Let Talk Rockabilly!

[tiny e]

Hey - who play/enjoys rockabilly - what type of strings, slap back delay, amps, tele sets ups - what youe fav stuff to play - artists - what have you added to your tele knowledge and chops from playing it .

[Poppatwang]

I put a Bigsby on my tele. My band plays a mix of honky tonk,
rockabilly & flat out rock-n-roll. We haven't adopted the
rockabilly "scenester" hair & tats as we look like a combo
of aging hippies & cowboys gone to seed. However one "scenester"
complimented us by saying "you know, with our eyes closed
you're the best rockabilly band around here".

I normally use an analog delay for slapback, but it's on the
fritz. So just an FD-2 for a bit of grit into a Laney VC-30.

I lean to the Link Wray camp of string strangling.
Or as TDPRIer Big Cookie called it "Punk-a-billy".

[tiny e]

I play in a honky-tonk band called Straw Boss - we do the "era" feel - basically country rockabilly stuff as it should be per circa 1950-1960 - like George Jones just fell off the turnip truck - we do pile hair yet I dont have tatoos - the other fellers do - I use my tele and a harmony rocket - into a chandler rack delay[a beautiful delay system that i feel guilty about only using for salp - but its a great slap...sound tape to me!] - into my vibroverb re-issue - 40 watts tube that doesnt break down with a soild state rectifier so it stays a little cleaner longer than other "old" tube amps I've had.

I love rockabilly and honky tonk players - you listen to the old stuff and you hear the widest arrangement of musical influences and actual ability levels showing up on tape - great bands with horrible drummers, or the opposite - its fun...you hit a solo section and your choices really cannot be wrong - you can play Chuck Berry rock and roll and/or western swing at the same time

The only thing is - I resist the 'we used to play punk rock - but now we play rockabilly" scenesters- as a general rule the players are not all that great and just scream and beat - let me hear the Big Sandy Band instead please.

[bendy]

Used to play a lot of psychobilly a bit back, top on a tele. Neck pup tun of spring reverb, tad of tremello.

Dont get no better. Starting to see a lot of bands who have been inspired by rockabilly making it big now.

Ta

[pickinpaniolo]

If it weren't for rockabilly I would never have gotten into honky-tonk, wester swing, or anything traditional. I love Gene Vincent and Johnny Burnette etc. but some of the best songs are really obscure. Luckily, there are a lot of CD series out there like That'll Flat Git It or Rockabilly Gold that have all of that stuff.

My Rockabilly rig is either a Tele or my Gibson ES-225 through a Vibrolux Reverb with analog delay and a nice wet reverb!

PP

[T-Joe]

I love rockabilly. New Years eve my wife and I saw a fantastic rockahillbilly band Ray Condo and the Ricochets at the Marine Club in Vancouver for the second year in a row. Great guys and a really good tele player named Chris something. If you're ever in Vancouver and you want to hear rockabilly, check out The Marine Club on Homer St. I love the sound of a tele w/Bigsby for rockabilly. That said though I still think a Gretsch is best for that sound. Also check out Cousin Harley from Vancouver as well. Great rockabilly player! I use a partscaster I built with bigsby through a Blues Jr. a little slapback on a Dan-echo and Gretsch 6120W. I love them cowboy and indian Gretsch.

[olewichita]

i personally prefer gretsches, gibsons and strats for rockabilly myself. that said for any other stuff i always use teles...

teles to me just never really had that rockabilly sound i love. there really aren't that many examples of early rockabilly records with teles either...

the last years i've used my 55 gretsch duo-jet and strats for rockabilly exlusively through a variety of tweed amps.

the only times i've really used teles with a rockabilly type act was when i toured and recorded with ronnie dawson to get that early james burton / roy buchanan thing going that blended so well with his unparalleled rhythm / strat playing.

i also use a chandler for slapback although they only sound good to me through amps that break-up a little bit like tweed bassmans or supers. when i use the chandler through my tweed twin it sounds too clinical. i'd like to get an echoplex again. the RI that came out a few years ago is awesome. i only like using slap back when i'm the only guitarist.

