Picture the scene ...it's 1956...a smoke filled bar, late Saturday afternoon, Odessa, Texas, a bottle of Lone Star on the counter in front of  you and a week of sweat and toil in the oil fields behind you. Through the  smoke, someone switches on the black and white T.V. above the shelf of  bottles behind the bar ... slowly a picture forms on the screen and a voice  says, a little uncertainly, "Are your ready ?" The Teen Kings explode on the  screen with a wild version of "Ooby Dooby". Wonder where those kids are from....

    Nearly thirty years later, the recordings the Teen Kings made of some of  those live television performances must rate historically as the most important release so far of Roy Orbison's long career. For the first time ever, anywhere in the world, we are able to hear again some of the live broadcasts that preceded his world wide commercial success of the sixties and onwards that etched Roy's name onto the Roll of Honour in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

    It is fortunate that these recordings have survived. They give us a chance to better understand the music of an era, sadly gone by, and to appreciate more fully the influence these two early groups had on Roy's musical heritage. This is the story of the Wink Westerners, the Teen Kings, and Roy Orbison....

    Roy's earliest memories of his musical career appear to have been in 1941 when he was five years old and in the primary grade at school in Vernon, Texas. One of his teachers A.K. Hamblen (the brother of singer/composer Stuart Hamblen, writer of "It Is No Secret" and "This Ol' House") who recognized and encouraged Roy's vocal abilities.

    Roy's father, Orbie Lee, is generally credited with teaching Roy to play guitar (he was given a flat-top acoustic guitar for his sixth birthday). However, Roy would also have learnt from other family members including Charlie Orbison, Orbie Lee's brother, and Kenneth Schultz, brother of Roy's mother, Nadine.

    Together with Clois Russell, Orbie Lee's neighbour and workmate, the Orbison clan would often sing and play - mostly for their own  amusement but occasionally for a local dance - in between work in the local oil fields, Roy sometimes joining in with his rendition of "You Are My Sunshine". Radio was the main opportunity to hear music in the forties and WSM's 'Grand Ole Opry' broadcasts were easily heard throughout Texas. The Carter Family were broadcasting from Del Rio, Texas and Bob Wills from Fort Worth. The airwaves resounded with the music of various Mexican groups from  along the southern border area. Roy would never forget the mixture of Country and Spanish-Mexican rhythms from those times.

    The Orbisons moved to Fort Worth sometime in 1942 and Orbie Lee found employment in the munitions and aircraft factories that had been expanded due to America's entry into World War II. Radio stations WBAP and KFJZ were the main broadcasters in this part of Texas and they regularly featured Bob Wills & The Light Crust Doughboys, Ted Daffan, and Ernest Tubb. In later  years Roy often recalled seeing Tubb appear on the back of a flatbed truck,singing the praises of some local dairy products in between songs. Roy's own repertoire at this time included "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold", "Dusty Skies", "No Letter Today", and "San Antonio Rose".

      Sometime in 1944 a polio epidemic spread in Fort Worth and to avoid any danger, Roy and his elder brother Grady were sent back to live with their maternal Grandmother, a divorcee, in Vernon, Texas. Roy said that he wrote his first song, "A Vow Of Love" the same year. In 1945 he entered and won a talent contest on KVWC in Vernon, singing "You Are My Sunshine" and this led to his own radio show each Saturday. In 1946 he witnessed a stage show for the first time, featuring Bill & Joe Callahan. His musical hero at that time, and indeed for the time to come, was Lefty Frizzell. Their paths would cross many times in the years ahead and they were near neighbours in Hendersonville, Tennessee during the seventies. Sometime in 1946 a travelling medicine show came through Vernon and staged an amateur talent contest. Roy entered, sang "Mountain Dew" and "Jole Blon", trying for first place; his mind was now almost set on a musical career.

