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21 episodes with Billy Burnette
3 episodes with Billy Burnette
2 episodes with Billy Burnette
2 episodes with Billy Burnette
Born in Memphis, singer/songwriter/guitarist, Billy Burnette spent most of his youth in the presence of father Dorsey and uncle Johnny (of the legendary Rock and Roll Trio). The Trio made the Rockabilly name famous by combining the name Billy and his cousin Rocky for the 1953 “Rockabilly Boogie” – thus making the term Rockabilly a household name. The legendary trio influenced a diverse array of Rock icons including: the Elvis, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, and Ricky Nelson. Elvis used to spend many evenings jamming with the band. It's not surprising then that Billy started making music at the age of 7. At 15 Billy picked up a guitar and began writing songs. At 18, he was only a week out of high school when he recorded an album with famed Memphis hit-making producer Chips Moman (“Suspicious Minds” and “In the Ghetto” for Elvis). In his early 20's, Billy wrote songs for artists like Rod Stewart, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Tammy Wynette, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Everly Brothers, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell, and many more. In 1980, Billy met Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac). The two musicians became fast friends and formed the band Mick Fleetwood's Zoo Soon after Billy began his journey as a member of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Billy joined and toured with Fleetwood Mac between 1987-1995, appearing on many of their albums. In 2003, Billy co-wrote a tune for Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles called “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind.” This tune appeared on the album Genius Loves Company, which was the last studio album that Ray Charles recorded and completed. The album garnered 10 Grammy nominations and won Album of the Year. In 2006, Billy Burnette returned to his roots and recorded one of the most revered Rockabilly albums of his career, Memphis in Manhattan. He not only recorded several original tunes – but also payed tribute to his father and uncle, by recording “It's Late” and “Tear it Up.” In addition, he recorded an Everly Brothers classic, “Bye, Bye Love,” and a song made popular by none other than his very own Memphis neighbour, Elvis: “Big Hunk of Love.” A collaboration with Shawn Camp and Dennis Morgan became the hit song “River of Love.” George Strait recorded the tune for his 2008 album Troubador, and “River of Love” went on to become Strait's 44th Number One hit single. In the last few years, Billy Burnette has contributed his talents as a guitar player and singer on tours with legendary musicians Bob Dylan and John Fogerty. Additionally, he also collaborates regularly with the Mick Fleetwood Band. Billy continues to write, record and perform today. He lives in Nashville and is still as passionate about making music as he has always been. I hope you enjoy the story of Billy Burnette's musical journey. If you'd like to learn more about him, check out his website http://billyburnette.net/ and if you'd like to suggest a guest you'd like to hear interviewed on A Breath of Fresh Air, reach out to me through my website https://www.abreathoffreshair.com.au
So much has changed since David Uosikkinen & Kenny Aaronson were guests on the podcast, separately back in 2019! Their musical friendship has grown, even during the pandemic. We talk about each of their own activities (The Hooters for David, and The Yardbirds for Kenny), and, no spoilers, but Ken uncorks a fun surprise, amidst his stories.We get an update on In The Pocket, Dave's Philly-centric collective, with the latest news on that project. Plus, they both discuss their involvement in the Lest We Forget recorded tribute organization, and their part in honoring Charlie Watts!But the episode starts with, and centers around, the recent passing of Robert Gordon, and what he meant to both of them. If you're a fan, it can help serve as a bit of grieving. Just remember, they knew him well...So, get set for a fun, high-paced listen with 4 friends "in the quad!"Episode Links:"Lest We Forget""In The Pocket"Tickets link for New Year's Eve in Lititz, PA with the guys and Annabella from Bow Wow Wow!!! We love our sponsors!!! Please visit their web sites, and support them because they make this crazy show go:Boldfoot Socks https://boldfoot.comCrooked Eye Brewery https://crookedeyebrewery.com/Don't forget that you can find all of our episodes, on-demand, for free right here on our web site: https://imbalancedhistory.com/
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”Glory be to all “OwlHeads” - we gather here today to continue our investigations of “Pagey's” songwriting career. We start the show with a demo I wrote with Billy Burnette who had just joined Fleetwood Mac in the 90s… this very rare demo was aimed squarely at the Fleetwood Mac aesthetic; California here we come! I'll spin an early demo I wrote with Bernie Taupin around the time I wrote “We Built This City” and “These Dreams” with him. Although it's a technically-challenged vintage home recording, I love this obscure Taupin/Page track. It definitely has a Tears For Fears thing about it… I was writing songs around the Michael Jackson “Thriller” period, when ghouls and ghosts and zombies were all the rage (when were Zombies NOT the rage ???). I'll spin a demo Melissa Manchester recorded that I penned with Jon Lind called “Night Creatures”, on which I display my “Ghostbusters “
Hello once again everyone I'm your host Ray Shasho and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends. Brought to you by The Publicity Works Agency specializing in authors & musicians Remember We shine only when We make you shine! Call us today at 941-567-6193 for a free PR evaluation! Vintage ‘80s Metal Recordings from Video Vixen SALLY STEELE Finally See Worldwide Release! With her teased-up blonde hair and supermodel looks, it's no surprise that Sally Steele found herself cast in music videos by the likes of Loverboy, Eric Carmen, Bruce Willis and others. But her true passion was always in music creation and so, in 1986, she put a band together and started performing shows in the musical mecca of Hollywood's Sunset Strip. Soon she crossed paths with mega producer Paul Sabu (who helped Steele bring two of her songs to life, “Too Bad (It Had To Be You” and “Leave My Heart Alone.” A music video was filmed for the latter and premiered on MTV's Basement Tapes show in 1988. After some personnel changes, Steele's band soldiered on with more songs and recordings. They became regulars at The Coconut Teaser, FM Station, Madame Wong's and The Whisky. However, as the music scene began to change in the early ‘90s Steele decided it was best to hang up her guitar – but she never lost her true passion. As Steele puts it “It was back when the Seattle grunge scene had replaced the music I loved from the ‘80s and I was told my music was ‘too commercial.' But here we are today, and I am so excited to finally get my material out to the world. I hope you enjoy my songs from the 1980s. And one thing that has never changed is – I still live and breathe rock n' roll 24 hours a day!” So do I Sally! Please welcome singer/songwriter/publisher/ founder/ CEO and editor-in-chief of Vegas Rocks! Magazine Affectionately known as “The Publishing Queen of Rock N' Roll.” … SALLY STEELE to Interviewing the Legends … PURCHASE ALONE IN LOVE 1988-1989 By SALLY STEELE Stream/download the album: https://orcd.co/8qdbo1a Also available at amazon.com ALSO Rock N' Roll Nun – True Tales of a Hollywood "Almost" A Memoir by SALLY STEELE If there is anyone who has dedicated their life to rock n' roll, it would be Sally Steele. Immersed in rock music and entertainment her entire life, Sally started taking pictures of rock stars and celebrities backstage at age 14 in the mid ‘70s which included Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Deep Purple and many others that were relatively unknown at the time. She moved to Hollywood in the 80's, where she fronted several rock bands that toured both Japan and the U.S. She also landed several roles on television and in movies, along with lead and featured roles in several MTV videos which included “Hungry Eyes” with Eric Carmen and the lead role in “Little Lady” by Duke Jupiter which was in the top 10 rotation on MTV in 1984. For more information about SALLY STEELE VISIT www.sallysteelerocks.com Sally Steele official website www.vegasrocks.com Vegas Rocks! Magazine www.facebook.com/sally.steele.94 Facebook www.instagram.com/sallysteelerocks/?hl=en Instagram https://twitter.com/sally_steele Twitter www.RaisedonRock.net Raised on Rock The Burnette Family Legacy A Film By Sally Steele Sally Steele is on a mission to reunite the legendary battling Burnette family- a family 'United by Blood-Divided by Fame'. The filmmaker travels across the United States interviewing special guests while learning the amazing rock history of Johnny Burnette and Dorsey Burnette and The Rock and Roll Trio who influenced Elvis, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and many others, on her quest to bring Rocky and Billy Burnette and the members of the family together for one final dramatic and exciting performance at the end of the film, trying to heal the rift that rocked the world and tore a family apart echoing down a generation to the family “Raised On Rock“. Support us!
I'm constantly blown away by all the great music (new and old) coming into the show every week. Enjoy the latest and classics from a wide range of folks this week including The Bacon Brothers, The Ventures, Kincaid & The Memetics, Humanga Danga, The Volcanics, Max Hixon, Tijuana Panthers, 3 of the artists coming to the Hi-Tide Summer Holiday (Los Straitjackets, Southern Culture On The Skids and Messer Chups) and a trio of tunes with "Tube" in the title from The Trashmen, ZZ Top and The Surf Junkies. Beth Riley has a deep track from The Beach Boys in her Surf's Up: Beth's Beach Boys Break. And speaking of them, the Wheel Of Fun, Fun, Fun returns with randomly selected covers of The Beach Boys (Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp, Redwood who later become Three Dog Night and Mick Fleetwood's Zoo featuring Billy Burnette on vocals) plus we drop a coin in the Jammin' James Jukebox to hear our selection of the week!
In 1980, Rocky Burnette hit #8 on the pop charts with "Tired of Toein' The Line", an excellent song that still holds up today. That may have been the peak of his solo career, but his musical history stretches much further. His dad was Johnny Burnette, the Godfather of Rockabilly. Rocky shares stories of growing up in old Hollywood and hanging out with Elvis. His cousin is Billy Burnette, who replaced Lindsey in Fleetwood Mac in the late 80s, and has had a solid career of his own. After Rocky's solo career stalled, he spent the next 30 years playing his dad's music and carrying the torch for Rockabilly. Unfortunately, he's been suffering from emphysema for a while and doesn't get out there much, but we were lucky to have him share some stories with us. Enjoy! www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Explore More: Welcoming guests, Mike James, Big Fish Winner & Billy Burnette, Southeastern EMS Director's Association..and, our very own, Pat Rose from Set the Hook. We'll be talking about fishing, tournaments, rods, reels, bait and rigs and how you can get involved! Join us!! Tune in every Friday Morning 9-10 with Jeff Styles on NoogaRadio 92.7fm or, right here on Fredpodcast.com #exploremore #jeffstyles #outside #adventure #fishing #bassfishing #emsweekbasstournament #patrose #setthehook #getoffthecouch #local #athletes #gear #noogaradio #localradiodoneright
This week, my guest is a second-generation Memphis musician. His Uncle Johnny had a few hits in the early ‘60s, including “You’re Sixteen”. His father, Dorsey Burnette, wrote songs like “It’s Late” for Ricky Nelson. Billy has recorded his own solo material and was with Fleetwood Mac for almost a decade. He has also toured with John Fogerty and Bob Dylan, among others.
