Roy Head
Encyclopedia
Roy Head is an American
singer
, best known for his hit
"Treat Her Right
."
known as The Traits. The group's sponsor landed their first recording contract in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio, Texas
while they were still in high school. The Traits performed and recorded in the rockabilly
, rock n roll
and rhythm and blues
musical styles from the late 1950s to the mid 1960s. Though landing several regional hits between 1959 and 1963 on both the TNT and Renner Record labels, Head is best known for the 1965 blue-eyed soul
international hit, "Treat Her Right
" released by Roy Head and the Traits. After going solo Head landed several hits on the Country and Western charts between 1975 and 1985. During his career of some 50 years, he has performed in several different musical genres and used a somewhat confusing array of record labels, some too small to provide for national marketing and distribution. Roy Head and the Traits held reunions in 2001 and 2007 and were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
in 2007. One of the most gifted performers of his era, Head's extraordinary dancing and acrobatic showmanship are legendary, often compared to the likes of Elvis Presley
or James Brown
.
After moving to San Marcos in 1955 Head, along with San Marcos native Tommy Bolton, would form a musical group in 1957 known as The Traits/aka Roy Head and The Traits who would record and perform for the next 9 years. The original group consisted of fellow high school students Head (vocals), Tommy Bolton (rhythm guitar) (1941–2003), Gerry Gibson (drums), Dan Buie (piano), Clyde Causey (lead guitar), and Bill Pennington (bass). When Causey joined the military he was replaced by George Frazier (1941–1996) just before the band started their recording career at Tanner N Texas (TNT) Recording Company, owned by Bob Tanner and located in San Antonio, Texas
. The Traits had several regional hits at TNT with songs such as "One More Time", "Live It Up", both released in 1959, and "Summertime Love" (1960), establishing themselves in the late 1950s and the early 1960s as one of the premier teenage Texas-based rock and roll
bands while playing the concert
, sock hop
, college
and university
and dance hall
circuits throughout Texas. It was during this period that the parents of The Traits turned down Dick Clark's invitation for the boys to appear on American Bandstand
, which ABC
had started broadcasting nationwide from Philadelphia in 1957. At the time, all of the Traits were "minors," and some were still in high school.
In 1961 and 1962 The Traits added saxophonists David McCumber and Danny Gomez to the lineup and produced additional Texas/regional hits from Renner Records, a label owned by Jessie Schneider of San Antonio, Texas. Renner label #221 and Ascot #2108, a subsiderary of United Artists Records
, distributed The Traits version of Ray Sharpe
's 1959 classic "Linda Lu,” with "Little Mama" by Dan Buie and Head on the B-side
. Renner Records also released The Traits "Got My Mojo Working
" and WO WO on label #229. By the time the 1962 recordings were taped and mastered at Jeff Smith's Texas Sound Studio in San Antonio for the Renner label, Johnny Clark and Frank Miller had replaced Frazier and Bolton at lead and rhythm guitars, respectively.
After attending SWTSTC (TSU) for two years, Buie, who played guitar and harmonica as well as keyboards, taught for several years before settling into public health administration after receiving his baccalaureate degree and doing post graduate studies at The University of Texas. Tommy Bolton organized and played with other Central Texas musical groups while both he and Clyde Causey launched careers with the Department Of The Treasury. Danny Gomez would graduate from SWTSTC (TSU) and later earn his doctorate at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas
. Little is known of the career path of David McCumber, but George Frazier would pursue real estate investment interests, and Bill Pennington would follow in his Mother's footsteps and become a successful owner of Pennington Funeral Home in San Marcos, Texas
. Only Head and Gibson would continue with careers in music. The songwriting talents and subsequent recording successes of The (original) Traits during their first 5 years on a regional level under the watchful eyes of Ms. Edra Pennington (1913–2005) and Dr. T.R. Buie(1909–2000), would lay the groundwork for what would happen in the group's last 4 years.