      Late 1946 saw the family re-united and moving to Wink, Texas, to enable Orbie Lee and his close friend 'Double-O'Harris to work in the oil fields, the main industry in the area. However, to anyone visiting Wink for the first time, the initial and striking impression is not the run down shacks and sand storms but the sheer size and dominance of the town's High School. It was there that Roy's lessons of the preceding years were to blossom. He started in the sixth grade class of 1947, his teacher was Lena Laughlin and his classmates included Billy Pat Ellis and Richard Roy West. Another school friend, the late Bobby Blackburn, recalled Roy's first singing performance  in Wink as taking place in the Derrick Hotel which was run by his parents. Others, including Glen Claibourne of Chambers Supermarket, remember him singing 'for nickels and dimes' on the front porches of the town's hardware and drug stores.

      Edith Evans, who managed the Rig Movie Theater (another Wink landmark) also recalled Roy's love of films, which was to remain with him throughout his  life. Her son Charles and his classmate James Morrow were a year younger than Roy but were very soon to become an important part of his musical
  'journey'. All of these friends and other, including Joe Ray Hammer, Orbie Lee Harris, Barna Richards and Ronnie Slaughter, participated in the various musical  groups that existed within the High School. Roy often told me that his  musical inspiration at school had been Joe Ray Hammer who had taught him to
play the baritone horn. An April 1951 High School Band concert had featured a Roy Orbison rendition of "When Yuba Plays The Tuba".

     Roy has stated that his first band was formed in 1949 when he was thirteen; ... Roy and James Morrow had begun playing and practising together in 1948  and soon had a five piece group consisting of Billy Pat "Spider" Ellis, drums; Charles "Slob" Evans, bass fiddle; Richard "Head" West, piano; James  Morrow, electric mandolin and Roy Orbison, lead guitar. They were given the use of the High School canteen for practice sessions - many of which were attended by both classmates and teachers. Eva June Harbin, their bio-chemistry teacher, is credited with giving them their names - The Wink Westerners .

    In 1951 Roy had been appearing regularly on a radio show with Charlene Arthur over KERB radio in Kermit, Texas, about eight miles west of Wink. By 1953 the Wink Westerners had their own show, sponsored by local businessmen, on KERB one day a week before school. The show was set up more or less to  promote their dance gigs. Richard West recalled that these shows started  with "Boil That Cabbage Down" and Roy often referred to an off air acetate  recording he had from KERB of him singing "Slowly" and "I Really Don't Want  To Know", in between reading out adverts for local stores, products and request from his current girlfriend.

    The Wink Westerners also featured on the KERB Jamboree, a Saturday afternoon show which featured most of the local Country & Western bands. Roy occasionally sang with other bands at KERB including the Western Melodiers and the Kingsmen. Roy learnt more guitar chords and rhythm structures from Troy Parker of the Kingsmen during this period and the Wink Westerners featured many instrumentals such as "In  The Mood" and "Little Brown Jug" in their radio and live performances. Their  vocal repertoire included "Mexican Joe", "Carribean" and "Kaw-Liga".

    The bands theme tune was "Under The Double Eagle". Roy took an interest in Columbia Records producer Mitch Miller's stable of artists - Frankie Laine,  Guy Mitchell, Johnny Ray, Rosemary Clooney and the Four Lads, most of whom  were recordings Country & Western hits for the Northern, and International, 'pop' market. Outside of school dances the Wink Westerners played most weekends at a variety of clubs and dance halls, icluding the Kermit American Legion, the McCamey Lions Club, the Blue Room in Wink and the Archway Club in Monahans, Texas. In April 1953 the Winkler Country Club held a dance sponsored by the Wink firemen to buy instruments and suits for the group. They also had begun
  to make home recordings ... Richard West worked part time after school in Bill H. "Slim" Adams radio and television repair shop in Wink. He saved enough to purchase a home disc cutter; these machines used blank cardboard discs coated with a thin plastic film into which grooves were cut by a stylus connected to a microphone or direct line input from an amplifier. The machines were very primitive by today's standards but in the days before home tape recorders were generally available they were used extensively. Few of these recordings have survived.

