Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio: The Train Kept a-Rollin'

Singer Johnny Burnette was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1934, and was a boyhood friend of Elvis Presley. Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio is often credited as the “pioneers” of rockabilly music.

The legendary album, “Rock and Roll Trio” (1988), is one of the finest collections of early rock and roll. The album collects the early singles of Burnette and the Trio and contains at least three masterpieces, “The Train Kept a-Rollin’,” “Honey Hush,” and “Lonesome Train.” The title of the song, “Rock Billy Boogie,” is believed to be the origin of the name given to this style of music, “rockabilly.”

Burnette scored pop hits in the Sixties without the Rock and Roll Trio, including “You’re Sixteen,” in 1960, but his best work was during the birth of rock and roll about five years earlier. Burnette died in a boating accident in 1964, at the age of 30.

Them: Here Comes the Night

This article contains affiliate links from which I can earn affiliate commissions

Them was perhaps the best of the British blues-rock bands that emerged during the Sixties. The band covered much of the same blues/R&B terrain as bands such as the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds, yet they possessed the best white blues shouter of the era, Van Morrison.

Them was formed in Belfast, Ireland, in 1964, and the band quickly gained a reputation for its hard drinking and brawling as well as music.

The band’s first album, “Here Comes the Night” (1965), was a brilliant debut which combined inspired covers of blues standards and original material. The title track, “Here Comes the Night,” would become a hit. “Mystic Eyes” and “Gloria” are also standout tracks. The band’s sophomore album, “Them Again” (1966), continued in the same rave-up R&B vein with outstanding covers of “Turn On Your Love Light,” “I Put a Spell on You,” and “I Got a Woman.”

Van Morrison left the group after Them Again to pursue a solo career and the band continued without him. Despite the loss of Morrison, Them produced two more solid albums featuring a new psychedelic sound, “Now and Them” (1968) and “Time Out! Time in for Them” (1968). Complete Them (1964-1967) is a fine compilation of the band’s work 

Larry Williams :Bad Boy

Larry Williams is one of the almost forgotten fathers of rock and roll. Williams, a pianist, had a number of huge hits during the mid-Fifties as rock and roll was beginning to dominate American popular music. Several of Williams’ songs would be recorded by more famous bands and singers, and become forever associated with them. The Beatles recorded Williams’ songs, “Slow Down,” “Bad Boy,” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” during the earliest phase of their recording career.

Williams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1935. He made his recording debut in 1957 for Specialty Records with a ballad, “Just Because.” Williams’ forte, however, was up-tempo rockers, and he scored a hit later the same year with the rocker, “Bonie Maronie.” A slew of hits would soon follow including, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” Bad Boy,” and “Short Fat Fanny.”

Williams didn’t enjoy much success after 1957, and he fell back into the underworld life of drug-peddling that consumed much of his time prior to his music career. In the mid-Sixties, he made a comeback with an R&B band which included guitarist Johnny Guitar Watson, and he produced a couple of albums for his friend, Little Richard.

This success would not last as his drug addiction kept dragging him down. In 1977, he pulled a gun on Little Richard and threatened to kill him over a drug debt. Shortly thereafter, Williams was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, in his Los Angeles home. His death was officially deemed a suicide. He was 44-years-old at the time of his demise.

Williams’ best recordings are found on the albums, “Here’s Larry Williams” (1959), “The Larry Williams Show (ft. Johnny Guitar Watson)” (1965), and “The Best of Larry Williams” (1988).

Jerry Lee Lewis: The Killer

Lewis’s musical journey started in his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana, where he was born on September 29, 1935. Lewis was a cousin of television evangelist, Jimmy Swaggart and country singer Mickey Gilley. Lewis studied the piano from the age of ten, and his mother enrolled him in a bible college in Texas.

According to a famous story, Lewis was thrown out of the school on his first day for performing a raucous version of “My God Is Real”. It is stories such as this one and Lewis’s fervent performances that earned him the moniker, “The Killer.”

