While the definitive version of "Train Kept A Rollin" is open for debate, the distortion-laden version by Johnny Burnette and the Rock n' Roll Trio [sic] has gotta be the most groundbreaking. It's a general consensus that it was the first rock n' roll record with fuzz on it. What's more significant is that it set the template for just about all future interpretations.
Almost without exception, subsequent rock n' roll versions of the song all ape the Trio's treatment, itself a cover of the original by Tiny Bradshaw. But the treatment and the fuzz was all theirs. Just whose fuzz in particular, though, remains a question.
In this corner, we have the accident, according to guitarist Paul Burlison, "Just before a show, the leather strap on my blond fender amp broke, and the amp fell to the floor. When I plugged the guitar in, it had a real fuzzy sound. I looked in the back of the amp, and one of the tubes was barely sticking in the prongs -- It was acting like rheostat. The guitar sounded pretty good, so I left the tube the way it was. From then on, whenever I wanted to get that sound, I'd just reach back there and loosen the tube. It sounded real funky."
In the other corner, we've got studio whiz Grady Martin. WFMU's Beware of the Blog cites session player Martin as the guitarist. I thought that possibly a slip-up, because it also says Martin invented the fuzz guitar sound in 1960, four years after the Trio cut "Train Kept A Rollin'" and "Honey Hush", another fuzzed-out rocker. (See Country Fuzz Spectacular link below for more on Martin and other country fuzzers.)
In the process of fact checking online, I found the writing of a true fuzz-orgin fiend, and it opened up a real can of worms. It's a lengthy dissertation on the origin of the fuzz on "Train Kept A Rollin'." When I say lengthy, I mean that I spent over a half hour on a single page. It comes up with some hard-to-ague points about said fuzz, including an argument that it probably wasn't fuzz at all.
Though the still-debated fuzz was a big part of what made the Trio's version memorable, it was the overall treatment and sound, and Burnette's manic, panting, vocals, that made it theirs and a Rockabilly milestone.
I'd like to believe Burlison's version, if only to contemplate the possible power of a mistake. Either way, the lineage of the song is something remarkable and comforting. Whether a dropped amp or a song three ex-boxers made their own, I marvel at how it fed through the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, and on through Aerosmith, and continues today in the bedrooms of future shredders with big dreams.
Johnny Burnette and the Rock n' Roll Trio - Train Kept A Rollin' at LexJansen.com
Johnny Burnette and the Rock n' Roll Trio - Honey Hush mp3 at RockinDog.com
Johnny Burnette & the Rock n' Roll Trio - Rockabilly Boogie (streaming) at Walk Between the LinesJohnny Burnette and the Rock n' Roll Trio - Honey Hush mp3 at RockinDog.com
Country Fuzz Spectacular at WFMU's Beware of the Blog (28 country fuzzers)
Did Paul Burlison or Grady Martin play guitar for Johnny Burnette & The Rock'n'Roll Trio? Long-ass dissertation by Victor Gordon & Peter Dijkema at the Rockabilly Guitar Page
NOTE: These next three links were added 11/30/10, for reference (see comment from Paul Burlison's son in "Comments" below.)
Howlin' Wolf - I'm the Wolf mp3 at hic1.kazserv.com/~khabs(?)
Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88 mp3 at NYNetResources
Marty Robbins - Don't Worry (w/Grady Martin) mp3 at Beware of the Blog
NOTE: These next three links were added 11/30/10, for reference (see comment from Paul Burlison's son in "Comments" below.)
Howlin' Wolf - I'm the Wolf mp3 at hic1.kazserv.com/~khabs(?)
Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88 mp3 at NYNetResources
Marty Robbins - Don't Worry (w/Grady Martin) mp3 at Beware of the Blog
5 comments:
There's some debate as to who played guitar on the Johnny Burnette recordings... but as far as I'm concerned, it's pretty easy to tell. Paul Burlison played a Telecaster, which has a much brighter sound than Grady Martin's guitar. Tear it up, Oh Baby Babe and You're Undecided and are definitely Paul Burlison... you can tell by the tone and fact that the playing is slightly sloppy. Grady Martin played lead on almost every other song. Compare the guitar tone... its much darker.
The only ones I think are open for debate are Train Kept A Rollin' and Honey Hush...the two songs with the distorted octave licks. I'm pretty sure it was Paul Burlison who did those parts for two reasons:
#1 While it's a little harder to tell what kind of guiar it is with the added distortion, it still sounds to me like a Telecaster. The low notes have the same "hollow" sound Tele's are known for. Plus, I own one myself, and with a little distortion I can get almost the exact same sound.
#2 On both songs you can hear another lead guitar coming in at the very end to finish the song up. Listen closely to both songs, you'll be able to hear it. The guitar at the end is obviously not Burlison, so that last part would have to be Grady Martin... which means Burlison played rest of the song.
As far as who invented "fuzz" though... people refer to any kind of guitar distortion as fuzz... but really fuzz is created with transistors. It's not the same sound as natural amplifier distortion. Grady Martin did, in a sense, invent the fuzztone. It was actually a broken pre-amp on the mixing board that created the guitar distortion. He sold the idea to Gibson, who came out with the first fuzzbox.
I just read that page you linked to by Vince Gordon & Peter Dijkema, and obviously I think their explanation of how that sound was created is totally wrong.
He talks about the low string being louder and more distorted than the high one, and says that one of the pole pieces was raised up to accomplish this. More likely, it's just one string being picked much harder than the other. The technique for playing those licks involves picking the low E and high E at the same time without a guitar pick...just your thumb for the low E and one finger for the high E. If you're used to playing with a pick, you'd be likely to hit the low E too hard with your thumb, causing it to be overly loud and distorted.
He goes on to say that in a performance in 1997, Burlison didn't sound as smooth as the records. Well yeah, dude. He was an old man.
I dont really believe the story about the tube being knocked loose either, but I think it was him that played the licks on those songs.
Yeah Dave!
I knew it I could count on a true fiend to add more insight into the fuzz-gate. Not that I understand any of the technical stuff (please don't call me the Sarah Palin of fuzz...).
P.Burlison's son here..The controversy continues on of whether my dad or Grady Martin played the leads on the trio Nashville cuts.
Actually, both my dad and G. Martin share the lead on a number of the cuts..The fuzz/ distortion sound heard on "Train Kept Rollin", "Honey Hush","Rock a Billie Boogie" was created as my dad claimed, by a loose tube in his fender amp, enhanced by Owen Bradley's studio engineers..
You will never hear a song where G. Martin created the fuzz/distortion unique to the trio's unless P. Burlison was in the studio..(His fuzz sound created on M. Robbin's "Don't Worry", is nothing like the trio's)
My dad originally heard the distortion sound playing with Howlin Wolf's band..The band member actually using only warn out amps that they could afford at the time..And on "Rocket 88", everyone agrees was created by a damaged fender deluxe,probably a loose tube from a fall.
My dad was probably the first one to intentionally use the sound and was easily done with the thinner neck of the telecaster and someone like my dad with long fingers..
If you want to listen and hear how my dad(P. Burlison) played the distortion /Octaves on the original"Train Kept Rollin" and "Honey Hush", then ck out this recent youtube entry-..playing with DJ Fontana of Elvis fame(P.Burlison at age 71)..(Ck out the lead-"Honey Hush"- Last song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8OPvYp92jA
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