BUDDY KNOX, JACK SCOTT, WARREN SMITH, CHARLIE FEATHERS 1977 AMERICAN INVASION OF BRITIAN

HERE IS THE INFORMATION WE GOT FROM THE POSTING YOU-TUBER ON THIS FINE VIDEO PRESENTATION!

"Hi, you commented on a 'video' I posted recently. The Buddy Knox tracks were from a session (not concert) that was recorded for the BBC and transmitted on September 3rd 1977. There is an excellent article on all the American artists that came over and recorded sessions for the series that ran '76 - '79 in 'Now Dig This Magazine' Buddy, Warren, Charlie and Jack came over and performed a concert at the Rainbow theatre in April 1977. A LP was released of this concert. Buddy performed Lovey Dovey, I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself, That'll Be The Day, Oh Boy, Peggy Sue, Hula Love and Party Doll. Hope this has been of some help to you!"

veejaythernrdj - United Kingdom

WES: BUDDY KNOX and me were on a road tour in '59-'60 and performed in every state but Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah... we were supposed to go to England at the end of the tour but it never was arranged. VIDEO REPLACED JULY 2013

HELLO to GARY OWENS ! DJ and FUNNY MAN

Gary Owens, the DJ and funny man, is another man who through the years encouraged me to write a book. I last saw Gary in Dave Dutton's store before Dave finally retired it. "You knew all those people - Elvis - all of them," Gary said. Gary is someone I admire greatly for all his accomplisments and - of course - his sense of humor!

Gary's in the Radio Hall of Fame - just click on the title to go there! -

(310) DONALD IRWIN ROBERTSON INVENTOR OF THE SLIP NOTE FOR THE PIANO

The day that Rod Lauren was recording my song "Tender Love, I got to talking with Steve Shoals, the producer at RCA. We were walking up the street and I asked him if he had seen Don Robertson lately. Steve said, "No, but Wes, that guy is a genius."

Don invented the slip note for the piano. He was an amazing pianist and performed on Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret records.

Don was also known to be helpful. A couple years back my daughter Hollie, a singer with a three octave range and following in her dad's footsteps a bit as a songwriter, had a conversation with him on the phone for near an hour. She was looking through his music catalogue to see if she could find a song she'd like to record.

We're linking to Don's official site above as well as his page on the NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS FOUNDATION below...


http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/p-s/don-robertson.aspx

(309) ROD LAUREN RECORDS a COUPLE JIMMY BOWEN - WES BRYAN SONGS

ROD LAUREN was, like me promoted to be an actor as well as a singer. And the exploration of space continued to fascinate the American public, then as it does now. (Scientist Stephen Hawkings recently said that alien life is out there and we do not want to meet it!)

ROD LAUREN RECORDED TWO SONGS that JIMMY BOWEN and me wrote, "Tender Love" and "Why Can't I Win Your Love?"

He was on RCA and Steve Shoals, the same man who signed Elvis Presley to RCA in about 1955, was the producer on these two songs of ours.

ROD is one of the actors in this space romp meets the beach party!
(Christine here: I called Wes and said "I think I found a video - did Rod do a movie? Wes laughed and started yelling THE HAND THE HAND! - it's a cult classic!"

(308) THE ROSES - ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME BACKGROUND SINGERS

The ROSES were a background singing group who worked on my recording with Norman Petty as producer. We're linking to the ROCKABILLY HALL article and pictures of the men. They worked with Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Buddy Knox, Waylon Jennings, and me - to name a few.

UPDATED JANUARY 2013 with link renewal:
ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME : THE ROSES

March 2014 - Link added to side bar

WES BRYAN BLUE BABY (also called SO BLUE OVER YOU)

Arne did his thing and got this one up on Youtube before anyone else did and made up another beautiful photo collage to go with it. THANKS ARNE!

WES BRYAN I JUST WANT YOUR LOVE

OK Arne and friends! Here is the official scoop from me, WES BRYAN on the recording of this song! "I Just Want Your Love."

