I was born in Brownsville, Tennessee on February 4, 1929. Economic conditions led my family to Memphis in 1937. The following year, I learned to play guitar from my brother-in-law, Earl Brooks. I would walk over to his house and he'd show me how to play country guitar, I eventually got to play in his band as the stand up bass player. I would go watch my friends Jesse Lee and Juanita Denson play their guitars, too. My one friend got a brand new electric guitar one day. I couldn't afford nothing like that but always asked to play his. He'd rather not play mine so I asked a neighbor, who worked for the phone company for a telephone amplifier and rigged my own electric guitar!When I was young, I would often wander down to Beale Street and watch the musicians and listen from outside of the clubs. Then when I got my license and would drive to the outskirts of West Memphis, Arkansas. I found out where Howlin' Wolf was playing and would walk in the back door of a juke joint my guitar in hand and stand in the corner. Chester Burnett, the Howlin' Wolf, would call me on stage and I'd sit in with him. Afterward though, because of the times, he'd walk me to my car and stand there waving and waving until he couldn't see my car anymore. It was his way of protecting me. I'd sit in with him on his radio show over there in West Memphis, too. He sure took to me and I sure admired his playing.There was a small club over there and I would sit in with Willie Johnson and play different kinds of music. It was around this time I found the Dave Wells Community Center where I learned to box. My coach, Jimmy Denson, introduced me to another boxer who was also a singer, Dorsey Burnette. He introduced me to his brother, Johnny, and we discovered that we all had common musical interests. I also worked with Dorsey over there on Poplar at Crown Electric, same place Elvis did. We formed a band and played around Memphis and established a reputation for playing wild music. Johnny really had a lot of energy.In 1956, our band, the Rock N Roll Trio, decided to drive to New York to audition for the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. We were up there for quite some time and had to get jobs, but we won the Ted Mack Amateur show all three times!
This got us the recod deal with Coral. We had that one single on Von, though. Coral had us record at New York's Pythian Temple where Bill Haley and the Comets had cut "Rock Around The Clock." It was a big, barnlike building with great echo. The perfect vehicle for a rockabilly sound. We got 5 tunes down. The studio didn't know what to expect of us so thay had studio musicians waiting to assist us. We only took the drummer! And we had to keep telling him to play faster and louder! He was top notch for the studio but couldn't keep up with us! He was afraid he'd break his drums! Alot of those early singles were recorded in Nashville, too. We had an album put out and did well. Boy, is it worth alot now!We've been on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Steve Allen's Tonight Show and Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall. We were also in the Alan Freed film, "Rock, Rock, Rock". We did a few of his national tours with Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry and so many others.I had an accident and dropped my guitar and knocked the amplifier tube loose. The result was a fuzzy and distorted sound. Whenever we wanted that fuzz sound, I simply pulled a tube loose. Fender named me the "Father of the Fuzztone" and now they make that sound on purpose. I'm no genius, it was pure accident for me!After a few years playing with the band and touring, we decided to disband. Johnny wanted to be a teen idol and I missed my family. Johnny and Dorsey moved to California and had some success. Johnny died out there. I didn't play again until the 70's with his son Rocky. We toured abit and I realized how much I missed playing. My kids were grown and I could go and play with no worry. In the 80's I played with the Sun Rhythm Section. That was me, DJ Fontana, Roland Janes for a while, Stan Kessler, Martin Van Story, Sonny Burgess. We toured all over the world in that band. It was fun.
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