EARLY "ROOTS" YEARS : INFLUENCES
OUR MEMPHIS SUN STUDIO CONNECTION

SWEET DREAMS / BORN TO LOSE  |  GLORY LAND

* The Sun artists from Memphis have been a major influence and led to an appreciation of many other Southern influenced musical genres: blues, gospel, rock, bluegrass, skiffle, folk, etc.

* I first met Johnny Cash after a Brandon Arena show in the '50s and even had a 15-minute backstage guitar lesson from Luther Perkins. (I was a starry-eyed beginner on guitar).

* Since then we've attended shows by all the major Sun artists: Elvis, Carl, Jerry Lee, Roy, and Johnny -- and have made numerous visits to Graceland, Sun Studios, and the Opry.

* In the '60s we even performed for Johnny and June and their entire entourage in Brandon's Prince Edward Hotel ballroom -- a local service club hired us to do a series of after-show parties for all the major acts that came to the Wheat City.

* Over the years, we've also performed with many of the Grand Ole Opry performers, who regaled us with wonderful stories of touring with Elvis and all the Sun artists in the early days.

MEETING WITH THE VENTURES 50 YEARS LATER
50th Anniversary Show at McPhillips Station Casino
Winnipeg ~ January 17, 2011

APACHE  |  TAMMY

* Those were the days before we did many vocals and we often played guitar instrumentals for the whole gig. . . which led me on a constant search for guitar records:  Ventures, Shadows, Fireballs, Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins, Wes Dakus, Champs, Lonnie Mack, Link Wray, Spotnicks, and many one-hit wonders such as Jorgen Ingmann, String-A-Longs, Surfaris, Chantays, Rebels, Tornadoes, Pyramids, et al. I went so far as to import all the Shadows records from England and the band worked out synchronized steps to accompany the tunes.

* It was great to have the chance to meet again with the two surviving members of the original Ventures that influenced so many guitarists through so many decades.