Clyde & Dudley, El Paso

The 'meat' for my original post on Clyde and Dudley of El Paso was pretty thin, the only information being what was to be found on the record label itself and a posting of two sets of Korea-related lyrics on the internet, including a song titled "Rice Paddy Daddy". Though I didn't include it in my original post the Clyde & Dudley disc is one of my favorite country releases from the area, partly because its inebriated feel. Clyde Hooten himself came across my original post and was kind enough to send along his story.



CLYDE & DUDLEY- The Girl God Took Away b/w Too Many Faces (Carousel 206)

I wonder how many people's stories have either started or ended with being drunk in El Paso's sister city, Ciudad Juarez. For some it was almost a rite of passage to make that walk across the bridge spanning the Rio to hit the Mexican bars and cantinas where the drinking age was almost non-existent. With things as violent and unpredictable as they are now across the Rio, fewer and fewer people are making that walk.

But being drunk in Juarez is how Clyde introduced his story...

I wrote The Girl God Took Away one drunken 1958 night in an appropriately named Juarez “dive” the Submarine Club. The "girl God took away" still exists and she is alive somewhere in Illinois. Too Many Faces was also a fifty-eightish nocturnal creation thought up during a dirt-road drive; El Paso Natural Gas Line Road south of the Carlsbad Highway, just west of the Hueco Mountains.

The songs were recorded in the claustrophobic studio of radio station KINT in El Paso and the masters were sent to Phoenix for pressing onto the Carousel record label. The label was named for the Carousel Club in Anapara, NM whose manager, Benny (?) owned the label and the record was released circa 1959.

Our record obtained good promotion thanks mainly to the then Program Manager of KHEY radio, Bob Scott, but promotion was only local. Benny (?) was arrested, convicted and served time for attempted bank robbery (true story) and so Dudley and I used to joke that we were off to a bad start, since our Manager, Whitey (?) had a nervous breakdown and the recording company’s owner, Benny (?) was sent to prison. Obviously, neither our talents nor the promotional efforts of Bob Scott could overcome the negative impacts of these mental health and penal issues on our singing careers (are you laughing yet?)

Dudley and I were both natives of El Paso, but Dudley passed away prematurely at age 32 in 1971. I on the other hand am still going strong (I think) at age 71.

You correctly credit me for the parody Springtime in Korea as well as Rice Paddy Daddy. Both were written while I was stationed with the U.S. Army at Camp Sarafi, Korea in 1962-63. (Lyrics for both songs can be found HERE. According to Clyde the song was written about a Buddah-esque Master Sergeant Rapp, recorded to reel-to-reel, and played at their mess hall in Korea). It was my Army service that interrupted my Country Music “career” although I’ve continued writing throughout the years, and these later years seem more productive than those of my youth.

I obtained a copyright on a book “Between the Hard Rock and this Place” with which I’ve really done nothing. It is a compilation of poems and song-lyrics I’ve written throughout the years.

Lastly, creativity must be genetic as it appears in each of my 3 children; daughter Christine Hooten is probably the greatest lyricist the world would ever see, if she would only let them take a peek, while my son Timothy, former Director of Ministry and Service at Azusa Pacific University . . . is not hiding his lamp in the closet. He is the COO of Blue Yonder Films (www.blueyonderfilms.com) (Hoodwinked!) Tim’s has many projects working . . . several films tied up in studios and one very exciting project, an indie film entitled Jeffie Was Here. Jeffie should be released later this year . . . hopefully by this summer.


Thanks to Clyde for the info on he and Dudley's Carousel release and thanks for his permission to run the story and the picture he supplied (caption by me).

Ray Reed, Roswell / Ruidoso

A way out in New Mexico, among the cool tall pines

Where the skies are always blue, the sun it always shines
There lies a little oval, that's becoming world renowned
A way high in the mountains, called the Ruidoso Downs...

RAY REED AND HIS BAND - Go Ahead On b/w Holiday At the Downs (Ruidoso Racing Assocation no#)

I have but the vaguest of memories of my first trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico and they are tied to the pine and the race track in Ruidoso Downs. I might have been but 4 or 5 years old. Looking back it was a strange little trip to the track seeing as how my dad was a devout New Testament church of Christer. What with all the drinking and gambling going on the whole idea of Ruidoso Downs was at definite odds with our family's churchin'. And yet there we were. Just before my teens we visited again, staying a week in a timeshare, but there was no trip to the Downs this time. I remember a near bear attack and once again the smell of the pine. 20 years on and Mrs. Westex and I actually spent part of our honeymoon there 6 years back, even hitting the slots at the Inn of the Mountain Gods for a night. And then Just this past summer we made a quick stop on the way back from a vacation in north central New Mexico. As 'tourist' as the place is I still enjoy it. I think it's because there's a part of me that wishes it to still be some sorta technicolor 50s-styled mountain getaway. A lot like the kind of place Ray Reed sings about.

