The Rock and Roll Trio
Encyclopedia
The Rock and Roll Trio was the name of a rockabilly
group which was formed in Memphis, Tennessee
during the 1950s. They were also known as "Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio" and the "Johnny Burnette Trio". The members of the Trio were Dorsey Burnette
, his younger brother Johnny, and a friend named Paul Burlison
. Dorsey and Johnny Burnette
were both natives of Memphis, having been born there in 1932 and 1934 respectively. Paul Burlison had been born in Brownsville, Tennessee
in 1929, but had moved to Memphis with his family in 1937.
champions. In 1949, Dorsey met Paul Burlison, also a Golden Gloves champion, at an amateur boxing tournament in Memphis. The two became firm friends, and through this friendship Burlison would also meet Johnny Burnette. All three had an interest in music, and in 1951 they began playing together at the hillbilly nightspots on the outskirts of Memphis, both as a trio and as a part of other groups. In these early days, they played a mixture of country and bluegrass, not untainted with cottonpatch blues. In the honkytonks in and around Memphis the Trio would often play an upbeat country and blues so that the patrons had music to do the 1940-50's bop and jitterbug, popular at the time. And the sound later called rockabilly, which they perfected in their 1956 Coral records album.
Johnny and Dorsey Burnette were reported to be early performers on the Saturday Night Jamboree, which was a local stage show held every Saturday night at the Goodwyn Institute Auditorium in downtown Memphis in 1953-54. The show was founded by Joe Manuel, who had been a popular Hillbilly
radio star of the 1930s and 40s. In 1952 or 1953, they formed a group with Burlison playing lead guitar, Dorsey playing stand-up bass and Johnny playing rhythm guitar and taking the vocal lead. Occasionally they were joined by steel guitarist Albert Vescovo and by fiddler Tommy Seeley. With this line-up and at this time, the group may have been known as the Rhythm Rangers.
A contemporary poster from the Von Theater in Boonville, Tennessee, which advertised The Dixieland Jamboree, puts as the top of the bill, Johnny Burnett & his “Rhythm Rangers” and describes him as A VON Recording Artist from Memphis, Tenn.. Second on this bill is Hayden Thomson and his “Southern Melody Boys”, who are described as Just Back from WSM Nashville Tenn. and Ernest Tubb
Jamboree.
's father, Bill Bond, who wanted to manage the band. The Record Exchanger #26, however, noted that the session was set up and A & R’d by Buddy Bain, a disc-jockey and performer in Corinth, Mississippi
. Their first single was “You’re Undecided”(any early indication of their rockabilly style) backed with Go Mule Go (Von 1006), released under the name Johnny Burnette
. It sold fewer than 200 copies. There is some disagreement over the year in which this single was released. The Guinness Book Of Rock Stars suggests that the year was 1953, but other sources suggest 1954, and others suggest November 1955. http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artists/b/burn4200.htm
The trio were said to have auditioned for Sun Records
but were turned down by Sam Phillips
, apparently because they sounded too much like Elvis Presley
. Whether or not this audition took place, however, remains a matter of dispute. Dorsey Burnette has stated that they recorded a demo session for Sun. He said, “We took Sam Phillips some songs and he turned ‘em down, but they weren’t very good anyway.” In an article for ‘TV Radio Mirror’, Johnny Burnette
recalled that he and Dorsey had auditioned for Sun Records
and had been chased back onto the street when the fiddler’s bridge broke. No tapes of any such audition have ever been found, although this could be explained by the fact that Sam Phillips
was prone to record over tapes. More importantly, however, Burlison later insisted that the group did not audition at Sun at all, and he recalled the incident of the fiddler’s bridge taking place during the recording of Go Mule Go. If they did not, they were one of the few KWEM regulars not to do so. As the trio was only a loose aggregation until 1956, then it is possible that the Burnettes may have auditioned at Sun without Burlison. Sources also vary as to the time of the alleged audition. Some suggest 1954, but others have put it in early 1956, with only Dorsey and Johnny Burnette present.
From 1954 to February 1956, the trio played at the Hideaway Club in Middleton, Tennessee
with the Doc MacQueen Swing Band. As well as their work with the band they were to have an intermission spot of their own, and by 1956 the trio had built a strong reputation in and around Memphis. But the earnings from these session did not provide them with enough on which to live, and so all three had daytime jobs. Both Paul Burlison and Dorsey Burnette were working for the Crown Electric Company as journeyman and apprentice electrician respectively, and Johnny held down a number of jobs, including one selling dishes and appliances door to door, another as a 'Repo Man' and also as a deck hand on barges traversing the Mississippi River
. In February/March 1956, Paul Burlison and Dorsey Burnette were laid off from Crown Electric. As they both needed to secure regular pay-cheques, they decided to drive to New York
in the hope of gaining jobs there through the electrician’s union.
Paul Burlison was to later recall that “they could not make it alone on what they were being paid on Friday and Saturday nights at the Hideaway. So we thought, until things picked up in Memphis, they would go to New York and work awhile.” After discussing the move with their wives and other family members, the trio drove to New York through one of the worst snowstorms to hit the Northeast in many years. They stopped off briefly in Brownsville
in order to inform Doc McQueen of their move. McQueen is reported to have said, “Let me know if you make it big.”
