OH BOY & RAVE ON At the weekend,I had the great pleasure of meeting a living Rock n Roll legend,Sonny West,co-writer and first artist to record Oh Boy and Rave On,two of Buddy and The Crickets most loved songs. They were recorded by Sonny at the Lyceum Theatre in Clovis,New Mexico and produced by Norman Petty. BTW - Oh Boy was original titled All My Love. Brilliant keyboard player and sometime Cricket,who joined the great James Burton as resident Elvis sideman,Glenn D Hardin,made his music debut on the session with Sonny when he was 15 years old! What incredible talent grew out of West Texas at that time. Sonny and his lovely wife Dottie were most gracious,and Sonny told me some wonderful stories. Heres one. It was 1957 and an open mike evening at radio station KDAV,Dave Stone was hosting the show. Sonny was visiting family [ his parents lived in Littlefied Texas,near Waylon Jennings ] and he was asked to call over to the radio station to perform. When he arrived,there was already a session going on.Dave said When these boys finish in the studio,you can go in Sonny. These boys were Buddy and his band at that time! A couple of years ago,Sonny very kindly demoed a track for my dad. Hed asked Sonny if he had any unreleased material that would interest Buddy/Cricket fans. Sonny said in December 1958,he bumped into Buddy who was visiting his parents in Lubbock with Maria Elena for Christmas [ which sadly,as we all know,was his last one ] . Buddy praised Sonny and thanked him for the two great songs he and The Crickets had recorded to such huge success,and Buddy asked Sonny if he had anything else that might interest him. Sonny said to Buddy he was working on a couple of songs,one in particular was nearly finished,and Buddy said hed like to hear them where they were completed. As we lost Buddy just a few weeks after that meeting,Sonny was like us all,devastated,so he put the song ideas away,and never thought about them again,in respect to Buddys memory,until a couple of years ago when he told my dad the story,dad persuaded him to record one of those songs he was finishing for Buddy to hear himself,for historical purpose. Recorded at home,simply but soulfully by Sonny,well maybe ask his permission to allow us to put it on the Facebook site for you to listen to. The song title is Whatll You Have. Its numbing to think what might have been. For now,take a listen to this 1956 authentic Rockabilly classic,Rock-Ola-Ruby from a fine artist and real Gentleman. See below also,the pic of the original copy in Sonnys home.Thank you for your hospitality Sonny and Dottie. Thank you also Sonny West,for your BRILLIANT iconic songs Oh Boy and Rave On,they will forever be intertwined with those of Buddy holly and The Crickets.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:34:09 +0000
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