CHET ATKINS TRIVIA : CHET PLAYED ON EVERLY BROTHERS RECORDS AS WELL AS ELVIS' HEARTBREK HOTEL

CHET ATKINS!

ROCK N ROLL HALL OF FAME - CHET ATKINS INDUCTEE

When it was cut, Chet played on Heartbreak Hotel on RCA, no it wasn't The Blue Moon Boys group or Scotty Moore...

According to the Rock Hall bio, "As a studio musician, he appeared on records by Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and countless country musicians. Atkins thumb-and-fingerpicking style influenced George Harrison, Duane Eddy, the Ventures, Eddie Cochran, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, as well as innumerable country pickers. Even the likes of Ted Nugent has credited Atkins with inspiring him to take up the instrument. ‘’I think he influenced everybody who picked up a guitar,’’ said Duane Eddy."

MISTERGUITAR - CHET ATKINS OFFICIAL

(459) THE BYRDS GIVE THE BEATLES A RUN FOR THE CHARTS

THE BYRDS OFFICIAL SITE  link here for their story their way!
David Crosby
Chris Hillman
Roger McGuinn
Gene Clark

Michael Clarke  (The Byrds official site has links for each of these musicians individually as well!)

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME BYRDS PAGE link here!

The Byrds were predicted to give the Beatles a real run for the charts.  I remember talking to Elmer Bernstein and Bob Dylan about the Byrds one night on the Sunset Strip. Elmer was really excited about them. "They're better than the Beatles ! he cried out, as one of their songs was broadcast on the radio.

Bob just smiled.  He had placed songs with them and was already recieving money on their recordings of his songs, which were hits for them.  Look at that line up though.  Every name on that list was a unique talent if not creative genius and they all went on to write winning songs and make music with other groups after the Byrds.

"Turn Turn Turn" was written by PETE SEEGER.

(455) FRANKIE VALLI AND THE FOUR SEASONS :THE REAL JERSEY BOYS CELEBRATE 60 + YEARS OF MUSIC MAKING

FRANKIE VALLI and the FOUR SEASONS OFFICIAL SITE  link here!

THE REAL JERSEY BOYS!  Frankie's got a new CD of songs from the 60's that Frankie personally loved!

They had 48 hits in the 1960's and have worked their magic for 60 + years!  In recent interviews he's talked about how the music business has changed and in particular how difficult it is to get a record played anymore.

THE JERSEY BOYS MUSICAL OFFICIAL SITE link here!

The Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 1990.

FOUR SEASONS ROCK HALL OF FAME link here!

BUDDY HOLLY and THE CRICKETS : CRICKETS WERE INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME IN 2012

  The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.  The picture is of Jerry and Sonny with Buddy.

Here's an updated link! ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME PAGE - THE CRICKETS

Buddy left Sonny and Joe B behind when he went on the tour where the plane crashed and killed him, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, so they survived and went on.  They played surf inspired music in the early 1960's.

(444) MOONGLOWS : HEY SANTA CLAUS! 1953

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME : THE MOONGLOWS link here!

Christine here.  Listening to this Moonglows Doo Wop from the mid 1950's I'm remined how important the saxaphone was to music in those days. I'm thinking of Wes' recordings from that period that also featured sax.  (We have a variety of Wes Bryan music posted on the side bar of this blog for yiour to sample.) As much as I know about music of the early rock and roll and cover tune era after years of blogging with Wes here, I just recently learned about the Moonglows.

(442) VENTURES : THIS ONE GOES OUT TO OUR FRIEND ARNE!

The Ventures, known for surf music like the famous "Pipeline," put out a Christmas Album in '65, and instead of Christmas in July it's more like surf music in December!  The Ventures cover of "The Christmas Song" blends surf music with the guitar sound that is almost British Invasion.

VENTURES OFFICIAL SITE link here!

Playing DJ here, we want to send this song out to our friend ARNE, who was one of the first to post Wes Bryan songs on YouTube and who runs an impressive YouTube channel as well as being an oldies record collector! 

Happy Holidays and a terrific 2013 Arne!

 

(441) THE BLOSSOMS : FREQUENT MUSICAL ARTISTS ON SHINDIG : DARLENE LOVE AND THE WALL OF SOUND

BLOSSOMS HISTORY OF ROCK link here! 

They were the background group on so many popular records, working for Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, and so many others.  The writer of this article is right when he says they were the most unknown successful group there was!