I split a session at Norman Petty's with BUDDY KNOX who recorded "I THINK I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF" that session. Yes! Jerry Allison of the Crickets was on drums, as was Joe B. on stand up base, and Sonny Curtis was on lead guitar. (Sonny went on to write the Mary Tyler More Show theme song...)

Jerry Allison was married to PEGGY SUE and she was there! Peggy Sue was beautiful and of course she's got the song "Peggy Sue" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets written for her!

THE SONG WAS WRITTEN FOR ME by two singer-songwriter friends from New York - ERSEL HICKEY and JOHNNY RIVERS!

WEST TEXAS BOP

This is an album that I believe was made of masters stored in Norman Petty's vault which was sold as part of his estate. (I do not profit from the sale of this album. However, the recordings I made at Petty's were unreleased and it's good to hear them years later.)

It's true that the intro for my song "Blue Baby" was also used on "That'll Be the Day." It works for both songs and I was recording with the Crickets left behind when Buddy Holly went on tour - and died in that plane crash.

NASHVILLE FLOODED GRAND OL OPRY A DISASTER

This YouTuber did a great job with this video with an appropriate song sung by Johnny Cash about a flood "Five Feet High and Rising."

Christine and I send our best wishes to the singers, songwriters, and all the people of NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. We "stopped the presses" here, delaying posts to post this one...

ARNOLD H. GLASGOW Quote on Friendship

"A true friend never gets in your way, unless you happen to be going down."
-Arnold H. Glasgow

LAURENCE J. PETER Quote on Friendship

"You can always tell a real friend: When you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job!" - Laurence J. Peter

JIMMY BOWEN on CAPEHEART : LIVING IN A TEENAGE DREAM WORLD JIMMY BOWEN

Jimmy worked at American Music, wrote songs, and was recorded on Jerry Capeheart's label, after he too left Roulette.

JIMMY BOWEN on ROULETTE: SOMEBODY TO LOVE

THIS SONG IS MENTIONED IN OUR BOOK...

JIMMY BOWEN and the RHYTHM ORCHIDS on ED SULLIVAN

This YouTube video is of Jimmy Bowen and the Rhythm Orchids on the Ed Sullivan show. That's Buddy Knox to the far left of the film. It's about 1955.


(THE VIDEO WAS REMOVED FROM YOUTUBE DUE TO COPYRIGHT CLAIM SO WE ARE REMOVING THE LINK!)

(307) JIMMY BOWEN - SINGER SONGWRITER and FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE !

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.

We're linking here to CMT (COUNTRY MUSIC) pages for Jimmy Bowen who has been recording with the band SANTA FE - back to his roots in music! And the next few videos will be a little Jimmy Bowen music festival!

EASTER GREETINGS to MY FAMILY and FRIENDS!

(306) A LITTLE REITERATION OF MY STORY JUST TO GET YOU SITUATED !

This year we've been revisiting the smaller record labels in Hollywood and some of the songwriters and singer-songwriters who were making the scene in Southern California in about 1963.

But if you've been following my story, you know that I was born in Murphy, North Carolina, that I made my first recording in a kitchen in Winston-Salem, that I was discovered as THE NEXT JAMES DEAN in Akron, Ohio, in 1957, which lead to auditions in Hollywood and my living in New York City. I studied at Actors' Studio. I traveled all around the United States promoting my first couple records as the FIRST ARTIST SIGNED TO UNITED ARTISTS. Then, while on Roulette Records I toured for a couple years - in 47 states! -with rockabilly Superstar BUDDY KNOX. I became friends with Elvis Presley back in '57, one of the great friendships of my life.

I performed on Ed Sullivan, Jack Paar, Wink Martindale... so many television shows all around the country. I played live on radio stations. And then - then I moved to Southern California to work as a staff songwriter for AMERICAN MUSIC about 1960, after the KNOX tour was completed.

From the east coast to the west I moved and so did some of the people who were integral to my story. People like Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers, and Jimmy Bowen were now also living in Hollywood for film or music...

The Golden Age of American Rock 'n Roll: Reelin' & rockin' : 1956-1959 By Lee Cotten

I was listed in this book by Lee Cotten called The Golden Age of American Rock 'n Roll: Reelin' & rockin' : 1956-1959. I didn't know about it until we looked at Google Books which brings it up. You can link now to Google books... and you're going to see that my name brings up a few things....

