John Rainey Adkins profile picture

John Rainey Adkins

About Me

Courtesy of The Alabama Music Hall of Fame:
John Rainey Adkins was born December 31, 1941 in Dothan, Alabama. Growing up in the 1950's, John Rainey was influenced by the early rock ‘n roll classics of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ricky Nelson and others. Soon after picking up the guitar, in his early teens, John formed the group "The Webs" and made some early recordings at Ed Boutwells studio in Birmingham. This helped launch the career of a shy singer whom John had hired named Bobby Goldsboro.Appearing at the "National Peanut Festival" in the late 60's in Dothan, "The Webs" got the opportunity to backup Roy Orbison in his show. Roy was so impressed he hired the boys on the spot as his touring band "The Candymen".John Rainey played lead guitar with Roy for 7 years touring the world and opening for such acts as The Beatles, The Hollies and The Yardbirds. John played the now famous lick on Roy's biggest hit "Pretty Woman". He also appeared on network television shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig and others.After leaving Roy, John and The Candymen struck out on their own and gained the respect of their professional peers as a "Musicians Band" by doing flawless reproductions live on stage from "Sgt. Peppers" to Tom Jones. John Rainey and The Candymen (which would later spawn members of the hit groups Classic IV and The Atlanta Rhythm Section) dazzled audiences at Steve Paul's "The Scene" in New York City. These nightclub sets included jam sessions with Jimi Hendrix Band, The Young Rascals, John Entwistle and others.John Rainey also wrote or co-wrote most of the material on The Candymen's two LPs including "Georgia Pines" with Buddy Buie.In the 1970's John once again toured the U.S. and abroad playing guitar behind B.J. Thomas. During this time he also appeared on network television on The Dinah Shore Show and The Midnight Special.After being influential in the musical careers of so many, John Rainey had settled down to concentrate on his song writing and being a devoted father and grandfather. John Rainey had just finished co-writing "Shenandoah's" first single and was signed with Tree Publishing at the time of his death at age 47. John Rainey is sorely missed and will be in our hearts forever!*******************************************Now, please enjoy "GEORGIA PINES", written by Buddy Buie & John Rainey, made famous by Wilbur Walton, Jr. This video is Wilbur & Buddy singing this great classic!THE CANDYMEN: "Stone Blues Man" sung by Dean Daughtry...backed by Rockin Rodney Justo and JOHN RAINEY ADKINS (bein cool in his sunglasses!)

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/4/2007
Band Website: www.myspace.com/adkinsjohnrainey
Band Members: THE CANDYMEN: John Rainey Adkins (lead guitar) Rodney Justo (vocals) Billy Gilmore (bass) Robert Nix (drums) Dean Daughtry (keyboards)BEAVERTEETH: John Rainey Adkins (vocals, guitar) David Adkins (vocals, lead guitar, keyboards) Rodney Justo (lead vocals, guitar) Jeff Cheshire (vocals, bass guitar) Larry Hunter (vocals, drums) Mike Turner (on the Dam It album; keyboards, vocals)
Sounds Like: SOUTHERN ROCK IS THE BEST! A BIG THANK YOU to David Morris for remastering the vinyls to mp3 files for John Rainey's Tribute Page. These mp3 files were made from digitized audio copies of the original vinyl LPs. The conversion from vinyl to digital files was done personally by David Morris, an avid Southern Rock fan who does engineering work for The Vinyl Masters. The digitized LPs have that quality vinyl timbre minus the associated vinyl noise, resulting in a clean, high-quality sound. The Vinyl Masters offer a great selection of vintage Southern band LPs, including The Candymen and Beaverteeth. (www.thevinylmasters.com) They sell each album coupled with a digitized copy of the album on CD. This works out great for those that want an album and artwork but prefer to play the music on CDs or mp3 devices. The CDs, coupled with their original artwork have the appearance of a newly purchased CD. We so appreciate the wonderful job Dave has done on the music for this tribute page, since it allows fans and new friends to enjoy this great music! You are the MASTER of VINYL, Dave!
Record Label: abc & RCA
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Danny Remembers

Thank you so much for the John Rainey Adkins tribute. I love it. He was a major influence on me as a young man, and I'm proud to say that he and I became friends in later years. I still think The Cand...
Posted by on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:46:00 GMT

More From Robert Nix via RR's Blog

WE WERE PLAYING IN NEW YORK @ STEVE PAUL’S SCENE.LINDA McCARTNEY (obviously before she married Paul) WAS INTRODUCING JOHN RAINEY TO LOTS OF N.Y. FOLKS. I BELIEVE THE CORAL ELECTRIC SITAR PEOPLE ...
Posted by on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:33:00 GMT

Buddy Buie via Robert Register’s Blog

RRThat piece about Ideal Bakery across the ditch from John Rainey’s house brought back memories. John Rainey and I would sit out front in my old Chevy and write songs. We thought every thing we...
Posted by on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:09:00 GMT

Spencer Kirkpatrick Remembers

Hey Deb, I used to see The Candymen every chance I could when they played Atlanta in the 60s. John Rainey was truly one of my guitar heroes and is to this day. I thought alot of his brother David as ...
Posted by on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:11:00 GMT

Buddy Buie Remembers

Excerpts courtesy of the "DOTHAN MAGAZINE". Dothan, Alabama was a hotbed of musical talent in the late 50s & 60s. In the middle of that music scene was Buddy Buie, getting his start in music ...
Posted by on Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:46:00 GMT

From Paul Vidal~Privas, France~THANKS PAUL!

Courtsey of Paul Vidal's website:the big V JAMBOREE~wesite linked below.Quoting Paul:One of my favorite music books remains Lillian Roxon's 'Rock Encyclopedia' (Grosset's Universal Library), first pub...
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:15:00 GMT

Robert Nix Remembers via Robert Register's Blog

THE ROY ORBISON/ WALKER BROS./YARDBIRDS TOUR WAS A F---ING GAS!~!!WE (THE CANDYMEN) CAUGHT A FLIGHT TO SAN FRANCISCO IN FEB.IT WAS 38 DEGREES.WE MET ROY ORBISON IN SAN FRANCISCO THAT NIGHT AND CAUGHT ...
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:07:00 GMT

From David Morris~VinylMasters

Just got this link below from Rodney. It's of the Candymen peforming on a show called 'Live from the Bitter End' doing 'Georgia Pines'.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVj0b9_5EK4
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:04:00 GMT

Rodger Johnson~Courtesy of The Dothan Eagle

By Linnea McClellan GENEVA  A peaceful sunporch overlooking a patch of woods in the country is a world away from Rodger Johnson's past life.Fans screaming, groupie girls clamoring for attention, la...
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:02:00 GMT

Frank Tanton Remembers via Robert Register's Blog

I think it was 1966 when I hooked up with the astoundingly talented, David Adkins and his cousin Tommy Adkins. We formed a band called the "Puppets". We won 2nd place honors at a "battle of the bands"...
Posted by on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:53:00 GMT