The Best Of Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio

The Best Of Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio

As respected as they are in rockabilly circles, JOHNNY & DORSEY BURNETTE don’t have the notoriety of their contemporaries like Elvis Presley or Carl Perkins.  While lead guitarist Paul Burlison is nearly as respected as Elvis’ guitarist Scotty Moore—some of the licks on The Trio’s tracks were supplied by session guitarist Grady Martin.   Burlison worked with Elvis Presley at Crown Electric, & the brothers knew him as well, but he never recorded any of their songs.  Sun Records’ Sam Phillips passed on them because they sounded too much like Elvis—but they were all (along with Perkins) experimenting with similar styles of music at the same time.

The Burnette Brothers were rough hewn.  Both were boxers—Golden Gloves Champions—and they weren’t above turning those skills on one another.  The groundbreaking raw and ragged guitar sound on Train Kept A Rollin’ has been attributed to a loose tube in Burlison’s amplifier—and one account claims that what knocked the tube loose was a scuffle between The Battling Burnettes.  

Competitiveness is a large part of any boxer.  Add to that they both wrote songs, and they were both capable singers, & good ol’ sibling rivalry, & it’s no surprise the brother’ relationship was often contentious.  Younger brother Johnny’s name being placed before the band’s original name: THE ROCK AND ROLL TRIO  didn’t help matters.  Dorsey left the group just before their appearance in Alan Freed’s movie; Rock, Rock, Rock, and was replaced by Johnny Black, the brother of Elvis’ bassist, Bill Black.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, Johnny Burnette famously lay in wait in front of Ricky Nelson’s house & sold him on listening to their songs, and the brothers were underway as a songwriting duo.

The Burnette Brothers both had some success as recording artists at the beginning of the ‘60s, with Dorsey leaning toward country and Johnny leaning toward pop.  Johnny died tragically in a boating accident in 1964 leaving behind a son, Rocky who went on to have a recording career.  Dorsey scored 15 minor hits in the country field & had even greater success as a songwriter.  His son, Billy, also went on to become a solo artist and to play with Fleetwood Mac for several years.  Like their famous fathers the cousins relationship was strained.

This compilation shows why Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'N' Roll Trio are on everybody’s short list of rockabilly pioneers.  I’ve listened to most of these tracks a couple hundred times and they still get me amped up.  

In the words of Jerry Lee Lewis: “If God made anything better, he kep’ it fo’ himself”.

 

Grandpa's Whistling TWIST

It's time again for a contribution from our regular visitor, Richard, with his focus on some obscure (but cool) punky tracks from 1970's - 1980's:

These are the first of four collections of music I would call Music From The Old Box, Whistle Along Songs, Grandpa’s Choice. I just named them all in one, Grandpa’s Whistling Things.

Late eighties, I was in a band and we had a lot of fun playing gigs, quite often together with other great bands from The Lowlands. Apparently, in all those bands, there was a music geek. A nerd just like me, someone who had a vast collection of wonderful music.

In this case, the bass player of Buy Off The Bar. Bass players are often funny people. We didn’t have a bass player in our band until I suggested they were weird, promptly the drummer switched to bass, and the drums became a Yamaha.  Look it up: Eton Crop’s Corné was/is an illustrious bloke, Bartje from the Four One and Only’s quit when he learned he’d be seen as weird, Hans took over, and he sealed his fate. Bass players are a weird bunch.

Back to the bass player ‘Cil of said Buy Off The Bar. He had/has an enormous collection of 7’’s and 12’’s filled with punk and reggae. He started to give me, on request, some tapes full of songs that were called as stated above. Wonderful bands I never knew about, and some classic tracks I knew for sure.

In this first collection you will find only happy songs from amateurs. Some would say that they could not even hold a guitar, sing in tune, keep rhythm, etc. In short, they are perfect good-fun examples of D.I.Y.  Some even made it into a career in music, touring the States as if they were real artists. Admittedly, they were. And good for them too.

All four CD’s will contain music from 1977-1989. An era of Innocence and Independence.  First up is Grandpa’s Whistling Twist. 

The Tights were the first band on Cherry Red. Together with TV Personalities, That Man by The Fall and Terry & Gerry’s Clothes Shop, they are the foundation of this series. Groups like Buzzcocks and Undertones do not need much introduction. Others might well have only one single or sometimes even one song on a compilation to their credit.

