WE INTERRUPT THIS ELVIS CELEBRATION TO HONOR PHIL EVERLY!

Elvis wouldn't mind at all!



Reading around the subject, Don has said that he always thought he would go first.

Here is a link to one of our long time favorite sites on the Internet, one we respect and that is the result of long hours of volunteer work.  Rockin Country Style DISCOGRAPHY!

RCS DISCOGRAPHY - THE EVERLYS

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!

TERRY GORDON (AND VOLUNTEERS) AT ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY : ONE OF OUR LONG TIME FAVORITE SITES

Terry Gordon and a great group of volunteers started Rockin Country Style a few years ago, and they have posted the equivalent of a music encyclopedia. THE FOCUS HERE IS ROCKABILLY!

You can search by artist or by label, and sound sample all you like. We believe this is still an ongoing project that you may be able to contribute to.

Linking to RCS once again!

(396) WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A LABEL YOU MARKET YOURSELF

What does a musical artist do when they don't have a label?

Today there are so many Independent ("Indie") artists who know the answer to that question!

You pay for your own studio time and record not just a demo to send around to agents but a CD for sale on the Internet. You have a web site. You use Social Networking sites to reach your fans. The Internet means that you have potential International Readership. (Just as we've experienced here at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC - Hello Latvia!)

Today you can be your own company, your own boss, the talent and the marketing department. If you are successful, you make money, and more money than if you had a contract with a label. Sell enough and the major labels may even come calling.

Earlier in this blog I may've mentioned that I was surprised - maybe even shocked - to learn several years ago that I was on the net - the Rockabilly Hall of Fame site and RCS Discography. (Christine calls this "Web Presence.") It took me some time to get used to it. I had lived the life of a private citizen for many years at that point.

Steve Jobs, one of three founders of Apple Computers, has just passed on, and there's been so much media coverage of this inventor and business mogul who became a billionaire. (Christine uses PC's for this blog but swears by Apple.)

In the early 1960's all this was not technologically possible. Wasn't possible for another 30 years or so.

Marketing depended before the age of the Internet on word of mouth - who you knew or who you could network with personally. It was by ads placed individually in newspapers or trade journals or by writers who were syndicated.

Small labels that so many of us depended on often didn't have the marketing power that the big labels did so you had to entertain on live radio programs or television shows.

ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE (RCS DISCOGRAPHY) REMAINS ONE OF OUR FAVORITE SITES!

RCS DISCOGRAPHY was one of our early Internet inspirations when we thought about posting a blog. Started as a volunteer project out of a University, Terry Gordon and his team took the site Independent several months ago. It's like a Rockabilly Encyclopedia, a terrific research tool for all of you who have told us that you use the web for school projects, offering a lot of sound samples, regional label information, and more. Besides the Rockabilly Hall of Fame site, RCS was one of the first to list me, Wes Bryan, back when I was in awe of any mention at all of me on the net.

In updating the links for WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC, RCS Discography is one of our important updates. We will continue to do so, knowing that this esteemed site is to be relied on!

WE LOVE RCS DISCOGRAPHY

Had a little communication with Terry Gordon over at RCS Discography and we wanted to give you the NEW LINK here!

Been some changes. The university server will no longer carry RCS, which has been a volunteer project for some time. This means Terry and his associates and contributors will take the site to a more independent situation.

Terry keep us posted!

BUDDY KNOX SINGING ALL BY MYSELF (Which We Co-wrote) 1962

Click on the title above to get to the sound clip via RCS Discography...

RCS DISCOGRAPHY WES BRYAN LINK

RCS - ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE - DISCOGRAPHY is one of our favorite sites...

Check this out (and hear me sing a few!)

(241) ERSEL HICKEY on APOLLO

So Ersel stayed in New York, and continued to write songs and record and perform. One time, years later Johnny Rivers and I were talking, and Johnny said, "Ersel was like the original Punk Rocker!" Well, maybe not quite, but in his pose he was.

Here's the Rockin' Country Style discography for Ersel:
http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/h/hick1000.htm

You'll notice that in 1962 two of his songs were considered to be ROCKABILLY. "Upside Down Love" and "The Millionaire"

Terry Gorden over at RCS has listed the Apollo Label as founded in New York in 1942 by Ike and Bess Berman. As you know, if you've been reading WES BRYAN- MY LIFE IN MUSIC, small labels were often regional and many of us from that era recorded over time on several.