At 21, Lewis auditioned for Sun Records, and Sam Phillips signed him as soon as he heard the tape of the audition. His first single, “Crazy Arms,” was a minor hit, and. Phillips believed that Lewis could become another Elvis Presley. Accordingly, Phillips poured out money for the promotion of Lewis’s follow-up, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

The record was banned on many radio stations across America, but it went to be a huge hit on the country, R&B and pop charts. His next single, “Great Balls of Fire,” became his trademark song, and another release, “Breathless,” made for three huge Lewis hits in a row. In the meantime, Lewis was also gaining a reputation as a live performer unequalled in intensity.

Lewis had secretly married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass player and uncle, J.W. Brown. While on a trip to England, the British press found out about the marriage and ripped him to shreads, causing Lewis to retreat to the U.S. His career went into rapid decline as a result.
Smash Records signed Lewis, and he began recording country music in his own style, and due to the label’s bargaining with country music disc jockeys, Lewis became a star again.

After overcoming a series of personal problems with drugs and alcohol and a divorce from Myra Gale, Lewis became one of the first inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986. In 1989, Lewis was the subject of the film, “Great Balls of Fire,” which told his life story. Lewis re-recorded all of his old hits for the film, and has continued to record and play live since.

Several fine compilations of Lewis’ early hits are available, including the three-volume, “Original Golden Hits” (1969) and “Original Sun Greatest Hits” (1983).

Johnny Cash: The Man in Black

Johnny Cash, originally from the cotton country of Kingsland, Arkansas, began his career in music in Memphis, Tennessee as a rockabilly performer with Sam Phillip’s legendary Sun Records label which had among the musicians on its roster, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Cash recorded his first single, “Cry, Cry, Cry,” in 1955, His first major hit, “I Walk the Line,” followed in 1956. These early singles would be collected with others on his debut album, “Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!” (1956). In the late Fifties, Cash would switch to country music and record a number of classic songs including, “Big River,” “Ring of Fire,” “Give My Love to Rose,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Long Black Veil,” and “I Still Miss Someone.”

In the late Sixties, Cash recorded two live albums in prisons, “At Folsom Prison” (1968) and “At San Quentin” (1969). The tremendous popularity of these albums led to a successful TV variety show which was canceled after only two seasons. Both albums have been described as two of the best live albums of music recorded in the 20^th century.

In 1971, Cash recorded the album, “Man in Black.” The title track would later be attached to Cash as a title of sorts. Cash’s career was in decline, however, and the rest of the Seventies would be lean in terms of hit recordings. The mid-Eighties saw Cash return to prominence with the outlaw country group, “The Highwaymen,” but solo success continued to escape him. In 1986, Cash entered The Betty Ford Clinic for addiction to painkillers.

In 1994, Cash teamed up with producer Rick Rubin, and recorded an album of mostly cover songs, “American Recordings.” The album introduced Cash’s music to a whole new generation of fans. Three more critically acclaimed volumes of American Recordings would follow.

Cash had been sick with diabetes for several years, but he still managed to record the fourth American Recordings album which was released in 2002.Cash succumbed to diabetes the following year.

Roy Orbison: In Dreams

Roy Orbison was one of the early greats of rock and roll music who is now best remembered for his hit song, “Pretty Woman.” In the Fifties and early Sixties, however, Orbison had a slew of hits and was one of the most successful of the early rockers.

Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, in 1936. By the late Fifties, Orbison had become a member of Sun Records’ legendary roster of musicians which included Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins. Sun Records had just recently lost Elvis Presley. Like Cash and Perkins, Orbison was a rockabilly performer in his earliest incarnation, recording the rockabilly classics, “Ooby Dooby,” “Trying to Get to You,” and “Go! Go! Go!”

By the Sixties, Orbison was recording for Monument and added pop ballads to his repertoire with the hits, “Only the Lonely,” “Running Scared,” and “Crying.” In 1964, Orbison would record his biggest hit, “Pretty Woman.”

Orbison would continue to record singles for the remainder of the Sixties and Seventies, but would not score another major hit. Orbison would become a member of The Traveling Willburys in the early Eighties along with Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty.

Orbison’s best albums include, “Crying” (1962), “In Dreams” (1963), “Orbisongs” (1965), “Cry Softly Lonely One” (1967), “Roy Orbison’s Many Moods” (1969), and “Mystery Girl” (1989).