Roy Head and the Traits signed with Scepter Records
in 1964. Scepter had developed a nationwide network of independent distributors while working with The Shirelles
. By this time Gene Kurtz had replaced Pennington at bass, Kenny Williams had replaced Clark at lead guitar, Ronnie Barton's trumpet was added to the mix and backup singer Sarah Fulcher started performing with the group. Roy Head and the Traits even released a vinyl 45 featuring the vocals of Roy and Sarah on the Lori label #9551: Get Back (later released on Scepter #12124) and Never Make Me Blue.
In 1965 the band signed with producer Huey Meaux of Houston, Texas, who maintained a stable of record labels. "Treat Her Right" was recorded at Gold Star Studios (later known as SugarHill Recording Studios
) in Houston. Issued on Don Robey's (Nov. 1, 1903 - June 16, 1975) Back Beat
label, it reached #2 on both the U.S. Pop
and R&B
charts in 1965, behind The Beatles
' "Yesterday
. "Treat Her Right", with its blazing horns and punchy rhythm, credited to Head and bass man Gene Kurtz, established Head as a prime exponent of blue-eyed soul
. The fact that this was accomplished during the high point of the British Invasion
makes it all the more impressive. By 1995 "Treat Her Right" had been covered
by as many as 20 nationally known recording artists including the Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page
, Bruce Springsteen
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Sawyer Brown
, Bon Jovi
and both Mae West
and Barbara Mandrell
under the title of "Treat Him Right". Even Bob Dylan
, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tom Jones
covered it "live." Roy Head and the Traits "Just a Little Bit
" and the bluesy-rockabilly hybrid, "Apple Of My Eye" also cracked the Top 40 in 1965. However, those were tiny hits in the wake of "Treat Her Right", which is estimated to have sold over four million copies worldwide, and was a featured song, along with Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally
" and Steve Cropper
's "In the Midnight Hour
", in the successful 1991 motion picture, The Commitments
.
In 1965 TNT released the group's first album consisting of their music recorded for TNT and Renner Records, TLP #101 entitled Roy Head and the Traits, which was also distributed by the New York based Scepter Records. Goldmine Album Price Guide offers a 'counterfeit caution' when buying this album. The original from TNT did not include the song "Treat Her Right," though it is included in the more widely distributed Sceptor pressing. The 'counterfeit' album is also attributed to TNT, but with blue lettering on the label rather than the TNT red. A CD offering 30 tracks today and containing the original red, black and yellow graphics on its cover is considered an off-shoot of the 'counterfeit' vinyl version of the album.
Video clips from this time period show Head to have been a dynamic and versatile eccentric dancer; there are at least three extant clips of him performing "Treat Her Right" and each one is different than the others in terms of choreography. Modern viewers have compared his jumps and slides to those of James Brown
or even the Nicholas Brothers
; because he was white but his footwork included moves popular among African American
gymnastic dancers, he was sometimes said to be a practitioner of "blue-eyed soul."
The chart
-makers recorded and released on the Back Beat and Scepter labels spelled the end of Head's association with what has come to be thought of as the “second group” of Traits. See "Doubled Edged Sword" in The Story of Roy Head and The Traits
Later releases by Head on Dunhill
and Elektra
contained elements of rockabilly
and psychedelic rock
, but by the mid 1970s his solo career had led him to country
. He signed first with Mega Records
and then with Shannon Records and later on with ABC Records
and Elektra Records
. After releasing the 1970 cult classic "Same People That You Meet Going Up You Meet Coming Down" on Dunhill Records
, Head's music reached the U.S. country music Top 100 24 times by the mid 1980s while landing 3 Top 20 hits: "The Most Wanted Woman In Town," (1975) "Come To Me" and "Now You See Em, Now Your Don't" both in 1977 and recorded on the ABC/Dot
label reaching #16 and #19, respectively.