When they arrived in New York, they took rooms in the YMCA
. Paul and Dorsey started work as electricians, and Johnny worked in the garment district. They then found out about the Wednesday night auditions for the Ted Mack
Original Amateur Hour
, and they joined the endless queue of show business hopefuls. Elvis Presley
had only hit the big time in late January 1956, and someone in the Mack audition crew thought that the Burnettes and Burlison might reach the same market. So they were given the fast track and appeared on the show, which was networked nationally by ABC
. They won three straight appearances in April and May 1956, which gained them a slot on the finalists’ tour in September 1956. A newspaper clip on the day after their third win on the Ted Mack
Show referred to them as "the Rock and Roll Boys from Memphis”. No one had seen anything like it. Burlison's stinging lead guitar, combined with Johnny Burnette's frenetic voice and Dorsey's high energy bass sound. The result was a driving musical style that caused television listeners to stop and listen.
Between their second and third appearances, they were spotted by Bill Randle
, who was a top rated disc-jockey on WERE, Cleveland. Randle telephoned his friend Henry Jerome, who was a band leader at the Hotel Edison at the time, and he told Jerome to watch the trio’s next appearance on television. Jerome was sufficiently impressed by what he saw that he contacted the Burnettes and Burlison and signed them to a management contract. He got Johnny a daytime job as an elevator operator at the Hotel Edison and moved the trio there from the YMCA
. He secured a contract for the trio with GAC (General Artist Corporation) and with the Coral division of Decca Records
. Paul Burlison was to say later that he believed that they made a mistake by signing with Coral Records
. "Capitol Records
was after us, ABC Paramount, Chess
and Decca
," Burlison remembered. "I wanted to go to Capitol but they said it didn't matter, a hit record would make us rich."
After signing with Coral, The Rock and Roll Trio were placed with A & R director Bob Thiele
, who took them to the Pythian Temple
in New York City
for their first recording session. The Pythian Temple was a big, barn-like building with great echo, which was the perfect vehicle for a rockabilly sound. It was here that Bill Haley & His Comets
had cut "Rock Around The Clock
." It was said at the time that the ghosts of Perry Como
, Vic Damone
, Al Hibbler
and others were etched in the building.
The first session was held on 7 May 1956, and before the session began, Johnny, Dorsey and Paul were surprised to find the 32-piece Dick Jacobs
Orchestra
sitting in the studio. They were to be paid the union scale of $41.25 each to sit and watch The Rock and Roll Trio perform their original rockabilly tunes. Only the drummer, Eddie Gray, who had his own little group called Eddie Gray and the Commanders, was used on the sessions. The session began with "Shattered Dreams", which was a George Motola
tune. The Rock and Roll Trio didn't feel comfortable with it, and the results were considered unsuitable for commercial release. Bob Thiele
had, however, listened to the early Carl Perkins
and Elvis Presley
recordings, and he talked to the boys about creating their own sound. He had decided that a sound awash in “treble” would be the key to success. He told Burlison to turn up the treble on the amp, which created a pinched, stinging tone to Paul's lead guitar. The rest of the session produced four songs, “Midnight Train”, "Tear It Up”, “Oh Baby Babe” and a reprise of the old Von cut “You’re Undecided”.
On May 26, 1956, Coral released the Trio’s first single "Tear It Up" backed with "You're Undecided" (Coral 61651), and they jumped into Dorsey's 1955 Ford
for appearances on Dick Clark
's American Bandstand
, Steve Allen
's Tonight Show and Perry Como
's Kraft Music Hall
. They were on their way as a touring act and ready to bring rockabilly into American homes. The record sold strongly in many markets, becoming a hit in Boston
and Baltimore
, but it failed to make the national charts. With only one single left in the can, Coral rushed Johnny, Paul and Dorsey back into the studio, but this time it was to be in Owen Bradley’s Studio at 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee
, from July 2-5th 1956 and teamed up with Buddy Harman on drums for the full session and the great Grady Martin on rhythm guitar for July 5.
These sessions were judged to have been enormously successful, and on August 4, 1956, Coral released a second single: "Midnight Train" backed with "Oh, Baby Babe" (Coral 61675). This again failed to make the national charts, and without a hit record, the trio needed to play live dates in order to promote themselves and more particularly to earn money. During the summer of 1956, they toured with Ted Mack
’s Touring show and with Carl Perkins
and Gene Vincent
. On September 9, 1956, they appeared on the final of the Ted Mack
Original Amateur Hour
at Madison Square Garden
, where amongst other songs, they played “Tear It Up” and “Hound Dog". As a result of this appearance, on October 13, 1956, Coral issued their third single, "The Train Kept A-Rollin’" backed with "Honey Hush" (Coral 616719), but again, it failed make the national charts.
Having used a drummer on their Nashville recording sessions, it was decided to add a drummer to their lineup. When the Trio told Carl Perkins
that they were looking for a drummer, Perkins recommended his cousin Tony Austin, who had played a few dates with him around their hometown of Jackson, Tennessee
before he had recruited W. S. Holland
. Following Perkins’ recommendation, the Burnettes swung through to pick him up, and Austin became part of the group.
