very many of the people Wes worked with or was inspired by or made friends with have passed on. A couple years ago we were lighting a candle every time we heard the news. Since then we usually write an acknowledgement, a little obit, and the list gets longer.

Both Wes and I believe we have experienced a ghost or two in our lifetimes and are intrigued by the mystical.

Carl Perkins was a heavy smoker who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1991. According to the book (page 148) he made a deal with God that, if he came out of surgery with a voice, he would do good. He started THE CARL PERKINS CENTER FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE, which became the largest center in the country for abused children.

Carl grew up in Tennessee and was sold by his family to a farmer. He was beaten and abused. When he was facing cancer he finally started to deal with this part of his past.

We're linking here to the EXCHANGE CLUB : CARL PERKINS CENTER which has expanded to 13 Counties in West Tennessee!

JAMBOREE

This Jamboree promo video has excellent quality and since it includes BUDDY KNOX and the RHYTHM ORCHIDS singing Hula Love, JIMMY BOWEN singing Cross Over, as well as CARL PERKINS and FRANKIE AVALON, we thought we'd post it. We're still working on our updates... check the pages for UPDATE PROGRESS!

(343) CARL PERKINS AND THE EARLY BEATLES :GLAD ALL OVER

Of course to this day ex Beatles and many other famous rock n rollers are still giving tribute to my generation's music.

Due to the old video expiration we've replaced the old one with this new "old one!" 



March 2014 )

BEATLES COVER CARL PERKINS' GLAD ALL OVER

The Beatles were covering their favorite artists, those who came before them. That's because American Rock-a-Billy and Rock and Roll went to England first, and influenced the British rockers. ) VIDEO REPLACED MARCH 2014

(215) NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME

This link takes you to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame honors list.

http://www.nndb.com/honors/545/000129158/

Among the honorees mentioned in this blog are Ernest Tubb, Marty Robbins, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Mac Davies, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and Gene Autry.

Use the Google search feature above to read what we have to say about these talented people and the music!

(204) FERLIN HUSKY GOSPEL and PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS ? REALLY!

Now, if you've read about me as a cover blurb on Cool Magazine's hipster cover in 1958, along with James Dean and Ferlin Husky, and Ferlin as one of the men on the video from a YouTube presenter said to be one of the earliest of Elvis (along with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Blue Moon Boys Bill Black and Scotty "The Guitar that Changed the World" Moore), you may be wondering "who is Ferlin Husky?" What a name? Right?

Like Elvis Presley, Ferlin Husky's a southerner who recorded Country, Country-Pop, religious music and funny songs.

Here's COUNTRYPOLITAN's Profile of Ferlin Husky: http://www.countrypolitan.com/bio-ferlin-husky.php

And above Ferlin's Official Web Site!

Ferlin recorded "Gone" in 1954 as a country song which didn't chart well, but a new producer worked on the 1957 version and he continued to sing this song throughout his career.

Now, this may seem improbable but the American Invasion of Britian continued when in 1965 the Paul Revere and the Raiders covered "Gone." Yes! Really!

UPDATED VIDEO JUNE 18, 2011

(201) RCS DISCOGRAPHY THE SUN RECORD LABEL and SAM PHILLIPS

Using the RCS Discography site that we just bragged so much about, let's take a a look at the SUN record Label. As we know, so very many artists who made it big made their first recordings at this Memphis recording studio. If you've read our recent posting about the earliest video of Elvis ever made (also posted below) you may see that he was there backstage somewhere with a group that included Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, who were an original Sun recording artist too, as was Charlie Rich, Billy Lee Riley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and many others.

Click on the Title Above to get to the exact page for the Sun label's RCS Discography...

Below Edwards and Callahan give their Sun Records Story...

BSNPUBS - EDWARDS AND CALLAHAM - THE SUN RECORD LABEL  link

A Note on the First Video Ever of ELVIS (?) posted below by Wes Bryan

Christine Trzyna here: Wes and I were looking at the YouTube video we posted last week that is proposed to be the first film footage of Elvis ever. Wes identified the people in the video (as you look on the screen) as Bill Black to the right of Elvis, Scotty Moore "The Guitar That Changed The World" to the right. Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Ferlin Husky, a country singer who was on the Grande Old Opry. So we think that this video is of Elvis Presley in his incarnation as the lead singer for the Blue Moon Boys on or at the Grande Old Opry.

Ferlin Husky is also in this video.

(196) CARL PERKINS : THE BEATLES : HONEY DON'T

Carl Perkins Rockabilly recording on Sun Records "Honey Don't..."When The Beatles recording the same song with the Mersey Beat it was a rare recording of the drummer, Ringo Starr, singing... "Rock on George."

VIDEOS REPLACED MARCH 2014



RUN THE NAME RINGO STAR THROUGH THE SEARCH FEATURE ON THIS BLOG and you'll find out about the recent museum show on Ringo! )

THE EARLIEST FILM EVER TAKEN OF ELVIS? WITH BUDDY HOLLY, CARL PERKINS, and JOHNNY CASH?