Even the earliest blues-laced, rockabilly styled recordings of The Traits, primarily written in a collaboration between Bolton, Buie, Gibson and Head, have demonstrated lasting power with "One More Time," "Live It Up" and "Summertime Love" making periodic surges into the Top 100 in various parts of Europe. Joe "King" Carrasco had a hit covering The Traits "One More Time" and releasing it on Hannibal Records
and Stiff Records
(UK
) in 1981-1982. Two Tons of Steel covered "One More Time" again on both CD
and DVD
in 2000, Palo Duro Records entitled "Two Tons Of Steel-Live At Gruene Hall." Discographies reveal that much of the music originally written, composed and recorded by the Traits at TNT and Renner Records between 1958 and 1962 has been re-released over the past four decades numerous times by as many as 20 different record labels both in the U.S. and abroad.
During 1966 and 1967, when Head was working with the Roy Head Trio, The Traits independently recorded using Dean Scott on lead vocals. Scott had previously been the stand-in vocalist while Head had been away in the military. In 1967 The Traits recorded with pre-fame Johnny Winter
featuring Winter's vocals and blistering guitar leads, producing a vinyl 45; "Parchman Farm" and "Tramp" on Universal 30496. No one knew that Johnny Winter
was just months away from bursting upon the national scene with his appearance at Woodstock. Johnny Winter
would later re-release the track of "Tramp" he recorded with The Traits in his 1988 compilation album, "Birds Can't Row Boats."
After the 1967 disbanding of the Roy Head Trio consisting of Head, Gibson, Kurtz and guitarist David "Hawk" Koon, Head started pursuing his solo career, and Gerry Gibson, the drummer for the original Traits, would relocate to Los Angeles
and go on to play with several other popular artists and groups including Linda Ronstadt
, Bobby Womack
, Canned Heat
and a stay with Sly and The Family Stone. While working with Sly, Gibson developed and recorded the drum part for "You Caught Me Smilin'" and made other notable contributions to the album There's a Riot Goin' On
. The album went to #1 in 1971, helped define the musical term funkadelic
, and is ranked by Rolling Stone
as one of the Top 100 albums ever recorded.
Roy Head and The Traits are listed among "The 200 Greatest Rock N Roll Artists Of The 1960s" worldwide. Most lists of the "Top Rock Songs" recorded include "Treat Her Right". Head is a member of the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame, the Texas Country and Western Music Hall of Fame and the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame. Roy Head and The Traits held reunions in 2001 and 2007. Both reunions involved performances at Kent Finley's Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas an early musical hangout of George Strait
. During their October 2007 sold-out Golden Anniversary Concert appropriately billed as 'Roy Head and The Tratis - For The Last Time', at Texas State University, Roy Head and The (original) Traits were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
by the Hall's Curator, Bob Timmers. Tommy Bolton and George Frazier were inducted posthumously. Musicians for the performance were Traits Head, Gerry Gibson, Dan Buie, Clyde Causey, Bill Pennington and Gene Kurtz, with special guests Bill York, Don Hutchko, Don Head (1933–2009) and Sundance Head.
In 2008, Head performed in Cleveland
, Ohio
for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As observed by the Austin Music Awards organization, 'if someone ever starts a Hall of Fame for blue-eyed soul artist, “Roy Head and the Traits” should be the first name chiseled in granite.' Billboard has observed that Head's versatility actually worked against him since he did not fit into any specific marketing niche. His use of many small record labels also prevented his recordings from achieving national distribution.
Head continues to be active in recording and performing music.
His son, Jason "Sundance" Head, was a contestant on Season 6 of American Idol
and signed a recording contract
in 2007 with Universal Motown Records
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, best known for his hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"Treat Her Right
Treat Her Right (song)
"Treat Her Right" is a soul music song, with a standard twelve-bar-blues structure. Written by Roy Head and Gene Kurtz, it was recorded by Roy Head and The Traits and released on the Back Beat label in 1965. The song reached number two in the United States on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts...
."
