Abner Burnett, Odessa

ABNER BURNETT- Jerusalem (Ignite 694)

When I moved to Odessa 12 years ago this August one of the first local bands I became familiar with was Kay Kay & the Rays. I say 'became familiar with'... but I never saw the band live nor even heard the band. But I saw the name often back at the time and it was usually connected with a new blues club that was trying to get going around the time I moved in. I also saw the name Abner Burnett associated with the combo.

At some dusty stop along the way in the past 12 years I acquired this particular release on Austin's Ignite label. Released in 1968 by a 14 year old Burnett both sides of the record carry a burned out folk sound, surprisingly weary for such a youngster. Almost overly so... middle class folks struggle like everybody else. Feelings like this would get a 14 year old sent to the counselor these days.

According to Abner's own site he would be done with school the year following this release, eventually winding up back home in the west Texas area, specifically Odessa, for a portion of the 70s. There would be two albums on his own Worpt label, one with the Burnouts, which would have been an apt description for the sound of the Ignite 45.

In the mid-80s Burnett was in law school, there would be a return to Odessa, some time in Mexico, a return to Texas, and presently...
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Check my random blawg Diggin' It!!! for another 1968 release on Ignite.

Jimmy & Dorothy Blakley, Roswell

Not too often that I do such a quick turnaround on someone that's just been 'Stomped. Heck, I've got so much stuff to 'Stomp I haven't done multiple 'Stomps on folks but just a couple of times. But we just rolled through Roswell last week and these two 78s came in the mail just shortly before... so what the hay/hey!



Here's a pair of nice uptempo boppers from Dorothy & Jimmy Blakley with "You Left Me With The Blues" followed by the a-side of their next single, the goofy "Ping Pong", which got pretty well panned in Billboard.

According to information I received from Dick Grant both sides were recorded in mid '55 at the same session with Norman Petty in Clovis. Starday 200 saw release at the tail end of 1955 and "Ping Pong" came at the following year. Dick's sessionography also notes that lead guitar on both tracks, and most other Jimmy/Dorothy recordings, came from brother Cliff Blakley of "Get Off My Toe" fame.

Interesting to note that Starday 200 was preceded with releases by Midland's Gene Tabor("Real Gone Jesse" (#198)) and Kermit's Fred Crawford with ("Can't Live With 'Em" (#199)). Continuing with the "interesting to note"'s... Jimmy would recut Gene Tabor's "I'm Not the Marryin' Kind" for Dixie in 1957.*

And one more interesting note... Jimmy Blakley, Jr. began playing drums for mom and pop at Scotty's in Roswell in 1956... he was age 12 at time time. While living in Lubbock in the 80s Jimmy was a member of a band called Warhorse. I believe this is the same Warhorse band that appeared on the Abbey Road lp that got stomped HERE just last week. WILD coincidence! (Jimmy, Jr.'s MYSPACE)

*Thanks to Dick Grant who sent along a nice run down of the recording sessions for the Blakley clan.

Here's my previous 'Stomp on Jimmy's D 45 "Island Paradise".
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Head over to my twang blawg, Country. & Western where I've got a nice early Starday side up from Bob Heppler.

Impeccable and Deep Spirit, Lubbock

Been a weird July here at the 'Stomp... couple of '66 era teen thangs, next a bit of western swing, on to some late doo wop, and then some swift ssw sounds. Now this...

from Abbey Road: It's Alive (GBC, 1983)

In November of 1977 KISS performed to a sold out audience at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. Two years later they would return to the Coliseum for a Halloween performance in support of Dynasty, but this time to a half-full house. Mayhaps the Halloween date hurt ticket sales. Or mayhaps it was the preacher man claiming he had a witness who saw these supposed Knights In Satan's Service perform a blood sacrifice at the '77 show. (Curt Gooch, Jeff Suhs KISS Alive Forever, 2002)

By the few accounts I've come across- including this interview with producer John Nelson- the Lubbock appearance of KISS is what set Lubbock teens off on their own little metal /hard rock tangent. The Rox-Z seems to have been the first metal spot in the area and the room where Impeccable recorded their famed live album ('Stomped HERE). The next big club was Abbey Road, located in a strip Mall not too far away from the mall.

Abbey Road was where the local kids RAWKED! In 1983 local radio station KFMX and American Airlines produced the live album Abbey Road: It's Alive, made up of 9 live tracks and one studio track, the best being the cuts by Impeccable and Deep Spirit.

