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Stan Kesler
Stanley Augustus Kesler (August 11, 1928October 26, 2020) was an American musician, record producer and songwriter, whose career began at the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. He co-wrote several of Elvis Presley's early recordings including " I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", and played guitar and bass on hit records by Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. As a producer, his successful records included "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Early life Kesler was born in Abbeville, Mississippi. He learned to play mandolin and guitar as a child, and steel guitar during his time in the United States Marine Corps. Career After his discharge, he formed a band with his brothers, before joining Al Rodgers in his band, performing in and around Amarillo, Texas. After two years with Rodgers, Kesler moved around 1950 to Memphis, where he played in various country and Western swing bands, including the Snearly Ranch Boys led by Clyde Leopp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbeville, Mississippi
Abbeville is a town in Lafayette County, Mississippi. The population was 419 at the 2010 census. History Abbeville was originally settled by pioneers from Abbeville, South Carolina in the 1830s. They lived in apparent peace with the local Chickasaw Indians, whose Chief Toby Tubby owned and operated a ferry along the Memphis-Oxford trade route. During the American Civil War, Abbeville was almost completely destroyed in the Vicksburg Campaign. Abbeville post office was established September 28, 1843, with John B. Davis as first postmaster. In 1950 Abbeville had a population of 275. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. Transportation Highways * Mississippi Highway 7 Railroads * Mississippi Central Railroad Demographics As of the census of 2010, there were 419 people and 166 occupied housing units in the town. The racial and ethnic makeup of the town was 89.7% non-Hispanic White, 8.8% African American, 1.0% reporti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs
Domingo "Sam" Samudio (born February 28, 1937, in Dallas, Texas, United States), better known by his stage name Sam the Sham, is a retired American rock and roll singer. Sam the Sham was known for his camp robe and turban and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains. As the front man for the Pharaohs, he sang on several Top 40 hits in the mid-1960s, including the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 runners-up "Wooly Bully" and "Li'l Red Riding Hood". Early career Samudio made his singing debut in second grade, representing his school in a radio broadcast. Later, he took up guitar and formed a group with friends, one of whom was Trini Lopez. After graduating from high school, Samudio joined the Navy, where he was known as "Big Sam." He lived in Panama for six years, until his discharge. Back in the States, Samudio enrolled in college, studying voice at Arlington State College, now the University of Texas at Arlington. He recalled: "I was studying classical i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Balls Of Fire
"Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 popular song recorded by American rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie '' Jamboree''. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by ''Rolling Stone''. The song is in AABA form. The song sold one million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United States making it one of the best-selling singles in the United States at that time. Song information The song is best known for Jerry Lee Lewis's original recording, which was recorded in the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 8, 1957, using three personnel: Lewis (piano/vocals), Sidney Stokes (bass), and a session drummer, Larry Linn, instead of the usual Sun backups Jimmy Van Eaton (drums) and Roland Janes (guitar). Lewis was quoted in the book ''JLL: His Own Story'' by Rick Bragg, (pg 133), as saying "I knew Sidney Stokes but I didn't know him that wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Session Musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a tour. Session musicians are usually not permanent or official members of a musical ensemble or band. They work behind the scenes and rarely achieve individual fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders. However, top session musicians are well known within the music industry, and some have become publicly recognized, such as the Wrecking Crew, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and The Funk Brothers who worked with Motown Records. Many session musicians specialize in playing common rhythm section instruments such as guitar, piano, bass, or drums. Others are specialists, and play brass, woodwinds, and strings. Many session musicians play multiple instruments, which lets them play in a wider range of musical situations, genres an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Feathers
Charles Arthur Feathers (June 12, 1932 – August 29, 1998) was an American musician most associated with the rockabilly scene of the 1950s. Although not initially recognized for his contributions to rockabilly, over time his presence would become greatly elevated and he has been cited as an influence by a number of musicians. Biography Feathers was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States. He started out as a session musician at Sun Studios, playing any side instrument he could in the hopes of someday making his own music there. He eventually played on a small label started by Sam Phillips called Flip records which got him enough attention to record a couple of singles for Sun Records and Holiday Inn Records. By all accounts the singer was not held in much regard by Phillips, but Feathers often made the audacious claim that he had arranged "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" for Elvis Presley. He also claimed that his "We're Getting Closer (To Being Apart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Country Chart