Quels sont les deux livres indispensables dans votre bibliothèque ? Ceux que vous voulez conseiller à d’autres designers et designeuses ? C’est la question que nous posons aux designers et designeuses que nous rencontrons. Ils • elles partagent avec nous leurs lectures indispensables. Les livres qui les inspirent ou questionnent leurs pratiques quotidiennes. Ce quatrième épisode - encore enregistré en confinement - va à la rencontre de Gladys, Aloun et Zalihata. Leurs lectures sont éclectiques et inspirantes, nous abordons l’accessibilité, le storytelling, la création de parfum et le design de vie… Un programme riche, pour terminer cette année. Si vous avez des livres à nous conseiller ou si vous souhaitez participer à ces épisodes n'hésitez pas envoyer un mail à livre@designmasterclass.fr. Gladys Diandoki Gladys est notre première invitée. Elle nous partage des livres parlant d’accessibilité, de design inclusif et de storytelling comme méthode pour la conception d’interfaces. Mismatch • Kat Holmes Design is Storytelling • Ellen Lupton Aloun Banthrongsakd Aloun - notre deuxième invité - explore avec nous sa bibliothèque. Il nous propose une lecture un peu atypique qui l’a amené à se questionner sur le métier de Designer. Méthodes de design UX: 30 méthodes fondamentales pour concevoir des expériences optimales • Carine Lallemand L'écrivain d'odeurs • Jean-Claude Ellena Zalihata Ahamada Pour conclure cet épisode nous rencontrons Zalihata. Elle nous présente des livres l’ayant aidés à faire des choix dans les moments cruciaux de sa vie. L'art de communiquer en pleine conscience • Thích Nhất Hạnh La femme optimale • Miranda Gray Design de vie : Faire le point sur sa vie et explorer les possibles • Billy Burnette, Dave Evans Cet épisode à été réalisé et monté par Emeline Bailleul et Anthony Adam. Musique de fin La Mverte, Alejandro Paz - Show Me the Law (La Mverte Diversion) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CgpH0kg7qg
Get ready to turn this one up! So many great new tunes this hour by Dean Miller, Rip Masters, Zephaniah Ohora, The Hoodoo Tones, Eddie Clendening, Deke Dickerson, The Rhythm Torpedoes, JP Cyr & The Midnightmen, SaraLee as well as Los Straitjackets and The Time Burners in our instru-Mental Breakdown! Beth Riley has a classic track in her Beth's Blues Break, we board the Time Machine for week ending January 4th, 1959 and we spin a Jammin' James Jukebox selection of the week! Throw in rockers from Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, Billy Burnette (covering Johnny Cash) and you've got a packed hour of great music!! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Rip Masters- "Rockabilly Man" JP Cyr & The Midnightmen- "Don't Come Knockin' At My Door" SaraLee- "Love Is Good" instru-Mental Breakdown: The Time Burners- "Pulling Pigtails" Los Straitjackets- "Genesee River Rock" Deke Dickerson & The Whippersnappers- "This Girl's Gone Rockin'" The Rhythm Torpedoes- "Wildfire Bop" Dean Miller- "The Will, The Way, The Want To" Beth's Blues Break: (Music bed: Buddy Guy- "Slow Blues") Big Joe Turner- "Shake, Rattle & Roll" Follow Beth's Blues Break HERE Johnny Cash- "I Got Stripes" (early mix, 1987) Eddie Clendening- "Hey Little Star" The Hoodoo Tones- "Young Guns" Rockabilly N Blues Time Machine week ending Jan. 4, 1959 UK's Record Mirror Singles Chart #10 Little Richard- "Baby Face" #7 Cliff Richard- "High Class Baby" #1 Conway Twitty- "It's Only Make Believe" Jammin' James Jukebox selection of the week: Chris Isaak- "Tears" Zephaniah Ohora- "Black & Blue" The Everly Brothers- "Not Fade Away" Billy Burnette- "Ring Of Fire" Outro Music Bed: Eddie Cochran- "Eddie's Blues"
En TOMA UNO estamos a la espera del fin del mundo que, por lo visto es hoy. Si así fuera, queremos despedirnos a lo grande y empezamos por una celebración: ¡Feliz Día Europeo de la Música! Los American Honors & Awards se llevarán a cabo en el Auditorio Ryman en Nashville el próximo 16 de septiembre, aunque la Americana Music Association no ha querido especificar el formato debido a la evolución de la situación con respecto a Covid-19 . Lo que si sabemos son los nominados para esta edición, a los que damos un repaso en el comienzo del programa, empezando por el Álbum del año, al que aspiran: And It’s Still Alright, Nathaniel Rateliff Country Squire, Tyler Childers The Highwomen, The Highwomen Jaime, Brittany Howard While I’m Livin’, Tanya Tucker En cuanto al Artista del año, los nominados han sido: Brandi Carlile Brittany Howard John Prine Tanya Tucker Yola La tercera categoría ha sido Dúo o grupo del año, para que se lo disputan: Black Pumas Drive-By Truckers The Highwomen Buddy & Julie Miller Our Native Daughters La tercera categoría ha sido para la Canción del año: “And It’s Still Alright” Nathaniel Rateliff. Compuesta por Nathaniel Rateliff. “Bring My Flowers Now” Tanya Tucker. Compuesta por Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth y Tanya Tucker. “Crowded Table” The Highwomen. Compuesta por Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby y Lori McKenna. “My Love Will Not Change” Aubrie Sellers featuring Steve Earle. Compuesta por Billy Burnette y Shawn Camp. “Stay High” Brittany Howard. Compuesta por Brittany Howard. “Thoughts and Prayers” Drive-By Truckers. Compuesta por Patterson Hood. Nuestro recorrido por los nominados de la Americana Music Association ha terminado con el Artista emergente del año: Black Pumas Katie Pruitt Aubrie Sellers Billy Strings Kelsey Waldon La herencia de Neal Casal es irrefutable. Trístemente desaparecido el pasado año, su legado en solitario y con Chris Robinson Brotherhood, los Cardinals de Ryan Adams y Circles Around the Sun, nos dejan un legado creativo espectacular. La Neal Casal Music Foundation (NCMF) está trabajando en la edición para el próximo año 2021 de un doble álbum y triple vinilo llamado Highway Butterfly: The Songs Of Neal Casal en el que participan una treintena de músicos como Jaime Wyatt, Marcus King, Shooter Jennings, Warren Haynes, Phil Lesh, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Zephaniah OHora, Aaron Lee Tasjan o Billy Strings. Precisamente este último junto a Circles Around The Sun ha grabado “All The Luck In The World”, que en 2001 formó parte del álbum Rain, Wind And Speed del ya mítico artista de Nueva Jersey. El vocalista Eric Burton y el guitarrista Adrian Quesada formaron Black Pumas hace tres años y en el pasado 2019 publicaron su disco de debut con el nombre del dúo como título, siendo nominados al Grammy como Mejor Nuevo Artista. Quesada había formado parte del Grupo Fantasma, una banda de toques latinos, con la que ya ganó un gramófono dorado hace 10 años. Se encontraron en Austin, Texas, y decidieron aunar fuerzas como Black Pumas y moverse en el terreno de la Americana. La semana pasada, a punto de cumplirse el primer aniversario de aquel álbum, el dúo lanzó su versión de “Fast Car”, un clásico de Tracy Chapman que en 1988 nos hizo reflexionar sobre nuestra lucha diaria por que valga la pena vivir. Mary Chapin Carpenter ha sido desde siempre una de nuestras contadoras de historias favoritas y nos encanta poder escuchar un adelanto de su nuevo trabajo, The Dirt And The Stars. Producido de nuevo por Ethan Johns, ha sido grabado una vez más completamente en vivo en los Estudios Real World de Peter Gabriel en Bath, al suroeste de Inglaterra, un lugar perfecto para reflexionar sobre momentos personales e íntimos, algo que Mary Chapin hizo en su casa de Virginia antes de la cuarentena. “Between The Dirt And The Stars”, que es la pieza sobre la que gira el proyecto, recubierta de nostalgia por los días de la adolescencia, un tiempo en el que la vida se podía resumir con “Wild Horses” sonando en la radio. Para su nuevo álbum, Neon Cross, Jaime Wyatt ha podido contar a su lado con Shooter Jennings, que ha dotado de la brillantez imprescindible a un trabajo que suponía casi una confesión pública de la complicada biografía de esta mujer nacida en el estado de Washington. Uno de los momentos más emocionantes del disco ha sido este dúo junto a Jessi Colter, madre de Shooter y viuda de Waylon Jennings, en un himno de tintes feministas como "Just A Woman", reivindicando el valor real de las mujeres a las que se les privado de la voz y del reconocimiento. Estamos ante un registro con enfoque de gran angular, de letras profundas y muy personales expresadas con una voz sin cortapisas. Tessy Lou Williams ha encontrado la mejor respuesta a un esfuerzo muy valioso por recuperar las esencias de la country music, regresando a los modos tradicionales y olvidando todo lo que entretiene en su búsqueda. Rodeada de algunos de los nombres fundamentales de esa perpetua introspección en el estilo, como Larry Cordle, Brennen Leigh, Lesley Satcher, Jerry Salley, Jon Randall e incluso la joven Ashley Campbell, estamos ante uno de los discos más recomendables de este año. Para cerrar un trabajo perfectamente armonizado, Tessy ha escogido “Pathway Of Teardrops”, un tema legendario que han grabado desde Webb Pierce –su compositor junto a Wayne Walker- a los Osborne Brothers, pasando por K.T. Oslin, Rhonda Vincent o Alison Krauss, y que la joven artista de Montana conoció a través de New Monday, el supergrupo que forman Val Storey, Larry Cordle y Carl Jackson. Supone una apuesta formal por la vuelta más respetuosa a las raíces. Para despedir a la Americana en esta semana y emplazarlos para la próxima, hemos preferido a Margo Price con “Drifter”, un tema inédito de las sesiones de grabación de su nuevo álbum, That’s How Rumors Get Started. Ayer comenzó el verano y hoy es el Día Europeo de la Música. Esperemos que el calendario maya nos haga un guiño y nos permita volver los próximos sábado y domingo a la sintonía habitual de Radio 3. Escuchar audio
High Noon sends over their first new music since 2002! Brand NEW on Swelltune Records. Also, we spin the latest from Nick Lowe (with Los Straitjackets), The Hi-Jivers, The Broadway Twisters, The Dead Cowboys, Edwardian Devils as well as The Manakooras and The Hula Girls in our instru-Mental Breakdown. We start a new segment with Beth Riley called "Beth's Blues Break" and we board the Rockabilly N Blues Time Machine and also spin a Jammin' James Jukebox selection of the week with Billy Burnette! And still...there's MORE! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" The Hi-Jivers- "Knee High & Risin'" King Kerosene- "Too Far To Walk" Cherry Tess & Her Rhythm Sparks- "Leave A Happy Fool Alone" instru-Mental Breakdown: The Manakooras- "Congo Glide" The Hula Girls- "The Enchanted Sea" Nick Lowe (with Los Straitjackets)- "Lay It On Me Baby" Dion- "Doctor Rock 'N' Roll" The Broadway Twisters- "Girl With A Gretsch" Beth's Blues Break: Howlin' Wolf- "How Many More Years Chuck Berry- "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" High Noon- "Change" Edwardian Devils- "Little Girl" Rockabilly N Blues Time Machine Week ending August 3, 1959 for WMGM in New York City: #14 Elvis Presley- "A Big Hunk Of Love" #11 Lloyd Price- "Personality" #1 The Drifters- "There Goes My Baby" Jammin' James Jukebox selection of the week: Billy Burnette- "Oh, Susan" The Dead Cowboys- "706" Marty Robbins- "Don't Worry" Eddie Cochran- "Three Steps To Heaven" Outro Music Bed: Eddie Cochran- "Eddie's Blues"
Opening Monologues. Democrats Unleash ANTIFA Mobs Upon America. As the Deep State finds itself cornered, as ObamaGate gets exposed to sunlight -- suddenly we have blue enclave urban riots. We connect the dots on what we're now seeing. The American People are unified in condemning police brutality in Minneapolis, and also in condemning the ANTIFA mobs. But Mainstream Media seems intent on fomenting division. Creating chaos. Who benefits? Democrat leaders fail to take a stand against domestic terrorism. Tacit approval from the Obamas? Intimidation tactics? Callers see current events all but ensuring Trump's reelection in November. Meanwhile, we observe the apparent end of Coronavirus Lockdowns. Mobs not practicing social distancing. No more Karens. No upticks in free states. Notes on GOP Establishment fraud Marco Rubio. Ring of Fire. Summertime and the living is easy. Counseling a degree of detachment. With Listener Calls & Music via Billy Burnette, Akrosonix, Deva Premal and Lana Del Rey.
It’s not everyday that you get to sit down with one of the architects of Rock n’ Roll... ****Watch this episode and subscribe! https://youtu.be/Bo3Qel5z5nEwww.richredmond.com/podcasts Billy Burnette is part of a rich musical heritage. His father Dorsey Burnette and his uncle Johnny Burnette, along with Paul Burlison made up The Rock And Roll Trio. These gentleman invented Rockabilly Music and made it a household name. Billy made his first recording at age 7 and never looked back. Ha taught himself to play guitar and quickly toured with Brenda Lee. Billy released many recordings as a solo artist and also had his songs recorded by Ray Charles, Eddie Raven, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Everly Brothers, Gregg Allman, Loretta Lynn, Cher, Faith Hill, Tanya Tucker, Rod Stewart, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Pride, Ringo Starr, and even George Strait’s 44th number one, “River of Love.” Burnette nurtured a lifelong relationship with Mick Fleetwood and became a member of Fleetwood Mac and Zoo. Billy also formed the country duo Bekka & Billy with singer Bekka Bramlett. Billy also toured with John Fogerty and Bob Dylan over the years. Billy’s latest record is entitled “Crazy Like Me” and his book carries the same name. Billy Burnette continues to write, record and tour, sharing his talents as an American music treasure. Follow Billy: www.billyburnette.net @billyburnette The Rich Redmond Show is about all things music, motivation and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them. Rich Redmond is the longtime drummer with Jason Aldean and many other veteran musicians and artists. Rich is also an actor, speaker, author, producer and educator. Rich has been heard on thousands of songs, over 25 of which have been #1 hits! Rich can also be seen in several films and TV shows and has also written an Amazon Best-Selling book, "CRASH! Course for Success: 5 Ways to Supercharge Your Personal and Professional Life" currently available at: https://www.amazon.com/CRASH-Course-Success-Supercharge-Professional/dp/B07YTCG5DS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=crash+redmond&qid=1576602865&sr=8-1 One Book: Three Ways to consume....Physical (delivered to your front door, Digital (download to your kindle, ipad or e-reader), or Audio (read to you by me on your device...on the go)!I appreciate the support. Follow Rich: @richredmond www.richredmond.com Jim McCarthy is the quintessential Blue Collar Voice Guy. Honing his craft since 1996 with radio stations in Illinois, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, Las Vegas and Nashville, Jim has voiced well over 10,000 pieces since and garnered an ear for audio production which he now uses for various podcasts, commercials and promos. Jim is also an accomplished video producer, content creator, writer and overall entrepreneur. Follow Jim: @jimmccarthy www.jimmccarthyvoiceovers.com
Billy Burnette this guy can really Rock On listen i
Elvis Presley passed away 42 years ago on August 16, 1977 at 42 years old. On this Rockabilly N Blues Radio Hour, we talk with Elvis Tribute Artist, Cote Deonath about performing, obscure Elvis tracks, 70's Elvis, a special rockin' request and more! We'll hear "King Covers" by Wanda Jackson, Sleepy LaBeef, Brenda Lee, Chris Isaak, Jake Calypso, Conway Twitty and an Elvis themed tune from Billy Burnette. Plus, we'll play some radio and tv ads for various movies and tv specials. June Carter also talks about Elvis in a snippet from the 50's on the Louisiana Hayride and Sir Cliff Richard talks about finally getting to do a duet with Elvis in our Five Year Flashback! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Wanda Jackson- "Ain't That Loving You Baby" Brenda Lee- "Just Because" Chris Isaak- "Love Me" Conway Twitty- "Treat Me Nice" Billy Burnette- "Hot Time In Memphis (Elvis & The Blue Moon Boys)" June Carter talks about Elvis (from The Louisiana Hayride in the 50's) Elvis Presley- "A Mess Of Blues" Cote Deonath interview segment 1 *Wink Martindale ID Radio spot for Elvis Presley performing at Oakland Auditorium June 3, 1956 Interview segment 2 Elvis Christmas greeting Ad for G.I. Blues movie 1960 Interview segment 3 Elvis Presley- "She's A Machine" Interview segment 4 Elvis Presley- "Raised On Rock" Ad for Follow That Dream movie Interview segment 5 Snippet from TV break during Aloha From Hawaii Interview segment 6 Elvis Presley- "Doncha' Think It's Time" Five Year Flashback: Sir Cliff Richard on getting to duet with Elvis Cliff Richard (with Elvis Presley)- "Blue Suede Shoes" Jake Calypso & His Red Hot- "That's All Right" Sleepy LaBeef- "Mystery Train" Outro Music Bed: Scotty Moore- "Don't Be Cruel"
Episode forty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Train Kept A-Rollin'" by Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, and how a rockabilly trio from Memphis connect a novelty cowboy song by Ella Fitzgerald to Motorhead and Aerosmith. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Jump, Jive, an' Wail", by Louis Prima. ----more---- Resources For biographical information on the Burnettes, I've mostly used Billy Burnette's self-published autobiography, Craxy Like Me. It's a flawed source, but the only other book on Johnny Burnette I've been able to find is in Spanish, and while I go to great lengths to make this podcast accurate I do have limits, and learning Spanish for a single lesson is one of them. The details about the Burnettes' relationship with Elvis Presley come from Last Train To Memphis by Peter Guralnick. Before Elvis by Larry Birnbaum has a chapter on "Train Kept A-Rollin'", and its antecedents in earlier blues material, that goes into far more detail than I could here, but which was an invaluable reference. And this three-CD set contains almost everything Johnny Burnette released up to 1962. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript There are some records that have had such an effect on the history of rock music that the record itself becomes almost divorced from its context. Who made it, and how, doesn't seem to matter as much as that it did exist, and that it reverberated down the generations. Today, we're going to look at one of those records, and at how a novelty song about cowboys written for an Abbot and Costello film became a heavy metal anthem performed by every group that ever played a distorted riff. There's a tradition in rock and roll music of brothers who fight constantly making great music together, and we'll see plenty of them as we go through the next few decades -- the Everly Brothers, Ray and Dave Davies, the Beach Boys... rock and roll would be very different without sibling rivalry. But few pairs of brothers have fought as violently and as often as Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. The first time Roy Orbison met them, he was standing in a Memphis radio station, chatting with Elvis Presley, and waiting for a lift. When the lift doors opened, inside the lift were the Burnette brothers, in the middle of a fist-fight. When Dorsey was about eight years old and Johnny six, their mother bought them both guitars. By the end of the day, both guitars had been broken -- over each other's heads. And their fights were not just the minor fights one might expect from young men, but serious business. Both of them were trained boxers, and in Dorsey Burnette's case he was a professional who became Golden Gloves champion of the South in 1950, and had once fought Sonny Liston. A fight between the Burnette brothers was a real fight. They'd grown up around Lauderdale Court, the same apartment block where Elvis Presley spent his teenage years, and they used to hang around together and sing with a gang of teenage boys that included Bill Black's brother Johnny. Elvis would, as a teenager, hang around on the outskirts of their little group, singing along with them, but not really part of the group -- the Burnette brothers were as likely to bully him as they were to encourage him to be part of the gang, and while they became friendly later on, Elvis was always more of a friend-of-friends than he was an actual friend of theirs, even when he was a colleague of Dorsey's at Crown Electric. He was a little bit younger than them, and not the most sociable of people, and more importantly he didn't like their aggression – Elvis would jokingly refer to them as the Daltons, after the outlaw gang, Another colleague at Crown Electric was a man named Paul Burlison, who also boxed, and had been introduced to Dorsey by Lee Denson, who had taught both Dorsey and Elvis their first guitar chords. Burlison also played the guitar, and had played in many small bands over the late forties and early fifties. In particular, one of the bands he was in had had its own regular fifteen-minute show on a local radio station, and their show was on next to a show presented by the blues singer Howlin' Wolf. Burlison's guitar playing would later show many signs of being influenced by Wolf's electric blues, just as much as by the country and western music his early groups were playing. Some sources even say that Burlison played on some of Wolf's early recordings at the Sun studios, though most of the sessionographies I've seen for Wolf say otherwise. The three of them formed a group in 1952, the Rhythm Rangers, with Burlison on lead guitar, Dorsey Burnette on double bass, and Johnny Burnette on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. A year later, they changed their name to the Rock & Roll Trio. While they were called the Rock & Roll Trio, they were still basically a country band, and their early setlists included songs like Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On": [Excerpt: Hank Snow, "I'm Moving On"] That one got dropped from their setlist after an ill-fated trip to Nashville. They wanted to get on the Grand Ole Opry, and so they drove up, found Snow, who was going to be on that night's show, and asked him if he could get them on to the show. Snow explained to them that it had taken him twenty years in the business to work his way up to being on the Grand Ole Opry, and he couldn't just get three random people he'd never met before on to the show. Johnny Burnette replied with two words, the first of which would get this podcast bumped into the adult section in Apple Podcasts, and the second of which was "you", and then they turned round and drove back to Memphis. They never played a Hank Snow song live again. It wasn't long after that, in 1953, that they recorded their first single, "You're Undecided", for a tiny label called Von Records in Boonville, Mississippi; [Excerpt: The Rock and Roll Trio, "You're Undecided", Von Records version] Around this time they also wrote a song called "Rockabilly Boogie", which they didn't get to record until 1957: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, "Rockabilly Boogie"] That has been claimed as the first use of the word "rockabilly", and Billy Burnette, Dorsey's son, says they coined the word based on his name and that of Johnny's son Rocky. Now, it seems much more likely to me that the origin of the word is the obvious one -- that it's a portmanteau of the words "rock" and "hillbilly", to describe rocking hillbilly music -- but those were the names of their kids, so I suppose it's just about possible. Their 1953 single was not a success, and they spent the next few years playing in honky-tonks. They also regularly played the Saturday Night Jamboree at the Goodwyn Institute Auditorium, a regular country music show that was occasionally broadcast on the same station that Burlison's old bands had performed on, KWEM. Most of the musicians in Memphis who went on to make important early rockabilly records would play at the Jamboree, but more important than the show itself was the backstage area, where musicians would jam, show each other new riffs they'd come up with, and pass ideas back and forth. Those backstage jam sessions were the making of the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, as they were for many of the other rockabilly acts in the area. Their big break came in early 1956, when they appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and won three times in a row. The Ted Mack Amateur Hour was a TV series that was in many ways the X Factor or American Idol of the 1950s. The show launched the careers of Pat Boone, Ann-Margret, and Gladys Knight among others, and when the Rock and Roll Trio won for the third time (at the same time their old neighbour Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show on another channel) they got signed to Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca Records, one of the biggest major labels in the USA at the time. Their first attempt at recording didn't go particularly well. Their initial session for Coral was in New York, and when they got there they were surprised to find a thirty-two piece orchestra waiting for them, none of whom had any more clue about playing rock and roll music than the Rock And Roll Trio had about playing orchestral pieces. They did record one track with the orchestra, "Shattered Dreams", although that song didn't get released until many years later: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette, "Shattered Dreams"] But after recording that song they sent all the musicians home except the drummer, who played on the rest of the session. They'd simply not got the rock and roll sound they wanted when working with all those musicians. They didn't need them. They didn't have quite enough songs for the session, and needed another uptempo number, and so Dorsey went out into the hallway and quickly wrote a song called "Tear It Up", which became the A-side of their first Coral single, with the B-side being a new version of "You're Undecided": [Excerpt: The Rock and Roll Trio, "Tear It Up"] While Dorsey wrote that song, he decided to split the credit, as they always did, four ways between the three members of the band and their manager. This kind of credit-splitting is normal in a band-as-gang, and right then that's what they were -- a gang, all on the same side. That was soon going to change, and credit was going to be one of the main reasons. But that was all to come. For now, the Rock 'n' Roll Trio weren't happy at all about their recordings. They didn't want to make any more records in New York with a bunch of orchestral musicians who didn't know anything about their music. They wanted to make records in Nashville, and so they were booked into Owen Bradley's studio, the same one where Gene Vincent made his first records, and where Wanda Jackson recorded when she was in Nashville rather than LA. Bradley knew how to get a good rockabilly sound, and they were sure they were going to get the sound they'd been getting live when they recorded there. In fact, they got something altogether different, and better than that sound, and it happened entirely by accident. On their way down to Nashville from New York they played a few shows, and one of the first they played was in Philadelphia. At that show, Paul Burlison dropped his amplifier, loosening one of the vacuum tubes inside. The distorted sound it gave was like nothing he'd ever heard, and while he replaced the tube, he started loosening it every time he wanted to get that sound. So when they got to Nashville, they went into Owen Bradley's studio and, for possibly the first time ever, deliberately recorded a distorted guitar. I say possibly because, as so often happens with these things, a lot of people seem to have had the same idea around the same time, but the Rock 'n' Roll Trio's recordings do seem to be the first ones where the distortion was deliberately chosen. Obviously we've already looked at "Rocket 88", which did have a distorted guitar, and again that was caused by an accident, but the difference there was that the accident happened on the day of the recording with no time to fix it. This was Burlison choosing to use the result of the accident at a point where he could have easily had the amplifier in perfect working order, had he wanted to. At these sessions, the trio were augmented by a few studio musicians from the Nashville "A-Team", the musicians who made most of the country hits of the time. While Dorsey Burnette played bass live, he preferred playing guitar, so in the studio he was on an additional rhythm guitar while Bob Moore played the bass. Buddy Harmon was on drums, while session guitarist Grady Martin added another electric guitar to complement Burlison's. The presence of these musicians has led some to assume that they played everything on the records, and that the Rock 'n' Roll Trio only added their voices, but that seems to be very far from the case. Certainly Burlison's guitar style is absolutely distinctive, and the effect he puts on his guitar is absolutely unlike anything else that you hear from Grady Martin at this point. Martin did, later, introduce the fuzztone to country music, with his playing on records like Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry": [Excerpt: Marty Robbins, "Don't Worry"] But that was a good five years after the Rock 'n' Roll Trio sessions, and the most likely explanation is that Martin was inspired to add fuzz to his guitar by Paul Burlison, rather than deciding to add it on one session and then not using it again for several years. The single they recorded at that Nashville session was one that would echo down the decades, influencing everyone from the Beatles to Aerosmith to Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages. The A-side, "Honey Hush", was originally written and recorded by Big Joe Turner three years earlier: [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, "Honey Hush"] It's not one of Turner's best, to be honest -- leaning too heavily on the misogyny that characterised too much of his work -- but over the years it has been covered by everyone from Chuck Berry to Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello to Jerry Lee Lewis. The Rock 'n' Roll Trio's cover version is probably the best of these, and certainly the most exciting: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, "Honey Hush"] This is the version of the song that inspired most of those covers, but the song that really mattered to people was the B-side, a track called "Train Kept A-Rollin'". "Train Kept A-Rollin'", like many R&B songs, has a long history, and is made up of elements that one can trace back to the 1920s, or earlier in some cases. But the biggest inspiration for the track is a song called "Cow Cow Boogie", which was originally recorded by Ella Mae Morse in 1942, but which was written for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in an Abbot and Costello film, but cut from her appearance. Fitzgerald eventually recorded her own hit version of the song in 1943, backed by the Ink Spots, with the pianist Bill Doggett accompanying them: [Excerpt: Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots, "Cow Cow Boogie"] That was in turn adapted by the jump band singer Tiny Bradshaw, under the title "Train Kept A-Rollin'": [Excerpt: Tiny Bradshaw, "The Train Kept A-Rollin'"] And that in turn was the basis for the Rock 'n' Roll Trio's version of the song, which they radically rearranged to feature an octave-doubled guitar riff, apparently invented by Dorsey Burnette, but played simultaneously by Burlison and Martin, with Burlison's guitar fuzzed up and distorted. This version of the song would become a classic: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] The single wasn't a success, but its B-side got picked up by the generation of British guitar players that came after, and from then it became a standard of rock music. It was covered by Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages: [Excerpt: Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] The Yardbirds: [Excerpt: The Yardbirds, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets: [Excerpt: Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] Aerosmith: [Excerpt: Aerosmith, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] Motorhead: [Excerpt: Motorhead: "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] You get the idea. By adding a distorted guitar riff, the Rock 'n' Roll Trio had performed a kind of alchemy, which turned a simple novelty cowboy song into something that would make the repertoire of every band that ever wanted to play as loud as possible and to scream at the top of their voices the words "the train kept rolling all night long". Sadly, the Rock 'n' Roll Trio didn't last much longer. While they had always performed as the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, Coral Records decided to release their recordings as by "Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio", and the other two members were understandably furious. They were a band, not just Johnny Burnette's backing musicians. Dorsey was the first to quit -- he left the band a few days before they were due to appear in Rock! Rock! Rock!, a cheap exploitation film starring Alan Freed. They got Johnny Black in to replace him for the film shoot, and Dorsey rejoined shortly afterwards, but the cracks had already appeared. They recorded one further session, but the tracks from that weren't even released as by Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, just by Johnny Burnette, and that was the final straw. The group split up, and went their separate ways. Johnny remained signed to Coral Records as a solo artist, but when he and Dorsey both moved, separately, to LA, they ended up working together as songwriters. Dorsey was contracted as a solo artist to Imperial Records, who had a new teen idol star who needed material -- Ricky Nelson had had an unexpected hit after singing on his parents' TV show, and as a result he was suddenly being promoted as a rock and roll star. Dorsey and Johnny wrote a whole string of top ten hits for Nelson, songs like "Believe What You Say", "Waiting In School", "It's Late", and "Just A Little Too Much": [Excerpt: Ricky Nelson, "Just a Little Too Much"] They also started recording for Imperial as a duo, under the name "the Burnette Brothers": [Excerpt: The Burnette Brothers, "Warm Love"] But that was soon stopped by Coral, who wanted to continue marketing Johnny as a solo artist, and they both started pursuing separate solo careers. Dorsey eventually had a minor hit of his own, "There Was a Tall Oak Tree", which made the top thirty in 1960. He made a few more solo records in the early sixties, and after becoming a born-again Christian in the early seventies he started a new, successful, career as a country singer, eventually receiving a "most promising newcomer" award from the Academy of Country Music in 1973, twenty years after his career started. He died in 1979 of a heart attack. Johnny Burnette eventually signed to Liberty Records, and had a string of hits that, like Dorsey's, were in a very different style from the Rock 'n' Roll Trio records. His biggest hit, and the one that most people associate with him to this day, was "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, And You're Mine": [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette, "You're Sixteen"] That song is, of course, a perennial hit that most people still know almost sixty years later, but none of Johnny's solo records had anything like the power and passion of the Rock 'n' Roll Trio recordings. And sadly we'll never know if he would regain that passion, as in 1964 he died in a boating accident. Paul Burlison, the last member of the trio, gave up music once the trio split up, and became an electrician again. He briefly joined Johnny on one tour in 1963, but otherwise stayed out of the music business until the 1980s. He then got back into performing, and started a new lineup of the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, featuring Johnny Black, who had briefly replaced Dorsey in the group, and Tony Austin, the drummer who had joined with them on many tour dates after they got a recording contract. He later joined "the Sun Rhythm Section", a band made up of many of the musicians who had played on classic rockabilly records, including Stan Kessler, Jimmy Van Eaton, Sonny Burgess, and DJ Fontana. Burlison released his only solo album in 1997. That album was called Train Kept A-Rollin', and featured a remake of that classic song, with Rocky and Billy Burnette -- Johnny and Dorsey's sons -- on vocals: [Excerpt: Paul Burlison, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"] He kept playing rockabilly until he died in 2003, aged seventy-four.
Episode forty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Train Kept A-Rollin'” by Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, and how a rockabilly trio from Memphis connect a novelty cowboy song by Ella Fitzgerald to Motorhead and Aerosmith. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail”, by Louis Prima. —-more—- Resources For biographical information on the Burnettes, I’ve mostly used Billy Burnette’s self-published autobiography, Craxy Like Me. It’s a flawed source, but the only other book on Johnny Burnette I’ve been able to find is in Spanish, and while I go to great lengths to make this podcast accurate I do have limits, and learning Spanish for a single lesson is one of them. The details about the Burnettes’ relationship with Elvis Presley come from Last Train To Memphis by Peter Guralnick. Before Elvis by Larry Birnbaum has a chapter on “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, and its antecedents in earlier blues material, that goes into far more detail than I could here, but which was an invaluable reference. And this three-CD set contains almost everything Johnny Burnette released up to 1962. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript There are some records that have had such an effect on the history of rock music that the record itself becomes almost divorced from its context. Who made it, and how, doesn’t seem to matter as much as that it did exist, and that it reverberated down the generations. Today, we’re going to look at one of those records, and at how a novelty song about cowboys written for an Abbot and Costello film became a heavy metal anthem performed by every group that ever played a distorted riff. There’s a tradition in rock and roll music of brothers who fight constantly making great music together, and we’ll see plenty of them as we go through the next few decades — the Everly Brothers, Ray and Dave Davies, the Beach Boys… rock and roll would be very different without sibling rivalry. But few pairs of brothers have fought as violently and as often as Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. The first time Roy Orbison met them, he was standing in a Memphis radio station, chatting with Elvis Presley, and waiting for a lift. When the lift doors opened, inside the lift were the Burnette brothers, in the middle of a fist-fight. When Dorsey was about eight years old and Johnny six, their mother bought them both guitars. By the end of the day, both guitars had been broken — over each other’s heads. And their fights were not just the minor fights one might expect from young men, but serious business. Both of them were trained boxers, and in Dorsey Burnette’s case he was a professional who became Golden Gloves champion of the South in 1950, and had once fought Sonny Liston. A fight between the Burnette brothers was a real fight. They’d grown up around Lauderdale Court, the same apartment block where Elvis Presley spent his teenage years, and they used to hang around together and sing with a gang of teenage boys that included Bill Black’s brother Johnny. Elvis would, as a teenager, hang around on the outskirts of their little group, singing along with them, but not really part of the group — the Burnette brothers were as likely to bully him as they were to encourage him to be part of the gang, and while they became friendly later on, Elvis was always more of a friend-of-friends than he was an actual friend of theirs, even when he was a colleague of Dorsey’s at Crown Electric. He was a little bit younger than them, and not the most sociable of people, and more importantly he didn’t like their aggression – Elvis would jokingly refer to them as the Daltons, after the outlaw gang, Another colleague at Crown Electric was a man named Paul Burlison, who also boxed, and had been introduced to Dorsey by Lee Denson, who had taught both Dorsey and Elvis their first guitar chords. Burlison also played the guitar, and had played in many small bands over the late forties and early fifties. In particular, one of the bands he was in had had its own regular fifteen-minute show on a local radio station, and their show was on next to a show presented by the blues singer Howlin’ Wolf. Burlison’s guitar playing would later show many signs of being influenced by Wolf’s electric blues, just as much as by the country and western music his early groups were playing. Some sources even say that Burlison played on some of Wolf’s early recordings at the Sun studios, though most of the sessionographies I’ve seen for Wolf say otherwise. The three of them formed a group in 1952, the Rhythm Rangers, with Burlison on lead guitar, Dorsey Burnette on double bass, and Johnny Burnette on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. A year later, they changed their name to the Rock & Roll Trio. While they were called the Rock & Roll Trio, they were still basically a country band, and their early setlists included songs like Hank Snow’s “I’m Moving On”: [Excerpt: Hank Snow, “I’m Moving On”] That one got dropped from their setlist after an ill-fated trip to Nashville. They wanted to get on the Grand Ole Opry, and so they drove up, found Snow, who was going to be on that night’s show, and asked him if he could get them on to the show. Snow explained to them that it had taken him twenty years in the business to work his way up to being on the Grand Ole Opry, and he couldn’t just get three random people he’d never met before on to the show. Johnny Burnette replied with two words, the first of which would get this podcast bumped into the adult section in Apple Podcasts, and the second of which was “you”, and then they turned round and drove back to Memphis. They never played a Hank Snow song live again. It wasn’t long after that, in 1953, that they recorded their first single, “You’re Undecided”, for a tiny label called Von Records in Boonville, Mississippi; [Excerpt: The Rock and Roll Trio, “You’re Undecided”, Von Records version] Around this time they also wrote a song called “Rockabilly Boogie”, which they didn’t get to record until 1957: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, “Rockabilly Boogie”] That has been claimed as the first use of the word “rockabilly”, and Billy Burnette, Dorsey’s son, says they coined the word based on his name and that of Johnny’s son Rocky. Now, it seems much more likely to me that the origin of the word is the obvious one — that it’s a portmanteau of the words “rock” and “hillbilly”, to describe rocking hillbilly music — but those were the names of their kids, so I suppose it’s just about possible. Their 1953 single was not a success, and they spent the next few years playing in honky-tonks. They also regularly played the Saturday Night Jamboree at the Goodwyn Institute Auditorium, a regular country music show that was occasionally broadcast on the same station that Burlison’s old bands had performed on, KWEM. Most of the musicians in Memphis who went on to make important early rockabilly records would play at the Jamboree, but more important than the show itself was the backstage area, where musicians would jam, show each other new riffs they’d come up with, and pass ideas back and forth. Those backstage jam sessions were the making of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, as they were for many of the other rockabilly acts in the area. Their big break came in early 1956, when they appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and won three times in a row. The Ted Mack Amateur Hour was a TV series that was in many ways the X Factor or American Idol of the 1950s. The show launched the careers of Pat Boone, Ann-Margret, and Gladys Knight among others, and when the Rock and Roll Trio won for the third time (at the same time their old neighbour Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show on another channel) they got signed to Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca Records, one of the biggest major labels in the USA at the time. Their first attempt at recording didn’t go particularly well. Their initial session for Coral was in New York, and when they got there they were surprised to find a thirty-two piece orchestra waiting for them, none of whom had any more clue about playing rock and roll music than the Rock And Roll Trio had about playing orchestral pieces. They did record one track with the orchestra, “Shattered Dreams”, although that song didn’t get released until many years later: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette, “Shattered Dreams”] But after recording that song they sent all the musicians home except the drummer, who played on the rest of the session. They’d simply not got the rock and roll sound they wanted when working with all those musicians. They didn’t need them. They didn’t have quite enough songs for the session, and needed another uptempo number, and so Dorsey went out into the hallway and quickly wrote a song called “Tear It Up”, which became the A-side of their first Coral single, with the B-side being a new version of “You’re Undecided”: [Excerpt: The Rock and Roll Trio, “Tear It Up”] While Dorsey wrote that song, he decided to split the credit, as they always did, four ways between the three members of the band and their manager. This kind of credit-splitting is normal in a band-as-gang, and right then that’s what they were — a gang, all on the same side. That was soon going to change, and credit was going to be one of the main reasons. But that was all to come. For now, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio weren’t happy at all about their recordings. They didn’t want to make any more records in New York with a bunch of orchestral musicians who didn’t know anything about their music. They wanted to make records in Nashville, and so they were booked into Owen Bradley’s studio, the same one where Gene Vincent made his first records, and where Wanda Jackson recorded when she was in Nashville rather than LA. Bradley knew how to get a good rockabilly sound, and they were sure they were going to get the sound they’d been getting live when they recorded there. In fact, they got something altogether different, and better than that sound, and it happened entirely by accident. On their way down to Nashville from New York they played a few shows, and one of the first they played was in Philadelphia. At that show, Paul Burlison dropped his amplifier, loosening one of the vacuum tubes inside. The distorted sound it gave was like nothing he’d ever heard, and while he replaced the tube, he started loosening it every time he wanted to get that sound. So when they got to Nashville, they went into Owen Bradley’s studio and, for possibly the first time ever, deliberately recorded a distorted guitar. I say possibly because, as so often happens with these things, a lot of people seem to have had the same idea around the same time, but the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s recordings do seem to be the first ones where the distortion was deliberately chosen. Obviously we’ve already looked at “Rocket 88”, which did have a distorted guitar, and again that was caused by an accident, but the difference there was that the accident happened on the day of the recording with no time to fix it. This was Burlison choosing to use the result of the accident at a point where he could have easily had the amplifier in perfect working order, had he wanted to. At these sessions, the trio were augmented by a few studio musicians from the Nashville “A-Team”, the musicians who made most of the country hits of the time. While Dorsey Burnette played bass live, he preferred playing guitar, so in the studio he was on an additional rhythm guitar while Bob Moore played the bass. Buddy Harmon was on drums, while session guitarist Grady Martin added another electric guitar to complement Burlison’s. The presence of these musicians has led some to assume that they played everything on the records, and that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio only added their voices, but that seems to be very far from the case. Certainly Burlison’s guitar style is absolutely distinctive, and the effect he puts on his guitar is absolutely unlike anything else that you hear from Grady Martin at this point. Martin did, later, introduce the fuzztone to country music, with his playing on records like Marty Robbins’ “Don’t Worry”: [Excerpt: Marty Robbins, “Don’t Worry”] But that was a good five years after the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio sessions, and the most likely explanation is that Martin was inspired to add fuzz to his guitar by Paul Burlison, rather than deciding to add it on one session and then not using it again for several years. The single they recorded at that Nashville session was one that would echo down the decades, influencing everyone from the Beatles to Aerosmith to Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages. The A-side, “Honey Hush”, was originally written and recorded by Big Joe Turner three years earlier: [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, “Honey Hush”] It’s not one of Turner’s best, to be honest — leaning too heavily on the misogyny that characterised too much of his work — but over the years it has been covered by everyone from Chuck Berry to Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello to Jerry Lee Lewis. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s cover version is probably the best of these, and certainly the most exciting: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, “Honey Hush”] This is the version of the song that inspired most of those covers, but the song that really mattered to people was the B-side, a track called “Train Kept A-Rollin'”. “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, like many R&B songs, has a long history, and is made up of elements that one can trace back to the 1920s, or earlier in some cases. But the biggest inspiration for the track is a song called “Cow Cow Boogie”, which was originally recorded by Ella Mae Morse in 1942, but which was written for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in an Abbot and Costello film, but cut from her appearance. Fitzgerald eventually recorded her own hit version of the song in 1943, backed by the Ink Spots, with the pianist Bill Doggett accompanying them: [Excerpt: Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots, “Cow Cow Boogie”] That was in turn adapted by the jump band singer Tiny Bradshaw, under the title “Train Kept A-Rollin'”: [Excerpt: Tiny Bradshaw, “The Train Kept A-Rollin'”] And that in turn was the basis for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s version of the song, which they radically rearranged to feature an octave-doubled guitar riff, apparently invented by Dorsey Burnette, but played simultaneously by Burlison and Martin, with Burlison’s guitar fuzzed up and distorted. This version of the song would become a classic: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] The single wasn’t a success, but its B-side got picked up by the generation of British guitar players that came after, and from then it became a standard of rock music. It was covered by Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages: [Excerpt: Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] The Yardbirds: [Excerpt: The Yardbirds, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets: [Excerpt: Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] Aerosmith: [Excerpt: Aerosmith, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] Motorhead: [Excerpt: Motorhead: “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] You get the idea. By adding a distorted guitar riff, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio had performed a kind of alchemy, which turned a simple novelty cowboy song into something that would make the repertoire of every band that ever wanted to play as loud as possible and to scream at the top of their voices the words “the train kept rolling all night long”. Sadly, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio didn’t last much longer. While they had always performed as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, Coral Records decided to release their recordings as by “Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio”, and the other two members were understandably furious. They were a band, not just Johnny Burnette’s backing musicians. Dorsey was the first to quit — he left the band a few days before they were due to appear in Rock! Rock! Rock!, a cheap exploitation film starring Alan Freed. They got Johnny Black in to replace him for the film shoot, and Dorsey rejoined shortly afterwards, but the cracks had already appeared. They recorded one further session, but the tracks from that weren’t even released as by Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, just by Johnny Burnette, and that was the final straw. The group split up, and went their separate ways. Johnny remained signed to Coral Records as a solo artist, but when he and Dorsey both moved, separately, to LA, they ended up working together as songwriters. Dorsey was contracted as a solo artist to Imperial Records, who had a new teen idol star who needed material — Ricky Nelson had had an unexpected hit after singing on his parents’ TV show, and as a result he was suddenly being promoted as a rock and roll star. Dorsey and Johnny wrote a whole string of top ten hits for Nelson, songs like “Believe What You Say”, “Waiting In School”, “It’s Late”, and “Just A Little Too Much”: [Excerpt: Ricky Nelson, “Just a Little Too Much”] They also started recording for Imperial as a duo, under the name “the Burnette Brothers”: [Excerpt: The Burnette Brothers, “Warm Love”] But that was soon stopped by Coral, who wanted to continue marketing Johnny as a solo artist, and they both started pursuing separate solo careers. Dorsey eventually had a minor hit of his own, “There Was a Tall Oak Tree”, which made the top thirty in 1960. He made a few more solo records in the early sixties, and after becoming a born-again Christian in the early seventies he started a new, successful, career as a country singer, eventually receiving a “most promising newcomer” award from the Academy of Country Music in 1973, twenty years after his career started. He died in 1979 of a heart attack. Johnny Burnette eventually signed to Liberty Records, and had a string of hits that, like Dorsey’s, were in a very different style from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio records. His biggest hit, and the one that most people associate with him to this day, was “You’re Sixteen, You’re Beautiful, And You’re Mine”: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette, “You’re Sixteen”] That song is, of course, a perennial hit that most people still know almost sixty years later, but none of Johnny’s solo records had anything like the power and passion of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio recordings. And sadly we’ll never know if he would regain that passion, as in 1964 he died in a boating accident. Paul Burlison, the last member of the trio, gave up music once the trio split up, and became an electrician again. He briefly joined Johnny on one tour in 1963, but otherwise stayed out of the music business until the 1980s. He then got back into performing, and started a new lineup of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, featuring Johnny Black, who had briefly replaced Dorsey in the group, and Tony Austin, the drummer who had joined with them on many tour dates after they got a recording contract. He later joined “the Sun Rhythm Section”, a band made up of many of the musicians who had played on classic rockabilly records, including Stan Kessler, Jimmy Van Eaton, Sonny Burgess, and DJ Fontana. Burlison released his only solo album in 1997. That album was called Train Kept A-Rollin’, and featured a remake of that classic song, with Rocky and Billy Burnette — Johnny and Dorsey’s sons — on vocals: [Excerpt: Paul Burlison, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] He kept playing rockabilly until he died in 2003, aged seventy-four.
Episode forty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Train Kept A-Rollin'” by Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, and how a rockabilly trio from Memphis connect a novelty cowboy song by Ella Fitzgerald to Motorhead and Aerosmith. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail”, by Louis Prima. —-more—- Resources For biographical information on the Burnettes, I’ve mostly used Billy Burnette’s self-published autobiography, Craxy Like Me. It’s a flawed source, but the only other book on Johnny Burnette I’ve been able to find is in Spanish, and while I go to great lengths to make this podcast accurate I do have limits, and learning Spanish for a single lesson is one of them. The details about the Burnettes’ relationship with Elvis Presley come from Last Train To Memphis by Peter Guralnick. Before Elvis by Larry Birnbaum has a chapter on “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, and its antecedents in earlier blues material, that goes into far more detail than I could here, but which was an invaluable reference. And this three-CD set contains almost everything Johnny Burnette released up to 1962. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript There are some records that have had such an effect on the history of rock music that the record itself becomes almost divorced from its context. Who made it, and how, doesn’t seem to matter as much as that it did exist, and that it reverberated down the generations. Today, we’re going to look at one of those records, and at how a novelty song about cowboys written for an Abbot and Costello film became a heavy metal anthem performed by every group that ever played a distorted riff. There’s a tradition in rock and roll music of brothers who fight constantly making great music together, and we’ll see plenty of them as we go through the next few decades — the Everly Brothers, Ray and Dave Davies, the Beach Boys… rock and roll would be very different without sibling rivalry. But few pairs of brothers have fought as violently and as often as Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. The first time Roy Orbison met them, he was standing in a Memphis radio station, chatting with Elvis Presley, and waiting for a lift. When the lift doors opened, inside the lift were the Burnette brothers, in the middle of a fist-fight. When Dorsey was about eight years old and Johnny six, their mother bought them both guitars. By the end of the day, both guitars had been broken — over each other’s heads. And their fights were not just the minor fights one might expect from young men, but serious business. Both of them were trained boxers, and in Dorsey Burnette’s case he was a professional who became Golden Gloves champion of the South in 1950, and had once fought Sonny Liston. A fight between the Burnette brothers was a real fight. They’d grown up around Lauderdale Court, the same apartment block where Elvis Presley spent his teenage years, and they used to hang around together and sing with a gang of teenage boys that included Bill Black’s brother Johnny. Elvis would, as a teenager, hang around on the outskirts of their little group, singing along with them, but not really part of the group — the Burnette brothers were as likely to bully him as they were to encourage him to be part of the gang, and while they became friendly later on, Elvis was always more of a friend-of-friends than he was an actual friend of theirs, even when he was a colleague of Dorsey’s at Crown Electric. He was a little bit younger than them, and not the most sociable of people, and more importantly he didn’t like their aggression – Elvis would jokingly refer to them as the Daltons, after the outlaw gang, Another colleague at Crown Electric was a man named Paul Burlison, who also boxed, and had been introduced to Dorsey by Lee Denson, who had taught both Dorsey and Elvis their first guitar chords. Burlison also played the guitar, and had played in many small bands over the late forties and early fifties. In particular, one of the bands he was in had had its own regular fifteen-minute show on a local radio station, and their show was on next to a show presented by the blues singer Howlin’ Wolf. Burlison’s guitar playing would later show many signs of being influenced by Wolf’s electric blues, just as much as by the country and western music his early groups were playing. Some sources even say that Burlison played on some of Wolf’s early recordings at the Sun studios, though most of the sessionographies I’ve seen for Wolf say otherwise. The three of them formed a group in 1952, the Rhythm Rangers, with Burlison on lead guitar, Dorsey Burnette on double bass, and Johnny Burnette on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. A year later, they changed their name to the Rock & Roll Trio. While they were called the Rock & Roll Trio, they were still basically a country band, and their early setlists included songs like Hank Snow’s “I’m Moving On”: [Excerpt: Hank Snow, “I’m Moving On”] That one got dropped from their setlist after an ill-fated trip to Nashville. They wanted to get on the Grand Ole Opry, and so they drove up, found Snow, who was going to be on that night’s show, and asked him if he could get them on to the show. Snow explained to them that it had taken him twenty years in the business to work his way up to being on the Grand Ole Opry, and he couldn’t just get three random people he’d never met before on to the show. Johnny Burnette replied with two words, the first of which would get this podcast bumped into the adult section in Apple Podcasts, and the second of which was “you”, and then they turned round and drove back to Memphis. They never played a Hank Snow song live again. It wasn’t long after that, in 1953, that they recorded their first single, “You’re Undecided”, for a tiny label called Von Records in Boonville, Mississippi; [Excerpt: The Rock and Roll Trio, “You’re Undecided”, Von Records version] Around this time they also wrote a song called “Rockabilly Boogie”, which they didn’t get to record until 1957: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, “Rockabilly Boogie”] That has been claimed as the first use of the word “rockabilly”, and Billy Burnette, Dorsey’s son, says they coined the word based on his name and that of Johnny’s son Rocky. Now, it seems much more likely to me that the origin of the word is the obvious one — that it’s a portmanteau of the words “rock” and “hillbilly”, to describe rocking hillbilly music — but those were the names of their kids, so I suppose it’s just about possible. Their 1953 single was not a success, and they spent the next few years playing in honky-tonks. They also regularly played the Saturday Night Jamboree at the Goodwyn Institute Auditorium, a regular country music show that was occasionally broadcast on the same station that Burlison’s old bands had performed on, KWEM. Most of the musicians in Memphis who went on to make important early rockabilly records would play at the Jamboree, but more important than the show itself was the backstage area, where musicians would jam, show each other new riffs they’d come up with, and pass ideas back and forth. Those backstage jam sessions were the making of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, as they were for many of the other rockabilly acts in the area. Their big break came in early 1956, when they appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and won three times in a row. The Ted Mack Amateur Hour was a TV series that was in many ways the X Factor or American Idol of the 1950s. The show launched the careers of Pat Boone, Ann-Margret, and Gladys Knight among others, and when the Rock and Roll Trio won for the third time (at the same time their old neighbour Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show on another channel) they got signed to Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca Records, one of the biggest major labels in the USA at the time. Their first attempt at recording didn’t go particularly well. Their initial session for Coral was in New York, and when they got there they were surprised to find a thirty-two piece orchestra waiting for them, none of whom had any more clue about playing rock and roll music than the Rock And Roll Trio had about playing orchestral pieces. They did record one track with the orchestra, “Shattered Dreams”, although that song didn’t get released until many years later: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette, “Shattered Dreams”] But after recording that song they sent all the musicians home except the drummer, who played on the rest of the session. They’d simply not got the rock and roll sound they wanted when working with all those musicians. They didn’t need them. They didn’t have quite enough songs for the session, and needed another uptempo number, and so Dorsey went out into the hallway and quickly wrote a song called “Tear It Up”, which became the A-side of their first Coral single, with the B-side being a new version of “You’re Undecided”: [Excerpt: The Rock and Roll Trio, “Tear It Up”] While Dorsey wrote that song, he decided to split the credit, as they always did, four ways between the three members of the band and their manager. This kind of credit-splitting is normal in a band-as-gang, and right then that’s what they were — a gang, all on the same side. That was soon going to change, and credit was going to be one of the main reasons. But that was all to come. For now, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio weren’t happy at all about their recordings. They didn’t want to make any more records in New York with a bunch of orchestral musicians who didn’t know anything about their music. They wanted to make records in Nashville, and so they were booked into Owen Bradley’s studio, the same one where Gene Vincent made his first records, and where Wanda Jackson recorded when she was in Nashville rather than LA. Bradley knew how to get a good rockabilly sound, and they were sure they were going to get the sound they’d been getting live when they recorded there. In fact, they got something altogether different, and better than that sound, and it happened entirely by accident. On their way down to Nashville from New York they played a few shows, and one of the first they played was in Philadelphia. At that show, Paul Burlison dropped his amplifier, loosening one of the vacuum tubes inside. The distorted sound it gave was like nothing he’d ever heard, and while he replaced the tube, he started loosening it every time he wanted to get that sound. So when they got to Nashville, they went into Owen Bradley’s studio and, for possibly the first time ever, deliberately recorded a distorted guitar. I say possibly because, as so often happens with these things, a lot of people seem to have had the same idea around the same time, but the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s recordings do seem to be the first ones where the distortion was deliberately chosen. Obviously we’ve already looked at “Rocket 88”, which did have a distorted guitar, and again that was caused by an accident, but the difference there was that the accident happened on the day of the recording with no time to fix it. This was Burlison choosing to use the result of the accident at a point where he could have easily had the amplifier in perfect working order, had he wanted to. At these sessions, the trio were augmented by a few studio musicians from the Nashville “A-Team”, the musicians who made most of the country hits of the time. While Dorsey Burnette played bass live, he preferred playing guitar, so in the studio he was on an additional rhythm guitar while Bob Moore played the bass. Buddy Harmon was on drums, while session guitarist Grady Martin added another electric guitar to complement Burlison’s. The presence of these musicians has led some to assume that they played everything on the records, and that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio only added their voices, but that seems to be very far from the case. Certainly Burlison’s guitar style is absolutely distinctive, and the effect he puts on his guitar is absolutely unlike anything else that you hear from Grady Martin at this point. Martin did, later, introduce the fuzztone to country music, with his playing on records like Marty Robbins’ “Don’t Worry”: [Excerpt: Marty Robbins, “Don’t Worry”] But that was a good five years after the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio sessions, and the most likely explanation is that Martin was inspired to add fuzz to his guitar by Paul Burlison, rather than deciding to add it on one session and then not using it again for several years. The single they recorded at that Nashville session was one that would echo down the decades, influencing everyone from the Beatles to Aerosmith to Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages. The A-side, “Honey Hush”, was originally written and recorded by Big Joe Turner three years earlier: [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, “Honey Hush”] It’s not one of Turner’s best, to be honest — leaning too heavily on the misogyny that characterised too much of his work — but over the years it has been covered by everyone from Chuck Berry to Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello to Jerry Lee Lewis. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s cover version is probably the best of these, and certainly the most exciting: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, “Honey Hush”] This is the version of the song that inspired most of those covers, but the song that really mattered to people was the B-side, a track called “Train Kept A-Rollin'”. “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, like many R&B songs, has a long history, and is made up of elements that one can trace back to the 1920s, or earlier in some cases. But the biggest inspiration for the track is a song called “Cow Cow Boogie”, which was originally recorded by Ella Mae Morse in 1942, but which was written for Ella Fitzgerald to sing in an Abbot and Costello film, but cut from her appearance. Fitzgerald eventually recorded her own hit version of the song in 1943, backed by the Ink Spots, with the pianist Bill Doggett accompanying them: [Excerpt: Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots, “Cow Cow Boogie”] That was in turn adapted by the jump band singer Tiny Bradshaw, under the title “Train Kept A-Rollin'”: [Excerpt: Tiny Bradshaw, “The Train Kept A-Rollin'”] And that in turn was the basis for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio’s version of the song, which they radically rearranged to feature an octave-doubled guitar riff, apparently invented by Dorsey Burnette, but played simultaneously by Burlison and Martin, with Burlison’s guitar fuzzed up and distorted. This version of the song would become a classic: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] The single wasn’t a success, but its B-side got picked up by the generation of British guitar players that came after, and from then it became a standard of rock music. It was covered by Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages: [Excerpt: Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] The Yardbirds: [Excerpt: The Yardbirds, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets: [Excerpt: Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] Aerosmith: [Excerpt: Aerosmith, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] Motorhead: [Excerpt: Motorhead: “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] You get the idea. By adding a distorted guitar riff, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio had performed a kind of alchemy, which turned a simple novelty cowboy song into something that would make the repertoire of every band that ever wanted to play as loud as possible and to scream at the top of their voices the words “the train kept rolling all night long”. Sadly, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio didn’t last much longer. While they had always performed as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, Coral Records decided to release their recordings as by “Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio”, and the other two members were understandably furious. They were a band, not just Johnny Burnette’s backing musicians. Dorsey was the first to quit — he left the band a few days before they were due to appear in Rock! Rock! Rock!, a cheap exploitation film starring Alan Freed. They got Johnny Black in to replace him for the film shoot, and Dorsey rejoined shortly afterwards, but the cracks had already appeared. They recorded one further session, but the tracks from that weren’t even released as by Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, just by Johnny Burnette, and that was the final straw. The group split up, and went their separate ways. Johnny remained signed to Coral Records as a solo artist, but when he and Dorsey both moved, separately, to LA, they ended up working together as songwriters. Dorsey was contracted as a solo artist to Imperial Records, who had a new teen idol star who needed material — Ricky Nelson had had an unexpected hit after singing on his parents’ TV show, and as a result he was suddenly being promoted as a rock and roll star. Dorsey and Johnny wrote a whole string of top ten hits for Nelson, songs like “Believe What You Say”, “Waiting In School”, “It’s Late”, and “Just A Little Too Much”: [Excerpt: Ricky Nelson, “Just a Little Too Much”] They also started recording for Imperial as a duo, under the name “the Burnette Brothers”: [Excerpt: The Burnette Brothers, “Warm Love”] But that was soon stopped by Coral, who wanted to continue marketing Johnny as a solo artist, and they both started pursuing separate solo careers. Dorsey eventually had a minor hit of his own, “There Was a Tall Oak Tree”, which made the top thirty in 1960. He made a few more solo records in the early sixties, and after becoming a born-again Christian in the early seventies he started a new, successful, career as a country singer, eventually receiving a “most promising newcomer” award from the Academy of Country Music in 1973, twenty years after his career started. He died in 1979 of a heart attack. Johnny Burnette eventually signed to Liberty Records, and had a string of hits that, like Dorsey’s, were in a very different style from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio records. His biggest hit, and the one that most people associate with him to this day, was “You’re Sixteen, You’re Beautiful, And You’re Mine”: [Excerpt: Johnny Burnette, “You’re Sixteen”] That song is, of course, a perennial hit that most people still know almost sixty years later, but none of Johnny’s solo records had anything like the power and passion of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio recordings. And sadly we’ll never know if he would regain that passion, as in 1964 he died in a boating accident. Paul Burlison, the last member of the trio, gave up music once the trio split up, and became an electrician again. He briefly joined Johnny on one tour in 1963, but otherwise stayed out of the music business until the 1980s. He then got back into performing, and started a new lineup of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, featuring Johnny Black, who had briefly replaced Dorsey in the group, and Tony Austin, the drummer who had joined with them on many tour dates after they got a recording contract. He later joined “the Sun Rhythm Section”, a band made up of many of the musicians who had played on classic rockabilly records, including Stan Kessler, Jimmy Van Eaton, Sonny Burgess, and DJ Fontana. Burlison released his only solo album in 1997. That album was called Train Kept A-Rollin’, and featured a remake of that classic song, with Rocky and Billy Burnette — Johnny and Dorsey’s sons — on vocals: [Excerpt: Paul Burlison, “Train Kept A-Rollin'”] He kept playing rockabilly until he died in 2003, aged seventy-four.
Dr. Snuggles and friends return for episode 57 of your guide to the truly astonishing world of softcore films, and the world’s number one podcast on that subject! Drew has declared it Dan Golden and Maria Ford month, and who are we to argue with Drew now that he’s been promoted? The next two episodes are films directed by Dan Golden, starring his regular collaborator Maria Ford (and also both star his other regular collaborator, Rick Dean, as it happens). The first is Golden’s 1994 country music and murder softcore romance Saturday Night Special, and Get Soft’s regular collaborator, Jaymz from the NBA Straya podcast, comes along for the ride! Ford and Dean are joined in the movie by country/rockabilly superstar Billy Burnette in his first acting role, and also briefly joined by ol’ crazy eyes, Mick Fleetwood. So that’s unexpected. And, even though it’s Dan Golden and Maria Ford month, we’re actually turning the Softcore Spotlight on some of the male leads for this episode and the next one. There’s plenty of time to get to Golden and Ford later, but when else will we get to talk about Billy Burnette? Never, that’s when! So we talk about his life and career in both music and film. He was in Fleetwood Mac in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, you know. Also, he started his singing career when he was just seven years old! We sample a bunch of hits from throughout his career (and maybe one or two misses, to be honest - sorry Billy). Hey, why not call us on our hotline? (724) 246-4669! Check out the other Compañeros Radio Network shows: Movie Melt Songs on Trial
So much great music on the show this hour! Rockabilly N Blues Radio Hour spins NEW tracks from Darrel Higham & The Enforcers, John Lindberg Trio, Stray Cats, The Hawkmen, Eddie Clendening, Sister Suzie, Rob Ryan Roadshow, Carl Bradychok and more! We also get a new track from Greg Townson and a classic from Dick Dale in our instru-Mental Breakdown, a Five Year Flashback with Billy Burnette and a Heavy Hitter Triple Threat segment honoring Merle Haggard with covers by Jerry Lee Lewis and The Everly Brothers! Plus, we pay tribute to Huelyn Duvall who passed away on May 15th. Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Elvis Presley- "I'm Coming Home" The Howlin' Coyotes- "The Game" In Memory: Huelyn Duvall- "Pucker Paint" The Hawkmen- "There's One Thing" The Dynamics- "Misery" Stray Cats- "Cry Danger" Eddie Clendening- "I've Been Had" Carl Bradychok- "Pointed Toe Shoes" instru-Mental Breakdown: Greg Townson- "Venus" Dick Dale- "Ghostriders In The Sky" Darrel Higham & The Enforcers- "The Brain Freeze" John Lindberg Trio- "One More Saturday Night" Heavy Hitter Triple Threat: Merle Haggard- "If You Want To Be My Woman" Jerry Lee Lewis- "Workin' Man Blues" The Everly Brothers- "Mama Tried" Five Year Flashback: Billy Burnette on his dad & uncle's "Tear It Up" Billy Burnette- "Tear It Up" Sister Suzie- "Sloppy Drunk" Rob Ryan Roadshow- "Whiskey In A Jar" Outro Music Bed: The Ventures- "I Walk The Line"
Opening Monologues. The Worst Week for Democrats. The Left takes bold stands against the American Flag, Betsy Ross and Independence Day in general. How to explain extreme Democrat discomfort with displays of American Patriotism? Beta Biden apologizes. Minimal enthusiasm for the USA Women's Soccer World Cup victory. Spoiled by Megan Rapinoe. More great numbers for President Trump's MAGA Economy. Blue Collar Revival. Vignettes on host backcountry skiing Loveland Pass over the July 4th holiday. Great snow in Colorado, if you climb high enough. A bear drives a car downhill in Boulder. Ring of Fire. Bossa Nova Baby. Uncle John's Band. With Listener Calls & Music via Billy Burnette, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and the Grateful Dead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
New tunes, classics, instru-Mental Breakdown, Time Machine and a Five Year Flashback in one hour! We've got NEW tunes from Dale Watson, Wildcat Rose, Kim Lenz, Sirocco Bros., Little Miss Blue Bass, classics from Stray Cats, Little Jimmy Dickens, High Noon, Billy Burnette, Annisteen Allen, Elvis Presley, a request for Crankshaft & The Gear Grinders, our instru-Mental Breakdown has a new tune from The Greasy Gills on Hi-Style Recordings and a rocker from Miss Amy Griffin and our Five Year Flashback is with legendary Sun Records drummer J.M. Van Eaton as he talks about the recording of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On". Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Billy Burnette- "Guitar Bug" Little Jimmy Dickens- "I Got A Hole In My Pocket" Kim Lenz- "Pine Me" High Noon- "Hanging From The Old Oak Tree" Elvis Presley- "Mystery Train/ Tiger Man" Dale Watson- "Tupelo Mississippi & A '57 Fairlane" Annisteen Allen- "G'wan About Your Business" (w/ Mickey Baker on guitar) Wildcat Rose- "I Don't Wanna Work No More" instru-Mental Breakdown Miss Amy Griffin- "Shifting Gears" The Greasy Gills- "Crash Test Mummies" Stray Cats- "What's Goin' Down (Cross That Bridge)" Sirocco Bros.- "Knocking On The Devil's Door" Rockabilly N Blues Time Machine Week ending May 24, 1959: #88 The Coasters- "Along Came Jones" #87 Conway Twitty- "Hey Little Lucy (Don'tcha Put No Lipstick On)" #1 Wilbert Harrison- "Kansas City" (1st of 2 weeks at the top of the chart) Five Year Flashback: J.M. Van Eaton on the recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" Jerry Lee Lewis- "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" Crankshaft & The Gear Grinders- "When The Sun Goes Down" Little Miss Blue Bass- "Bang Bang" Outro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Be Bop-A-Lula"
Con la llegada de los años 1970 surgió uno de sus períodos de crisis más importantes, donde sufrieron la salida de sus principales compositores; Green, Spencer y Kirwan, pero por otro lado la llegada de Christine McVie y Bob Welch. Además y por cerca de cinco años sus discos perdieron popularidad en el Reino Unido, pero que a su vez comenzaron con un leve reconocimiento en los Estados Unidos. Para fines de 1974 y convertidos en un trío, viajaron a California donde conocieron a sus futuros integrantes Stevie Nicks y Lindsey Buckingham. Con ellos renovaron su sonido alejándose de las raíces del blues para acercarse al soft rock y al pop rock, que les brindó gran éxito en los mercados mundiales gracias a los discos Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977) y Tusk (1979), que los posicionó en lo alto de las listas musicales y que obtuvieron multimillonarias ventas. Durante la década posterior lanzaron la producción en vivo Live (1980) y el disco Mirage (1982) que no lograron el éxito relevante en comparación a sus anteriores álbumes. En aquella época y en paralelo Nicks, Buckingham y Christine iniciaron sus respectivas carreras en solitario. En 1987 y luego de cinco años de silencio apareció Tango in the Night, que fue el último disco con Buckingham que se retiró al culminar su grabación, siendo su reemplazo los guitarristas Rick Vito y Billy Burnette.
Quentin Jones is our guest this hour as we talk about all the various facets of his great musical career. He's focusing on some upcoming solo recordings and we premiere a couple of those this hour and we discuss his band The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns with his brother Wendell, producing artists such as Linda Gail Lewis, Robert Gordon, Charlie Gracie & The Rockats and playing recently with folks like Billy Burnette, Kenny Aaronson, Liberty DiVetto, David Uosikkinen, Rocket 88, his Gretsch endorsement and more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns- "Amos Moses" Interview segment 1 Robert Gordon- "It's Late" segment 2 Charlie Gracie with Graham Nash- "Too Soon To Tell" segment 3 Quentin Jones- "Train Kept A Rollin'" segment 4 Linda Gail Lewis- "Battle With The Bottle" Quentin Jones- "Surf All Day, Love All Night" segment 5 The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns- "King Of The Slot Car Track" segment 6 Quentin Jones- "Turns Me On" The Rockats- "Road To Hell" segment 7 Lee Rocker- "The Girl From Hell" The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns- "I Got The Shakes" Outro Music Bed: Linda Gail Lewis- "Linda Gail's Blues"
Summer isn't too far away so we spin the latest from Frankie & The Pool Boys on Hi-Tide Recordings this week. Plus, hear new tracks from The Rhythm Preachers, The Bullets, The Cable Bugs, The Raging Teens, Billy Burnette & rockers from Ronnie Dawson, Rudy Grayzell, Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers (with Linda Gail Lewis), Donny Young (Johnny Paycheck), our instru-Mental Breakdown and our Heavy Hitter Triple Threat featuring Bo Diddley and covers from Dion and Chris Isaak! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Ronnie Dawson- "Knock Down Drag Out" Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers (w/ Linda Gail Lewis on piano)- "Rhythm Rockin' Blues" Johnny Horton- "The First Train Headin' South" Ruby Ann- "I Want A Lover" Donny Young (Johnny Paycheck)- "Shakin' The Blues" The Bullets- "Somethin' Real Good" The Rhythm Preachers- "Squeeze Me Baby" Billy Burnette- "Nothin' To Do (And All Night To Do It)" instru-Mental Breakdown: Frankie & The Pool Boys- "Ewa On The Beach" Don Diego Trio- "Django With Twango" The Raging Teens- "Drinkin' Age" Danny B. Harvey & Annie Marie Lewis- "Reckless, Wild & Crazy" Heavy Hitter Triple Threat Bo Diddley- "Don't Let It Go" Chris Isaak- "Diddley Daddy" Dion- "Who Do You Love" Rockbottom James & The Detonators- "Burn Rubber Burn" The Cable Bugs- "My Cat's Cat's Gone" Rudy Grayzell- "You're Gone" Outro Music Bed: James Wilsey- "El Dorado"
Billy Burnette joins Bill Cody on February 2, 2018 recorded at the WSM Studio. Coffee, Country & Cody podcast powered by NashvilleGuitarStore.com!
Nashville, Muscle Shoals and Memphis are all represented on a Tennessee Wednesday night. From Music City we'll hear the sweet trio harmony of country music new comers Maybe April. And From Memphis, the first son of rockabilly music. He's got a new album reviving his extensive song catalog and a new book documenting his amazing life in rock and roll. He's Billy Burnette. Also on the bill, Hannah Aldridge is a daughter of the Muscle Shoals studio world, though she's found her voice in dark and rough edged country rock. While Mike Younger mixes music with activism.
We begin a segment on the show this week called "Ameripolitan Music Awards Spotlight" where we will spin a track from some of the 2018 nominees. We'll continue this throughout the year. This week, we hear from Jenny Don't & The Spurs, Al Dual, Lily Locksmith, Kyle Eldridge and Andrea Coburn (with Mud Moseley). Plus, we get new tracks from Cousin Harley, Billy Burnette, rockers from Elvis Presley, Dion, Gene Vincent, requests for Deke Dickerson and Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones, our instru-Mental Breakdown returns and lots more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Billy Burnette- "She's Burning The Honk Tonks Down" Cousin Harley- "Cincinnati Lou" Elvis Presley- "Dixieland Rock" Charlie Gracie- "Cool Baby" Dion- "The Apollo King" Deke Dickerson- "Bop Wax" Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones- "I'm The One" BR549- "No Train To Memphis" instru-Mental Breakdown: Gringo Motel- "Copy That" John Fogerty- "Just Pickin'" Ameripolitan Music Awards Spotlight: Jenny Don't & The Spurs- "Paso Del Norte" Lily Locksmith- "Player" Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley- "Dark River" Kyle Eldridge- "Get Up & Leave This Town" Al Dual- "Who Rocks The Chicken" Celine Lee- "I'll See Ya...Never" Gene Vincent- "Five Feet Of Lovin'" Werly Fairburn- "Everybody's Rockin'" Chris Ruest- "You Ain't Right" Outro Music Bed: Eddie Angel- "Dueces Wild"
We have more Christmas tunes sprinkled in the mix including a NEW track from Joel Paterson! We also have interview snippets with Billy Burnette talking about his "Hey Daddy" release when he was 7 years old (backed by Ricky Nelson's band) and with Norbert Putnam talking about recording "Merry Christmas Baby" with Elvis and him famously saying "wake up, Put" toward the end of the recording. Plus, we spin "Pretty Paper" by the recently released project by Roy Orbison & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. And...we hear John Fogerty pay tribute to his late friend Tom Petty, Road Kings cover John Fogerty, Jerry Lee Lewis (with John Fogerty) cover Creedence, new tracks from the Highjivers, Los High Tops with Chantilly Lace Vincent, Elvis covers from Jake Calypso, Dean Z and Carl Bradychok and more!! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" John Lindberg Trio- "Stuck With The Sleigh" Straight Eights- "Merry, Merry Christmas" The Highjivers- "Knee High & Risin'" Scotty Baker- "Last Hurrah" Los High Tops with Chantilly Lace Vincent- "Hot Rod Mama" Billy Burnette on "Hey Daddy" Billy Burnette- "Hey Daddy (I'm Gonna Tell Santa On You)" Joel Paterson- "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" Road Kings- "Travelin' Band" John Fogerty- "I Won't Back Down" (live in Las Vegas) Jerry Lee Lewis with John Fogerty- "Bad Moon Rising" Brian Setzer Orchestra- "Here Comes Santa Claus" Roy Orbison with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra- "Pretty Paper" Jake Calypso- "Flaming Star" Carl Bradychok- "I'm Coming Home" Dean Z- "Just Because" Norbert Putnam on playing on "Merry Christmas Baby" with Elvis in the studio Elvis Presley- "Merry Christmas Baby" Outro Music Bed: Los Straitjackets- "Let It Snow"
Awesome rockabilly from Billy Burnette, plus new music from Maynard & The Musties, Langhorne Slim, Matt Patershuk, Lee Ann Womack & more... "Ep380 Billy Burnette" originated from Americana Music Show.
We spin NEW Halloween singles from Marcel Bontempi (2 this hour) as well as Annie Marie Lewis & Danny B. Harvey on this week's Rockabilly N Blues Radio Hour. Plus, we have NEW tunes from JD McPherson, Eric Heatherly, Billy Burnette, Roy Orbison & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Al Dual and John Lindberg Trio and rockers from Wesley Orbison Janis Martin, Garry Tallent, Billy Lee Riley, live tracks from Dale Watson, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Stray Cats and more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" JD McPherson- "Crying's Just A Thing You Do" Al Dual- "Blues' Back In Town" Marcel Bontempi- "Haunted House" Billy Lee Riley- "Flying Saucer Rock 'N' Roll" John Lindberg Trio- "Double Talking" Roy Orbison & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra- "Mean Woman Blues" Wesley Orbison- "Goodbye Ain't Always A Word" Annie Marie Lewis & Danny B. Harvey- "Headless Horseman" Garry Tallent- "Why Do You Do Me Like That?" Billy Burnette- "It's Late" Eric Heatherly- "One O' You" Darrel Higham & Jittery Jack- "Rockabilly Rave" Janis Martin- "Oh Lonesome Me" Instru-Mental Breakdown (Halloween edition): Marcel Bontempi- "The Clock Strikes Three" Messer Chups- "Doctor Spock" Dale Watson & His Lone Stars- "Kentucky In A Spin" (live) Jerry Lee Lewis- "High School Confidential" (live) Stray Cats- "Double Talkin' Baby (live) Elvis Presley- "Maybellene" (live) Outro Music Bed: Scotty Moore- "Milk Cow Blues"
Billy Burnette joins us again this week as we chat about his new album (and book), Crazy Like Me. We also talk about being in the studio with Roy Orbison recording a song Billy co-wrote, being in Fleetwood Mac, touring with Bob Dylan & John Fogerty and more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Billy Burnette- "Hot Rod Hillbilly" Segment 1 Roy Orbison- "(All I Can Do Is) Dream You" Segment 2 Fleetwood Mac- "When The Sun Goes Down" Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "Warm Love" Segment 3 John Fogerty- "Looking Out My Back Door" (live with Billy Burnette on guitar) Segment 4 Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette- "Burnin' Love" Darrel Higham- "Didn't Start Livin'" Segment 5 Billy Burnette- "Nothing To Do (And All Night To Do It) Billy Burnette- "Ghost Town" Segment 6 Billy Burnette- "Oh Well" Jerry Lee Lewis- "Honky Tonk Heaven" Segment 7 Paul Burlison- "Memphis Blues" (with Billy Burnette) Dorsey Burnette- "Circle Rock" Outro Music Bed: The Texans (Johnny & Dorsey Burnette)- "Rockin' Johnny Home"
Rockabilly Hall Of Famer Billy Burnette joins us for part 1 of 2 of our interview about his family, career and new book & CD titled, Crazy Like Me. This week we talk about his dad Dorsey & Uncle Johnny and the Rock 'n Roll Trio, Ricky Nelson, Glen Campbell, Gary Busey, The Zoo and more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Billy Burnette- "(All I Can Do Is) Dream You" Segment 1 Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio- "Rock Billy Boogie" Segment 2 Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio- "Sweet Loe On My Mind" Dorsey Burnette- "Bertha Lou" Segment 3 Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio- "Tear It Up" Segment 4 Ricky Nelson- "It's Late" Segment 5 Billy Burnette- "Honey Hush" Paul Burlison (with Billy Burnette & Rocky Burnette)- "Train Kept A Rollin'" Segment 6 Johnny Burnette- "Cincinnati Fireball" Segment 7 Glen Campbell- "Hey Little One" Segment 8 Stray Cats- "Baby Blue Eyes" Billy Burnette- "Crazy Like Me" Segment 9 Snippet of Mick Fleetwood's Zoo- "Tear It Up" Billy Burnette- "Tear It Up" Outro Music Bed: The Texans (Johnny & Dorsey Burnette)- "Rockin' Johnny Home"
Billy Burnett's music has that great classic rock sound with new and exciting songs.
Elvis Presley passed away 40 years ago on August 16, 1977 and we're remembering his music and impact this week. We'll hear select tunes from Elvis himself as well as covers from Chris Isaak, Levi Dexter & Magic, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Brian Setzer, Darrel Higham, Conway Twitty, Dale Watson, Marty Stuart, Wanda Jackson, Billy Burnette, Mike Love & Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys tell us their favorite Elvis track, a duet with Cliff Richard and LOTS more!! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Elvis Presley- "Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do" Darrel Higham & The Enforcers- "Way Down" Brian Setzer- "Just Because" Wanda Jackson- "Like A Baby" Conway Twitty- "Jailhouse Rock" Elvis Presley- "A Mess Of Blues" Nathan Belt & The Buckles- "Little Sister" Levi Dexter & Magic- "Baby, Let's Play House" Scotty Moore- "Mean Woman Blues" Robert Gordon with Link Wray- "I Want To Be Free" Elvis Presley- "See See Rider" Dale Watson & His Lone Stars- "Return To Sender" Jake Calypso- "That's All Right" Billy Burnette- "Big Hunk Of Love" Marty Stuart- "Don't Be Cruel" Cliff Richard & Elvis Presley- "Blue Suede Shoes" Chris Isaak- "Love Me" Creedence Clearwater Revival- "My Baby Left Me" Mike Love & Bruce Johnston on their favorite Elvis tune Elvis Presley- "Loving You" Outro Music Bed: Albert King- "One Night"
We hear our 3rd and final segment of "Feel Like Going Home: The Songs Of Charlie Rich" with tunes and interviews from artists appearing on this new release on Memphis International Records. This episode we speak with Preston Shannon and Susan Marshall. Interviews were conducted at the Sam Phillips Recording Services Studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis. Not only was the bulk of this tribute album recorded there but it was the same studio Charlie Rich recorded most of his songs during his time with Sam Phillips. In fact, it's the SAME piano there in the studio! We also hear Christmas tunes from Charlie Rich, Elvis Presley, Billy Burnette and classics from James Intveld and Lefty Frizzell! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" James Intveld- "Modern Don Juan" Lefty Frizzell- "You're Humbugging Me" Feel Like Going Home: The Songs Of Charlie Rich Snippet of "Feel Like Going Home"- Kevin Connolly Preston Shannon interview Segment 1 Preston Shannon- "Easy Money" Segment 2 Charlie Rich- "Big Man" Segment 3 Anita Suhanin- "Midnight Blues" Will Kimbrough- "Sittin' & Thinkin'" Susan Marshall interview Segment 1 Susan Marshall- "Time & Again" Segment 2 Charlie Rich- "Rebound" Segment 3 Snippet of "Feel Like Going Home"- Kevin Connolly Charlie Rich- "Santa Claus' Daughter" Elvis Presley- "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) Billy Burnette- "Rock & Roll In Christmas" Outro music bed: Los Straitjackets- "Sleigh Bells"
Steve Cooper talks with singer/songwriter Billy Burnette. Billy amassed four decades of experience recording music, writing songs, and performing since embarking upon his career at age 7. At 18, he was only a week out of high school when he recorded his Columbia Records album with famed Memphis hit-making producer Chips Moman. In his early 20’s, he played guitar for Roger Miller as well as for his father, Dorsey Burnette. Meanwhile, he also continued his solo career, which included recording records and writing for such hit makers as Rod Stewart, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Tammy Wynette, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Everly Brothers, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell, Eddy Raven, and many more. He then began his journey as a member of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. He toured with Fleetwood Mac between 1987-1995 and appears on such records as: The Chain, Fleetwood Mac/Greatest Hits, Behind the Mask and The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. In the last few years, he has contributed his talents as a guitar player and singer on tours with legendary musicians Bob Dylan and John Fogerty. Additionally, he has also collaborated regularly with the Mick Fleetwood Band. He also has landed parts in several feature films including: Richy Rich, The Addams Family Reunion, Casper and Wendy, Not Like Us, and the leading role in Saturday Night Special, which featured his songs throughout the film. This episode sponsored by Blowfish for Hangovers. Check them out at www.forhangovers.com (Use the promo code COOPER for 20% off.)
This week we pay tribute to guitarist Scotty Moore who passed away June 28th, 2016. We'll hear a sampling of some of the hundreds of songs he recorded on/or produced with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sonny Burgess, Lee Rocker, Dale Hawkins, The Mavericks, Linda Gail Lewis, Paul McCartney, Billy Burnette and lots more!! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Intro Music Bed: Brian Setzer- "Rockabilly Blues" Elvis Presley- "Heartbreak Hotel" Scotty Moore Trio- "Have Guitar Will Travel" Doug Poindexter & The Starlite Wranglers- "My Kind Of Carryin' On" Sonny Burgess- "Bigger Than Elvis" Lee Rocker- "Shame, Shame, Shame" Jimmy Vivino on Scotty Moore Elvis Presley- "Too Much" Dale Hawkins- "Boy Meets Girl" Jerry Lee Lewis- "Set My Mind At Ease" Charlie Rich- "Midnite Blues" The Mavericks- "I Told You So" Elvis Presley- "King Creole" Thomas Wayne- "You're The One That Done It" Elvis Presley- "One Night" Carl Mann- "Walking The Dog" Linda Gail Lewis- "Nothin' Shakin' But The Leaves" Elvis Presley- "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" Paul McCartney- "That's All Right" Billy Burnette- "Today Is Elvis' Birthday" Carl Perkins & Scotty Moore- "Mystery Train" Outro music bed: Scotty Moore- "My Baby Left Me"
In Episode 7, Billy Burnette discusses his 8 years as main male vocalist in Fleetwood Mac, singing harmonies with Stevie Nicks, being guitarist on tour for Bob Dylan & John Fogerty and writing songs for Ray Charles & Roy Orbison. Billy also reveals how his father's music influenced Elvis and The Beatles and talks us through his own incredible solo career as a rockabilly legend that began aged only 8. On recording ‘Are You Mine' with Stevie Nicks - “It was a wild night ‘cos Prince was out the back playing Basketball…” www.thestageleftpodcast.com #bass #music #musicpodcast #podcast #musicians #bassist #bassists #guitar #guitarist #guitars #guitarists #musiccommentary #drums #drummer #drummers #fleetwoodmac #stevienicks #elvispresley #rockabilly #bobdylan #dylan #raycharles #royorbison
Levi Dexter joins us for part 3 of our "Levi In July" interview series. On this episode, we talk about this year's "Levi & The Rockats" Viva Las Vegas show, his wife Bernie, Magic, Gretsch Brothers and begin a conversation of his album Roots Man. We also hear a new track from Linda Gail Lewis and rockers from Billy Burnette, The Blue Cats, JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers, Jai Malano, Marti Brom and Ricky Nelson!! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Linda Gail Lewis- "Rockin' My Life Away" Blue Cats- "Burnette" Billy Burnette- "Didn't Start Livin'" Levi Dexter interview Segment 1 Levi Dexter & The Gretsch Brothers- "Oakie Booie" Segment 2 Levi Dexter & Magic- "Baby Let's Play House" Segment 3 Levi Dexter & Magic- "All I Can Do Is Cry" Segment 4 Levi Dexter & The Gretsch Brothers- "Down The Line" Segment 5 Levi Dexter & The Gretsch Brothers- "7 Nights To Rock" Segment 6 Levi Dexter- "Roots Man JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers- "No Rest For The Wicked" Jai Malano- "So Good To My Baby" Marti Brom- "That Crazy Beat" Ricky Nelson- "One Of These Mornings"
More Christmas tunes find their way to the playlist this week! Hear festive tunes from Dion, Elvis, Billy Burnette, Annie Marie Lewis and others. Plus, more great rockin' music from Webb Wilder, Polecats, Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin' Wolf and much more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Elvis Presley- "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me" Eddy Dixon- "Relentless" Jake Allen & The Lawless Men- "Lovin' On My Mind" Polecats- "Get On The Right Track" The Robins- "Smokey Joe's Cafe" Billy Burnette- "Hey Daddy" Billy Burnette- "Rock & Roll In Christmas" Dion- "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" Big Bad Voodoo Daddy- "Rockabilly Christmas" Levi Dexter & Gretsch Brothers- "Down The Line" Jerry Lee Lewis- "Breathless" Jimmy Ricks & The Ravens- "Daddy Rollin' Stone" Webb Wilder- "Lucy Mae Blues" Howlin' Wolf- "Moanin' For My Baby" Annie Marie Lewis- "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" Chris Isaak- "Hey Santa" Brenda Lee- "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" Brian Setzer Orchestra- "Sleigh Ride" Dr. Rubin's Pomade
Phil Alvin of The Blasters joins us to kick off "Blastember"! We'll talk with Phil and play tunes from The Blasters all month of September. Also, we talk with Mike Love of The Beach Boys about the band's popularity worldwide plus new music from Cowboy Jack Clement, Link Wray, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, an exclusive song from Billy Burnette (featuring Brian Setzer) and much more! Intro Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey Billy Burnette- "All I Can Do Is Dream You" Carl Perkins- "Honey Don't" Jack Clement- "Got Leaving On Her Mind" The Everly Brothers- "Temptation" Barry Ryan- "Ready To Rock" Kingbees- "My Mistake" Ed Vintage- "Six Little Friends" Johnny Cash- "Get Rhythm" Instru-Mental Breakdown Rockett88 featuring Dr. Harmonica- "The Wizzinator" Link Wray- "That'll Be The Day" "Blastember" with Phil Alvin The Blasters- "American Music" Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin- "All By Myself" The Blasters- "Barefoot Rock" The Blasters- "Marie Marie" Mike Love interview segment The Beach Boys- "I Get Around" Dave Edmunds- "Wooly Bully" Dr. Rubin's Pomade contest
Johnny & Dorsey Burnette's demo of "Daddy-O" is featured along with Darrell Higham's tribute to the Burnette brothers. Also on the show, full details on the Screamin' Rebel Angels' Sizzling Summer Giveaway along with a track from them, Johnny Horton, Billy Burnette, Rockats, Ritchie Valens and so much more! Intro music bed- Link Wray- "Jack The Ripper" Voice Over- Rob "Cool Daddy" Dempsey The Rockats- "Never So Clever" Elvis Presley- "Little Sister" Music bed- Love Sculpture- "Blues Helping" Dave Edmunds- "Sweet Little Rock N Roller" Rockin' R's- "Crazy Baby" Billy Burnette- "Hot Night In Memphis" Music bed- Glen Campbell- "King Of The Road" Johnny Horton- "Honky-Tonk Hardwood Floor" Danny B. Harvey & Mysti Moon- "When The Levee Breaks" Nick Kane- "Why Baby Why" Dick Dale- "Night Rider" The Beach Boys- "Moon Dawg" Music bed- Kenny Vaughan- "Mysterium" Dr. Rubin's Pomade! 69 Cats- "Bad Things" Screamin' Rebel Angels- "When I'm With You" Ritchie Valens- "Hurry Up" Pop's Resale! Music bed- The Rockats- "Kitten With A Whip" Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin- "How You Want It Done" The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns- Rockabilly Deluxe vinyl :60 spot Billy Haley & His Comets- "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" Johnny Cash- "The Rebel- Johnny Yuma" Music bed- The Ventures- "Memphis" Darrel Higham- "Johnny & Dorsey" Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "Daddy-O" Outro music bed- Link Wray- "The Swag"
Billy Burnette is our guest as we play music from him, his family and more!. You'll also hear his unreleased version of "All I Can Do Is Dream You" featuring Brian Setzer on guitar! Intro music bed- Link Wray- "Jack The Ripper" Johnny Burnette & The Rock & Roll Trio- "Train Kept A Rollin'" music bed- Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "The Big House" Johnny Burnette & The Rock & Roll Trio- "Honey Hush" music bed- Duane Eddy- "Twango" Billy Burnette- "Tear It Up" Billy Burnette- "Don't Say No" music bed- The Ventures- "Apache" Dorsey Burnette- "Bertha Lou" Dorsey Burnette- "Tall Oak Tree" music bed- Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "Rockin' Johnny Home" Billy Burnette- "Hey Daddy" (as "Billy Beau") music bed- Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "Green Hills" Johnny Burnette- "You're Sixteen" music bed- The Ventures- "House Of The Rising Sun" Elvis Presley- "Suspicious Minds" Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette- "Burnin' Love" music bed- Kenny Vaughan- "Mysterium" Billy Burnette- "All I Can Do Is Dream You" Mick Fleetwood's Zoo- "Angel Come Home" Fleetwood Mac- "As Long As You Follow" Billy Burnette- "Oh Well" Billy Burnette- "Believe What You Say" Billy Burnette- "Everything Is Broken" music bed- Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "Lonely Island" Johnny Cash- "A Boy Named Sue" Billy Burnette- "Ring Of Fire" music bed- Kenny Vaughan- Minuit Sur La Plage John Fogerty- "Lookin' Out My Back Door" Billy Burnette- "Rock N Roll With It" Billy Burnette- "Hot Rod Hillbilly" music bed- Johnny & Dorsey Burnette- "Bloody River" Billy Burnette- "Ready Already" Outro music bed- The Ventures- "Memphis"
BILLY BURNETTE is a songwriter for superstars, acclaimed sideman, member of Fleetwood Mac and enjoying a resurgence of success for his own solo career. Born in Memphis, Billy was recently inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He has penned hit songs for everyone from Ray Charles, Cher, Roy Orbison to Alan Jackson and Faith Hill. He's also known as an acclaimed guitarist touring with Bob Dylan John Fogerty among others, as well a member of Fleetwood Mac. His recent release of 'Rock & Roll With It' is his 1st studio album in a decade. LYDIA LOVELESS is blessed with a commanding, strong voice. The 21-year-old Lydia Loveless was raised on a family farm in the small rural town of Coshocton, Ohio. Her dad owned a country music bar and she often woke up with a house full of touring musicians scattered on couches and floors. When she got older, in the time-honored traditions of teenage rebellion, she moved to the big city (Columbus, OH) and immersed herself in the punk scene. These two worlds now collide on her debut CD on Bloodshot Records 'Indestructible Machine.' The album combines Lydia's country roots with punk rock candor -- sometimes within the same song.
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