Douglas Winston Poindexter (October 19, 1927 – October 1, 2004) was an American singer and guitarist who fronted the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

band The Starlight Wranglers (or Starlite Wranglers) in the early 1950s and recorded for

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 C ...

. Members of his band included

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic D ...

and

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

, before they started playing with

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Biography

Poindexter was born in

Vanndale, Arkansas Vanndale (formerly Oak Grove) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Searcy Township, Cross County, Arkansas, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 339. Vanndale was the ...

. He idolized

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

. By 1953 he had moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and joined a band, the Starlight (or Starlite) Wranglers, whose members included Scotty Moore on electric guitar, Bill Black on bass, Clyde Rush on acoustic guitar, Millard Yeow on

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

, and Tommy Sealey on fiddle. The band played what at the time was called

hillbilly music Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...

, and Poindexter sang with a pronounced nasal twang. Bruce Eder, Biography, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved February 5, 2019 In May 1954, Moore organized a session for the group at the

Sun Studio Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

in Memphis, where they recorded two songs, "Now She Cares No More" and the more upbeat "My Kind of Carrying On". A single was released (Sun 202) but was unsuccessful. Elvis Presley had seen the band perform, and, six weeks after Poindexter's session, Moore and Black played with Presley on his seminal recording of "

That's All Right "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and bl ...

". It has been speculated that Poindexter may have played on some of Presley's early recordings such as "

Good Rockin' Tonight "Good Rocking Tonight" is a jump blues song originally released in 1947 by its writer, Roy Brown and was covered by many recording artists (sometimes as Good Rockin' Tonight). The song includes the memorable refrain, "Well I heard the news, th ...

", or helped with the arrangements. He certainly performed with Presley at some early shows, and is credited with playing guitar and percussion on 1954 recordings issued in 1956 on Presley's debut album. Ken Burke, Dan Griffin, ''The Blue Moon Boys'', Chicago Review Press, 2006, p.35
/ref> Poindexter left the music business by the end of 1954. He said: "There was no way of knowing that success was coming to Presley. Frankly, I thought the boy would starve to death." He later worked in insurance and for a baking company, and became the owner of Southern Statistical Computer Consultants. Poindexter died at

Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis (formerly known as Baptist East) is a 706-bed a general hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. This hospital, built in 1979, is now the flagship of Baptist Memorial Health Care since the closure of the Madison Campus i ...

in 2004, aged 76. Obituary, ''Commercial Appeal Memphis'', October 3, 2004, at ''FindaGrave.com''
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poindexter, Doug 1927 births 2004 deaths American country singer-songwriters Sun Records artists