some of the players that rocked my world:

james burton with dale hawkins, bob luman and ricky nelson with his tele...

roy buchanan on dale hawkins my babe with his gibson ES-295...

grady martin on the classic johnny horton and johnny burnette RnR trio records with his bigsby guitar...

roland janes on all the classic sun records with his strat...

hal harris on all the classic starday records with his epiphone zephyr and strat...

cliff gallup with gene vincent with his gretsch duo-jet...

eddie cochran on his gretsch 6120...

carl perkins on his les paul...

hank garland on a variety of gibsons...

chuck berry on his gibsson ES-350...

reggie young rocking out on his strat...

scotty moore on a variety of gibsons...

roy lanham doing sessions at sage and sand on his strat...

sonny curtis on the early buddy holly sessions playing a strat...

link wray...

big john taylor rocking out with benny joy on his strat...

eddie bush with carl mann playing strats and teles...


and all the great unknowns compiled on all the great rockabilly compilations put out on ace, bear family, white lable, bison bop, desperate RnR and a huge variety of bootleg albums and 45s...


three of the greatest examples:

servant of love by the van brothers feat. the guitar playing half of the gentry bros. on his strat... countrified rockabilly at it's best

dancin' doll by art adams feat. the amazing eddie "guitar terrorizer" weil on his 6120...

eddie cohran on john ashley's little lou showing you attitude and technique can go together...


of the modern players i think TK smith in the original line-up of big sandy, eddie angel with the planet rockers and the GREAT, GREAT, GREAT JJ juvonen of wildfire willie and the ramblers are the heppest!


later,

tjarko jeen

[olewichita]

from rockabilly to my tele playing is definitely to utilize all 10 fingers... also as one of the earliest forms of true crossover music it told me that the sky is the limit as far as influences and imagination.... also that you can be a technical player and still rock-out without comprimizing either...

tj

[ComingApart]

I'm a huge rockabilly and early rock fan. It's going through a suge in popularity now, and I thinks thats a good thing, more people need to appreciate what great music it is.
When the topic turns to what is and isn't "Rockabilly", however, then my eyes just glaze over.

It's music for christ's sake, listen to it, play it, love it, but don't go picking it apart and trying to classify it into little groups. Just freakin' rock.
OK, my rant is over with.

I can't say I spend much time try to interject rockabilly into my playing, but it always seem to be there, just like there always seems to be a bluesy element and some oldtime country elements in my playing. It's like that spaghetti sauce, it's just in there.

I dig some of the modern rockabily bands that have come out in recent years, but most of them just come off stale to me for some reason, can't exactly tell you why, but they do.

[olewichita]

i don't totally agree with you...

picking it apart is definitely part of the fun for me especially with rockabilly where you can still detect raw influences... not only through music but geography too... it also gives me focus to spent more time concentrating on particular aspects of my playing... i call this process inspiration and i get it from every type of music...

let's not forget that by say the mid fifties a lot of white rock and roll already lost it's face becoming more homogenized as in all sounding like RCA era elvis...

if it takes you from rocking out or listening to... yes you are taking it too far... just hang out with folks who don't do that is my simple answer tot that... as long as someone doesn't impose his/her opinion on me i really don't care what he/she thinks... know-it-alls come in all forms, shapes and sizes... not just as rockabilly fanatics...

when people get in to ze definzion of rockabilly @#$% mode i just say that i agree that junior thompson's meteor 45 raw deal/mama's little baby and charlie feathers meteor 45 tongue tied jill/get with it, are the only 2 rockabilly records ever made... and we're both happy to have reduced the after de fact genre to 2 records and 1 label...

if that doesn't satisfy them or if they keep maintaining that carl perkins wasn't rockabilly because he used drums or cowboy slim dortch's big boy rock isn't rockabilly because it's from 1964 that would be the perfect cue to run away screaming... LOL...

maybe my preference to not love teles for rockabilly is considered by some as eye glazing but for me it's just an opinion based on my love for guitars and music... and what i hear in my head as a result of that...

later,

tjarko

[bo]

