Waylon

Read Online Waylon by Waylon Jennings, Lenny Kaye - Free Book Online

Book: Waylon by Waylon Jennings, Lenny Kaye Read Free Book Online
Authors: Waylon Jennings, Lenny Kaye
Ads: Link
in Lubbock; I played rhythm
     guitar in Hope’s band, alongside steel guitarist Weldon Myrick, who became one of the best pedal players in Nashville. Later
     on a singer from Wink, Texas, named Roy Orbison would turn up. Nobody thought Roy had a chance with his high voice.
    One night I was in a restaurant in Lubbock over on Avenue Q, with Sonny Curtis and Weldon. We didn’t have any money, and I
     had hitchhiked to Lubbock. Sonny took the only nickel that was among us and put it in the jukebox and pressed Chet Atkins’s
     “Poor People of Paris.” Sonny could play in that finger-picking style. I admired him so much, I wanted to change my name to
     Sonny. I even tried to stand like him.
    There was one other musician with us at the restaurant. His name was Charles “Buddy” Holly. He was only a year older than
     me, but he seemed to have a lot more experience. He had been born in Lubbock, and was half of a group called Buddy and Bob,
     later expanded to include Larry, and I’d seen him every now and again. He sang mostly country songs with Bob Montgomery, in
     classic Delmore/Louvin Brothers fashion; but after Elvis came through like a whirlwind, he added Larry Welborn on bass, so
     he had his Scotty and Bill. Sonny Curtis sometimes joined them on fiddle.
    He was a highlight of the
Sunday Party.
He didn’t look like the type of guy you’d expect to turn on the crowds, but I always enjoyed him as a performer. He wasn’t
     as impressive a singer in country music. But man, the minute he hit that rock and roll, he was something else.
    Buddy called it Western and Bop, which could include everything from the “Annie Had a Baby” rhythm and blues he heard coming
     out of
Stan’s Record Rack
on KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana, to the country and western that sprouted from the same town on the
Louisiana Hayride.
Much like the western swing of Bob Wills, when rural string band music started colliding with the big band jazz of the early
     thirties and the Hot Club sound of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, this new breed of country crossed all boundaries.
     It was called rockabilly, bay-buh.
    KDAV was the first full-time country music station in the country, and Pappy Dave Stone, the Man with a Smile in His Voice,
     ran it along with disc jockey Hi Pockets Duncan. They were kind of a team. Dave was the businessman. He knew how to make money
     out of these things. Hi Pockets was the guy who came up with ideas. He was a tall, walking encyclopedia of country music,
     kind of a ladies’ man, and his favorite food was chocolate cake with cream gravy. Is that rich enough for you? He had a winning
     smile, and a brash, self-confident look about him. In those days, disc jockeys were stars. If a singing star came to town,
     the disc jockey was probably the bigger of the two.
    Hi Pockets would do voices on the air, real slapstick country stuff. He’d be Herkimer, or speak high and scratchy like an
     old woman. His theme song was the “I.H. Boogie,” a guitar shuffle that he said stood for “Introducing Hi Pockets.” He was
     a natural-born emcee. For the live shows he would dress up and do comedy. Later, when Buddy, Bob, and Larry got to be so popular
     that they had their own scheduled slot on the
House Party,
he became their business manager. He was always good for a glad hand and some discreet advice. Hi Pockets would always talk
     to you where Dave might have been talking down to you.
    There was some question whether this new rockabilly was country, but that’s a question they’re always asking. Though they
     gave him a hard time at the Grand Ole Opry, KDAV came down on the side of Elvis being country, and even instituted a
Rock ’n’ Roll Hit Parade
for a time. For Dave Stone, it was rockabilly with an emphasis on the
billy.
Buddy not only appeared with Elvis at the opening of a Pontiac dealership when he was just starting out in early 1955, but
     supported him on a package show with Ferlin Husky headlining later

Similar Books

The Alliance

David Andrews

No New Land

M.G. Vassanji

The Whipping Club

Deborah Henry

Rogue's Honor

Brenda Hiatt

Centyr Dominance

Michael G. Manning

Babylon's Ark

Lawrence Anthony