Lubbock Texas, 1955... This YouTube presentation states this clip taken by a fan may be one of the earliest films ever taken of Elvis.

October 6, 2007 update: Wes has identified the following people in this film clip:
Elvis, with Bill Black, his stand up bassist, to the right as you see the video, Scotty Moore "The Guitar That Changed The World," to the left, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash (both appeariing dark), FERLIN HUSKY - a country singer who played on the Grande Ol Opry, and Buddy Holly. Bill Black was the first cousin of Bonnie Bosley (Underwood), one of Elvis' first girlfriends. Don't know who the person in the flowered shirt is.

Note: The person is Ferlin Husky...

CARL PERKINS on ELVIS PRESLEY ( HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIS !) PRESLEY

Carl Perkins said...

"This boy had everything. He had the looks, the moves, the manager, and the talent. And he didn't look like Mr. Ed like a lot of the rest of us did. In the way he looked, way he talked, way he acted… he really was different."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIS!

(64) SAM PHILLIPS and SUN RECORDS : WHO DISCOVERED WHO?

When Colonel Parker bought Elvis' contract with Sam Phillips for his local Memphis label at Sun Records, he then sold Elvis to RCA for much more. Of all the artists who recorded at Sun, Elvis Presley emerged to be the most musically impactful of them all.

There' a controversy about Sam - just how interested he really ever was in Elvis - just how much insight he had that Elvis would be famous. Was he just a man who had a small struggling business who rarely turned away income or someone who was a visionary?

A woman named Marion Keister is the key here.

Elvis made his first record at Sun. A vanity recording that he paid a few dollars to record, "My Happiness," which was given to his mother as a gift. At the time he had graduated from Hume high school in Memphis a couple months earlier and was working as a parts driver for a local electric company. He was not yet with the Blue Moon Boys - Bill Black and Scotty Moore, though he may have met them here or there. He was helping support his family and still putting clothes on layaway. He made this record with Marion Keister as the producer. Of course when it came to a vanity recording there wasn't a lot of production considerations. It was basically no budget. Yet, vanity and other no budget recordings today hold the history of Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll. Marion remembered Elvis. She talked him up to Sam Phillips.

Came the day that Sam needed some singers for a project and it was Marion who suggested he call Elvis in. Sam was impressed. One thing lead to another. Marion had a background as a DJ and as a singer herself. She and Elvis would also cross paths in the military.

Sun Records is associated with many people who were in early Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll. Their attraction to the label has much to do with Sun being "it" in Memphis - the location - as well as a building reputation based on who else used the studio. No doubt as some of them succeeded others wanted the luck of the studio to rub off on them. Did Sam Phillips really "Discover" so much talent or did they "Discover" his studio?

I have to back up a bit here and say that a few people claimed to "Discover" me who were onto my road to success after I started to ride it. I always credited the Akron, Ohio photographer who insisted I looked like James Dean, Irving Waitzkin. He took me to the Beacon Journal and had photographer Bill Samaris there take photos of me for that Roto Cover that made all the difference.

Here's the History of Rock site on Sam Phillips.:

HISTORY OF ROCK - SAM PHILLIPS

 

Sam Phillips at the Tennessee Encylopedia - Clearly a Son of the State! Link above!

Decide for yourself: With Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and many others on the Sun Label, was Sam Phillips all he's said to be?

TENNESSEE ENCYLOPEDIA

Links updated March 2014

(60) CARL PERKINS : THE ORIGINAL BLUE SUEDE SHOES

Another inspiration for me when I was performing on the Buddy Knox tour was Rockabilly artist Carl Perkins.

I met Carl Perkins the day that I played on Wink Martindales, in Memphis, in the fall of 1957. I was supposed to be on another show with him, a show that belonged to Dewey Phillips, but when Elvis invited me to Graceland TM, I went off with him without thinking, and skipped the show. As a result Carl Perkins did four songs instead of two, to cover my absence!

Anyone who was into Rockabilly and the brand new Rock and Roll, had to know Carl Perkins, the original "Blue Suede Shoes." I covered that song as part of my show on the Buddy Knox tour. It was one of the few songs I covered that Elvis also covered but then again, so did Eddie Cochran and a whole lotta other performers.

Rockin Country Style Discography - Carl PerkinsRCS DISCOGRAPHY CARL PERKINS

Rockabilly Hall of Fame - Carl Perkins
ROCK A BILL HALL OF FAME - CARL PERKINS

Link above to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME - CARL PERKINS

ROULETTE RECORDS : WES BRYAN : I GUESS I'LL NEVER KNOW

ROULETTE RECORDS used the carnival roulette wheel as a pictorial representation of the chances taken on artists when they signed and recorded someone. Being signed by Roulette was eased for me by Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Knox, who were already signed by the label. I would tour for two years with Buddy Knox and meet up with Jimmy Bowen along the road to perform with him too. Besides my own songs, recorded on United Artists, Clock, and Roulette records, I also covered Rock and Roll hits by stars like Carl Perkins and Eddie Cochran.