Permian Band, Odessa

PERMIAN BAND - "Fight Song" & "Hawaii Five-O"( from Mojo Spirit ep)

School has begun again and it is this year that Odessa's beloved Permian High celebrates its 50th year, a year that sees the oldest Westex child enter in to the school's famed halls as one small part of the tradition of MOJO.

This particular 7" release came about in the late 1960s I would guess, possibly the year after the team's first state championship in 1965. The Permian band leads a spirited PHS crowd through the School Fight song and then whips back around for a take on "Hawaii Five-O". Has any school band NOT beat this horse to death?

I had heard of Permian and the MOJO spoken of with a hushed reverence during my own high school years in down in Central Texas in the 80s/90s. Their fans were loud, devoted, and strong in number. They would follow their Panthers, black and white cowbells in hand, to the ends of God's oil-blessed earth. Having grown up in Clovis, New Mexico as a devoted fan of the AAAA powerhouse Wildcats I could understand. Clovis bled purple and white. But the mystique of Permian seemed to be above and beyond anything that little ol' Clovis could muster.

My freshman year of college in Abilene I saw that Permian was bringing its MOJO and fans to town and a phone call later we were on our way to Shotwell Stadium. The stories were right... lots of black and white, lots of cowbells, and lots of fans. More fans had made the 190 mile trip from Odessa than had made the cross-town trip. My date for the evening was a gal who had attended a private Christian high school up Tulsa way that couldn't even muster up enough kids for a team. She had never even been to a high school football game. Needless-to-say she was a bit overwhelmed by the spectacle of the whole thing. Though she dropped out of school during our sophmore year to become a stripper I'm not quite sure that can be blamed on the mighty MOJO.

18 years later I've got a sophmore at Permian, but I ain't all MOJO'd up. I've been to but one single game in all my Odessa years, and that was because they were matched up against my ol' alma mater of Copperas Cove, themselves a powerhouse in recent years.

I do have a "P" hat though, sooooo.... "Fight, Panther Team, Fight" I suppose

The Nobles, Abilene

I had really hoped I would be able to get a good piece on Abilene's teen kings the Continentals up at the Stomp in honor of next weekend's Key City happenings... I just didn't get to it. It WILL happen... but for now swing to this early 60s Abilene town stomp...


THE NOBLES - Black Widow (Selbon 1.005)

Aaah... a long sought after disc finally makes it to Rancho Westex. Not particularly rare, but it is fairly great. 1963 or 1964 perhaps? I know nothing more... perhaps they went on to become the Noblemen?

I've made mention of this before... but this coming Saturday... August 21... Garage Band Woodstock is on tap.
The Livin' End (cut the INCREDIBLE "Pine Street Boys"), the Continentals ("I'm Gone"), the Chevelle V ("Come Back Bird") and others will be getting together for a reunion. I really wish I could be there and have even gotten three different "heads up" emails from the Continentals camp, but sadly it isn't meant to be... ol' Westex returns to the classroom for another year of teaching on the following Monday and will be needing the weekend to get ready for a new batch of 8th graders. Aaaaargh!!!!

The Stone Sisters, Lubbock

THE STONE SISTERS - Between Ten And Twenty b/w Te Amo Hawaii, Te Amo ( Top Records TLT-504)

Oddball TNT custom pressing here.

The Stone Sisters are youngish sounding pop gals backed by what sounds like a straight hillbilly band which happened to have a fine sounding steel player. Based on the label's location perhaps a Lubbock group, though I would have no idea who. LoneStarStomp reader Robin Brown suggests that the guitar player may be Lubbock guitarist Clyde Hankins with other players possibly coming from the Bernie Howe Trio. Robin further suggested that the recording had been done in one of the local radio stations.

Despite being one of the largest cities in the region, the closest professional recording studio in the 1950s was Norman Petty's operation up the road in Clovis. I don't suspect this to have been a Clovis venture as that would have surely been established by this point in time. Though it is a possibility that the Stone Sisters could have traveled to San Antonio to record (the backing group doesn't strike me as a familar Lubbock area group) it is more likely for the group to have sent the recordings in to TNT to be pressed. Based on what is heard in the grooves TNT received a master that was recorded just a bit in the red. Add to that the the TNT touch and you get the usual no-fi experience so often associated with Tanner N' Texas.

TLT-501 wasn't the only TOP Records Release. Lisa Wheeler (of the excellent Pueblo City Limits blog) noted a blurb in Billboard Magazine (March 14, 1960) that referred to Vance Zuin of Top Records recording at RCA's Nashville Studios. It is likely that Billboard is actually referring to the 'gospel giant' Vance Zinn who released a 45 on Lubbock's DEB, a label best known for two Jim Solley 45s. The Zinn 45, which carries the number TLT-101, is a 1960 RCA Custom pressing. Aside from the TLT matrix both sides also carry the same songwriting credits as what is found on the Stone Sisters 45. The songwriting is partially credited to a Grussendorf which would seem like an easy lead, but the influx of German farmers to the western part of the state renders the name kinda sorta semi-common.

I doubt the Stone Sisters would have given the either the Davis Sisters or Abilene's own Starlight Sisters a run for their money, but as far as local kiddie combos go they're not too terribly bad. They were probably the cat's meow at the area country jamborees and probably performed at their share of supermarket openings. I actually get a small kick outta their TexMex'd take on hula rhythms with "Te Amo Hawaii." I think it's cute.