Category Archives: Texas

Categories: Coronado, El Paso, Frogdeath, Texas

Danny and the Counts

November 19, 2010 Chris Bishop 32 Comments

Danny Parra – guitar and lead vocals
Javier Valenzuela – lead guitar and vocals
Eric Huereque – bass and vocals
Joe Huereque – drums
Joe Martinez – tambourine and vocals

Danny and the Counts “You Need Love” is a signature tune of the mid-60s, with its unforgetable buzzing guitar riff and opening “Oh, yeah!”. Not to mention the cool bending lick after the chorus, or the lyrics about seducing a rich girl. The b-side “Ode to the Wind” is slower and moody, again with good fuzz guitar.This was their second single, from 1966, on the Coronado label. Danny Parra wrote both songs. Chiyo Music BMI published many of Coronado’s releases at this time.

Their first 45 was more sedate. “For Your Love” is the Ed Townsend ballad, not the Yardbirds song, and on the flip is another mellow one, “It’s All All Over”. KELP DJ Steve Crosno’s Frogdeath label released this single.

The band consisted of Danny Parra, the song writer and lead vocalist, plus the Huereque brothers and (I believe) their cousin, Javier Valenzuela, along with Joe Martinez on tambourine and backing vocals. They were from the Clardy neighborhood in the east side of El Paso, along Delta Drive. The article by Susie Dominguez in the the KELPaper states that the band formed two years before “You Need Love”, though I’ve also read that the band formed as early as 1960, originally performing soul and Tejano music. The article also says that both Javier Valenzuela and Danny Parra played lead guitar.

After these records, Danny Parra went into the Navy and Ken Prichard joined on lead guitar. I’ve also seen two other members listed, but don’t know the accuracy of these: Javier Venisula – organ (same person as Javier Valenzuela?) and Irene Porras – vocals.

Ken Prichard later joined Brand X. Danny Parra moved to California. Eric Huereque passed away in 2003 at the age of 56.

Since first posting this I’ve heard from “Danny”, front man Danny Parra:

Although I was indeed interested in R&B type music back in the day, it was an absolute nightmare to put together and organize a large (8-12) R&B band in El Paso that could ever hope to compete with the likes of The Night Dreamers, The Valiants, The Premiers, etc. which were all fantastic bands in that genre of music in El Paso. One summer after a dismal year of trying to pull together R&B bandmates for rehearsals and even actual gigs to perform I’d pretty much gave up the quest for a large band with a powerhouse brass section.
My interests and my best friend Eric Huereque started to notice the music trends going on in England via the Beatles and Stones, etc. Not only was their music cool and different but their groups were usually only four or five guys! Much more attainable we thought ….. so we one summer Eric and I were jamming on guitars and we noticed Eric’s little brother Joe drumming in the corner of the room with a couple of yellow lead pencils …. and keeping pretty good time at that. We eventually enlisted (after much persuasion) him to try learning some basic beats for our jam sessions. Took a while but we encouraged him.
Spurred on by by his potential and the knowledge that at least we could count on him showing up for practice we realized Eric’s cousin Javier Valenzuela was also an aspiring guitar player and that we might be able to recruit him if an audition proved him viable. Note that at this time the big draw of the eventual band’s members was that most keys guys were Eric’s family and therefore more dependable in contrast to the people we had been trying to recruit and pull together as a viable band from all walks of life and all parts of sprawling El Paso!
Somehow, after countless hours of practice (weeks, months, lifetimes it seemed sometimes) and many horrible and worse experimental gigs we started to focus more on the “English sound” and less on R&B. To make a name for ourselves with this new image and music direction was a herculean task in El Paso because we were all latinos. If you were a band with latinos it was expected that you played only R&B style music back in those days.
Up to this time we had a first record under our belt which was recorded on Steve Crosno’s Frog Death label. We recorded “For Your Love” / “It’s All Over” in a single live take in Steve’s home without a drummer! Unbelievable! The recordings were meant to be a dry run but Crosno decided to put them on vinyl since he could promote them on KELP airwaves where he pretty much reigned as the biggest disc jockey around in those days.
Interestingly, our “For Your Love” was released at the same time the Righteous Brothers released the same song nationwide and the two records were being played back-to-back on KELP. In short order, both records made it up to number ten on KELP’s top 20. KELP published a brochure listing of popular records and music events found all over town that I wish I’d kept a copy of!
Although we got some modest notoriety because of his help on KELP and numerous appearance on his TV “Crosno’s Hop” show, we ultimately made it clear to him [Crosno] that we wanted to pursue the English music trends as a group and abandon R&B. He wasn’t happy about this because his whole market niche was R&B …. so we had an eventual parting of the ways. We produced and recorded our next record “You Need Love” / “Ode to the Wind” using the Coronado label and our own funds.
I’ve seen many comments & references of people who liked our music but were not impressed by the “production” and/or “sound quality” of the tunes. Guess what? These have been very accurate statements since the songs were recorded as live single takes in a dumpy downtown El Paso recording studio for the princely sum of $75.00 (included master tape). The fee was for an hour of recording studio time with a very bored, spectacled, bald geezer that was truly bored out of his gourd during our session. Did he kick up our audio or segregate the instruments and vocals for a sweeter mix? Hell no! What you hear on those tracks was raw, one take, wham-bam-thank-you-maam sounds. We didn’t know any better and the audio engineer simply didn’t care squat or know any more than we did! He might’ve even been the janitor for all we knew.
Q. Is that you playing the lead guitar line on “You Need Love” or Javier?
It was Javier. Many have assumed over the years that the sound was a sitar but I can assure you that we didn’t even know what a sitar was in those days. I recollect that he used either a small glass bottle or lipstick cover on his finger as a “slide” to get that sitar-sound you hear. The fuzztone sound was one of the few guitar effects available back then … made trendy by the Rolling Stones on “Satisfaction”.
Our tape was sent through Steve Crosno’s contacts. He was a bit reluctant to help at first because we weren’t following his R&B recommendation on his FrogDeath label, but he was still cool enough to get it pressed for us with Coronado.
Ironically, I am astounded and flattered that our music seems to somehow endured through other band’s interpretations on their albums and through some compilation albums that you can still buy today that showcased much of the music happening in those days in Texas. There have even been some interesting video efforts (YouTube) made to fit our music. Hmmm, wonder where that audio engineer dude ended up after all these years?
I was drafted in late 1966 (Vietnam) and ended up serving eight years serving my country (Navy) all over the world …. including London, England. Moved with family to California, worked for years as an electronics engineer. Due to a layoff (1985) re-invented and established myself as a much published fashion and beauty photographer in L.A. and authored a book “Model Mystique Unraveled” in 1995-96.
I regret that I lost touch with the band after going in the service after 1966. But I heard that Eric (bass/manager) perpetuated the band for years in spite that I was obviously missing as the frontman!

Article scan from Rick Kern’s El Paso Musicians site, used with permission. Photos of the Frogdeath single courtesy of Danny Parra. A special thank you to Oktay for the scans and help with this article, and to Sam Stephenson for letting me hear “For Your Love” and “It’s All All Over”.

Categories: Coronado, El Paso, Texas

Coronado discography

November 19, 2010 Chris Bishop 15 Comments

Coronado discography of El Paso, Texas
(possibly incomplete, any help would be appreciated):

The first release on the maroon Coronado label seems to be the Pawns / David Hayes 45 which was given the same release number, 127, as the original issue on Exeter 127. See my article for more on David Hayes and the Pawns.

Maroon label:

127 – The Pawns – “Lonely” (J. Watkins) / David Hayes – “Meet Me Here (in New Orleans)”
128
129
130
131 – The Beach Nuts – “The Last Ride” / “Surf Beat ’65” (with picture sleeve)
132 – David Hayes and the Pawns – “Lonely Weekends” / “What Do the Voices Say” (1965, produced by Calvin Bowls)
133 – Celtics – “Man That’s Gone Mad” (Chesshire, Gordon, Daniel) / “Wondering Why”
134
135 – The Starving Cats Combo – “I’m Hungry” (Jess Diamond) / “Mi Amor Se Fue”
136 – Danny & The Counts – “You Need Love” / “Ode To The Wind” (1966)
137
138
139 – Gene Willis & the Aggregation – “We Got It” / “Shing-A-Ling’s The Thing” (produced by E. Benevidas and Barney Krupp)
140 – El Paso Drifters – “Could This Be Love” / “For Your Love”

Yellow label with conquistador heads:

141 – The Motivaters – “Ode to Loneliness” (Doyle Young) / “Heart of Blue” (1968, produced by Charlie Russell)
142 – Doug Adams with Early Morning Traffic – “I Can’t Wait to See You” / “Hontusharaya”
143 – The El Paso Drifters – “All In My Mind” / “In The Midnight Hour”
144
145 – Mitch ‘n Gary – “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” (Mitch Mosley) / “My Juarez Rita” (R. Sims) 1969, prod. asst. Kurt Roehm, guitar arr. Aquiles Valdéz
146 – Donald Ray & the El Paso Chessmen – “Shake” / “I Love You” (both arranged by Donald Ray and Danny Padilla, engineer Kennety Smith)
147 – Donald Ray & the El Paso Chessmen – “Can’t You See That I Love You” / “Cry Like A Baby” (arranged by Donald Ray & Larry Serrano, 1968)
148 – Charlie Russell & the Jones Hatband – “Love Gone Bad” / “Sometimes I Wonder” (both by A.L. Baker, Chiyo Music BMI, producer Johnny Dollar)
149
150 – Larry & The Knightsmen – “Selva” / “A New Acquaintance”

Charlie Russell & the Jones Hatband labels list Ron Martin bass, Conrad Morales drums, Allan Harvey steel guitar.

Beach Nuts and leader Tommy Elliot mentioned in the Herald Post in May, 1966

Leon Jones of the El Paso Drifters, August 1969

El Paso Drifters, Nite Dreamers, Preludes, El Paso Coliseum, August 31, 1963

El Paso Drifters opening for Sunny Ozuna & the Sunliners December 25, 1970

The El Paso Drifters are listed as appearing at a show with the Nite Dreamers and the Preludes at the El Paso Coliseum in 1963. They also appear on the Steve Crosno Day LP recorded on July 9, 1967 doing an upbeat version of the Five Keys’ “Close Your Eyes”. From 1969 until the late ’70s, the El Paso Herald Post lists them many times for live appearances, but only one article mentions a member of the band, Leon Jones. Other members were Carlos Flores, Martha Sifuentes (vocalist on “All In My Mind” and Danny Padilla, who also arranged the first Donald Ray & the El Paso Chessmen single on Coronado.

The Motivators 45 is interesting psychedelia. The group had an earlier 45 on Lin Jo Records, “Hold It” / “Soft Wind” as D-Y and the Motivators. D.Y. stood for Doyle Young, who wrote both instrumentals on the Lin Jo single and “Ode to Loneliness” for the Motivators on Coronado. Another member of the Motivators was drummer Gene Bailey. Doyle Young would have a third single as Doyle Young and Friends on Suemi Records, “The Middle of Love” / “Sunshine Love”

There was another, unrelated Coronado label from Odessa, Texas with a couple releases on a blue Coronado label, and connected to the Coronodo label:

111 – Jan Lessard – “I Just Met You” (J. Lessard, J. Wilson) / “Faithful Fool” (McNew Prod, 1964)
112 – Eddie Williams & the Sheiks – “You Left Your Happiness (Here in My Room)” (Eddie Williams) / “I Just Can’t Help Myself” (C. Gibson, Monte Mead) (McNew Prod, 1964)

Coronodo 001 – Johnny Wilson – “Twi-light Zone” / “Little Miss Fortune” (Expoloring in Sound, Coronado Recording Studios … Heart of the Hills Publishing).

Thank you to Westex, Laurent Bigot, Ken Prichard, Sam Stephenson and Michael Robinson for help on this discography.

Categories: Kaufman, Texas

Ab’soul’lutely Solid

November 12, 2010 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Ab’soul’lutely Solid came from the small town of Kaufman, southeast of Dallas. Unfortunately a live tape and demo recording seem to be lost now.Keyboard player Randy Williams wrote to me about the group:

Dennis Patterson – vocals
Charlie Roberts – vocals
Daniel Elzner – guitar
Randy Williams – organ
John Elzner -bass
Wayne Gillespie – drums
I was in Ab’soul’lutely Solid, a band out of Kaufman, 67-68. I didn’t live in Kaufman, but in Athens, about 40 miles away. The Elzner brothers and the rest of the band were from Kaufman. I was barely 17, the guitarist was barely 16…we were the youngest. I was a classical pianist before I got the Vox.
We were mainly a cover band, but we were really tight. We did rock and roll and soul…..thus the band’s name….Paul Revere, Animals, Hendrix, Wilson Pickett, Doors, etc.
If we rehearsed in the Elzner’s garage, half the town would show up in 15 minutes or less.
We did a battle of the bands in ’68 in Dallas. Also played a UT Austin frat party in ’68, and played around Kaufman, Terrell, Royce City, Seven Points, Athens, mostly smaller places.
We recorded one gig live, and John had the tape, but doesn’t know where it is. We did a ‘studio’ recording for a lady from New York, but never heard back.
Daniel, the guitarist, later played with Tommy Overstreet, the country singer, and lived in Nashville for a while. Still play piano after a 40 hiatus, and just got a Vox Continental, trying to get a British Invasion band together.
Randy Williams

Categories: Houston, Texas

Houston music clubs – The Act III / The What a Way to Go Go

November 11, 2010 Chris Bishop 52 Comments

Johnny Winter at Act III Houston Post, Nov. 30, 1966 — Johnny Winter at Act III, Houston Post, Nov. 30, 1966

A story on a Texas group The Valens / The Outcasts (not the Askel group) mentions the band trying out for a Houston club The Act III a Go Go. However a member of the Interns remembers there being two different clubs, “What a Way to Go Go” and the “The Act III”.

Andrew Brown provided the scan above and says there was also a club called “What a Way to Go Go”. The clubs might have shared the same location, but that’s still speculative. Act III’s address was 6663 S. Main, it seems its been torn down for a strip mall.

Does anyone have posters, photos or material from either club that would clarify this minor point about the Houston music scene?

Categories: Dallas, Knight (Dallas), Texas

Knight Records of Dallas, Texas

October 10, 2010 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

Knight Records discography:

1046 – Bob Haydon – “Suzanne” / “Gonna Go (Gonna Leave Ya)” (both written by Bob Haydon; July 1, 1964)
1047 – Abby Anderson – “(We Were) Sittin’ in the Balcony” (Lewis Lindsey) / “My Love”
1048 – Lewis Lindsey – “Girls Always Break My Heart” / T”he Promise” (written and arranged by L. Lindsey)
1049 – Jimmy Rabbit with Ron and Dea – “Pushover” / “Wait and See”
1050 – The Knights – “Stay” / “I Know It Now” (both by B. Kissell)
1051 – ?
1052 – Jimmy Rabbit – “Wishy-Washy Woman” / “My Girl” (both by Ron Price, arranged by Bob Rambo)

4121-31 – The Knights – “Only You Hold the Answer” (Dick and Bob Kisslle [sic]) / “Walkin’ The Streets” (Bob Kisslle [sic]) published by Pinent Music, BMI and recorded at Dayson Studio in East Syracuse, NY

Any help with additions or corrections to this discography would be appreciated.

Bob Sanders ran the Knight and Spectra labels, among others, during the mid-’60s in Dallas, Texas. The two Jimmy Rabbit singles are probably the best, though I haven’t heard the Abby Anderson 45, described as doo wop.

See the earlier articles on this site for more on Jimmy Rabbit, the Mystics (on Spectra) and the Knights.

Bob Haydon had the first 45 that I know of on Knight, released in mid-1964. “Suzanne” never made much impression on me, but “Gonna Go (Gonna Leave Ya)” has an easy mix of country and pop sounds.

Lewis Lindsey was either co-owner or had some position with the label. Jimmy Rabbit called the Knight label’s studio “Sand-Lin”, though I haven’t seen that name cited by anyone else.

Lindsey co-wrote “Sittin’ in the Balcony” for Abby Anderson, and co-wrote both sides of the Jimmy Rabbit 45, as well as being in Rabbit’s band at the time. For his own Knight single Lindsey wrote and arranged “The Promise”, a pop number with big production. Lewis Lindsey had another release on Vandan VR-7742, “Wish It Could Be Me” / “Is It Love” that I haven’t heard.

All of the above except the second Knights 45 (4121-31) produced by Bob Sanders with publishing by Fieldcrest Music, BMI, often the credits say “An Empire Production”. I would assume the Knights “Only You Hold the Answer” was their own production back in New York, however the logo is exact and their names are misspelled on the song writing credits.

