Jerry Lee Lewis - Lonely Weekends - youTube

The blurb on the youTube page says "Jerry Lee performs an intense version of Charlie Rich's Sun Records hit "Lonely Weekends" on the Midnight Special in 1973".

What it doen't say is that the piano solo is as whacky as the suit. Whatever, it's a magical version with a brass section that says Memphis soul and a yodel at the end that says Nashville country. The Killer fused the two like his enemy/friend down the road.

Rockin' Song of the Week No. 91 - Carl Mann

Carl Mann - I'm Comin' Home
Phillips International 3555

Fifty years ago today, Carl Mann drove across state to from Jackson to Memphis to cut some tracks for a forthcoming album, to be called Like Mann! With his usual buddies Robert Oatsvall on bass and the superbly talented Eddie Bush on guitar, he was joined by Charlie Rich on piano and fellow Jacksonite, WS Holland on drums. The best number they cut that day was the Rich composition, I’m Comin’ Home.

The intro was used note for note when Elvis cut it for his Something For Everybody album twelve months later. Carl Mann was one of the last of the great Sun rockers and this hot little platter was one of his best.

Don Gibson

Can white men sing da blooze, can Nashville sing da blooze?
I like artist you can`t pigeonhole, Jerry Lee rocks but he honky tonks with panache too, Charlie Rich went from jazzy infelcted rockin blues to countrypolitan and then there's his Nashville equivalent Don Gibson, an awesome song writer who penned classic after classic and with Chet and the A team cut some of the finest of the fine in RCA studio B off Broadway in music city. Here's a few clips of the great man in action with some of his best songs, there's some cool later clips on the tube of you with a duet with ole Chet, a Porter Wagoner show with Don doing the Jimmie Skinner classic Doin My Time (so beloved by Mr Cash).

I first heard Don doing Sea Of Heartbreak (no live clips one here , sob!) on Radio Lux and I thought it was a new Elvis 45, it`s the one countryish song I wish El had covered in that golden 60 -62 period where he did everything from Neopolitan opera thru Chuck Wills and Lowell Fulsom. Later I got some Don on the old Country Guitar VA series of eps that RCA put out in the UK and eventually a Best Of Don Gibson lp which had 12 stone cut gems on it, and in those days there would be weeks if not months between pocket money purchases and it got played to death in Casa Flip, even my dad who didn't dig the beat grew fond of the Donster by persistent osmosis from my lil ole red n cream Dansette and I was even allowed to play it on the family Radiogram in the living room, moving mam n dad`s Frankie Laine and Doris day back to the dark n dusty cupboard underneath.

Watch out for the equally great (and equally tragis) Hank Garland in his prime.

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Don Gibson (and Gene Sloan)- Lonesome Number One

Don Gibson (and Hank Garland)- Its Been A Blue Blue Day

Don Gibson - Oh Lonesome Me

Occasional Bootleg Series No.9 – Chuck Mead in Charlotte

Chuck Mead and the Grassy Knoll Boys
July 12, 2009, Neighborhood Theatre
Charlotte, NC

Introduction, Out On The Natchez Trail, No Train To Memphis, Change The Way I Look, Sittin' And Thinkin', After The Last Witness Is Gone, Gun Metal Gray, She Got The Ring (I Got The Finger), Hot Rod, Sweet Sweet Girl, Big Big Love, I Wish It Was Friday

This bootleg is a soundboard recording from Chuck Mead’s 2009 summer tour where he was plugging his latest release Journeyman’s Wager. With him due to tour UK later this week the timing of this boot couldn’t be better. The opener is from Wager and it’s a great way to open the show. The others from the album all hit the spot, with the closer, I Wish It Was Friday sounding just like BR549 at their best.

The tracklist shows Sittin' And Thinkin' as being an Elvis Costello song. You gotta be shitting me! Chalrie Rich and half of Memphis had written, sung and mastered the song before Costello started wearing kiddies glasses. Chuck’s version here is a bit pedestrian and not the high spot of the show. The best of the oldies covers is Don Gibson’s Sweet Sweet Girl which I first heard courtesy of Warren Smith.

With his band called the Grassy Knoll Boys, I thought he’d have covered Jerry Lee’s Lincoln Limousine! A pretty good album that is worth digging out and would get me excited about the upcoming shows if I was going.

Check out the clip below for a great clip of Chuck and the GKBoys doing Cadillac In Model A.

Behind the scenes with Hayden Thompson at Hemsby

Shaun and I were invited along with Rod Pyke, to attend a final rehearsal by Hayden Thompson at Hemsby around 10 years ago, we chatted for ages before he sat at the piano and regaled us with impressions of JLL and Charlie Rich (an awesome On My Knees and a stunning Midnite Blues), had great stories such as being with JLL when he cut GBOF and that JLL gave him his red waistcoat that Hayden had admired, he sang several requests (songs that he didn't have time to do on stage at Hemsby such as his brill Boy From Tupelo) and did hilarious take offs of Elvis and especially Johnny Cash.