Impeccable released their sole lp in 1979 for GBC Records. By 1983 the band had shrunk to a trio I believe and Donnie Allison, the voice of Impeccable, and guitarist Darren Welch had moved on as well. The band documented here has the power-ballad formula down cold, giving up nice little melodic number for the lighter crowd with some butt shaking power chords thrown in.

I know nothing of Deep Spirit other than they seemed to have been somewhat big on the Abbey scene based on the John Nelson interview above. Despite the cheesy synth intro "Ain't No Fire" is a nice mix of new wave and hard rock that could probably stand to be played LOUD... especially on the chorus.

Video documentation of the Abbey Road scene is HERE with a handful of videos produced by FMX. There's a video from Impeccable. Make sure to check out teen sensations Reaction as well.

Joseph Brunelle, Midland

JOSEPH BRUNELLE- White Cloud / The Derailing (Sore Thumb STM-001)

I love Joseph Brunelle. The man is a great writer, t-riff picker, and has a voice that you just can't get around. Sure... there's guys like Joe scattered all over. Heck, one of the co-producers for this 45, Barry Coggins, is one of those guys. But I'm rooting for the local boy here.

I stomped Joe's great 1981 NoMountain release Round To It back in February. In a year of great record finds Round To It has become my favorite of the year. "Highways of My Mind", "Round To It", "Eazy", and "A Case of Blind Justice" have been played constantly in the car and on the rekkid machine here at Rancho Westex.

At around the same time I found the NoMountain lp I was alerted to this earlier 45 on the Sore Thumb label out of Midland which I finally added this week thanks to the amazing digging skills of an Austin Waxidermist (thanks J*s**!).

"White Cloud" is much brighter and happier than just about anything found on the NoMountain lp. Recorded in Dallas with Barry Coggins co-producing "White Cloud" is a wonderful 'crush' song. So very easy to close your eyes, see the dark vastness of a west Texas night time sky, your baby by your side, laying on the hood of the car, watching clouds pushed above... you really can see that white cloud out there.

"The Derailing" is a fast country blues-styled guitar soli on which Brunelle tosses in some nice slide work. According to the label it was recorded in El Paso a month prior to "White Cloud". The slide work actually reminds of El Paso performer Dan Lambert who recorded in a similar style for his own Houndstooth label. According to the Duology Myspace page this song was one of only two instrumental songs ever accepted in the songwriter's competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival and in the year the 45 was recorded Brunelle was one of the 6 New Folk Finalists at Kerrville.

Fine, fine stuff.

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Here's a bit on Barry Coggins's excellent One Man Singing over on my Diggin' It!!! blawg thang along with a YouTube clip of Joe and Barry's current guitar project, Duology. 30 years on and these guys are still creating great music.

The Dellords, Roswell

THE DELLORDS- In Togetherness / September Song (Midas 09)

I've kind of had Roswell on the brain as a result of this here record. It turned up recently in a group of Roswell/Carlsbad releases that were being used as decorations somewhere in north New Mexico. While working on acquiring it I found out that Midas was co-owned by Clyde Haskins and Jimmy Blakley. That led to the posting of Jimmy's excellent "Island Paradise" on D as well as acquiring a couple of Jimmy and Dorothy Blakley's 78 rpm releases on Starday which will get stomped later (I've got a pile of stuff on tap that'll keep me Stomping twice a week from now until Christmas).

Perhaps because of its time (1962 based on RCA custom matrix, despite Haskins saying he started Midas in 1965) or place (Roswell, New Mexico) this disc has been overlooked by the vocal group crowd. Or maybe the late date and location makes it obscure. I find it interesting FOR those reasons. Here's a group of guys that were STILL holding onto that group sound of the decade previous. And doing it in Roswell, New Mexico of all places. A town with a population of mayhaps 30,000 at the time. "In Togetherness" has a ragged New York street sound out step with the desert/plains feel of Roswell. Mayhaps these were gents on loan from elsewhere via the long gone Walker Air Force base south of town. Raggedy all the same, and dig that guitar break! I wonder if Blakley and Haskins made use of guitarist Cliff Blakley for the session("Want To Be With You" on Starday).

"September Song" is interesting as well. A set of strings on the introduction at this late date would have been expected, or at the very least violin. But coming from the honky tonk hot bed of east New Mexico this doo wop slowie is kicked off with a fiddle. I'm not fully aware of all of the versions of "September Song" that had been recorded up to this point, but am curious as to what inspired them to go the fiddle route, unless it was under the direction of Haskins or Blakley.

The Dellords again prove that Roswell was by no means a musical backwater... Jimmy Blakley and his band swung pretty hard in the area in the 50s and 60s, the Venturie '5' would be creating pulsing, psych-tinged rock sounds ("Good n' Bad") a few years later , and Al Sims was being Al Sims. Lots of great sounds coming from the land of Aliens.