After Austin was hired, Henry Jerome started billing the group as Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio on live dates. This name was used on their first two singles, and on their third single they were known as The Johnny Burnette Trio. Dorsey was incensed by this as he had taken the lead on a few songs, including "Sweet Love On My Mind", "My Love You´re A Stranger" and "Blues Stay Away From Me". He wanted to retain the more democratic name “Rock and Roll Trio” despite the fact that the group was now a quartet. The band was constantly on the road, completing what seemed to be an endless stream of one night stands in order to cover their living expenses. This exhausting regime led to squabbles, which were exacerbated by lack of chart success. These squabbles finally came to a head at a gig in Niagara Falls
in the Fall of 1956, where, after a fight, Dorsey quit the group and handed back his band uniform. This happened a week before the Trio were due to appear in Alan Freed
’s movie Rock, Rock, Rock
.
as a replacement for Dorsey, and his uniform was cut down to Johnny Black’s size. The remains of Pajad Corp. bought Black an acoustic bass and placed him on salary. He joined the group in time to be filmed in their spot in the movie, where they played Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track). To coincide with the release of the film, a fourth Coral single "Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track)" backed with "I Just Found Out" (Coral 61758) was released on January 5, 1957 under the name of the Johnny Burnette Trio, but, like the group’s earlier releases, it failed to chart.
In the meantime, Dorsey returned to Memphis and found himself a lead guitarist and a bassist whilst he switched to rhythm guitar and vocals. Calling themselves Dorsey Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, they briefly toured the South before calling it quits.
Despite their earlier failures, Coral still seemed to have faith in the commercial future of The Rock and Roll Trio, even with their revamped line-up. On March 22, 1957 they organized what was to be the Trio’s last recording session at the Bradley Studio in Nashville, Tennessee
. On this occasion, however, the identity of the personnel involved is open to question. Adam Komorowski has stated that despite the split, Dorsey was forced to attend this session because of contractual obligations. According to the discography used by Colin Escott of Showtime Magazine, Dorsey, Johnny and Paul took part in this session. According to Nashville session double bassist Bob Moore who was present at the Nashville sessions, Dorsey and Paul were replaced by himself and Grady Martin
. The 1957 sessions are clearly more in line with the contemporary Nashville sound of the day and without the same rockabilly upbeat tempos produced in the 1956 sessions of the trio recorded in New York, followed by Nashville 1956 sessions.
French researchers Gilles Vignal and Marc Alesina, however, have produced a discography which has only Johnny Burnette present at the session. According to them, Burnette played acoustic guitar and sang vocals, whilst Thomas Grady Martin played electric guitar, Bob L. Moore played string bass and Farris Coursey was on drums. On this session, four tracks, "Touch Me", "If You Want Enough", "Butterfingers" and "Eager Beaver Baby" were cut. Taking a cue from Elvis and the Jordanaires, Owen Bradley lined up a vocal group for two tracks: "Butterfingers" and "If You Want It Enough". Following the session Johnny and the Trio toured with Gene Vincent
, and in published snapshots, only Johnny Burnette, Paul Burlison and Johnny Black appear with Gene Vincent.
On May 20, 1957, Coral released a fifth single, "Eager Beaver Baby" backed with "Touch Me" (Coral 61829), and on September 2, 1957 they released a sixth single "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" backed with "Butterfingers" (Coral 61869). In both cases, these singles were released under the name of Johnny Burnette, but neither of these releases had any chart success. Also in 1957, Coral released a 10” LP
, which was entitled “Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n Roll Trio
" (Coral CRL 57080). Curiously it did not include their first single “Tear It Up”.
and try their luck there. Paul Burlison joined them there briefly but decided to return to Memphis and retire from the music business. Had the Burnettes decided to follow Burlison’s example, then The Rock and Roll Trio may well have become just another forgotten 1950s group.
The Burnette Brothers success as songwriters in 1958 and 1959 and their individual, but varying, degrees of success in 1960 and 1961 as solo artists helped to keep the group’s memory alive. This success was to lead to one more single record release by Coral. In April 1960, following Johnny Burnette’s success on Liberty Records
as a solo artist, Coral released “Blues Stay Away From Me” backed with “Midnight Train” (Coral 62190), under the name Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. This record, like its predecessors, however, failed to chart.
With the rise to fame in the 1960s of groups like The Beatles
and The Yardbirds
, with their professed admiration for The Rock and Roll Trio, interest in the group was rekindled. The Beatles
would cover the trio’s songs (Lonesome Tears In My Eyes and Honey Hush in particular) at live gigs and on BBC
radio. The Yardbirds
, when Jeff Beck
and Jimmy Page
were part of the lineup, were said to have practically made a career out of covering the Trio’s songs, particularly with “The Train Kept A Rollin” and their own rewrite of that song, “Stroll On”. “Stroll On” was featured in the 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni
film “Blow Up”, which starred David Hemmings
.