Career
Head achieved fame as a member of a musical group out from San Marcos, TexasSan Marcos, Texas
San Marcos is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is the seat of Hays County. Located within the metropolitan area, the city is located on the Interstate 35 corridor—between Austin and San Antonio....
known as The Traits. The group's sponsor landed their first recording contract in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
while they were still in high school. The Traits performed and recorded in the rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, rock n roll
Rock N Roll
-Personnel:*Ryan Adams - Bass, Composer, Costume Design, Guitar, Keyboards, Multi Instruments, Vocals, Vocals *Billie Joe Armstrong - Vocals *Melissa Auf der Maur - Vocals...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
musical styles from the late 1950s to the mid 1960s. Though landing several regional hits between 1959 and 1963 on both the TNT and Renner Record labels, Head is best known for the 1965 blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul is a media term that was used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists, with a strong pop music influence. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and...
international hit, "Treat Her Right
Treat Her Right (song)
"Treat Her Right" is a soul music song, with a standard twelve-bar-blues structure. Written by Roy Head and Gene Kurtz, it was recorded by Roy Head and The Traits and released on the Back Beat label in 1965. The song reached number two in the United States on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts...
" released by Roy Head and the Traits. After going solo Head landed several hits on the Country and Western charts between 1975 and 1985. During his career of some 50 years, he has performed in several different musical genres and used a somewhat confusing array of record labels, some too small to provide for national marketing and distribution. Roy Head and the Traits held reunions in 2001 and 2007 and were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
in 2007. One of the most gifted performers of his era, Head's extraordinary dancing and acrobatic showmanship are legendary, often compared to the likes of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
or James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
.
After moving to San Marcos in 1955 Head, along with San Marcos native Tommy Bolton, would form a musical group in 1957 known as The Traits/aka Roy Head and The Traits who would record and perform for the next 9 years. The original group consisted of fellow high school students Head (vocals), Tommy Bolton (rhythm guitar) (1941–2003), Gerry Gibson (drums), Dan Buie (piano), Clyde Causey (lead guitar), and Bill Pennington (bass). When Causey joined the military he was replaced by George Frazier (1941–1996) just before the band started their recording career at Tanner N Texas (TNT) Recording Company, owned by Bob Tanner and located in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. The Traits had several regional hits at TNT with songs such as "One More Time", "Live It Up", both released in 1959, and "Summertime Love" (1960), establishing themselves in the late 1950s and the early 1960s as one of the premier teenage Texas-based rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
bands while playing the concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
, sock hop
Sock Hop
The sock hop was an informal sponsored dance at American high schools, typically held in the high school's own gym or cafeteria. The term sock hop came about because dancers were required to remove their shoes to protect the varnished floor of the gymnasium. These hops were a cultural feature of...
, college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
and university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
and dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
circuits throughout Texas. It was during this period that the parents of The Traits turned down Dick Clark's invitation for the boys to appear on American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
, which ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
had started broadcasting nationwide from Philadelphia in 1957. At the time, all of the Traits were "minors," and some were still in high school.
In 1961 and 1962 The Traits added saxophonists David McCumber and Danny Gomez to the lineup and produced additional Texas/regional hits from Renner Records, a label owned by Jessie Schneider of San Antonio, Texas. Renner label #221 and Ascot #2108, a subsiderary of United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
, distributed The Traits version of Ray Sharpe
Ray Sharpe
Ray Sharpe is an American R&B and rockabilly singer, guitarist and songwriter.He grew up influenced by country as well as blues music, and many of his recordings are classed as rockabilly – he was described by one record producer as "the greatest white-sounding black dude ever"...
's 1959 classic "Linda Lu,” with "Little Mama" by Dan Buie and Head on the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
. Renner Records also released The Traits "Got My Mojo Working
Got My Mojo Working
"Got My Mojo Working" is a 1956 song written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole, but popularized by Muddy Waters in 1957. Waters' rendition of the song was featured on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #359 and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of...
