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Rockabilly Tennessee

Month: May 2021

THE INTERNATIONAL ROCKABILLY FEST 2000

2021-05-212021-05-21 by fykedebbie

Jackson – While Memphis prepares for the Beale Street Music Fest and the Handy Awards, Henry Harrison is attempting to claim Jackson, Tennessee’s rockabilly heritage with Rockabilly Fest 2000 and the groundbreaking of the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Harrison has progressed further than anyone in shaking Jackson toward acceptance of its musical legacy.

Carl Perkins did achieve local status through his civic work, telethons, and the establishment of the Exchange Club-Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

But the distinct place Jackson held in rockabilly history has yet to be appreciated or reflected in local efforts.

Harrison’s dogged pursuit of a Hall of Fame now has the Chamber and the City somewhat involved.

The Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce has signed on as sponsor of a Brenda Lee Autograph Party Friday, April 14th, from 10:00 till 11:30 a.m. in the lobby of Jackson’s new City Hall.

And Harrison reported on Steve Bowers’ “Prime Time Drive” at News-Talk 101.5 FM that the city was going to allow the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame to be built adjacent to Pringles Park, the stadium home of the West TN Diamond Jaxx, a Chicago Cubs Southern League affiliate.

Plans Continue For International
Rockabilly Hall of Fame Show

Jackson, Tennessee – Promoter Henry Harrison continues work toward a September show in Jackson to officially launch efforts to build the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Jackson.

Inquiries on this effort are already coming into rockabillytennessee.com from out-of-state newspapers and radio stations. These inquiries are indicative of growing interest in this project and recognition that Jackson, Tennessee would be an appropriate and authentic site for the hall.

Rockabillytennessee.com will provide the latest information available on this project.

Working date(s) for the show September 16-17 1999, with a possible third day the 18th.

Final plans and scheduling are expected soon.

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Rockabilly Hall of Fame Archives

2021-05-212021-05-24 by fykedebbie

Rockabillytennessee.com has had high hopes for the last year and a half that an International Rockabilly Hall of Fame would become a reality here in Jackson Tennessee. We are excited to say that the possibilty is coming closer.
We thank all those involved in the Rockabillyfest 2000 for bringing us a few steps closer!

Correspondence for the Jackson Rockabilly Museum to Henry Harrison.

Jackson, TN Plans continue to develop for the International Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame, a pet project of Jackson, Tennessee’s Henry Harrison. Harrison told rockabillytennessee.com that he is still working on material for the Hall as well as a potential location.
The “groundbreaking” held last year near Jackson’s Pringles Park (baseball stadium) gave publicity to the effort but may not be the initial location. Citing expense and operation concerns, Harrison says a site in an already existing location may be a necessary first step. “When you look at budgets and the necessity of a year-round operation it may be necessary for us to begin somewhere else,” Harrison acknowledged.
Potential locations are still being reviewed as well as continuing discussion about the format and presentation of the Hall. Harrison traveled last year to the Smithsonian and to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland) to view their music history treatments. He has yet to visit but said he had heard many positive comments about the new Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum in Memphis (see rockabillytennessee.com for a review) and would be adding that museum to his list of information sources.
Concerning Hall content Harrison said he had been reviewing some interesting proposals including the offering by Sun of it’s entire current library of Sun Masters including work extending all the way back to the early rockabilly of the mid-50’s. That Sun collection extends all the way through the work of Jeanie C. Riley’s Harper Valley PTA (connected with Shelby Singleton) and the ‘70’s work of Sun artist Orion. The cost feasibility of purchasing that collection, bringing it to Jackson and its future cash potential in the Napster 21st Century world are the key concerns, but the subject has been discussed.
What is definite is that such a Hall could make Jackson a destination tourist location for visitors from all over the world.

ROCKABILLY FEST 2000 APRIL 14-16

Rockabilly Fest 2000 will indeed be a premiere showcase of rockabilly music and music history.