Apart from the song here Jenny Nowhere, The Clouds only had one other release.  The Tights had two singles, only since 2017 more of them have been released.  Cud and Dog Faced Hermans have made quite a few albums. The Hamsters only made it onto a compilation album. 

The Groove Farm, This Poison!, Protex, Girls At Our Best, Death By Milkfloat, The Great Leap Forward, Rote Kapelle are more examples of forgotten bands, who sometimes only had a flexi disc to their name and whose members have been lost in obscurity.  Which is not all bad, my band also dropped off the radar and we turned out ok. 

And to come back to the bass player of Buy Off The Bar...... A successful deejay and writer of Ajax (Football) club books.  To finish it off, one of my all-time favorite songs, from their Peel Session: Electro Hippies – Sheep.

Comeback Special 2025

 

It’s almost the end of the year, and time for the 2025 Comeback Special.  Artists who haven’t released an album of new music in a decade or more are featured here, just in time for your holiday gift shopping or wish listing.  

These compilations take longer and longer to assemble, as it seems that more and more artists are active again, which can be a good thing.  I listened to over 40 new releases and selected a song from each one.  This year I allowed myself to skip a few: namely, the comeback albums from 38 Special, Doobie Brothers, Spin Doctors, and Counting Crows.  Honestly I don't want to hear a record called Butter Miracle - The Complete Sweets!

The biggest and most anticipated names to stage a comeback in 2025 were Alice Cooper (the band), Chameleons (UK), Pulp, and Stereolab. The ones I was personally looking forward to most were mclusky and Prolapse.   

Several artists didn’t live to see their own comebacks.  Tim Smith (leader of the band Cardiacs) died in 2020, and the album LSD (which he had been planning for years) was completed by Cardiacs bandmates and guests.  Adam Schlesinger died in 2020; his bandmates in the group Ivy completed the album Traces Of You without him.  

The rapper Prodigy (half of the duo Mobb Deep) died in 2017, and the album Infinite was completed this year by surviving member Havoc, their producer The Alchemist, and guests including Ghostface, Raekwon, and The Clipse. 

Speaking of The Clipse, the rapper No Malice returned from his self-imposed retirement to make a new album with his brother Pusha T and the producer Pharrell Williams (who had coproduced the previous Clipse records).  Let God Sort ‘Em Out is also an album affected by death, in this case the loss of the brothers’ parents.  

It has been over 50 years since Alice Cooper (the band) broke up. The new album features the late Glen Buxton on "What Happened To You". 

It's now more than 40 years since the last albums by Atomic Rooster, the Armory Show, and Glaxo Babies.  

At least 30 years have passed since the last albums by the Dogmatics and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.  

20+ years: 20/20, 38 Special, Black Eyes, the Cardiacs, the Chameleons (UK), the Cruel Sea, Deadguy, Dr. Strangely Strange, Edith Frost, the Mayflies (USA), mclusky, Mobb Deep, Prolapse, Pulp, and Slick Rick. This year's comeback albums by Mobb Deep and Slick Rick are part of the Legend Has It series of new LP's by veteran MC’s.  

Plenty to absorb among these 42 tracks, and hopefully you'll find something to make the yuletide bright.  

FIRST Volume 4 - Rock & Roll Firsts (Demos, 1st Bands, & So On.)

The FIRST series are catch-all compilations with a very wide berth for inclusion.

THE BEATLES usually pop up because they were responsible for so many firsts in rock & roll, but their presence here is secondary.  Volume 4 starts off with a track written & first recorded by CARL PERKINS that most people are better acquainted with as a track on a BEATLES album.  (Carl was actually in the studio when The Fab Four laid down their version).  LARRY WILLIAMS also benefitted greatly from having his song included on an LP by Liverpool’s favorite sons.

THE SHADOWS are more of the focus here, as their first recording (as THE DRIFTERS) makes an appearance alongside the first release by Marvin, Welch & Farrar after the band broke up, & (former-Shadows) Jet Harris & Tony Meehan’s Diamonds--which was JIMMY PAGE’s first session gig. 