The Blossoms covered so many songs and were frequent guests on the Shindig television show as performing artists.  In the studio they are probably most famous for working with music producer Phil Spector and his Wall of Sound. You know them for the song "He's The Rebel." Here is just one of so very many videos presently on YouTube featuring their performances. 

Now, over the years there were a number of different women who worked as a Blossom.  Darlene Love is the Blossom most mentioned. Check our previous posts about the Blossoms and Darlene, using the Google Blogger search feature!




The Rock and Roll hall of Fame also Inducted Darlene Love in 2011, age 70, after a career of 50 years! Below the link to the bio and a long but very funny and very touching video of

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: DARLENE LOVE link!

THE CRICKETS: 2012 INDUCTEES INTO THE ROCK : I RECORDED WITH THEM AT NORMAN PETTY'S

The Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past weekend! I'm happy about it! They deserve the credit! We're linking to their bio on that site which starts like this:

"The Crickets were Buddy Holly's Buddy group from 1956 to 1958, a period of time when Holly was one of rock and roll’s hottest stars and main musical innovators. In fact, Holly appears to be a member of the Crickets himself on the cover of his first album, which is credited to the “Chirping” Crickets. Although there’s no question that Holly was the central figure – lead singer, lead guitarist and chief songwriter – the Crickets contributed heavily to Holly’s sound and success. As guitarist Joe Mauldin told Holly biographers John Goldrosen and John Beecher, “Other stars kept their musicians on salary but Buddy said, ‘No, man – share and share alike. You’re as much a part of this group as I am. If it wasn’t for you guys, I couldn’t perform the show that I put on.’” Moreover, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were a self-contained group that had two guitars, bass and drums and wrote their own material, serving as the blueprint for a torrent of rock bands that followed in the Sixties, including the Beatles..."

I did two recordings with the Crickets left behind at Norman Petty's studio. Here is "Blue Baby" and that's the Crickets backing me. Buddy Knox was there with me.

This video was provided by Arne, who has a great YouTube station, was the first person to ever post a Wes Bryan video, and has become one of our friends in Sweden. You can go to this video on YouTube and link to his station. The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.

Since the Crickets are part of my story we've posted quite a bit on them as well as Buddy Holly. We invite you to use the search function of this Google Blogger to find previous posts!

THE COMETS : 2012 INDUCTEES ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME!

Franny Beecher, Danny Cedrone, Joey D’Ambrosio (aka Joey Ambrose), Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, Marshall Lytle, Rudy Pompilli, Al Rex, Dick Richards, Billy Williamson are the COMETS who were just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! We're linking to their bio on that site, which has plentiful information for you to read.

"Rock Around the Clock" has become a rock and roll classic that defines a time in the 1950's when we went to diners where the waitresses came out to the cars to take you order and deliver your order - burgers - shakes - on rollerskates. They were the first rock and rollers I ever heard. This historical music video is about the "confusion" some people had about the new music they were hearing on the radio...

CHUCK BERRY : LEON RUSSEL'S COVER 1964 : ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN !

Leon Russel ! Really! that is him! Leon Russel is someone who I admire greatly and worked with a little in the studios as a studio musician back in the early 1960's! Here he appears on a show that was extremely popular - Shindig.

CONGRATULATIONS DARLENE LOVE ! ! !

Congratulations to DARLENE LOVE, who was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

(351) DARLENE LOVE : A LOVELY PERSON TO WORK WITH : CHRISTMAS 1963

CHRISTMAS 1963

DARLENE LOVE worked a bit for me in the studio and I was lucky to have her because she had success of her own before, after, and during the period that she was a studio background singer! Like many studio singers she went uncredited for much of her work but she still has many noteworthy accomplishments. (I'm proud of my daughter Hollie and the professionalism she brings to studio work as well.)

Darlene sang lead on some of the CRYSTALS songs, produced by PHIL SPECTOR, including "He's a Rebel." She did background vocals for JOEY COOPER'S "I'm a Fool," (A song I co-wrote that we posted a Youtube video of recently). In 1968 she worked with ELVIS PRESLEY on his Welcome Back television special.

We're linking to the HISTORY OF ROCK page for DARLENE LOVE (click on the title) and here is the link for the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME; Darlene has been nominated for induction in 2011: GO TO THE LINK FOR DARLENE ON OUR SIDEBAR!

Though studio musicians and singers are behind the scenes and many never earn the fame of stage and concert performers, they truly contribute to the sound track of our lives. They are often more professional in their attitudes and abilities than some of those who do achieve fame. I come from a time when recording took place quickly and without all the computer equipment that can help turn a mediocre performance into a better one. Darlene is one of those whose voice stood the test of immediacy and of time.