Located 7,000 feet up in a southern stretch of the Rocky Mountains, Ruidoso (Spanish for "Noisy") and Ruidoso Downs have been a vacation spot for West Texans for a number of years. I've met many folks with cabins in the area, some of them making the 300 mile drive from Midessa two to three weekends per month. And many west Texas skiers hit the slopes of 12,000 ft. Sierra Blanca. For other Westies and New Mexicans it's the gambling that's an attraction. Though the slots are the big draw today, local betting first began with horses.

It was in the 1940s that horse racing first came to Ruidoso Downs, an operation taken over by a couple of Arizona brothers by the name of Henslee (google "McCain Henslee" if that name don't ring a bell) in the 50s. The horse racing game has grown annually in the area, and since 1959 has included the world's richest quarter horse race, the All-American Futurity, which saw a purse of $2,000,000 in 2009.

In the mid-50s New Mexico's Ray Reed returned from the music scene of California, taking up with Gene Henslee and working to help promote the race track Ruidoso Downs. Ray was based out of Roswell at the time which is about an hours drive to the east, down the beautiful Hondo Valley. While in the area Ray worked the Yucca, rival to the famed honky tonk Scottys, and television station KSWS where the Jimmy Blakley clan worked as well.

In 1961 Ray and his band waxed the two swinging sides heard here, each touting the exciting life of Ruidoso Downs and the surrounding area. As noted by Andrew Brown below, neither song quite fits in with the year of the actual release of this Capitol custom. While the recording techniques of the era give it a bit of a punch and shine, the style and arrangements still hold to the swinging sounds of the decade previous. Lincoln, fishing, golf, Billy the Kid, horse racing, a first rate airport, clean air, gambling... Ray makes it all sound aw-reet. No idea who the band might have been, but they were certainly a tight outfit. I have no idea if Ray ever recorded after this effort, but there is one reference in Billboard to a 1940s recording on a Crest label out of California.

Ray's lasting legacy (he passed away in 1998) was creating the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, a now annual gathering of all things truly cowboy.

Some of the information about Ray Reed in this post came came from THIS STORY written by Mark Doth, while the postcard came from THIS Ruidoso Downs website which features a few more vintage postcards.

________________________

Ben's Little Mexico is where you'll find the Westex clan on most Friday nights. If you're ever here in Odessa around mealtime please do stop in at Ben's... great people and great food. Catch 'em M-F, because Sat-Sun they are closed-closed-closed!

Ray Mallon, Abilene

RAY MALLON- You Are All I Want For Christmas (Edmoral 953)

Ray Mallon had a short recording career. I have seen just two records with his name, both of which are Edmoral 953. "I Believe In You" was pressed once backed with the Slim Willet composition "Love And Dreams" and a second time with this posting. Having heard the 'voices' of Ray Mallon on the almost acapella "I Believe In You" I wonder why there would be a need to bring the song back for a second go-round. Perhaps the blame could be placed on that bellerin' bowlegged Biff Collie of Houston station KNUZ. Biff found need inform Billboard that "I Believe in You" was a "big sleeper side" for the station in their February 7, 1953 issue. Mayhaps it was the Christmas single issued first, and with steam picking up in Southeast Texas Slim Willet decided to re-release "I Believe In You", this time with the new flip "Love And Dreams".

Slim Willet's Edmoral label out of Abilene is better known for a couple of releases in a more uptempo vein including the first release of Dean Beard's "Rakin' and Scrapin'" and the rockabilly classic "Lovin' Honey" by Gene Morris & the Pages which was stomped HERE this past summer.

Merry Christmas Eve from a snowy white West Texas...

Kenneth Trent & the Continentals, Amarillo

KENNETH TRENT AND THE CONTINENTALS- The Way I Feel About You (Veeda 4008)

According to John Ingman's West Texas discography Amarillo's Veeda label was owned by Erwin Short and started with a country release by Jimmie Short and His Silver Saddle Ranchers. Though the label focused mainly on rock n' roll, one or two pop releases showed up on Veeda as well. Of the rockin' releases people are today most familiar with the primitive Bob Baker singles, including "Kitty Kat Korner" and "Turned On the Ice", as well as rave-ups by Rick Tucker, Royce Clark, and Kenneth Trent.

Kenneth Trent's "The Way I Feel About You" was the label's next to last release, hittin' the streets of Amarillo in early 1962. And it's the long-lasting influence of Lubbock's favorite rocker that amazes me. Like Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly is one of just a small handful of artists whose influence was so big that some people simply could not move on. Even after Holly was gone and the rest of the music world had seemingly moved on there were guys like Bobby Fuller, Ray Ruff, Bobby Osborn (stomped HERE), and Kenneth who still held fast to that unmistakable sound. They just couldn't move on.

