From:   "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Tue Jan 14, 2003  6:19 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Al Terry
 
AL TERRY

Born Allison Joseph Theriot, Jr., 14 January 1922, Kaplan, Louisiana
Died 23 November 1985, Lafayette, Louisiana

Singer, guitarist, disc jockey.
Al Terry was among the first musicians of Cajun ancestry to succeed
in both country and rockabilly. As a teenager he took up guitar and -
with two of his brothers and another farm boy - formed a band called
The Drifting Cowboys, years before Hank Williams used the name.
The group performed live on KVOL in Lafayette, where Terry was also
hired as an announcer.
Al's recording career began in 1946, when he cut "I'll Be Glad When I'm
Free" for Gold Star in Houston. Together with his brother Bob Terry, he
toured with Hank Williams in the autumn of 1952. In late 1953 Al's
contract was taken up as an unusual Christmas present to Jay Miller
by Nashville music publisher Fred Rose, who was in the process of
setting up the Hickory label. Terry's first record for Hickory was the
original version of "Good Deal Lucille" (written in a mixture of English
and French), which peaked at # 8 on the country charts. The record's
success led to an appearance on the Louisiana Hayride (co-billed with
Elvis Presley) and tours with Red Foley, Ray Price and Marty Robbins.
In 1957, Terry made a worthy rockabilly version of "Good Deal Lucille",
which has been covered by several other artists including Werly Fairburn,
Moon Mullican, Jack Scott and Carl Smith. Al's second and final (country)
chart entry came in 1960, with the excellent "Watch Dog" (# 28), which
had already been cut in September 1958, with backing by Nashville's finest
(Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Ray Edenton, Floyd Cramer, Lightnin' Chance,
Buddy Harman).
Throughout the sixties Al Terry recorded for various labels. There were no
more hits but he remained quite popular in Louisiana, appearing on radio
and television and running a nightclub in Lafayette. Due to a childhood
illness he was left with a lame leg and was permanently confined to a
wheelchair during the last decade of his life.

Further reading: John Broven, South To Louisiana (Pelican, 1983), p. 56-61.
Three of Terry's best Hickory recordings (Watch Dog, Roughneck Blues
and the rockabilly version of Good Deal Lucille) are on the CD "Hillbilly
Rock" (Magnum Force CDMF 034).