Johnny Burnette

Artist: Johnny Burnette

LP: 7" single

Song: "Little Boy Sad"

[ listen ]

After watching the world come to an end at the movies on Saturday night, I sauntered down Broadway on Capitol Hill and into Spin Cycle, a little record store I hadn't been to before. The guy working there told me they'd be closing in five minutes, but I still had time to find two singles, including this one by Johnny Burnette, released in early 1961 as Burnette was suffering a ruptured appendix. Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1934, Johnny formed a rock trio called The Rhythm Rangers in 1952 with his brother Dorsey and their friend Paul Burlison. When the group disbanded in 1957, Johnny went solo and landed several chart hits in the early 1960s, including "Little Boy Sad," which peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Unfortunately, the hits slowed to a trickle soon after that. Johnny switched labels several times and continued releasing singles, but everything came to a sudden, sad end when his fishing boat was struck by a cabin cruiser on Clear Lake in California in August of 1964 and he drowned; he was just 30 years old. You can read lots more about the handsome and talented Johnny Burnette on Wikipedia here.

 [ Johnny Burnette: March 25, 1934 — August 14, 1964 ]

Tommy Collins

Artist: Tommy Collins

LP: Words and Music Country Style
Song: "Love-a-me S'il Vous Plait"
[ listen ]

Tommy Collins has been one of my favorite old-time country singers ever since I heard him sing "You Better Not Do That" on a country compilation CD about twelve years ago. And after seeing his picture on this 1957 "Made In England" LP I found in Fargo, North Dakota this past summer, I like him even more. What a hunk! Unfortunately, Collins abandoned his musical career in 1957 to begin studying to become a minister. He didn't record again until the early-to-mid 1960s, after realizing that ministering wasn't really his thing. You can read about the life and career of Tommy Collins (aka Leonard Raymond Sipes) on his Rockabilly Hall of Fame page here. Biographical notes from the back of this LP—along with accompanying drawings depicting the stages of his life from about 1939 to 1957—are included below.

[ Tommy Collins: September 28, 1930 — March 14, 2000 ]

Marvin Rainwater

Artist: Marvin Rainwater

LP: 7" single
Song: "Gonna' Find Me a Bluebird"
[ listen ]

Song: "Get Off the Stool"
[ listen ]

Here are two songs from a 4-track 7" EP from one of my favorite old-time country singers. Marvin Rainwater was born on July 2, 1925 and celebrated his 84th birthday this year! He's ¼ Cherokee (Rainwater is his mother's maiden name) and was the 73rd inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. You can find more info on Marvin Rainwater here, read his bio on the Rockabilly Hall of Fame page here and visit his website here— where you can sign his guestbook and find out what he's up to nowadays. These notes are from the back of the "Meet Marvin Rainwater" 7" EP, which was made and released in the UK:

MARVIN RAINWATER, who is partly of Cherokee Indian descent,
comes from Wichita, Kansas. One of nature's own musicians,
he has penned hundreds of folk style and religious songs and
recently aroused nation-wide attention in America with his
record of "Gonna' Find Me a Bluebird."

Marvin studied veterinary medicine in Washington and is
supremely fond of horses. Tall and handsome, he has, in a
knock-about character, worked in logging camps and in the
U.S. Navy and at the beginning of his career his friends nick-
named him "Starvin' Marvin." Marvin soon put an end to such
talk when his original song "I Gotta Go to Get My Baby" was
covered by six artists on records and made his name a power
to reckon with in the field of country music. Marvin turned the
corner on the road to fame when he won first place on Arthur
Godfrey's talent scouts which led to regular work at CBS in
New York and ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Mo.

Marvin already has many friends in this country and is
making no small contribution to the growing interest that
exists in country music of which he is, indeed, one of
America's supreme exponents.

[ Marvin Rainwater ]

Orion

Artist: Orion

LP: Sunrise

Song: "I Heard You Talkin' With Your Eyes"
[ listen ]

How come it's always the guy who shows up with the George Jones hair and the rhinestone-studded Lone Ranger mask who gets all the lovin'? Some fans thought Elvis Presley had faked his death in 1977 in order to continue his musical career as the mask-wearing Orion. Unfortunately, this reincarnation of The King was shot and killed by three young punks with sawed-off shotguns while working at his convenience store in Orrville, Alabama in 1998. You can read all about that here and visit the official Jimmy "Orion" Ellis website here for pictures, performances and more. I think it's safe to say: "they don't make 'em like this anymore."

[ Jimmy "Orion" Ellis: February 26, 1945 — December 12, 1998 ]

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Orion's 1979 "Sunrise" LP was one of the things I found along with a bunch of other neat stuff at this vinyl-filled antique store in Fargo, North Dakota:

[ Main Avenue Antiques . 1330 Main Avenue . Fargo, ND ]