Billy Boyd - Twangy Guitars

As a tad, he used to sit & stare, fascinated at the Mississippi. The mighty silver-grey ribbon that slashes through thousands of American miles whispered then spoke, finally shouted..."Get on your walkin' shoes, boy...the world's waiting."

Billy Boyd got the message. Took to the road. Went places. Did things. Lingered by the cool, blue-green lakes of Wisconsin. New York City's noise & confusion scared him. But he stuck it out awhile. Something inside compelled him to see everything there was to see: do everything there was to do.

Along the way he picked up a guitar. Didn't study. Just took it up in his big hands & played it & all his knocks & good times...all his misunderstanding of what makes a man tick, from then on, came out of the gut-strings of that guitar.

Billy Boyd managed to make music pay. Became an entertainer, & he started writing songs. Some people call the kind of stuff Billy plays hillbilly. Some --- rock & roll. To others, it's rockabilly. We call it "soul" or "this is what it means to me" music. Because it's sincere & because the lusty, rollicking rhythms mirror, without distortion, the many faces of our great nation.

It's time. Time to listen to a young & virile giant. A hardy man who loves his work.

Billy Boyd - Twangy Guitars, Crown Records CST 196, red vinyl, 1960.

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Side CST-196-1 -
Shuffle Boogie
Night Rock
When the Lights are Low
Jivin' at the Savoy
Stompin' at the Crossroads
Diggin' the Blues

Side CST-196-2 -
Mambo Boogie
South Hampton
Bolero Boogie
Duck Walk
Oop Shank
Drifting

He’s the most prolific session guitarist in music history, a master of six-string twang & ax muscle. He’s Billy Boyd...er, ah, actually, he's Jerry Cole, the king of hot rod guitar, & his astonishing six-decade career leaps from top of the chart classics to over 100 gold & platinum recordings.

This isn’t retro or rockabilly, it’s the real thing. As a charter member of session all-stars the Wrecking Crew, JERRY COLE bent strings with everyone from the Byrds (“Mr. Tambourine Man”) & Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Are Made for Walking”) to the Beach Boys (Pet Sounds) & Paul Revere & the Raiders (“Kicks”). As performer, he & bandmate Glen Campbell headed The Champs & sent “Tequila” up the charts. Cole was featured guitarist on Shindig & Hullabaloo. He backed up Elvis Presley in 1974. His bandleader abilities were tapped by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Roger Miller, & Rick Nelson. He was a first-call guitarist on TV show bands for Andy Williams, Sonny & Cher, the Smothers Brothers, Laugh In, & Dick Van Dyke.

Yes, he matched Dick Dale on the surf turf, recording with the Stingers (Power Surf) & the Spacemen (Surf Age). Cole also recorded numerous instrumental albums under his own name & turned out the hotly collectible Guitars A Go-Go series. Yet his most unheralded contribution to modern rock is as King of the Hot Rod Guitar. While the Beach Boys & Dick Dale were making waves with surf music, Cole was revving up his guitar by making music to drive faster by. During the mid-Sixties he recorded over a dozen albums of hot rod & dragstrip songs. His music inspired & influenced bands from the Blasters to the Cramps & Butthole Surfers

While stand-alone record shops & the rare department store music section offered the latest in vinyl, drugstores & grocery stores were a treasure trove of gems by anonymous performers such as:

The Scramblers (Cycle Psychos)
The Blasters (Sounds of the Drag)
Eddy Wayne (The Ping Pong Sounds of Guitars in Percussion)
The Winners. The Hot Rodders
The Deuce Coupes (The Shut Downs)
The Red Jackets (Surfers Beat)
The Id (The Inner Sounds of the Id).
Even the legendary (& imaginary) Billy Boyd (Twangy Guitars), Don & Eddie, The Electric Underground...the list get longer everytime I re-do this sucker

All were JERRY COLE.

Enjoy
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