" and WO WO on label #229. By the time the 1962 recordings were taped and mastered at Jeff Smith's Texas Sound Studio in San Antonio for the Renner label, Johnny Clark and Frank Miller had replaced Frazier and Bolton at lead and rhythm guitars, respectively.
After attending SWTSTC (TSU) for two years, Buie, who played guitar and harmonica as well as keyboards, taught for several years before settling into public health administration after receiving his baccalaureate degree and doing post graduate studies at The University of Texas. Tommy Bolton organized and played with other Central Texas musical groups while both he and Clyde Causey launched careers with the Department Of The Treasury. Danny Gomez would graduate from SWTSTC (TSU) and later earn his doctorate at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
. Little is known of the career path of David McCumber, but George Frazier would pursue real estate investment interests, and Bill Pennington would follow in his Mother's footsteps and become a successful owner of Pennington Funeral Home in San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is the seat of Hays County. Located within the metropolitan area, the city is located on the Interstate 35 corridor—between Austin and San Antonio....
. Only Head and Gibson would continue with careers in music. The songwriting talents and subsequent recording successes of The (original) Traits during their first 5 years on a regional level under the watchful eyes of Ms. Edra Pennington (1913–2005) and Dr. T.R. Buie(1909–2000), would lay the groundwork for what would happen in the group's last 4 years.
Roy Head and the Traits signed with Scepter Records
Scepter Records
Scepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a...
in 1964. Scepter had developed a nationwide network of independent distributors while working with The Shirelles
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
. By this time Gene Kurtz had replaced Pennington at bass, Kenny Williams had replaced Clark at lead guitar, Ronnie Barton's trumpet was added to the mix and backup singer Sarah Fulcher started performing with the group. Roy Head and the Traits even released a vinyl 45 featuring the vocals of Roy and Sarah on the Lori label #9551: Get Back (later released on Scepter #12124) and Never Make Me Blue.
In 1965 the band signed with producer Huey Meaux of Houston, Texas, who maintained a stable of record labels. "Treat Her Right" was recorded at Gold Star Studios (later known as SugarHill Recording Studios
SugarHill Recording Studios
SugarHill Recording Studios is a recording studio in Houston, Texas. The studio was important in launching the careers of such artists as Lightnin' Hopkins, The Big Bopper, George Jones, the Sir Douglas Quintet, Roy Head, and Freddy Fender. It is renowned for its collection of vintage regording...
) in Houston. Issued on Don Robey's (Nov. 1, 1903 - June 16, 1975) Back Beat
Back Beat Records
Back Beat Records was the soul sub-label of Duke Records started in 1957. It was later acquired by ABC Records in the 70's. The label's biggest hits included "Treat Her Right" by Roy Head & The Traits, "Tell Me Why" by Norman Fox and The Rob Roys, and "Everlasting Love" by Carl Carlton...
label, it reached #2 on both the U.S. Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
charts in 1965, behind The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Yesterday
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded...
. "Treat Her Right", with its blazing horns and punchy rhythm, credited to Head and bass man Gene Kurtz, established Head as a prime exponent of blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul is a media term that was used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists, with a strong pop music influence. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and...
. The fact that this was accomplished during the high point of the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
makes it all the more impressive. By 1995 "Treat Her Right" had been covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by as many as 20 nationally known recording artists including the Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band: Bobby Randall and Jim Scholten , both from Midland, Michigan; Joe Smyth , Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard , and Mark Miller...
, Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
and both Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
and Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...
under the title of "Treat Him Right". Even Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
covered it "live." Roy Head and the Traits "Just a Little Bit
Just a Little Bit (Rosco Gordon song)
"Just a Little Bit" is an R&B-style blues song recorded by Rosco Gordon in 1959. It was a hit in both the R&B and pop charts. Called "one of the standards of contemporary blues", "Just a Little Bit" has been recorded by a variety of artists, including Little Milton and Roy Head who also had...
