I’d been wondering if there were any great rock 45s on Ty Tex when I found The Sensors “Sen-Sa-Shun” / “Side Tracked” at Rex’s sidewalk sale this spring. As it turns out, the Sensors had four 45s on Ty Tex.
Buddy Henderson would come to be known as Bugs Henderson when he joined Mouse and the Traps. He started the Sensors in his hometown of Tyler, Texas when he was just 16.
On these two Freddy King songs, Buddy articulates every note, making these two of the better r&b instrumentals I’ve heard. “Side Tracked” has a good jazzy organ solo to boot.
Their version of “Rumble” is also cool, even if it doesn’t have the menace of Link Wray’s original. The organ provides an eerie background. Buddy gets a shimmering tone out of his guitar chords with a ferocious slicing sound towards the end of the song
I haven’t heard the flip side, a version of “Caravan”, but Not Fade Away #2 says guitarist on that side was Levi Garrett. I assume these were recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, but I could be mistaken.
The A-side of their third single, “Bat Man” is credited to Henderson and Pittman. The flip is a cover of Jack McDuff’s “Light Blues”.
TT-112 – Sen-Sa-Shun / Side Tracked TT-115 – Rumble / Caravan TT-117 – Bat Man / Light Blues TT-120 – Honest I Do (vocal) / Honest I Do (instrumental)
Thanks to Rich for the transfer of “Rumble” and to Greg Reyes for the scan of “Bat Man”. Thank you to Martin Hancock for finding the scan of “Rumble”.
As the Ty Tex label was winding down in late 1967, The Revolvers were responsible for four of the last six releases that I know of (#s 127, 128, 129 and 131). None of these are essential listening in my opinion, though the band came close on a few occasions.
Their first 45 is probably the best, with finely-picked guitar on the pop “Like Me” on the A-side, and “When You Were Mine”, a moody original based on “House of the Rising Sun” on the flip. Both were originals by Stan Gorman and Mike Goodrich.
Their second is quite different, featuring two uptempo soul numbers with horns, another Gorman-Goodrich original “Good Lovin’ Woman” backed with a version of “Land of 1,000 Dances.” This release had a notice in Billboard from June of 1967.
On their third, they back singer Dana Black on an unnecessary version of “As Tears Go By”. I haven’t heard the flip, “Your Love’s For Me”, done by just the Revolvers without Dana Black. The label notes “A product of Eula Anton, arranged by Mike Goodrich”.
Their last is credited to their vocalist Stan Gorman and the Revolvers. I have to agree with the note written on the sleeve of my copy: “I Love Lovin’ You” is a good blue-eyed soul number and I could see it being a northern soul hit with a different vocalist. Stan does a good job of the song but doesn’t have the right voice to put it over. Both songs written by Hammond and Gorman. “Green Unicycle” is a wretched pastiche of psychedelia and vaudeville.
Any help with this discography would be appreciated:
TT-100 – Ron Williams and the Customs – Sue Sue Baby / Empty Feeling (both by Ron Williams) TT-101 – Guy Goodwin – Roll Out the Red Carpet / Nobody Going Nowhere TT-102 – Ron Williams – I’ll Miss You So / I Guarantee You Baby (October 1961) TT-103 – ? TT-104 – The Antons – Larry’s Tune (Larry Stanley) / Green Eyes (1962) (N8OW-2631/2) TT-105 – Zeroes – Flossie Mae / Twisting With Crazee Babee TT-106 – Ron Williams – Wine, Wine, Wine / So Long, My Love (Ron Williams) TT-107 – The Tonettes – Gee Baby (J. Joseph, A. Tyler) / Friendship Ring (late 1962) (NO9W-2713/4) TT-108 – Guy Goodwin – Wheels a Hummin’ / You’re Right I Will TT-7599 – Ron Williams – If I Could Stay Away From You (Ron Williams) / On Top of Old Smokey (also released on Imperial 5729)
The above feature an early label design with outline of state of Texas and roses. See Rockin’ Country Style for more info.