I use (depending on the size of the room) either an RI Bassman or a '55 Flot-A-Tone Model 600 (alot like a Deluxe w/ a 15 inch speaker). For slap the absolute best thing I've found is an old DOD FX-90, which is a pretty horrible delay for anything else. If I need to add a little grit (my band also reaches into the "hillbilly boogie" era, which had some surprisingly "nasty" guitar tones) I have a Don Butler modded Vox Valve-Tone-amazingly clear. For guitars there's always the two Teles, but I find myself relying on either a LP Classic with the electronics converted to '50s specs or (mostly...) a '60 Gretsch Dbl. Anniversary. My RAB band's site can be found here: www.52-pickup.com We tend to keep away from the "teen" stuff but otherwise stick to such song topics as dancing, love , knife fights, drinkin' etc.

[mojito]

Rockabilly is my main deal. I love to listen to it as well as play it. Me and my boys love to play it and throw in some honky tonk for good measure. I really dig pschobilly and my personal writings tend to be more in that vein but I am trying to slowly work into our sets. The drummer and me dig it to no end but the lead guitarist and bass player tend to be more traditional. I think they will eventually come around though. IMO Psychobilly is a modern derivation from rockabilly similar to what rockabilly was in the 50's to traditional music.

[iluvblackfrancis]

I love Brian Setzer, and if you consider the Meat Puppets and Eyes Adrift Rock a Billy, I like them too.

Brian Setzer has the best guitar sound ever. Period.

[Mr.Bluesbopper]

Hey Tjarko

I often saw you play with the late Ronnie Dawson..wow !!!

You even sat in with us years ago in Germany using a tele..I'm sure you cannot remember that night. And I'm sure I was too drunk but I think I saw you last Oct. at the Continental Club???
anyway, greetings from Germany to a great Rockabilly picker(the Tin Stars are still one of my fav. combos !!)

Andy
- Spodeeodee -

PS. you don't want to TAB out Servant of Lovge, do you??

[Mr.Bluesbopper]

oh and I agree with Tjarko, there are other guitars better suited for Rockabilly, at least 50s Rockabilly. I love a tele through a cranked amp like an AC30, any kind of tube combo with a fat mid boost. But thats not that usable in a Rockabilly combo situation unless you play modern Rockabilly/ Rock/Psychobilly whatever you might call it.
I sometimes use my old Tele on sessions, through a Tweed Deluxe, dry or with very little tape echo. But onstage I feel a bit unsafe using a Tele- we don't play very loud and I'm the only guy that plays electric. If the amp isn't that loud the bridge PU sound is too thin.So I feel better with fatter sounding guitars, especially my old P90s Goldtop. Really liked my DuoJets but nowadays I feel that P90s are THE rockabilly pickups. Les Paul Specials are pretty cool for R-A-B !!!

[tweedman]

Check out the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website and don't forget Carl Perkins [Jackson,Tennessee].

[bendy]

Got me into playing

He has a nice #1 as well

[Roel from Holland]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bluesbopper

oh and I agree with Tjarko, there are other guitars better suited for Rockabilly, at least 50s Rockabilly. I love a tele through a cranked amp like an AC30, any kind of tube combo with a fat mid boost. But thats not that usable in a Rockabilly combo situation unless you play modern Rockabilly/ Rock/Psychobilly whatever you might call it.
I sometimes use my old Tele on sessions, through a Tweed Deluxe, dry or with very little tape echo. But onstage I feel a bit unsafe using a Tele- we don't play very loud and I'm the only guy that plays electric. If the amp isn't that loud the bridge PU sound is too thin.So I feel better with fatter sounding guitars, especially my old P90s Goldtop. Really liked my DuoJets but nowadays I feel that P90s are THE rockabilly pickups. Les Paul Specials are pretty cool for R-A-B !!!

I agree ! :D P90's are great for Rockabilly.

[Falstaff]

Originally Posted by T-Joe

I love rockabilly. New Years eve my wife and I saw a fantastic rockahillbilly band Ray Condo and the Ricochets at the Marine Club in Vancouver for .

