Jerry & Joe and the Border Wranglers, El Paso

JERRY AND JOE & the Border Wranglers- When I Open the Door (Best 111)

Jerry Street and Joe Leaver... who were you and where did you come from? And where did you go? In 1962 or 1963 the two turned in this swift country rocker on the 'catch all' Best label out of Mesilla Park in south central New Mexico. It's got a jangle, and got a swagger, as well as a drummer that could certainly keep things on the upside of the tempo... with drum rolls even! El Paso group? Las Cruces?

All the same it's a bit of an unknown on a relatively unknown label... best known thing on the imprint is the Big Sonny & His Furys 45 and that's hardly the talk of the town. (Stomped HERE). No idea who ran production for the prolific Gum Publishing outfit which caught releases on Best, Frank Gonzales' own F-G label, and Gum among others but I would assume that Emmit Brooks of Goldust might have had at least a partial hand in the process somewhere.
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On the way...
* Odessa folk duo Friends of Mind
* an update on Abilene rockabilly boy Gene Morris
* Turkey's OTHER white meat... Buzz Barnhill & the Four Counts
* Odessa's infamous Knights Bridge... not even a private detective could find these neighborhood heroes. I'll put a myth or two to rest while creating entirely new ones.
* ... and from parts-all-over the New Roadrunners.

Gene Evans, Lubbock

GENE EVANS- Tell Me b/w Big Time Ladies Man (Dart 132)

In the spring of 1960 Lubbock boy Gene Evans got his first of just a handful of record releases. Listening to "Big Time Ladies Man" there is little doubt about where Gene was drawing his influence. Something so outwardly braggadocious might have been a bit uncharacteristic for Buddy Holly himself ("Modern Don Juan" aside), but most of the other obvious trademarks are otherwise there. "Tell Me" is a fairly standard pop song for the time. Not horrible, but not terribly exciting either.

How a kid from Lubbock wound up on Pappy Daily's eclectic Dart label is a mystery. Mayhaps there is a connection with KLLL's Slim and Sky Corbin who have writering credits on both sides of this 45. Though it's a tenuous connection at best there is the chance dee jay Bill Mack of rival station KDAV might have been involved. KLLL's Waylon Jennings had a short songwriting partnership with Bill and and one of their songs, "John's Back In Town", saw release on a Mack 45 on Daily's D label. I can think of no other artists from Lubbock proper that were recording for Daily at this point (unless Jimmy Blakley had left Roswell).

It's also possible that producer Norman Petty shopped the record to Dailey on his own. Both Cliff and Jimmy Blakley had recorded records with Petty that were released on Starday (when Daily was still the 'day') and later again on the D label. Fred Crawford cut a solitary Starday side, "Mission Walls" with Buddy Holly on guitar, at Petty's studio. Amarillo hepster Lou Walker's custom Starday issues were cut in Clovis as well. Perhaps Daily had put out word that if Petty saw anything interesting he might keep D/Dart in mind.

Upon release the record did little damage anywhere and was not even reviewed in Billboard. A short time later Gene took part in Larry Holley-sponored Hollyhawks with one-time Cricket Niki Sullivan. Jubilee picked up just one 45 from the group.

For Gene there would at the very least be one last 45 on the Anchor label, one side being a remake of a song called "Slippin' & Slidin'" which had been written by a Richard Penniman.

Sorry for a lackluster sound... as clean as this disc looks it is either a crummy pressing or suffered a pass or four under the worst of styli or, more likely, needles.

The Venturas, ????

THE VENTURAS - Tired of Living(This Way) (IN 101)

Who were the Venturas?

With a Westex publishing credit and Tommy Allsup production they could have been from Odessa or the surrounding area. But going by the label New Talent promotions was based out of Dallas and Dallas area band Kit & the Outlaws first release, the incredible "Fun, Fame & Fortune", was IN 102. Then there's Hub City boy Gary P. Nunn, he of the legendary Sparkles (their killer "Hipsville 29 B.C." was stomped HERE), who carries the writing credit for "Tired of Living".

According to a Doug Hanners interview with Lucky Floyd (Not Fade Away #4) the Sparkles recorded"The Hip", "Oh Girls, Girls", "Daddy's Gonna Put the Hurt On You," "Jack In the Beanstalk", and "Something That You Said" at Tommy Allsup's Odessa recording studios. This would have had to have been in late 1965 or early 1966 based on Hickory release dates. I wonder if perhaps "Tired Of Living" came with the Sparkles to Tommy's studio but did not get recorded or see release. In this case perhaps Tommy, for whatever reason, held onto the Gary P. Nunn track for later use.

Or perhaps s the Venturas were a short lived Gary P. Nunn project as there is a slight resemblance vocally. And Gary's Lost Gonzo Band was incorporating horns just a few years later. The horn players here have a strong feel for the Tejano sound, turning in a very TexMex-y song. I don't figure on the singer being a chicano- his vocal is a bit too guero- but it's quite possible that the horn players were Odessa Southsiders as they've got the feel. The Venturas also laid down an unreleased track titled "Hornets Nest" that had a Sparkles feel.

"Cry I Cried", the flipside of IN 101, came from the songwriting team of Dean Beard and Jack Smith. Jack did not know the Venturas and did not recall having heard their version of he and Dean's song. I was thinking that perhaps the Venturas might have been a studio group with Dean Beard ala Hayseed Stephens.

Whatever is going here, Tommy Allsup must have really believed in "Tired of Living" as he had the New Roadrunners re-record the song as the A-side for their 1968 AOK release. Despite what the notes to the AOK volume of Cicadelic's Texas garage series say there is no connection between Roadrunners and the Venturas. None of the Roadrunners know anything about the Venturas.

Darrell Faires, Lubbock

DARRELL FAIRES- There's A World Out There (Shalom 001)

Lubbock, Texas folk release from 1967 which runs on a Xian line. Darrell's got a message and feels a bit strongly. Mayhaps a Texas Tech student?

Dennis McCluskey and the Cruisers, Abilene

THE CRUISERS- Cruisin' b/w My Mary Lou (Winston 1033)

"Cruisin'" is a fairly standard stroller from what was in all likelihood Abilene producer/singer Slim Willet's rock n' roll unit: Dean Beard on piano, James Steward on guitar (where are you James?), bassist Hop Ealim (whataname!), and Dash Croft on drums. While the format and build of "Cruisin'" is straightforward, it's got an overall coating of grunge that belies its origins in quaint 'ol Abilene, Texas. (if Texas be part of the famed 'Bible Belt', then Abilene might well be the Bible Belt Buckle) . The band backs a Dennis McCluskey on the ballad flip, but McCluskey sounds a bit too grown up for the material.

Released in either May or June of 1959.