SUCRETS HAS A POSSE

Well ain't that about a suck. I ran into an old link to a Mickey Hawks song and it was kaput. I went to the hosting site and only the home page was still functioning.That wouldn't be a big deal except that there are several links sprinkled around here that I'll have to double check and update if possible. I wouldn't bother but most of the cuts were prime, as in essential, rockabilly. Mickey Hawk was what I was looking for, so let's start with him.

Hawks was a singer and piano player that recorded under his own name and with his band as the Night Raiders. A couple things to note: On the first song, an instrumental, the lead instrument is guitar, and not Hawks at all. Still good though, notable because the guitar player and writer of the song, Bill Ballard, was only sixteen years old at the time. He joined the band at age fourteen. The other thing is Hawks's voice on "Bip Bop Boom" and "Screamin' Mimi Jeanie". It's my very favorite type of rock 'n' roll voice. Enough of a continuous scream that you know they're doing major damage. He's up there with Little Richard, Nick Curran, Gerry Roslie and Bunker Hill. Here we go, I feel myself getting pulled away. Before I go run off to the Land of the Shredded Larynx,  a tip. Read the Hawk profile at the Hound. He does a more thorough job than anybody else.

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Listen:
Mickey Hawks - Cotton Pickin' mp3 at Rocky 52
The Night Raiders - Bip Bop Boom mp3 at Rocky 52
The Night Raiders - Screamin' Mimi Jeanie mp3 at Rocky 52
Mickey Hawks - Rock and Roll Rhythm mp3 at Rocky 52
Visit:
Mickey Hawks and the Night Raiders at The Hound Blog

WE'RE THE GOOD OL' BOYS

After mentioning Mickey Hawks the other day, I went back to check the other posts that had mentioned Hawks and found that some of the links were bad. We can't let that happen, not for the person who recorded the hell's-a-poppin' "Bip Bop Boom". In fact, there's two links down there for that one, in case one goes dead. You need to hear it.

Here's some a brief thing I wrote a few years ago, but you really need to go to the Hound Blog and read the bio. Here's the drivel:

They don't get any more stealth than this. The Night Raiders, sometimes billed as Mickey Hawks with Moon Mullins and his Night Raiders, and sometimes just Mickey Hawks. (Hawks is the guy in the top left.). Surely these guys were all about the bait and switch, playing the safe prom band angle and then letting loose once the stage was theirs. Maybe not. All I know is that they were capable of some wild shit, way wilder than that photo implies. The song below is just an teaser, a guitar instrumental credited to Hawks, even though he was the singer and piano player. The guitarist was a sixteen year old whizkid named Bill Ballard. He joined the band at the age of fourteen. Unbelievably badass. He wrote it too.

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Listen:
Mickey Hawks - Cotton Pickin' mp3 at Rocky 52
The Night Raiders - Bip Bop Boom mp3 at Rockabilly Hall
The Night Raiders - Bip Bop Boom mp3 at Rocky 52
The Night Raiders - Screamin' Mimi Jeanie mp3 at Rocky 52
Mickey Hawks - Rock and Roll Rhythm mp3 at Rocky 52
Visit:
Mickey Hawks and the Night Raiders at The Hound Blog

1956: CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG

Can you imagine? One minute it's lightweight vocal stuff, then the next, Elvis hits and every other song has "rock 'n' roll" in the title. 1956 seems to be the year everybody knew the phrase that pays. That year, Johnny Carroll (above) had at least five songs with "rock 'n' roll" (or some deviant of "rock") in the title. That was just one guy. Everyone was doing it, whether or not they were even playing rock 'n' roll. It was a total free for all.

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Listen:
Mickey Hawks - Rock 'n' Roll Rhythm mp3 at Internet Archive
Mabel King - Alabama Rock 'n' Roll mp3 at Internet Archive
Johnny Carroll - Rock 'n' Roll Ruby mp3 at Internet Archive

PROPER ATTIRE? SURE...

Take a look at these guys. They look fairly tame. Maybe an instrumental combo, or a vocal group. If you gave them the benefit of the doubt, maybe you'd figure them as some early Northwest type garage band. That Night Raiders name does sound vaguely tough. Never would have I imagined though, that they were rockabilly or raw fifties rock 'n' roll, or whatever it is that you'd call them. I don't care, raw and rockin' is exactly what they are, and that's good enough for me.

Mickey Hawks was the singer on these, he's the guy in the back, a third or fourth tier guy in rockabilly circles. You might not know him, but you can get caught up real fast with a detailed bio over at the ever reliable Hound Blog. Now soak your skull in these.

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Listen:
The Night Raiders - Bip Bop Boom mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
The Night Raiders - Screamin' Mimi Jeanie mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
Mickey Hawks - Rock and Roll Rhythm mp3 at Rocky 52
Visit:
Mickey Hawks and the Night Raiders at The Hound Blog

STEALTHNESS

Here's just what I needed tonight, just a simple hot shit rock 'n' roll single.  Thank you Diddy Wah for throwing it down.

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Listen:  
Mickey Hawks - Bip Bop Boom mp3 at Diddy Wah
Mickey Hawks - One more song at Diddy Wah