Releases below have a simpler design with Ty Tex at the top:
TT-110 – Donnie Carl – Love and Learn / Do the Wiggle Wobble (D. Kight) TT-111 – Guy Goodwin- Where Sweethearts Never Part / ? (1962) TT-112 – The Sensors featuring Buddy Henderson – Sen-Sa-Shun / The Sensors – Side Tracked TT-113 – Donnie Carl with the Donnells – It Happened to Me Parts 1 & 2 TT-114 – Joe Baby and the Donnells – Little Sally Walker (Doing the Camel Walk) (D. Kight) / I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town TT-115 – The Sensors – Rumble TT-116 – Guy Goodwin – A Taste Of Her Loving / ?? TT-117 – The Sensors – Bat Man – supposed to be scarce. TT-118 – Donnie Carl – You’ve Got It / Getting Over You (both by D. Kight, December 1964) TT-119 – Donnie Carl – Heart Attack / If You Want It That Way TT-120 – The Sensors – Honest I Do (vocal) / Honest I Do (instrumental) TT-121 – Linda Burns – And That Reminds Me / The Reason Why (October 1965) TT-122 – The Derbys – A Different Woman Every Day (Taylor-Gadson-Darnell) / The Crow TT-123 – Ron Williams and the Trebles – So Fine / Let’s Stop Wasting Time (Ron Williams) TT-124 – Ron Williams – Please Come Back / I’m Sending You A Pencil TT-125 – One Eyed Jacks – Hang It Up (Robert Leslie Allen) / Down On My Knees TT-126 – Larry Mack – Last Day of the Dragon (Larry Stanley) / Can’t You See Me Crying TT-127 – The Revolvers – Like Me / When You Were Mine TT-128 – The Revolvers – Good Lovin’ Woman / Land of 1,000 Dances (June 1967) TT-129 – Dana Black and the Revolvers – As Tears Go By b/w The Revolvers – Your Love’s for Me TT-130 – Floyd Jones – My Mother’s Prayer / Hero’s Welcome Home TT-131 – Stan Gorman and the Revolvers – I Love Lovin’ You / Green Unicycle
Many of the later releases show “A product of Eula Anton” on the label. At least some of these records were cut at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler.
Donnie Carl is Donnie Carlton Kight, a soul singer. He wrote most of his songs, sometimes with Mike Goodrich.
Ronny Williams’ Gold Standard sleeve could this be the same person recording for Ty Tex as far back as 1961?
Ron Williams
Ron Williams wrote most of the songs he recorded, here are some other 45s he cut:
Pastel 404, “Poor Little Lamb” / “Hey! Little Pearl” – the A-side is excellent garage. I don’t have the record, but have short clips of both sides here. Arvel Stricklin played lead guitar and Hammond organ on both tracks (source). Pastel Records owned by Maj. Bill Smith.
Vee Jay 675 “Angel Girl” / She Ran Away” (1965)
Austin A-321, “Big Boy Pete” / “Runaway” (despite its name, Austin Records was a Ft. Worth based label. I haven’t heard this one)
Le Cam LC 331 – Ron Williams with Major Bill’s Texans – “Lady Diana” / “Somewhere Between”
A release by Ronny Williams “Move Up a Little Closer Baby” on the Gold Standard label may also be his – but once I saw the photo of him on the sleeve I decided it’s not possible, do you agree? The flip is sung by his brother Larry Williams, “When You Grow Tired Of Him”.
Larry Mack
One of the best vocals that I’ve heard on the label is Larry Mack’s “Last Day of the Dragon”. Songwriting credit goes to Larry Stanley. This is a track I’d definitely like to know more about. I don’t own it yet and haven’t heard the flip.
Thanks to Martin Hancock, Steve Munger and DrunkenHobo for their additions to this discography and the scans seen here. Thank you to Janis Hellard for the scan of Ty Tex TT 114, Joe Baby and the Donnells.