British pirate radio DJ Mike Raven
heavily plugged the Trio’s original 1957 LP
, and this prompted Decca
to reissue it as a 12” LP in Britain on their budget Ace of Hearts label in 1966. Around 1970, a second LP entitled “Tear It Up”, which contained much of their unreleased material from 1956/7, was also released.
died in a boating accident, Clear Lake, California, in August 1964, while Dorsey continued to write songs and remained successful in this field. He also continued performing and reached the US country
chart with 15 minor hits during the 1970s, before he too died of a heart attack in August 1979.
Dorsey’s death may well have prompted Paul Burlison to return to the music scene in the 1980s, first with Johnny Black and Tony Austin in a recreation of The Rock and Roll Trio. In 1997, he cut his first ever solo LP “Train Kept A-Rollin” on Sweetfish Records as a tribute to The Rock and Roll Trio. The LP contained eleven tracks, three of which, "Train Kept A-Rollin'", "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes", and "Lonesome Train (on a Lonesome Track)", had been featured on The Rock and Roll Trio’s original 1957 album. Among the backing musicians were Rocky Burnette (Johnny’s son) and Billy Burnette (Dorsey’s son).
When asked about his post-Trio relationship with the Burnette Brothers, Paul Burlison made the following comments, “A year after I did that short tour with Johnny, I was working on my car one day and my wife called me to the phone. It was Dorsey and he told me that Johnny was missing out on a lake 109 Miles from San Francisco. He asked me to come out there and I left on the midnight flight. …….. We hadn’t been too close since all the trouble, although Johnny and I had been real close. After that there wasn’t two weeks went by that Dorsey and I didn’t talk to each other until his death in 1979.”
Paul Burlison died on September 27, 2003 in Horn Lake
, Mississippi
after a long battle with cancer. The pioneering contribution to the genre by all three of the original members of The Rock and Roll Trio has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
.
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...
group which was formed in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
during the 1950s. They were also known as "Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio" and the "Johnny Burnette Trio". The members of the Trio were Dorsey Burnette
Dorsey Burnette
Dorsey Burnette was an early Rockabilly singer. With his younger brother, Johnny Burnette, and a friend named Paul Burlison, he was a founder member of The Rock and Roll Trio.-Background and early career:Dorsey Burnett was born on December 28, 1932 to Willie May and Dorsey Burnett Sr...
, his younger brother Johnny, and a friend named Paul Burlison
Paul Burlison
Paul Burlison was an American pioneer rockabilly guitarist and a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. Burlison was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, where he was exposed to music at an early age. After a stint in the United States Military, Burlison teamed up with Johnny and Dorsey Burnette...
. Dorsey and Johnny Burnette
Johnny Burnette
John Joseph "Johnny" Burnette was an American rockabilly musician. Along with his older brother Dorsey Burnette, and also a friend named Paul Burlison, Burnette was a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. He was the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.-Early life:Johnny Burnette...
were both natives of Memphis, having been born there in 1932 and 1934 respectively. Paul Burlison had been born in Brownsville, Tennessee
Brownsville, Tennessee
Brownsville is a city in Haywood County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Haywood County. The city is named after Jacob Jennings Brown, an officer who served during The War of 1812.-Geography:...
in 1929, but had moved to Memphis with his family in 1937.
Formation
The Burnette brothers were keen amateur boxers and became Golden GlovesGolden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...
champions. In 1949, Dorsey met Paul Burlison, also a Golden Gloves champion, at an amateur boxing tournament in Memphis. The two became firm friends, and through this friendship Burlison would also meet Johnny Burnette. All three had an interest in music, and in 1951 they began playing together at the hillbilly nightspots on the outskirts of Memphis, both as a trio and as a part of other groups. In these early days, they played a mixture of country and bluegrass, not untainted with cottonpatch blues. In the honkytonks in and around Memphis the Trio would often play an upbeat country and blues so that the patrons had music to do the 1940-50's bop and jitterbug, popular at the time. And the sound later called rockabilly, which they perfected in their 1956 Coral records album.
Johnny and Dorsey Burnette were reported to be early performers on the Saturday Night Jamboree, which was a local stage show held every Saturday night at the Goodwyn Institute Auditorium in downtown Memphis in 1953-54. The show was founded by Joe Manuel, who had been a popular Hillbilly
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
radio star of the 1930s and 40s. In 1952 or 1953, they formed a group with Burlison playing lead guitar, Dorsey playing stand-up bass and Johnny playing rhythm guitar and taking the vocal lead. Occasionally they were joined by steel guitarist Albert Vescovo and by fiddler Tommy Seeley. With this line-up and at this time, the group may have been known as the Rhythm Rangers.
A contemporary poster from the Von Theater in Boonville, Tennessee, which advertised The Dixieland Jamboree, puts as the top of the bill, Johnny Burnett & his “Rhythm Rangers” and describes him as A VON Recording Artist from Memphis, Tenn.. Second on this bill is Hayden Thomson and his “Southern Melody Boys”, who are described as Just Back from WSM Nashville Tenn. and Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
Jamboree.
