Buddy’s Buddies came from Macon, Georgia, home to Otis Redding and Little Richard, but a town that had relatively little ’60s band action. The Malibus who cut “I Want You to Know” / “I’ve Gotta Go” on PJ came from nearby Fort Valley, GA but that’s about it.

Buddy’s Buddies included:

Buddy Greene – lead vocals
David Gory – lead guitar
Phillip Parker – rhythm guitar
Andy Waits – bass guitar
Steve Kent – drums

Phillip Parker kindly sent in the photos seen here and wrote to me about the group:

Buddy and I began to play ukes together around 1962 or ’63. I remember Buddy calling me one Saturday morning and telling me to come listen to a record his older sister had brought home. We must have played the grooves off Meet the Beatles trying to learn the songs. We began by playing at a local drugstore off Riverside Dr. in Macon.

We then got Steve to play bongos. Andy was a friend of mine who had a guitar so joined and brought with him David Gory who played lead. He had a great sunburst Gibson. Andy wound up playing bass and I played rhythm guitar.

We played at the Macon Auditorium with Herman’s Hermits, the Beau Brummels, Freddie and the Dreamers and the McCoys. We were young, about 10-13 years old.

The article about getting a traffic ticket with Cassius Clay came from the Macon Telegraph. We were on our way to play at the Big Ape radio show in Jacksonville.
My family moved to SC in 1966 and I did not return till 1967. I’m not sure how long they played together after I left.

Of course Buddy went on to be a great musician and song writer and I did hear somewhere that Steve played drums. He was a great drummer.

Phillip Parker
May 2017

Buddy Greene wrote both sides of their only single. I really like “Tell Me What I See” with its solid back beat and bass line, repetitive piano and Buddy’s shouts of “mercy me!” The flip “I Love My Baby” is a ballad, with a plaintive vocal from Buddy.

The Macon label released Buddy’s Buddies single in July, 1965, published by Macon Music BMI. The only other release on Macon that I know of is Phil Gandy singing “Hula Baby” / “Rainbows End” both by Phil Skelton for Cedarwood Music BMI from circa 1964.

Buddy Greene went on to a long career in music. See his website, www.buddygreene.com for extensive information about his career, including additional photos of Buddy’s Buddies.

Thank you to Phillip Parker for the information and photos on the group. I’m sorry it took me over two years to add these to the post.

Harley Bowers time out…. column had this amazing story:

What A Way To Meet Clay

A group of Maconites, nine to be exact, have something in common with Cassius Clay. They were all stopped by the same Florida highway patrolman at the same time and place last Saturday, and for the same reason – speeding.

It all started as the Maconites, traveling in two cars, were en route to Jacksonville. Five of those riding in the two automobiles were youngsteres 11 to 13 who make up the local singing group known as “Buddy’s Buddies. They were being driven to Jacksonville by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parker (in one car) and Mr. and Mrs. Junior Waits (in the other car) for a radio appearance.

The young singers included Steve Kent, Buddy Greene, David Gory, Andy Waits and Phillip Parker. As they crossed into Florida, this side of Jasper, the two cars passed a pair of Cadillacs stopped along the side of I-75.

One of hte boys, Any Waits, called out to his father, who was driving the car in which he was riding, that he was sure he had recognized Cassius Clay among the four people standing around the Cadillacs. The elder Waits dismissed the idea and drove on.

A few minutes later the two Cadillacs came flying by the Maconites and young Andy again declared that one of the occupants was the heavyweight champion. Upon the urging of the boy the father set out to catch the speeding Cadillacs just to satisfy everyone’s curiousity as to who was inside.

Patrolman Nabs ‘Em All

Waits flew past the Parker auto and Parker, not knowing what was going on, took out after him. They eventually caught up with the Cadillacs, pulled alongside, and sure enough, there was Clay. About the same time Waits noted in his rear view mirror that a highway patrolman was chasing the whole group.

The patrolman flashed ahead of all four autos, then flagged them down one at a time. He told each driver he could either pay a $25 fine, Waits said, or come back to court. Ali preferred to pay but as Waits started to hand the patrolman his money he made the remark that he was going to have to blame his son for wanting to catch up with Cassius.

Clay, overhearing this, was so impressed he paid half the fines of the Maconites. Then he signed autographs for everybody while one of the men accompanying him took a series of pictures. “I assumed it was one of his press agents,” Waits explained.

Cassius reported to the patrolman that he was en route to Miami to begin training for the Floyd Patterson fight and thank the officer for being so nice. “He was real proud of those Cadillacs,” Waits said.

“In fact, he explained to us that they were the same type of automobiles that President Johnson drives and cost $16,000 each. They were even equipped with telephones. We found Cassius to be real nice and there was none of this loud bragging that you read so much about and see so much of on television.”