Demos are prime possibilities for the FIRST series.  Included is a songwriter’s (BOB KELLY’s) demo for GENE VINCENT, & Gene’s own home demo for another song he had some success with: Lotta Lovin’.  THE RAMONES’ demo for Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World brings it all home—but not before FUGAZI, PAUL SIMON & TAYLOR SWIFT supply more of the same.

First singles or first recordings by acts who took a while to find a national audience are also convenient contenders.  There are first incarnations of THE MANHATTANS, THE DEAD BOYS, and the future JACKIE DeSHANNON recording as Sherry Lee.  FIRST BANDS are fair game, and JEFF LYNNE’s first recording outfit THE MOVE are represented, as are THIRTY DAYS OUT which I dug down deep in my trivia sack for... the band provided THE RAMONES' tour-manager Monte A. Melnick's first touring experience.

GREGG ALLMAN performs Melissa on Late Night With David Letterman & shares that it was the first song that he wrote and kept.  And there’s a dash of ZAPPA in the broth—Baby Ray & The Ferns was one of his earliest recording combos (although there is some dispute).

Some of my selections may have seen the light of day in JONDER’s excellent AS HEARD HERE FIRST series:

https://jonderblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/as-heard-here-first-original-versions.html

There’s a few of those here—tracks rock bands took and ran with that originated with Bullmoose Jackson, Tiny Bradshaw, Lloyd Brown, & Roy Milton.

That leaves only the cover photo—which was taken in Edinburgh—it's the FIRST photo of men drinking!

I urge you to check anywhere in the world for firsts, first, but be sure to check with JOKONKY, last!

 

Barney Bubbles Tunes 1977-84

In 1977, Barney Bubbles created some revolutionary covers and saw him paying respect to constructivist and modernist imagery with stunning original results for Stiff Records.
Barney had a long artistic relationship with Ian Dury, designing various classic sleeves for both his singles and albums.
The most famous of his LP covers for Dury and the Blockheads was probably 1979’s Do It Yourself, which was released with 36 cover variations based on Crown Wallpaper! 
His most prolific work was probably done for Elvis Costello’s releases, as he followed Costello & Nick Lowe from Stiff to Radar to F-Beat Records.
Even so, his work was not confined to those 3 labels as he was also active for Chiswick, Epic, a.m.o.
Barney had a very strong work discipline and took his assignments seriously, whether he could relate to the music or not.
Unfortunately, his private life was a rather different story (bipolar disorder and continuous financial problems didn’t help), and he took his own life in mid-November 1983... 

Barney at times had disagreements with both record companies (especially for the US market!) and artists, e.g. Dave Edmunds wasn’t pleased at all with the back cover of his Tracks On Wax 4 album... 

Even so, Barney’s design for Edmunds’ Twangin’ redeemed him completely!
The amount of work he produced was staggering, and this compilation only shows you the tip of the musical iceberg.

I’ve done my best to present either an album or a single cover of each song represented here, and the 35-page PDF also gives more details about Barney's influences.

As quite a few of the punk/new wave period Bubbles-related songs were already included in my previous Radar and F-Beat Records posts, I opted for some more obscure music, e.g. The Imperial Pompadours (Barney’s own band!), Elvis Costello in disguise, Laurie Latham’s band The Vampire Bats From Lewisham, and a Roger Chapman vinyl-only dub!
Besides the above, 1977-84 also features :
Ian Dury And The Music Students  / Generation X / Graham Parker / Mick Farren & The Deviants / The Adverts / Big Star / Humphrey Ocean's Iron Hoof / Nik Turner's Sphynx / Whirlwind / The Sinceros / Clive Langer And The Boxes / Chas Jankel / The Inmates / The Damned /  Dr. Feelgood / Inner City Unit / The Psychedelic Furs / Amazulu / Billy Bragg / Mercy Ray / Wang Chung 

The 2 volumes (which easily could have been 3, volume 1 posted yesterday for the 500niversary!) here give an adequate overview, covering prog-rock, space-rock, folk, pub-rock, country-rock, punk, funk, new wave, rockabilly, and more, enjoy! 

Jokonky's 500versary!

Today marks our 500th post. We (Jonder, Koen, and Stinky) would like to thank the readers who have followed and commented on the blog over the years, as well as newcomers.  It was March 2018 when Jonderblog started, with a post reflecting on the somber occasion of Mark E. Smith's birthday (somber because The Fall's frontman had passed away two months earlier).  

