Spread The Good Word !

When Richard Delvecchio (who adopted the stage name, Richard Delvy) left The Belairs (see last month) to form a new band, he brought only Jim Roberts (keyboards) with him, and recruited Randy Nauert (bass guitar). For guitar, Glenn Grey was brought in for lead and Don Landis for rhythm, With Nick Hefner on Saxophone,and yes, they became… The Challengers ! They played at high school and local dances and such, and eventually earned enough to rent a jazz studio, World Pacific, to record. Nick Hefner played on only one track. In about three and a half hours, they had an album. Just months earlier, The Beach Boys' released a vocal single, "Surfing Safari" and some months after the Challenger's "Surfbeat" release, Dick Dale's first album was released… As always, when it comes to Surf Music, aloha and big up to Phil Dirt at Reverb Central ! The Challengers : * Lanky Bones * * Sidewalk Surfer * * Cruel Sea *

Andrew 'Smokey' Hogg performed and recorded original American blues for twenty years, but never really got through to the audience that many other blues musicians were rewarded with. His "old school" Texas based blues tunes however must have made an impression on listeners and blues fans because of the wide exposure his music received and the great number of labels that recorded his work. Between 1947 and 1958 Smokey Hogg recorded several times a year, and cut several hundred sides, not only for Combo and Modern Records, but also for Blue Bonnet, Specialty, Exclusive, Imperial (on two occasions, several years apart), Top Hat, Recorded In Hollywood, Macy's, Sittin' In With, Federal, Ray's, Show Time, Ebb and Mercury. For someone who's spent most of the past 20 years being chiefly remembered as the unsuspecting victim of relentless lampooning, that's an awful lot of labels willing to take a chance on an alleged no-talent ! He continued to work and r...

Yeeeha again ! (This one's for all the freaks who begged me to post 'The Wild Goose' after the last western mix !) The booming baritone voice of Tennessee Ernie Ford was best known for his 1955 cover of Merle Travis' grim coal-mining song "Sixteen Tons," watered down by the dulcet strains of a Hollywood studio orchestra but retaining its innate seriousness thanks to the sheer power of Ford's singing. But there was more to Tennessee Ernie Ford than that. Over his long career, Ford sang everything from proto-rock & roll to gospel, recorded over 100 albums, and earned numerous honors and awards. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1948. Five singles had been released by late 1949, including "Smokey Mountain Boogie" (Top Ten). Both Western songs and boogie-flavored numbers that in their energy and sexual suggestiveness were really rock & roll in all but name, Ford's recordings featured the fabulous instrumental talents of Travis on guita...

Hola Gringos ! A quick post for the rest of the week...here's the moonlighters ! Enjoy these two fantastic songs released on Tara Records in 1958 !!! Yeeeeeeeeeha ! I'll be back in 7 Days, I'm off for a couple of days ! No more. No less. Seven shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be Seven. Eight shalt thou not count, nor either count thou Six, excepting that thou then proceed to Seven. Six is right out.Once the number Seven, being the seventh number, be reached, then, I'll be back. The Moonlighters : * Broken Heart * * Rock-A-Bayou Baby *

A lil' bit of soul will never wash away the...ah whatever. Gene McDaniels had a brief but successful career as a pop singer in the early 60's. McDaniels signed a contract with Liberty Records in California and worked with producer Tommy "Snuff" Garrett, who supplied Gene with songs written by the Brill Building stable of songwriters, including Bacharach & David, Goffin & King, and Pomus & Shuman. Gene's brief fling with fame resulted in his appearance in the 1962 British film It's Trad, Dad which was directed by Richard Lester. Also known as 'Ring-A-Ding Rhythm', the film included appearances by Chubby Checker, Gene Vincent, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Mr. Acker Bilk, Del Shannon and others. In later years when black consciousness was in vogue in the pop music business, he began to go by the name Eugene McDaniels and recorded some soul-styled social consciousness records for Atlantic in the early 70's. These recordings became the album...