" and the bluesy-rockabilly hybrid, "Apple Of My Eye" also cracked the Top 40 in 1965. However, those were tiny hits in the wake of "Treat Her Right", which is estimated to have sold over four million copies worldwide, and was a featured song, along with Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally
Mustang Sally (song)
"Mustang Sally" is an R&B/straightforward blues first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965. It gained greater popularity when it was covered by Wilson Pickett on a single the following year. Pickett's version was also included on his 1967 album The Wicked Pickett....
" and Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
's "In the Midnight Hour
In the Midnight Hour
"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April 1968...
", in the successful 1991 motion picture, The Commitments
The Commitments (film)
The Commitments , the soundtrack for the film, was released on 13 Aug 1991. "Mustang Sally" was released as a single. Most of the songs on the album are performed by the cast band, but two are by Irish singer Niamh Kavanagh.-Track listing:-Chart positions:-The Commitments, Vol...
.
In 1965 TNT released the group's first album consisting of their music recorded for TNT and Renner Records, TLP #101 entitled Roy Head and the Traits, which was also distributed by the New York based Scepter Records. Goldmine Album Price Guide offers a 'counterfeit caution' when buying this album. The original from TNT did not include the song "Treat Her Right," though it is included in the more widely distributed Sceptor pressing. The 'counterfeit' album is also attributed to TNT, but with blue lettering on the label rather than the TNT red. A CD offering 30 tracks today and containing the original red, black and yellow graphics on its cover is considered an off-shoot of the 'counterfeit' vinyl version of the album.
Video clips from this time period show Head to have been a dynamic and versatile eccentric dancer; there are at least three extant clips of him performing "Treat Her Right" and each one is different than the others in terms of choreography. Modern viewers have compared his jumps and slides to those of James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
or even the Nicholas Brothers
Nicholas Brothers
The Nicholas Brothers were a famous African American team of dancing brothers, Fayard and Harold . With their highly acrobatic technique , high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day...
; because he was white but his footwork included moves popular among African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
gymnastic dancers, he was sometimes said to be a practitioner of "blue-eyed soul."
The chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
-makers recorded and released on the Back Beat and Scepter labels spelled the end of Head's association with what has come to be thought of as the “second group” of Traits. See "Doubled Edged Sword" in The Story of Roy Head and The Traits
Later releases by Head on Dunhill
Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records...
and Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
contained elements of rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, but by the mid 1970s his solo career had led him to country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. He signed first with Mega Records
Mega Records
Mega Records was a Nashville, Tennessee-based music label that released albums by bands such as Apollo 100 and country and western singer Sammi Smith, as early as the early 1970s...
and then with Shannon Records and later on with ABC Records
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
and Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
. After releasing the 1970 cult classic "Same People That You Meet Going Up You Meet Coming Down" on Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records...
, Head's music reached the U.S. country music Top 100 24 times by the mid 1980s while landing 3 Top 20 hits: "The Most Wanted Woman In Town," (1975) "Come To Me" and "Now You See Em, Now Your Don't" both in 1977 and recorded on the ABC/Dot
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
label reaching #16 and #19, respectively.
Even the earliest blues-laced, rockabilly styled recordings of The Traits, primarily written in a collaboration between Bolton, Buie, Gibson and Head, have demonstrated lasting power with "One More Time," "Live It Up" and "Summertime Love" making periodic surges into the Top 100 in various parts of Europe. Joe "King" Carrasco had a hit covering The Traits "One More Time" and releasing it on Hannibal Records
Hannibal Records
Hannibal Records was a record label and one of the first to work with the World music genre.Hannibal was started by Joe Boyd in 1980. Boyd had produced records by artists such as Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention and released recordings by these artists as well as...
and Stiff Records
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
(UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) in 1981-1982. Two Tons of Steel covered "One More Time" again on both CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2000, Palo Duro Records entitled "Two Tons Of Steel-Live At Gruene Hall." Discographies reveal that much of the music originally written, composed and recorded by the Traits at TNT and Renner Records between 1958 and 1962 has been re-released over the past four decades numerous times by as many as 20 different record labels both in the U.S. and abroad.
