Larry and the Loafers at the Cedars Club April 13, 2012!

FRIDAY NIGHT, APRIL 13 th, 2012, Doors 6:00, Music 7:00.

Appearing on Friday April 13th, 2012 at The Cedars Club in Birmingham!

Get tickets at: larryandtheloafers.eventbrite.com

More info:  http://www.larryandtheloafers.com/

Larry and The Loafers Show Band will be performing at The Cedars Club just off Greensprings Ave. This will be our first show since re-creating Larry and The Loafers after our successful show at Workplay last November with over 180 dancers and listeners enjoying good Rock and Roll music. We have reserved The Cedars Club for the second Friday of each month for the next 8 months starting with our April Show. This all new 7 piece band will be playing 60s and 70s music for your dancing and listening enjoyment. Dale Serrano Jr. on drums and vocals, Reggie Stokes on vocals and lead guitar, Frank McAnnally on vocals and keyboards, Ken Bonham on sax and flute, Ron Barbee on bass and vocals, Ginger Barbee on lead vocals and backup, and me on lead vocals and backup. At shows in the future we will be inviting guest singers and musicians from the past to perform again on stage with Larry and The Loafers.

The Cedars Club has a very smooth and very large hardwood dance floor. We will have food available, gourmet chef Tim Wright the manager of the club will be offering up gourmet hamburgers and onion strings and a reasonable priced Bar. This is a non smoking venue however we have an area just outside for those that do smoke. If you are not familiar The Cedars Club, please check out their website at The Cedars Club .com it is a great place to party. Think about it, finally a place to go, safe, non smoking, excellent food, reasonable priced bar and live music performed at a volume that you can enjoy and don't have to shout to talk with someone. What a novel concept. So get on your dancing shoes, bring all of your friends and I promise you a night filled with great memories.

For purchasing tickets go to larry and the loafers.eventbrite.com, this site has info and a map of the location, we recommend purchasing tickets on line to avoid delays at the door. You may also buy tickets at the door if available. Please look at larryandtheloafers.com or larry and the loafers on Facebook. If you have any questions call 205-261-8397. PLEASE PRINT the attached poster on this email and put it on your fridge so you don't forget and miss this show. Thanks to all of you for your continuing support of Larry and The Loafers. Larry

"Lucky" Joe Almond and His Hillbilly Rockers

"Lucky" Joe Almond was a great, though obscure, country singer.  He seems to be better known in Europe than in the US considering that some of the most extensive Internet documentation of him is at Wikipedia in German.

Hailing from Wedowee, Alabama Lucky Joe had a short, four year career during which he recorded several transitional country/rock and roll songs on the Trumpet and Globe labels.  It seems that the effort to bridge that gap was most intentional with his backing band renamed from "the Georgia Peach Pickers" to '"Lucky" Joe Almond and His Hillbilly Rockers' for the 1954 release of "Gonna Roll and Rock" and "Hickory Nut Boogie".  The record was released on August 7, 1954 - a few weeks after Elvis Presley's first Sun release, "That's All Right". 






Special thanks to Kevin Nutt for the heads up on Lucky Joe.

More information: http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/a/2715-almond-qluckyq-joe

The Shadows - All County Sock Hop March 3, 2012 in Northport.

The Shadows are back, thanks to Dennis Hambright who asked the 1960s Northport garage band to get back together and play at the TCHS Alumni sock hop in 2011.  Over 750 people attended and the band is back playing this year's sock hop as well as other events (you can check their website http://www.theshadowsband.com/ for updates). 

Here is a video of their 2011 performance:

For more information on the Shadows see: http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/s/2710-shadows-the

All County Sock Hop on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/328926620464594/

Bassmen and Ramblers Feburary 18 in Birmingham

Two 1960's Birmingham garage bands, The Bassmen and The Ramblers will play a benefit show on February 18, 2012 at Park Lane located at 2117 Cahaba Road. Mountain Brook, AL 35223. Doors open at 6:30 and The Bassmen will play 7:00-8:00 and again from 9:15 to 10:00 and the Ramblers will play from 8:15 - 9:00.  Tickets are $60 per person and includes food. Proceeds will go to Children's Harbor in the memory of Sperry Snow.  Snow was a high school classmate of the Bassmen and board member for Children's Harbor who passed away last year.    To attend: RSVP to Ellen.philips@childrensharbor.com. Note that seating is limited.