Early
The trio together with Tommy Seeley and Albert Vescovo had their first recording session with the Von Theater in Boonville, which booked the Burnettes and other talent from out of town. Hayden Thompson, who also recorded for Von, has asserted that the label was unconnected with the theatre. Music writer Adam Komorowski, however, states that the label owner Sam Thomas had named the label after the theatre. The session was arranged and paid for by Eddie BondEddie Bond
Eddie Bond was a pioneer singer and guitar player of American Rockabilly music.In the mid 1950s, Bond recorded for mercury Records and toured with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Warren Smith and others...
's father, Bill Bond, who wanted to manage the band. The Record Exchanger #26, however, noted that the session was set up and A & R’d by Buddy Bain, a disc-jockey and performer in Corinth, Mississippi
Corinth, Mississippi
Corinth is a city in Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,054 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Alcorn County. Its ZIP codes are 38834 and 38835.- History :...
. Their first single was “You’re Undecided”(any early indication of their rockabilly style) backed with Go Mule Go (Von 1006), released under the name Johnny Burnette
Johnny Burnette
John Joseph "Johnny" Burnette was an American rockabilly musician. Along with his older brother Dorsey Burnette, and also a friend named Paul Burlison, Burnette was a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. He was the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.-Early life:Johnny Burnette...
. It sold fewer than 200 copies. There is some disagreement over the year in which this single was released. The Guinness Book Of Rock Stars suggests that the year was 1953, but other sources suggest 1954, and others suggest November 1955. http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artists/b/burn4200.htm
The trio were said to have auditioned for Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
but were turned down by Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
, apparently because they sounded too much like 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"....
. Whether or not this audition took place, however, remains a matter of dispute. Dorsey Burnette has stated that they recorded a demo session for Sun. He said, “We took Sam Phillips some songs and he turned ‘em down, but they weren’t very good anyway.” In an article for ‘TV Radio Mirror’, Johnny Burnette
Johnny Burnette
John Joseph "Johnny" Burnette was an American rockabilly musician. Along with his older brother Dorsey Burnette, and also a friend named Paul Burlison, Burnette was a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. He was the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.-Early life:Johnny Burnette...
recalled that he and Dorsey had auditioned for Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
and had been chased back onto the street when the fiddler’s bridge broke. No tapes of any such audition have ever been found, although this could be explained by the fact that Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
was prone to record over tapes. More importantly, however, Burlison later insisted that the group did not audition at Sun at all, and he recalled the incident of the fiddler’s bridge taking place during the recording of Go Mule Go. If they did not, they were one of the few KWEM regulars not to do so. As the trio was only a loose aggregation until 1956, then it is possible that the Burnettes may have auditioned at Sun without Burlison. Sources also vary as to the time of the alleged audition. Some suggest 1954, but others have put it in early 1956, with only Dorsey and Johnny Burnette present.
From 1954 to February 1956, the trio played at the Hideaway Club in Middleton, Tennessee
Middleton, Tennessee
Middleton is a city in Hardeman County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 602 at the 2000 census. It is located at the intersection of Tennessee State Route 125 and Tennessee State Route 57. It's slogan is the "Crossroads of the South".-History:...
with the Doc MacQueen Swing Band. As well as their work with the band they were to have an intermission spot of their own, and by 1956 the trio had built a strong reputation in and around Memphis. But the earnings from these session did not provide them with enough on which to live, and so all three had daytime jobs. Both Paul Burlison and Dorsey Burnette were working for the Crown Electric Company as journeyman and apprentice electrician respectively, and Johnny held down a number of jobs, including one selling dishes and appliances door to door, another as a 'Repo Man' and also as a deck hand on barges traversing the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. In February/March 1956, Paul Burlison and Dorsey Burnette were laid off from Crown Electric. As they both needed to secure regular pay-cheques, they decided to drive to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the hope of gaining jobs there through the electrician’s union.
Paul Burlison was to later recall that “they could not make it alone on what they were being paid on Friday and Saturday nights at the Hideaway. So we thought, until things picked up in Memphis, they would go to New York and work awhile.” After discussing the move with their wives and other family members, the trio drove to New York through one of the worst snowstorms to hit the Northeast in many years. They stopped off briefly in Brownsville
Brownsville, Tennessee
Brownsville is a city in Haywood County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Haywood County. The city is named after Jacob Jennings Brown, an officer who served during The War of 1812.-Geography:...
in order to inform Doc McQueen of their move. McQueen is reported to have said, “Let me know if you make it big.”
When they arrived in New York, they took rooms in the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. Paul and Dorsey started work as electricians, and Johnny worked in the garment district. They then found out about the Wednesday night auditions for the Ted Mack
Ted Mack (television host)
Ted Mack , born as William Edward Maguiness, was the host of Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour on radio and television....
Original Amateur Hour
Original Amateur Hour
The Original Amateur Hour is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of Major Bowes Amateur Hour which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its master of ceremonies, left the show in 1945 and died the...
, and they joined the endless queue of show business hopefuls. 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"....
had only hit the big time in late January 1956, and someone in the Mack audition crew thought that the Burnettes and Burlison might reach the same market. So they were given the fast track and appeared on the show, which was networked nationally by 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...
. They won three straight appearances in April and May 1956, which gained them a slot on the finalists’ tour in September 1956. A newspaper clip on the day after their third win on the Ted Mack
Ted Mack (television host)
Ted Mack , born as William Edward Maguiness, was the host of Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour on radio and television....