Is he an older guy who looks a bit like Johnny Cash? I used to see him in Montreal when I went to school there (mid 80's). He was a lot of fun back then, too. Between him, Jerry Jerry (who visited frequently, it seemed), and Three O'Clock Train there was no shortage of good music in Montreal in those days.

[olewichita]

good to hear from yaa! i do remember that night in germany... i think we played 2 ray sharpe songs didn't we? you sounded great at the continental club! dig the les paul. i badly want a gibson. i can't do tab but can show you the lead to servant of love next time you're in TX. have to listen to it again before though. is that one of the greatest rockabilly records ever or what! see yaa soon. tj

[MandyMarie]

Rockabilly pays our bills! haha my husband has played in a rockabilly three piece for the last seven years...gave up punk rock to play rockabilly - go figure heehee, Tjarko, you've heard that life after punk story before haven't ya? haha! :D

When my husband & I met, I was listening to nothing but country - I was asking him if he was familiar with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, he was asking me if I was familiar with the Ramones and the Misfits - if it wasn't for Elvis and Carl's SUN recordings and the Johnny Burnette Trio our conversations would have been rrrrrrrrreal boring...!

He uses a Victoria 35310 and a DanEcho and our '51 Tele with Bardens - I've played a lot of tricks on our vintage hound 'it ain't rockabilly unless it's an Echoplex' friends so before I start tellin' long stories I'll just say this... use what sounds good to you - when you feel like you sound good you play better and the audience likes it when you play better - that's all that matters. I play a mixture of honkytonk and rockabilly, but it's mostly honkytonk - I use the Victoria when Danny's not, but when he is I use my Vibroverb, a DanEcho, and my '68 Tele with Bardens. If a DanEcho is good enough for Deke Dickerson, it's waaaay good enough for me :D

[olewichita]

if it wasn't for Elvis and Carl's SUN recordings and the Johnny Burnette Trio our conversations would have been rrrrrrrrreal boring...!

mandy marie, i love it!

and you're absolutely right about what works for you... in the end that's all that matters... rockabilly has payed my bills for many many years too and although i do stray away from it from time to time, it's were i'll always return to or start from scratch with...

gotta love country and punk rock too though! from iggy and the stooges through the cramps, ramones and johnny thunders to rockabilly boogie isn't exactly a quantum leap! tj

[MandyMarie]

You're on it, my friend!

The joke we hear all the time is "what do punks do when they get old? ...play rockabilly..." Danny hates that one, especially when he's feelin' a bit over the hill heehee

I don't agree with it one bit, of course!

Great to hear life is treatin' you well in Austin - keep up the good pickin', buddy! :D

[cowboytwang]

I had a Rockabilly trio out in LA during the '80s.
We used to do all the Art Fein shows with James Intveld, The Paladins, The Blasters, even a few shows with Los Lobos and Dwight Yoakam before they had record deals.
Some where there is video of us playing on "Little Art's Poker Party" TV show and tons of video that George Wendt (Norm from Cheers) shot at our gigs.

I had a '53 Grestch Electromatic, a '51 Gibson ES-125, a few Tele's('66 rosewood fingerboard & '72 Maple),and a '61 MIJ strat. All were strung with heavy strings, around 13-56 and on the Gibson I used a wound third string.
I played through two '56 Tweed Deluxe's and a '58 Bandmaster. Sometimes with an echoplex, but most of the time just strait in. Most of the time we would use a single Shure 55 mic up front and run echo on it, so the whole group had the slap-back sound(like the old tape recorders in the '50s).
Thinkin' back on all this stuff is making me really miss it.
I just quit the band I was working with, maybe I should try to do another Trio?

[porklash]

Originally Posted by MandyMarie

You're on it, my friend!

The joke we hear all the time is "what do punks do when they get old? ...play rockabilly..."

Or blues.
Then it´s not a joke, rather a fact...

pEr

[Skully]

gotta love country and punk rock too though! from iggy and the stooges through the cramps, ramones and johnny thunders to rockabilly boogie isn't exactly a quantum leap!