Veeda 4008 was not even the first time that "The Way I Feel About You" had been issued. The song had been released the summer previous on a now rare ep that was split with Jackie Allen (Jackie would later cut a pretty neato version of Bobby Darin's "Bullmoose" for the Alliance label).

"The Way I Feel About You" was co-written by a Larry Spraggins whose name pops up on a number of other Veeda releases, including the aforementioned "Turned On the Ice" which he shares a writing credit with Kenneth Trent.

Monahans High School Concert Band, Monahans

MONAHANS HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT BAND- The Magnificent Seven "Movie Theme" (Musical Moments from Monahans High 1963 - 1964, West Texas Recording Service 19207)

You know what... there's no good reason for this. Maybe it's the fact that tonight was our kid's Christmas concert for Orchestra.

I was never a big fan of westerns growing up, but always did dig The Magnificent Seven for some reason. So I've got this thing for the theme and while don't see myself grabbing up a copy of the OST, owning a local high school's concert band recording of it ain't so bad. I guess.

The tune's got a West Texas feel to it anyhow.

And please... no comments about the 'superior' Seven Samurai. I could give a flip or three about it.

The Gatorvettes, El Paso

THE GATORVETTES- If It's Tonight b/w Midnight (Bocaldun 1001)

I've been on the hunt for a Bocaldun 45 for some time. It started when I was shown a colored copy of Sue Black and Knightsmen's "Pistol Packin' Mama" by a local dealer. Seeing as how it carried an Odessa address I figured scoring a copy of my own would a breeze.

That was probably '98 or '99. My heart sunk a bit a few years back with the publication of the great Chicano Soul, wherein author Ruben Molina noted that Johnny Trujillo and his Knightsmen were an El Paso group, meaning I had little chance of finding a 'wild' copy of that Bocaldun 45. Not around here anyway. Every so often I've checked the RCS website and looked at the label, listened to the clip, and wondered about Johnny, Sue, and more importantly... what were Bocaldun 1001, 1002, 1003, and 1004. Unless they were incredibly rare they weren't rockabilly discs. And they weren't popping up in normal listed-by-label price guides, either. I had never thought about the doo wop or teener guides though. Whatever those missing records were they had to be rare, undesirable, or both.

Then Bocaldun 1001 popped up on some internet auction site I can't even remember the name of at this point. 1001, by the Gatorvettes was good. Really good. An outstanding east coast styled uptempo chanter flipped with a dreamy slowie. I began wondering if it was too good. Shouldn't something this sharp- though unknown and strictly regional upon it's 1959 release- be known by now? Wouldn't 50 years have at least created some sort of cache among the doo wop elite?

The fine folks at the Doo Wop forum at the Cyberranch (HERE) were extremely helpful. Like with the news (to me) that Bocaldun 1001 by the Gatorvettes was previously issued on the Thunder label, which carries the same address and a similar vibe style-wise. And for whatever reason Bocaldun 1001 went through two pressings, with another pressing changing publishing credits and dropping the address. Awfully odd... a release on one label goes nowhere and so you seemingly create another label to reissue the single and then press it up again with new publishing info. Lot of work for a 45 which wasn't exactly getting snapped up.

So... the Gatorvettes. Though a band base in the wilds southeastern New Mexico wouldn't be out of the question, a more likely scenario would have been this group working out of El Paso and taking their name from the famed residents of San Jacinto Plaza downtown. The alligators, which first arrived in San Jacinto square prior to the start of the 20th century, served as a source of pride and wonder for the inhabitants of the largest Texas city west of I-35 for over 80 years, finally being removed for good in the early 1970s. Whereas New York's doo wop combos were known for singing on the corner, perhaps the Gatorvettes sharpened their skills at La Plaza de los Lagartos.

Jack Miller, Amarillo

JACK MILLER- Sandman b/w All Alone (Demand 7-11001, 1962)

The "Jack Miller Amarillo" internet search isn't helpful. While it does actually lead to a folk artist named Jack Miller that sounds eerily similar and has a connection to Amarillo, that road ends there. Mayhaps this Jack Miller is an architect from down south. Or still involved in Amarillo life.

And the producer lead might have ended with a train accident in 90s.

But whoever Jack Miller is he turned in two good-to-great moody teen folk laments on this 1962 release. And it's actually a surprising sound that doesn't strike me as 1962. You still had Amariller fellers ape'ing Buddy Holly, but here's this kid shooting off in another direction. There's a shimmering 50s optimism to "Sandman"... sorta like an ethereal Ricky Nelson. But in the same breath n' strum can hear the strumming singer/songwriter guitar folk of that was still 5 years off.