Show referred to them as "the Rock and Roll Boys from Memphis”. No one had seen anything like it. Burlison's stinging lead guitar, combined with Johnny Burnette's frenetic voice and Dorsey's high energy bass sound. The result was a driving musical style that caused television listeners to stop and listen.
Between their second and third appearances, they were spotted by Bill Randle
Bill Randle
Bill Randle was an American disc jockey, lawyer and university professor.He was born William McKinley Randle Jr. in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he hosted a popular show on WJLB-AM radio called The Interracial Goodwill Hour, featuring rhythm and blues music and hot jazz...
, who was a top rated disc-jockey on WERE, Cleveland. Randle telephoned his friend Henry Jerome, who was a band leader at the Hotel Edison at the time, and he told Jerome to watch the trio’s next appearance on television. Jerome was sufficiently impressed by what he saw that he contacted the Burnettes and Burlison and signed them to a management contract. He got Johnny a daytime job as an elevator operator at the Hotel Edison and moved the trio there from the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. He secured a contract for the trio with GAC (General Artist Corporation) and with the Coral division of Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. Paul Burlison was to say later that he believed that they made a mistake by signing with Coral Records
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
. "Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
was after us, ABC Paramount, Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
and Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
," Burlison remembered. "I wanted to go to Capitol but they said it didn't matter, a hit record would make us rich."
The Rock and Roll Trio
It was at this time that the Burnettes and Burlison formally adopted the name of The Rock and Roll Trio. This was something of a compromise, which was reached after Johnny’s suggestion of the “Burnette Brothers” had been countered by Burlison’s suggestion of the ”Burlison Brothers”. They had already rejected the name, "the Rock and Roll Boys from Memphis”. Jerome also set up a corporation called Pajad (PA-ul, J-ohnny A-nd D-orsey) Enterprises in which the proceeds of their earnings were to be split equally for five years. Jerome placed the boys on salary and he would later cut himself in for composer’s royalties on some of the tunes, working under the pseudonym of “Al Mortimer”.After signing with Coral, The Rock and Roll Trio were placed with A & R director Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
, who took them to the Pythian Temple
Pythian Temple (New York City)
The Pythian Temple is an historic Knights of Pythias building at 135 West 70th Street between Columbus Avenue and Broadway in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 to serve as a meeting place for the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for their first recording session. The Pythian Temple was a big, barn-like building with great echo, which was the perfect vehicle for a rockabilly sound. It was here that Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
had cut "Rock Around The Clock
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954...
." It was said at the time that the ghosts of Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
, Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
, Al Hibbler
Al Hibbler
Albert George "Al" Hibbler was an American baritone vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues, but he is best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music...
and others were etched in the building.
The first session was held on 7 May 1956, and before the session began, Johnny, Dorsey and Paul were surprised to find the 32-piece Dick Jacobs
Dick Jacobs
Dick Jacobs was an American musician, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, music director and an artists-and-repertoire director for several record labels who helped Jackie Wilson, Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and others form their careers in the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Life and career:He was born...
Orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
sitting in the studio. They were to be paid the union scale of $41.25 each to sit and watch The Rock and Roll Trio perform their original rockabilly tunes. Only the drummer, Eddie Gray, who had his own little group called Eddie Gray and the Commanders, was used on the sessions. The session began with "Shattered Dreams", which was a George Motola
George Motola
George Motola was a record producer, songwriter, and sound engineer during the 1950s till his death.-Early life and career:...
tune. The Rock and Roll Trio didn't feel comfortable with it, and the results were considered unsuitable for commercial release. Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
had, however, listened to the early Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
and 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"....
recordings, and he talked to the boys about creating their own sound. He had decided that a sound awash in “treble” would be the key to success. He told Burlison to turn up the treble on the amp, which created a pinched, stinging tone to Paul's lead guitar. The rest of the session produced four songs, “Midnight Train”, "Tear It Up”, “Oh Baby Babe” and a reprise of the old Von cut “You’re Undecided”.
On May 26, 1956, Coral released the Trio’s first single "Tear It Up" backed with "You're Undecided" (Coral 61651), and they jumped into Dorsey's 1955 Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
for appearances on Dick Clark
Dick Clark (entertainer)
Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years...
's 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...
, Steve Allen
Steve Allen (comedian)
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...
's Tonight Show and Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
's Kraft Music Hall
Kraft Music Hall
The Kraft Music Hall was a popular variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired on NBC radio and television from 1933 to 1971....
. They were on their way as a touring act and ready to bring rockabilly into American homes. The record sold strongly in many markets, becoming a hit in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, but it failed to make the national charts. With only one single left in the can, Coral rushed Johnny, Paul and Dorsey back into the studio, but this time it was to be in Owen Bradley’s Studio at 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, from July 2-5th 1956 and teamed up with Buddy Harman on drums for the full session and the great Grady Martin on rhythm guitar for July 5.
These sessions were judged to have been enormously successful, and on August 4, 1956, Coral released a second single: "Midnight Train" backed with "Oh, Baby Babe" (Coral 61675). This again failed to make the national charts, and without a hit record, the trio needed to play live dates in order to promote themselves and more particularly to earn money. During the summer of 1956, they toured with Ted Mack
Ted Mack (television host)
Ted Mack , born as William Edward Maguiness, was the host of Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour on radio and television....