There were plenty of bands called the Wild Ones in the ’60s, but this group doesn’t seem to be related to any of them. A Massachusetts location is possible. The “200,608” number on the label refers to a Decca custom pressing, usually, but not always used by bands in New England. There was a group called the Wild Ones from Shrewsbury/Worchester MA with the single “Number One Girl” / “Surfin’ Time Again” on Camsul.
Mike Markesich wrote: “September, 1965 release. They are not related to the NYC discotheque performing group on United Artists & the Sears label, even tho I’ve seen that mentioned somewhere before. Nothing in copyright matches the titles, songwriters or producer name.”
The highlight is the A-side’s “Please”, a sharp rocker with a desperate singer and a very simple guitar break. “Just Me” is faster, with an even simpler, but effective guitar solo. Good, spare production with a booming sounds to the drums and clearly audible descending bass lines.
Both songs were written by Pratt and Scheurer, and produced by M.A. LaGrotte for the Tiger Productions label.
Info on the Camsul release from Till the Stroke of Dawn by Aram Heller. Thanks to Mike Markesich for the info and label scans, and to Davie Gordon for pointing out the connection to AAA in his comment below. Thanks also to the Eggman for bringing this subject up!
Len More sent in this bio and photos of the Fabulous Pendletons, from Newark, Ohio, just east of Columbus. Len wrote to me “They never recorded. Terry Worth left the group in 1966. I grew up in Newark also but never saw them. I did frequent a dance club called “Alcatraz” in Newark and the “Pirates Cove” in Granville. I also had a friend Jim Proshek that was in a band called The Cytes from Johnstown and Alexandria.”
The bio reads as follows:
The group formed in Newark, Ohio in 1964 and played until the summer of 1967.
The original lineup was John Butts (lead guitar), John Proudley (drums), Terry Worth (rhythm guitar), Dave Pound (vocals) and Dave Morris (vocals). Worth and Morris left the group to seek other fame and fortune. Jerry Miller joined and added the bass guitar to the sound and Jeff Robb from nearby Granville, OH took over on rhythm guitar.
The group played at various scenes around central Ohio including the Newark Armory, Battle of the Bands at Vets Memorial in Columbus, the Holiday Swim Club as well as the college dance circuit. The jocks from WCOL in Columbus were helpful in furthering their career, especially Mike Adams. The group played cover songs of the day but no original compositions.
They played with Ohio acts such as the Rebounds, the Dantes and Sir Timothy and the Royals. They also played at the same venues with national acts such as the Standells, Terry Knight and the Pack, the Left Banke, The Supremes, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, and the Four Tops.
The Fabulous Pendletons circa 1966, clockwise from left: John Butts, Dave Pound, Jerry Miller, Jeff Robb and John Proudley “Terry Worth left the group in 1966 shortly before this picture was taken.” – Len MoreThe Fabulous PendletonsThe Fabulous Pendletons with the Vogues
Men at Work, from left: Karl Lundeen, Marvin Glenna (drums), Dale Madison and Dean JohnsonThe Exiles, from left: Dean Johnson and Gene Markus
I am proud to present Men at Work – a group based out of St. Paul, Minnesota originally called the Exiles. The members came from the Chisago Lakes area: Chisago City, Center City and Taylors Falls. They chose the moniker Men at Work years before the dippy Australian novelty act and cut one rare 45 with two fine versions of r&b from the day.
Gene Markus – lead vocals Karl Lundeen – lead guitar / bass Dean Johnson – organ / guitar / bass Dale Madison – bass / guitar John Lindbloom – drums, replaced by Marvin Glenna
Dean Johnson at the drums with the Exiles
Pauline Kabe introduces her father Dean Johnson’s band:
This little known 1960’s garage band played with the likes of The Castaways, The Trashmen and other local rock bands. Inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, they were one of the many garage bands that hoped to ride the wave of pop music in the wake of the British Invasion. They took the name “Men At Work” more than a decade before the Australian 1980’s pop group.