Hello to DAVE DUTTON, bookseller and long time friend

Dave Dutton, the bookseller, who had a very dusty, literary, independent bookstore called Dutton's books in Los Angeles' on Laurel Canyon, is out of the local book business. For a man who loves the arts, it's not easy to be retired at all and I know Dave is indulging his interests in art, literature, and so much else. Dave has been a friend of mine for years, his shop a frequent stop, and when he found out we were writing a memoir he was so supportive. Dave always said that when we get our memoir published he'd throw us a book signing. It's been a couple years since his shop closed and I think of him often. Hello Dave!

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=17 This is the link for NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO and in their archives for March 22, 2006 is an archived interview (audio) about DAVE DUTTON!

Day to Day, "March 22, 2006 · Small, independent Dutton's book store is closing its doors after 46 years in North Hollywood, Calif. Gloria Hillard profiles the shop and its owner, a man who has devoted his life to books. Dave Dutton took over from his father as a young man, but will soon shutter Dutton's Books -- a refuge for older, sometimes forgotten tomes."

(305) SONG WRITERS HALL OF FAME ORG & BILL HALEY AND THE COMETS

Link here to the SONG WRITERS HALL OF FAME Museum ! Now the era that we're writing about is ROCK n ROLL, under the category 1955 to present which is a long, long time.

The beginning of this online article mentions Bill Haley and the Comets, who we haven't blogged about before... there is a wealth of information on this link, including dozens of profiles of inductees...

But Bill Haley and the Comet's song "Rock Around the Clock" was the first rock and roll song I ever heard! And yes, I think it was at one of those drive in diners!

This YouTuber presented a video of the group on the Ed Sullivan show. Would you believe we did not have a television set? We couldn't get reception in the Smokey Mountains ...

(303) SHARON SHEELEY - SONGWRITER

We're linking to the ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME page for songwriter SHARON SHEELEY here. SHARON was Eddie Cockran's girlfriend at the time he was killed in the car accident in England and that is unfortunately, what she first became famous for. She and Gene Vincent survived the car crash. She was still dating Eddie when I first met her. I was with the Everly Brothers at the time. Sharon was great friends with Nan Morris, the agent I've blogged about - a friend of mine to this day. It was Nan who took a demo of "POOR LITTLE FOOL" to Rick Nelson. In fact the two women were near stalking Rick to get that song to him because they were so sure it was going to be a hit for him. And they were right.

Sharon Sheeley continued to write songs including in collaboration with Jackie DeShannon and Brenda Lee.

Now we've mentioned before (and on some of our Youtube postings) that many DEMOS were made that did not turn into records for the market and that on many of these DEMOS some artists performed who became famous in their own time.

Some of the Demo Makers included Glen Campbell and Leon Russel and David Gates. A few years ago demos of some of Sharon's compositions that featured these artists came out on the market. And one of the singers is P.J. Proby, another demo maker who became famous and continues to perform, and who remained a friend of Sharon's until her death a few years ago ...

WE JUST INSTALLED THE "SEARCH THIS BLOG" FEATURE !

You can use this feature to bring up older posts, links, and other information sorted by WORD CHOICE. Try the words ELVIS PRESLEY!

BUTLER WHO SERVED 8 US. PRESIDENTS (AND ELVIS) PASSES AT 90 : EUGENE ALLEN !

Eugene Allen served 8 U.S. Presidents as a butler and that included Elvis, when he made his visit to the White House. From the Washington Post: "Mr. Allen served entertainers including Sammy Davis Jr., Duke Ellington, Pearl Bailey and Elvis Presley. He flew aboard Air Force One. He sipped root beer at Camp David with Jimmy Carter and visited Eisenhower in Gettysburg after he left the White House. There were always Christmas and birthday cards from the families of the presidents he had served."

QUOTE from a RASPBERRY ZINGER TEA BOX

"Between true friends, even water drunk together is sweet enough"
- Zimbabwean Proverb