Built on that rural southern life that blended in Memphis the event seeks to bring together a collection of Memphis and southern based musical greats from Paul Burlison, W. S. Holland, Narvel Felts, Ace Cannon, Rayburn Anthony, Eddie Bond and many others including the Jordanaires, D. J. Fontana, Stan Perkins, Big Al Downing, Johnny Powers, The Rock and Roll Trio (featuring Paul Burlison & Billy Burnette) and the queen of rockabilly, Wanda Jackson.

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A ROCKABILLY BOOK REVIEW – WINKING AT LIFE

2021-05-212021-05-21 by fykedebbie

As the line from a Carl Perkins’ cut from the Class of ’55 album declares, “I was there when it happened.”

For rockabilly fans that is the key to Wink Martindale’s Winking At Life, the new 282 page autobiography from Century Hill Books.

The book covers Wink’s life from the birth in Jackson-Madison County in 1933 to Hollywood at the end of the century.

Written in a series of short takes on various people, events, etc., the book is a surprising review of U. S. pop culture as expressed through music and tv entertainers. Wink Martindale has truly been there when it happened, from the stunning music/radio evolution to the changes in television reflected through the game show phenomena.

As an initially antagonistic 1978 interview began, “Are you going to be proud to tell your grandchildren that you were a game show host?”

Martindale’s answer is affirmative. Readers’ answers will vary. But whatever its long-term significance in TV history, Martindale’s career has certainly reflected 20th Century Americana.

The book is simple. It is a nostalgic reflection on days that seem simpler and a somewhat pleasant surprise that a high school kid from Jackson, Tennessee could through radio and TV rise to fame and rub shoulders with entertainment’s best. It describes home, girlfriends, marriage, children, divorce, remarriage, celebrity ups and downs, and contact with many.

This book acknowledges failures and lauds successes without exposing all the internals involved.

Those wanting a media analysis of the past fifty years will not find it with Wink Martindale. And the “fan” view of Elvis and others will not satisfy some critics. But the “gosh, all in all its been good,” overview has its place.

Wink Martindale has touched many and Winking At Life reminds all who recognize TV names from Bill Cullen to Chuck Barris that we share this culture and these moments.

Martindale has personally hosted nineteen game shows (e.g., Gambit, Debt, Dream Girl, The Great Getaway Game, How’s Your Mother-In-Law, Tic-Tac-Dough, Can You Top This?, etc.).

The photos from radio, TV dance shows and TV game shows as well as other celebrity contacts and events showcase Wink’s life and trigger personal memories for the reader.

Martindale’s career has survived to see “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” bring the game show back to prime time.

For the music fan Winks early radio days with WHBQ Memphis take us to the origin of white artist involvement with black music. Wink Martindale was not the cause nor source, but he was at the source. He walked through the Chisca Hotel doors. He was at WHBQ the night Elvis’ first record was played. He lived in the city that still shakes the world.

Everybody who was there has a story and Wink shares his:

“Dewey Phillips was arguably the most popular deejay in Memphis and the Mid-South. His show was called Red, Hot and Blue – and the title was a perfect fit. He played the red hot hits. But not the so called “pop hits” you might hear on WHBQ during other hours of the day. The early Fifties was still a time of vanilla music. That is, hits by Eddie Fisher, Jo Stafford, Johnny Ray, Peggy Lee, Nat “King” Cole and Perry Como. Those were among the artists ruling the airwaves of popular music stations. But the winds of change were beginning to blow. Dewey Phillips was a white jock who had gained enormous popularity among black and white teens by concentrating on “race” music, another term for music by Black performers. . .

“Phillips’ ratings were more than triple his nearest competition between 9PM and midnight. He possessed an uncanny ability to pick the hits. Record company executives, from Chicago to New York to LA, knew that if Dewey jumped on a record and started playing it with any regularity, they had a hit.

