Member Since: 12/12/2007
Band Website: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/LarryDonn1.html
Band Members: in the winter of '57 was Benny Kuykendall on lead guitar, his brother Scotty on bass, Larry Joe Patton on rhythm guitar, and Eddie Reeves on drum.
"He had one snare drum and one stick when he first started."
Influences: "My main influences were, in order, Dean Martin before rock'n'roll, then Johnny Cash, Elvis, Carl Perkins, Sonny Burgess, Billy Lee Riley, Jerry Lee, Roy Orbison, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. Oh, and Rick Nelson goes in there somewhere, but he wasn't actually so much of an influence on me. He was just like me, influenced by the Sun artists. However, when I first started playing the guitar and singing...about '56, I think...I borrowed a tape recorder from the school and recorded myself. My cousin said, when she heard it, "oh...Ricky Nelson sounds just like you!" Then, an older musician friend showed me how to "project" my voice...sing louder, basically...and suddenly I sounded like Johnny Cash. I was influenced more by Elvis than any of them, possibly because I "identified" with him more, as he was raised as an "only" child, and I was, too. We were both about the same degree of poor when we were kids. His mother and father even had some minor resemblances to mine. And he was closer to my age than the others, except maybe Jerry Lee. Elvis was my "main man", though Perkins, Burgess, Riley and Cash were running close seconds."
Sounds Like:
Record Label: Rockin Records
Type of Label: Indie