This 45 was recorded at Dove Studios in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1966 and produced by Peter Steinberg. “It’s All Right” is a cover of the Rolling Stones “I’m Alright”. “Shame, Shame, Shame” is a cover of a Jimmy Reed tune. One of the hot teen places they played was The Country Dam (now razed), which was located in Turtle Lake, WI. The Country Dam funded 1000 singles to be cut in hopes to reach local DJ’s and gain popularity.
The band only saw 100 copies and the remaining copies were to be sent to local DJ’s for air play. The remaining 900 copies mysteriously disappeared (or were never cut). Only a few remaining copies are owned by family members of the band.
They have also played under the name Walt’s Rhythm Kings and in the 1980’s The Georgia Express.
Dean Johnson
Dean Johnson wrote:
I believe it was the summer of 1966 when the Exiles went into the recording studio and cut “It’s All Right” and “Shame, Shame, Shame”. By this time Dale Madison had joined the group as the primary bass guitar player as I had bought a keyboard (organ), and there were five of us. Not terribly long after we cut the record, John Lindbloom was drafted and went off to serve in the Viet Nam war.
We, of course, had some advance notice this was going to happen, and we had been looking for a drummer. Marvin Glenna was one of the first that we tried out. While he had the ability, he was very young and inexperienced, and we were concerned about getting him in to the bars we were playing in. We tried out two or three more who were just crap, and eventually decided to give Marvin a whirl. It turned out to be a great decision.
Marvin Glenna
For sometime before as well as after we cut the record, we were bring booked by Jim Donna of the Castaways and also by a prominent DJ from KDWB radio. We were playing the teen club circuit from Buffalo to Renville and also some college gigs at the University of Minnesota, St Cloud, and Storm Lake, Iowa….including many weekends at Woodley’s Country Dam. The owner – Jim Woodley – actually financed the studio time and the cost of pressing the records; and we in turn played for him for nothing for many, many weekends until we had paid him back.It was a cold, wintery night and we had a gig up at a Catholic High School in St Cloud. Marcus didn’t show up for the job, and we were ill prepared to do a complete four set night with out him. We stumbled and struggled the best we could, but none of us knew the words to all the songs he had sung, and we ended up butchering his songs and playing the handful that were our numbers over and over again for maybe the fourth or fifth times. The kids were pretty upset with this shitty band, and rightly so. We got peppered with snowballs, I ended up cussing out a priest which made Dale Madison – a devout catholic – extremely angry.
Dale Madison
Marcus showed up at my house later in the week. Karl and I were there at the time and we told him to take a flying leap and that we didn’t want to see him again. He had helped us purchase some equipment, so he demanded a guitar, amp and microphone and went on his way. We have never seen him since.So the four of us learned all of the words to the songs that Marcus had sung, and we continued as the Men at Work for the remainder of 1966, all of 1967, and up until about a month before [my daughter Pauline was] born in March of 1968. I had promised that I would quit playing in order to be around to help when and after she was born. We were sort of a unique group for the times as the three front men, Dale, Karl & I would all switch around on each other’s instruments because we could all play a little bass, a little lead and a little rhythm guitar. We would do three or four numbers and then switch instruments and do two or three more, etc., all night long.
We were all supposed to get together again later that summer to regroup and practice up as we had playing dates booked at the Country Dam and other sites beginning in September. However, when the time came, Karl and Marvin had been playing with Marv’s brother, Walt, down in the cities, and they announced that they had decided to stay there instead. After a while, I was asked to come down and join in… which I did.
So then we became Walt’s Rhythm Kings for the next couple of years, playing at country bars and clubs on the NE side of Minneapolis, eventually settling in as the house band at the Forest Lake bowling alley which had a significant club and dance wing. Eventually we went uptown to play at the Forest Laker in downtown Forest Lake as the house band there.
