The Tune Masters, Pecos

THE TUNE MASTERS - Mad Twistin' Fever b/w Sometimes It Hurts (Hama no#)

The The Tune Masters were a quartet based out of the west Texas town of Pecos in the early 1960s. Group members were Richard Klein on bass(now deceased), Mike Hanyan and Sonny Matta sharing vocal and guitar duties, and drummer Archie Hogue. While today they are best known for their double-sided rocker on the Askel label of San Angelo, a second release on their own Hama label paid tribute to that early 60s phenomenon known as the twist.

Few areas escaped the craze, but twist records are none too common among releases from the wilds of West Texas. Not so uncommon for West Texiteens to be a bit late to the dance, so to speak. The Tune Masters like every other hard working regional band of the time played to and for the crowds and this was done by playing the popular tunes of the present as well as the popular standards of recent memory. By the time The Tune Masters released "Mad Twistin' Fever" in 1964 the dance had done run it's course twice (Checker topped the charts in '60 AND '62 with his reworking of the Hank Ballard number) so finding a 'twist' number in a band's set list in '64 would not have been all too surprising. But releasing a twist-style record in 1964?

On the ballad flip Sonny Matta turns in a nice ballad with a big Roy Orbison influence, a sound they also went to when they re-recorded Orbison's Sun era-"Go Go Go" as"Down The Line" and the the Orbi-styled band original "Why" for the previously mentioned Askel label.

The Hama 45 was recorded at Ben Hall's High Fidelity House in Big Spring.
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Pecos postcard from the TexGenWeb Project.

Tune Masters picture grabbed from Youtube clip of their Askel 45 put up by Archie's daughter who I had originally contacted. Band member names came from the clip as well.

*The Youtube clip notes the Askel recordings were done in February of 1963. The Rockin' Country Style website notes that the release came in 1964 and I would assume the information to have come from Mike Hanyan who is given credit on the site for info. My dating for the Hama release is based on other records bearing SON (Sound of Nashville) matrixes.