late 60s rockabilly

[M.T. Wallet]

Sorry it ain't no garage punk but maybe some of you dig that style too...
I love that Stud Cole Rds released by Norton, also that song by Kenny Owens (Long lost John) from 69 and some songs from the Dean Carter comp but
is there some comp out there focusing on late 60s rockabilly?
Thanks for your help!

 

[M.T. Wallet]

ok... no leather boy around here..

 

[Westex]

I don't know of a single comp for this, but have long been fascinated by the idea. White Label and Collector have been squeezing these sides in between legit 50s rockers for years, often with less savvy listeners none the wiser.

 

[Dominic]

a favorite of mine, inexplicably repro'ed this last year. Cuca-related artists hung on to the rockabilly style longer than most. Not much by 1969, but still a few in '65/'66. You might consider picking up a label survey.

 

[buckeyebeat]

Gene Walker...this is confirmed to be from 1970 despite many citations that it's earlier.

Ray Beach from 1967

 

[MopTopMike]

Some of those rockabilly types get really irate and pissed off when they find out one of their faves was not recorded and released prior to the Fab Four era.

 

[vinyl01]

Here's one from 1964.

 

[Ned]

In 1969 it was possible to catch bands in small mill towns in central Maine still playing what we generally now refer to as "rockabilly". These were guys who were doing covers of stuff like "Midnight Shift", "Honey Don't","Rock Around With Ollie Vee", "All By Myself", "Movie Magg", "Blue Suede Shoes" - with a leaning toward the Carl Perkins reading and a variety of others. They had been playing the same stuff in Grange Halls & Elks Clubs on Saturday nights for better than 15 years. The prospect of recording & releasing origional sides on 45 for local consumption was pretty much over by this time - just a few short years since the glory era of local 45s. I suppose formatted AM radio & the rise of "super groups" had a lot to do with this.

They were just calling it "rock & roll" or maybe even "white rock & roll", they had day jobs & played out weekends at local joints, bottle clubs & State fairs & pretty much carried on as if the "British Invasion" was a slight blip on the radar screen that could easily be dismissed. About the only time the word "rockabilly" showed up was when somebody covered the Johnny Burnette side.

The scope was a lot smaller in these days & no doubt these guys had never heard of Sonny Fisher, Jess Hooper, Hoyt Webb or Mack Banks - all this was to come later. They were just playing old standards to a crowd that still liked them.

The visibility no doubt started in 1974 when UK Polydor issued their groundbreaking "Rockabilly Kings" LP with Mac Curtis & Charlie Feathers. A few years later saw the UK majors issuing sides with scholarly notes by guys like Bill Millar, Stuart Coleman & Ray Topping. White Label, Bison Bop & countless others then started digging into the more regional stuff. In 1974 it was tough to find a record digger with an ear for the stuff & when you did you slept on his floor for nights on end with your stylus cleaner & cassette recorder working overtime !

Ned

 

[chas_kit]

I've heard there were far more rockabilly than garage singles released, if you take into account all the late rockabilly ones. Would people say this is true?

 

[MopTopMike]

Agreed, by 3 to 1 (at least) as singles with that 'rockabilly' sound continued to be recorded well into the late 1960s.
Both genres are trumped by soul 45s, I'd bet it would be 20 obscure soul 45s for every garage 45.

 

[buckeyebeat]

Interesting hypothesis regarding relative numbers of records in genres.

I tested it with my Ohio collection which is organized by rockabilly/early rock - including later records such as the two posted above, garage and rock from 1964 until 1970-ish, soul from early 60s until mid 70s (give or take a few), 'straight' country (anything that popular opinion would consider rockabilly is in the first section) and R&B/doowop. All these sub collections include the biggest hits down to the unissued acetates.

The garage/rock collection fits into 5 of the standard 45 boxes, this collection is 99% complete vs known records. The early rock/rockabilly collection, about 90%* complete, fits into 4 standard 45 boxes. The soul collection, about 85%* complete, fits into 4-5 boxes. In other words, the number of released records is roughly the same, with the soul collection leaning as the largest. The soul collection includes probably every Edwin Starr and O'Jays 45 so even large hitmakers that the general audience doesn't associate with Ohio are in there.

Obviously, Ohio is not Detroit or Chicago when it comes to obscure soul. I'm sure there thousands of soul records from both cities. Ohio is a good cross section when it comes to demographics in the US during this time, as the population decline and rust belt rot was just starting in the time period I cover.

FYI for discussion.

*these nunbers may be low, in fact, when I think of the records I am after, only maybe 10 records come to mind immediately.

 

[MopTopMike]

Quite interesting, George!

I think the time periods are larger for soul, and rockabilly/rockers, (the latter, 1956-up to even 1970) while garage for the most part is roughly '63-'71 with a few later oddities. Soul, of course can go from '61-62 for the real early transitional sound from R&B/doo-wop to the classic mid '60s sounds from all the big cities, and then thru the mid '70s for the "cross-over type sounds prominent before on the onslaught of disco.
That is how i arrived at my hypothesis, as shipshod as it may be

 

[Ned]

What area has the greatest chance of relatively unknown great sides coming forth ? My guess would be :
1. Soul
2. Garage
3. Rockabilly

Ned