For this week’s newsletter, we thought we’d have a Rockabilly rummage through the racks and dig out six essential 45s. These are all true pure Rockabilly 45s, from super classics to overlooked gems. Buckle up folks, this is gonna be a bumpy ride.
Tommy Todd – Tag Along / Wiley Jeffers – She’s Coming Back Again – Ace 45
Tommy’s original version of Tag Along is a wild Rockabilly racket from the swamplands of Louisiana and puts Rocket Morgan’s better known, later version in the shade. Flip this one over and you get a previously unissued primitive bopper that really deserves to be regarded as a Rockabilly classic. Both tracks are culled from Ace Records fantastic By The Bayou CD series.
Tommy Todd – Tag Along
Wiley Jeffers – She’s Coming Back Again
Phil Gray And The Go Boys – Bluest Boy In Town / Pepper Hot Baby – Rhythm 45 RE
Apparently, a mere 100 copies of this masterpiece were pressed by the Phelps Brothers sometime, back in 1957 making this one of the rarest and best Rockabilly double-deckers to ever grace a turntable. The chances of turning up a real copy digging through the flea markets of Virginia are slim to none but thankfully we have this great repro with original labels to keep us going.
Bluest Boy In Town
Pepper Hot Baby
Ric Cartey – Scratching On My Screen / My Heart Belongs To You – NRC 45 RE
Bill Lowery used a huge septic tank to create his ‘wall of sound’ echo chamber at his NRC studio in Georgia. This reverb-drenched monster shows just what can be done with a big old sewerage chamber. Shit never sounded so good!
Scratching On My Screen
My Heart Belongs To You
Graham B – Rock & Roll Fever b/w Buzz Busby – Rock & Roll Fever – Speaks 45 RE
Two different cuts of Rock & Roll Fever by Bluegrass stalwart Buzz Busby. On the top side you get the pure hick Rockabilly released version and flip it over and you’re treated to Buzz’s totally ‘over the top’ deranged Fernwood records demo.
Rock & Roll Fever – the pure Rockabilly version
Rock & Roll Fever – the deranged Fernwood version
Bobby Lawson – If You Want My Love / Baby Don’t Be That Way – MRC 45 RE
Rustbelt Rockabilly twin-spin greatness on the super-obscure Ohio MRC label. What an intro, what a record!
If You Want My Love
Baby Don’t Be That Way
Johnny Burnette Trio – The Train Kept A-Rollin’ / Honey Hush – Coral 45 RE
When you talk about super classics, it doesn’t get much more super classic than this deadly double-whammy. Either side of this 45 will make you want to smash stuff up … in a nice way, of course!
The Train Kept A-Rollin’
Honey Hush
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