There’s no connection to the Tampa, Florida Knight label that released 45s by the Tropics, Mods and Outsiders or the Wilmington, Delaware label with a release by the Spectrums, “I’ll Never Fear” (D. Stewart) / “Wine, Wine, Wine” recorded at Ken-Del Studios, or the Schenectady, NY label.

Many thanks to Brian Kirschenbaum for alerting me to the Knights 45, and to Tommy “MrTeenSwe” for his help with the Lewis Lindsey 45 info.

Categories: Dallas, Knight (Dallas), New York, Texas, Upstate New York, Watertown

The Knights – from upstate New York to Dallas, Texas

October 4, 2010 Chris Bishop 19 Comments

Bob Sanders ran the Knight and Spectra labels, among others, during the mid-’60s in Dallas, Texas.

The Knights 45 was completely unfamiliar to me until Brian Kirschenbaum wrote to me with the scan and transfers of the record. He was surprised to find a Texas 45 had made its way to upstate New York. It’s an interesting single, very much influenced by the British sounds of the time in changes and feel, especially on “I Know It Now”. Bob Kissell wrote both sides.

I had no information on the group until a couple comments were left (see below). As it turns out, this band made an unlikely journey from upstate New York to work in Dallas, Texas. In Watertown they were known as Dick and the Knights.

I’ll repeat most of Dick Kissell’s comment here:

The group consisted of Chuck Martuzas, bass (now deceased); Bob Lawlor, drums; Bob Kissell, lead guitar; and myself on rhythm guitar. The vocals were done by Bob and myself.
On a whim, we went to Dallas in the fall of 1964 because we had a friend down there who said he might be able to help us find some local clubs needing bands. We started out at a place called The Haunted House Club then moved on to the Disc-A Go Go and eventually LouAnns. We became house band at LouAnns.
Lewis Lindsey played the organ part on the “Stay” side. A guy named Bill Petty was friends with Lewis Lindsey and was also part owner in the Haunted House club; that’s how we got the recording deal. Only 300 copies were pressed. Later the following year, we became friends with The 5 Americans and played around Dallas for awhile until returning home.

Dick Kissell added in an email to me:

The single “Only You Hold The Answer” was a regional hit for us around 1967. My brother Bob Kissell wrote the melody while I wrote the lyrics. He plays (blues) around the Daytona Florida area in the winter, and then comes home and plays here (Watertown, NY) summers.

The Knights second single, “Only You Hold the Answer” b/w “Walkin’ The Streets” may have been their own production with no involvement from Bob Sanders of Knight Records in Dallas. The labels credit their last name as Kisslle (sic). The single had publishing by Pinent Music, BMI and the band recorded it at Dayson Studio in East Syracuse, NY.

Many thanks to Brian Kirschenbaum for alerting me to the Knights 45 and to retrogirl86 for the info in her comment.

Categories: Robin Hood Studios (Tyler), Texas, Ty Tex, Tyler

The Sensors (with Bugs Henderson)

July 25, 2010 Chris Bishop 4 Comments

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”.

Categories: Texas, Ty Tex, Tyler

The Revolvers

July 25, 2010 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

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.

Categories: Robin Hood Studios (Tyler), Texas, Ty Tex, Tyler

Ty Tex Records Discography

July 25, 2010 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

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.

For more information on the Sensors, the One Eyed Jacks, and the Revolvers see their individual entries.

Donnie Carl

Donnie Carl is Donnie Carlton Kight, a soul singer. He wrote most of his songs, sometimes with Mike Goodrich.

Ronny Williams' Gold Standard sleeve Move Up a Little Closer Baby — 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 Ty Tex 45 Last Day of the Dragon 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.

Categories: Dallas, Texas

List of bands at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, October 1967

June 11, 2010 Chris Bishop 20 Comments

Times-Herald, Oct. ’67 list of bands at the Action Spot

The above clipping was sent to me by Rollie Anderson of Dust, showing close to 60 bands that competed at the October, 1967 Texas State Fair in Dallas. Not all the bands were from Dallas or Fort Worth, though I suspect most of them were.

I think it’s worth listing all these groups to see how many we know anything about – I only know about a handful of these groups. To see photos of the Action Spot stage, see the article on the Mind’s Eye.

If anyone can help with info on any of these, please write to me at chas_kit@hotmail.com or leave a comment below.