During 1966 and 1967, when Head was working with the Roy Head Trio, The Traits independently recorded using Dean Scott on lead vocals. Scott had previously been the stand-in vocalist while Head had been away in the military. In 1967 The Traits recorded with pre-fame Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
featuring Winter's vocals and blistering guitar leads, producing a vinyl 45; "Parchman Farm" and "Tramp" on Universal 30496. No one knew that Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
was just months away from bursting upon the national scene with his appearance at Woodstock. Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
would later re-release the track of "Tramp" he recorded with The Traits in his 1988 compilation album, "Birds Can't Row Boats."
After the 1967 disbanding of the Roy Head Trio consisting of Head, Gibson, Kurtz and guitarist David "Hawk" Koon, Head started pursuing his solo career, and Gerry Gibson, the drummer for the original Traits, would relocate to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and go on to play with several other popular artists and groups including Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
, Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
, Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
and a stay with Sly and The Family Stone. While working with Sly, Gibson developed and recorded the drum part for "You Caught Me Smilin'" and made other notable contributions to the album There's a Riot Goin' On
There's a Riot Goin' On
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly & the Family Stone, released November 20, 1971 on Epic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place primarily throughout 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California...
. The album went to #1 in 1971, helped define the musical term funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
, and is ranked by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
as one of the Top 100 albums ever recorded.
Roy Head and The Traits are listed among "The 200 Greatest Rock N Roll Artists Of The 1960s" worldwide. Most lists of the "Top Rock Songs" recorded include "Treat Her Right". Head is a member of the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame, the Texas Country and Western Music Hall of Fame and the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame. Roy Head and The Traits held reunions in 2001 and 2007. Both reunions involved performances at Kent Finley's Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas an early musical hangout of George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
. During their October 2007 sold-out Golden Anniversary Concert appropriately billed as 'Roy Head and The Tratis - For The Last Time', at Texas State University, Roy Head and The (original) Traits were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
by the Hall's Curator, Bob Timmers. Tommy Bolton and George Frazier were inducted posthumously. Musicians for the performance were Traits Head, Gerry Gibson, Dan Buie, Clyde Causey, Bill Pennington and Gene Kurtz, with special guests Bill York, Don Hutchko, Don Head (1933–2009) and Sundance Head.
In 2008, Head performed in Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As observed by the Austin Music Awards organization, 'if someone ever starts a Hall of Fame for blue-eyed soul artist, “Roy Head and the Traits” should be the first name chiseled in granite.' Billboard has observed that Head's versatility actually worked against him since he did not fit into any specific marketing niche. His use of many small record labels also prevented his recordings from achieving national distribution.
Head continues to be active in recording and performing music.
His son, Jason "Sundance" Head, was a contestant on Season 6 of American Idol
American Idol (Season 6)
The sixth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and January 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned to judge once again, and Ryan Seacrest returned as host...