He stayed chatting for ages and even posed for pics with all of us having upturned collars and a sneer. This couple of hours was probably the most enjoyable Hemsby experience of all for me personally, a charming and gracious man, very like Carl Perkins.

Hayden is still a high class act on stage and on record, he's cut some great rockabilly and country cds in the last few years and apparently another rab cd with the great Barnshakers is in the pipeline. Here`s a great clip of Hayden doing Midnite Blues recently in Finland,superb backing which augurs well for the new CD.

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Charlie Mather

Here's the newest rockabilly rebel in mid Wales. Early indications are that he likes the Killer and Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio. Then again, that's all he's heard so far. He's named Charlie, after Charlie Mather, Charlie Fulford, Charlie Feathers, Charlie Rich, Charlie Gracie and the Charlie Bop Trio. He definately isn't named after Charlie George.

Charlie Rich – Charlie Rocks

Charlie Rich – Charlie Rocks
Bear Family BCD 16513 AR

Track listing: Whirlwind (undubbed version), Everything I Do Is Wrong, Philadelphia Baby, Big Man, Rebound, That's Rich, Lonely Weekends (master), Break Up, Midnite Blues, Little Woman Friend Of Mine, Goodbye Mary Ann (alt 3), You Made A Hit, Red Man, Donna Lee, Popcorn Polly, Gentle As A Lamb, Charlie's Boogie, Stop Thief, Right Behind You Baby, Lonely Weekends (undubbed alt), Yes Ma'am, Big Man (undubbed alt), Big Boss Man, The Ways Of A Woman In Love, Mohair Sam, I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water, Just A Little Bit Of Time, It Ain't Gonna Be That Way, That's My Way, Just A Little Bit Of You, So Long)

The latest edition to bear Family’s excellent Rocks series pays tribute to the astonishingly gifted Charlie Rich. I love the Silver Fox catalogue from the Sun rock ‘n’ roll to the string laden country on Epic. This release looks at the up-tempo numbers from the early to mid period on Sun, Smash & RCA.

Charlie Rich could never be classified as a rockabilly in the Billy Lee Riley sense, he there was always a jazzy, late-night feel to his sound. That’s not to say he couldn’t rock out, it’s just he always seemed more comfortable with something funkier. Sam Phillips had him cutting a rug early on with some great rockers in the form of Lonely Weekends, Philadelphia Baby, Rebound and the undubbed version of Whirlwind. From this period, the bluesy, Everything I Do Is Wrong probably tells us more about the Silver Fox than any of the rockers. Of the lessor known items, Gentle As A Lamb is a long way from Sonny Burgess but as an insight into the hip side of Memphis’ early 60’s soul, it’s more than fine with me. Donna Lee is pretty average but for some reason I quite like the oddball rocker Popcorn Polly.

From the post Sun era there’s a handful of crackers, of which the exquisite Mohair Sam and the funky I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water need no introduction. I’ve always loved his reading of Johnny Cash’s The Ways Of A Woman In Love and Just A Little Bit Of Time gives a glimpse into another side of Memphis. I'm a bit surprised that She's A Yum-Yum and You Can Have Her have been omitted, but it's hard to be picky with such a great compliation.

My top three picks for constant plays are Mohair Sam, Big Man and best of all, the brilliant, atmospheric soul of Midnite Blues. To me this song is Charlie Rich in a nutshell. A classy CD that sits nicely on the shelf alongside the box set, the best of compilations of Groove and Smash, the Epic releases and the Feel Like Goin’ Home: Essential CR double on Columbia/Legacy.

Rockin' Song of the Week - Number 42

Johnny Cash - The Ways Of A Woman In Love (Sun 302)
It's fifty years since the parting of the ways between the once wonderful marriage of Johnny Cash and Sun Records. With his association with the label going south quicker than the big river than runs under the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, Sam Phillips tried to milk the cow a couple more times. Getting all he could in the can for the dry spells ahead, Sam held two July sessions with Johnny, Luther and Marshall and 706 regulars Billy Lee Riley, Jimmy Van Eaton and Jimmy Wilson (replaced by Charlie Rich for the second session). These songs had a lot more meat on the bone than the Cry Cry Cry days of three short years earlier. The Gene Lowery Singers were also used to give a commercial edge that was never on the original agenda. A lot of the elements that made their name are still there, from Luther's simple guitar intro to JC's wonderful way with words, it's just you now have hoo's and ah's and a piano solo. A great going-away present to Sam, that being the generous man he was, he shared with us all.
Recommended listening: Yeah, like need telling!