Reasons to love youTube No. 6 - Carl Perkins

There can't be many arguments that Carl Perkins is the true king of rockabilly in it's purest form. Check out these clips that run through the years. The Ranch Party clip is phenomenal. What a find these old clips were - footage that we never dreamed we'd see.

Your True Love (from Ranch Party tv show)

Turn Around (from Nashville Now - he was a great rockabilly, but just as awesome at country music)

Johnny Cash medley 1974

The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll ( from Class of '55)

Restless

Blue Suede Shoes/Matchbox medley from 1971 - I'm not sure which was worse, the waistcoat or the dance steps! The rest is great though.

TV chat with Scotty Moore

Matchbox with Duane Eddy and the Mavericks (what a line-up)

Kingcats – In The Mood

Kingcats – In The Mood
Foot Tapping FT091

Tracklisting: 1.PROMISED LAND; 2.LONESOME LIFE FOR ME; 3.TREAT ME NICE; 4.LOSING SIDE OF ME; 5.PERFECT WORLD; 6.IN THE MOOD BOOGIE; 7.DONT' LEAVE ME NOW; 8.TIME OF MY LIFE; 9.WALK ON BY; 10.WASH MACHINE BOOGIE.

I’ve raved over these guys before, both on record and on stage. Their latest Foot Tapping offering doesn’t disappoint and maintains the high standard they’ve set for themselves. Again the format is a short album full of well chosen covers and reminds me of the type of albums you used to get in the late 70’s.

As with their earlier Back On Track CD, there’s a trio of Elvis covers. Treat Me Nice and Don’t Leave Me Now showcase the quality of Bill Crittenden’s voice but add little to the original. The CD opener is something else though – they romp through Promised Land. I love the way the Kingcats turn the 70’s Elvis songs into 50’s rockabilly, a further example being Crittenden’s cover Hurt for an album he did with The Sweet Georgia Boys – check it out.

Again the covers on this album are well chosen. Jerry Lee’s In The Mood Boogie is a fine band workout that differs little from the Killer’s and the cover of the old nutmeg Washing Machine Boogie is superb. Crittenden is similar in style to James Intveld, so their cover of his Perfect World was always going to be good. Perfect voice, perfect song, perfect world indeed. Lonesome Life For Me and Time Of My Life are very Elvisy and the Mavericks Losing Side Of Me is tailor made.

The best song though, and one that I haven’t been able to stop playing is Leroy Van Dyke’s Walk On By. It’s a brilliant version and even manages to surplus Leroy’s original. The vocals on this are superb. On my review of Back On Track I finished by saying that BC was the Paul Ansell. If he keeps this up he’ll be the new Elvis. Bill Crittenden take a bow.

The Kingcats at Twinwood

The first group I caught at Twinwood last weekend was Ooh Bop She Bamb who were a bit too polished for me. They impressed with Scatman Crothers’ I'm 'gonna Rock & Roll and their version of Lawdy Miss Clawdy was a neat stroller, I could have done without toothless Don’t Be Cruel. Okay, but just an appetiser for what was to follow.


I was really looking forward to seeing the Kingcats as I think lead singer Bill Crittenden is one of the best singers out there. Way before they’d finished their opener, an extended Promised Land, I knew this was going to be a great show. Jerry Reed’s When I Found You was perfect for the band to show their credentials. They played a couple of numbers from their forthcoming CD including a Sun inspired Lonesome Life For Me and a great cover of the Mavericks’ Losin’ Side Of Me and. They’re regular visitors to the Mav’s catalogue, and seem to be partial to a bit of Elvis as well. Today we got excellent versions of I Got Stung and A Mess of Blues. A highlight of the set was the stroller Perfect World which I knew courtesy of James Intveld. The two have similar voices and it was a fine choice.


Abbey Marie joined the band for a couple of numbers and tore through ‘Til Your Well Runs Dry and Bigelow 6-200. She’s got one hell of a big voice and almost stole the show. The Kingcats finished with a bopping version of the Killers/Hawks’ In The Mood with piano pounder Rusty proving to be anything but. The encore took us back thirty-odd years with Washing Machine Boogie. If you’ve never seen them before, you don’t know what you’re missing. This is a great band with a wonderful lead singer.

Reviews of Big Boy Bloater, Jive Aces, Metrotones and a blistering show from Mike Sanchez to follow over the next few days.