Hi. We’ve just got the blog set up at larrydonn.com, and here’s some of what’s on it. Carl Mann was a guest on my “Rockabilly Days” television show, and this is part of the interview.
It was made at W.S. Holland’s house in Jackson, Tennessee. Earlier that day, we had played some music for an hour or two, and we’ll try to get some of the music tracks on here at some point in the future. (If there is one.)
The video of “The Bono Boogie” was recorded at Arkansas State University, at a party we played for some people who donated a lot of money to the school. W.S. came over and played with my son Joey and me. Had a great time, and played some good music. We’ll try to get more tracks from that on here someday. Bono is my hometown, and as all musical pieces need some kind of title, I figured that would work for this one, which could be called “make it up as you go”.
I had a good time this past Saturday night playing for the reunion of my class of ’59, and the whole school. We played about 45 minutes, and did mostly old ’50s songs. I don’t think there were any disco fans there.
The old classmates bought several copies of my latest CD, “BURNING!”, for which I am grateful. There still remains a significant portion of the world’s population that has not bought a copy, however, but they’ll come around in time.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Billy Lee Riley has cancer of the colon and bones. He’s involved in chemotherapy and radiation treatments now, and isn’t feeling too good because of them. The treatment can be worse than the disease, sometimes. Several of us are doing a benefit show at the Silver Moon in Newport, Arkansas on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 6. So far, the line-up includes, besides me, Sonny Burgess and the Pacers, Ace Cannon, Carl Mann, W.S. Holland, Dale Hawkins, and a bunch more. Should be a great show. You’ll probably never see another like it. We’ll be taking names, and if you’re not there, we’ll send Chuck to your house.
My song “1957 Blue Suede Blues” is also available at the blog. Just click the play button on the picture of me playing the piano. You can also hear the song on Delta Boogie Radio. You can listen or get your free download both places.
In Rockabilly Days Larry Donn writes about mosquitos in Arkansas and Alonzo Buzzard.
A sudden invasion of Arkansas vampire mosquitoes left me little time for writing a column this month. Armed guards are quite expensive these days, so I’ve been up almost every night keeping watch with a 12-gauge shotgun. Not many of them can survive a blast of double-naught buckshot, but I keep a club handy to finish off the bigger ones.
I have asked my old friend, Alonzo Buzzard, to guest-write this month’s column. You will, of course, remember Alonzo’s big hit of 1953, ‘Love Me Strange’. He was awarded a plywood record (by his uncle, who felt he needed encouragement) for selling 500 copies. His two friends each bought a copy and his mother bought the other four-hundred ninety-eight. The record is extremely rare and would probably command nearly a pound a copy if she would part with them.
You can read the whole article here on Delta Boogie.
W.S. Holland played with Carl Perkins in the 50s, Carl Mann in ’59, and joined Johnny Cash in ’60. He played with Cash for thirty-seven years. In ’59, when “Honey Bun” was released, we played several shows with Carl Perkins, and one night when our drummer didn’t show up, we asked W.S. to play with us. He did, even though he had to play the whole four sets. Our drummer who didn’t show up was Sammy Creason, who later played with the Bill Black Combo on the Beatles first tour of America, then Jimmy Buffett, Tony Joe White, and so many more, spent 18 years with Kris Kristofferson, and was playing with Jerry Lee when he died.
In about 2000, W.S., or “Mr. Flukas”, as I call him most of the time, was a guest on my television show, and then played a few shows with my son, Joey, and me, as a trio. The video you might see here, called “Bono Boogie”, was recorded during a show at Arkansas State University.
A W.S.-related note: I’ve just found a tape with W.S., Sonny Burgess, Billy Riley and me at a show a few years ago. We had a bass player and another guitar player besides Riley and Sonny, but I don’t remember who they were. The balance is a few degrees short of wonderful, but the voices are reasonably clear, and there are some rocking cuts. I’m putting selected tracks on a CD, so maybe you’ll get to hear them one of these days.
LD
The video from the Tennessee in London was made by Bill Dixon in 2000, and the video from Arkansas State University was made by Mark Denny in 2001. The videos with Sonny Burgess and/or Billy Lee Riley were made by Glen E. Swindle in about 1990. Keep watching. We’ll be adding more videos later.
Larry Donn
Great rockabilly piano with Larry Donn, his son Joey on bass, and W.S. Holland on drums. For those who are scratching their heads about the title Larry Donn lives in Bono, Arkansas. Hey! Could be worse. Could have been Toad Suck Arkansas and then it would be the Toad Suck Boogie.
Besides working with Larry Donn, W.S. Holland has played drums for Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. He’s a Rock n Roll legend in his own right.
The video was made by Bill Dixon in London at the Tennessee, in May of 2000. The Houserockers, formerly the Playboys, were my back-up band. We got started late, and my show would have been after midnight, so we decided to let the Blue Moon Boys, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, close the show. They did a fantastic job, and I was glad I didn’t have to follow them. They’re no longer together, but we’re still friends. Kenny Taylor, the leader and lead guitar player, played some solos on my latest album.
More later, Larry Donn