Make sure a give a spin to a couple of other doo wop records that have been Stomped... "Laugh" by the Velvets and "Just a Moment" by the Elgins, both from Odessa.

Gene Armstrong & the West Texas Nitehawks, Dalhart

HOWARD GARRETT W/ GENE ARMSTRONG AND HIS WEST TEXAS NITEHAWKS- Pretty Pretty Kitty (Time 125)

Time was begun by Dan Allender in 1947 in Amarillo, Texas and then moved north to Dalhart a couple of years later. 90% of the first releases all came from the incredible Billy Briggs including such Panhandle swing classics as "Pretty Baby Boogie", "New Panhandle Shuffle", and "Yodelling Song". Amarillo dj "Cousin" Keith Lloyd and his Sons of the Golden West had a couple of releases as well. Beginning in 1950 Allender ran a short stretch of releases featuring Gene Armstrong and his West Texas Nitehawks. "Pretty Pretty Kitty", a lazy number, carries a Panhandle sound, comparable to label mate Billy Briggs. I assume Gene followed the role of former westie Bob Wills as a fiddle playing combo leader. A later release features the standard "Draggin' the Bow" and "Nitehawk Breakdown" and John Ingman's A.O.K. disography notes other Nitehawk releases to feature vocalists other than Armstrong.
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John Ingman's A.O.K. Record Labels of West Texas & New Mexico is an invaluable resource. It's no longer in print but if you look hard enough you should be able to turn up a copy. It's far from c0mplete, but has helped me greatly here with this blog as well as turning me on to great records.

The Wry Catchers, Coleman

Coleman, Texas actually falls outside of the area I've picked to be West Texas for the purposes of this blog, but just very barely. I've decided to include it for three reasons...

1) Dean Beard- Dean was from Coleman but worked reall tight with Abilene's Slim Willet from the mid- to late-50s. It's actually a straight shot north out of Coleman to Abilene. After his failed venture with the Champs, Dean returned to the area and recorded for a handful of local labels including Winston, Sangelo, & Boots & Saddle. After the passing of Slim in the mid-60s he seemed to have turned his attentions toward Tommy Allsup and Odessa.

2) Rick Sikes- Rick was pretty much born and raised in Coleman where he worked the oil fields, played the honky tonks, robbed a bank, and eventually opened his own music shop. Rick had heavy ties to Abilene, Dean Beard, and was part of a deal that saw Tommy Allsup placing some West Texas artists with the the Sims label in California. (such as Midland's Mike Malone)

3) Physically speaking, Coleman is on right on the edge of "this looks like West Texas" and "Ummm... the Texas Hill Country". That straight shot from Coleman to Abilene takes in South Plains grasslands mixed with West Texas scrub and the trademark hills of the central part of the state.

On to the Wry Catchers....

(Coleman's Main Drag)

I continue to be amazed by bands from such small towns as Coleman. Here in Texas you expect the country stylings of Rick Sikes and Dean Beard. But the Wry Catchers are such a left-field entry. Even today this is a small, conservative town. One can only imagine the climate of Coleman in 1966 when the Wry Catchers recorded these sides.

Most of what is known about the band is what popped up in an interview with Rick Forbess who penned "Collision Course". In speaking with Mike Dugo of 60s Garage Bands Rick Forbess mentioned that the Wry Catchers had existed for a few years prior to recording the AOK single. Like most bands they covered the hits of the day to appeal to their audiences, including the Beatles and Surfaris. (Make sure to read the interview)

According to Forbess the idea for "Collision Course" originally came to him while cruising the main drag in Coleman and then lead guitarist DeWayne Berry put the finishing touches on the song. Berry penned the 'tropical' feeling a-side "When I Met You" himself. It was the previously mentioned Dean Beard who took the group under his wing and placed them with Tommy Allsup and his AOK label in Odessa where they recorded the single in August of 1966.

Within a couple of weeks band members were pulled in different directions for college and the Wry Catchers were no more.

As for the connection between the Wry Catchers and a song titled "Take A Walk" which appeared on History of Texas Garage Bands Volume 4: West Texas Rarities... 'Take A Walk" was issued as a single on E-M-C-O, a forerunner of the AOK label, by a group called Just-Us-Four. I can only assume that the compiler(s) of West Texas Rarities made a mistake. I've blawged the Just-Us-Four single HERE.

Again, much of the information above came from Mike Dugo's interview with Rick Forbess at his EXCELLENT website 60s Garage Bands.