DION Quote AT THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

"The younger generation went to the school of "The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue." - Dion

Quoted in the November 26, 2009 Rolling Stone Magazine - out early!

LES PAUL ONE OF THE GREAT AX MEN

Lester William Polsfuss, long known as Les Paul, passed into Eternal Life at the age of 94 yesterday, August 13, 2009. To link right to his site, click on the title above. Les invented the Les Paul Gibson Guitar, an electric guitar, that helped take Rock and Roll out of the acoustic phase into the electronic phase. (And Rock and Roll is rounding back a bit, with a acoustic guitar versions of many previously electronic hits.)

Now it's been a while since we've posted multiple links on a blogpost. But below is the link to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Les Paul page.

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/les-paul

"The guitar that bears his name – the Gibson Les Paul – is his crowning achievement. It grew out of his desire, as a musician and inventor, to create a stringed instrument that could make electronic sound without distorting. What he came up with, after almost a decade of work, was a solid bodied instrument – that is, one that didn’t have the deep, resonant chamber of an acoustic guitar." Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

We'll let the world speak for itself on Les.

(209) DRUMMER EARL PALMER - A "SECRET" HIT MAKER

Another great musician that I met at the Musician's Union and became friends with was Earl Palmer.
Earl just went into Eternal Life September 18, 2008 - several weeks ago - at the age of 84.

He worked with Elvis. He worked for Motown and Phil Spector. The Righteous Brothers. Frank Sinatra.

I used to go into the Union looking for Earl and get on him about being from Louisiana in the way that only one Southerner can get on another Southerner. Out in LA it seemed like no matter what your race or background, being from the South was like being from the hood.

And he earned it; Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, here's Earl's link there.

ROCKHALL : EARL PALMER BIO
updated March 2014

(117) ROY ORBISON - THE RADIO VOICE VERSUS THE TELEVISION IMAGE

UPDATED FEB 2014

Americans depended on the radio much more so than the television for information and entertainment in the 1940's and early 1950's. Then as more Americans bought black and white television sets and more programs were broadcast, the television got an edge. Much of early television was in the category of variety shows in which musicians and dancers could perform, not all that much different than stage shows, and then dramas, again not much different than what was in the theater.

For music artists who had hit records and live performances, television with its close up capabilities could be a challenge. Never was being able to project charisma to a camera more important. Many music artists felt self conscious and uncomfortable about the close ups. Some of them took to wearing dark glasses to hide behind.

ROY ORBISON OFFICAL - NEW 2014

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME - ROY ORBISON


 

(32) BRENDA LEE - THE GIRL SINGER

After I met Elvis in Memphis at the Wink Martindale television show, the next day I went to a television station in Nashville, Tennessee where I performed along with singers Brenda Lee and Eddy Arnold. Brenda was maybe 13 years old, yet she was a total pro and as they would say today, her people and my people wanted us to meet.

As the Rockabilly Royalty she was already becoming, the young teen Brenda made sure to give me a full welcome to Nashville. This meant that we met at the hotel and she posed for pictures with me and we did a radio interview together. As for Eddy, I'll save him for another post!

BRENDA LEE has been inducted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME in 2002

http://rockhall.com/inductees/brenda-lee/ NEW LINK!

ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY - BRENDA LEE

http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artist.php?key=lee-2200 NEW LINK!

BRENDA LEE's OFFICIAL WEB SITE - BIOGRAPHY

Click on the title above!

NEW YOU TUBE VIDEO January 21, 2011

(16) AND THE COMPARISONS CONTINUED ... Some said I sounded like PAT BOONE!

So, I looked like James Dean, but meanwhile my voice was being compared to the successful singer (and clean-living Christian) Pat Boone's!

Link toPAT BOONE's OFFICIAL SITE above!

Pat's a successful author with his book out this year called "Pat Boone's America," and you can vote for him to be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at this link:

www.backpat.org Petition to get Pat into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

VIDEO ADDED January 19, 2011

(15) I APPEAR ON DICK CLARK'S AMERICAN BANDSTAND

I moved to New York City officially, but United Artists put me on the road to success in the music business - a record promo tour. One of my first appearances was on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I performed a novelty song called "Tiny Spaceman." Clark's set designer had a little spaceship whirling around my head.

Futuristic notions of traveling in space were popular then and so were novelty songs. But I have to admit, I couldn't imagine James Dean singing it.

Dick Clark American Bandstand at the Museum of Broadcast Communications link above.

LINK BONUS

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/dick-clark
Dick Clark - Inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame