The Rockabilly Chronicle

30/06/2025

Review of the day:

Various Artists – Rock-A-Ballads-Flipside Dreams and Loving Schemes Vol. 1

Bear Family Records BCD 17776
What Do I Want – Gene Dunlap and The Jokers / I Can See It In Your Eyes – Sonny James / A Thousand Guitars – Tracy Pendarvis and The Swampers / Lonely – Tommy LaBeff / Can’t Help It – Tommy Hill / I Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – Ronnie Self / Someone Like You – Ronnie Hawkins / I Think Of You – Rudy Grayzell / A Cheat – Sanford Clark / My True Love – Jack Scott / Walkin’ After Midnight – Patsy Cline / Trying To Get To You – Weldon Rogers / Since I Lost You – Warner Mack / We Belong Together – Ritchie Valens / Crying Goodbye – Ric Cartey / Poor Little Fool – Ricky Nelson / Breeze – Vernon Taylor / Sleep Walk – Santo and Johnny / The Grave – Tony Casanova / More And More (I Love You) – Tooter Boatman / My Girl – Robin Luke / Anyway You Want Me (That’s How It Will Be) – Elvis Presley / Most Of All – The Prowlers with Les Vogt / Come Back Baby – Mac Curtis / Turn Back The Clock – Ral Thunder / Tragedy – Thomas Wayne with The DeLons / Bitter Tears – Rodney Scott /’ll Take Tomorrow (Today) – Ray Vernon / You Don’t Owe Me A Thing – Marty Robbins / Cold North Wind – Lonnie Dee / Nothin’ Needs Nothin’ (Like I Need You) – Marvin Rainwater / Sure To Fall – Carl Perkins

Many Rock’n’Roll and Rockabilly fans seem to only remember the most spirited and edgy songs from the genre. This tendency is felt even in the repertoire of contemporary groups where it is difficult to find artists capable, or with the desire, to write ballads. This is a great shame because by discarding the softer and calmer sides, they miss out on a significant part of the repertoire. The ballad (let’s use this generic term for convenience) is also the way to hear the singer alone in front of his microphone, with little or no artifice (except for a few backing vocals). Here, the voice can no longer cheat, whether in terms of emotion or accuracy.

This copious compilation (32 tracks and a 38-page booklet) is the perfect tool for discovering the richness of a repertoire that’s more subtle and varied than it seems, far from the clichéd caricature of the sugary ballad.

Of course, it features artists experienced in the exercise, with Elvis Presley at the forefront of course (and not far behind Marty Robbins and Ricky Nelson). This album alternates well-known pieces (Sleepwalk, Walking After Midnight) with rarer tracks, and also allows us to present a lesser-known side of artists such as Ruddy Grayzell, Sleepy La Beff, and Ronnie Self. It also contains its share of oddities and rarities, as evidenced by this version of Breeze, a Tin Pan Alley hit transformed into a rock-a-ballad by Vernon Taylor, Tony Casanova’s macabre The Grave, or Weldon Rogers’ almost out-of-tune Trying To Get To You.

The artists who make up this compilation are exclusively white, but this is volume 1, so we can imagine that, like the Rock compilations, volume 2 will be dedicated to African-American artists.

Buy it here: https://www.bear-family.fr/various-bear-family-records-rock-a-ballads-flipside-dreams-and-loving-schemes-vol.1-cd.html

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29/06/2025

Random review of the day:

Guana Batz – Rough Edges

Streetwise / Open Your Mouth / One Night / Good News / Rockin On Creek Road / Fight Back / Spy Catcher / Love Generator / Bring My Cadillac Back / Rock Around With Ollie Vee / Two Shadows / You Can Run

After the more pop oriented “Loan Sharks”, the Guana Batz returned to the classical sound of their first album. The band threw away saxes and the keyboards and the covers came from the catalogs of Buddy Holly, Elvis and Baker Knight & The Knightmares. In term of cohesion, recording and songwriting, Rough Edges (which is by no means “rough”) is their absolute best album showing an accomplished band at the peak of its creativity that benifits of a clean (but NOT slick) production. The band offers a solid mix of psychobilly (Streetwise, Fight Back), wild neo-rockabilly (Love Generator, Open Your Mouth), instrumental (Spy Catcher) and even an excellent jazzy number (Two Shadows). You won’t find any filler here and even the construction of the album is perfect. If “Held Down…”, was the revelation of a great band to a wide audience and “Loan Sharks” showed a band avid to explore new territories, “Rough Edges” was simply the album of a band in full mastery of his art.

More rockin' reviews at http://www.the-rockabilly-chronicle.com/rockin-reviews/

28/06/2025

Random review of the day:

Johnnie Lee Wills – The Band’s A Rockin’

Bear Family Records – BCD17646 [2025]
The Band’s A Rockin’ – The Thingamajig – Blackberry Boogie – Coyote Blues – A Bad Deal All Around – She Took! – I Like You Best Of All – Let Me Be – Boogie Woogie Highball – Hot Check Baby – Levee Blues – A-L-B-U-Q-U-E-R-Q-U-E – Smoke On The Water – Sold Out Doc – Four Or Five Times – Rag Mop – Two Timing – Two Step Side Step – In The Mood – Milk Cow Blues – There Are Just Two I’s In Dixie – Tom Cat Boogie – Oo Oooh Daddy – Honey In The Horn – Ten Little Blue Birds In My La – Silver Dew On The Blue Grass Tonight – Southland Swing – Bee’s In My Bonnet – Square Dance Boogie – Devil’s Blues – I’m Leaving (Yes Indeedy)

Fans of the Wills family are definitely spoiled by the German bear, because after Bob and Billy Jack, it’s the turn of Johnnie Lee, the third of the four brothers, to join the prestigious Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight series.
After six years as a banjo player with the Texas Playboys, Johnnie Lee Wills finally had the opportunity to form and lead his own band when Bob decided to relocate the Texas Playboys to California. Far from his brother, the freer Johnnie Lee was able to develop his own style. While the eldest of the Wills brothers abandoned the strings for a big-band horn section, evolving his sound towards something smoother and more sophisticated, Johnnie Lee consolidated his lineup around a smaller group with Junior Barnard (guitar) and Millard Kelso, two former Texas Playboys. This first lineup also included Luke Wills on double bass.
The first session recorded by this group is exemplary. This compilation features two of the best songs from that session: Milk Cow Blues and Devil Blues. From this first session, we can see the difference between the two brothers. Johnnie Lee Wills was more bluesy and more in tune with his time and the development of small combos during this period of restriction, whether in Jazz, Blues, or Country Music (Ted Daffan, Al Dexter).
The war and the recording strike initiated by James Petrillo kept the orchestra away from the studios, and it wasn’t until 1947 that Johnnie Lee Wills recorded again. During these years, the lineup evolved, this time with a full horn section and drums. The result is once again very good (Square Dance Boogie), although a little more impersonal.
It wasn’t until the following sessions, recorded between 1949 and 1953 (which constitue the bulk of this compilation) that Johnnie Lee Wills developed his personal style. The horns gave way to a single clarinet that brought swing and velocity, and the group skillfully blended blues, swing, and boogie in a style sometimes reminiscent of Tennessee Ernie Ford. While commercial success was escaping the band (with the exception of Rag Mop), artistic achievement was omnipresent throughout, the group blending verve with relaxed style. Aside from the consistent musical quality, this compilation has the merit of highlighting Johnnie Lee’s Western Swing, lesser known than Bob and less flamboyant than Billy Jack, but just as good.
For those who already own the compilation of the same name released by Krazy Kat in 1996, rest assured, there are ultimately relatively few tracks in common between the two albums, with the Bear release being more of an extension of the first album.
Hopefully, Bear will now reissue the 1988 LP High Voltage Gal to complete the series.

27/06/2025

Random review of the day:

The Frantix – Antix With the Frantix
Rollin Records RRCD-008
Mama,Mama,Mama – Duck Run – Big Time Mama – Alligator Meat – No Lovin’ No River Blues – Mean Evil Woman – Rock Around The Town – Rock And Roll Fever – What’s Inside A Girl – Filth – She’s My Baby – Rocket Ride Bop – Stone Killer – Hep Cat – Toe Rag Stomp – Trouble With A Capital T – Never Been So Lonely

Believe it or not, the Frantix exist since 1981 but this is their first long player (though they appeared on compilation albums). The band has gone under a few line-up changes. The first two third of “Antix with…” has been recorded in 2008 and 2009 with Jerry Brill (vocals), Graham Murphy (lead guitar), Boz Boorer (rhythm guitar and sax) Roger Van Niekirk (drums) and Neil Scott (doublebass), the remaining titles were recorded in 1994 and feature Malcom Chapman (lead guitar) and Craig Shaw (rhythm guitar). You can say you’re in good company with members of the Bobshack Stompers, Carlos and the Bandidos, The Excellos, The Polecats etc.
The opening number, “Mama, Mama, Mama”, is a classic rockabilly that reminds a lot of “That’s Allright“. Then everything goes wild with “Duck Run” a Batman like instrumental written by Boorer with a dirty sound and wild screams added for good measure. And from that moment you’re on for 45 minutes of some of the finest rock’n’roll recently recorded featuring Diddley beat (“She’s My Baby” with maracas and sax), strip clubs instrumental (“Filth” with sax) and of course a majority of wild and raucous rockabilly, including a cover of the Cramps’ What’s Inside A Girl“. Talking about The Cramps, “Rocket Ride Bop” is not that far from their sound and reminds me a bit of “Rock On The Moon“. Hey, what did you expect? This band is called the Frantix not the Sweetiz or something like that. Even on mellower tunes like Jimmy Sysum’s Big Time Mama you feel the urgency in Brillo’s voice. Just plain great!
Recorded live, for some parts at Toe Rag, this is what rock’n’roll should be: raw, wild, nervous and most of all thrilling.

27/06/2025

The Nitros (Nightshades line-up: Jon Attril, John O'Malley, Mark Swain)

26/06/2025

Random review of the day

The Flea Bops – Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On
Vinylux V0013
Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On – Last Gunshot – Agent Of The ABC –
Please Don’t Go – Driver Seat – Sinner Not A Saint – My Dish Chili – Patti Waggin – Saved – Mighty Hot In San Antone – Rock You In The Arms Of Jesus – Stormy Sky

Ronnie Joyner’s death in 2022 at the all-too-young age of 58 leaves a huge void. Ronnie was a rare talent on the current rockabilly scene, a gifted singer and an excellent songwriter (not to mention his talents as an illustrator).
Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On, recorded shortly before his death, is a musical paradox: both a testament album and yet bursting with life and energy.
The album opens with the title track, a superb country rock, full of tension with an excellent twang guitar that supports it all. The band then continues with Last Gunshot, a menacing yet desperate blues, on which Ronnie Joyner’s voice (who will definitely be missed) and Preston LeBeau’s guitar echo each other to form a captivating dialogue. We continue with Agent Of The ABC, supported by the pair Wendy (double bass) and Lance (drums), who maintain the tension throughout. Tension is the key word to define the rockabilly practiced by the Flea Bops. The band always seems on the verge of exploding, trying to contain a rage that only wants to sweep everything in its path. Everything contributes to this feeling, from the relentless rhythm to the heady guitar, serving as a showcase for Joyner’s voice. The band excels in this type of song, halfway between the two Johnnys, Burnette and Cash.
Burnette’s influence is particularly evident in Mighty Hot In San Antone, reminiscent of Lonesome Tears in My Eyes. While Patty Waggin’ has a more disreputable strip-club feel (Lance LeBeau’s superb cymbal work is noteworthy), there are echoes of You’re Undecided in Preston LeBeau’s guitar playing.
Of course, Wendy LeBeau sings lead on a few tracks. Perhaps it’s because she’s in a band, or because she doesn’t give in to flashy, caricatured gimmicks, but I find that when it comes to the best female vocalists today, she’s too often overlooked. This woman not only has a superb voice, but she knows how to use it, play with it, and modulate it to evoke a whole range of emotions. Just listen to Please Don’t Go to be convinced. She also sings two covers, thematically linked: Sinner Not A Saint, a Trini Lopez track, which she transforms into heady and dangerous rock’n’roll and Lavern Baker’s Saved. In a similar theme, she joins her voice to Ronnie’s for Rock You In The Arms of Jesus, a gospel strongly tinged with rockabilly.

This album ends with Stormy Sky, which evokes songs like Fire of Love or Endless Sleep. Another excellent track, we say to ourselves, before remembering with emotion that this one is the final chapter of an exemplary discography.

More rockin' reviews at http://www.the-rockabilly-chronicle.com/

26/06/2025

Sean Mencher

08/06/2025

That's it!
Jumpin' from 6 to 6 #4 is out now on the Amazon site of your choice.
Issue 4 features a 14-page article about Dave Stuckey (the Dave & Deke Combo, Dave Stuckey & The Hot House Gang, The Lucky Stars…). It also features interviews with Willie Barry (thanks a lot for the very interesting answers sir!), Kev Saunders (Frenzy guitar player), Rockabilly Mafia, and Buddy Dughi and Suzy Dughi. Articles about the Crazy Tones, Kay Marie, Crazy Joe, The Inmates, Frantic Flintstones, Dypsomaniaxe, Dave Hartman (of Southern Culture on the Skids), Alligator Records, Little Tony & the Tennessee Rebels, the Wills brothers recent reissue on Bear Family Records and a 32-page review section complete this issue.

09/05/2025

Today's review
Johnnie Lee Wills - The band's a-rockin' Bear Family Records
http://www.the-rockabilly-chronicle.com/johnnie-lee-wills/

Johnnie Lee Wills, brother of Billy Jack, Luke and of course Bob Wills. From 1941, e led his own western swing band between.

06/05/2025

Pic of the day: The Barnshakers