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sales and streaming. The current number-one song, as of the chart dated December 24, 2022, is "You Proof" by Morgan Wallen. History ''Billboard'' began compiling the popularity of country songs with its January 8, 1944, issue. Only the genre's most popular jukebox selections were tabulated, with the chart titled "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records". For approximately ten years, from 1948 to 1958, ''Billboard'' used three charts to measure the popularity of a given song. In addition to the jukebox chart, these charts included: * The "best sellers" chart – started May 15, 1948, as "Best Selling Retail Folk Records". * An airplay chart – started December 10, 1949, as "Country & Western Records Most Played By Folk Disk Jockeys". The juke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Prior to that, Sun had concentrated mainly on African-American musicians because Phillips loved rhythm and blues and wanted to bring it to a white audience. On January 28, 2021, Sun Records was acquired by Primary Wave for $30 million. History Sam Phillips opened his Memphis Recording Service studio on January 3, 1950 at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis. It was founded with the financial aid of Jim Bulliet, one of many record executives for whom Phillips had scouted artists before 1952. In March 1951, Phillips produced "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Because of Turner's Delta blues connections, he was contracted by Phillips as a talent scout and he was effectivel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warren Smith (singer)
Warren Smith (February 7, 1932 – January 30, 1980) was an American rockabilly and country music singer and guitarist. Biography Smith was born in Humphreys County, Mississippi, to Ioda and Willie Warren Smith, who divorced when he was young. He was raised by his maternal grandparents in Louise, Mississippi, where they had a small farm and dry goods store. Smith took up the guitar to while away his evenings while in the United States Air Force stationed in San Antonio, Texas. By the time of his discharge from the service, he had decided to make a career of music. He moved to West Memphis, Arkansas, and auditioned, successfully, to play the Cotton Club, a local nightclub. The steel guitarist Stan Kesler, who was playing there with the Snearly Ranch Boys, immediately spotted Smith's potential and took him to Sun Records to audition for Sam Phillips, with the Snearly Ranch Boys providing backup. Phillips liked what he heard and decided that "Rock 'n' Roll Ruby", a song credi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf. Phillips played a major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton. Phillips was the owner and operator of radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and Lake Worth Beach, Florida. He was also an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels and an advocate for racial equality, helping to break down racial barriers in the music industry. Early life Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a 200-acre farm near Florence, Alabama to Madge Ella ( Lovelace) and Charles Tucker Phillips. Sam's parents owned their farm, though it was mortgaged. As a child, he picked cotton in the fields with h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quinton Claunch
Quinton Mavis Claunch (December 3, 1921 – April 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, record producer and record label owner, who was responsible with others for setting up Hi Records in the 1950s and Goldwax Records in the 1960s. Biography He was born in Tishomingo, Mississippi, and moved in the early 1940s to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He played guitar in local country music groups and in 1943 formed a band, the Blue Seal Pals, with Edgar Clayton; one of the other band members was Bill Cantrell. The group had a regular slot on radio station WLAY in Muscle Shoals before moving to station WJOI in Florence and then to WSM in Nashville where they became a staple of the ''Grand Ole Opry''. After he married in 1948, Claunch moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he met up with old friend and former WLAY disc jockey Sam Phillips. Claunch played guitar on some early Sun recordings, by Carl Perkins, Charlie Feathers, Wanda Jackson and others, as well as establishing a hardware ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snearly Ranch Boys
The Snearly Ranch Boys were a band that formed around 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee. The band was a launching platform for many of the musicians who contributed to the Memphis music scene that revolved around Sam Phillips and Sun Records. Members of the Snearly Ranch Boys included Bill Black, Jim Stewart, Jerry Lee Lewis, Reggie Young, Ace Cannon, Barbara Pittman, and Johnny Benero. A later version of the Ranch Boys centering on steel guitarist, Stan Kesler and drummer, Clyde Leoppard, who became a part of the Sun Studio session band, recording for numerous Sun artists. The Snearly Ranch Boys were regular live performers at radio station KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee. They were also the house band at the Cotton Club in West Memphis, playing there 5 night a week through the late 1950s. The Snearly Ranch Boys and its revolving roster of band members influenced the careers of other musicians and groups, including Elvis Presley, Stax Records, Hi Records, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance halls and clubs in Texas, Oklahoma and California during the 1930s and 1940s until a federal war-time nightclub tax in 1944 contributed to the genre's decline.''Stomping the Blues''. Albert Murray. Da Capo Press. 2000. page 109, 110. , The movement was an outgrowth of jazz. The music is an amalgamation of American roots music, rural, Western music (North America), cowboy, polka, Old-time music, old-time, Dixieland jazz, and blues blended with swing music, swing; and played by a Musical improvisation, hot string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the steel guitar. The electrically amplified stringed instruments, especially the steel g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