Karl Lundeen
We at some point had the revelation that we should be the Georgia Express, and we played again at the Country Dam, the Tea House (country club at Chisago Lakes Golf Course), Forest Lake, weddings, Fireman’s Balls, local town street dances, the Conestoga, Lindstrom Golf Course, and many private parties.
Walts Rhythm Kings and Georgia Express:
Walter Glenna – lead vocals / guitar Marvin Glenna – drummer / vocals Dean Johnson – bass / vocals Karl Lundeen – lead guitar / vocals
Thank you to Pauline Kabe for alerting me to Men at Work, and to Dean Johnson for his help with this article.
from left: Dale Madison, Marvin Glenna and Karl LundeenDale Madison and Dean JohnsonDale MadisonDale MadisonKarl LundeenKarl Lundeen
There were many bands called the Henchmen throughout the U.S. in the ’60s, but this one came from Ogden, Utah.
Gary MacShara wrote in a comment below:
The “45 … was recorded at a studio at the University of Utah.
The group consisted of 5 students from Ben Lomond High School in Ogden Utah. The members were Tom Whitimore, Rick Wessler, Paul Quigley, Gary MacShara,and lead vocalist Von Nielson.
The group broke up after High School. The highlite of there career was a session with the Liverpool Five. The low point was when we took the record to a Salt Lake radio station and the jock in the studio played it and said quote,”After reading the article in [Billboard] I expected something better.”
If anyone has more info or photos of the band, or better scans of the 45, please contact me.
Because the comments below were almost entirely about the band from Utah, I have moved the original group featured in this post to a new page.
Not the Rock Garden from Arkansas who recorded “Super Stuff” for the Revise label, or the Georgia group who cut “Starry Eyed Woman” for Prophet, or even the one from Michigan (formerly Frederic) who recorded for Capitol. This Rock Garden seems to be an unknown group, possibly only a studio creation.
Released in 1968, “Sweet Pajamas”, written by Jason Schulman, was nearly forgotten for years. I could call this psychedelia-by-numbers due to the anonymity of the group, elaborate production touches like the harpsichord break, and an instrumental middle section taking after the Dead or Mad River. Despite these criticisms, the disparate parts add up to a gem of a song with an endearing hook. The musicianship is professional: the drums crack on the stop-and-start tempo changes, the bass nicely doubles the vocal melody and the rhythm guitar loosens up in the second half of the song.
The B.T. Puppy label was owned by the vocal group the Tokens. Their hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was recently discussed on a garage forum as being possibly the most unbearable song of the ’60s. Regardless, by 1967 the Tokens used their harmonies and writing skills to craft some fine psychedelic pop for their LP It’s a Happening World, including “For All that I Am” that the Creation would cover for one of their final singles, and a brief vignette called “Perhaps, the Joy of Giving”.
On the B-side of the Rock Garden single, “Perhaps, the Joy of Giving” is extended to two minutes, laden with effects and voices.
The 45 was produced by Elliot Weiss & Bright Tunes Productions, engineered by Wally Sheffey.
Josh Pettibone sent in the photo of the Henchmen above in response to my post looking for info on some mystery Texas bands. It came from the collection of a DJ from Hobbs, New Mexico, just over the state line from Texas. I couldn’t find any information about the band until member Ben Boyett contacted me in January 2014.
Ben writes:
We were from Hobbs, New Mexico, and played gigs throughout eastern New Mexico and west Texas. The (original) Henchmen pictured are, left to right, Dennis Spillman, lead guitarist; Kirk Smith, bass (sitting on floor); Danny Spivey, drums; and, me, Ben Boyett, second guitar and vocals. We played in this configuration during the 1964-65 era, recording some pretty forgettable singles [unreleased], “Put That Phone Back On The Hook,” “Two Lives,” and “Animal Crackers.”
