This isn’t retro or rockabilly, it’s the real thing. As a charter member of session all-stars the Wrecking Crew, JERRY COLE bent strings with everyone from the Byrds (“Mr. Tambourine Manâ€) and Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Are Made for Walkingâ€) to the Beach Boys (Pet Sounds) and Paul Revere & the Raiders (“Kicksâ€). As performer, he and bandmate Glen Campbell headed The Champs and sent “Tequila†up the charts. Cole was featured guitarist on Shindig and Hullabaloo and backed up Elvis Presley in 1974. His bandleader abilities were tapped by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Roger Miller, and Rick Nelson and he was a first-call guitarist on TV show bands for Andy Williams, Sonny & Cher, the Smothers Brothers, Laugh In, and Dick Van Dyke.
Yes, he matched Dick Dale on the surf turf, recording with the Stingers (Power Surf) and the Spacemen (Surf Age). Cole also recorded numerous instro albums under his own name and turned out the hotly collectible Guitars A Go-Go series. Yet his most unheralded contribution to modern rock is as King of the Hot Rod Guitar. While the Beach Boys and Dick Dale were making waves with surf music, Cole was revving up his guitar by making music to drive faster by. During the mid-Sixties he recorded over a dozen albums of hot rod and dragstrip songs, music that’s inspired and influenced bands from the Blasters to the Cramps and Butthole Surfers
While stand-alone record shops and the rare department store music section offered the latest in vinyl, drugstores and grocery stores were a treasure trove of gems by anonymous performers such as The Scramblers (Cycle Psychos) and Billy Boyd (Twangy Guitars). The Blasters (Sounds of the Drag) and Eddy Wayne (The Ping Pong Sounds of Guitars in Percussion). The Winners. The Hot Rodders. The Deuce Coupes (The Shut Downs). The Red Jackets (Surfers Beat). The Id (The Inner Sounds of the Id). All were JERRY COLE.
Dig a little deeper and you’ll unearth Cole as an architect of psychedelia with his proto-psych albums The Id and The Animated Egg in 1966, and Astro Sounds from Beyond the Year 2000 with 101 Strings (!). A highly collectible vinyl recording titled Organ Freakout by “The Mustang†actually featured JERRY COLE with The Id.
The list of stellar names Cole worked with as guitarist, vocalist, writer, arranger, producer, or bandleader is endless: Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Aretha Franklin, the Righteous Brothers, Little Richard, Dean Martin, Merle Haggard, Ray Charles, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Lou Rawls, Johnny Rivers, Gregg Allman, Lee Hazelwood, Blood Sweat & Tears, Kenny Rogers, Neil Diamond, Steely Dan, Isaac Hayes, Steely Dan …
Cole’s self-released Back to the Boards CD in 2006 revisited his beach days and the first installment of the JERRY COLE Crown Series on Ace Records was released in November of that same year. 3 Balls of Fire guitarist Burnin’ Mike Vernon is the series producer for the Ace project, with a new volume on the way. The renewed interest in JERRY COLE’s matchless body of work is, as the liner notes for The Id so presciently noted in 1967, the Unshape of Things to Come. Even 30 years later.
Girlfriend Ink
maintains and handles this JERRY COLE MySpace page.
Jerry appreciates all comments and messages
and I will try to make sure that he sees them but
JERRY COLE DOES NOT HANDLE OR RESPOND TO MESSAGES
PERSONALLY AT THIS TIME.