’s Touring show and with Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
and Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
. On September 9, 1956, they appeared on the final of the Ted Mack
Ted Mack (television host)
Ted Mack , born as William Edward Maguiness, was the host of Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour on radio and television....
Original Amateur Hour
Original Amateur Hour
The Original Amateur Hour is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of Major Bowes Amateur Hour which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its master of ceremonies, left the show in 1945 and died the...
at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, where amongst other songs, they played “Tear It Up” and “Hound Dog". As a result of this appearance, on October 13, 1956, Coral issued their third single, "The Train Kept A-Rollin’" backed with "Honey Hush" (Coral 616719), but again, it failed make the national charts.
Having used a drummer on their Nashville recording sessions, it was decided to add a drummer to their lineup. When the Trio told Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
that they were looking for a drummer, Perkins recommended his cousin Tony Austin, who had played a few dates with him around their hometown of Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
before he had recruited W. S. Holland
W. S. Holland
W. S. "Fluke" Holland is a drummer who worked extensively with numerous rock and roll musicians, beginning with Carl Perkins, but became well known as the drummer in singer Johnny Cash's succession of backing bands: The Tennessee Three, The Great Eighties Eight, and The Johnny Cash Show Band...
. Following Perkins’ recommendation, the Burnettes swung through to pick him up, and Austin became part of the group.
After Austin was hired, Henry Jerome started billing the group as Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio on live dates. This name was used on their first two singles, and on their third single they were known as The Johnny Burnette Trio. Dorsey was incensed by this as he had taken the lead on a few songs, including "Sweet Love On My Mind", "My Love You´re A Stranger" and "Blues Stay Away From Me". He wanted to retain the more democratic name “Rock and Roll Trio” despite the fact that the group was now a quartet. The band was constantly on the road, completing what seemed to be an endless stream of one night stands in order to cover their living expenses. This exhausting regime led to squabbles, which were exacerbated by lack of chart success. These squabbles finally came to a head at a gig in Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
in the Fall of 1956, where, after a fight, Dorsey quit the group and handed back his band uniform. This happened a week before the Trio were due to appear in Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
’s movie Rock, Rock, Rock
Rock, Rock, Rock (film)
Rock, Rock, Rock is a 1956 black-and-white motion picture featuring performances from a number of early rock 'n' roll stars, such as Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker, Teddy Randazzo, The Moonglows, The Flamingos, and The Teenagers with Frankie Lymon as lead singer. Future West Side Story cast member David...
.
New line up
Burlison and Johnny Burnette hastily recruited Johnny Black, the brother of Elvis’s bassist Bill BlackBill Black
William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an American musician who is noted as one of the pioneers of rockabilly music. Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's early trio and the leader of Bill Black's Combo....
as a replacement for Dorsey, and his uniform was cut down to Johnny Black’s size. The remains of Pajad Corp. bought Black an acoustic bass and placed him on salary. He joined the group in time to be filmed in their spot in the movie, where they played Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track). To coincide with the release of the film, a fourth Coral single "Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track)" backed with "I Just Found Out" (Coral 61758) was released on January 5, 1957 under the name of the Johnny Burnette Trio, but, like the group’s earlier releases, it failed to chart.
In the meantime, Dorsey returned to Memphis and found himself a lead guitarist and a bassist whilst he switched to rhythm guitar and vocals. Calling themselves Dorsey Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, they briefly toured the South before calling it quits.
Despite their earlier failures, Coral still seemed to have faith in the commercial future of The Rock and Roll Trio, even with their revamped line-up. On March 22, 1957 they organized what was to be the Trio’s last recording session at the Bradley Studio in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. On this occasion, however, the identity of the personnel involved is open to question. Adam Komorowski has stated that despite the split, Dorsey was forced to attend this session because of contractual obligations. According to the discography used by Colin Escott of Showtime Magazine, Dorsey, Johnny and Paul took part in this session. According to Nashville session double bassist Bob Moore who was present at the Nashville sessions, Dorsey and Paul were replaced by himself and Grady Martin
Grady Martin
Thomas Grady Martin was one of the most renowned, inventive and historically significant American session musicians in country music and rockabilly....
. The 1957 sessions are clearly more in line with the contemporary Nashville sound of the day and without the same rockabilly upbeat tempos produced in the 1956 sessions of the trio recorded in New York, followed by Nashville 1956 sessions.
French researchers Gilles Vignal and Marc Alesina, however, have produced a discography which has only Johnny Burnette present at the session. According to them, Burnette played acoustic guitar and sang vocals, whilst Thomas Grady Martin played electric guitar, Bob L. Moore played string bass and Farris Coursey was on drums. On this session, four tracks, "Touch Me", "If You Want Enough", "Butterfingers" and "Eager Beaver Baby" were cut. Taking a cue from Elvis and the Jordanaires, Owen Bradley lined up a vocal group for two tracks: "Butterfingers" and "If You Want It Enough". Following the session Johnny and the Trio toured with Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
, and in published snapshots, only Johnny Burnette, Paul Burlison and Johnny Black appear with Gene Vincent.