      The principal of Wink High School, R.A. Lipscomb, was an active member of  the Lions Club and in 1953 ran for the office of district governor. Together  with his assitant, Bob Conway, and the Wink Westerners, he attended the  Thirty-Sixth International Lions Club Convention in Chicago from 3rd thru
  11th July. They stayed at the Conrad Hilton Hotel and the Wink Westerners performed in front of the lobby. Richard West recalls their initial problems  with their amplifier which ran on AC current and having to wait for a  converter in order to plug into the hotels DC power output. They attended,  but did not performe at, several concerts whilst in Chicago, including the  final showcase starring Rudy Valee.

      Roy, Richard and Billy Pat graduated from Wink High School in June 1954. Two  months earlier on Wednesday 7th April the band had backed up Slim Whitman at  a show at the Rig Theater. The band had ten minutes to rehearse with Slim prior to the show and the performance featured such Whitman favourites as  "Indian Love Call", "Danny Boy", "China Doll, and "Love Song Of The Waterfall". At their graduation dance on June 11th the Westerners featured  for the first time an Orbison/Morrow composition "Cousin Charlie". Roy,  Billy Pat and Joe Ray Hammer signed up to attend the fall seminar at the North Texas State College in Denton, Texas. Fellow pupils included Pat  Boone, who was already recording for a small local label. Richard West  decided to join the U.S. Navy. They all returned to Wink for the Christmas holidays and Roy often recalled the New Year Dance on 31st December 1954 where the Wink Westerners had started playing "Shake, Rattle & Roll"shortly before midnihght, only to find the dance hall clock was running some eight  minutes fast, thus by midnight Roy was converted to what he described as the 'back beat' of Rock 'n' Roll.

      Wade Lee Moore was in the same fraternity as Roy, Billy Pat and Joe Ray at North Texas State College and he, with friend Dick Penner, occasionally had  a jam sessions with them. Wade and Dick had written two Rock 'n' Roll songs,  "The Ooby Dooby" and "Wild Women", both of which attracted the attention of  Roy and Billy Pat. Wade had signed "The Ooby Dooby" to a Dallas publishing  company called Ideas, Inc. and the song was first copyrighted on 2nd May  1955. Some time that year the Wink Westerners tried to get a record deal  with Columbia in Dallas. Dick Penner arranged for them to record his song "at some studio in Arlington", although it's possible this would have been  Jim Beck's studio nearby in Dallas. Beck was known for his associations with  Lefty Frizzell and Marty Robbins, and Roy would obviously have jumped at the idea of recording at the same studios as his musical hero.

    The surviving acetates from this session feature "Oobie Doobie" credited to Roy Ordasun and "Miss Fanny" by the Wink Westerners. Radio had brought the sounds of  black artists like the Clovers and Fats Domino to the airwaves and according to Roy, the Clovers' "One Mint Julep" was a big influence on him; it is interesting that his first attempt at a commercial recording was his version of their "Hey Miss Fanny". The recording appears to be an Orbison/Morrow duet employing many of the rhythms laid down in Elvis Presley's "That's All  Right" "Oobie Doobie" is more primative than all the versions later recorded for Je-Wel and Sun - Billy Pat played on a trash can lid as no drum set was available. An acetate copy of the session was given to Don Law who ran Columbia Records in Dallas but the Wink Westerners were never signed to the label. Don eventually gave the disc to Sid King, leader of the popular Five Strings, who were already signed to Columbia. They subsequently recorded  their own version of "Oobie Doobie" on March 5th 1956.

     During the summer of 1955 the Wink Westerners regrouped. Roy and Billy Pat  finished their short stay at North Texas State College while James and  Charles had graduated from Wink High School. Most of their performances were  now at the Archway Club in Monahans. By day, in order to earn some badly
needed money, Roy worked for El Paso Natural Gas Company "cutting and loading steel" as he put it, but more likely "weed chopping" as remembered  by Billy Pat and Charles Evans.