RCS DISCOGRAPHY - WE LOVE THIS SITE!

We are so lucky to have a great resource like RCS discography on the Internet.

This volunteer project is a real labor of love and ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY was probably the first Internet site to list me, WES BRYAN, which got us interested and then hooked.

We're talking here about early Rock and Roll - Rockabilly- Rockin Country Style and one of the most fascinating things about that era was that it was the time of small regional labels.

So using the LABEL search feature we can go right to them and see who they were recording, hear sound samples, get profiles and pictures in some cases.Now folks, RCS can't take donations as things are set up, but you can always express your appreciation in other ways.

Using the GEOGRAPHICAL search is a fascinating way to see what SMALL LABELS existed and who recorded on them. Elvis Presley and so many others walked into Sun Records in Memphis to produce a recording - vanity or low budget. Other Rockabilly and Country artists to be were doing so all over America in smaller towns and markets. Go to the state and the town/label and give a listen to a local hopeful giving it their all! You can also use the RCS LABEL search to see who was recording at Sun besides Elvis and get a feel for the body of work from a particular studio.

CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO GET TOTHE RCS MAIN PAGE ! AND MAYBE DO A SEARCH FOR AN ARTIST, like CLIFF GLEAVES!

(We'll be looking at the 1962 Rockabilly Chart soon!)

(208) ERNIE FREEMAN - THE MUSIC ARRANGER

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.

http://www.rocky-52.net/chanteursf/freeman_ernie.htm

UPDATED APRIL 2012 with this video!

(203) BOBBY DENTON RCS DISCOGRAPHY

Bobby Denton is now known as a Senator - the Singing Senator - but like a lot of us, starting out he was a southerner, and a singer hoping to be a star, who turned to his roots and religious Christian mustic.
I'm proud to say that Bobby has recorded and performed songs that I wrote.

Here's Bobby on RCS Discography:

http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/d/dent3600.htm


http://www.bobbydenton.com/ THE SINGING SENATOR ! - His Official Site!


Like Texas, Tennessee, and other United States, Alabama takes pride in its own!
http://www.alamhof.org/bobbydenton.html THE ALABAMA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

(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

RCS DISCOGRAPHY WE THANK YOU AGAIN!

We are so lucky to have a great resource like RCS discography on the Internet. This volunteer project is a real labor of love and ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST SITE ON THE INTERNET TO HAVE A PAGE for me, WES BRYAN, which got us interested and then hooked. Since we're going to talk about Sun records and then Judd records a bit this is a good place to mention how grateful we are to have RCS!

We're talking here about early Rock and Roll - Rockabilly- Rockin Country Style and one of the most fascinating things about that era was that it was the time of small regional labels. So using the LABEL search feature we can go right to them and see who they were recording, hear sound samples, get profiles and pictures in some cases.

Now folks, RCS can't take donations as things are set up, but you can always express your appreciation in other ways. Send them a note in the U.S. mail or an e-mail ! Or get involved if you have some records you are willing to share for a time so that more clips can be uploaded! The volunteer team there headed up by Terry Gordon has done a great job of supplying music clips as well as photos of actual records and covers.

Using the GEOGRAPHICAL search is a fascinating way to see what SMALL LABELS existed and who recorded on them. Elvis Presley and so many others walked into Sun Records in Memphis to produce a recording - vanity or low budget. Other Rockabilly and Country artists to be were doing so all over America in smaller towns and markets. Go to the state and the town/label and give a listen to a local hopeful giving it their all! You can also use the RCS LABEL search to see who was recording at Sun besides Elvis and get a feel for the body of work from a particular studio.

CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO GET TO

THE RCS MAIN PAGE !

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE

We want to THANK ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE, also called RCS Discography, for all the hard work they've done over there at Emory University to present a viable history of Country Rock and Roll - sometimes called Rockabilly - to us.

If you've been reading this blog and listening to the sound samples, you know we've been leaning on RCS heavily. Now folks, RCS can't take donations as things are set up, but you can always express your appreciation in other ways. Send them a note in the U.S. mail or an e-mail ! Or get involved if you have some records you are willing to share for a time so that more clips can be uploaded!