and signed a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
in 2007 with Universal Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
|||
| 1965 | Roy Head and the Traits | TNT | ||
| Treat Her Right | 122 | Scepter | ||
| 1970 | Same People | Dunhill | ||
| 1972 | Dismal Prisoner | TMT | ||
| 1976 | Head First | 42 | ABC/Dot | |
| A Head of His Time | 45 | |||
| 1978 | Tonight's the Night | |||
| 1979 | In Our Room | Elektra | ||
| 1980 | The Many Sides of Roy Head | |||
| 1985 | Living For A Song | |||
Compilation albums
- Roy Head and The Traits: Singin' Texas Rhythm & Blues (1988 Blues Interactions, Inc., Tokyo, Japan)
- Slip Away: His Best Recordings (1993, Collectables)
- Treat Her Right: The Best of Roy Head (1995, Varese Sarande)
- Don't Be Blue: The Traits (1995 Collectables, Roy C. Ames Homecooking)
- The Texas Soul and Country Man: The Crazy Cajun Recordings (1999, Edsel, UK)
- Country Crooner: The Crazy Cajun Recordings (1999, Edsel, UK)
- White Texas Soul Shouter: The Crazy Cajun Recordings (1999 Edsel, UK)
- Roy Head and The Traits: Treat Her Right (1999 Dynamite 101)
- The Best of Roy Head and The Traits: Teeny Weeny Bit (2000, AIM, Australia)
- Head On! (2001, Music Club)
- An Introduction to Roy Head (2006, Fuel 2000)
- Treat Him Right: The Best of Roy Head (2007, Fuel 2000 & Varese Sarande)
- Roy Head and The Traits: Golden Anniversary (1957–2007) - Rockabilly Hall of Fame Album (2007 Re-Master, D & R Sales and Service, L.C., PVI)
- Voices of Americana: Roy Head (2009 Edsel, UK)
- Live It Up: Roy Head and The Traits (2010 Norton, US)
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country | CAN | |||
| 1965 | "Treat Her Right Treat Her Right (song) "Treat Her Right" is a soul music song, with a standard twelve-bar-blues structure. Written by Roy Head and Gene Kurtz, it was recorded by Roy Head and The Traits and released on the Back Beat label in 1965. The song reached number two in the United States on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts... " |
2 | 8 | Roy Head and the Traits | ||
| "Just a Little Bit Just a Little Bit (Rosco Gordon song) "Just a Little Bit" is an R&B-style blues song recorded by Rosco Gordon in 1959. It was a hit in both the R&B and pop charts. Called "one of the standards of contemporary blues", "Just a Little Bit" has been recorded by a variety of artists, including Little Milton and Roy Head who also had... " |
39 | 18 | ||||
| "Apple of My Eye" | 32 | |||||
| 1966 | "Get Back" | 88 | ||||
| "My Babe" | 99 | |||||
| "To Make a Big Man Cry" | 95 | singles only | ||||
| 1967 | "Nobody But Me" | |||||
| "Got Down on Saturday (Sunday in the Rain)" | ||||||
| "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" | ||||||
| 1968 | "Broadway Walk" | |||||
| "Ain't Goin' Down Right" | ||||||
| 1971 | "Puff of Smoke" | 96 | ||||
| 1974 | "Baby's Not Home" | 66 | ||||
| 1975 | "The Most Wanted Woman in Town" | 19 | 7 | Head First | ||
| "Help Yourself to Me" | 47 | single only | ||||
| "I'll Take It" | 55 | Head First | ||||
| 1976 | "The Door I Used to Close" | 28 | ||||
| "Bridge for Crawling Back" | 50 | |||||
| "One Night" | 51 | A Head of His Time | ||||
| 1977 | "Angel with a Broken Wing" | 57 | ||||
| "Julianne" | 79 | single only | ||||
| "Come to Me" | 16 | 9 | Tonight's the Night | |||
| 1978 | "Now You See 'Em, Now You Don't" | 19 | ||||
| "Tonight's the Night (It's Gonna Be Alright)" | 28 | 17 | ||||
| "Love Survived" | 45 | |||||
| 1979 | "Kiss You and Make It Better" | 74 | single only | |||
| "In Our Room" | 79 | In Our Room | ||||
| 1980 | "The Fire of Two Old Flames" | 65 | ||||
| "Long Drop" | 59 | single only | ||||
| "Drinkin' Them Long Necks" | 70 | The Many Sides of Roy Head | ||||
| "I've Never Gone to Bed with an Ugly Woman" | ||||||
| 1981 | "After Texas" | 75 | singles only | |||
| 1982 | "Play Another Gettin' Drunk and Take Somebody Home Song" |
89 | ||||
| "The Trouble with Hearts" | 64 | |||||
| 1983 | "Your Mama Don't Dance" | 85 | ||||
| "Where Did He Go Right" | 79 | |||||
| 1985 | "Break Out the Good Stuff" | 93 | ||||