“So it wasn’t unusual to see Sun Records found Sam Phillips (no relation to Dewey) show up this night with an advance pressing . . .

“It was Thursday night, July 8, 1954. By happenstance I was at the station that night showing some friends the studio. And they were excited about meeting Dewey. Little did they know they were going to get more than they bargained for. From the first playing of the record (Elvis’) the phone lines lit up . . .

“It was only a relatively short time later that we realized the symbolism of that evening at WHBQ in the old Chisca Hotel on South Main Street. . . “

Wink in 1956, the star year, would get to interview Presley on the Memphis TV show “Dance Party.” In 1959 Martindale, with a new show in California, would interview Presley by phone from Germany.

Their contact would continue through 1976.

Martindale sees the world through 50’s eyes. Thus, he doesn’t approve of what he sees now.

“. . . I consider myself anything but a prude!” he declares in the book’s final paragraphs, “But when a mom and dad cannot risk gathering their brood around the TV set without first checking a show’s rating, who’s to blame? . . . modern day radio and television is reaping millions and setting new levels of filth for folks to live down to. . .

“Where does it end? Unfortunately the new 21st Century bodes no better. Only worse. Until those who yell from the rooftops, as in that famous scene from the movie Network, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more,’ and mean it! Only when a grass roots effort takes such a large and powerful stand that the largest of advertisers . . . feels the pinch right where it hurts – bottom-line profits – will a turn for the better begin to emerge. Winking at Life, the CD series, is intended as a modest effort at trying to create a little equity on the playing field.”

Thus says Martindale!

NOTES:

For West Tennesseans Winking At Life will have appeal because of the recognized names and events from Jackson. There is also mention of Wink’s involvement with Jackson’s WJAK, its first station to be programmed for a black audience.

For rockabilly fans there are some interesting insights into the early days, Sun shows, etc. that underscore how much was changing in the mid 50’s for radio and music. There is also a reminder of the edge. “I came away from that experience with a couple of visions burned into my memory, writes Martindale, “One was of the half-gallon jugs of vodka that Carl Perkins and his band consumed that week between shows, without it ever affecting their performance! (Carl would later give up booze altogether).” p. 62.

The challenge for those raised in the 50’s is the same. Much of today’s culture traces itself to the changes brought in the postwar 1940’s and 1950’s. We may not like much of what we see today, but we can not deny that our generation started much of this. Some of us think it has gone too far. Is that not what our elders warned?

Yet there was much that needed changing. We opened the world to pop U. S. culture. And we have lived to see the results.

Now as we attempt to call it back. . . we sound as our 1950’s parents.

Justice?

Pure rock is a no consequence art.

Trouble is…there are consequences.

Rock on?

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TNN BREAKS FROM NASHVILLE

2021-05-212021-05-21 by fykedebbie


Nashville – What had been known by insiders for months was finally made public with the
announcement that TNN, formerly The Nashville Network, was changing its name to
The National Network and relocating its headquarters to New York. 

The 1997 ownership change had produced significant changes in TNN programming and
foretold the now announced move out of Music City.  For Nashville it was not a pleasant
transition. 

TNN abandoned contacts with longtime host Ralph Emery and attempted to update with
Tom Wopat and Gary Chapman.  Finally TNN abandoned all pretense and substituted old
syndication for Nashville originals.

 The National Network reportedly with target younger viewers with movies and comedy series.  
For Nashville it is the loss of what had been a key television showcase and tourist draw to
the former Opryland location.

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Stan Perkins: Stepping Up

2021-05-212021-05-21 by fykedebbie

Jackson – What a rare opportunity to perform 22 years with one of modern music’s legends. What a rare opportunity to work closely for over 20 years with members of your own family. What a special life has graced Jackson’s Stan Perkins, son of Carl Perkins.
Stan Perkins1.jpg (17466 bytes)

Today that life seems to have found a new quality, a sense of self and satisfaction that sometimes eludes you in the midst of youth and the bustle of life on the road. Now Stan Perkins is able to be himself, yet also pay tribute to the music legacy that gives potential magic to anything “Perkins.”