The volunteer team there headed up by Terry Gordon has done a great job of supplying music clips as well as photos of actual records and covers.

Using the GEOGRAPHICAL search is a fascinating way to see what SMALL LABELS existed and who recorded on them. Elvis Presley and so many others walked into Sun Records in Memphis to produce a recording - vanity or low budget. Other Rockabilly and Country artists to be were doing so all over America in smaller towns and markets. Go to the state and the town/label and give a listen to a local hopeful giving it their all!
You can also use the RCS LABEL search to see who was recording at Sun besides Elvis and get a feel for the body of work from a particular studio.

RCS MAIN PAGE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/index.htm

(148) ERSEL - LIPS OF ROSES - 1961

And here is Ersel Hickey and his 1961 song "Lips of Roses."
Also, let's take another look at Ersel's RCS Discography page - linked above!

RCS DISCOGRAPHY WES BRYAN

If you'll click on the words RCS Discography above, you'll go to the Rockin Country Style page for me. Now, these aren't the only recordings I ever did, but the emphasis here is rockabilly and early country rock and roll. You'll find that a good number of the artists we're talking about in this blog have RCS Discographies.

Christine and I have a great respect for the work that is behind RCS, a volunteer project of many years. They can't take donations of money, but you may be able to help them get more music documented if you have a record collection that you are willing to lend. So get in contact with RCS if you do!

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE - RCS DISCOGRAPHY

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE - RCS DISCOGRAPHY

We want to THANK ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE, also called RCS Discography, for all the hard work they've done over there at Emory University to present a viable history of Country Rock and Roll - sometimes called Rockabilly - to you. If you've been reading this blog and listening to the sound samples, you know we've been leaning on RCS heavily. Now folks, RCS can't take donations as things are set up, but you can always express your appreciation in other ways. Send them a note in the U.S. mail or an e-mail ! Or get involved if you have some records you are willing to share for a time so that more clips can be uploaded!

The volunteer team there headed up by Terry Gordon has done a great job of supplying music clips as well as photos of actual records and covers.

Using the GEOGRAPHICAL search is a fascinating way to see what SMALL LABELS existed and who recorded on them. Elvis Presley and so many others walked into Sun Records in Memphis to produce a recording - vanity or low budget. Other Rockabilly and Country artists to be were doing so all over America in smaller towns and markets. Go to the state and the town/label and give a listen to a local hopefull giving it their all!

You can also use the RCS LABEL search to see who was recording at Sun besides Elvis and get a feel for the body of work from a particular studio.

Every studio is different in sound quality and feel. This is something that I as a music producer am careful about. It's not just getting the right singer or musicians together.

RCS MAIN PAGE LIN ABOVE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(56) BUDDY KNOX : AN INTELLECTUAL and A GENTLEMAN

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 - UPDATED
 

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.

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE : RCS DISCOGRAPHY

We want to THANK ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE, also called RCS Discography, for all the hard work they've done over there at Emory University to present a viable history of Country Rock and Roll - sometimes called Rockabilly - to you. If you've been reading this blog and listening to the sound samples, you know we've been leaning on RCS heavily. Now folks, RCS can't take donations as things are set up, but you can always express your appreciation in other ways. Send them a note in the U.S. mail or an e-mail ! Or get involved if you have some records you are willing to share for a time so that more clips can be uploaded!

(I just love to listen to the snap, crackles, and pops on vintage vinyl!)

The volunteer team there headed up by Terry Gordon has done a great job of supplying music clips as well as photos of actual records and covers.

Using the GEOGRAPHICAL search is a fascinating way to see what SMALL LABELS existed and who recorded on them. Elvis Presley and so many others walked into Sun Records in Memphis to produce a recording - vanity or low budget. Other Rockabilly and Country artists to be were doing so all over America in smaller towns and markets. Go to the state and the town/label and give a listen to a local hopeful giving it their all!

You can also use the RCS LABEL search to see who was recording at Sun besides Elvis and get a feel for the body of work from a particular studio.

Every studio is different in sound quality and feel. This is something that I as a music producer am careful about. It's not just getting the right singer or musicians together.

RCS MAIN PAGE link above!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RCS has gone independent of Emory University. We link quite a bit to this amazing reference site! THANK YOU Terry Gorden and so many other volunteers and contributors! "

NEW LINK TO TERRY's RCS January 21, 2011