After a year, we reformed, with Robert Pampell on keyboard replacing Spillman. In that lineup, we recorded with the late Ray Ruff in Amarillo, TX. Ray Ruff’s studio in Amarillo was a tiny thing in an old shopping center. Just after the Henchmen recorded there, a fire pretty well gutted the place. In the last years of his life, Ray Ruff was a very successful country record promoter. He had a great memory, and even recalled several events about me when I ran into him almost twenty years after recording with him.
Somewhere, recordings exist, including the Ray Ruff session, but I’ll have to do some looking through many boxes of memorabilia.
I re-entered the music business about 20 years after the photo, and recorded a single with the late Norman Petty that was released. I think it sold about ten copies, and most of those to relatives. But, getting to work with the legendary Norman Petty was like getting to work with Mozart or da Vinci.
Danny Spivey is still playing on sessions and in church, after having toured with Up With People back in the late sixties. (He’s the only one of us who actually read music.) Dennis Spillman, the lead guitarist, writes oil and gas leases in Oklahoma. Kirk Smith, the bassist, came to an ignominious end during the seventies.
Q. Did the Henchmen make it as far as Dallas? I came across a band called the Henchmen in a list of bands at the 1967 Texas State Fair.
No, my version of the Henchmen did not make it to Dallas. We were strictly an area phenomenon.
Andy and the Manhattans (or is that Andy and the New Playboys?), 1967, personnel unknownRobert Anderson was a singer from Omaha, Nebraska who fronted most of his bands as Andy Anderson, beginning with Andy and the Live Wires with “You’ve Done It Again”, a light vocal over a Willie & the Hand Jive beat, b/w a Duane Eddy-type instrumental “Maggie” on the Applause label in 1960.
Next came Andy and the Playboys (no recordings as far as I know), and in 1964 Andy and the Manhattans, whose 45 on Cardon Records I’m featuring today.
“Double Mirror Wrap Around Shades” is a good bit of jivey r&b, an original by Anderson, like the flip. It charted at #40 on the August 28, 1964 chart of Chicago station WLS 890 AM.
“Tell Her Yourself” has vocals that sound very folk-influenced, though the backing is simple garage r&b.
Also that year they had two singles on Musicor, “Should’ve I” / Desperate” (I haven’t heard either song) and “Skinny Minnie” / “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide”. After the Manhattans he recorded as the Buggs on Soma, featuring Bobby Jones (later of Aorta) on drums, then retired from professional music to go into medicine.
In a sad and gruesome end to the tale, on May 21, 2009 Anderson shot his wife Karla then himself. A news report on KMTV (no longer on the station’s website) didn’t elaborate on the circumstances.
Sources include Rockin’ Country Style, Rockabilly Bash (link defunct) and chart info from ARSA (link made private).
Thank you to Michelle Monnette for sending in the photo at top.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
I’d been wondering if there were any great rock 45s on Ty Tex when I found The Sensors “Sen-Sa-Shun” / “Side Tracked” at Rex’s sidewalk sale this spring. As it turns out, the Sensors had four 45s on Ty Tex.
I haven’t heard the flip side, a version of “Caravan”, but Not Fade Away #2 says guitarist on that side was Levi Garrett. I assume these were recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, but I could be mistaken.
There were plenty of bands called the Wild Ones in the ’60s, but this group doesn’t seem to be related to any of them. A Massachusetts location is possible. The “200,608” number on the label refers to a Decca custom pressing, usually, but not always used by bands in New England. There was a group called the Wild Ones from Shrewsbury/Worchester MA with the single “Number One Girl” / “Surfin’ Time Again” on Camsul.
Not the Rock Garden from Arkansas who recorded “Super Stuff” for the Revise label, or the Georgia group who cut “Starry Eyed Woman” for Prophet, or even the one from Michigan (formerly Frederic) who recorded for Capitol. This Rock Garden seems to be an unknown group, possibly only a studio creation.
Next came Andy and the Playboys (no recordings as far as I know), and in 1964 Andy and the Manhattans, whose 45 on Cardon Records I’m featuring today.