Stan, whose presence highlighted last year’s RockabillyFest 2000, has hit his stride performing classic rockabilly material. Over three weeks in Australia earlier this year put Perkins on tour with an outstanding band dedicated to the traditional rockabilly sound. (The weeks in Australia also produced a Stan Perkins CD that rockabillytennessee hopes to profile in the near future.) Perkins, who said he thoroughly enjoyed Australia, plans to return there for more performances next year.

Perkins is also working to expand his base into Europe. Appearing there on many occasions with his father, Stan is currently set for appearances in Great Britain in April 2001 with artist Narvel Felts, among others.

Stan, who performed with Narvel earlier this year in Missouri, said Felts was a tribute to artists “who don’t smoke and take care of themselves.” Narvel, now in his 60’s, proved to everyone at RockabillyFest 2000 that he can still hit every note in every song he’s ever recorded.

Coming up the 27th of October, Stan will appear in Memphis for a Sam Phillips’ tribute for the Arthritis Foundation. This Peabody Hotel event came through work by Stan with the legendary Scottie Moore. Moore and Perkins hit the stage together for the first time in a recent Mississippi appearance with Ronnie McDowell. (Ronnie, from Portland, Tennessee, works his Elvis shows with the Jordanaires, Scottie Moore and others. His show is a tribute show featuring Elvis music without the imitation elements of impersonators.) Scottie Moore recommended Stan’s inclusion in the Memphis Phillips’ show and plans to perform with Stan during that show.

This welcomed connection to rockabilly legends is a confirmation, not just of the high esteem attached to Carl Perkins, but it’s also recognition of the talent and spirit of Stan Perkins. Stan is an experienced and quality performer and carries himself graciously. It’s a comfortable fit with the original rockabilly performers and a solid modern addition to their ranks.

Go Stan, Go!

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ELVIS’ WEEK BRINGS AGREEMENTS, CLASHES AND IMITATION

2021-05-212021-05-24 by fykedebbie

By Steve Bowers

Memphis – News during Elvis’ week includes more than the activities at Graceland. During the week conflicts have become public over the rights to “Memphis Mafia,” the Ricky Nelson Estate confirms that it is turning to Elvis Presley Enterprises for its expertise and Garth Brooks wants a home operation similar to Graceland.

First the agreement: Ricky Nelson’s four children have turned to Elvis Presley Enterprises for the marketing and licensing of Ricky Nelson’s name and image. An Associated Press story released August 14, 2000 declares that Nelson is the first client artist for EP Enterprises other than Elvis and that Nelson is the only artist with which they contemplate an agreement.

Nelson’s estate was tied up for years after his December 31, 1985 death.

His twin sons now perform songs from their father’s era (See Nelson’s article at rockabillytennessee.com)

Meanwhile on the “home front” the Commercial Appeal’s Bill Ellis hit with a front page story August 14, 2000 reporting that five Memphis Mafia members (Marty Lacker, Lamar Fite, Sonny West, Red West, Presley cousin Billy (and “New York entertainment entrepreneur George Tan”) are threatening legal action against George Klein and others who use the term “Memphis Mafia.”

According to Ellis, George Klein has held a Memphis Mafia Reunion show at Alfred’s on Beale Street for the past nine years that has featured other Elvis’ associates such as D. J. Fontana, Scotty Moore, Jerry Schilling, Richard Davis and others.

Ellis quotes Tan, who speaking of Klein, declared, “We (Memphis Mafia) have to protect our property. And what right does someone have to use it.”

The quintet has incorporated and protected the name and plans to issue their own official merchandise.