The Ramblers, left to right: Johnny Robinson (seated), Chip Sanders, Chris Convey, Tommy Terrell and Van Veenschoten

Now in their 50th year, The Ramblers current lineup includes three original members: Tommy Terrell, vocals and guitar; Eddie Terrell, vocals and bass guitar; Johnny Robinson, drums and Jim Burford vocals and guitar; John Livingston, keyboards and vocals.  The group was formed in 1961 by brothers Tommy and Eddie Terrell with Chris Covey, Johnny Robinson, drums and Van Veenschoten lead guitar and Chip Sanders, keyboards.   Van Veenschoten was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1972 and Chip Sanders currently lives in Jackson, MS.  Later members included Chip's 11 year old brother, John Lee Sanders who sang and played harmonica and vocalist Vicki Hallman.  The group hopes to release a 50th year CD and record release as well as a Christmas CD with The Bassmen later this year.

The Bassmen playing live in Birmingham 1963

In 1962; five eighth graders from Birmingham. Alabama, Tommy Allison (drummer) Mike Easter (guitar) Rob Hackney (clarinet) Bert McTyier (sax) and Tommy DeBuiys (piano) came together to form "the Churchkeys". Soon, McTier and Debuys left, Hackney picked up the giutar and they were joined by Charles Feldman (singer) and Chuck Butterworth (bass). The band changed its name to The Bassmen in 1964 and began playing at sock hops, cotillions and other local venues. More changes came as Butterworth left to play with another local group and Easter picked up the bass. In addition, the band was joined by Vaughn Rives (rhythm guitar) and Steve Gilmer (keyboards). By this time it was 1965 and The Bassmen were in demand for college fraternity parties and other regional engagements. As graduation neared, the career paths of each member would take them in different directions and The Bassmen went their separate ways in June of 1970. It was not until 16 years later on the occasion of their 20th high school reunion that The Bassmen were reunited to play. After that, it didn't take long for the group to regain its momentum and popularity and today The Bassmen are still going strong, playing the same great music that brought them together back in 1962.

The Ramblers will also be playing at the 50th year reunion of the Ramsay High School class of 1962 in May 2012.

On August 18, 2012 both The Bassmen and The Ramblers will have their 4th annual show at Workplay in Birmingham.

For more information visit the bands' official sites: http://ramblersofbirmingham.com and http://www.thebassmen.com/

Also: http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/r/2707-ramblers-the
http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/b/2706-bassmen-the

Northport Garage Band The Shadows Reunion Show Jan 28th

Members of The Shadows, a 1960s garage band, will be reuniting after 45 years to play a sock hop in Northport Alabama.  The Shadows used to play after Tuscaloosa County High home football games and the reunion show is sponsored by the Tuscaloosa County High Alumni Association.   The band will include Jack Bigham, Michael Thornton, Stanley Fowler, Donnie Walker, Frank Cannon and Roger Young. 

For more information see:

Tuscaloosa News Teen band reunites after 45 years to play at TCHS
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110123/NEWS/110129864/1007?p=all&tc=pgall&tc=ar

Garage Hangover profile for The Shadows
http://www.garagehangover.com/?q=Shadows

Rockabilly Gems from Mobile's Sandy Record Label

Sandy Records was an independent rock and roll record label established in Mobile, Alabama by Paul DuBose and Johnny Bozeman in early 1957. It launched the careers of many artists such as Ray Sawyer, lead vocalist of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. "Tell Him No" by Travis and Bob became the label's first hit record in 1959.   Many of the songs released on Sandy and its subsidiary, Orange, have become sought after by collectors and reissued on anthologies. Here are a couple of my favorites for your listening pleasure.

Here's Wild, Wild Party by Darryl Vincent released in 1959.



Rockin' In The Graveyard by Jackie Morningstar AKA Jackie Morrell, released in 1959.



Click for more information on Sandy Records
Click for more information on Darryl Vincent

D. A. Hunt and Sam Phillips

Sun Records owner Sam Phillips is best known for his role in promoting the emerging style of rock and roll in the 1950s.  The Sun sound which fused rhythm and blues with country was exemplified by stars like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Charlie Feathers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison as well as slew of other less famous musicians who recorded equally great records at the Memphis studio.  Phillips started his career by recording blues artists for the Modern and Chess labels.  When business with those labels dried up he opened the Sun Studio and eventually began pressing his own records.

Like other southern studios, Sun recorded a range of artists and genres taking advantage of the abundant and diverse local talent of the time. Some went on to impressive recording careers and some, such as D.A. Hunt, remained obscure.   As far as we know, Hunt recorded exactly two blues sides "Greyhound Blues" and "Lonesome Old Jail" released in 1953 as Sun 183.  You can check them out on YouTube:




For more information on Sam Phillips see: http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/p/1521-phillips-sam

For more information on D.A. Hunt see: http://www.alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/h/1085-hunt-da