Stinky LePew joined in November 2018, adding a welcome sense of humor, a boundless imagination for creating new compilation themes, and a wide-ranging knowledge of music and musical trivia.  The two of us started a a "label" called Jon-Ky Records for our collaborative posts.  

Koen was a frequent visitor who was contributing guest posts to another music blog.  After that blog ended, we invited him aboard.  His debut was in December 2023, with the first of several excellent posts on the music of Robert Palmer.  Jon-Ky became JOKONKY, and we adopted a weekly schedule of posting (Koen on Mondays, Stinky on Wednesdays, and Jonder on the weekend).  

Today we interrupt our regular rotation to deliver a triple post.  I (Jonder) am sharing the fifth set in my series Punks Got Soul.  Today I also want to highlight a couple of my colleagues' contributions.  Koen's compilation of Chuck E. Weiss' music is one of my favorites. Another favorite is Stinky's three volume tribute to pioneering punk guitarist Brian James, who died in March of this year.  

Thanks, Jonder! And here's Koen, still very happy to be part of the JOKONKY gang. My partners' highlights are as follows:  

 

Stinky posted this great collection of classic songs from the 1960's and a wonderful write-up!  5 years ago, Jonder posted this neat Adrian Sherwood collection that seems to have fallen between the cracks, shame really, do check it out!  My own favorite post depends a lot on my mood, but for now it's the one about Garland Jeffreys. 

One of my own artistic 'heroes' is Barney Bubbles, and my contribution to this 500versary is Volume 1 of a 2-part collection of songs associated with him during 1969 to 1977, with artists range from Hawkwind to Brinsley Schwarz to Quiver to Johnny Moped... Volume 2 will be posted next Monday.

CONGRATULATIONS on 500 posts, Jonder—and thanks for letting me be a (Stinky) part of it!   Here's my personal favorite of Jonder’s posts—because I love PEARL, & because this post started our long association!  Everybody's Boring But Pearl Harbour (Part 1). My favorite Koen post: Geraint Watkins - Squeezin' & Pumpin'. And my favorite of my own posts: David Johansen - I Can't Be Wastin' Time.

Finally, here's my post for JOKONKY’s 500versary: Get In Loser, We're Going Rockabilly Vol. 6

The Best Of THE CARPETBAGGERS - Sin Now... Pray Later!

THE CARPETBAGGERS were a Twin Cities area three piece made up of two guitarists and a stand-up bassist--like their biggest influence JOHNNY CASH & THE TENNESEE TWO.  They’re an Appalachian echo of a time when drums weren’t allowed on The Grand Ole Opry, and their minimalist "classic country" approach would suit the single dashboard speaker of a late fifties roadster just fine.

They were prolific & prodigious songwriters.  On the first two albums, acoustic guitarist John Magnuson wrote the bulk of their material, with bassist Rich Copley also contributing.  By their third album Sin Now... Pray Later, electric guitarist Mike Crabtree stepped up.  (Of Mike, The Star-Tribune said: “Crabtree’s humble, single-note guitar playing creates warm country melodies with a subtle rockabilly feel”).  They all sang, & their voices blend together as if they were brothers.

Their songs range from downright depressing; Absent Without Leaving, to laugh-out-loud funny; My Jeannie’s In A Bottle, to surprisingly dark; Always A Pallbearer (Never A Corpse).  We're talking Leon Payne dark.  Songs by Roy Drusky, Bobby Lee Trammell, Marvin Rainwater, and Bill Anderson were scattered imperceptibly among the band’s own compositions.

Their first album was on Clean Records in 1992, their second was on Twin-Tone, and they went on to Hightone Records for their final album in 1996.  For a few years there, you were safe buying ANYTHING released on the Hightone label.  

The band did three tours with Son Volt and shared the stage with such notables as Los Lobos, Alison Krauss, The Jayhawks, and The Gear Daddies.

John Magnuson still records, and keeps a busy performing schedule.  Nowadays, there’s an Austin band called The Carpetbaggers—proof that you can’t keep a good name down.

I loved the band from day one, but my appreciation has only deepened.  I find it to be unparalleled driving music, so I go back to their catalogue regularly.  I’ve probably listened to this "best of" at least 60 times since I put it together twenty years ago—two or three times a year at least—which is why I decided to post it.