So true. And look at someone like Billy Zoom of X. He was an accomplished rockabilly guitarist who had played in Gene Vincent's band. Then he heard the Ramones and decided he wanted to play punk rock. But even when he played "punk," the rockabilly influence was readily apparent.

[Mike Dickerson]

I had the privalege of playing on Sonny Burgess' latest cd and several live dates with him and his band the Pacers. He is in the rockabilly hall of fame and was on Sun records in the 50's. He always tells me to play the stuff I would normally play, but when he lets loose with a solo it floors me to hear the original tone and licks that were being played when rock and roll was born. He plays Gibson and Fender (Gibson gave him and his bass player some guitars) and it is hard to say there is one instrument or brand that is essential to rockabilly tone.

[Walter Broes]

I've never been in a strict Rockabilly band, but most of my musical life so far has been spent in the rockabilly periphery so to speak..(psychobilly, rock and roll, jump blues, roots rock,...) and I think most non-aficionados would call my current band "rockabilly", though strictly speaking, we're more of a R&B/rootstrock ensemble.

I do enjoy playing and listening to Rockabilly guitar immensely though, and it's probably what got me into guitar in the first place, I think it's one of the coolest styles around on guitar, as it's made up of some of my favourite musical influences, Blues, R&B, Country and Honky Tonk, Gospel, Travis-Picking and even a little Les Paul style Jazz...

I think most guitars with fat single coils (I'm partial to P90's) work well for Rockabilly, with a medium size clean-ish tube amp, and a little slapback echo does help in filling out the sound. I have a chandler digital echo, a solid-state echoples and a boss analog delay, the echoplex sounding best, boss pedal most practical.
I agree that strats are greatly under-valued rockabilly guitars btw.

P.S. TJ, It was great seeing you and your lovely wife again in Amsterdam, had a great time. Hope to see you guys sooner and longer next time!

[ye olde fretmonkey]

We're doin' it three piece as Forty Miles of Bad Road. Stand up bass, electric and crappy acoustic...if it was good enough for Johnny and Elvis, it's good enough for us, and we don't have to put up with a drummer's crap anymore.

Half a dozen hank songs, half a dozen Johnny songs, half a dozen Ray Price songs, a smattering of George Jones, Faron Young, Webb Pierce, Warren Smith, Johnny Horton and a handful of originals.

I'm using my 50s Classic Tele (or baritone Danelectro) with a touch of delay and compressor and a Peavey Classic 30, and the other fella's using his Guild Starfire when he's playing electric. Harmonies are sounding real good, grooves are coming together...we just gotta tighten up the beginnings and endings.

[T-Joe]

Is he an older guy who looks a bit like Johnny Cash? I used to see him in Montreal when I went to school there (mid 80's).

Yeah, it's him. He started out in Montreal with a band called The Hardrock Goners. What a swingin' band! They really nail the sound.

[Mr.Bluesbopper]

Originally Posted by olewichita

good to hear from yaa! i do remember that night in germany... i think we played 2 ray sharpe songs didn't we? you sounded great at the continental club! dig the les paul. i badly want a gibson. i can't do tab but can show you the lead to servant of love next time you're in TX. have to listen to it again before though. is that one of the greatest rockabilly records ever or what! see yaa soon. tj

uuuhh..yeah right, Ray Sharpe " Linda Lou". not Rockabilly per se
Actually I thought we had a bad night at the CC this year, that tour of us wasn't that successful, I mean or style seems to be not that popular in Tx !! So as much as I loved Texas and those Texan ladies, we have to make some money next time.. :( 8)

Servant of Love has always been one of my favourites, what a killer tune(and the A side isn't that bad as well).

An original Tele picker would be Jimmy Lee Fautheree, he already had some cool RAB way back in '51 or '52. I think he was copying Travis but sounded pretty raw. I heard he might tour this year with Deke!?

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Yeah, I've also become real interested in a lot of pre-rock stuff that's so close to rockabilly that there's hardly any difference...the Delmore Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bill Haley, lots of pre-rock 'boogie' stuff and revved up honky tonk. Some of it's real primitive, other stuff has a great caliber of musicianship (esp the Delmores and Jimmy Bryant/Speedy West on the Tennessee Ernie stuff).