    The band some how managed to appear, along with other local C&W bands, on a  Saturday afternoon television show on KMID-TV (Channel 2), out of Midland, Texas. This was televised 'live' from an aircraft hanger near the Odessa-Midland airport. In addition to featuring their regular country songs  the band also began playing some of the new Rock 'n' Roll songs including  "That's All Right", "Rock Around The Clock", "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" and of  course, "Ooby Dooby". They were an instant success especially among the West Texas teens. As a result they were soon given their own thirty minute television show on Friday nights on KMID which was sponsored in the main by the Pioneer Furniture Co. of Odessa. The T.V. station was about seventy five  miles from Wink and their payment each week of  $25 for the whole band barely covered expenses, but it was worth it as a means of promoting their dances at the Archway Club and other places on Saturday nights. With their inspiration now coming from the likes of Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and others the band were now leaning more towards Rock 'n' Roll and at some point in 1955 they changed their name to appeal more to the younger following they had established in the area. Their chosen name was the Teen Kings.

     By the fall of 1955, Charles Evans had left the group to attend Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas (home town of Buddy Holly), whilst  Roy, Billy Pat, and James decided to enrol at Odessa Junior College. Jack Kennelly - an earlier school friend who had briefly attended Wink High school, saw the group appearing one night on KMID. He renewed his friendship and within a matter of days found himself recruited into the band. According to Jack, who was not a bass player at the time, Roy took him along to Andrews Music Store in Odessa, showed him how to hit the strings and that was more or less it. Johnny 'Peanuts' Wilson, a friend of Jack's attended some of  their dance gigs and eventually joined the group, sharing the vocals and  playing accoustic guitar. Roy still maintained the major singing role of the band but was augmented by Jack's deeper bass 'soul' voice on such numbers as "Unchain My Heart" and Peanuts' higher pitched Rock 'n' Roll refrains. The group also gained themselves a second weekly local T.V. show, telecast most Saturdays from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on KOSA T.V., Odessa (Channel 7), which was a part of the national CBS network. Again the main sponsors were Pioneer Furniture, but others included Derams Jewelry and the T.L. Miller Jewelry Store.

    Usually, when not appearing at the Archway, they would play at the Saturday Night Jamboree in Jal, New Mexico. This is where James Morrow met and dated Jean Oliver, a young and gifted accordion player with the Western Melodiers who worked as a back up band for other local artists including Weldon and Willie Rogers. Jean's father, Chester Oliver, worked for Phillips Petroleum and the family lived in Seminole, Txas. The Teen Kings had broadcast on KIKZ  Radio in Seminole at some point but it was more likely the combonation of  their local T.V. shows, their Jal Jamboree appearances and the highly
commercial appeal of "Ooby Dooby" which led to Chester and his associate Weldon Roger to offer them a chance to record. There are conflicting stories as to who paid for the session, which was held at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Henry Morrow has said that his son James raised the cash for the session, while Weldon Rogers has claim to have paid and still has the receipt for $46.00 and the master tape; however most historians accept that it was probably Chester Oliver who actually financed the session. Whatever the details, the session (probably in December 1955) produced two sides, "Trying To Get To You" and "Ooby "Dooby", which were released several  weeks later on Je-Wel 101 in both 45 and 78 R.P.M. formats. Somebody had obtained the acetate dub of Elvis Presley's version of "Trying To Get To You" (unissued at the time) and Roy supposedly sang his version of the song  whilst listening to the Presley recording through headphones.

    During the coming months and especially after the Sun version of "Ooby Dooby" was issued, Je-Wel 101 was to be re-pressed several times at different manufacturing plants. Both sides of the disc were credited to the Teen Kings with a smaller notation, Vocal: Roy Orbison (mispelt Oribson on initial pressings) on the right hand side. "Trying To Get To You" was mis-printed as "Trying To Get You" on the first pressings and the publishing credit for "Ooby Dooby" was to 'TNT'. Many years later, Roy told me he believed Wade Moore and Dick Penner had recorded "Ooby Dooby" for Bob Tanner's TNT (Tanner'n'Texas) label in San Antonio. Dick Penner refutes this, but I still feel it is likely he and Moore recorded their song, even  in demo form at some time....