On May 20, 1957, Coral released a fifth single, "Eager Beaver Baby" backed with "Touch Me" (Coral 61829), and on September 2, 1957 they released a sixth single "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" backed with "Butterfingers" (Coral 61869). In both cases, these singles were released under the name of Johnny Burnette, but neither of these releases had any chart success. Also in 1957, Coral released a 10” LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, which was entitled “Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n Roll Trio
Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n Roll Trio
Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n Roll Trio is the 1956 debut album of the influential rockabilly band The Rock and Roll Trio, fronted by Johnny Burnette. Recorded over two separate sessions in 1956, the album includes a number of the band's singles. 2008's Icons of Rock calls the album "an all-time...
" (Coral CRL 57080). Curiously it did not include their first single “Tear It Up”.
Split up
By the Fall of 1957, the Trio had become dispirited by this lack of success, and they were tiring of the endless one-nighters, so they decided to split up. A seventh single, "If You Want It Enough" backed with "Rock Billy Boogie" (Coral 61918) was released on December 16, 1957, under the name of Johnny Burnette, but by that time, The Rock and Roll Trio was no more. The Burnette Brothers decided to move to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and try their luck there. Paul Burlison joined them there briefly but decided to return to Memphis and retire from the music business. Had the Burnettes decided to follow Burlison’s example, then The Rock and Roll Trio may well have become just another forgotten 1950s group.
The Burnette Brothers success as songwriters in 1958 and 1959 and their individual, but varying, degrees of success in 1960 and 1961 as solo artists helped to keep the group’s memory alive. This success was to lead to one more single record release by Coral. In April 1960, following Johnny Burnette’s success on Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
as a solo artist, Coral released “Blues Stay Away From Me” backed with “Midnight Train” (Coral 62190), under the name Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. This record, like its predecessors, however, failed to chart.
With the rise to fame in the 1960s of groups like 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...
and The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, with their professed admiration for The Rock and Roll Trio, interest in the group was rekindled. 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...
would cover the trio’s songs (Lonesome Tears In My Eyes and Honey Hush in particular) at live gigs and on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio. The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, when Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
and 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...
were part of the lineup, were said to have practically made a career out of covering the Trio’s songs, particularly with “The Train Kept A Rollin” and their own rewrite of that song, “Stroll On”. “Stroll On” was featured in the 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
film “Blow Up”, which starred David Hemmings
David Hemmings
David Edward Leslie Hemmings was an English film, theatre and television actor as well as a film and television director and producer....
.
British pirate radio DJ Mike Raven
Mike Raven
Austin Churton Fairman , who used the name Churton Fairman but was more widely known under the pseudonym Mike Raven in the 1960s and early 1970s, was a British radio disc jockey, actor, sculptor, sheep farmer, writer, TV presenter and producer, ballet dancer, flamenco guitarist and...
heavily plugged the Trio’s original 1957 LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, and this prompted Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
to reissue it as a 12” LP in Britain on their budget Ace of Hearts label in 1966. Around 1970, a second LP entitled “Tear It Up”, which contained much of their unreleased material from 1956/7, was also released.
Ending
Johnny BurnetteJohnny Burnette
John Joseph "Johnny" Burnette was an American rockabilly musician. Along with his older brother Dorsey Burnette, and also a friend named Paul Burlison, Burnette was a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. He was the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.-Early life:Johnny Burnette...
died in a boating accident, Clear Lake, California, in August 1964, while Dorsey continued to write songs and remained successful in this field. He also continued performing and reached the US 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...
chart with 15 minor hits during the 1970s, before he too died of a heart attack in August 1979.
Dorsey’s death may well have prompted Paul Burlison to return to the music scene in the 1980s, first with Johnny Black and Tony Austin in a recreation of The Rock and Roll Trio. In 1997, he cut his first ever solo LP “Train Kept A-Rollin” on Sweetfish Records as a tribute to The Rock and Roll Trio. The LP contained eleven tracks, three of which, "Train Kept A-Rollin'", "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes", and "Lonesome Train (on a Lonesome Track)", had been featured on The Rock and Roll Trio’s original 1957 album. Among the backing musicians were Rocky Burnette (Johnny’s son) and Billy Burnette (Dorsey’s son).
When asked about his post-Trio relationship with the Burnette Brothers, Paul Burlison made the following comments, “A year after I did that short tour with Johnny, I was working on my car one day and my wife called me to the phone. It was Dorsey and he told me that Johnny was missing out on a lake 109 Miles from San Francisco. He asked me to come out there and I left on the midnight flight. …….. We hadn’t been too close since all the trouble, although Johnny and I had been real close. After that there wasn’t two weeks went by that Dorsey and I didn’t talk to each other until his death in 1979.”
Paul Burlison died on September 27, 2003 in Horn Lake
Horn Lake, Mississippi
Horn Lake is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. Horn Lake is a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee, which is located just a few miles to the north. As of the 2000 U.S...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
after a long battle with cancer. The pioneering contribution to the genre by all three of the original members of The Rock and Roll Trio has been recognized by 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....
.