Blue Green
Blue Moon
Brand “X” – There was a Brand X from El Paso that featured Ken Prichard of Danny & the Counts. However, Ken told me they didn’t play this event.
The Caretakers
The Coachmen – likely the group from Ft. Worth who recorded the instrumental “Splash Day” for Spotlight, though it could be the Coachmen from New Mexico who recorded “Grapes of Wrath” / “Summer Should Bring Happiness” for Sea-Ell. The Coachmen from Abilene had broken up by this time.
The Colonists
Dust – see Rollie’s article on this site.
The Destinations
Don and the Demons – according to a comment below, Don & the Demons came from McKinney, TX and recorded a version of “Walking the Dog” on the the Gibson label which I haven’t heard.
Execution of Time
Joey Farr and the Orbitors – As Tommy “Rockin’ Bones” points out in a comment below, this is probably a later band of Little Joey Farr who had releases on the Houston label Kangaroo and the Colorado label Band Box.
5th Amendment
John Foster’s Group
The Gentle Rebellion
The Gents – from either Dallas/Ft. Worth or as far away as Abilene – 45 on E.V.E. label in 1966
Gingerbread Blues
The Henchmen – definitely not this New Mexico band
The Herd
Hillsboro Group
HMS Blues
Hunters of Time
Images
The Jazz Informers
The Kaces
Kempy and the Guardians – Oak Cliff group named after vocalist Gary “Kempy” Rawlings, they recorded the legendary “Love For A Price” / “Never”. Larry Samford may have been another member
The Kicks
Killeen String Band
The Kolumn – from Lancaster, TX – see comment below
Lunatic Fringe
Main Street Prophets
The Merchants
Mind’s Eye – not listed in the article but see photos of the band onstage at the Action Spot
New World
Night Creepers
Noise Inc.
The Off Beats – There was an Offbeats who cut “Drenda Ann” / “Chaos” (both by John Brodie) on the Cherokee label from Arlington, but I don’t know the year for that. Another possibility is Jimmy & the Offbeats who recorded for Bofuz. Less likely is James De Fore, a San Antonio artist who cut 45s as Jimmy Dee & the Off Beats in the late ’50s.
Owsley
The Pagans – from Carrollton, NW of Dallas, according to a cousin of three of the members
The Playboys Five
Prisoners of Love
The Reasons Why – possibly the Temple group who recorded the excellent “Don’t Be That Way” for the Sound Track label. John Schwertner went into the Lavender Express.
The Reflections
Reining Daze
Satin and the Soul Men
The Sensations – see the article on this site.
The Shade – see the article on this site.
Sound in Motion – aka the Sounds in Motion – see Howard and Steve’s comments below.
Don Sperry Quartet
Starlight Group
The Tyme Keepers
The Unclaimed Freight
The Untamed
U.S. Bonds
U.S. Britons – (U.S. Brittons) Dallas group featuring fifteen-year-old Mike Jones. They cut two original songs “Come On” and “I’ll Show You a Man” that exist on demo acetate as far as I can tell. Both songs were highlights of Green Crystal Ties vol. 3. The band played throughout Dallas, including at the Studio Club. The band included Larry McNeny, Larry Meletio (drums), Herman Drees (guitar), Joe Cree (bass) and Mike Jones (guitar). See below for more info.
Walter Vaughn
The Westminsters
The Young Texans – likely from Grand Prairie, with Jim Koof (Kopf?), vocals; Dennis Stark, lead guitar; Don Booker, lead and rhythm guitar; Bobby Head, bass; Jerry Head, drums. See this clipping

Larry McNeny wrote to me about the U.S. Britons:

I had heard about that compilation but never heard the record. I started the band with Larry Meletio in Jr. High. Mike Jones was in a band with Joe Cree (Rowe’s little brother) and [both] eventually joined us. Mike was a fluent songwriter. He’d call me several times a week and play me a new song he’d just written for us. He also had a great 442!
Oddly enough I remember that State Fair gig. Also I noticed a pre-US Britons band of mine on a newspaper ad for a show for Jas. K Wilson (a clothing store) where we played with 5 of a Kind, The Galaxies & the Rogues. We were called the Roamers! I honestly don’t know where we came up with these names!
Larry McNeny

Thanks to Mike Markesich for the info on the Gents and for reminding me of the U.S. Britons.

Garage Hangover