      Copies of the single were sold locally at the bands performances and both songs were featured regularly on their T.V. shows. The main record shop in Odessa was owned by Cecil 'Pop' Hollifield who had always shown interest in the Teen Kings, allowing them much time in the listening booths at his store. In March 1956, to help gain a wider market for the Je-Wel recordings, 'Pop' Hollifield played the disc over the telephone to Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Sam asked to be sent a tape of the record and upon hearing this offered the group an audition at Sun. Whatever version you hear of how this came about, everyone agrees that it happened quickly, and that very soon the Teen Kings were in Memphis. Sam Phillips has shown his usual initiative in recognising the commercial appeal of "Ooby Dooby" and Roy's guitar playing. The songs comitted to tape at that first session were "Ooby Dooby", "Trying To Get To You", and "Go ! Go ! Go !" According to Jack Kennelly, they were supposed to be in Memphis on Monday March 26th, but it seems they arrived late and recorded on Tuesday. Contracts were signed on Wednesday, the Teen Kings left Memphis, and by Thursday were in Richmond, Virginia, to play a show with Johnny Cash.

    Sun 242, coupling "Ooby Dooby" and "Go ! Go ! Go !" was released in May 1956 on both 45 and 78 R.P.M. records. This time the artist credit was to Roy Orbison, and in small letters beneath his name 'Teen Kings'. It was reviewed in the U.S. trade paper Billboard of 19th May. Publishing credits were now listed to Hi Lo Music - Phillips' publishing company. The Library of Congress records show that Hi Lo registered an unpublished song "Gotta Go, Go, Go", composed by Ray Kelton Orbison on 28th March 1956, and later  re-registered the sheet music with the title as per the disc, again solely credited to Roy. Billy Pat Ellis never did receive his due composer credit  in writing for this song. This was often the case with writers and Performers of the era and has created much debate since. To this day we are still hearing conflicts between writers and publishers concerning songs written by such artists as Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Frankie Lymon and  Chuck Berry to establish the true credits for songs written in the 1950's.

  "Ooby Dooby" entered the 'Billboard Survey Top 100' at number 77 on June 6th  (a date later to become tragic with the death of Roy's beloved Claudette) and eventually peaked at number 59 on June 27th. It was on the Top 100 for six weeks. Bob Neal, owner of Stars, Inc. in Memphis soon signed the group to a booking and management contract. Finally, after all the years of playing to local Texas audiences, they were on the road to national stardom. The next few months were busy times for the Teen Kings, with personal appearances taking them on some gruelling tours. They kicked off with an expirimental tour of Southern drive-in movie theatres, performing on the projection house roofs between film showings, but for the most part they joined tours with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Warren Smith, Faron Young and other country and rockabilly stars which took them up to Canada and down south to Florida. A rumoured appearance on the Ed Sullivan T.V. Show in New York never took place, although their booking was reported in the Wink Bulletin.

    In September, the Teen Kings returned to Memphis for their second Sun session, probably on September 17th. They recorded "You're My Baby" a Johnny Cash song, which Cash had pitched to them during their Canadian tour with him in June and "Rock House", a song Roy had written, inspired by their earlier gigs at the Archway Club in Monahans, which was built mainly of  rocks. Harold Jenkins (then recording at Sun and later to adopt the name Conway Twitty) had a band, the Rock Housers, and they were trying to get a  release on Sun with their song also called "Rock House". How close or different these songs were in their original form is unknown but they became  'one' and the song was copyrighted with the writers listed as Jenkins-Orbison. Possibly a version of Roy's "Domino" was also recorded at  this session Later in 1957, the song would become "A Cat Called Domino" with the addition of Norman Petty's name as a co-author - but that's another  story ....