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by ye olde fretmonkey

Yeah, I've also become real interested in a lot of pre-rock stuff that's so close to rockabilly that there's hardly any difference...the Delmore Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bill Haley, lots of pre-rock 'boogie' stuff and revved up honky tonk. Some of it's real primitive, other stuff has a great caliber of musicianship (esp the Delmores and Jimmy Bryant/Speedy West on the Tennessee Ernie stuff).

Thats the kind of stuff I love.
The Maddox Bros & Rose(w/Roy Nichols)
Billy Jack Wills (Bob's youngest brother)
Moon Mullican(Jerry Lee Lewis ten year before Jerry)
Paul Howard & his Cotton Pickers(w/Grady Martin)

[PigBoy]

& I try to stay as close as I can for rocka/hillbilly stuff. Tele or Esq., tweed Pro(clone), 11-49 strings & slapback delay. Hell, what else do ya need?

[olewichita]

i know it's a dead horse but paul only played lead on the new york sessions: tear it up, you're undecided, oh baby baby, midnight train.

sorry to tell you that the rest of the killer guitar parts: train kept a rollin, blues stay away, all by myself, drinkin' wine, honey hush, lonesome tears, please don't leave me, rock therapy, rockabilly boogie, lonesome train and sweet love are all nashville session ace thomas "grady" martin on his bigsby guitar through a standell amp with his signature sound as heard on hundreds of nashville
( rockabilly ) records.

it's one of the great fraud stories of guitar playing. paul did play some nice back-up guitar on those tracks and possibly the main parts on honey hush / train kept a rollin. although even that's debatable since grady used those 2 licks on many other records too.

the new york stuff is very much an esquire through a deluxe sound. the nashville sound certainly ain't even close to it to my ears. it's bizarre how paul maintained it was him after all these years.

whenever paul burlison find out about this and are somewhat saddened by losing one of their heroes ( although paul is hero enough in my book on merits of the NY sessions ) i tell them well you just gained a new hero too: thomas "grady" martin! i'll post a list of records with more of grady's rockabilly magic later.

i'm not trying to dis paul btw, just want to let more people know about grady. later,

tj

[Mr.Bluesbopper]

not only does it sound different, its even a totally different style. I'm 100% sure it was Grady Martin though to me that doesn't sound like the Bigsby guitar but a Hollow-Bodied Gibson. 8)

[olewichita]

hey andy,

yes the style is completely different that goes without saying. the only other explanation is that paul went from OK guitarist to monster genius in three months time!

i'm convinced it's the bigsby though. have you seen all those pictures from the johnny carroll and johnny horton sessions were grady is holding the bigsby? awesome! tj

[Mr.Bluesbopper]

actually I'm diggin thru some old Bear Family Booklets..found one from a Faron Young Session..ok, another votum for the Bigsby..btw, ever tried one of the Gretsch Bigsby Reissues? (sorry tele-lovers, just curious)????

[olewichita]

i tried one in hollywood and they got the new gretsch treatment. underneath the poly there apparently still is a guitar somewhere. i'm sure the dimensions are of too. neck was flat and skinny. not at alll like the bigsby's i've seen at arlington. later,

tj

[Perkins]

Man.... Rockabilly .... Thats me !! I loved watching Carl Perkins play. Caught him everytime he was within driving distance.... man that cat could go ! I've stole alot of licks from that man . Sad day when we lost him :( . I my self use a Tele or Esquire into an old Rockman Stereo Chorus/Delay unit into into my Gibson GA 17 RVT or Tweed Deville ( Depends on the size of the area I'm playing). For the last 3 or 4 years I personally saw Carl Perform he played a Black G&L Tele through a Peavy Amp. I used to remember which model of Peavy amp But is has been so long I have forgot. I remember he took a microphone and tied it to the handle and hung it over the front of the amp where it hit the center of the speaker. It did not matter what that man played, he sounded like Carl ... no matter what. His sound came from his soul .... deep inside... Carl ... still love ya man, Darrell B.