The Memphis Mafia official web site is The Ellis’ article is featured on the CA website www.gomemphis.com.
Ellis’ can be reached by e-mail at ellis@gomemphis.com.
“Where does all this leave Charlie Hodge? “


Finally, in Nashville neighbors are being surveyed and the legal work for zoning changes is underway to make the Garth Brooks’ Davidson County, Tennessee property (residence for a decade) a museum similar in approach to Graceland.

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MEMPHIS ROCK ‘N’ SOUL MUSEUM: A MUSIC MUST SEE

2021-05-212021-05-21 by fykedebbie
Memphis – Finally something in Memphis that reflects the real source of its soul! Located just one block off Beale Street in the building also occupied by the new Gibson guitar factory, the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum captures this real root history of rock, the rural south’s fields, churches and poverty.





Far removed from L.A. glam and New York glitter and the modern Hall of Fame in Cleveland, rock-n-roll was born in what city folks would have termed “squalor.” In that life condition, perpetuated in land control that kept many sharecroppers in lifetime poverty, music expressed the soul groans of generations. That, matched with postwar prosperity in the fifties, exploded in Memphis, Tennessee and this world’s culture has never been the same.

The Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, with individual CD audio and extensive narration and music selections, allows each visitor ample time to delve into that Memphis world where black and white were legally separated, but where the common experience became expressed in music.

Some of the music was religious. Some of it was hillbilly or country. Some of it was blues. In Memphis from Sun through Stax it blended as never before.

Here told in song, story, memorabilia and display is that story. It is well told.

Those looking for understanding, shared experience and history will love it. Those looking for star music displays may be disappointed. For the stars here are not just the well known, but the lesser, the artists, musicians, radio personalities, citizens that formed the culture from which the music was born.

Linked with the Smithsonian, this is a first class life museum. Memphis should have had this a long time ago.

Museum Facts: Location on Third just one block from Beale Street. Admission $6 for adults and $4 for those ages 5 – 17.

    OBSERVATIONS ON THE ROCK ’N’ SOUL MUSEUM

Carl Perkins – The museum introductory video opens and closes with Carl Perkins. First Carl Perkins and the Perkins Brothers Band in the 1950’s and then Carl Perkins solo in the 1990’s on an acoustic guitar. There would be no better person to reflect the story and Carl Perkins fans will be delighted with the showcase. 

More than just the big stars – Great to see, not only Sun and Stax, but other labels such as Hi get recognition and artists such as Billy Lee Riley included in the narration. Displays include memorabilia not only from Elvis, B. B. King and others but players such as Ace Cannon and singers such as Eddie Bond. It’s all Memphis’ music.

Radio/TV – The displays that include everything from an explanation of WDIA to the displays of Dewey Phillips and WHBQ, WHER, WMPS and WSM in Nashville reveal a museum with understanding of all the elements that combined in Memphis to reflect the new culture and express the old.

Studios/Instruments – How about the Sun Recording Service console and tape machine on which all this music was recorded? How about the organ on which “Suspicious Minds” was written? How about the saxophone from Dr. Martin Luther King’s favorite musician? It’s all here and much more.

Stax – How about a reminder of how black and white, though separated in Memphis, uniquely worked together at Stax Records, truly a Memphis integrated company?

The museum is a must see.

THERE IS ANOTHER MUSEUM TO SEE IN MEMPHIS

In addition to Graceland, the Sun Recording Service, The Memphis Music Museum and others there is another special museum that Memphis’ music fans should tour, Mud Island. This museum is about the Mississippi River. It’s displays take a visitor all the way back to prehistoric mid-south roots and up through the river glory days when the Mississippi was the king of transportation and travel.

It ends with music from Beale to rock because the curators knew the connection that linked river, life and music.

Those who visit will leave with a new appreciation and understanding.

No individual audio devices at this museum it is straight display and collective sound guidance. It is still an excellent museum.

By Steve Bowers

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  • A ROCKABILLY BOOK REVIEW – WINKING AT LIFE

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