  "You're My Baby" and "Rock House" were subsequently issued on Sun 251 on September 24th, again with credits going to Roy Orbison, and in smaller type, the Teen Kings. 'The Billboard' reviewed the disc on 20th October - as  with "Ooby Dooby" they credited it to Ray Orbison and omitted to mention the Teen Kings. The disc was not a national hit. However the group continued their appearances on shows with the likes of Johnny Horton, Faron Young, Sonny James, and during November were at the Malco Theater in Memphis for a week of shows featuring Carl Perkins, Warren Smith and Barbara Pittman. The Burnette Brothers, Johnny and Dorsey, turned up with the intention of beating up Roy - for reasons unknown - and Roy, unable to defend himself alone, was rescued by Carl Perkins and his group who evicted the Burnettes from the Malco Theater. Life was tough in the true era of Rock 'n' Roll.

      As 1956 drew to a close so did the existence of the Teen Kings as a working group. Both Jack Kennelly and Sam Phillips told me that the final split occurred at the Sun studios at 706 Union, Memphis. Roy's session of December 14th is not documented as featuring any of the Teen Kings. The group had sometimes used the closer to home facilities of Norman Petty's Clovis studio and a local group, the Roses, who were used by Norman for back-up vocals, had become very friendly with Roy. He wanted to use them on two new songs he had written for the upcoming session, "Sweet And Easy To Love" and "Devil Doll". The decision to bring more people into what had been a tight musical unit may have had an effect on the other members of the Teen Kings - a long and hard nine months 'on the road' with little financial reward or individual recognition, loading and unloading equipment, the long drives between dates, late nights, cheap motels and fast food living had all contributed to their frustrations. Roy's ego also played its part, but that exists with most any artist who wants to be a star. It appears that while Roy and Sam Phillips were in Taylor's Cafe (next door to 706 Union) the Teen Kings just got in their car and left Memphis. Leaving Roland James, Jimmy Van Eaton and an unknown drummer to take their places on the upcoming session.

      The contribution of the Teen Kings to Rock 'n' Roll and to Roy's later international fame has never been fully appreciated or acknowledged but all of us should be grateful that they were there at the very birth of a legend. And whatever the surviving members may feel about the circumstamces of their split with Roy, nothing can take those times away.
 

      When you listen to these rare Teen Kings recordings, please try to dissociate yourself from Roy's later, magical solo recordings, and think instead of that smoke filled bar in West Texas on a Saturday night. The recordings you will hear were taped in 1956 at KOSA-T.V. (Channel 7), Odessa, Texas and the comparatively primitive recording methods used then do not distract from the overall excitement of the band's delivery of the day's Rock 'n' Roll favourites, such as "Blue Suede Shoes", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and the almost boogie version of "Rip It Up". The instrumentals tend to be a showcase for Billy Pat's drumming and Roy's lead guitar with the exception of "Pretend" which highlights James Morrow's electric mandolin. Jack  Kennelly's 'whoops' remind us of Bill Black's own antics with Elvis Presley's Blue Moon Boys and their live renditions of their songs which appeared on Sun compare interestingly, but hardly surpass, the records. They are still a joy to hear. The Teen Kings were not trained musicians in the strict sense but their enthusiasm and untamed sense of what they felt they should be doing comes through clearly. Judge them on that alone.

  "These notes were prepared from my many conversations with Roy, Claudette and Orbie Lee Orbison over the years I was privileged to have known them, and  from my meetings with Richard & Glenda West, Charles Evans, Bob Blackburn,  Jean Oliver Wilson, Chester Oliver, Johnny 'Peanuts' Wilson, Jack Kennelly, Fred Crawford, Sid King, Norman Petty, Tom, Sam & Knox Phillips and my friend, John Malcom Anderson, who gave me a better understanding of 50's music. Thank you all - sincerely.

Index                           Misc                   Bill Dees Interview                    Rolling Stone Q & A