danny gatton recalled and the commanders foot!
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:45 pmi remember playing on the same bill as robert gordon and his band.they were good but gordon was starting to get weary of the road then and he didnt talk much.he seemed depressed.
his guitarist was a good chap..i truly didnt know him at first because we were going on and we were pretty tense being on the same bill as a rockabilly great like gordon.when we finsihed the show the guitar player came up to us and said wow man..you guys are awesome!
i was like thanks..i loved your playing too!
you sounded more like jamie burton than any other guy i ever heard other than jamie himself.
the guy said"man thats a compliment if i ever got one"
i said cool..whats your name and he laughed!
danny man.
i was like sh$t!!!
sorry..i have always admied your playing but i have never seen you before!!!.
he said thats allright.you made my nite by bringing up burton.
he knew jamie and he said they had often chatted about the old days when jamie was with ricky and elvis!
the drummer that nite was elvis" drummer from the 70s shows..whos name i forget..on a small set! instead of the big double bass set gordon had him on a small set and he was good.
we spent time taking it in(you know what) and talking drums.
then..well back to danny!
i said hey..you should just split and do your own stuff and get a band.
he said he was doing that soon because gordon was burnt out(with good reason as he played nealy 7 nites a week then) and danny seemed on top of the world about forming a band.he said give me your number..if you arent working you can come an play.i was like sure!! but he said"i dont steal people either..if you are making it and happy i cant take you away from your band"
i was like arrg.you are right man.so we shook hands.then he said hello to my lead player who was a very young guy then and my player said"who is he"
i wasnt going to tell him hed just gotten a compliment from one of rockabillys greatest players,and i told him to go find out by himself.
he did too.
hes gone now.so is danny.they were both two of the best rockabilly players out there.
although it saddens me i have music by them both.
and memories.danny did do an album and it was a gem!
on that same bill was commander cody and his lost planet airmen!
he had the younger band then..hed fired all his older players and they didnt go well that nite at all..so he wasnt in a good mood!my turn came to make it worse for him.........
as i was walking past him,i accidentlly stepped on his foot!
i was ashamed and i must have turned red.
the guy..i could feel the fat of his foot under mine and for a few seconds i froze.i guess i had a few too many or whatever..he said'anytime you wanna take your foot off mine would be a good thing "
i was like sorrryyyy!!!!!!
lol.
anyhow..thats one of thousands of stories i could tell.
this was back in the early 80s.(81???)we all had so much fun bringing rockabilly back.
it was coming back harder than ever then.
we had been playing it since the mid 70s and had been billed in terrible country bars untill we finally got our break.
gordon had dome much to get it heard again as had kub coda(also rip).
but we all got too tired.it was alot to be doing that all week and travelling so much.
now you dont hear of many true rockabilly bands anymore..much of its psychabilly or surf oriented.
younger guys hear me play and say"why dont you play in a riockabilly band somtime?i just smile and say hmm.i will think that over.i never tell them anything.i leave them to thier own devices!
we wre a gem band with an upright bass and a small kit i loved playing on(drummer yep) and we had a smoking time!
we ALWAYS opened with 'rockin daddy" by eddie bond.
no mater where we were playing or how many songs we wrote,we opened with that song.
id rather not say the name of the band i was in then as its been many years and we have all moved on.
i dont like to talk about it.
i like to talk about the good or funny stuff but not a personal experience or the guys themselves.many of them are gone now or retired and i wouldnt want them to read this.if they are out there,they will know who i am and i hope they are ok.
but im not namin them.i hope thats ok! they played thier hearts out then.
one thing i will mention.
we often played on the same bill as "memphis rockabilly"
they also opened with 'rockin daddy!"
neither of us would buckle down and change the opening tune.so we tried to play it as different as we all could!
carl perkins once said"why dont ya all try an play a different tune when ya open up???"""
we all cracked up and our piano player said"hey perk!
harpy
his guitarist was a good chap..i truly didnt know him at first because we were going on and we were pretty tense being on the same bill as a rockabilly great like gordon.when we finsihed the show the guitar player came up to us and said wow man..you guys are awesome!
i was like thanks..i loved your playing too!
you sounded more like jamie burton than any other guy i ever heard other than jamie himself.
the guy said"man thats a compliment if i ever got one"
i said cool..whats your name and he laughed!
danny man.
i was like sh$t!!!
sorry..i have always admied your playing but i have never seen you before!!!.
he said thats allright.you made my nite by bringing up burton.
he knew jamie and he said they had often chatted about the old days when jamie was with ricky and elvis!
the drummer that nite was elvis" drummer from the 70s shows..whos name i forget..on a small set! instead of the big double bass set gordon had him on a small set and he was good.
we spent time taking it in(you know what) and talking drums.
then..well back to danny!
i said hey..you should just split and do your own stuff and get a band.
he said he was doing that soon because gordon was burnt out(with good reason as he played nealy 7 nites a week then) and danny seemed on top of the world about forming a band.he said give me your number..if you arent working you can come an play.i was like sure!! but he said"i dont steal people either..if you are making it and happy i cant take you away from your band"
i was like arrg.you are right man.so we shook hands.then he said hello to my lead player who was a very young guy then and my player said"who is he"
i wasnt going to tell him hed just gotten a compliment from one of rockabillys greatest players,and i told him to go find out by himself.
he did too.
hes gone now.so is danny.they were both two of the best rockabilly players out there.
although it saddens me i have music by them both.
and memories.danny did do an album and it was a gem!
on that same bill was commander cody and his lost planet airmen!
he had the younger band then..hed fired all his older players and they didnt go well that nite at all..so he wasnt in a good mood!my turn came to make it worse for him.........
as i was walking past him,i accidentlly stepped on his foot!
i was ashamed and i must have turned red.
the guy..i could feel the fat of his foot under mine and for a few seconds i froze.i guess i had a few too many or whatever..he said'anytime you wanna take your foot off mine would be a good thing "
i was like sorrryyyy!!!!!!
lol.
anyhow..thats one of thousands of stories i could tell.
this was back in the early 80s.(81???)we all had so much fun bringing rockabilly back.
it was coming back harder than ever then.
we had been playing it since the mid 70s and had been billed in terrible country bars untill we finally got our break.
gordon had dome much to get it heard again as had kub coda(also rip).
but we all got too tired.it was alot to be doing that all week and travelling so much.
now you dont hear of many true rockabilly bands anymore..much of its psychabilly or surf oriented.
younger guys hear me play and say"why dont you play in a riockabilly band somtime?i just smile and say hmm.i will think that over.i never tell them anything.i leave them to thier own devices!
we wre a gem band with an upright bass and a small kit i loved playing on(drummer yep) and we had a smoking time!
we ALWAYS opened with 'rockin daddy" by eddie bond.
no mater where we were playing or how many songs we wrote,we opened with that song.
id rather not say the name of the band i was in then as its been many years and we have all moved on.
i dont like to talk about it.
i like to talk about the good or funny stuff but not a personal experience or the guys themselves.many of them are gone now or retired and i wouldnt want them to read this.if they are out there,they will know who i am and i hope they are ok.
but im not namin them.i hope thats ok! they played thier hearts out then.
one thing i will mention.
we often played on the same bill as "memphis rockabilly"
they also opened with 'rockin daddy!"
neither of us would buckle down and change the opening tune.so we tried to play it as different as we all could!
carl perkins once said"why dont ya all try an play a different tune when ya open up???"""
we all cracked up and our piano player said"hey perk!
harpy